Down the Crooked Path

Step back onto the crooked path… if you dare. Season 2 opens the door to a deeper, stranger, more intimate exploration of the stories that cling to the edges of our communities; the hauntings we inherit, the mysteries we can’t shake, and the histories that refuse to stay buried. This season, we’re venturing into some of the most unsettling and compelling stories ever told, including: The Villisca...

As the holiday season settles in and the year winds toward its close, Down the Crooked Path is shifting its weekly rhythm. For the next few weeks, our Thursday episodes are taking a brief winter rest. In their place, we’re bringing you a special run of Canadian Creepies every Tuesday—bite‑sized explorations of the strange, the spectral, and the wonderfully weird corners of Canadian folklore. Regul...

This week, we’re revisiting one of Canada’s most infamous hauntings—the Baldoon Mystery . In the early 1800s, the McDonald family of Wallaceburg, Ontario, found themselves tormented by unexplained fires, shattered windows, and eerie phenomena that defied explanation. Local lore tells of a curse, a witch, and a desperate attempt to end the haunting with a silver bullet. This episode is pulled from...

During the holiday season Down the crooked path is taking a Canadian Detour. We are revisiting our Tuesday Segments over on our sister podcast Canadian Creepies. Don't worry! Regular episodes will resume soon! ---------------------------------------- Project Magnet — a little‑known program launched in the 1950s to investigate UFOs, magnetic anomalies, and unexplained aerial phenomena. Listeners wi...

We are visiting another Tuesday segment of Down the crooked path from out sister podcast Canadian Creepies, while Amanda tackles a busy holiday season in her personal life. In Manitoba, Canada, a prospector named Stephan had an encounter with what would become known as Canadas most well documented UFO case. This encounter would leave him sick and suffering from burns for the rest of his life! Don'...

A day late, its been a busy time of year in my personal life so I do apologies for letting the calendar get away from me. This week we are revisiting a feature from our Tuesday segments at the Canadian Creepies podcast! Tom Thomson was an artist who went missing only for his body to turn up under mysterious conditions. Was it an accident or did something more sinister happen to him? And does his s...

This week we are taking trip to revisit an episode from my Tuesday segments over on my sister podcast Canadian Creepies. Every Tuesday I take a deep dive in to a paranormal or totally creepy Canadian mystery. Mr. Christie does make good cookies, from believed Oreos to long time staple Social Teas. But when his son took after his death, something sinister was taking place behind a hidden room of th...

On a frigid December night in 1956, Barbara and Patricia Grimes—15 and 12 years old—left their Chicago home to see Love Me Tender for the eleventh time. They never returned. What followed was one of the most intense missing persons investigations in Chicago’s history, marked by conflicting sightings , false confessions , and haunting letters that would torment their mother for years

we unravel one of the most bizarre and haunting UFO encounters in American history: the Cash-Landrum Incident . On a quiet Texas night in 1980, two women and a child witnessed a diamond-shaped craft hovering in the sky, blazing with heat and flanked by military helicopters. What followed was a harrowing tale of radiation burns, government silence, and the only known lawsuit filed against the U.S....

🎙️ Episode Notes: Canadian Creepies Edition – Grainger Taylor Due to unexpected technical difficulties behind the scenes, this week’s episode of Down the Crooked Path is taking a brief detour. But don’t worry! We’re still serving up something eerie, enigmatic, and deeply Canadian. This week, we’re featuring a special segment from our sister podcast, Canadian Creepies , where every Tuesday we explo...

In this episode of Down the Crooked Path , we walk the blood-soaked fields of Gettysburg. Beneath the monuments and manicured grass lies a battlefield imprinted with grief, rage, and unfinished stories. We explore the psychological theory of trauma-imprinted landscapes and ask: what does it mean for a place to remember? From phantom regiments seen at twilight to whispered names in the fog, Gettysb...

A man writes a word. Crosses it out. Hours later, he’s found naked, dying in the passenger seat of his own car. He says four men were with him—but no one else is there. In this episode, we unravel the haunting final hours of Günther Stoll, a food engineer from West Germany whose death in 1984 remains one of the country’s most baffling unsolved cases. At the center of it all: a cryptic note— YOGTZE...

Before H.H. Holmes built his infamous murder castle, before Jack the Ripper haunted London’s alleys, two men roamed the American frontier leaving a trail of blood and terror. In this episode, we dive into the chilling legacy of Micajah and Wiley Harpe—widely considered America’s first documented serial killers. From the brutal discovery of John Langford’s body to the Harpes’ arrest, escape, and th...

