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Dark Finds Podcast

Dark Finds Podcast

By: Gary Colton
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About this listen

Some stories just hit different. Welcome to The Dark Finds Podcast, hosted by writer, true crime creator, and psychology enthusiast Gary Colton. Each episode takes you deep into the world of those who’ve lived through — or created — something extraordinary. From fighters, musicians, and war veterans to cult survivors, ex-cons, psychologists, and entrepreneurs, we explore the lives of people who exist on the edge of the norm. Through honest, often raw conversations, we uncover their journeys, insights, struggles, and what drives them.

At its core, Dark Finds is fueled by one obsession: understanding human behavior in all its forms.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

© Gary Colton
Social Sciences True Crime
Episodes
  • Eoghan Cleary | Raised by Algorithms: How Porn and AI Are Rewriting Childhood
    Mar 20 2026

    There was a time when childhood unfolded slowly. Conversations happened face to face. Curiosity built over years. And ideas about relationships, intimacy, and identity were shaped gradually, through experience, through awkward conversations, and through real life.


    Today, that timeline has collapsed. In a matter of seconds, a teenager with a smartphone can access a world that was never designed for them. A world driven by algorithms, by dopamine, by content that doesn’t just reflect reality, but distorts it. And the question we have to ask is this: what happens when an entire generation learns about sex, relationships, and human connection from the internet?


    Well, in this episode, I’m joined by Irish educator and researcher Eoghan Cleary, a man working on the front lines of this shift. We delve into the early exposure to pornography among teenagers, the increasingly violent and addictive nature of online content, and how social media, and now AI, are actively shaping sexual norms in real time. We talk about regulation, responsibility, and whether society is moving fast enough to protect young people, or if we’re already too late.


    Links

    • Dark Finds: Explained YouTube Channel (SUBSCRIBE)
    • HOW IT FALLS APART | Audio Experience 🧨
    • Patreon 🙌🏼
    • Dark Finds IG 💀
    • Dark Finds Book 📖


    Chapters

    00:00 Introduction to Owen Cleary's Work

    01:06 The Impact of Early Exposure to Pornography

    03:53 The Nature of Modern Pornography

    06:37 The Role of Violence in Pornography

    10:47 The Algorithm and Its Effects on Content Consumption

    12:44 The Dangers of AI in Content Creation

    18:20 Legislative Challenges and Solutions

    23:55 The Need for Accountability in the Digital Age

    27:25 The Evolution of Sexual Expectations

    33:54 Creating Healthy Conversations About Sex

    35:37 The Impact of Pornography on Youth

    38:31 Navigating Parental Conversations about Sex

    41:04 Normalizing Discussions Around Sexuality

    44:41 The Role of Social Media in Sexual Development

    51:06 The Effects of Social Media on Attention and Behavior

    56:14 The Need for Boredom and Creativity in Youth


    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    1 hr and 2 mins
  • James Fitzgerald - Inside The Mind Of An FBI Profiler
    Mar 2 2026

    Today’s guest is a man who has sat across from some of the most dangerous minds in modern criminal history.

    Jim Fitzgerald wasn’t just a former FBI profiler. He was an investigator who helped crack the Unabomber case. A linguistics expert. A behavioral analyst. A man who has spent decades studying how monsters think — and the clues they leave behind.


    In this episode, Jim takes us from his early days as a local police officer to the high-pressure corridors of the FBI’s New York office. We talk about the politics inside law enforcement. The reality behind criminal profiling, what it is, what it isn’t, and the mental toll of chasing offenders who don’t want to be found.


    We dive into the Unabomber investigation, and the power of language in identifying a suspect. If you’ve ever watched Criminal Minds, you’ll hear how art imitates life, as Jim later stepped into Hollywood as a technical advisor, ensuring the psychology felt real.


    Links

    • Dark Finds: Explained YouTube Channel (SUBSCRIBE)
    • HOW IT FALLS APART | Audio Experience 🧨
    • Patreon 🙌🏼
    • Dark Finds IG 💀
    • Dark Finds Book 📖


    Keywords


    FBI, profiling, criminal minds, law enforcement, forensic linguistics, Unabomber, 9/11, crime, investigation, police




    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    51 mins
  • Heidi Langbein-Allen - A Child Soldier In Hitler Youth
    Feb 16 2026

    In this conversation, I’m joined by Heidi Langbein-Allen, author of Save the Last Bullet — a book that tells the story of her father… a child in Nazi Germany who was swept into the machinery of war. Not a general. Not a willing ideologue. A boy molded by propaganda, shaped by fear, and a handed a rifle before he understood what it meant to be a man. We talk about how young minds are formed, and deformed, by ideology. How indoctrination works. How authority becomes unquestionable. How rhetoric slowly turns into violence. And how, at the height of World War II, children were told something unthinkable: To save the last bullet for themselves.


    Links

    • Heidi's book
    • Dark Finds: Explained YouTube Channel (SUBSCRIBE)
    • HOW IT FALLS APART | Audio Experience 🧨
    • Patreon 🙌🏼
    • Dark Finds IG 💀
    • Dark Finds Book 📖


    Takeaways

    • "The parallels that struck in the book were the level of propaganda."
    • "When you do that to young minds, you mold them and then they become unquestioning of authority."
    • "It was an instruction: save it for yourselves and you use it to kill yourselves."
    • "The consequences would be fatal."
    • "It illustrates the inhumanity or dehumanization of war that occurs still today."
    • "It takes a massive show of disagreement and massive amounts of population expressing that."
    • "The rhetoric becomes sort of a possibly a good idea, right, to have a war."
    • "We haven't fallen too far from the tree branch, right, from our chimp ancestors."
    • "It’s a playbook that involves instilling fear and intimidating people."
    • "The vast majority of soldiers don't talk about their experiences."


    Keywords

    World War II, child soldiers, propaganda, extremism, historical narrative, trauma, indoctrination, Nazi Germany, personal stories, resilience


    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    1 hr and 23 mins
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