Autumn's Oddities

The Wendigo is a horrifying creature of Algonquin Native American legends said to devour human flesh, although it can never be satiated. But are they only part of Native American mythology or are there really cannibalistic creatures waiting for their next victim in the forest? SOURCES https://www.britannica.com/topic/wendigo https://www.animalplanet.com/tv-shows/lost-tapes/creatures/wendigo/ https...

The story of Dorian Corey, who is featured prominently in Paris Is Burning, is an aspirational one, but she was hiding an incredibly dark secret. Beneath the sequins dresses and feather boas in her closet, a decades-long secret lay decomposing. SOURCES The Drag Queen and the Mummy; Edward Conlon - Transition, No. 65 (1995) , pp. 4-24 (21 pages); Published By: Indiana University Press https://books...

Appalachian granny witches were the doctors, midwives, healers, herbalists, and spiritual guides of their isolated communities for centuries. They used a combination of folk magic, herbal healing, religious scripture, and superstitions to treat the ailments of their neighbors, leading the church to eventually label many of them witches. SOURCES http://www.feministes-radicales.org/wp-content/upload...

Legends of large, hairy, ape-like beasts can be found all over the world. Since the 1950s, the United States’ version of this has been “Bigfoot”, or Sasquatch depending on the region. Not only does the legend of Bigfoot serve as a reminder to those who would desecrate its woods, but in 1976, the FBI started on a file on the creature. SOURCES The "Truth" about the Bigfoot Legend; Linda MilliganWest...

Harry Houdini was arguably the greatest escape artist and magician of all time, but perhaps his greatest exploit was ridding the world of “the deceptions of mediums and spiritualists”. Harry Houdini lived his adult life in two halves: until 1922 he was a showman and even a silent movie star, but in his last years he tirelessly pursued those he believed took advantage of the bereaved. SOURCES https...

The Business Plot was an alleged political conspiracy in 1933. Retired Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler claimed that wealthy businessmen were plotting to create a fascist veterans' organization to be used in a coup d'état to overthrow President of the US Franklin D. Roosevelt, with Butler as leader of the organization and eventual Dictator in Chief. SOURCES Jonathan M. Katz’s new book, Ga...

Polish student Katarzyna Zowada went missing without a trace in 1998, leaving her mother searching for answers. What was found of Katarzyna was little more than her skin, which had been peeled off, sewn into a suit, and worn by her killer. Investigators gave the case the codename, Skóra, which translates to the most chilling piece of evidence they had: Skin. SOURCES https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pm...

A mother and daughter are found violently murdered in their home. The most obvious suspect had a solid alibi and there was no evidence left at the scene. Letters from the killer plagued detectives and the possibility of an occult killing loomed. SOURCES https://abcnews.go.com/US/murderer-brought-postmark-cellphone-call-handful-receipts/story?id=97081824 https://www.13newsnow.com/article/news/local...

On March 22, 2011, while working aboard the Disney Wonder cruise ship off the coast of Mexico, crew member Rebecca Coriam vanished after a heated discussion on the phone, which was captured by the ship's cameras. To this day, her case remains unsolved, and somehow, no CCTV footage was found to indicate what happened to her. SOURCES http://www.cruisejunkie.com/Overboard.html https://www.theguardian...

Student Kelly Bullwinkle disappeared in 2003 after working a shift at a local restaurant. At first, authorities thought that she might have left on her own, but after finding her car abandoned in a mall parking lot, they realized that foul play was involved. A few days later a group of teens playing paintball in a wooded area called Ghost Town made a gruesome discovery in a shallow grave. SOURCES...

MK-Ultra was a top-secret CIA project in which the agency conducted hundreds of clandestine experiments—sometimes on unwitting U.S. citizens—to assess the potential use of LSD and other drugs for mind control, information gathering and psychological torture. Although Project MK-Ultra lasted from 1953 until about 1973, details of the illicit program didn’t become public until 1975, during a congres...

On Harbor Blvd in Santa Ana, CA, a woman is found naked in a dumpster after having been left for dead. Her attacker wouldn’t be caught for several years, but only after leaving behind a trail of other traumatized victims. SOURCES https://www.ocregister.com/2007/12/17/detective-gets-a-break-but-is-it-enough/ https://www.lex18.com/news/covering-the-nation/2018/09/23/dna-in-norcal-rapist-case-links-s...

