Astonishing Legends

An apartment complex hosts a big Halloween party with themed rooms and costumed partygoers. By the end of the night, one of the party’s hosts is murdered. And the partygoers are the main suspects in the eyes of the police: was it the guy in the devil mask, the guy dressed as Jesus, the bank robber, the construction worker? As a complex investigation winds its way through forensic evidence, witness...

We often wonder when was the first time a now well-known phenomenon first occurred or was recorded. In the instance of spiritual possession, at least in the United States, we may have an answer in the case known as “The Watseka Wonder.” Indeed, if such a condition exists, it’s likely people have been claiming or appearing to be possessed by a supernatural force since human beings existed. However,...

One question we often receive is, do we think the US Government will ever disclose the existence of UFOs? We believe the answer is, they've already begun. Since the groundbreaking, front-page article appeared in the December 17, 2017 edition of the New York Times with a title exclaiming "Real UFOs," the world has seen drips and drops of Pentagon-authenticated video clips and statements publically...

Here's a question: What makes a haunted house spooky if you've never been there?  How scary can a haunted house be if no one has repeatedly investigated it?  In other words, what is more frightening, the honest anecdotes about experienced paranormal activity in a haunted location or the unverified legends and lore of a place that send the frights of our imagination into overdrive?  And what makes...

It's much more comfortable for most of us to think of paranormal subjects as having their origins beginning only in recent history – an amusing byproduct of mid-twentieth century foolishness or the internet age.  Much easier to dismiss then.  Many people, persuaded by an uninformed media, believe UFOs only started appearing to the public after pilot Kenneth Arnold's famous sighting while flying ne...

Our goal in covering the story of the Perron family's experience while living for a decade at the Arnold Estate, the inspiration for the motion picture, The Conjuring , was to uncover the real story behind the persistent hauntings. What we discovered once again was the actual truths at the heart of this, and other famous cases are as murky and nebulous as the spirits that do the haunting. The ques...

Whether you're a fan of horror films or not, you've probably heard of the 2013 motion picture, "The Conjuring." This film, starring Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, struck such a chord with viewers that it spawned a franchise of related films like The Conjuring sequels, The Nun, Annabelle, and The Curse of La Llorona. But the initial movie was inspired by real-life events, the roughly decade-long...

Many of us have taken an adventurous expedition to check out some local, notorious spot to see if we could witness or sense some evidence of a past famous or infamous incident. Most of the time, one only returns with a minor anecdote or pictures of an ordinary location bereft of anything noteworthy. The more realistic purpose is not so much to find a ghoulish memento but to imagine what it must've...

So, as we close out our three-part series on Crop Circles, what have we all learned so far? Well, we've learned that Crop Circles are not just another fad from the 1980s and 90s. Generations of farmers going back at least to the turn of the last century have found them, and probably long before that if written accounts are accurate. They may have been the template or the inspiration for Standing S...

As we dive deeper into exploring the phenomenon of Crop Circles, it seems that the story of its research takes on the shape of other histories of paranormal investigation.  Misinformation and misdirection from government and military agencies, hoaxes complicating genuinely anomalous evidence, and the phenomena itself presenting an ever-moving target for those that seek the truth are akin to the se...

On a July afternoon in 1983, Colin Andrews, an electrical engineer and officer employed by the British regional government, was driving between his offices near Winchester and Hampshire when something caught his eye. Seeing something unusual in a farmer's field next to the road, he felt strongly compelled to pull over and check it out. A strange physical and mental sensation came over him as he ap...

We have a very special guest joining us tonight, metaphysical "astralnaut," philosopher of the liminal, "Pope of the Paranormal," and host of the AM Radio talk show Dark Air, Terry Carnation.  Terry first got his start in the paranormal radio genre when unexpectedly thrust into taking over for another show.  While working as a late-night rock n' roll Disc Jockey for an FM station in Buffalo, NY, i...

