We Would Be Dead

On December 7th 1971,  the Westfield police department made one the the most bizarre and terrifying discoveries in New Jersey history. After numerous reports of lights slowly shutting off at historic Breeze Knoll mansion, the police had been summoned to check on it's occupants. The List family, who had purchased the sprawling manse in 1965 had not been seen or heard from in nearly a month. The Lis...

THAT’S RIGHT STRANGER THINGS FANS, it was real! Not the actual hell beasts, but the misplaced fear and anger for sure. In the nineteen eighties and early nineties the United States was locked in a full scale panic. Law enforcement was convinced that cults of child raping, child murdering, animal sacrificing, pro suicide, ritual sacrificing, goat man loving, devil worshiping Satanists were bubbling...

The New Jersey Pine Barrens hold so many wild and dramatic secrets that we know this won’t be the only episode we devote to them. This week we’ll take a little walk through Piney history before focusing on the main event, Jersey’s very own monster… (not all state’s have one, so we’re very proud), the Jersey devil!    Many of you will be familiar with the story of Mother Leeds and her cursed 13th c...

In this, the first installment in our “Not a Runaway” series we discuss the mysterious disappearance of 19 year old Katelin Akens.  “Katelin Michelle Akens was last seen on December 5, 2015, in the vicinity of Oak Crest Drive in Partlow, Virginia.  She was visiting family in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, and was scheduled to fly home to Arizona on December 5, 2015.  However, she did not board her...

Blaze Bernstein was good. He was a good kid who grew into a good teen and was making a pretty smooth transformation into a good adult. Blaze was kind and talented. Blaze was adventurous and intelligent. Blaze was gay and Jewish.  Sam Woodward was angry. Sam was an angry kid who grew into an angry teen and transformed into an angry adult. Sam was aggressive and isolated. Sam was confused and hungry...

On March 27th 1964, the headline: "37 Who Saw Murder Didn't Call the Police; Apathy at Stabbing of Queens Woman Shocks Inspector" was splashed across the cover of the New York times. The story behind it was the horrific rape and murder of a young woman named Kitty Genovese. But the story doesn't focus on Kitty, or even her murderer, it focuses on her neighbors, who allegedly saw the murder in real...

At 1:00 p.m. on April 23, 2006, 6 year old Garret ran over his neighbors house anticipating an afternoon of playing Star Wars. After knocking on the door several times Garret decided to peek into the window to see where his friend might be, but what he saw sent him running back home as fast as his little legs would carry him.  Police were summoned and discovered the bodies of the houses occupants,...

The death of Mary Rogers is known to many as America's first murder mystery. Published by Edgar Allen Poe as "The Mystery of Marie Rogêt in 1842, Mary's story became America's introduction to true crime, but for all it's retelling, and the country's brief and feverish fascination with the "beautiful cigar girl" Mary's case still remains technically unsolved.    Mary, known as a legendary beauty, u...

Our second round of Cursed Objects is international! This time Holly and Leslie both head over the pond to take a look at two objects so spooky, we guarantee you'll be repeating their stories around your next campfire. First Leslie tells us about Old Nick, The Swansea devil.... you're going to want to check out our Instagram for the photos of this one. Holly follows up with the tale of the Thomas...

Ok fiends, so many of you enjoyed the first "thirty minute movie" installment of Twilight that we decided to share the next film in the saga with the whole class.  In this wild (normally patrons only) series Holly and Leslie summarize a movie in thirty minutes in a frenzied game of hot potato. Here's how it works: the girls set the timer for five minutes and trade back and forth telling the story...

From 1970 until present day 73 women and girls have gone missing or turned up dead on Canada’s highway 16, otherwise known as the highway of tears. A disproportionate number of these women and girls are indigenous. Most of their cases remain unsolved. Most of their faces remain unseen.  The Royal Canadian Mounted Police assembled a task force in 2005 in the hopes of solving 18 of these cases. The...

Happy Halfoween fiends! Normally Holly and Leslie take this opportunity to tell stories about their worst fears, but this year they decided to use YOURS! We compiled quite the list from our listeners, and from that list your hosts surfaced 4 tales so terrifying, they're sure to have you sleeping with the lights on. Leslie shares the stories of Cleveland's 1986 Balloonfest disaster, The strange dea...

