Beyond the Ferns

On this week’s episode, I sit down with Noah from the Real Hauntings Real Ghost Stories podcast to hear about his paranormal encounters. Noah’s experiences began in childhood and have continued into the present day, with many involving strange occurrences that pull him from a dreamlike state, only to find himself face-to-face with ghosts and other unexplained phenomena. We also nerd out on where o...

On this week's episode, we are headed to Minnesota to explore the cold case of Chris Jenkins. On Halloween night in 2002, 21-year-old Chris Jenkins, a University of Minnesota student and lacrosse player, headed out with friends to celebrate in downtown Minneapolis. Dressed in a Halloween costume, Chris spent part of the evening at the Lone Tree Bar and Grill. Reports indicate he was kicked out of...

In this week's episode, Beyond the Ferns listener John takes us back to the late 1990s, to a haunted house in Texas where an unsettling presence seemed to lurk within its walls. But what began as an eerie atmosphere took a terrifying turn when his family witnessed something they could hardly comprehend—someone desperately grasping at their family member's throat, struggling against an unseen force...

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On this week's episode, we are headed to London! In the spring of 1971, two young brothers were pulling weeds in the garden of their family home in England, when they uncovered something strange beneath the soil: two small, formed stone-like heads. At first, they seemed like little more than an unusual discovery. Then, according to the families involved, things began to happen. Objects reportedly...

In this week's episode, we are headed to Pennsylvania! Christmas morning, 2002. As record-breaking snow blanketed Middletown, Pennsylvania, a family gathering that should have happened the night before had never taken place. When Jean Wholaver and her daughters, 20-year-old Victoria and 15-year-old Elizabeth, failed to show up for their traditional Christmas Eve celebration, concern quickly grew....

In the early morning hours of October 29, 1995, 24-year-old Leah Ulbrich was seen struggling with a man inside a dark-colored car. Minutes later, that same car was speeding through the streets toward the town of Wethersfield—with Leah's body dragging outside the passenger door. What followed was a horrifying journey that stretched for miles through an area that was already beginning to wake up for...

In this week's episode, we are headed to California! On the morning of March 29, 2011, a man came across something horrifying along a dirt road cutting through a vineyard near the small farming community of Arvin. The body of a woman had been left among the rows of grapevines. She had no clothing, no identification, and whoever had placed her there had gone to disturbing lengths to make sure ident...

In this week's episode, we are headed to New Jersey! It was supposed to be an ordinary summer night. In July 2013, 41-year-old Donna Ongsiako was home alone at her secluded farmhouse in Colts Neck, New Jersey. Her daughter was at a party for the evening, the house was quiet, and Donna was simply going through her normal nighttime routine when she opened her front door. Standing on the other side w...

Hi y'all! I am in the midst of moving -- anyone who has ever moved, knows just how chaotic an event like this can be! Because of this, we are revisiting one of my favorite throwback episodes from the archives of Dark October-- Urban Legends! For those of you who can't wait for Halloween - this one is for you! All new episodes will resume next week

In this week's episode, we are headed to the vast ocean! By the late 1940s, aviation had entered an entirely new era. World War II had pushed aircraft technology forward at an incredible pace, and when the war ended in 1945, those advancements began making their way into civilian travel. Longer routes were becoming possible, transatlantic flights were expanding, and air travel was beginning to con...

In this week's episode, we are headed to Sunnyvale, California! There’s something especially unsettling about a toy store after dark. The bright aisles are empty, the registers are silent, and hundreds of dolls, stuffed animals, and toys sit perfectly still… or at least, they’re supposed to. For decades, employees at a Toys “R” Us in Sunnyvale, California, claimed something strange was happening i...

In this week's episode, we are headed to Okalahoma! In October 2009, Bobby and Sherilynn Jamison and their 6-year-old daughter, Madyson, headed into the remote mountains of southeastern Oklahoma. The family was looking at a piece of land where they were considering starting a new life. Then, they vanished. Days later, their truck was discovered abandoned in the mountains. Inside were their cell ph...

