Autumn's Oddities

Why do we, as humans, do certain things and why did we start doing them in the first place? Some superstitions are so ingrained in modern English-speaking societies that many people perform them or, at least, feel slightly uneasy about not doing so. So why don't we walk under ladders? Why, after saying something good, do we knock on wood? Why do nonreligious people "bless" a sneeze? And why are bl...

In March of 2007, 22-year-old Shamaia Smith went to work as an exotic dancer at a gentlemen’s club. When she didn’t return home after work and calls to her phone went unanswered, her family contacted the police. There were a few leads, but no one could have guessed the last person to see Shamaia alive. SOURCES State v. Otto: https://www.jud.ct.gov/external/supapp/Cases/AROcr/CR305/305CR56.pdf http...

Two women searched for love online and had much more in common than they realized. They were both blondes, worked in real estate, and both fell for the same man. They had no clue that what seemed like a harmless meeting with a charming man would turn deadly. SOURCES https://casetext.com/case/beckman-v-matchcom https://www.reviewjournal.com/crime/courts/man-imprisoned-for-stabbing-las-vegas-woman-d...

On May 16, 1998, Carole Garton and her unborn baby were shot to death in their home. Almost immediately, the prime suspect confessed to killing her, but he had no motive. The confession was only the beginning of what proved to be a bizarre and twisted plot involving multiple assassinations and a supposed covert military operation called "The Company". SOURCES https://www.courthousenews.com/califor...

How often in a murder investigation do the police have actual audio evidence of the incident and the aftermath? In the case of Donna Fryman and her ex-husband, Danny Fryman, the investigators had more evidence than they bargained for. Donna Fryman never denied shooting him twice in the chest and once in the hand on January 12, 2004, but said she only fired to protect herself. SOURCES https://www.w...

Young couple Janice Ruhter and Jerry Rice engaged in a bidding war for their dream home in San Diego, California, in late 2011. To their surprise, their bid was accepted for the Spanish-style home on a picturesque cul-de-sac of Carmel Valley. They thought this was the start of a new chapter in their lives, but that’s when the campaign of terror began from an unknown stalker. SOURCES https://people...

On Friday, April 15, 1994, in San Diego, California, surfers noticed a shape bobbing in the water that seagulls were perched on. Upon inspection, what the surfers thought may have been a kelp outgrowth was actually the body of Michelle von Emster, completely naked aside from a brass bracelet and two rings on her left hand. The ME concluded that Michelle was the victim of a shark attack, but the ex...

IN 1986, the Snedeker family moved into a duplex rental in Southington, CT, that had at one time had served as a funeral home. In the basement, they found various mortuary tools, including a hoisting apparatus for coffins, a medical gurney, blood drains, and toe tags. Soon enough, the Snedekers were reporting all kinds of evil, including sexual attacks on multiple family members, ghostly apparitio...

In September 1995, the US military both publicly revealed and shut down Project Stargate, a 23-year, $20m (£12m) program of psychic spying, or remote viewing. The project began in 1972 after the CIA became concerned by reports that the Soviet Union was spending substantial resources on what it called "psychotronics" - or research into potential military applications of psychic and fringe-science p...

On the morning of December 16, 1935, the lifeless body of early Hollywood star Thelma Todd was found in her car. Immediately rumors swirled surrounding her death, as the scene and the circumstances didn’t seem to add up. Was her death accidental, was it suicide or was it murder? Sources https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/archives/la-me-thelma-todd-19351217-story.html https://latimes.newspape...

In June of 1947, several ships received a terrifying distress call from a freighter in the straits of Malacca. The unknown ship’s message said that the entire ship's crew was dead, with the operator finally sending out a final grim message, "I die". What really happened to the crew of the SS Ourang Medan and did the ship even exist to begin with? SOURCES https://archive.org/stream/proceedingsofmer...

On New Year's Day 1986, the body of 28-year-old Deborah Ann Wolfe was found at the bottom of a small irrigation pond outside her isolated cabin near Fort Bragg in North Carolina. She lived there, roughly 4 miles from the Fayetteville city limits, with her dogs. In conflicting reports, divers initially said they located her body inside a barrel. But local officials claim there was no barrel and cal...

