State of the Unknown | Documentary Stories of Real Unexplained Encounters

Before it became a pop-culture reference point, Camp Hero was a real military installation in Montauk, New York, on the eastern edge of Long Island. During the Cold War, the base operated as a radar and defense site. Decades later, it would become the center of claims involving secret government experiments known as the Montauk Project. In this episode, host Robert Barber examines the documented h...

In 1949, a family in the Midwest began documenting a series of disturbing events centered on their teenage son. What began as unexplained disturbances soon escalated into physical incidents witnessed by family members, physicians, and Jesuit clergy. The events eventually led to St. Louis, Missouri, where priests from Saint Louis University were asked to intervene. Observations were recorded. Medic...

The Greenbrier Ghost is one of the most unusual cases in American legal history. In this episode of State of the Unknown , host Robert Barber examines a true paranormal story involving a sudden death, a reopened investigation, and testimony that challenged the boundaries of what a court was prepared to hear. Drawing from documented court records, medical findings, and historical accounts, this epi...

In a quiet suburban neighborhood in Bothell, Washington, a family began experiencing unexplained disturbances inside their home. What started as small, dismissible events slowly escalated into more than 600 reported paranormal incidents over the course of a year, witnessed by multiple people. Objects moved, sounds followed occupants through the house, and visitors noticed disturbances without bein...

In the late 1980s, a family in Wisconsin brought home a simple set of bunk beds for their children. Nothing about them seemed unusual. There was no known history tied to them, no warning signs, and no reason to think they would change anything at all. But soon after the beds were assembled, the house began to feel different. Footsteps were heard moving through empty rooms. Objects shifted on their...

The Dybbuk Box is one of the most infamous haunted objects in modern paranormal history. But behind the viral stories, the museum footage, and the online legends, there was something real: a chain of people who claimed that nightmares, shadows, sickness, and fear followed the small wooden cabinet wherever it went. In this episode, join Robert Barber as he breaks down the original estate sale in Po...

A quiet home in Atchison, Kansas. A nursery that never felt empty. Scratches that appeared on skin — fresh, burning, and witnessed in real time. This is the true paranormal story of the Sallie House haunting, one of the most disturbing and well-documented cases in America’s haunted history. In this episode of State of the Unknown , we walk through the chilling events exactly as the family reported...

On the fourth floor of Wilson Hall at Ohio University sits a sealed dorm room no one has lived in for decades, Room 428. Students have whispered about it for years: pacing footsteps behind a locked door, lights flicking on in the middle of the night, and the story of a student whose experience inside the room changed everything. In this mini-episode, we explore the legend as it’s been told for gen...

In the early 1800s, a quiet Tennessee farmhouse became the center of one of the most chilling and well-documented hauntings in American history. For more than two years, the Bell family claimed they were tormented by an unseen voice, one that spoke clearly, answered questions, revealed secrets… and eventually promised to kill the family’s patriarch, John Bell. Join host Robert B. as he dives deep...

In the early 1980s, new homeowners outside Houston started finding coffins buried beneath their freshly built yards. Lights flickered, water ran on its own, and fear spread through the neighborhood—until they learned the truth. Their subdivision had been built over a forgotten cemetery known as Black Hope. The story of what followed—graves unearthed, strange activity, and a family tragedy—sounds e...

In 1972, Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 crashed into the Florida Everglades—killing 101 people. Months later, flight crews across the country began reporting something impossible: the faces of Captain Robert Loft and Flight Engineer Donald Repo appearing aboard other jets built from the wreckage. What followed became one of the best-documented modern hauntings and a mystery that changed aviation for...

In the quiet town of Madison, Ohio sits a building with nearly two centuries of history and more than a few secrets. Once a school, a Civil War widows’ home, and later a state-run institution, Madison Seminary has become one of the most haunted locations in Ohio. In this episode, host Robert Barber explores the history and hauntings of the Seminary, including the Civil War wing watched over by Eli...

Before The Conjuring 2 terrified moviegoers, there was a real family living through something no one could explain. In 1977, the Hodgson family of Enfield, London reported furniture moving on its own, voices echoing from the walls, and violent disturbances witnessed by police, reporters, and paranormal investigators. But what really happened inside that house? In this episode, State of the Unknown...

