The Eclectic: True Crime & Paranormal Stories

Send us Fan Mail In Part One, we followed fifteen-year-old friends Marianne Schmidt and Christine Sharrock on what should have been an ordinary summer day at Cronulla Beach—a day that ended in one of Australia's most infamous unsolved murders. Now, the investigation begins. From the mysterious teenager known only as "The Surfy" to convicted murderer Alan Bassett, serial killer Chris...

Send us Fan Mail On a warm January morning in 1965, fifteen-year-old friends Marianne Schmidt and Christine Sharrock boarded a train to Cronulla for what should have been an ordinary day at the beach. They never came home. Hours later, the girls vanished into the vast Wanda Sandhills, accompanied by a mysterious teenage boy seen only by Marianne's seven-year-old brother. By the following afte...

Send us Fan Mail In 1629, the Dutch ship Batavia struck a reef off the coast of what is now Western Australia. For the survivors, the disaster should have been the end of their ordeal. Instead, it was only the beginning. Stranded on a remote chain of islands, the passengers and crew found themselves trapped in a desperate struggle for survival. As order collapsed, one man seized control, transform...

Send us Fan Mail In 18th-century France, a man named Tarrare became famous for an appetite that seemed impossible. No matter how much he consumed, he remained desperately hungry. Witnesses claimed he could eat vast quantities of food in a single sitting. During the turmoil of the French Revolutionary Wars, his unusual condition even attracted the attention of military officials, who believed his a...

Send us Fan Mail On the night of December 30, 2000, a family of four were murdered inside their home in the Setagaya district of Tokyo. What followed would become one of the most baffling unsolved cases in modern history. The killer left behind an extraordinary amount of evidence. DNA. Fingerprints. Personal belongings. Even traces of what they had eaten. Yet despite one of the largest investigati...

Send us Fan Mail In the summer of 1944, residents of Mattoon began reporting a strange and frightening phenomenon. Late at night, people claimed that an unidentified figure was prowling the town, releasing a mysterious gas through open windows. Victims described a sweet, unpleasant odour followed by symptoms including nausea, dizziness, temporary paralysis, and overwhelming fear. As reports spread...

Send us Fan Mail In 1943, four boys exploring woodland in Hagley Wood discovered a human skull hidden inside the trunk of a wych elm tree. The victim was later identified only as “Bella” — but who she was, how she died, and who placed her inside the tree have never been answered. Then, just a few years later and less than fifty miles away, another case unsettled rural England. In the village of Lo...

Send us Fan Mail Hidden in the hills of West Virginia lies an abandoned amusement park with a history far darker than its rides suggest. Before Lake Shawnee Amusement Park became a family attraction, the land was connected to violence, tragedy, and loss. Over the years, a series of deaths — both historical and accidental — helped build its reputation as one of America’s most haunted locations. Vis...

Send us Fan Mail In 1948, the body of an unidentified man was discovered on Somerton Beach in Adelaide. He carried no identification.  There were no signs of violence.  And every label on his clothing had been removed. What followed became one of the most enduring mysteries of the twentieth century — a hidden message reading “Tamám Shud,” a coded note found in a rare book, and a trail of clues tha...

Send us Fan Mail In the summer of 1518, a woman began dancing in the streets of Strasbourg. She didn’t stop. Within days, others joined her. Then dozens more.  Soon, entire groups were dancing uncontrollably — for hours, for days, in some cases until they collapsed from exhaustion. Authorities were unable to explain it. Physicians at the time suggested it was a natural illness. Others believed it...

Send us Fan Mail In Rothiemurchus, there’s a grave that no one will touch. It belongs to Seath Mòr Sgorfhiachlach—a 14th-century clan chief known as The Great Shaw . But it isn’t the man people fear. It’s what sits on top of his grave. Five stones.  Placed in a rough cross formation.  Known as the Homing Stones —because no matter where they’re taken… they come back. Thrown into the River Spey—they...

Send us Fan Mail In 1966, two men were found dead on a hillside in Niterói, Brazil — dressed in suits, lying side by side, and wearing strange lead eye masks. There were no signs of violence.  No clear cause of death.  And in their pockets, investigators found a note containing cryptic instructions:   “16:30 be at the specified place… 18:30 ingest capsules… after effect, protect metals… wait for s...

