Henry Transistor (https://transistor.fm) https://feeds.transistor.fm/henry History remembers certain things a certain way. Henry de Berk investigates what gets left out. Long-form documentaries on crime, power, and the stories we tell ourselves about both. Not to shock. Not to sell a theory. But to follow the evidence where it actually leads — and sit honestly with what it doesn't resolve. New episodes on the cases history got wrong, the myths that stuck, and the truth underneath that's usually more unsettling. For people who know the popular version. And want something more honest. © 2026 Henry de Berk a38689a8-c94f-5e35-b403-42772e560af4 yes en Tue, 23 Jun 2026 11:01:17 -0400 Tue, 23 Jun 2026 11:02:29 -0400 https://www.youtube.com/@HenryDeBerkDocs https://img.transistorcdn.com/nf-pMb-YlKFtIzmXpB7dzzAKroOpj0got7XTIhInegQ/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:1400/h:1400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9jOTk4/OWQ2YjI0MGJlZDJh/MzM4NjRmMTMxOWZi/YTFiYS5qcGc.jpg Henry https://www.youtube.com/@HenryDeBerkDocs episodic Henry de Berk History remembers certain things a certain way. Henry de Berk investigates what gets left out. Long-form documentaries on crime, power, and the stories we tell ourselves about both. Not to shock. Not to sell a theory. But to follow the evidence where it actually leads — and sit honestly with what it doesn't resolve. New episodes on the cases history got wrong, the myths that stuck, and the truth underneath that's usually more unsettling. For people who know the popular version. And want something more honest. History remembers certain things a certain way. true crime, documentary, history, crime, investigation, cold cases Henry de Berk No Yes The Exorcist Was Based On A Lie — And The Church Got Played 7 7 The Exorcist Was Based On A Lie — And The Church Got Played full fb1acac3-2cd2-48ed-8670-bd842cfc8a6f https://share.transistor.fm/s/b591164c In 1949, a thirteen-year-old boy was exorcised by the Catholic Church. 

The case became the most famous possession story in American history 

and inspired The Exorcist — one of the highest-grossing horror films 

ever made.


For 75 years, the story has been told the same way: a boy possessed, 

priests battling for his soul, a miracle ending.


But a 29-page diary, a forgotten interview, and decades of silence 

tell a very different story.


This is the real story of Ronald Hunkeler — the boy behind "Roland 

Doe" — and how a grieving, isolated teenager's struggle became a 

myth the Church, a novelist, and Hollywood all had reasons to believe.

]]> In 1949, a thirteen-year-old boy was exorcised by the Catholic Church. 

The case became the most famous possession story in American history 

and inspired The Exorcist — one of the highest-grossing horror films 

ever made.


For 75 years, the story has been told the same way: a boy possessed, 

priests battling for his soul, a miracle ending.


But a 29-page diary, a forgotten interview, and decades of silence 

tell a very different story.


This is the real story of Ronald Hunkeler — the boy behind "Roland 

Doe" — and how a grieving, isolated teenager's struggle became a 

myth the Church, a novelist, and Hollywood all had reasons to believe.

]]> Tue, 23 Jun 2026 11:01:12 -0400 Henry de Berk Henry de Berk 1554 In 1949, a thirteen-year-old boy was exorcised by the Catholic Church. 

The case became the most famous possession story in American history 

and inspired The Exorcist — one of the highest-grossing horror films 

ever made.


For 75 years, the story has been told the same way: a boy possessed, 

priests battling for his soul, a miracle ending.


But a 29-page diary, a forgotten interview, and decades of silence 

tell a very different story.


This is the real story of Ronald Hunkeler — the boy behind "Roland 

Doe" — and how a grieving, isolated teenager's struggle became a 

myth the Church, a novelist, and Hollywood all had reasons to believe.

]]> true crime, documentary, history, crime, investigation, cold cases No Did Paganini, Robert Johnson & Mayhem Sell Their Souls? The Truth Behind the Legend 6 6 Did Paganini, Robert Johnson & Mayhem Sell Their Souls? The Truth Behind the Legend full 9112e357-319b-407b-a5d8-7b1ce106c3de https://share.transistor.fm/s/869d6ad0 For centuries, the greatest musicians in history have been linked to the same story. A deal made in the dark. A talent no human being should possess. A price paid in full.

This is the story of the Devil in Music.

From Niccolò Paganini — the violinist so impossibly skilled that audiences believed he was guided by a demonic hand — to Robert Johnson, who walked to a Mississippi crossroads at midnight and came back able to play anything. To the Norwegian black metal scene and Mayhem, where the darkness stopped being a performance.

And underneath all of it — two notes. Six semitones apart. A sound so unsettling the medieval church banned it. They called it Diabolus in Musica. The Devil in Music.

This episode asks what actually connects these stories. The answer is stranger than the myth.

]]> For centuries, the greatest musicians in history have been linked to the same story. A deal made in the dark. A talent no human being should possess. A price paid in full.

This is the story of the Devil in Music.