There’s a reason that most Americans have a healthy distrust of our government. We’ve seen or heard of once top-secret documents involving secret operations that decades later become declassified and learn of the sins committed in order to become a world superpower. One such declassified operation involves the US Government making a deal with the devil in order to obtain advanced technologies afte...

Transgender woman Venus Xtravaganza was featured in the groundbreaking documentary Paris is Burning, which delves into the Harlem ball scene of the late 1980's. Abruptly during the film, the audience is informed that Venus was murdered and that her body was discovered strangled to death under a hotel bed four days after her death. Her murder remains unsolved, but someone knows the truth. SOURCES P...

A woman is found inside the rubble of her burned-down home. At first, the scene looked like a tragic accident, but the fire didn’t completely destroy the evidence. The victim had been shot before her home had been intentionally set on fire. This case unravels like a crime novel and someone seems to have gotten away with the perfect murder. SOURCES https://www.nola.com/news/northshore/five-years-af...

In a small Louisiana bayou town, a murder in a popular gay club sparked rumors of a hate crime, or worse, a serial killer targeting gay men… again. SOURCES https://www.houmatoday.com/story/news/2009/12/29/robert-lecompte/26885942007/ https://casetext.com/case/state-v-young-102 Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/autumn-s-oddities--5307439/support .

You can find practically anything imaginable on the internet if you know where to look. Sure, you can get your household items and odds and ends on Amazon, but what about something more exotic? What if you’re looking for something illegal, like illicit drugs? One man became the kingpin of the dark web, leaving a trail of destruction in his wake that culminated in a massive federal investigation. S...

Legendary singer and actor Elvis Presley's death on August 16, 1977, stunned the music industry and devastated millions of fans worldwide. In the days following his funeral, speculation grew among a small group of skeptics that Elvis might not have died after all. Despite clear statements from doctors and a coroner that he was dead, disbelievers were adamant that he had faked his own death to go i...

During the spring and summer of 1980, there were several serial killers active in Los Angeles. During the 1970s and 1980s combined, a staggering 20-plus serial killers used the city as their hunting ground. At the time, LA was considered the homicide capital of the United States and possibly the world. It was in 1980 that another serial killer was active in LA, cruising the Sunset Strip for victim...

When people say “it’s raining cats and dogs”, it’s typically metaphorical, right? Well, yes and no. The following cases are quite literally about objects falling from the sky that are not water. The official term for this strange phenomenon is non-aqueous rain and there have numerous reported cases of everything from meat, frogs, jellyfish, and spiders falling from the sky. SOURCES https://timesma...

On June 19, 2015, a distraught man called 911 in Lacona, Iowa. He walked into his parent’s farm home to find his mother, Shirley Carter, on the floor surrounded by blood. His father Bill came racing home to find the horrific scene and his wife of 52 years dead on the kitchen floor. The immediate suspect wasn’t far from home, though. SOURCES https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/opinion/columnist...

What would you do if you came face-to-face with someone bearing an uncanny resemblance to you? Would you run the other way or would you make contact? The mythology behind the doppelganger existed long before its depictions in literature and film. But what if your doppelganger sought you out, and not to have a chat? What if your doppelganger searched for you so that they could kill you? SOURCES htt...

When the body of NYPD narcotics lab criminalist Michelle Lee was found in her apartment brutally murdered, it was up to her colleagues to find her killer. They believed her death was revenge for helping put a drug lord behind bars, but they had no idea how far off they were. SOURCES https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ny-csi-michelle-lee-became-crime-scene-victim-forensic-student-gary-mcgurk-says-he-kill...

During the 1970s and 1980s, Julius Schacknow ran a disturbing apocalyptic cult in the Connecticut suburbs. Schacknow, who called himself "Brother Julius," made bold claims including that he was the Messiah and that he was going to bring about the end of days. SOURCES https://www.investigationdiscovery.com/crimefeed/id-shows/sinful-messiah-the-work-cult-multiple-wives-exploitive-labor-murder https:...

Do you or someone you know have a negative blood type, red or reddish-colored hair, a high IQ, sensitivity to light, and a predisposition to psychic phenomena? Then you may be the descendant of ancient aliens and/or gods. SOURCES https://academic.oup.com/mbe/article/17/1/127/975586?login=false https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1210603109 https://www.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/blog/golden-b...