Bedtime Stories

Most of us move through time without ever noticing it. Seconds pass, days accumulate, years slip quietly behind us. But on rare occasions, something appears to go wrong. A person finds themselves somewhere they do not belong, surrounded by a world that feels unfamiliar, faster, louder, and strangely hostile. In the winter of 1951, in the heart of New York City, witnesses reported seeing a man step...

In the great deserts of the American Southwest, people vanish with unsettling regularity. Some leave behind traces that hint at what happened. Others seem to step out of the world entirely, swallowed by a landscape vast enough to hide anything and quiet enough that no one hears it happen. But every so often, a disappearance leaves behind more questions than answers. A hiker known for pushing his l...

In a previous episode, we explored several disturbing encounters involving a creature long feared within Navajo tradition; an entity said to move with unnatural speed, mimic familiar voices, and stalk the lonely highways of the American Southwest. Those stories were unsettling enough, yet they represent only a fraction of the reports that continue to emerge. In this episode, we return to the shado...

During the late 1970s, a fully laden DC-10 passenger jet crashed shortly after take-off, killing everyone on board. The disaster shocked the nation, prompting investigations, headlines, and a long search for answers. Yet in the days leading up to the tragedy, something quietly unsettling had been unfolding elsewhere. One man, living hundreds of miles away and with no connection to the flight, bega...

In 1955, a small silver sports car rolled out of a California garage and into American folklore. It was sleek, fast, and dangerous. A machine built for the racetrack. But within weeks, its young owner would be dead, and the car itself would become infamous. What followed were decades of bizarre accidents, unexplained fatalities, and eerie coincidences, all linked to the same deadly machine. Some n...

In 1947, a cargo ship was discovered drifting aimlessly through calm waters in the Indian Ocean. When rescuers finally boarded, what they found defied all logic. Every member of the crew lay dead, sprawled across the decks, their eyes wide open, mouths frozen mid-scream. Yet the vessel itself showed no sign of fire, struggle, or damage of any kind. No wounds, no blood, no explanation. To this day,...

Throughout history, humankind has turned its gaze towards the heavens in search of mystery. Yet time and again, it is beneath the ground where the most enduring enigmas are found. Across every continent lie tales of ancient tunnels, lost chambers, and sealed structures that predate all known civilisation. One such story emerged from the mountains of wartime Slovakia, where a wounded soldier claime...

One night, while walking through the woods on the outskirts of her town, an elderly woman discovered what she thought was an abandoned infant lying in the dirt. She carried it home and resolved to raise it herself, but what began as an act of compassion would soon spiral into a mystery that left her community asking whether the baby Aleshenka was even human. MUSIC  Tracks used by kind permission o...

In 1996, the quiet Brazilian town of Varginha became the centre of one of the strangest UFO cases in modern history. Nestled amongst the hills of Minas Gerais, its residents reported encounters with a bizarre, non-human creature, an event that would draw global attention, military involvement, and decades of speculation. Was it all an elaborate hoax to put this small town on the map, or did someth...

Experience tells us there are certain professions in which people are far more likely to encounter the unexplained than others. As the many accounts featured on our sister podcast Wartime Stories clearly demonstrate, one such group is military personnel. But another, just as frequently, is the world of law enforcement, where officers across the globe have reported experiences that defy logic, reas...

In the woods just east of Louisville, Kentucky, an old railway bridge cuts through the treeline. To many, it would appear no different to any other trestle found in the rural US. But locals believe that this particular overpass is guarded by a goat-like beast so disturbing that it causes those who see it to instantly run for their lives, or, in some cases, their deaths. For more than half a centur...

In 1988, a new section of road was carved through the hills of the Peak District in Northern England. Built to divert heavy traffic away from the small town of Stocksbridge, the bypass was meant to bring relief. But almost from the start, strange reports began to surface from workers on the site - sightings of figures where no one should be, and unsettling incidents that defied explanation. In the...

