Great reporting! It’s terrible that the kids were exploited in this way, but good to hear they are both doing well now that they are almost adults. I hope some justice is achieved for them eventually.

He understood the assignment and reported everything beautifully.

This was a very interesting, informative and unsettling podcast.

Excellent show!

Amazing story telling by Alexi! This podcast had be shocked and surprised almost every episode.

Fast moving and fascinating - great story well told

“This is not about a conspiracy, it’s about *the* conspiracy.” This is an important throughline of conspiracy theories.

The fastest way to get me to unfollow your show and rate it one star is to use it to advertise another podcast. Why put an episode in our feed unless it’s a new episode of this show??

Fascinating podcast. I am amazed how people continue to believe these conspiracies.

Well done podcast series on an old story has taken on many faces and will never go away. This “Hoax” has benefited those who know and push this lie and devoured the souls of those who believe. The current version in the US is still strong and hungry.

Excellent podcast, fascinating & informative. Thanks for keeping it free.

This podcast was compelling, extremely well-written, and kept me on the edge of my seat throughout. Highly recommended.

I loved this podcast. Thank you!

This podcast was compelling and the storytelling was direct and without unnecessary looping to drag it out. Worth a listen!

Mindfully and eloquently reported. I’m so glad I found this amongst the sea of “info” out there on this horrific hoax. Well done and looking forward to listening to more.

Impressive job getting to the bottom of the hoax in a well-documented, well-reported process. Strong effort to find clarity on the situation - and consequences for its bad actors. The reality of it was astonishing.

Superb. Outstanding information delivered by the host . His voice is warm and kind, it’s a pleasurable experience every time. Addictive story telling which is very organized. The host comes across as an extremely good guy.

This is a whole new breed of conspiracy theorist who give the term such a negative connotation, not everyone who is a CT is so extreme. But, more importantly, while they are busy crying wolf and making up stories they end up causing real victims of violence to be doubted and dismissed. Is there shady stuff going on in the world? Sure, but there has never been a single documented case of satanic cults doing anything to children or humans, to my knowledge (by reputable sources). You can have your conspiracy theories and not be fanatical about them. Refocus your energy on reputable cases and reputable organizations that are working to make an actual difference!

Enjoyed most of this podcast with the exception of giving Abraham another platform: I didn’t need to hear from him.

As a society we need to stand up against these conspiracy peddlers that Hoaxed covered. They always get people worked up and violent. This is no way to live.

It is unfortunate that podcasts like this uphold the illusion that child sex crimes are hoaxes. There are so many kids trafficked everyday it gets worse and worse and then you have Tortoise Media denying these sex crimes calling them hoaxes. They are the ones refusing to report on the Epstein client list but love to report on the one off story like this claiming child sexual abuse is ridiculous.

Having seen lives of the falsely accused damaged in the original, 1980s-90s Satanic Panic in the US, I was horrified to see that it continues (and indeed, has morphed into QAnon and our generally paranoid and unhinged political present). Alexis Mostrous is an excellent reporter, gifted in both research and storytelling. I’m very glad to have listened to Hoaxed and hope it will be updated if new developments occur.

Came across this podcast by accident and wasn't expecting much. Kept me captivated. Totally bingeworthy and the host Alexi is so easy to follow and listen. Real modern day blood libel story and witch-hunt going on by members of society who are willing to lie to achieve an end, who willfully close their ears to the truth and believe what they want to believe, fostering anti-Semitic and debunked myths, and in the process cause harm to innocent others around them (and lower our collective IQs in the process). Wild story, highly recommend. These people behind this group should be exposed for the fraud they are, including those who perpetuated the lies. Well done.

This was such a great podcast. Very well done. I binged all episodes in day. Abraham Christie and Ella Draper deserve to be behind bars.

Loved

And what a nasty piece of work Abraham Christie is. I felt like I needed a shower after hearing him speak.

Surprising twists and turns, went places that I wasn’t expecting. Excellent journalism!

It’s so interesting to see how these conspiracies start. A woman with grudges and a man with control issues. And BAM!

I’m calling it quits after episode 4. They are trying to make this a story about “conspiracy theories” (the term comes up about ten times in as many minutes in each episode) when it’s really about accusations made by children about a specific parent. Everyone who believes the kids are called conspiracy theorists. The host still hasn’t told me why or how they know the accusations are false. The kids did recent and say their mom’s boyfriend told them to say it but that’s just two different versions, why believe one over the other? The whole show just feels like a huge reach, and the fact that they are comparing recorded accusations (very serious accusations) made by a child to pizzagate is disgusting. The only thing I can confidently get behind is criticism for the woman who released the videos and “list”. She should have gone to jail for that. Maybe my answers are coming in the next couple episodes but I just can’t do it any longer.

I really enjoyed this podcast. The sound quality is great despite phone interviews and use of recordings, it’s just the right length, and it’s a really interesting way to approach a subject that has never covered a few times. Highly recommend.