In this week's episode, we are diving into the devastating murder and aftermath of Maria Korp. In February 2005, Melbourne mother Maria Korp seemingly vanished without a trace. She had left behind her belongings, her family, and a life that—at least from the outside—appeared relatively ordinary. But as police began looking closer at the people surrounding Maria, they uncovered a marriage fractured...

In this week's episode, we are headed to Australia! Part I of 2 Maria Korp had built a life she was proud of. A devoted mother, a hardworking woman, and someone who believed she was doing everything she could to hold her family together. But while she fought to save her marriage, her husband was living a double life—one built on lies, deception, and an affair that was quickly spiraling out of cont...

In this week's episode, we are headed to London, England! At a time when medical schools desperately needed bodies for anatomical study, a thriving black market emerged, creating a horrifying demand that started with grave robbing and turned into much more. In this episode, we'll explore how the London Burkers operated, the victims they targeted, the investigation that finally exposed them, and ho...

In this week's episode, we are headed to Canada! In February 2008, Lindsay Buziak was in the midst of starting her real estate career in the booming and desirable Victoria, Canada. One day, she received a call from a woman who was interested in a seeing a multi-millionaire dollar property. Something about this call didn't sit right with Lindsay, but she couldn't exactly pinpoint why. Unfortunately...

This week we are headed to Georgia! On a cold January morning in 2002, 20-year-old Christopher "Chris" Thompkins was working with a land surveying crew in rural Ellerslie, Georgia, when he took off in a dead sprint out of nowhere. According to those with him that day, there was nothing chasing him nor any signs that he wanted to leave his life behind. What investigators found only deepened the mys...

In this week's episode, we are headed to Canada! Hidden in the quiet town of Penetanguishene, Ontario, the Oak Ridge Psychiatric Facility was once home to some of Canada's most dangerous offenders—and some of the country's most controversial psychiatric experiments. What began as an ambitious attempt to rehabilitate violent patients eventually evolved into a series of unconventional treatment prog...

In this week's episode, we are headed to Canada! On a stormy night in November 1980, a brilliant and eccentric mechanic named Granger Taylor seemingly vanished without a trace from his hometown of Cowichan Bay. Long before his disappearance, Taylor had gained a reputation as a mechanical genius, capable of restoring old locomotives, rebuilding aircraft, and creating incredible machines despite hav...

In this final road trip stop in the US of A - we are headed to Hawaii! In the mid-1980s, a series of murders transformed what many considered paradise into a community gripped by fear. Between 1985 and 1986, five women disappeared from the Honolulu area and were later found dead in isolated locations across Oʻahu. The victims came from different backgrounds, but investigators began noticing striki...

On this week's episode we are headed to the greate state of Alaska! On April 26, 1993, 20-year-old Sophie Sergie was found murdered in a women's restroom inside Bartlett Hall at University of Alaska Fairbanks. Sophie, a Yup'ik student from the small village of Pitkas Point, had traveled to Fairbanks for orthodontic appointments and was staying with friends in the dormitory. Investigators determine...

This week we are headed to Rhode Island! On the evening of August 31, 1990, Adam and Elena Emery were enjoying dinner with friends in Rocky Point, Rhode Island, when a passing vehicle sideswiped Adam's parked Ford Thunderbird. Rather than stopping to exchange information, the driver sped away into the night. Furious over the damage and determined to find the person responsible, Adam started chasin...

In this week's episode, we are headed to Iowa! Towering above the graves of Oakland Cemetery in Iowa City stands one of the most highly debated, ominous monuments in the Midwest — the Black Angel. Darkened with age and looming beneath the trees, the massive bronze statue has watched over the cemetery for more than a century, its hollow eyes and blackened wings turning it into the center of whisper...

This week we are headed to Maryland! We will be stepping inside the mind of Edgar Allan Poe to explore the darkness that shaped some of his most haunting works. Poe’s writing wasn’t simply created from imagination — it was deeply rooted in his own grief, isolation, fear, and a lifelong sense of never truly belonging anywhere. After enduring repeated loss throughout his life, including the deaths o...