Mysteries at Bedtime

Listener discretion advised: This story contains subject matter some may find upsetting. In the quiet Scottish countryside, just outside Dumbarton, lies an elegant stone bridge that has become infamous around the world. Since the 1950s, Overtoun Bridge has drawn eerie attention for a chilling phenomenon: hundreds of dogs have leapt from its walls—many to their deaths—without warning or explanation...

In 1976, the small town of Circleville, Ohio, began receiving letters, hundreds of them. Each one was anonymous. Each one accused neighbours, teachers, and officials of dark secrets. And each one carried the same eerie signature: none at all. The anonymous writer seemed to know everything, where people worked, who they spoke to, even private affairs no one else could have known. Then came the thre...

In December 1946, 18-year-old Bennington College student Paula Jean Welden set out for a short hike on Vermont’s Long Trail. She was seen by motorists and hikers and then she was gone. Despite one of the largest searches in state history, no trace was ever found. Her case not only unsettled a community, but directly led to the creation of the Vermont State Police, and became part of the legend of...

In 1928, nine-year-old Walter Collins vanished on his way to the cinema in Los Angeles. Months later, police declared they had solved the case and returned a boy to his grieving mother. But when Christine Collins insisted the child was not her son, she found herself locked in a battle with one of America’s most corrupt police departments and at the centre of a mystery that would spiral into one of...

In December 2016, American diplomats in Havana, Cuba, began reporting a strange set of symptoms, nausea, dizziness, headaches, and hearing loss. Many described hearing a high-pitched sound, like marbles rolling inside a funnel, just before the illness struck. By 2018, dozens of U.S. and Canadian officials had been affected, sparking panic, diplomatic fallout, and years of investigation. Was it a n...

In August 2005, 21-year-old Australian backpacker Ryan Chambers walked barefoot out of an ashram in Rishikesh, India, leaving behind his passport, wallet, phone, and shoes. He was never seen again. For nearly two decades, his family searched across India, chasing rumours and plastering posters from Punjab to Rajasthan. In 2023, a South Australian court finally declared Ryan dead — but the mystery...

n January 2013, 21-year-old Canadian student Elisa Lam checked into Los Angeles’ infamous Cecil Hotel. Known for its dark history of crime, tragedy, and mystery, the hotel was the last place Elisa was seen alive. When she failed to check out or contact her family, police launched a search. Two weeks later, security footage of Elisa inside a hotel elevator shocked the world. Her behaviour, pressing...

In 1872, the merchant brigantine Mary Celeste left New York Harbor on a routine voyage to Italy. On board were Captain Benjamin Briggs, his wife Sarah, their young daughter Sophia, and a crew of seven experienced sailors. Just weeks later, the ship was found drifting in the Atlantic Ocean — fully seaworthy, cargo intact, provisions untouched… but not a single soul remained on board. What happened...

On Christmas Eve 1945, a fire tore through the Sodder family home in West Virginia. George and Jennie escaped with some of their children, but five never made it out. When no remains were found in the ashes, suspicion turned to sabotage, kidnapping, and conspiracy. This is the enduring mystery of the Sodder children. You can get early and ad free access to this show and more here Hosted on Acast....

It was an ordinary May morning in 1978 when Polish farmer Jan Wolski set out in his horse-drawn cart. By the end of that ride, he would tell a story that has haunted Emilcin ever since. He described tall, silent beings, a hovering craft without doors, and a strange medical examination that defied explanation. Wolski’s matter-of-fact account has been studied, questioned, and celebrated as one of Eu...

In June 1983, fifteen-year-old Vatican citizen Emanuela Orlandi vanished on her way home from a music lesson in Rome. What began as a missing-person case soon spiralled into one of Italy’s greatest mysteries — entangled with whispers of Cold War intrigue, mafia blackmail, and Vatican secrets. Forty years later, her fate remains unsolved. You can get early and ad free access to this show and more h...

In 1964, at California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base, a routine missile test turned into one of the most compelling UFO encounters of the Cold War era. Radar operators, engineers, and officers reported seeing something they could not explain. In this episode of Mysteries at Bedtime, we take you inside the base, into the control rooms and along the launch pads, to relive the night when the U.S. milit...

On September 11, 2001, thousands of lives were lost when the Twin Towers collapsed — but one case still stands apart. Dr. Sneha Anne Philip, a 31-year-old physician living just blocks from the World Trade Center, vanished in the hours before the attacks. Security cameras caught her shopping the night before, but she was never seen again. Was she killed trying to help victims in the chaos of that m...

