Carr Hagerman: Out Of The Blue Podcast

Welcome

Carr Hagerman — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 21:22:00 GMT

If you found your way here from Penn’s Sunday School, welcome. I’m glad you came.

Some of you are paid subscribers, some aren’t yet. Either way, you’re here, and that’s what matters for now.

Out of the Blue is the podcast at the center of this Substack. It’s my first-hand account of being wrongfully accused of a crime that didn’t happen, couldn’t have happened, the destruction of my career and reputation, the legal fight, and what came after. Some episodes are behind a paywall. The new ones will keep coming.

If something here earns your attention, share it. Please feel free to post in the chats, I’ll respond directly. That’s how this grows.

More coming soon.

Carr

Penn's Sunday School

Carr Hagerman — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 17:53:08 GMT

Penn Jillette has been a friend for a long time. Last week he gave me a seat at his table on Penn's Sunday School — one of the longest-running podcasts around — and we had a conversation I won't forget. It's a heavy one. But it matters. I'm grateful he made room for it.

New & Improved Website

Carr Hagerman — Fri, 22 May 2026 16:23:08 GMT

Using technology is something like building muscle. It’s iterative. You learn by doing, and when you’re learning a new tool, process, or software to solve a problem, you’re going to pull a muscle. Wh…

Episode 11: Not Guilty: I'm Coming Home

Carr Hagerman — Mon, 11 May 2026 18:47:00 GMT

For years, I imagined the day I’d finish this podcast. I didn’t know what it would look like, or how long it would take, but here I am. Season one is finished.

I’m not a legal expert, I’m just a man t…

Episode 10: The Trial Begins

Carr Hagerman — Mon, 11 May 2026 15:44:00 GMT

After nearly five years of waiting, the day finally arrived, the beginning of my trial.

In this episode, I’ll walk you into the courtroom and into the emotional and legal chaos of the trial. From jur…

Episode 9: The Minnesota Department Of Human Wrongs

Carr Hagerman — Sat, 09 May 2026 14:28:00 GMT

Of all the garbage I had to dig through in the wake of the false accusation against me in 2017, nothing pissed me off more than the so-called “investigation” by the Minnesota Department of Human Righ…

Episode 8: Trial By Media Pt. 2: Guilty As Reported

Carr Hagerman — Fri, 08 May 2026 16:17:00 GMT

In August 2018, two months after my arrest, the Star Tribune and Minnesota Public Radio published lengthy stories about a civil lawsuit naming me as a serial predator. They quoted accusers. They incl…

Episode 7: Trial by Headline: Part 1

Carr Hagerman — Thu, 07 May 2026 15:00:00 GMT

In June 2018, I was arrested on rape charges. By August, two of Minnesota’s largest news outlets, the Star Tribune and Minnesota Public Radio, had published damaging and reckless stories about me tha…

Episode 6: One Hundred Thousand Dollars - Going Broke Making Bail

Carr Hagerman — Wed, 06 May 2026 12:32:00 GMT

In America, we're told you're innocent until proven guilty. But the system doesn't work that way. The moment you're arrested, the punishment begins. Bail, legal fees, lost income, destroyed reputatio…

Episode 5: Arrested for Rape: The Day My Life Ended

Carr Hagerman — Tue, 05 May 2026 15:00:00 GMT

The Minnesota Renaissance Festival in Shakopee, Minnesota, had been my performing home since 1974. It wasn’t a full-time job or even a job in the traditional sense—it was a seven-weekend open-air eve…

Episode 4: MeToo Came to My Door

Carr Hagerman — Mon, 04 May 2026 15:01:00 GMT

In 2017, I was wrongfully accused of a crime I didn't commit. By the time I was acquitted in 2022, my career at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival was over and my retirement was gone.

This is what I l…

Episode 3: Wrongfully Accused During MeToo: How a Moral Panic Starts Inside a Renaissance Festival

Carr Hagerman — Mon, 04 May 2026 01:24:00 GMT

Journal Entry - November 2017 - Barnes And Noble Cafe (one month after I received a restraining order)

“This simmering fear, this cloud of worry that hangs over me, follows me around. I feel like I’m …

Episode 2: Mickey Mouse With A Bong And A Codpiece

Carr Hagerman — Sat, 02 May 2026 18:01:00 GMT

In 2018, I was wrongfully accused of rape. The accusation was false. I had no criminal record, no history of violence. But the moment I was arrested, my career vanished, my savings were destroyed, and I became a pariah.

For four years, I fought the charges. In 2022, a jury deliberated for only minutes before finding me not guilty. But by then, the damage was catastrophic and irreversible.

This Substack chronicles my story: the false accusation, the legal battle, the media frenzy, and the devastating consequences of being publicly condemned before being proven innocent. I’ll share the full account that was never heard outside the courtroom, examine how accusations become convictions in the court of public opinion, and explore what happens when that slippery word “alleged” gets lost in the hysteria.

I spent 45 years at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival, rising from teenage performer to Artistic Director. I built a career as a consultant, speaker, and writer. And in an instant, all of it was gone.

Episode 1: After my arrest. The Shower.

Carr Hagerman — Fri, 01 May 2026 21:22:00 GMT

In 2018, police arrived at my home with an arrest warrant for two counts of Federal Sexual Misconduct. The accusation was false. The evidence would eventually prove it. But none of that mattered as I was processed and locked in a concrete cell.

This isn’t a story about heroic resilience or finding silver linings. It’s about the actual experience of wrongful incarceration: the panic attacks, the institutional indifference, the way time distorts in a windowless cage. About a kid covered in tattoos who shit-talked by day and wept at night. About discovering that small acts of service—even cleaning a shower no one asked you to clean—can be a path back to yourself.

I spent four days and three nights in Scott County Jail. I missed my 60th birthday party and saw our daughter through a video screen instead of in person. This episode is the beginning of a five-year legal ordeal that changed everything.
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Episode 5: Making Bail - Going Broke (Audio)

Carr Hagerman — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 16:02:58 GMT

In July 2018, Carr Hagerman wrote in his journal: "Who am I now that all my work has been destroyed? I've disappeared." He didn't know yet how much worse it would get. In this episode of Out of the Blue, Carr takes you inside the bail hearing — the frozen clock, the indifferent prosecutor, the $100,000 that changed everything — and maps the financial and psychological wreckage that follows a wrongful accusation. Not the verdict. The accusation. This is an episode about how the system is designed, who it protects, and what it costs everyone else.

https://gofund.me/d74cba5eb

Episode 4: The Arrest (Audio)

Carr Hagerman — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 16:01:08 GMT

On June 15, 2018, two days before my 60th birthday party, police pounded on my door with an arrest warrant. The charge: rape. I was innocent, but that didn’t matter. What followed was a descent into …