A team of reporters with VICE World News tries to get to the bottom of the mystery surrounding a bizarre illness.

Nikki Frick
Associate Editor, Research and Copy
Nikki Frick is the associate editor for research and copy for Reveal. She previously worked as a copy editor at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and held internships at The Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times and Washingtonpost.com. She has a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and was an American Copy Editors Society Aubespin scholar. Frick is based in Milwaukee.
Locked Up: The Prison Labor That Built Business Empires
Companies across the South profited off the forced labor of people in prison after the Civil War – a racist system known as convict leasing.
In Bondage to the Law
Toforest Johnson has been on Alabama’s death row for 25 years. Now, his conviction is being called into question.
We Regret to Inform You
When police kill someone, they have to notify the family. Some officers are using that moment for something else.
The Welfare-to-Work Industrial Complex
How “work requirements” spawned a lucrative industry profiting off people in need.
America Goes Psychedelic, Again
For 50 years, the idea of making psychedelic drugs legal again was unthinkable. Now, even conservative lawmakers are supporting efforts to approve psychedelics as a treatment for veterans with PTSD.
Cashing in on Troubled Teens
How the country’s biggest psychiatric hospital chain is profiting off kids trapped in a broken child welfare system.
From Victim to Suspect
A young mom with a daughter to support puts up with her boss’s crude behavior, until one night she says he goes too far. She goes to the police – but that doesn’t solve her problem. It creates a new one.
How Teaching Kids to Read Went So Wrong
Many schools teach reading using an approach that can actually make it harder for kids to learn. Kids are taught to use strategies like “look at the picture” and “think of a word that makes sense.” This episode is a partnership with American Public Media’s Sold a Story podcast.
Alphabet Boys Revealed
Secret undercover recordings reveal an FBI operation to infiltrate Denver’s racial justice protests in 2020. Reveal partners with the podcast Alphabet Boys to take listeners inside that investigation.