Castles & Cryptids

Magic Mirror on the Wall, who has the strangest tale of all? If you are anything like us, you like hearing odd and bizarre fairy tales and creepy "children's" stories! They are often short with simple characters and trumped up tropes- stepmothers are always evil! The poor boy turn hero and marries the princess, or prince! Short dude has long name like Rumpelstiltskin!  Kelsey and Alanna curat...

Hello and here is part two of our Rogue Darkness takeover, talking about the tale of Hanna Cranna. Witch she may have been, however she rivaled Dean Winchester for her love of pies and watch yourself if you should deny her pie! Don't deny pie! That's the true lesson here. Hope you enjoy, and catch you next week!

Hey Cryptic Cuties, Kelsey and I had to postpone our fairy tales episode this week due to illness, we're sorry. But we picked a Darkcast Network pro to keep you company- Rogue Darkness, hosted by Raven. Check out their coverage here of Enriqueta Marti: the Vampire of Barcelona, and the second part will be the tale of the "Witch" Hanna Cranna. Clearly a cryptic conspiracy exists, or else that witch...

It felt like forever since we did an international true crime ep, so this week we decided to cover 2 unsettling cases all the way from Kenya! (shout out to our Kenyan listeners). Kelsey kicks things off with the details of the Kenyan Starvation Cult, this recent and ongoing case has touched hundreds of families across Kenya. Alanna overs the strange death of Mercy Chepkosgei Keino, whose deat...

Happy Friday, hope you're ready for more tales from the Rock, this time the haunts that linger after the homicides... Alanna takes us through some history of prisoners held here, which dates back to the Civil War era, so there's been tons of death and tragedy on the island.  The solitary confinement cells pack a particular paranormal punch, so we get into what went on in the cells and who hau...

We have a special 2 part episode for you all, this week we cover some of the most famous prisoners to ever set foot on Alcatraz Island. Kelsey kicks things off with the Karpis-Barker gang, known for robbing banks and later for kidnappings, these criminals gained a lot of attention for their crimes. Everything came to an end when they chose the wrong person to target, someone who had a few friends...

After cutting out 10 hours of cat cajoling, we have a short and neat episode about unexplained spheres, ghostly lights in the sky and other random oddities! Some subjects just can't be shoved into one category, or explained easily away. Unless you say its always aliens, which to be fair it probably is. Kelsey covers one of the lesser known phantom lights phenomenon of the USA, the Gurdon light. Wh...

Happy Halloween! The best day of the year has arrived and so has the last installment of our Wicked Week. Today's traditions and folklore comes from Misty Mysteries, Horrifying History, Sinister Story Hour, Creepy Tapas and Cause of Death: 100 Seconds to Midnight. Happy Haunting, and thanks for tuning in!!

Hey Cryptic Cuties, of course we had to make an appearance on behalf of the cryptic community for this very special episode! Along with Alanna's story of the Nuckleavee from Scotland, you will hear from Book of the Dead, Misty Mysteries, Autumn's Oddities, Creepy Confidential and Creepy Tapas! We did the monster mash, it was a graveyard smash!!

We love witches here at Castles & Cryptids, so we're excited to bring you a Darkcast Cauldron of delights and Witch lore! There may even be a vamp in the mix, so grab your garlic for a very supernatural Sunday! Featuring stories from Beyond the Rainbow, Autumn's Oddities, Sinister Story Hour, Scottish Murders, Rogue Darkness, and Paranormal Peeps. Stay Tuned- tomorrow is Monster Mash Monday!

Saturday's special theme is true crime, so get ready for some horror stories to send shivers down your spine. Kelsey's featuring, or should we say, frightening us with the Texarkana Moonlight Murders, inspiration for some scary movies of its own. We also have stories from our fiends, I mean friends, at Darkcast like: Beyond The Rainbow, And Then They Were Gone, ODFM, Hands Off My Pod, Mythical Tru...

Happy Haunted Friday! Today's ghost stories and horrible hauntings are brought to you by Book of the Dead Pod, Horrifying History, Autumn's Oddities, Burnt Marshmallows, Hands Off My Pod, and Paranormal Peeps! Buckle up, grab your Ouija board or maybe some protective crystals?? and let's take a trip where we will go as far as Edinburgh's haunted castle, but also visit Haunted Donkey Lady Bridge......

