Mysteries and Monsters

This week, we head to Illinois to uncover the strange history of the Mississippi river town, Grand Tower. Once called the unluckiest town in America by Time Magazine, Grand Tower seems to be window to high strangeness.  Taking for us a trip around this intriguing town are filmaker Joe Tury and fortean investigator, Michael Huntington. We look at the key 1973 UFO sighting, strange events, a bloody...

This week, I am joined by the Reverend Aylyson Dunlop-Shanes to discuss her lifetime of strange experiences. From a childhood influenced by Spiritualism, Alyson has experienced strange phenomena her whole life and discusses some of the events that have stuck with her. From precognition, to encounters with the hat man, supernatural attacks to becoming an exorcist, Alyson shares some of the more cha...

On this episode, I'm joined by the Vice-Chair of the UK Paranormal Society, Leanne Burnam-Richards. We discover about the creation of the society, its aims and the reason it was set up as a charitable organisation and the positive message it is striving to spead in the paranormal community both in the UK and abroad. We look at the ethics of ghost hunting, investigations, history as well as discuss...

The paranormal has many aspects to it that often get overlooked more often than not. One perplexing phenomena that rose to prominence in the late 1970's was reports of telephone calls from the beyond.  D Scott Rogo and Raymond Baylis's seminal 1979 book, Phone Calls From The Dead investigated dozens of witness accounts of the bereaved receiving a call from the other side in some jaw dropping incid...

This week, we head to the east coast of the USA to visit one of the countries most historic states on the search for ghosts residing at some of Virginia's Inns and Hotels. Our guide on this paranormal trip around the Old Dominion state is author Susan Schwartz as we uncover all kinds of strange hauntings. We meet a ghost who likes to dance, the spectre of the former head of a brewing giant who die...

A late surprise with a remastered version of my interview with Linda Godfrey back in September 2019. I'm hopeful of remastering most of the first 100 episodes throughout the year, but thought you'd all appreciate this episode as a little bonus. This week I am delighted to be joined by author, journalist and investigator, Linda Godfrey. We discuss her wonderful new book, "I Know What I Saw" which c...

It was supposed be the most exciting weekend for five friends as they prepared for the biggest game in their basketball careers. Ted Weiher, Jack Madruga, Bill Sterling, Jackie Huett, and Gary Mathias were to play in a tournament that would enable them to travel to Los Angeles courtesy of the Special Olympics. They'd planned to watch their favourite college team first though, to inspire them for t...

New Zealand may have been the last large land mass populated by humans but it certainly has no shortage of paranormal activity. With over 40 years of paranormal investigations under his belt, Mark Wallbank has been investigating hauntings, strange sightings, abductions and stories of unusual creatures along side his paranormal team mates. Mark talks about his investigations and favourite haunted h...

We head out to Ohio this week on the search for some of the Buckeye states strangest cases from over the years.  Authors Kevin Moore and Kristina Smith from the Rutherford B Hayes Museum join me to cover some of the fascinating and perplexing cases covered in their book "Unnatural Ohio" which covers everything from cryptids, monsters, UFOs and ghosts!  From Ray Shockey's encounter with the Lovelan...

The Fortean Times's resident couch potato returns to dive into some forgotten gems of the 60's and 70's from both TV and cinema as we discuss some of our favourite beloved lost gems. From the vengeful Dr Phibes, to the ridiculous Phantom Rasberry Blower of Old London Town, Carry on Screaming to Hammer's House of Horror we delve in to some wonderful fortean films and the strangeness behind some of...

When it comes to the Sasquatch phenomena, following on from the main sighting events people reports come secondary experiences such as wood knocks, vocalisations, footprints and more. Yet what if something else is responsible for some of these other events. Could something be running concurrently with cyptid reports and be misindentified? In his new book, The Forest Poltergeist, author WT Watson c...

California in the late 1960's became a mecca for the counterculture movement, attracting all sorts to find themselves in new concepts, beliefs and communities.  Yet, a darkness lurked in the shadows as a series of murder shocked the Bay Area and beyond and its name was Zodiac. Now considered one of America's most intriguing unsolved murder cases, it still captivates peoples from around the world a...