Fact or fiction, is there anything more terrifying than the idea of being abducted by aliens? History is littered with such accounts, depicting scenes of horrifying experimentation. But what if some of these beings were benevolent, instead inviting us to learn from them? In 1980, one man may have been given that chance. Whether still on this planet or not, his disappearance has left us asking; wha...

On the 25th June 1986, a routine journey across Spain turned tragic. In the early morning, a tanker truck carrying thousands of litres of sulphuric acid crashed whilst crossing the Somosierra mountain pass. But the driver was not alone. He had brought along his wife and 10-year-old son. When authorities arrived to investigate, they found something truly unexpected: the boy was missing. Over the en...

For centuries, the deserts and mountains of the Middle East have been steeped in myth and mystery. From ancient conquerors to modern armies, those who marched into these lands often returned with stories of strange and unexplainable encounters. In more recent times, the deserts of Afghanistan and Iraq have become the backdrop for some of the world’s most intense conflicts — and with them, unsettli...

On the evening of 24 February 1978, five friends from Northern California - Ted Weiher, Jack Madruga, Bill Sterling, Jackie Huett, and Gary Mathias - set off to watch a basketball game. They never returned. Months later, four of them were discovered dead in the snowy wilderness of the Plumas National Forest, seventy miles from their intended route. The fifth man has never been found alive… or dead...

David Paulides, a former police officer turned researcher, has spent years investigating unexplained deaths and disappearances in North America’s national parks. His work has catalogued thousands of cases that defy easy explanation. In this episode, we follow his findings and ask the question: is there something in the woods - something that stalks and hunts human beings? MUSIC  Tracks used by kin...

For centuries, reports of mysterious flying beings have surfaced across the Americas. Witnesses describe them as humanoid in form yet moving without wings, descending silently from the skies to terrify those who encounter them. But in the early 2000s, northern Mexico became the focal point of some of the most striking and widely reported cases. Police officers, farmers, and ordinary residents all...

Located on the south-west coast of Wales, Carmarthenshire’s shoreline offers some of the nation’s most peaceful and picturesque scenery. Yet behind this natural beauty lies a history marked by tragedy, where countless lives have been lost in circumstances both sudden and severe. In this episode, we explore accounts in which visitors to the area have found themselves caught up in strange, unexplain...

Across the world, there are pockets of land where the skies seem restless. Places where strange lights appear without warning and encounters with the unknown are whispered about for generations. Their locations are often fixed on maps by triangulating the nearest towns and cities, yet their reputations are defined not by geography, but by the stories told about them. One such place lies in the hea...

Each year, people around the world report having encounters with bizarre animals that seem not to be of this earth. It occurs so frequently that an entire scientific discipline, cryptozoology, was established to study the phenomenon. For a brief period during the early 1970s, one small town in rural Illinois would briefly play host to an entity so mysterious that neither the residents themselves n...

In most missing persons cases, time eventually provides answers. The individual is either found safe and well, or, sadly, they are located after passing. However, in a frustratingly small number of cases, neither the family nor the public ever receives true closure. When this lack of resolution is due to police failings, the consequences can be devastating. This was certainly the case in the inves...

The Battle of Antietam during the American Civil War remains the bloodiest day in American history. That day, and the future of the United States, could have turned out very differently, if not for a single note and three cigars. From Ballen Studios, join us - for the most heart pounding podcast in history. Listen to ⁠A Twist of History⁠ wherever you get your podcasts! Learn more about your ad cho...

During the Cold War, soldiers stationed on an army base in the German city of Celle began to report strange, unexplainable experiences. As time wore on, many of the men came to believe they were being terrorised by a sinister paranormal presence. These encounters proved so horrifying that some took their own lives rather than face another night on patrol. Whilst the incidents were largely dismisse...

Having an encounter with a UFO is one of the most bizarre and overwhelming events a person might experience. But in a large percentage of these cases, the sighting itself is just the beginning. Over the years, hundreds of witnesses have reported being visited by strange, unearthly men in the days and weeks following their sightings. Are they government agents of suppression, extraterrestrial visit...