These are longreads that I recommend because they're just good yarns. There's usually not a broader lesson. I don't read tons of these so you probably have better ones (send them in!) but these are good.

A few in the "insane stories about long cons" genre:

• This is my favorite thing I've read in the New Yorker. I won't spoil it (beyond the category above).
• Emma Perrier was deceived by an older man on the internet—a hoax that turned into an unbelievable love story. I spent the entire article wondering whether she was going to end up with the man who had romanced her with a fake photo and dialogue, or ... with the random model whose photo it was! And it was the latter! I guess this is just the exact plot of Cyrano de Bergerac.
• ‘I was a teacher for 17 years, but I couldn’t read or write’

Pretty incredible political murder mystery, If you want the quick version check out the first paragraph of this bonkers Wikipedia page (but it will "spoil" the article). I think the article doesn't add much except the pleasure of consuming a crazy story slowly. Which is something.

Great yarn from Reddit that I won't spoil (might not be true, but good either way).

2-hour video on a former Christian explaining his conversion to atheism. I recommend converting it to an mp3 and listening to it like a podcast, since the visuals add ~nothing. I found this really fascinating and moving, just a very honest and thorough account of how someone changed their mind.

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