That's Spooky · Tyler Hyde & Johnny Cann | Morbid Network

Locked-Jaws

April 1, 2026·1 hr 32 min·5 clips

Marine biologists testing 85 Bahamas sharks found caffeine, anti-inflammatory drugs, and cocaine in their bloodstreams — raising alarms about pharmaceutical ocean contamination.

1. That's Spooky hosts Johnny and Tyler continue part two of their series on the Ocean Gate Titan submersible disaster. 2. Johnny is the primary researcher and presenter of the Titan story; Tyler is the reactive co-host; both are recurring hosts identified by first name only. 3. The episode serves as a continuation from the previous week's episode, which covered the founding of Ocean Gate, the carbon fiber hull decision, and the David Lockridge whistleblower report. 4. Before the main story, Tyler presents a CBS News report from March 26, 2026, about blood samples taken from 85 sharks across five species in the Bahamas, which found detectable caffeine in 28 sharks, two common over-the-counter painkillers in several, and cocaine in one shark. 5. Scientists cited in the study are concerned about pharmaceuticals entering ocean ecosystems through tourism-driven coastal development and how these substances may affect shark health, feeding, and reproduction. 6. The hosts also discuss RuPaul's Drag Race season 18, episode 13, including the elimination of Jane Don't, Nini Coco's back tuck during the lip sync, and the Karen's Gone Wild improv challenge. 7. Returning to the Titan narrative: Ocean Gate founder Stockton Rush III — described as generationally wealthy with ancestors who signed the Declaration of Independence — wanted to build the first commercial deep-sea tourism operation targeting the Titanic wreck at 3,840 meters. 8. Rush bucked more than 50 years of submersible safety innovation by using carbon fiber for the hull, a material suited to aeronautics for its light weight but not to deep-sea pressure, which Ocean Gate's own marine operations director David Lockridge had flagged in a 10-page report. 9. Lockridge was fired and then sued by Rush in a retaliatory lawsuit for divulging company secrets after filing an OSHA whistleblower complaint; they eventually settled out of court. 10. The Marine Technology Society sent Rush a letter — which was leaked to him rather than formally delivered — warning that the Titan design would produce failures ranging from minor to catastrophic. 11. Ocean Gate took deposits beginning in May 2018 at over $100,000 per seat, and later over $250,000, before the Titan had ever reached the Titanic wreck site, using customer deposits to fund ongoing development. 12. Paying passengers were reclassified as 'mission specialists' with invented crew roles to circumvent legal requirements for passenger vessel certification. 13. Rush told staff he would have the Titan classed by Lloyd's Register, but CBC confirmed directly with Lloyd's that they had reviewed the craft and declined to continue any appraisal. 14. Rush strategically built the Titan in the US, tested it in the Bahamas, and operated it from Canada into international waters to create jurisdictional ambiguity and minimize regulatory oversight. 15. In April 2019 on dive 47, at 3,760 meters depth, the carbon fiber hull cracked all the way through with a sound witnesses described as a gunshot; the hull had to be completely rebuilt, keeping Titan out of the water until spring 2021. 16. Ocean Gate publicly attributed the two-year absence from operations to logistical challenges finding a support ship, not disclosing the hull failure or rebuild. 17. Titan returned to testing in spring 2021 with a new carbon fiber hull, and the first expedition to the Titanic wreck site launched from St. John's, Newfoundland on June 30, 2021 aboard the support ship Horizon Arctic. 18. On July 9, 2021, the first nominally successful dive reached the Titanic debris field with PH Nargeolet — who had previously dived the Titanic 37 times — but the crew was stuck at the bottom for nearly two hours in darkness due to battery failure before regaining power and surfacing. 19. The episode's tone is darkly comedic and conversational, with the hosts alternating between gallows humor about Stockton Rush and genuine horror at the structural failures; it is framed as an informal but deeply researched true-crime-adjacent narrative. 20. Best suited for listeners interested in corporate negligence, maritime disaster history, or true-crime-adjacent storytelling with a comedic LGBTQ+ voice.

As heard by us

A joke-heavy Titan story that still keeps the timeline clear.

The episode starts with deep-fryer banter, then settles into the Titan submersible disaster. Johnny and Tyler keep it loose, but the timeline stays intact as the story moves from the trip to Newfoundland to the first dive attempts, then to the later dive that reaches the Titanic…

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Why you'd press play

For a chaotic Titan dive story with jokes on the surface and dread underneath.

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