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What the HELL Were You Thinking?

What the HELL Were You Thinking?

Written by: Dave Bledsoe
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All the things that made the world the way it is now. Welcome to the podcast takes your nostalgia, tells you the history behind it and makes you ask What the HELL Were You Thinking. Host Dave Bledsoe takes the history, politics and pop culture of the past fifty years and explains what it was like to live through it and why it is still ruining the world today. So join Dave, his hapless Producer Gavin St James every Monday for time capsule of truth! Find us at whatthehellpodcast.com, @whatthehellpodcast.bsky.social and the show name on Facebook.Copyright 2023 © Dave Bledsoe. All rights reserved Art World
Episodes
  • Episode 527: When You're Here, You're Family

    Episode 527: When You're Here, You're Family
    Jun 15 2026
    Show Notes Episode 527: When You’re Here, You’re Family This week Host Dave Bledsoe was kicked out of Sunrise of Mountain Lakes in Parsippany New Jersey for recruiting the old ladies to join his “Hippie Sex Cult”. (Again) On the show this week introduce the man mostly responsible for destroying the feel good vibe of the 1960s: Charles Manson. Along the way we discover Dave’s crippling fear of commitment is rooted in reality. Then we dive right into the backstory of No Name Maddox. (You know him better as “Charlie”) We meet his incredibly bad mother, follow Charlie in and out of “reform” schools that seemed not about “reforming” kids at all. We chill with Charlie’s mentors in prison, from Danny Trejo to “Creepy” Karpus. From there we walk the streets of Haight Ashbury with Charlie as he quickly realized this Summer of Love thing will work for him! Then we head to Hollywood for the frankly astonishing story of how a tiny career criminal mixed and mingled with the glitteratti of Tinsel Town. (He knew Grandpa Munster!) Finally, we see how Charlie didn’t become a rock star so he became the leader of a murder cult. Our Sponsor this week is Spahn Movie Ranch Family Fun Tours, fun for ALL kinds of families. We open with CBS news reporting local crime and close with the Constellations, who are family. Show Theme: Hypnostate Prelude to Common Sense The Show on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/whatthehellpodcast.bsky.social The Show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whatthehellpodcast/ The Show on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjxP5ywpZ-O7qu_MFkLXQUQ The Show on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whatthehellwereyouthinkingpod/ Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/kHmmrjptrq Our Website: https://www.whatthehellpodcast.com Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Whatthehellpodcast The Show Line: 347 687 9601 Closing Music: https://youtu.be/E3TM-sbqITk?si=jjiZ2vM2vSxkolD0 Buy Our Stuff: https://www.seltzerkings.com/shop Citations Needed: Charles Manson – Hoosier Juvenile Delinquent https://weeklyview.net/2015/01/22/charles-manson-hoosier-juvenile-delinquent/ Danny Trejo Says Charles Manson Once Hypnotized Him in Jail https://www.mediaite.com/media/entertainment/danny-trejo-says-charles-manson-once-hypnotized-him-in-jail/ How Did Charles Manson’s Early Years In Prison Shape Him? https://www.oxygen.com/manson-the-women/crime-time/how-charles-manson-prison-time-shaped-mcneil-island Charles Manson was not an artist worth indulging https://theoutline.com/post/2510/charles-manson-was-not-an-artist-worth-indulging Pimpology: The 48 Rules of the Game https://www.google.com/books/edition/Pimpology/bC07OG_8KcAC?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover Wikipedia: The Manson Family https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manson_Family#Confirmed_members_and_associates Doris Day’s son Terry Melcher was ‘very paranoid’ after Manson murders, pal reveals in book https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/doris-day-terry-melcher-charles-manson-bill-cassara-book You Must Remember This Season 4: Charles Manson Hollywood https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/you-must-remember-this/id858124601 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    31 mins
  • Episode 526: Going Through the Big D

