Loreplay

In this episode of Loreplay , we step inside the massive stone walls of the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum —a building that was never meant to hold the suffering it ultimately swallowed. Opened in the mid-1800s as a progressive mental health hospital, the asylum was designed to heal through light, fresh air, and compassion. What it became instead was a cautionary monument to overcrowding, neglect,...

In this episode of Loreplay , we dive into one of the most unsettling intersections of medicine, power, and history: anthropodermic bibliopegy , the practice of binding books in human skin. While it sounds like folklore or horror fiction, this practice was very real—occurring primarily between the 17th and 19th centuries in Europe and the United States. It was most often carried out not by occulti...

In early 19th-century England, scandal traveled faster than truth—and women paid the price for both. This episode of Loreplay dives into the infamous Red Barn Murder , the brutal killing of Maria Marten , a young woman from Polstead, Suffolk, whose disappearance was blamed on shame, gossip, and her own supposed moral failings… until her body was discovered buried beneath the floor of a blood-red b...

Forget cozy cocoa and wholesome carols—this episode of Loreplay drags Christmas straight into the Alps and leaves it screaming. In this darkly festive deep dive, host Dayna Pereira unwraps the chilling folklore of Krampus , the horned, chain-rattling nightmare who shows up every December not to deliver gifts—but to dish out consequences. Long before Santa became a jolly capitalist mascot, Krampus...

n this episode of Loreplay , host Dayna Pereira ventures into the snowy, unsettling heart of Alpine folklore to meet one of Europe’s most iconic winter figures: Frau Perchta —a goddess, witch, and domestic compliance auditor who absolutely did not come to play. Known for roaming the countryside during the Twelve Nights of Christmas, Perchta rewarded the diligent, punished the lazy, and allegedly s...

Tonight on Loreplay , we’re diving deep into one of the most fascinating, eerie, and unexplained medieval mysteries ever recorded: The Green Children of Woolpit . This legendary twelfth-century case from Suffolk, England , has baffled historians, folklorists, and paranormal researchers for centuries. Two mysterious green-skinned children appeared out of nowhere near a wolf pit in Woolpit, speaking...

Tonight on Loreplay , we’re headed straight into the misty hills of Lancashire to unravel one of the most infamous witchcraft trials in history — the 1612 Pendle Witch Trials . This episode dives into the crumbling social order of early-17th-century England, where famine, disease, political paranoia, and neighborly grudges created the perfect storm for witchcraft accusations. We unpack the lives o...

This week on Loreplay , your host Dayna Pereira drags you—lovingly, chaotically, and with a full set of trigger warnings—into one of New York’s darkest intersections of myth and reality. We’re talking Cropsey , Staten Island’s OG boogeyman… and the very real institutional nightmare that fed the legend: the Willowbrook State School . From childhood dares in the woods… to abandoned tunnels… to uneth...

In this spine-tingling (and side-splitting) episode of Loreplay , host Dayna Pereira dives deep into the unbelievable true story of the Greenbrier Ghost —the only documented case in American history where a ghost’s testimony helped convict a murderer . Yep. Court of law. Sworn statement. Medium-grade Victorian drama. Full-body chills. Travel back to 1897 in Greenbrier County, West Virginia , where...

The Blood Countess of Cachtice: Elizabeth Báthory — Monster, Myth, or Misogyny? Hey hey, my lore-loving fiends — tonight we’re heading back to 16th-century Hungary, where leeches were skincare, torture was trending, and one noblewoman’s beauty routine allegedly involved… her staff. Elizabeth Báthory — better known as The Blood Countess — has been called history’s most prolific female serial killer...

You’ve heard of haunted dolls, cursed mirrors, and demons that slide into your DMs — but few haunted objects have ever captured the world’s attention like the Dybbuk Box . A simple wooden wine cabinet turned viral nightmare, this thing went from folklore-inspired hoax to a full-blown paranormal phenomenon involving Ghost Adventures , Post Malone , and the internet’s collective fear of “what’s in t...

Hey hey, my lore-loving weirdos… grab your lanterns, your lace bonnets, and your emotional support gin — because tonight, we’re heading back to 1803 London, where a ghost panic got so real it ended with an actual murder trial. Before the Tube, before streetlights, and definitely before therapy, the sleepy village of Hammersmith found itself haunted — not by one restless spirit, but by a whole lot...

In 1950s England, tragedy struck the Pollock family when their two young daughters, Joanna and Jacqueline, were killed in a horrific car accident. A year later, Florence Pollock gave birth to twin girls — and that’s when things got weird. The twins, Gillian and Jennifer, began recalling memories, places, and experiences they couldn’t possibly have known. They recognized landmarks in a town they’d...

When the hangman fails, history gets juicy.  This week on Loreplay , host Dayna Pereira dives into the true, twisted, and totally unbelievable 18th-century story of Maggie Dickson — the Scottish fishwife who was hanged… and then walked away alive . From the gallows of Edinburgh’s Grassmarket to the birth of her legend as “Half-Hangit Maggie,” this episode blends dark history with gallows humor (li...

In this episode of Loreplay , Dayna Pereira dives deep into the real-life horror story that inspired The Exorcist. Forget the spinning heads and pea soup—this is the true 1949 case of Roland Doe , the boy whose alleged demonic possession terrified priests, shook the Church, and changed how America viewed exorcisms forever. From Cottage City, Maryland to St. Louis, Missouri , follow the chilling (a...

Amityville Horror: Haunted House or Hoax? What really happened inside the most famous haunted house in America? In this episode of Loreplay , host Dayna Pereira digs into the chilling story of the Amityville Horror—where true crime meets the paranormal. First, we revisit the shocking 1974 DeFeo family murders that left six dead inside 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, New York. Then we dive into the...

West Virginia, 1966. Four terrified teenagers tear down a dark back road in a Chevy Bel Air with something massive chasing them through the sky — glowing red eyes, a ten-foot wingspan, and a story that would forever haunt Point Pleasant. Over the next thirteen months, dozens of locals reported the same winged figure, strange lights in the sky, prophetic dreams, and even creepy Men in Black knockin...

In this chilling episode of Loreplay , host Dayna Pereira dives deep into the terrifying urban legend of the Black Eyed Children — the mysterious paranormal figures with solid black eyes who knock on doors and beg to be let inside. From journalist Brian Bethel’s 1996 encounter in Abilene, Texas to spine-tingling reports in Portland, Oregon , Vermont , and the UK , we explore the most infamous Blac...

Step inside one of America’s strangest and most haunted mansions—the Winchester Mystery House . Built by Sarah Winchester, the widow of the heir to the Winchester Repeating Arms fortune, this sprawling, bizarre labyrinth in San Jose, California is filled with staircases that lead to nowhere, doors that open into walls, and enough ghostly legends to keep paranormal investigators buzzing for over a...

Welcome to Loreplay —the comedy-paranormal podcast where haunted history meets hot takes. In this episode, host Dayna Pereira dives deep into one of America’s most infamous ghost stories: The Bell Witch of Adams, Tennessee. From John Bell Sr.’s mysterious illness to Lucy Bell’s eerie protection , and from Kate Batts’ petty neighbor drama to the witchy shenanigans that terrified Andrew Jackson hims...

Host Dayna Pereira investigates the true story behind Annabelle, the infamous Raggedy Ann doll blamed for terrorizing two nurses in the 1970s. With humor and historical context, Pereira explores the Warrens’ paranormal intervention, the Catholic demonology that fueled the case, and the cultural explosion that turned a stuffed toy into a horror icon. 🔗 Sources & References Warren, Ed & Lor...