Annie Le was a brilliant scientist studying for here PHD at Yale University.  She had infinite potential and her whole life ahead of her until she disappeared inexplicably, just 5 days before her wedding. A few days later she was found dead in the most terrifying and unbelievable of places.        Click to learn more   WWBD Merch Buy your WWBD swag here!   Join the Conversation         

Daniel Robinson was a bright, ambitious, 24 year old geologist with an extremely promising life ahead of him, so when he disappeared without a trace, leaving everything behind, even the clothes on his back, his family was left with a huge puzzle to solve and one simple request from the public "Please help find Daniel"  Shadowed in the missing white girl syndrome wake of Gabby Petito's disappearanc...

It is estimated that 460,000 children per year go missing in united states, and that one out of every ten thousand of those children is murdered.  Nearly 700,000 incidences of child sexual abuse were reported in the united states in 2021, but it is estimated that 80 % of actual incidences go unreported… which means the real number is more like 3.5 million. Lastly, it is estimated that one in four...

Recording of our March 17th Live stream campfire stories event! Our friend John Joined us for some Irish fun and a spooky game of two truths and a lie! Play along with us as we weave tales of Irish haunted lore, True Crime and mythological creatures all while enjoying a good Irish Whiskey and the company of our fiends who tuned in live. *This was recorded with no mics, equipment or soundproofing,...

"Today Copper Alley will mourn its best mistress, and wives the town over will breathe a small sigh. Today is a sad day for vandals and misfits, today Darkey Kelly is going to die" Happy St Patrick's Day Fiends! This year we bring you the dark and stormy Legend of Darkey Kelly, A brother owner and murderess who was hanged and burned at the stake (that's right, hanged AND burned at the stake) for s...

On April 10th 1834 a fire broke out at 1140 Royal Street in the city of New Orleans. The estates mistress, local socialite Delphine Lalaurie was attempting to retrieve her most valuable possession in a hysterical daze. Meanwhile, a crowd had formed to behold the spectacle, and sensing nothing had been done to stop it, they sprang into action. Soon the police and fire department arrived, and what t...

This week Leslie tells us the tale of the Axeman of New Orleans, who was possibly an American serial killer active in New Orleans, Louisiana, and surrounding communities, including Gretna, from May 1918 to October 1919. However, similar murders occurred as early as 1911 that may hold some connection. He mainly targeted Italian immigrants and Italian-Americans. The Axeman was never identified, and...

Time for some fun fiends! This week we telling you true tales that we were inspired to find by Goosebumps novels! These are not the stories RL Stein based his work on but they are similar and the exercise took us on quite the wild ride. Leslie takes on "Piano Lessons Can Be Murder" with the mysterious and multilayered case of the murder of Darlene Sitler. Holly was inspired by "Say Cheese and Die"...

It's our 100th episode and you picked this absolute beast of a topic! Kurt Cobain, the iconic and ephemeral alternative rock deity meant and continues to mean a great deal to a great many people. As the front man of ground breaking nineties  band Nirvana, Kurt changed the landscape of music. We have done our best to tell the emotionally complicated story of his misunderstood childhood, meteoric ri...

It's our 100th episode and you picked this absolute beast of a topic! Kurt Cobain, the iconic and ephemeral alternative rock deity meant and continues to mean a great deal to a great many people. As the front man of ground breaking nineties  band Nirvana, Kurt changed the landscape of music. We have done our best to tell the emotionally complicated story of his misunderstood childhood, meteoric ri...

It's a Leslie Episode! In the early morning hours of December 3rd, 2016, police found an abandoned car with the keys left in the ignition on the Route 35 bridge, crossing the Shark River in Belmar, NJ. The car belonged to 19-year-old Sarah Stern, but she was no where to be found. Sarah Stern was a local, who was attending college nearby and planning to move to Canada to pursue an education and car...

Once upon a time, there was a boy who lived in the rolling hills of Germany's Black Forest. For a time he had a charmed life, he lived in a huge manor house, he had many friends, a doting father and brothers who he looked up to and loved. Then one day, everything vanished, everything except the boy and the manor house, and the boy began to change. It seemed that everyone he loved wanted to leave h...

R E Q U E S T! (we hope you sung that in your head to the tune of Respect by Aretha Franklin) You asked, we listened, this week we cover our first true missing persons case, the frustrating and yet unsolved disappearances of Brian Shaffer.  On March 31, 2006 second year medical student at Ohio State University, Brian Shaffer, went out to celebrate the beginning of spring break with a few friends a...