Send us Fan Mail In nineteenth-century Ontario, the Donnelly family became the centre of one of Canada’s most violent and enduring legends. Accused of theft, feuds, and lawlessness, the Donnellys were feared and resented by their neighbours. Tensions simmered for years — until one brutal night in 1880, when a vigilante mob descended on their homestead, killing members of the family and burning the...

Send us Fan Mail In the early nineteenth century, London was gripped by fear of a figure that seemed to defy explanation. Witnesses described a man — or something like one — with glowing eyes, clawed hands, and the ability to leap impossibly high over walls and rooftops. He appeared suddenly, attacked without warning, and vanished just as quickly into the night. He became known as Spring-Heeled Ja...

Send us Fan Mail Once a celebrated knight and companion of Joan of Arc, Gilles de Rais was one of the most powerful men in fifteenth-century France. But behind his wealth and status lay something far darker. Accused of committing horrific crimes against children, Gilles de Rais’s trial in 1440 revealed allegations so disturbing they have echoed through history ever since. Yet his story remains con...

Send us Fan Mail Borley Rectory has long been called “the most haunted house in England.” From phantom footsteps and ghostly nuns to messages scrawled on walls and unexplained fires, the rectory became the centre of one of the most famous paranormal cases in British history. But how much of it was real… and how much was illusion, exaggeration, or even deception? In this episode of The Eclectic , w...

Send us Fan Mail The Isdal Woman: Norway’s Unsolved Mystery In November 1970, the burned body of an unidentified woman was discovered in a remote valley near Bergen, Norway. What followed was one of Europe’s most baffling mysteries. Suitcases filled with wigs and coded notes.  Multiple passports and false identities.  Hotel registers signed under different names. Investigators soon realised that t...

Send us Fan Mail In the early eighteenth century, an English criminal named Thomas Busby was executed for murder. According to local legend, before his death he placed a curse on the chair he had been sitting in — declaring that anyone who dared sit in it would suffer a terrible fate. Over the centuries, the so-called Busby Stoop Chair became the centre of one of Britain’s most unsettling curses....

Send us Fan Mail In March 1922, six members of the Gruber family were murdered on a remote Bavarian farmstead known as Hinterkaifeck. Days before the killings, the family reported strange occurrences: footprints in the snow leading to the house but none returning, unfamiliar sounds in the attic, a missing key. After the murders, the killer appeared to remain on the property — feeding livestock, te...

Send us Fan Mail In 1726, England was gripped by one of the strangest medical scandals in history. Mary Toft, a poor woman from Surrey, claimed she was giving birth to rabbits — a story so extraordinary that it fooled physicians, surgeons, and even the royal court. For months, respected medical professionals examined her, debated her condition, and published findings that would later become a sour...

Send us Fan Mail In February 1959, nine experienced hikers died in the remote Ural Mountains under circumstances so strange they continue to defy explanation. Their tent was cut open from the inside.  They fled barefoot into sub-zero temperatures.  Some suffered catastrophic injuries with no external wounds.  Others showed signs of radiation exposure. In this episode of The Eclectic , we examine t...

Send us Fan Mail John Bodkin Adams: The Doctor Who Was Always There at the End Eastbourne was meant to be a place to grow old quietly.  Neat streets. Polite society. Doctors you trusted with your life. John Bodkin Adams was one of those doctors. Over decades, elderly patients under his care died suddenly — often after injections, often without witnesses, and frequently after rewriting their wills....

Send us Fan Mail Mary Tudor: Bloody Queen or Misunderstood Monarch? Mary Tudor is remembered by history as “Bloody Mary” — England’s first crowned queen, a devout Catholic, and a ruler synonymous with fire, persecution, and fear. But how much of that reputation is truth… and how much is the result of propaganda, politics, and prejudice? In this episode of The Eclectic , we explore the life and rei...

Send us Fan Mail Mary Jane Kelly: The Final Victim Mary Jane Kelly’s murder on 9 November 1888 marked the brutal end of the Jack the Ripper’s known killing spree — and remains the most horrifying crime associated with the case. Unlike the other canonical victims, Mary Jane was killed indoors, behind the closed door of her room in Miller’s Court. What was discovered there shocked even a city alread...

Send us Fan Mail Step into the life of Catherine Eddowes, a woman whose resilience and spirit defied the harsh realities of Victorian London.  In this episode, we explore her journey marked by intelligence, creativity, and defiance, revealing a legacy overshadowed by the violence that ended her life. Join us as we honour her story, celebrating her strength and humanity. You can follow us on Instag...