In 1981, a quiet Connecticut town became the center of one of the strangest murder cases in American history. When nineteen-year-old Arne Johnson stabbed his landlord, he claimed something no U.S. court had ever heard before, that he was possessed by a demon. This episode of State of the Unknown uncovers the true story that inspired The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It. Host Robert Barber takes...

In the world of paranormal encounters and urban folklore, few stories are more chilling than this one. Before The Conjuring turned her into a horror icon, Annabelle was real — a simple Raggedy Ann doll at the center of one of the most documented real hauntings in American history. In this episode of State of the Unknown , host Robert Barber explores the true paranormal story of Annabelle - from th...

Before Hollywood gave it a name, there was the real story. Between 1974 and 1989, Jack and Janet Smurl claimed their quiet Pennsylvania duplex had become a battleground of good and evil — a haunting so violent it drew the attention of famed investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. In this episode of State of the Unknown , Robert Barber revisits one of America’s most disturbing real-life hauntings - t...

This October, State of the Unknown presents a special haunted series: the true stories behind The Conjuring movies. Join host Robert Barber as we dive into the real cases Ed and Lorraine Warren investigated — the ones that became the inspiration for The Conjuring: Last Rites, Annabelle, The Devil Made Me Do It, and The Conjuring 2. From the Smurl Haunting in Pennsylvania to the infamous Enfield Po...

St. Louis, Missouri. Once a mansion of chandeliers, marble, and fortune — now one of the most haunted houses in America. The Lemp family built their empire on beer, but inside their 33-room mansion, sorrow took root. Five suicides. A legacy of grief. And a house that refuses to let go of its past. Today, the Lemp Mansion is famous for more than history. Guests report footsteps in empty hallways. S...

In September 1961, Betty and Barney Hill were driving through New Hampshire’s White Mountains when a strange light in the sky began to follow them. Hours later, they pulled into their driveway with two hours of missing time — and a story that would become America’s first widely publicized alien abduction. Torn clothing. Watches that would never tick again. A trembling dog that wouldn’t leave Betty...

Just off the coast of Venice lies a place so feared that even locals refuse to go near it. Poveglia Island has been called the world’s most haunted island — a former quarantine zone and plague hospital where tens of thousands perished, and where the echoes of suffering seem impossible to silence. In this episode of State of the Unknown: Out of State , Robert Barber uncovers the true paranormal his...

For centuries, the legend of Atlantis has captured our imagination — a powerful civilization said to have vanished beneath the sea. Was it a cautionary tale, a historical reality, or something else entirely? In this episode of State of the Unknown: Out of State , Robert Barber dives into the origins of the Atlantis myth — from Plato’s first writings to modern theories that place it everywhere from...

Deep in the heart of Ireland stands Leap Castle — a centuries-old fortress known for bloodshed, betrayal, and the restless spirits said to haunt its halls. From secret dungeons and family murders to a malevolent presence known only as the Elemental, its story is one of Ireland’s darkest legends. In this episode of State of the Unknown: Out of State , Robert Barber explores the haunted history and...

Across the windswept Orkney Islands of Scotland comes one of the darkest legends in Celtic folklore — a creature born of sea mist and nightmare. Known as the Nuckelavee, this skinless, horse-like demon was said to spread plague, famine, and terror wherever it roamed. In this episode of State of the Unknown: Out of State , Robert Barber explores the haunted history and true cryptid lore of the Nuck...

In this inaugural episode of Out of State — a companion to State of the Unknown — join host Robert Barber as we step beyond America’s borders to one of the most haunted places in the world. We explore haunted history and paranormal stories surrounding Aokigahara, Japan's infamous Suicide Forest. At the base of Mount Fuji lies Aokigahara, Japan’s infamous “Suicide Forest.” But beyond its tragi...

A river at night. A woman’s cry that chills the blood. La Llorona — the Weeping Woman — is Mexico’s most famous ghost. For centuries, she has haunted riversides and canals, searching for the children she drowned and lost. Some call her a grieving mother. Others, a curse born from betrayal. But all agree: her cry is an omen. If you hear it, death may follow. In this episode of Out of State , we tra...