From Niccolò Paganini — the violinist so impossibly skilled that audiences believed he was guided by a demonic hand — to Robert Johnson, who walked to a Mississippi crossroads at midnight and came back able to play anything. To the Norwegian black metal scene and Mayhem, where the darkness stopped being a performance.

And underneath all of it — two notes. Six semitones apart. A sound so unsettling the medieval church banned it. They called it Diabolus in Musica. The Devil in Music.

This episode asks what actually connects these stories. The answer is stranger than the myth.

]]> Mon, 15 Jun 2026 07:31:30 -0400 Henry de Berk Henry de Berk 1875 For centuries, the greatest musicians in history have been linked to the same story. A deal made in the dark. A talent no human being should possess. A price paid in full.

This is the story of the Devil in Music.

From Niccolò Paganini — the violinist so impossibly skilled that audiences believed he was guided by a demonic hand — to Robert Johnson, who walked to a Mississippi crossroads at midnight and came back able to play anything. To the Norwegian black metal scene and Mayhem, where the darkness stopped being a performance.

And underneath all of it — two notes. Six semitones apart. A sound so unsettling the medieval church banned it. They called it Diabolus in Musica. The Devil in Music.

This episode asks what actually connects these stories. The answer is stranger than the myth.

]]> true crime, documentary, history, crime, investigation, cold cases Yes Will AI Make The Perfect Human? — The Silent Revolution of Eugenics 5 5 Will AI Make The Perfect Human? — The Silent Revolution of Eugenics full e585b427-48bd-4b88-915c-25a405ca9d79 https://share.transistor.fm/s/754469b3 In 1920 American doctors measured skulls at state fairs and gave trophies to the fittest families. By 1927 the Supreme Court had ruled that forced sterilization was constitutional. Sixty thousand Americans were sterilized against their will.

After Nuremberg nobody used the word eugenics anymore. They changed the job titles. The idea didn't go anywhere.

In 2018 a scientist in China edited the DNA of two unborn embryos. He went to prison. Three American companies picked up where he left off. Legally. With investor money. With no federal oversight whatsoever.

This is not a conspiracy theory. These companies have websites. They run subway ads. One of them bought the domain PickYourBaby.com.

This episode follows the line from a county fair in Kansas in 1920 to a Silicon Valley pitch deck in 2025. The science changed. The intention didn't.

Buck v. Bell has never been overturned. It is still valid precedent.

]]> In 1920 American doctors measured skulls at state fairs and gave trophies to the fittest families. By 1927 the Supreme Court had ruled that forced sterilization was constitutional. Sixty thousand Americans were sterilized against their will.

After Nuremberg nobody used the word eugenics anymore. They changed the job titles. The idea didn't go anywhere.

In 2018 a scientist in China edited the DNA of two unborn embryos. He went to prison. Three American companies picked up where he left off. Legally. With investor money. With no federal oversight whatsoever.

This is not a conspiracy theory. These companies have websites. They run subway ads. One of them bought the domain PickYourBaby.com.

This episode follows the line from a county fair in Kansas in 1920 to a Silicon Valley pitch deck in 2025. The science changed. The intention didn't.

Buck v. Bell has never been overturned. It is still valid precedent.

]]> Mon, 15 Jun 2026 07:29:01 -0400 Henry de Berk Henry de Berk 1097 In 1920 American doctors measured skulls at state fairs and gave trophies to the fittest families. By 1927 the Supreme Court had ruled that forced sterilization was constitutional. Sixty thousand Americans were sterilized against their will.

After Nuremberg nobody used the word eugenics anymore. They changed the job titles. The idea didn't go anywhere.

In 2018 a scientist in China edited the DNA of two unborn embryos. He went to prison. Three American companies picked up where he left off. Legally. With investor money. With no federal oversight whatsoever.

This is not a conspiracy theory. These companies have websites. They run subway ads. One of them bought the domain PickYourBaby.com.

This episode follows the line from a county fair in Kansas in 1920 to a Silicon Valley pitch deck in 2025. The science changed. The intention didn't.

Buck v. Bell has never been overturned. It is still valid precedent.

]]> true crime, documentary, history, crime, investigation, cold cases Yes How A Mutated Gene Caused The Cold War — The Rasputin Story You've Never Heard 4 4 How A Mutated Gene Caused The Cold War — The Rasputin Story You've Never Heard full 5ebe84eb-3eac-462f-82c7-0754564f3fa3 https://share.transistor.fm/s/327fd12a In 1904, a boy was born in the Winter Palace of St. Petersburg. He was the heir to the Russian throne. And his blood wouldn't clot.

That single biological fact set in motion a chain of events that would end a 300-year dynasty, bring Lenin to power, and reshape the 20th century.

Rasputin is barely half the story.

]]> In 1904, a boy was born in the Winter Palace of St. Petersburg. He was the heir to the Russian throne. And his blood wouldn't clot.

That single biological fact set in motion a chain of events that would end a 300-year dynasty, bring Lenin to power, and reshape the 20th century.

