Episode · Stuff They Don't Want You To Know · 2026-10-30
Books mentioned on Our Favorite Devil Folktales
Happy Halloween, fellow Conspiracy Realists. Whether or not you're religious, you've doubtlessly heard all sorts of stuff about the Biblical Devil.
Mentioned: Genesis by Bernard Beckett, The Odyssey, Job by Joseph Roth, Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and others, Bible, The Lesser Key of Solomon by Joseph H. Peterson, and The Sandman by Neil Gaiman.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Genesis
Genesis is the opening book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament, detailing foundational narratives of creation, early human history, the patriarchs, and the symbolic introduction of moral and spiritual concepts to humanity.
Discussed“Well, let's jump back to Genesis really quickly if we're talking about ye olde devil and perhaps, or definitely, the first representation that I ever encountered with the devil. And this is Genesis 3, 1 through 5.”
Where to get it
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The Odyssey
The Odyssey by Homer is an epic ancient Greek poem that follows the arduous ten-year journey of Odysseus as he attempts to return home to Ithaca after the Trojan War, encountering mythical creatures, divine wrath, and numerous trials along the way.
Discussed“there's a whole sequence in the Odyssey where Odysseus' men are marooned on this island, the island of the sun god Helios. And they're told that they can't eat these cows because if they do, they will surely die.”
Where to get it
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Job
Job is a biblical book that examines the profound problem of human suffering, divine testing, and the persistence of faith through unimaginable loss.
Discussed“It's interesting to see in the Old Testament, specifically, places where the devil is functioning as a tempter or someone who is going to take something from a believer in God in order to test that person to see if they actually have faith. That happens in Job, Job 1, 6 through 12.”
Where to get it
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Good Omens
Good Omens is a humorous fantasy novel about the birth of the Antichrist and the coming apocalypse, co-written by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.
Discussed“There's a bunch of other ones that you can read where sometimes it's Satan or the devil or whatever walking side by side with God somehow, having a conversation, much like, Ben, what is that great Neil Gaiman book that became a series?”
Where to get it
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Bible
The Bible is a foundational anthology of sacred texts and scriptures central to both Judaism and Christianity, detailing narratives of creation, prophetic guidance, historical accounts, and moral teachings that have shaped Western civilization for millennia.
Discussed“The Bible is, like, the most metal thing that exists. 100%. It's crazy. Just before we jump into it fully, guys, the whole point of reading Genesis there is just to show, first, that is a translation which became the new international version of the English version of the Bible, right?”
Where to get it
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The Lesser Key of Solomon
The Lesser Key of Solomon is a foundational grimoire of demonology and ceremonial magic that details rituals and the properties of various spirits.
Discussed“We've talked before about books like the lesser key of Solomon in a couple other older writings that, well, they go way, way back. And ones that are, that those works are based upon where there's writing about demons in that world.”
Where to get it
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The Sandman
The Sandman by Neil Gaiman is a celebrated comic book series that explores mythological entities, dreams, and cosmic domains through the narrative lens of Morpheus, the Lord of Dreams.
Discussed“A lot of that in the Sandman as well, like in terms of like the different, uh, entities in their various domains and like Lucifer gets to leave hell, uh, in the, in the context of the Sandman universe.”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (2) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“It's vampire rules, man. Yeah. So Jack has his jimmies about him at this point. He goes, now you listen here. I'm not letting you out until you vow that you're going to give me at least 12 more months of living.”
“That's the implication. And it's tough because this is, we'll see. There's a definite translation issue here. This is picture of Dorian Gray type stuff. Yeah. So time's up. Time's up. He shrieked in his internal monologue locked within the painting.”