In March 2013, Russian billionaire and outspoken Putin critic Boris Berezovsky was found dead in the bathroom of his Berkshire estate. Officially, his death was left an “open verdict,” with investigators unable to rule suicide or foul play. But Berezovsky’s life was anything but ordinary—once a Kremlin insider who helped Putin rise to power, he later became a target after falling out with Moscow....

In 1930s Delhi, a young girl stunned her parents and teachers with memories she should not have had. Shanti Devi insisted she had lived before — in a town over 100 miles away, with a husband, a home, and a death during childbirth. Her case became India’s most famous investigation into reincarnation, drawing the attention of Mahatma Gandhi himself. Was Shanti Devi truly remembering another life, or...

When 31-year-old Gloria Ramirez was rushed to Riverside General Hospital, no one expected the chaos that would follow. Medical staff began fainting, vomiting, and collapsing as they tried to treat her. Was her body giving off toxic fumes, or was there another explanation? Known today as “The Toxic Woman,” her story remains one of the strangest medical mysteries in history. You can get early and ad...

In 1991, American singer-songwriter Pam Reynolds underwent a rare, high-risk procedure known as a hypothermic cardiac arrest “standstill” surgery to remove a giant brain aneurysm. Her body temperature was lowered to just 15°C, her heartbeat and breathing stopped, and her brain activity registered flat. Yet Pam later described vivid, verifiable details from the operating room, from the surgical too...

On 6 April 1966, in the Melbourne suburb of Clayton South, more than 200 students and teachers claimed to see a silver, saucer-shaped object hover over a school before darting away at incredible speed. Minutes later, mysterious men arrived and the incident was hushed up. Decades on, the witnesses are still searching for the truth. This is the Westall UFO mystery. You can get early and ad free acce...

On December 5, 1945, five U.S. Navy Avenger torpedo bombers known as Flight 19 took off from Fort Lauderdale on a routine training mission over the Atlantic. But somewhere over the sea, things began to go terribly wrong. The pilots reported bizarre compass malfunctions, shifting skies, and confusion over their location. Then… silence. Flight 19 vanished and no trace of the aircraft or the crew mem...

In 1966, the bodies of two men were discovered on a remote hill outside Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. They were lying side by side, dressed in matching suits and waterproof coats. What made the scene truly eerie were the lead masks covering their eyes, like homemade radiation goggles and the cryptic handwritten note found nearby: "Be at the agreed place at 16:30. Take capsules after the effect, protect...

In 2011, 32-year-old Jack Froese died suddenly from a heart arrhythmia in Pennsylvania. But just months after his funeral, emails began arriving from Jack’s account, sent to close friends and family. These weren’t generic messages. They were deeply personal , referencing private conversations and recent events that occurred after Jack’s death . In this episode of Mysteries at Bedtime , we explore...

On a cold Christmas Eve in 1975, experienced pilot and former RAF serviceman Peter Gibbs took off in a light aircraft from the Glenforsa Airfield on Scotland’s remote Isle of Mull. The runway was unlit, the skies dark, and no one expected him to fly but he insisted. Minutes later, he disappeared into the night. What followed is one of Britain’s most baffling aviation mysteries. Four months later,...

Beneath the opulent halls of The Greenbrier Hotel in West Virginia lies one of America's best-kept Cold War secrets a massive underground fallout shelter built in the 1950s, known as Project Greek Island . For over 30 years, this covert government facility remained hidden in plain sight, ready to house every member of the U.S. Congress in the event of nuclear war. But when the existence of the bun...

In the quiet village of Dodleston, Cheshire, a bizarre and baffling mystery began unfolding in 1984. Ken Webster, a schoolteacher, was working on a BBC Micro computer when strange messages began to appear—written in an archaic form of English, and allegedly sent by someone living in the year 1541 . The messages continued over the following months, becoming more elaborate and unnerving. Later, new...

Mysteries at Bedtime is a twice weekly narrative podcast from the creator of the hit shows Crime at Bedtime and One Minute Remaining. This new series explores the world’s strangest unexplained phenomena. Paranormal encounters, mysterious disappearances, UFO sightings, cryptids, and government conspiracies all told in a calming, immersive style perfect for winding down at night. Each episode is dee...