This is a very interesting story. Having completed graduate school and entering the mental health field in the early 90s, I was immediately offered SRA training by my new employer here in the United States. That employer was largely funded by taxpayer dollars. I’d never heard of SRA, yet I was being sent here and yon to get first account training from real life victims. Local police, social workers and people like myself (community and agency counselor) were informed of this growing, underground threat. Local police did live shots with media, from a suspected Satanist worship site, just hundreds of yards from the counseling center where I worked. Shortly after that spate of training, we were offered intensive training on MPD and Inner Child therapy. Not sure if it was a natural progression or the newest offerings from the training profession. And then the whole sordid sensationalized topic dissipated from media coverage. We focused on substance abuse instead. There were of course the odd story of alien abduction and SRA, but those topics became more the exception than the rule. Thanks so much for your interest in this topic and investigation. I look forward to listening to your next piece. Be well.

Being in the US I hadn’t heard of this story. Absolutely fascinating and well done. I listened to all 6 episodes in one afternoon. Great investigative journalism. I’m hopeful that justice will be served.

I was hooked from Episode 1 of this amazingly investigated story. Each episode has kept me fully engaged, on the edge of my seat. Excellent reporting of such a crazy story.

A thorough and thought provoking investigation into the root causes of conspiracy thinking, it’s explosive and devastating impact brought on by its amplification on the internet, and the necessity of controlling authorities to contain the spread of disinformation and slander through rapid engagement.

I had no opinion either way about the ritual abuse accusations. Being in the U.S., I don’t recall having even heard of them. I listened to this on the heels of “Sweet Bobby”, which I greatly enjoyed. “Hoaxed”, however, was the shoddiest, most slanted & sensationalist “journalism” imaginable. I became more disgusted with each episode and have lost all respect for the investigative narrator and his sloppy preset “analysis”. In fact, I now think — after slogging though this sinkhole of absurdly biased & simple-minded reporting — there might be something to the claims. Certainly not literally on every point, and perhaps some players are exaggerating or imprecise. But I’m quite sure there’s something to the claims after listening to this cheap hit piece. Just wondering: was the topic assigned to your company by outside interests?

While well researched the story was just boring and pointless.

This is a well-researched and thorough podcast. I binged all 6 episodes during a hike and didn’t lose interest. The episodes move along at a good cadence and it’s clear the journalists put a lot of time and effort into the story. I definitely recommend!

Timely, well researched and reported podcast.

I was on the edge of my seat. As someone with expertise in coercive control, I found the last episode to be too pat. Culpability is not a simple binary where abuse is present. But I recommend this podcast to other people capable of forming their own judgment.

Another great podcast podcast from Tortoise. Of all the podcasts on difficult subject matters that I’ve listened to, this is the first that I nearly quit because of how distressing the topic is. It’s a case with far-reaching, devastating implications for so many innocent people. If you care deeply about justice, this is a tough one. But there were glimmers of hope and some moments of justice.

I listen to a million of these and this one was surprisingly compelling. Surprising only because I stumbled upon it by accident. Definitely worth the time.

This defines “bingeable podcast” but perhaps that downplays the serious journalism that went into this endeavor. Finally, some insight to the danger of conspiracy theories that go way too far. Its odd and frightening. Many behind this horrific lie come across as brainwashed even after spending time in jail. Like they’re NEVER going to admit they lied or believed lies or spread lies. So pathological. I’m deviating, but I can’t help but think: what are we going to do about this? These kind of lies have co-opted several people I care about. My only wish is that they dove deeper into the history of this problem (satanic panic) which they touch on, dating back to Salem witch trials. Please do more like this! There are a ton of these hoaxes out there, afterall.

Absolutely fantastic reporting and telling of a an important story. My heart hurts for the two children at the core of the story, and every person who was psychologically tormented by the fallout. I pray that they’re all able to heal. It’s so sad and disorienting when people are so convinced they’re calling out abuse, but instead they’re the ones perpetuating it. So many children and families were harmed by so many irresponsible people…

One of my favorite journalists. The reporting and storytelling are fantastic!

!!

I listened to sweet Bobby and can’t stop , definitely love this podcast so thrilling and the narration is so pulling , every time I finish one episode I’m pulled to the next !

Lies are becoming the truth. If you sat the lie long enough, people would start believing. Thank you for a great start to the podcast.

Great story telling very compelling indeed really interesting podcast

Excellent long-form series supported by spot-on journalism. A timely look into pernicious spread of conspiracies in the social media age, following a story that makes clear the Salem witch trials aren’t so far removed from contemporary culture.

It is truly hard to believe how easily people believe in a conspiracy no matter how outlandish. Maybe we’ve forgotten how to think critically or use our own brains. The true victims of this story are the children who were forced to lie and the people falsely accused. THANK YOU for doing this amazing podcast