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MonsterTalk

S05E01 - Think of the Children!

MonsterTalk

Monster House LLC

History, Science, Society & Culture, Natural Sciences

4.71.3K Ratings

🗓️ 6 October 2025

⏱️ 44 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

🎙 MonsterTalk — The Cult of Moloch
Show Notes · Hosts: Blake Smith & Karen Stollznow

In this episode, Blake Smith and Karen Stollznow explore the history, mythology, and propaganda surrounding the idea of the Cult of Moloch—a figure long associated with child sacrifice and moral panic. They trace Moloch’s biblical origins in Leviticus and Kings, the contested archaeological claims from Carthage’s Tophet, and Roman accusations against rivals such as the Celts and Druids. The discussion moves through how child-sacrifice narratives have been weaponized across history—from Rome’s propaganda and medieval blood libel to the Satanic Panic and modern conspiracy culture—while separating those myths from documented, contemporary abuse scandals.

Topics in this episode:
🔥 Moloch in Scripture and History
⚱️ Archaeology of Carthage & the Tophet Debate
🪵 Celts, Druids & the Wicker Man
🎃 Samhain, Halloween & Sacrificial Myths
🗡 Accusations as Propaganda
😈 Satanic Panic & Modern Moral Panics
⚖️ Real Scandals & Institutional Abuse
🧠 Critical Thinking & Evidence

⚠️ Content Warning:
This episode includes discussion of child sacrifice, infanticide, sexual abuse, religious violence, and moral panics. While handled through a skeptical and historical lens, some material may be distressing to listeners. Parental discretion is advised.

🔥 Moloch in Scripture and History
• Hebrew Bible: Leviticus 18:21; 20:2–5; 2 Kings 23:10.
• Further reading:
John Day, Molech: A God of Human Sacrifice in the Old Testament
Jewish Virtual Library — “Molech”

⚱️ Archaeology of Carthage & the Tophet Debate
Quinn & Xella (2014), “Carthaginian Child Sacrifice: Reassessing the Evidence,” Antiquity
Lawrence Stager, “The Rite of Child Sacrifice at Carthage,” Biblical Archaeology Review

🪵 Celts, Druids & the Wicker Man
Miranda Aldhouse-Green, Human Sacrifice: Archaeological Perspectives (affiliate link)
BBC History — “Who Were the Druids?”

🎃 Samhain, Halloween & Sacrificial Myths
Ronald Hutton, The Stations of the Sun (affiliate link)
History.com — “Samhain and the Origins of Halloween”

🗡 Accusations as Propaganda
USHMM — “Blood Libel”
Tertullian, Apologeticus (English)

😈 Satanic Panic & Modern Moral Panics
Skeptical Inquirer — “The Return of the Satanic Panic”
FBI (1992) — “Satanic Ritual Abuse” report

⚖️ Real Scandals & Institutional Abuse
Rotherham CSE — Alexis Jay Report (2014)
Jimmy Savile — BBC Inquiry Findings
Jeffrey Epstein — BBC Timeline
Catholic Church — John Jay Report (2004)

🧠 Critical Thinking & Evidence
Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World
The Foundation for Critical Thinking

📚 Bonus:

Don’t forget Karen’s latest short story, The Walsingham Ghosts — available as text or audiobook exclusively from Amazon!

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/monstertalk--6267523/support.

Some product links may be affiliated with Amazon revenue sharing.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Monster House Presents.

0:09.0

This is the ad-supported version of Monster Talk. We're dependent upon the revenue from these ads

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and from the support of our patrons at patreon.com forward slash Monster Talk to continue making

0:19.5

this show. As a disclaimer, your hosts are unable to control what ads you will hear,

0:24.4

and while we have done what we can to avoid ads that are divisive,

0:28.0

the system that ejects them sometimes ignores our preferences

0:30.8

and always seems to ignore our efforts to not interrupt the conversational flow.

0:35.0

While we understand this can be disruptive, we're trying our best.

0:38.4

Patreon remains the best way to enjoy commercial-free listening to our content,

0:41.9

plus you generally get extended coverage of the subject.

0:45.0

We're working on other ways to consume our content as well, so please stay tuned.

0:50.5

This week's episode includes discussions of child sacrifice, infanticide, sexual abuse, religious violence, and moral panics.

1:00.1

While we do handle our content through a skeptical and historical lens, some material in this episode may be distressing to listeners.

1:07.1

Parental discretion is advised.

1:14.0

The infection. parental discretion is advised. It's actually quite unlike anything we've ever seen before.

1:19.0

A giant hairy creature, part ape, part mad.

1:23.9

In Larkness, a 24-mile long bottomless lake in the highlands of Scotland. It's a creature known as the Loch Ness Monster. I'm Monster Talk, the science show about monsters. I'm Blake Smith.

2:00.4

And I'm Karen Stoltener.

2:01.6

Wow, there's a chill in the air, and as I walked around my neighborhood this week, I saw the first

2:08.5

flurries of autumnal leaves whirling about. The oranges and the reds made feeble vortices,

2:14.7

not dust devils, perhaps rust devils, taking me like Dorothy to the fantastical

2:20.4

world of October. It's my favorite time of the year, since it's the harvest time, and as I often joke,

...

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