In this episode, we unravel the chilling legend of the Philadelphia Experiment—a rumored 1943 naval test that allegedly rendered the USS Eldridge invisible, teleported it through space, and left its crew physically fused to the ship. Was it a misunderstood radar cloaking experiment, or something far more disturbing? We trace the story from its wartime origins to the strange letters of Carl Allen,...

What happens when a man disappears during a storm and reappears years later with a new name, a new life, and no memory of his past? In this episode of Down the Crooked Path , we unravel the bizarre and haunting tale of Lawrence Bader—who vanished from Lake Erie in 1957 and resurfaced as John Fritz Johnson, a charismatic TV personality in Omaha. Was it amnesia, a calculated escape, or something eve...

In this chilling episode of Down the Crooked Path , Amanda unpacks the enduring mystery of the Dyatlov Pass incident —a case that has haunted investigators, spawned dozens of theories, and captivated conspiracy lovers for over six decades. 🔍 What you'll hear: A breakdown of the hikers and their final journey The eerie discovery and autopsy findings Theories ranging from avalanches to military cov...

In this episode of Static Whispers: Ghosts in the Machine , we explore the strange ways modern technology seems to echo with voices from beyond. From phantom phone calls that ring in the dead of night, to radio transmissions that speak in riddles, and teasing emails from accounts that should be long dormant—these stories aren’t pulled from textbooks. They’re lived. Topics include: The psychology o...

In the heart of post-Katrina New Orleans, amid floodwaters and fractured psyches, a love story spiraled into one of the city’s most chilling tragedies. This episode unpacks the haunting tale of Zack Bowen and Addie Hall—two lovers drawn together by chaos, trauma, and a shared sense of rebellion. From rooftop cocktails during the storm to the infamous apartment on Rampart Street, we trace the desce...

Step into the shadowy streets of 19th-century New Orleans, where mysticism, power, and legend converge in the life of one of the most enigmatic figures in American history—Marie Laveau. In this episode of Down the Crooked Path , we unravel the truth and myth behind the woman known as the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans . Was she a healer or a sorceress? A devout Catholic or a master of occult rites? O...

In this chilling episode, we unravel the haunting mystery of Room 1046, a case that has baffled investigators for nearly a century. A man checks into a Kansas City hotel under a false name. Days later, he’s found brutally beaten, barely alive, and surrounded by cryptic clues. He dies shortly after, and the trail goes cold. 🔍 What really happened in Room 1046? Was it a mob hit, a lover’s quarrel,...

Skeletons In this bone-chilling episode of Down the Crooked Path , we dig deep into tales of giant skeletons discovered in forgotten graves and remote landscapes across the world. Were they remnants of ancient civilizations, cryptid hoaxes, or suppressed archaeological finds? Join Amanda as she unearths the shadowy history behind these colossal bones, the lore that surrounds them, and the conspira...

Episode Description : In 1828, a teenage boy appeared out of nowhere in the streets of Nuremberg, Germany — confused, barely able to speak, and carrying a cryptic note. His name? Kaspar Hauser . Who was he, truly? A tragic foundling locked away from birth… or a pawn in a political conspiracy with royal blood? In this episode of Down the Crooked Path , Amanda dives deep into one of Europe's most en...

Three lighthouse keepers. One remote island. No trace. In this chilling episode of Down the Crooked Path , we journey to the windswept shores of Eilean Mòr in the Flannan Isles — a cluster of rocks off Scotland’s coast that became infamous after the inexplicable disappearance of three men in December 1900. What happened to Thomas Marshall, James Ducat, and Donald McArthur? Were they victims of a s...

When a man disappears from his quiet Yorkshire town in 1980, his reappearance raises more questions than answers. Found under inexplicable circumstances, Zigmund Adamski’s death ignites one of Britain’s most enduring mysteries. This episode follows the shadows cast by his final days — the strange clues, the official silence, and the theories that blur the lines between reality and the unknown. 🎧...

Is Bigfoot a legend told around campfires... or something more? "The Silence of the Woods: Bigfoot Beyond Myth" explores the shadowy line between ancient stories and unexplained encounters in the North American wild. From First Nations oral histories to modern-day sightings, we follow the footprints that stretch across centuries. Join me as we unpack cryptid lore, skeptical science, chilling testi...