In this week’s episode of Switchblade Sisters Social Club, Dee and Isla dive into one of the most disturbing true stories ever published in The New Yorker - the tale of a motel owner who turned his business into a real-life panopticon.
Meet Gerald Foos, the man who secretly watched his guests through hidden vents in his Colorado motel attic, meticulously documenting their most private moments for decades - all under the guise of “research.” And meet Gay Talese, the celebrated journalist who took Foos’s confession and turned it into The Voyeur’s Motel, a story that would later blow up into one of journalism’s biggest ethical scandals.
From voyeurism and obsession to journalistic complicity and moral failure, this episode explores the tangled relationship between watcher and storyteller - and asks the question: how far is too far in the pursuit of truth?
Dee and Isla unpack Foos’s twisted “experiments,” the murder he claimed to witness, the media circus that followed, and the fact-checking fiasco that exposed the cracks in Talese’s decades-long reporting. Along the way, they also spotlight real-life cases of hidden cameras and privacy violations in hotels and Airbnbs that make you think twice before hanging your Do Not Disturb sign.
AKA the episode that will make you never stay in a hotel again.
This episode includes discussions of voyeurism, sexual assault, and murder. Listener discretion is advised.
Gay Talese, The Voyeur’s Motel (The New Yorker, April 2016)
The Guardian reviews and features on The Voyeur’s Motel
Vox: “Why Gay Talese disavowed (and then reavowed) his book”
University of Florida: “The Murky Ethics of Gay Talese’s The Voyeur’s Motel”
Westword: “Steven Spielberg, Sam Mendes Bail on Movie About The Voyeur’s Motel”
Available wherever you get your podcasts - just search Switchblade Sisters Social Club. 🔗 Subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, or wherever you listen to your episodes.
#TrueCrimePodcast #SwitchbladeSistersSocialClub #TheVoyeursMotel #GayTalese #JournalismEthics #CreepyCuteCarnival #TrueCrimeStories #Voyeurism #PrivacyScandal #HotelHorror
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