Darkly Speaking

Hidden in the darkened woods of the old Bailey Fisher farm lies a legend of something said to have arrived from far beyond West Virginia—inside a strange, glowing craft that descended over the hills one September night. Those unlucky enough to find themselves near the hill after dark tell of a towering figure moving between the trees, its presence accompanied by an overwhelming sense of dread. Som...

Today, we’re heading back down the Reddit rabbit hole for some of the internet’s creepiest stories—terrifying encounters involving stalkers, intruders, unexplained visitors, sleep paralysis, and situations that go from unsettling to absolutely horrifying.  From strangers who seem to be watching from a distance, intruders inside someone’s home, and sleep paralysis experiences that feel far too real...

It’s just an urban legend… right? One year ago, Darkly Speaking began with the mysterious death of Elisa Lam at the Cecil Hotel. For the podcast’s first anniversary, we’re returning to the case that started it all—and the unsettling urban legend forever tied to Elisa’s final known moments. The Elevator Game is said to transport players to another world using nothing more than a building with at le...

In August 1986, fourteen-year-old Jeremy Bright returned to his hometown of Myrtle Point, Oregon, to spend the week at the Coos County Fair with friends and family. On Thursday, August 14th, Jeremy was supposed to meet his younger sister at the Ferris wheel—but he never arrived. Nearly forty years later, Jeremy has never been found. His disappearance has become one of Oregon's most haunting unsolv...

Welcome to Part 2 of our Isle of Wight series. Last week, we explored one of the most haunted islands in the world — its castles, ruined estates, old hospitals, ghost stories, legends, and folklore. But tonight, we’re heading into an even creepier corner of the island. A story that feels like it was pulled straight out of a Stephen King novel… except this isn’t IT, and we’re not talking about Penn...

Tonight, I want to take you with me across one of the most haunted islands in the world. We’re going to visit a haunted castle where apparitions of lost souls walk the grounds, a vanished manor that allegedly returns at night glowing with candlelight, an old asylum where nurses and patients are still wandering empty corridors, and a manor where a young girl is said to call for her mother centuries...

In 2002, The Boston Globe published an investigation that permanently changed the way many people viewed the Catholic Church. What began as reporting on a single priest accused of abusing children quickly unraveled into something much larger — a disturbing pattern of accused clergy being quietly reassigned, victims silenced, complaints buried, and church officials seemingly more focused on avoidin...

Parts of the Appalachian mountains have been here longer than almost anything we know — hundreds of millions of years. Long before people… before the forests that cover them now… and they’ve seen a lot since. People have passed through, settled, disappeared… but the stories remain... Tonight, I’m going to walk you through a series of real-life horror stories straight from Appalachia — someone waki...

You’ve probably heard the stories—something calling your name from outside… something that looks wrong… not quite animal… not quite human. And if you’ve spent any time on the darker side of the internet, you’ve probably heard the word Skinwalker. It’s become one of the most talked-about—and most misunderstood—topics in paranormal spaces. Videos claiming to show proof of a shapeshifting cryptid. Do...

On February 24th, 1978, five young men left Yuba City in Northern California for what should have been an ordinary night — a college basketball game, a short drive home, and plans for the next morning they had been looking forward to for weeks. But they never made it home. Days later, their car was discovered abandoned on a remote mountain road — hours away from where they should have been and hea...

In the early morning hours of August 2nd, 1989, the Jack family packed up and left home after Ronnie Jack accepted a job offer from a mysterious stranger earlier that day. They were last believed to be traveling along Highway 16 in northern British Columbia — a remote corridor later known as the Highway of Tears. For decades, this stretch of road has been linked to the disappearances and murders o...

Imagine waking up inside an endless maze spanning hundreds of millions of square miles, with no clear way out. The hum of fluorescent lights fills the air at full volume. Yellowing wallpaper peels from the walls. Damp, stained carpet stretches through rooms that never seem to end. Spaces once meant for people — offices, hallways, waiting rooms — now stripped of purpose and abandoned. A place where...

In January 1996, nine-year-old Amber Hagerman was abducted in broad daylight while riding her bike near her grandparents' home in Arlington, Texas. A witness saw a man force her into a pickup truck. The vehicle was distinctive. The description was clear. What didn’t exist was a way to alert the public—fast enough, wide enough, or urgently enough to make a difference. Amber was held for two days be...

