Beyond the Ferns

This week, we are staying in Indiana to finish out Belle Gunness' horrifyingly shocking legacy! After arriving in La Porte, Indiana, Belle Gunness seemed determined to build the kind of life she had always wanted—land, financial security, and control. To neighbors, she appeared hardworking and capable, running her farm with a steady hand while raising children and welcoming a steady stream of hire...

This week, we are headed to Indiana! Belle Gunness didn’t just chase a better life—she seemed to study where money followed misfortune, and then quietly position herself in its path. Born as Brynhild Paulsdatter Størseth in rural Norway in 1859, she grew up in poverty, where survival meant hard work and very little security. But when she immigrated to the United States in the 1880s, something shif...

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In this week's episode, we are headed to Tennessee! On the surface, Janet March seemed to have built a beautiful life. She was an artist, a mother of two, and living in an affluent area of Nashville with her husband, successful attorney Perry March. Perry was intelligent, ambitious, and by many accounts, difficult to be around. He had built a reputation as a sharp attorney, but behind the scenes,...

In this week's episode, we are headed to Arkansas! In 2005, in the quiet college town of Russellville, AR, 19-year-old Nona Dirksmeyer was found brutally murdered inside her off-campus apartment. A student at Arkansas Tech University, Nona was known for her easygoing nature and close relationships— a talented woman who was crowned beauty pageant queen at Miss Jean Petit. In the earliest moments of...

In this week's episode, we are headed to North Dakota! Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind was a 22-year-old woman from Fargo who was eight months pregnant and preparing for a new chapter in her life. In August 2017, she vanished from her apartment complex after briefly going upstairs to help a neighbor with a simple request. When she didn’t return, concern quickly escalated into a desperate search led by...

On this week's episode, we are headed to the great state of Alabama! Tucked away in the quiet stretches of rural Alabama, Jack Cole Road doesn’t look like the kind of place that would carry a reputation. It’s just a narrow, winding road—lined with dense woods, long shadows, and the kind of stillness that seems to press in around you the deeper you go. But over the years, stories have gathered ther...

In this week's episode, we are headed to New Orleans, LA! In the chaotic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, when New Orleans was still struggling to find its footing, a volatile love story was quietly unraveling behind the doors of a French Quarter apartment. Addie Hall — a free-spirited bartender known for her magnetic personality and fiercely independent nature — had fallen into a passionate, often...

This week we are headed to Mississippi! On a quiet December evening in rural Mississippi, a stretch of backroad became the center of a tragedy that would shake an entire community. Nineteen-year-old Jessica Chambers was found severely burned near her vehicle — alive, and barely able to speak. To the first responder's surprise, she was able to respond to who had done this to her. The man's name was...

In this week's episode, we are headed to Maine! We're stepping back into the late 1800s to explore the unsettling story of a woman who would eventually earn one of the most chilling nicknames in New England true crime — the “Borgia of Maine.” Drawing comparisons to the infamous poison-wielding Borgia family of Renaissance Italy, this case centers around Mary Cowan, a woman whose life became surrou...

In this week's episode #60, we are headed to Oklahoma! On a cold December morning in 1996, 21-year-old dance student Juli Busken was preparing to leave Norman, Oklahoma behind for the holidays. She had just finished her final semester at the University of Oklahoma and was looking ahead to a future of dance. But before she could return home to her family in Arkansas, something happened in the quiet...

In this week's episode, we are headed to North Carolina - Lake Norman, NC. Lake Norman looks peaceful at first glance — miles of open water stretching across North Carolina’s Piedmont, dotted with quiet coves, sailboats, and lakeside homes. But beneath that calm surface lies a drowned valley. Entire communities once stood where boats now drift. Roads end abruptly underwater. Foundations, churches,...

In this week's episode, we are headed back to New Hampshire in Part II (final part) of the Mysterious Disappearance of Maura Murray. We will be diving into details concerning the 22 year long investigation, the many person of interest leads that have been chased throughout the years, and the circulating theories of what could have happened on that fateful day in February 2004. PLEASE NOTE: If you...

In early February 2004, 21-year-old Maura Murray was a nursing student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Smart, athletic, and known for her quiet determination, Maura had once attended United States Military Academy at West Point before transferring to UMass to pursue nursing. On the surface, she looked like someone building a future — clinical rotations, classes, a tight circle of famil...

For decades, ranchers across the United States have walked out to their fields expecting an ordinary morning — only to find one of their cattle dead under circumstances that make no sense. No signs of struggle. No tracks in or out. Although troubling, the state that they are in gives the most cause of concern. The animal is often found with certain tissues and organs missing with what witnesses de...

In this week's episode we are headed to Kansas! The Sallie House in Atchison, Kansas, looks like an ordinary small-town home — but its history tells a far darker story. What began as a young couple’s fresh start quickly spiraled into one of the most infamous haunting cases in America. Strange scratches appeared on walls. Objects moved on their own. And then the violence turned personal. The attack...

In this week's episode we dive right into Part II! The Hi-Fi Shop murders left Ogden, Utah reeling—an act of violence so extreme it demanded answers, accountability, and justice. This episode follows the painstaking investigation that unfolded in the aftermath: the evidence recovered, the witnesses who survived, and the courtroom battles that would ultimately decide the fate of those responsible....

In April 1974, a quiet stereo shop in Ogden became the site of one of the most shocking crimes in American history. What began as an ordinary evening shift spiraled into hours of terror that would leave multiple victims dead and an entire community reeling. Known today as the Hi-Fi Murders, this case is remembered not only for its brutality, but for the disturbing choices made inside a small, lock...

This week we are headed to Missouri to discuss the Springfield Three. In June 1992, three women—mother Sherrill Levitt and her daughter Suzanne “Suzie” Streeter, along with Suzie’s friend Stacy McCall—vanished without a trace from a quiet residential home in Springfield. The women had returned to the house after a night celebrating local high school graduations. By the next morning, all three were...

On a cold New Year’s Eve in early-1970s New York City, Roseann Quinn stepped out into a city caught between economic strain and drastic social change. Bars glowed warm against dark sidewalks, music spilled into the streets, and the promise of a fresh year hung heavy in the air. Roseann was young, independent, and carving out a life on her own in Manhattan’s Upper West Side—a neighborhood that felt...

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Safety Tricks & Tips 101: Protecting Yourself at Home, Out in the World, and Online (not an exhaustive list*) In this special safety-focused episode of Beyond the Ferns, I break down practical, real-world tools for staying safe—because if this podcast has taught us anything, it’s that dangerous people and situations exist and unfortunately, they live alongside us in this world! Whether you’re sett...

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In this week's episode, we are headed to Minnesota covering the controversial case of Byron Smith and the murders of Nick and Hailie. Byron Smith was a retired security engineer living a quiet, isolated life in Little Falls, Minnesota—a man who kept to himself and had grown increasingly uneasy after a string of break-ins at his home. On Thanksgiving Day 2012, that unease collided with the actions...