As legend would have it, or at least how the story goes from Marie Caroline Watson Hamlin's 1884 book, Legends of Le Détroit , on the evening of the 10th of March, 1701, a lively banquet took place in the castle of St. Louis, Quebec. The celebratory dinner host was the governor of "New France," Hector Louis de Callière. The guest of honor was Monsieur Antoine La Mothe Cadillac, Sieur de Douaguet,...

Jim Perry's Euphomet returns with a new season! Sneak preview. Subscribe now to Euphomet on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

In the years between 1764 and 1767, a real-life monster had brutally savaged the residents of the former province of Gévaudan in the highland region of south-central France.  While the creature's first attack was reportedly unsuccessful in killing its intended victim, it did provide a horrific description of it.  Some sort of massive, canine-like creature was stalking the villagers out in their fi...

Who among us hasn't wanted to know the future or have insight into the hidden, at least in passing?  From the first instance a human had a premonition that came true, it seems likely that the adventurous who were shocked and astounded wondered how those without the "gift" could duplicate this impossible experience.  Then, when someone stared too intently into a reflective pool of liquid, a glowing...

As we wrap up our coverage of the Frederick Valentich story in Part 3 of our series, we'll continue our conversation with Melbourne resident Chris Tyler about his research into the case and other possibly related UFO incidents around the same time and area.  We'll also examine the Australian Department of Transport accident report's remaining findings and discuss its conclusions.  As you begin to...

When the facts about a paranormal event yield no more answers, investigators and the public alike tend to turn their attention to the experiencer's character to ascertain its authenticity.  So what kind of person was Frederick Valentich?  A once-lost aircraft accident report from Australia's Department of Transport, which resurfaced in 2012, has shed some light on Valentich's behavior and state of...

On Saturday, October 21, 1978, at 6:19 p.m., 20-year-old Frederick Valentich took off from Moorabbin Airport just south of Melbourne, Australia, for what was supposed to be a routine training and pleasure flight over Bass Strait to King Island.  A serious student aviator, Valentich had been flying for two years and had accumulated over 150 hours of solo flying time in his goal to one day become a...

Please join us for a very special Astonishing Legends episode – an All-Star holiday party featuring some of your favorite podcast personalities!  Along with consigliere Tess Pfeifle, we welcome our very own "Alexander Leek," sage, screenwriter and good friend Rich Hatem; podcaster, compadre, and casual archaeologist Micah Hanks; our Space Brother and To The Stars professor, Rob Kristoffersen; and...

Our friend Seth Breedlove has a new docudrama out about the Bell Witch and guess who's in it? Forrest!  http://www.smalltownmonsters.com/shop   https://tinyurl.com/markofthebellwitch

Tonight's episode starts with the coverage of a strange and funny case involving aliens and holiday pies.  On January 4, 1979, Mrs. Jean Hingely of the town of Rowley Regis in the West Midlands region of England was visited by three fishbowl-helmeted and friendly aliens with wings.  After some spiritually uplifting exchanges, her holiday visitors thrashed her Christmas tree and nicked three of her...

In a rare dual-subject episode for us, we take a look at two somewhat Christmas-themed stories, the mysterious yet not-so-mysterious "Utah Monolith" and the Warminster "Thing." In the first part of the show, we discuss the recent discovery of a 9.5-foot-tall metal triangular prism-shaped pillar we've dubbed "The Christmas Monolith." This story made the rounds after state biologists from the Utah D...

In tonight’s Part Two of our discussion of Joe Fisher’s book, The Siren Call of Hungry Ghosts , with Special Guest Rich Hatem, we continue to examine the narrative of Fisher’s interactions with Spirit Guides through Channeling and their troubling results.  With the messages and guidance becoming increasingly confusing, frustrating, and seemingly misleading, Fisher and those in his Channeling group...

Sure, maybe most of us would find it enticing to receive "inside information" from a mystical plane, our very own oracle of knowledge beyond what's possible in our earthly human existence. Who wouldn't want access to a Spirit Guide, one that could lend us valuable insight to better our lives and give a glimpse of what awaits us on the other side? Perhaps this supernatural soothsayer could also pro...