FROM THE VAULT: Ian Watkins: Rock Star, Paedophile, Nepiophile
13 October - 1 hour 2 mins explicit*Update* Ian Watkins has been stabbed to death in Wakefield Prison by two fellow inmates, on Saturday 11th October 2025. He was previously stabbed in 2023, when he was taken hostage for six hours by a group of inmates. Here is our full episode from 2019.
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Ian Watkins was the lead singer of Welsh rock band Lostprophets. He toured all over the world, playing to sold out stadiums of adoring fans - so in 2012 when he was arrested and charged with 13 counts of child sex offences, including against a child as young as 11 months old, the world was shocked.
This is a particularly troubling case because it of course covers the abuse this depraved man doled out to incredibly young victims, but th...
Series Episodes
DAY 1: Japan’s Suicide Forest (ShortHand’s 13 Days of Halloween)
explicitIn the last 13 days before Halloween, a different ShortHand will rise from the archives for 24 hours only – before disappearing back into the vault. Get exclusive access to every ShortHand episode ad free only on Amazon Music Unlimited. -- Few places live up to their reputation like Aokigahara, known in the West as Japan’s ‘Suicide Forest’. Dense woodland, purported magnetic interference and tales of ghostly Yurei make navigating the forest difficult – but finding a secluded place to contemplate your existence is all too easy. Every year, dozens of people travel to Aokigahara to take their lives. But why? This week, we discuss the dark Japanese folklore and sinister realities behind one of the world's most tragically disturbing places… Exclusive bonus content: Wondery - Ad-free & ShortHand Patreon - Ad-free & Bonus Episodes Follow us on social media: YouTube TikTok Instagram Visit our website: Website Sources available on redhandedpodcast.com See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
23 mins
18 October Finished
The Baraboo Bonebreaker | #421
explicitThe police knew their suspect was a sexual sadist – one who had trapped a young boy for days and took great pleasure in slowly, methodically, snapping every bone in his legs. What they didn’t expect was that this ghastly resident of Baraboo, Wisconsin was still just 17 years old. And it wasn’t his first time. H&S spin the sinister tale of a twisted young psychopath, hiding in plain sight in an unassuming Midwestern town. Exclusive bonus content: Wondery - Ad-free & ShortHand Patreon - Ad-free & Bonus Episodes Follow us on social media: YouTube TikTok Instagram Visit our website: Website Sources available on redhandedpodcast.com See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
1 hour 8 mins
16 October Finished
Unit 731: Japan’s Secret Human Testing Program | #420
explicitOne of WWII’s lesser-known horrors, Japan’s secret biological warfare testing program is so brutal and inhumane that it’s hard to believe it could ever happen. And at its helm was a twisted microbiologist Shiro Ishi. Victims, known inside as “logs”, were injected and exposed to countless pathogens including typhoid, cholera, and the plague, then watched like lab rats as they were gripped by the diseases. Even in their last moments, the poor souls stuck inside Unit 731 weren’t safe, as they were cut open and examined, while they were still alive… Exclusive bonus content: Wondery - Ad-free & ShortHand Patreon - Ad-free & Bonus Episodes Follow us on social media: YouTube TikTok Instagram Visit our website: Website Sources available on redhandedpodcast.com See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
1 hour 6 mins
8 October Finished
ShortHand: Hell
explicitBoiled in blood, hacked at by knives, torn apart by iron dogs… the world’s religions differ on what exactly might await sinners in the afterlife. But one thing they can all agree on is that if you were naughty on Earth, you are in for one hell of a horrible time. We take a quick tour of history’s grimmest netherzones: from freezing poison rain in the Norse Helheim, to a river of excrement, where monstrous aquatic beings eat your flesh, down in the Hindu Narakas. Welcome to Hell. Exclusive bonus content: Wondery - Ad-free & ShortHand Patreon - Ad-free & Bonus Episodes Follow us on social media: YouTube TikTok Instagram Visit our website: Website Sources available on redhandedpodcast.com See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
32 mins
7 October Finished
Arne Cheyenne Johnson: The Devil Made Me Do It | #419
explicitIn 1981, nineteen-year-old Arne Cheyenne Johnson stabbed his landlord to death – but claimed he wasn’t guilty. Why? Because he was possessed by the literal Devil. With a wild alibi starring a possessed tween, budget exorcisms and even a cameo from America’s most notorious spooky grifters Ed and Lorraine Warren, Satan was going on trial... But would a judge believe that the horned guy himself was roaming small-town Connecticut in the early eighties? Find out as we explore the case that shocked a nation – and almost changed US law forever. Exclusive bonus content: Wondery - Ad-free & ShortHand Patreon - Ad-free & Bonus Episodes Follow us on social media: YouTube TikTok Instagram Visit our website: Website Sources available on redhandedpodcast.com See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
1 hour
2 October Finished
