Strange and Unexplained with Daisy Eagan

The trial of teenage murderer Alice Mitchell was an all out spectacle. After killing her former lover Freda Ward in a crime of passion, no one seemed to believe her motivation –least of all her own defense team. She’d end up pleading present insanity under the counsel of men who couldn’t even begin to comprehend any deviation from the sexual and gendered norms of the late 19th century. In the seco...

When 19-year-old Alice Mitchell jumped from a carriage and slit the throat of 17-year-old Freda Ward one fateful day in 1892, a rampant fascination over the drama soon followed. Alice loved Freda and killed her accordingly –to the crazed confusion of nearly everyone in Memphis, Tennessee and beyond. In the first half of our pride series, we’ll go over the story of their sapphic relationship, how i...

The mythic metropolis of Atlantis has long been an object of our curiosity, but the search for where it was and who lived there has left its origin story underwater. On this episode, we’ll explore how this thought experiment about a fallen empire from the mind of Plato turn into a justification for grand projects of bigotry from eugenicists, pseudo-archeologists and –you guessed it– Nazis. 

We're taking a break for the holiday so we wanted to feature an episode from our first season you may not have heard yet. We'll be back with a new episode next week! Columbus Ohio 2006, 1:15 am: 27-year-old medical student Brian Shaffer is seen on a surveillance camera walking into a bar with two friends. But he never comes back out. Somehow, in a bar packed with potential witnesses, Brian vanishe...

When Neil Armstrong touched down and said “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” he meant it, right? The 1969 moon landing was a long-awaited event that brought the world together and the United States across the Space Race finish line. But, as with any historic victory for powerful people in powerful governments, doubters soon followed. To this day, many still believe the Ap...

We left off in the ill-fated Dryden, NY with two high school cheerleaders missing and a town in mourning for years of tragedy under its belt. In the second half of this series on the “Village of the Damned,” we’ll go over the hunt for a murderer and the unfortunate string of deaths that followed. How did this decade of terror come to a conclusion? The end would be more bitter than sweet.

Dryden, New York is your typical, small town nestled among forestry, ponds and plains. But in the 1990s, that peace was disrupted by a string of events so tragic it was hard not to suspect a site-specific curse. Dryden would come to be known for a time as the “Village of the Damned,” and in Part 1 of this series we’ll trace the first half of this ominous decade there. 

After former president Abraham Lincoln was shot dead at Ford’s Theatre, a manhunt for John Wilkes Booth ensued immediately. History tells us Booth was captured by Union soldiers on a farm in Virginia 12 days after the assassination, but contrarians to this story have been begging to differ even since. Did John Wilkes Booth escape after all? On this episode, we’ll explore alternative fates for the...

The dream world is a mysterious place of delights, nightmares and lots and lots of memories. But what if we could control it? Many do by harnessing the skill and cultural fascination that is lucid dreaming. On this episode, we’ll explore the origins, possibilities and dangers of the practice. 

What started as mysterious letters to a UFOlogist turned into a rumor straight out of science fiction. The USS Eldridge –a naval destroyer– undoubtedly existed, but how did it become the subject of alleged teleportation in a top secret government experiment? On this episode, we’ll traverse the murky waters of the story that brought The Philadelphia Experiment to life. 

History’s most infamous serial killers had calling cards, from names and symbols to systems and strategies of predation. But the only thing tying together the story of Edward Wayne Edwards was his ability to resist definition. He was a robber and a self-proclaimed “reformed man.” He was a father and a Zodiac Killer enthusiast. He was a vocal opponent of crime while murderously slipping under the r...

The Berenstain Bears, Tony the Tiger’s blue nose and a ‘90s movie starring Sinbad as a genie have all come back to haunt us. What started off as confusion over Nelson Mandela’s death date has exploded over the years into mass mixups concerning the big and small. On this episode, we’ll dive head first into this global phenomenon that is the Mandela Effect. 

Look up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's... a humanoid, moth-like creature? The Mothman entered the scene of Point Pleasant, West Virginia in 1966 and has fascinated our imaginations since. Here’s how an anomaly with glowing red eyes flew straight into the heart of this small town’s identity.

One of Georgia’s most popular tourist attractions is also the site of some dark history. From the bottom up, the manmade Lake Lanier holds everything from ghost town remnants, to bodies to monstrous catfish. The legends along its shores only add to that lore. On this episode, we’ll dive into one of the deadliest lakes in the United States. 

This is the story of a cook who refused to wash her hands and the health department that chased her around New York City in search of a stool sample. She’d end up alone on an island, but everyone knew her name. Here’s how Mary Mallon became Typhoid Mary.

From their esoteric symbols to their elusive rituals & doings, secret societies control our curiosity. If we can’t join them, we can still poke around their stories. On this episode we’ll explore the origins of two of the most talked about groups in modern history and where they are today. What happens behind the curtain? Are you wary to find out? Welcome to the club. 

There she lay facedown on a beach towel, naked in the sand: handless, dead and with a mouth full of expensive dental work. In 1974, when a kid and her dog discovered the body of a young woman in Provincetown, Massachusetts, a mystery took off. Who was she? Well, she’s The Lady of the Dunes. 

In Part 2 of this series on the Stayners, we turn to Cary: the brother left to live through Steven’s disappearance and eventual return. After tragedy strikes Cary’s family multiple times, he heads down a dark and deadly road into the forests of Yosemite.

When 7-yr-old Steven Stayner was kidnapped, his family was shaken. And when 14-yr-old Steven returned home, life was still far from normal. How does trauma travel through a family? And what would come next? In these next two episodes, we’ll follow a pair of brothers on their diverging paths, starting with Steven. 

Allison Mack set off on her acting career at a young age, playing dorks, "plain Janes" and other blonde-haired, girl-next-door types across the ‘90s and early aughts. But when a crisis of confidence presented a fork in her road, Mack veered down a dark path of sex-trafficking, conspiracy and a whole lot of interpersonal manipulation. How did it all happen? We trace the story in this episode.

If a tree falls in the forest –and nobody’s around to hear it– who knows if it killed someone below? The mysterious, fatal instances that occur in nature are hard to piece together. This week, two stories of people who went into the great unknown and died. To this day, how they died is also a great unknown. 

We walk into nature to confront the unknown, but returning home isn’t a guarantee. From the desert of Nevada to the mountainous forest of Vermont, secrets of missing people are embedded across the landscapes they once traversed. This week, we stray from the trailhead with two stories of hikers who seemingly disappeared into thin air.

Hey, Strangers!  Today the Obsessed Network is launching Season 2 of “Crimes of the Centuries” - the true crime podcast from award-winning reporter Amber Hunt. Recently named by Rolling Stone as one of the 10 Best Crime Podcasts of 2021, “Crimes of the Centuries” rediscovers the true crime stories that shocked the nation—cases so unbelievable that we thought we’d never forget them, but somehow did...

On a spring morning in 1979, a young boy walked to his bus stop and never returned home. The disappearance of Etan Patz would result in a search across New York City that spanned 40 years. From flyers to milk cartons, his face and name became a cautionary tale to many, a tale with an unclear ending still to this day.

Is our existence a reality, or are we the product of someone else's imagination? The chances that we are all just avatars in someone else's video game are better than you think.  This week, we explain what the simulation theory is, share stories of those who have experienced a "glitch" in the Matrix, and offer proof that none of this--or us--are real.