Hi everyone, we wanted to highlight two crazy cases of stalking, these types of crimes can be very triggering so keep that in mind as you listen. Kelsey covers the harassment of Cindy James, a nurse who faced 7 long years and dozens of escalating attacks, ranging from threatening notes and phone calls, to being attacked and drugged multiple times. Alanna tells the senseless murder of Laurie Show,...

Peek-a-boo, we're right behind you! Wouldn't that just be the WORST if we really were? Well, wait till you hear Kelsey's recounting of the Scariest Story on Reddit of 2022! It's an account of a wife making her husband's life into an eerie game that he never signed on to play.....was she possessed or just really pranky? We don't know but we feel like we're being watched.... To cap off the trifecta...

Happy spook-tober everyone, for this ep we decided to tell some more occult related true crime cases. Kelsey tries to answer a 80 year old question, who put Bella down the Wych Elm? A case full of mysteries and unanswered questions, and also some wild theories; this case ties in to one Alanna covered way back in ep 22, so go listen to that one if you haven't before, because its great. Alanna close...

Hey Hey, it's high time for another Haunted AF episode, cryptic cuties! A very low haunted episode, actually, as we bring you the haunted underground! Paris catacombs, move over you have had your time to shine, now it's time for the new haunts on the block! Have you heard of the Indiana catacombs? A labyrinthic network lying silently below the streets of Indianapolis? Well, if you haven't, Kelsey...

In honor of Truth & Reconciliation Day 2023, we decided to shine a light on some cases of missing and murdered indigenous females and 2-spirit identifying people. We have a horrible history in Canada of crushing down the native cultures of our land, and it's only in recent years that Canada has begun trying to right those wrongs. One of the biggest dangers facing indigenous and First Nations f...

Hi cryptic cuties, we have a cool episode all about Indigenous and First Nations folklore for you this week. Kelsey takes a deep dive into the Inuit way of life, from clothing and transportation, to housing and diets, there are many things we have to thank the Inuit for today. Alanna shares a collection of creepy creatures that appear often in First Nations stories around North America. We hope yo...

Near death experiences. Are they as life-changing as TV would have us believe? Does everyone that comes close to their demise see a bright light or do they simply survive and live to fight another day? We explore some famous and lesser known brushes with death, as well as some stories of survival to surpass all odds. Meet the man who spent the longest at sea on a tiny boat (over a year!) and find...

Does this ep seem familiar? Well that's because we touched on it a bit with our special Dexter themed ep a long time ago, over 100 eps ago! Can you believe it? This week we revisit the idea by exploring killers who were inspired by others to commit terrible and senseless crimes. Kelsey covers the strange investigation into a shooter who terrorized New York City for many years, keeping its police a...

Ahoy-hoy cryptic mateys, we have sailed back into a podcast harbour near you! That's harbour with a U cause we speak the Queen's English here in Canadaland, dontcha know? It's fitting that Alanna just returned home from the Maritimes in Atlantic Canada, since we are hitting you with more maritime mysteries! We love the ocean, but she scares us a little too, gotta respect that shit, you know what w...

This week's Darkcast takeover episode is brought to you by Disturbing Interests podcast! As the hosts like to say, you may be disturbing, but you are not alone! We've had a Corpse Bride, now it's time for a full-on corpse Queen, better known by her real name, Ines de Castro. Regina brings us this "gruesome love story for their ages", of Ines and King Pedro I, sometimes compared to Romeo and Juliet...

Hiya Cryptic Cuties, we have another special ep for you, this time from the trio over at Paranormal Peeps. Hosts Josh, Jamey, and Aleca cover many haunted locations, as well as cryptids and sometimes even true crime. For their Camp Floyd ep they talk with guest Wendi from Demolished Salt Lake podcast all about the military camp, why it was built and the struggles that the soldiers faced. We hope y...

Welcome back to the Darkcast takeover, this week we have a great ep to share with you. Kelsey has wanted to share this case with everyone since we started, so we were excited to find one of our co-pods had already done it, the lovely Brenda over at Horrifying History. Check out this awesome podcast full of all things paranormal and True Crime, if you like our variety of ep topics then you are sure...

We are on hiatus this month, so please enjoy a spooky story from Misty Mysteries, a Darkcast family podcast featuring host Keely Lopez. Of course this classic tale touches all the great parts of paranormal, folklore, and Halloween, so it's perfect as a pre-spooky season starter! Listen while it's hot out, to keep your bones from being chilled! Then check out the other episodes on the Misty Mysteri...