Mysterious

Episode 25: What Happened to the Christmas Tree Ship? The ship known as the Christmas Tree Ship, the Rouse Simmons, sank in November of 1912 between Kewaunee and Two Rivers, Wisconsin, during a winter storm on Lake Michigan. The ship left Thompson Pier, Michigan, reportedly needing repair, and overloaded with Christmas trees for its annual journey to the expanding Christmas market in Chicago. The...

Why do so many people disappear in Alaska? Who buried Sister Mary Janina in the basement of the church? How did a pig manage to calm the animals at an Arabian horse ranch? Are there stories about Bigfoot in Alaska? Was the sinking of the Clara Nevada an accident or mass murder? Can it rain blood? Where did the saying, “Another one bites the dust,” originate? What happened to the Grand Duchess Anas...

Episode 24: A Terrible Christmas Tragedy — Or Was It Murder?   The Jon Benet Ramsey case pops into most of our minds when we are asked to relay the most terrible Christmas story we know, but seventy-eight years ago in 1945 in Fayetteville, West Virginia, the Sodder family lost five of their ten children in a house fire on Christmas Eve. Was it a tragedy, a murder, or a kidnapping? Until...

Episode 23: The Mystery of The Way to Go, Nassau, Buster Brown This is the story of a gorgeous Thoroughbred horse. If he could talk, it would be interesting to listen to him talk about the many miles he put on American roads and highways. We know he crossed the entire continent twice and went halfway one additional time.           __________________________________________...

Episode 22: The Mothman of Point Pleasant Welcome to a journey through one of America’s most haunting enigmas—the Mothman of Point Pleasant. Plus — The Phantom Dogsled.           __________________________________________________________________________________________________ New Release by Mary Ann Poll ______________________________________________________________...

Episode 21: What Happened to the Edmund Fitzgerald? The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down of the big lake they called Gitchee Gumee The lake it is said never gives up her dead when the skies of November turn gloomy Gordon Lightfoot’s lyrics memorialize the tragedy of the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, but the mystery remains – what sunk the great ship? Sources: Stonehouse, Fre...

Episode 20: The Most Lovable Conman of the Alaska Gold Rush One of the most scandalous persons to be associated with Nome was Wilson Mizner, a loveable scoundrel. Mizner was involved with gambling and prize fighting in Nome, and it was said he was probably the only man with the reputation of being able to “borrow money from a lamppost and is said to be the only man who ever hired the Nome br...

Episode 19: Mysterious Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia was born into the most elite segment of Russian society on June 18, 1901 as the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II , the last sovereign of  Imperial Russia , and his wife,  Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna . Anastasia was the younger sister of Grand Duchesses  Olga ,  Tatiana , and  Mari...

Episode 18: The Investor Murders What happened on a foggy September day in 1982 in the small fishing village of Craig, Alaska? Many believe they know who killed the crew and passengers of the Investor, but only the killer knows why the massacre occurred.   Sources Bovsun, Mara. “Murder on a fishing boat—and there was never a conviction.” March 31, 2019. New York Daily News . https://www.nydai...

Episode 17: Where is Baby Shannon? Some of the facts in this true story have been established, but some things are still unknown. Sources: https://wbckfm.com/cold-case-cedar-springs-the-disappearance-of-baby-shannon/  Cold Case Cedar Springs: The Disappearance of Baby Shannon   https://charleyproject.org/case/shannon-dale-verhage  The Charley Project   https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/michigan/...

Episode 16: Alaskan Ghosts In May of 1973, the chief mate and two sailors on the Alaska State ferry Malaspina saw a sight about which they are undoubtedly still telling their grandchildren. On a clear Sunday morning near Twin Island in the Revillagigedo Channel north of Ketchikan, a huge vessel suddenly ap­peared dead ahead. Lying broadside to the path of the ferry, it was about eight miles away a...

Episode 15: Bigfoot in Alaska Alaska, known for its vast wilderness and diverse wildlife, has captured the imagination of many when it comes to the legendary creature known as Bigfoot. While the state is renowned for its hulking wildlife like bears, moose, caribou, and sea lions, sightings of Bigfoot in Alaska have been relatively scarce compared to other regions believed to be its natural habitat...

Episode 14: What Happened to Joseph Mengle? This is a mystery that spanned forty years before being solved and put to rest. Investigators from numerous countries, including the United States, West Germany, Israel, Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay, all of which made confused and futile searches for the man or hard evidence of his having died. His name was Josef Rudolf Mengele.       _...