Rasputin is barely half the story.

]]> Mon, 15 Jun 2026 07:15:20 -0400 Henry de Berk Henry de Berk 2033 In 1904, a boy was born in the Winter Palace of St. Petersburg. He was the heir to the Russian throne. And his blood wouldn't clot.

That single biological fact set in motion a chain of events that would end a 300-year dynasty, bring Lenin to power, and reshape the 20th century.

Rasputin is barely half the story.

]]> true crime, documentary, history, crime, investigation, cold cases Yes The Enfield Poltergeist — Science Found Something Even More Unsettling 3 3 The Enfield Poltergeist — Science Found Something Even More Unsettling full 4bf11a5a-705d-4562-8320-2c69d2b1f311 https://share.transistor.fm/s/e88097c4 In 1977, a police officer in North London filed a report stating she watched a chair slide four feet across a floor with no one near it. She signed it under oath.

That's where this starts.

This documentary examines four documented cases of poltergeist activity across three countries and five decades — and asks whether science has a better explanation than a ghost.

It does. Partially.

What's left over is the part that's harder to explain.

]]> In 1977, a police officer in North London filed a report stating she watched a chair slide four feet across a floor with no one near it. She signed it under oath.

That's where this starts.

This documentary examines four documented cases of poltergeist activity across three countries and five decades — and asks whether science has a better explanation than a ghost.

It does. Partially.

What's left over is the part that's harder to explain.

]]> Mon, 15 Jun 2026 07:04:24 -0400 Henry de Berk Henry de Berk 1893 In 1977, a police officer in North London filed a report stating she watched a chair slide four feet across a floor with no one near it. She signed it under oath.

That's where this starts.

This documentary examines four documented cases of poltergeist activity across three countries and five decades — and asks whether science has a better explanation than a ghost.

It does. Partially.

What's left over is the part that's harder to explain.

]]> true crime, documentary, history, crime, investigation, cold cases Yes Even the DNA is Wrong — The Case Against H.H. Holmes 2 2 Even the DNA is Wrong — The Case Against H.H. Holmes full 9d6ded1b-25f9-4c62-ab7a-4fb7df441148 https://share.transistor.fm/s/7117b623 For over a century, one question keeps coming up: could H.H. Holmes — America's first serial killer — also have been Jack the Ripper?

Books have been written. DNA has been tested. Holmes's own great-great-grandson spent years trying to prove it.

I looked closely at the evidence — and at the five most serious Ripper suspects on record. For each one, two questions: what does the evidence actually show, and does the psychology fit?

Because a killer's psychology is like a fingerprint. The way someone kills tells you something about who they are. And more importantly — who they're not.

What I found wasn't what I expected.

]]> For over a century, one question keeps coming up: could H.H. Holmes — America's first serial killer — also have been Jack the Ripper?

Books have been written. DNA has been tested. Holmes's own great-great-grandson spent years trying to prove it.

I looked closely at the evidence — and at the five most serious Ripper suspects on record. For each one, two questions: what does the evidence actually show, and does the psychology fit?

Because a killer's psychology is like a fingerprint. The way someone kills tells you something about who they are. And more importantly — who they're not.

What I found wasn't what I expected.

]]> Mon, 15 Jun 2026 06:23:03 -0400 Henry de Berk Henry de Berk 2004 For over a century, one question keeps coming up: could H.H. Holmes — America's first serial killer — also have been Jack the Ripper?

Books have been written. DNA has been tested. Holmes's own great-great-grandson spent years trying to prove it.

I looked closely at the evidence — and at the five most serious Ripper suspects on record. For each one, two questions: what does the evidence actually show, and does the psychology fit?

Because a killer's psychology is like a fingerprint. The way someone kills tells you something about who they are. And more importantly — who they're not.

What I found wasn't what I expected.

]]> true crime, documentary, history, crime, investigation, cold cases Yes Amityville: I Know Who Did It — And It Wasn't Just Butch DeFeo 1 1 Amityville: I Know Who Did It — And It Wasn't Just Butch DeFeo full 108a7edb-c3e0-4377-9334-683c16a1db43 https://share.transistor.fm/s/4f93bcaf In 1974, six members of the DeFeo family were shot dead in their beds at 112 Ocean Avenue, Amityville. The haunting was a distraction. The hoax was a distraction. This is what the evidence actually points to — and it's more disturbing than either.

]]> In 1974, six members of the DeFeo family were shot dead in their beds at 112 Ocean Avenue, Amityville. The haunting was a distraction. The hoax was a distraction. This is what the evidence actually points to — and it's more disturbing than either.

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 10:20:27 -0400 Henry de Berk Henry de Berk 1941 In 1974, six members of the DeFeo family were shot dead in their beds at 112 Ocean Avenue, Amityville. The haunting was a distraction. The hoax was a distraction. This is what the evidence actually points to — and it's more disturbing than either.

]]> true crime, documentary, history, crime, investigation, cold cases Yes