A series of strange sightings were reported in the 1970's and 80's in Aintree, famous of course as the home of the Grand National . Witnesses were perplexed by the sight of torch bearing figures wandering in a field.  Hushed tales of nefarious deeds, secret socities and even cults were blamed but just what was going on and could anyone find out who was responsible. Returning after too long an abse...

It's December 1991 and a new reporter on the the local Elkhorn free newspaper "The Week", gets a lead on a rather unusual story. Could it really be true that a Werewolf was running around Walworth County? What happened next has become cryptid and fortean legend as both Linda Godfrey and the Beat of Bray Road became entwined forever. Linda's incredible body of work has inspired thousands to enter i...

Linda Raedisch joins me on this weeks show to dive into some of the strange histories and traditions that she has uncovered whilst compiling her fourth Llewellyn book, The Secret History of Christmas Baking:  Recipes and Stories from Tomb Offerings to Gingerbread Boys. We discuss the strange history of mummies as medicinal cure alls, the dark secrets of sugar and gingerbread, ancient civilisations...

On a cold November night back in 1966, four teenagers would have an experience that would resonate around the world. A night time drive to the local TNT area would culminate in a terrifying chase that left them frightened out of their wits and shock all of the residents of Point Pleasant. What happened next over the next 13 months in the small town in West Virgina would become known to all lovers...

We return to the world of the paranormal as we travel the length and breadth of Britain on the hunt for more encounters with ghosts. In her brand new book, Ruth Roper Wylde has once again collated a bumper crop of paranormal encounters featuring witnesses and enounters with entities of all shapes and sizes. From crying children to poltergeists, haunted museums to ghostly footsteps, these encounter...

For many, the term UFO is synonomous with the the term Flying Saucer but for many witnesses and experiencers, they see anything but a flying saucer. From the infamous Black Triangles, Flaming Crosses, Boomerangs and even Cigars shaped craft, the sky is indeed the limit in regards to the shapes of sighted craft in the heavens above us. Joining me to discuss his new book "The Shape of Things to Come...

We head back to Australia in the company of Dylan Stewart, host of the marvellous Paranormal Thoughts podcast to look at some of the strange occurences in and above Australia. From looking at some of Australia's most famous cases including Westall and some you may not be aware of, we look at the perception of the fortean in Australia and how the discussions have changed over the years, along with...

At the beginning of the 1920's, the sleepy Warwickshire village of Burton Dassett became the epicentre of a series of strange encounters. Locals began to see strange lights in the sky that seemed to act intelligently or even mischievously as some of the witnesses thought. Former police officer and now author, Richard Rokeby takes us on a trip back 100 years in to the past to try and uncover just w...

On this episode, we welcome Tony Healy back to look into some unusual cryptid history and encounters from Australia. From Bunyip sightings going back nearly 200 hundred years, to the strange creature or creatures lurking in the Hawksbury River, Tony gives us a crash course in two of Australia's most notable water beasts. We also discuss two of the strangest cryptid accounts you'll hear as well as...

This time of year is full of high strangeness hiding in plain sight all around the world. From the acceptance of a character who can break in to any house in the world, to flying animals, from cloth hunting cats to horse skulls singing for their supper, Christmas is strange. Joining me to discuss these customs and many others is Tobias Wayland, who along with his wife Emily, has created a thoughtf...

We head back to January 1983 and the coastal area of Aberystwyth in Wales. One local farmer received quite the shock one morning whilst out inspecting his flock to discover his fields strewn with debris. On alerting the authorities, he was informed a plane had crashed, despite their being no evidence of any plane coming down and to his amazement, a large group descended on the fields to clear up t...

This week, we head to the Pacific North West with author Luke Phillips to discuss his brilliant new book "ROGUE". A thriling, horrifying and cryptid filled joy ride, ROGUE sees the Washington state under attack from something that has developed a taste for human flesh and it seems nothing and no-one can stop it. Luke and I discuss some of our favourite Bigfoot films from Boggy Creek to Exists, som...

Dogmen. Werewolves. Skinwalkers. Shapeshifters. Many believe the Dogman phenomena began with the revalations surrounding Bray Road in Wisconsin and Linda Godfrey's amazing work. Yet as Linda and others discovered, stories about encounters with strange creatures have plagued the North American continent since records began. In her latest book, Werewolves, Dogmen and other Shapeshifters stalking Nor...