Episode 13: Mysterious Idioms I find Idioms interesting; their origins are a mystery.  First of all, some of them sound idiotic, nonsensical, for example ‘saved by the skin of your teeth?’  What in the world does that mean?  But the word “idiom” is not related to idiocy, rather ‘idiom’ comes from the Greek word “idioma,” meaning peculiar phrasing.  That perfectly describes an idiom.  An idiom is a...

Episode 12: The Haunted Lemp Mansion   The Lemp Mansion in St. Louis, Missouri, is said to be one of the ten most haunted places in America. The mansion continues to play host to the tragic Lemp family after death. The once stately home to millionaires became office space, then decayed into a run-down boarding house. Finally restored, the Lemp Mansion is presently a fine dinner theatre, resta...

Blood Rain Episode 11: More Than Just Rain Falls From the Sky When we see precipitation forming into storm clouds, we know that rain is on the way. But this clean, life-sustaining liquid is not the only thing that falls from the sky. Can it actually rain blood? That might sound like a biblical disaster straight out of the book of Exodus, but that’s just what happened in India. Also, what is a Star...

Episode 10: Grand Island Murders After the body of Edward Morrison was found in the bottom of the U.S. lighthouse boat on the shore of Lake Superior, stories began to flourish about what had happened and who was responsible — even before the facts were established. To this day, people still have strong opinions about an event that occurred more than one hundred years ago. Sources: Graham, Lo...

Episode 9: The Phantom That Came Aboard: A True Gold Rush Saga Perhaps the most famous Alaska Ghost ship story is that of the Eliza Anderson .  Here is the saga of a ship in distress, forced to choose between being battered to splinters by the savage sea or running around on the rocky shoals of Kodiak Island.  Instead, a tall, gaunt, wind-swept, rain-soaked giant of a stranger seized control of th...

Episode 8: What Happened to the Fandel Children? Most parents can imagine no nightmare worse than the disappearance of a child, but how can a parent possibly cope when both of their children vanish, swallowed by the Alaska wilderness? Some time during the late-night hours of Sept. 5 or the early morning hours of Sept. 6, 1978, Scott Fandel, 13, and Amy Fandel, 8, disappeared from their Sterling, A...

Episode 7: Silent City Hoax Silent City A hallucination is when something is seen that doesn’t exist. A mirage is a real thing seen in the wrong location consisting mainly of images of distant objects. These may be steady or wavering, single or multiple, upright or inverted, vertically enlarged or reduced. A mirage is a natural optical phenomenon that can be captured on camera since light ra...

Episode 6: Sister Mary Janina Isidore is a quiet little farm community. Not at all the place you think of when you hear someone has been buried alive in the basement of a church. Sources: https://lostinmichigan.net Where is Sister Janina? Mardi Lind https://wondersandmarvels.com Isadore’s Secret: Sin, Murder, and Confession in a Northern Michigan Town by Mardi Link The 1907 Murder of Sister...

Episode 5: Three Mysteries From a small town in Utah to a mysterious mountain in Africa, mysteries fill the world around us. In this episode, I will share three mysteries.     This podcast is sponsored by Author Masterminds and the Readers and Writers Book Club.   Check out the Author Masterminds Website Get to know the authors at The Readers and Writers Book Club _______________________...

Episode 4: Edna June How did a 200-pound pig become the “darling” on an Arabian horse ranch? Owning a ranch isn’t very mysterious. It’s a lot of plain hard work. But there have been some mysterious things that happen here. I’m going to tell you about one of them.     ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ This podca...

Episode 3: The Clara Nevada No saga of the Alaska Gold Rush would be complete without a touch of the mysterious.  Every rush has its eerie events, and the Alaska Gold Rush was no exception. Perhaps the most perplexing incident of that era was the saga of the Clara Nevada . Here was a tale of greed, robbery, and murder, along with a ghostly re-visitation. But it was more than that.  It is also one...

Episode 2: Vile Vortices The world is full of mysteries. On this episode, I’d like to share about specific phenomena: Vile Vortices. So, what is a vile vortex? You’ve heard the chilling stories about the Bermuda Triangle, right? Well, there are several other mysterious places where ships and planes seem to vanish.  These 12 places are collectively called the Vile Vortices, and like their more famo...