# Witches: The San Francisco Killers

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/paranormia-7042297/witches-the-san-francisco-killers
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/paranormia-7042297/witches-the-san-francisco-killers.md
Podcast: [Paranormia](https://stenobird.com/podcast/paranormia-7042297)
Published: 2026-01-07T00:01:00+00:00
Episode link: https://shows.acast.com/paranormia/episodes/the-witch-killers-of-san-francisco
Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/6704e5211a3de581c6a143cd/e/695d49dbd1ba84fb8f027c8f/media.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/paranormia-7042297/episodes/witches-the-san-francisco-killers
Duration seconds: 2100

## Resource

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Michael and Suzan Carson drifted through the American West, moving between communes, shared apartments, and marijuana farms. They changed their names, adopted a patchwork belief system of mysticism and religion, and came to see themselves as warriors in a hidden war. Between 1981 and 1983, they killed three people and insisted their victims were witches. This episode traces how an ordinary couple built a shared delusion powerful enough to justify killing, and why the story has been remembered as something occult rather than what it was: a case study in belief, control, and the human capacity to turn ideology into violence. *** If you have a story where crime and the otherworldly intertwine, something strange, unexplained or just plain haunted, get in touch at paranormia@alwaystruecrime.com . Paranormia is an Audio Always production. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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## Transcript

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