We’re back in the wilderness of Vermont’s Bennington Triangle — a stretch of land tied to murders, disappearances, and stories that refuse to stay buried. In this chilling Part Two, we step into the other side of the story. The darker side of the Appalachian Mountains. Tonight, we dig into what surrounds the vanishings. Over the years, this region has been linked to murders, strange lights in the...

There's a haunting place in the Appalachian mountains associated with unexplained vanishings, violent deaths, and phenomena that refuse easy explanation. A region tied to stories of people disappearing without a trace, of murders that left more questions than answers, and of events that seem to bend time, space, and logic itself. Over the years, this landscape has become associated with accounts o...

You know the line — There’ll be parties for hosting Marshmallows for toasting And caroling out in the snow There’ll be scary ghost stories And tales of the glories Of Christmases long, long ago. This is one of those stories... The Signalman is a gothic short story by Charles Dickens that centers on an isolated railway worker who becomes convinced he is being warned of coming disasters by a ghostly...

Christmas has another history...  Before Santa, the season was shaped by pagan winter traditions and folklore filled with punishment and fear.  From belly-slitting witches said to roam during the winter solstice to a demonic beast who dragged sinners to hell, the season was once ruled by things far less holy.  So get cozy and settle in because because we're going back.. To the Darker version of Ch...

Five days before Christmas in 1984, 12-year-old Jonelle Matthews returned to her home in Greely Colorado after a school concert and vanished without a trace. No forced entry. No struggle. Just footprints in the snow behind the Matthews home.  Her disappearance quickly gained national attention, becoming one of the first cases featured in the milk carton campaign. And for nearly four decades, the i...

Have a terrifying story or strange encounter? I'd love to hear it! Please send your spooky scary stories to Darklyspeakingpodcast@gmail.com ⸻ Winter has a way of hiding things — until they step out of the dark right in front of you. In this episode, we’re walking through five chilling encounters that took place in the dead of winter. Footprints in the snow from an unwanted guest, strangers emergin...

In February 2018, 20-year-old Ryan Shtuka left a house party in Sun Peaks and began the short walk toward home. A route that should have taken just a few minutes. Ryan never made it home. Instead, his final movements remain frozen in time. Search crews pushed through deep snow and subzero temperatures. Volunteers returned week after week. Helicopters and ground teams covered every direction the te...

Weeks after the Dyatlov group’s final journal entries, search teams reached the site. The scene didn’t line up with a simple hiking accident: a tent sliced from the inside, barefoot tracks in the snow, and bodies found under injuries and circumstances no single theory could fully explain. In Part 2 of THE UNKNOWN: The Dyatlov Pass Tragedy, we break down the search, the recoveries, the injuries, an...

January 1959 — nine hikers set out into the frozen Ural Mountains. Experienced, prepared, and full of life. Days later, their tent was found ripped open from the inside. Their gear abandoned. Their bodies scattered across the snow. What happened on that mountainside has haunted investigators and historians for more than sixty years. In Part 1 of THE UNKNOWN: The Dyatlov Pass Tragedy, we retrace th...

In the summer of 2003, 19-year-old Sonya Ivanoff vanished from Nome, Alaska. When her body was discovered days later, the truth that surfaced would devastate the small town and force a reckoning with its own police force. As investigators closed in, they uncovered a betrayal that went far deeper than anyone imagined — one that exposed years of neglect and mistrust between Nome’s authorities and Al...

Legend has it, if you stand in a dark room with a mirror and say her name three times… she’ll show herself. Maybe she’ll whisper. Maybe she’ll crawl right out and drag you with her. So go on. Let’s play. Bloody Mary. Bloody Mary. Bloody Mary. The story has been passed down for generations — a sleepover dare turned ritual, stitched together from fear, history, and something much older than either....

Before The Conjuring Universe, there were the real stories — and the real consequences. In 1974, the quiet town of Amityville became ground zero for one of the most infamous hauntings in the world. Six members of the DeFeo family were murdered inside their home, and when the Lutz family moved in, they claimed something inhuman remained. Voices whispered. Walls bled. Crosses turned upside down. The...