    Episode 526: Going Through the Big D
    Jun 1 2026
    Show Episode 526: Going Through the Big D This week Host Dave Bledsoe gets thrown out of a country bar after gravely misunderstanding what “Ho-Down” meant. (He pushed a woman off her barstool!!) On the show this week we follow JFK to Texas for the most important moment of his Presidency. (What? Too soon?) Along the way we discover that Dave’s Dad had nothing to do with the Kennedy assassination! (Allegedly) Then we dive right into the life of Lee Harvey Oswald, Marine, communist defector, and moron. We examine the details of that fateful days in Texas. From Fort Worth calls girls to near fistfights with the medical examiner in Dallas. Then we look at the genuinely weird things that happened after JFK’s death before moving on to all the “theories” surrounding those weird things. Finally, we look into the most plausible explanation for why the theories got started in the first place. Our sponsor this week is the Former Dallas County Administration Building, we never let our worst moment define us. We open with Walter Cronkite who has some bad news and close with Brett Monnier who is on a trip. Show Theme: Hypnostate Prelude to Common Sense The Show on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/whatthehellpodcast.bsky.social The Show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whatthehellpodcast/ The Show on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjxP5ywpZ-O7qu_MFkLXQUQ The Show on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whatthehellwereyouthinkingpod/ Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/kHmmrjptrq Our Website: https://www.whatthehellpodcast.com Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Whatthehellpodcast The Show Line: 347 687 9601 Closing Music: https://youtu.be/waWJUCfKJeA?si=U46OMEwNY6FXWmp2 Buy Our Stuff: https://www.seltzerkings.com/shop Citations Needed: Wikipedia: Lee Harvey Oswald https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Harvey_Oswald#Early_life Why JFK Ignored His Warnings: Was Told to Avoid Dallas https://medium.com/@archie.hodge01/why-jfk-ignored-his-warnings-8c353b84fc80 Warren Commission Report Chapter 3 https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-report/chapter-3.html#near The botched autopsy of president John F. Kennedy https://hekint.org/2025/09/08/the-botched-autopsy-of-president-john-f-kennedy/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    40 mins
  • Episode 525: On Second Thought, Let's Not Go to Camelot

    Episode 525: On Second Thought, Let's Not Go to Camelot
    May 18 2026
    Show Notes Episode 525: On Second Thought, Let’s Not Go to Camelot This week host Dave Bledsoe ruined a bar trivia night by drunkenly shouting “wasn’t in the form of a question” every time until they threw him out. (He doesn’t even watch Jeopardy.) On the show this week we talk about JFK’s time in office, from the political to the poonhound. (Google recognized poonhound, that’s awesome.) Along the way we discover the reason why Dave can’t form meaningful relationships. (Perhaps his drinking problem?) Then we really do dive into JFK as a politician. (There is a LOT to cover this week!) From the Bay of Pigs to the Cuban Missile Crisis, to the Vienna Summit we examine his foreign policy. Domestically, we mostly talk about all the side pieces he had. (Dude had a lot!) We learn that the whole “Camelot” thing was created after his death to hide how horny he was. Finally, we set the stage for Dallas. (Which we will cover in detail next episode.) Our Sponsor is the Secret Services Professional Escorts, trusted by the people you trust with your life. We open with JFK’s inauguration and close with Nick Fife who reminds you it is only a model. Show Theme: Hypnostate Prelude to Common Sense The Show on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/whatthehellpodcast.bsky.social The Show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whatthehellpodcast/ The Show on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjxP5ywpZ-O7qu_MFkLXQUQ The Show on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whatthehellwereyouthinkingpod/ Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/kHmmrjptrq Our Website: https://www.whatthehellpodcast.com Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Whatthehellpodcast The Show Line: 347 687 9601 Closing Music:https://youtu.be/T5F8VKRPsyg?si=6i0BaV3msxBesAZw Buy Our Stuff: https://www.seltzerkings.com/shop Citations Needed: Washington; President Kennedy's Inaugural -- Speech or Policy? https://www.nytimes.com/1961/01/22/archives/washington-president-kennedys-inaugural-speech-or-policy.html JFK's Inaugural Speech: Great But Silent On Racial Woes https://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2011/01/20/133083711/jfks-inaugural-speech-great-but-incomplete-on-race Report: The night prostitutes came to JFK's suite at Seattle's Olympic Hotel https://www.kiro7.com/news/report-the-night-prostitutes-came-to-jfks-suite-at-seattles-olympic-hotel/731448613/ How Jackie Kennedy Invented the Camelot Legend After JFK's Death https://manhattan.institute/article/how-jackie-kennedy-invented-the-camelot-legend-after-jfks-death Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    31 mins
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