Swedish journalist Kim Wall was only four years into her career when she was brutally murdered while submerged beneath the ocean in a submarine. She was interviewing Peter Madsen, an eccentric Danish inventor who had engineered his own vessel when she was killed. Several versions of events were told by Madsen, but the evidence told another horrifying story. SOURCES https://www.rememberingkimwall.c...

Between May 1980 and November 1981, the skeletal remains of six women were found hidden in scrubland at Frankston, in bayside Melbourne, and at Tynong North, south-east of Melbourne. The victims ranged in age from 14 to 73 years old. The women didn't have much in common, except that they were on foot when they were taken, with the majority intending to take public transport during the daytime. At...

Is it possible for someone to stalk you through your cell phone, even if it's off? To somehow know the most mundane details of your day? The Kuykendall family claims that they were relentlessly harassed by an unknown figure dubbed "Restricted" for months before everything abruptly stopped. Allegedly, the calls and texts to three different families came in around the clock for months, even when the...

On December 1, 2007, John Darwin walked into a West End Central London police station and calmly told an officer, “I think I’m a missing person”. This was a bold claim coming from a man who had been declared legally dead in 2003. This is the strange and twisted almost-fairytale of Canoe Man. SOURCES The Thief, His Wife and The Canoe: The unbelievably true story behind the ITV drama – April 14, 202...

In 1949, John George Haigh burst into the headlines as an inhuman monster, killing for financial gain. Haigh, a respectable, well-dressed, charming middle-class man disposed of at least six victims in a manner that led many to label him a vampire. According to his own confession, the mass murderer dissolved his victims in acid after drinking their blood. Become a supporter of this podcast: https:/...

On the morning of July 2, 1937, Amelia Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, took off from Lae, New Guinea, on one of the last legs in their historic attempt to circumnavigate the globe. Their next destination was Howland Island, roughly 2,500 miles away. U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Itasca awaited their arrival, but they never made it to Howland Island. Despite massive search efforts by the U.S. gov...

At the start of 2020, Louisville, Kentucky resident Christopher McKinney headed out with a group of friends for what was supposed to be a night of drinks and fun. Christopher would never make it home to his husband, though. He was struck by a bouncer and died shortly after, but no charges were brought and very little investigating was done by a police force that had many off-duty officers working...

The brutal 1954 bludgeoning death of Marilyn Sheppard and the controversial conviction of her husband, Dr. Sam Sheppard, is the most enduring murder mystery in Cleveland history. The horrible ordeal was the basis of the movie “The Fugitive.” Dr. Sheppard’s conviction was overturned in 1966, but he died in 1970. Today, his family and the investigators who still fixate on the case believe the real k...

On November 28, 1981, the weekend after Thanksgiving, one of Hollywood’s most enduring scandals took place onboard the Splendour, anchored off Catalina Island. On board were Natalie Wood, husband Robert Wagner, friend Christopher Walken, and Captain Dennis Davern. After a night of heavy drinking, a heated argument ensued and Natalie disappeared. She was found dead in the water the next morning. Th...

It's the only unsolved hijacking case in the history of commercial aviation. On the afternoon of November 24, 1971—Thanksgiving Eve—a man boarded a flight from Portland to Seattle and slipped a note to a flight attendant. He threatened to detonate a bomb if he didn't receive a hefty ransom. Once he got the money, the hijacker released all passengers and ordered the crew to fly to Mexico. Mid-air,...

I'm doing something a little different and letting you in on some paranormal experiences that I've had that help explain why I am the way that I am. This isn’t creepypasta, I haven’t made any of this up, these are all very REAL retellings of what I’ve experienced. If you've had similar experiences, please send them my way and I'll read them in an upcoming episode! Become a supporter of this podcas...

Now called the “most haunted nightclub in America”, Bobby Mackey’s Music World was originally opened as a large slaughterhouse and meat-packing facility that served the area until the 1890s. To dispose of the animal remains, a well was dug in the lowest part of the building that still remains. As you can imagine, the history of the building plus the numerous deaths that have occurred there, have o...

Sixty-seven years ago, a family living on the outskirts of Hopkinsville, KY made headlines after claiming they'd been visited by "little grey men" after spotting an otherworldly aircraft floating over their farmhouse. The incident, also called the Kelly-Hopkinsville encounter, referring to the nearby unincorporated community of Kelly, was well documented in the media and pop culture: director Stev...