Generations of Mexican children have grown up afraid of La Llorona—a wailing woman whose misdeeds in life have left her spirit trapped on Earth, where she cries for her children. She’s the stuff of legend—a myth and spooky bedtime story whose origins date back hundreds of years.

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Happy Halloween, Samhain, and thinning of the veil! I've had the voice of an albatross for the past few days, so please enjoy this re-release of my own personal ghost stories and paranormal experiences. They aren't for the faint of heart. 

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Zona Heaster Shue—a young bride with her whole life ahead—died from heart failure or possibly complications from a miscarriage. Or was it murder? Zona’s heartbroken mother insisted her daughter had been murdered by her newlywed husband. Moreover, she claimed that Zona's ghost appeared to her and shared a story different from what her death certificate indicated. 

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At the height of the spiritualist movement of the late 19th century, an obscure teen in a small Midwest town became a celebrity. Whether it was the effects of mental illness, an undiagnosed sleep disorder, or an actual case of possession, Mary "Lurancy" Vennum was thrust onto a national stage by true believers who were convinced that she had special powers to talk to the dead.





Baird, A. (1949). The Life of Richard Hodgson. London: Psychic Press.Bruce, H.A. (1908). Historic Ghosts and Ghost Hunters. New York: Moffat, Yard & Co.Hoffman, F.S. (1903). Psychology and Common Life: A Survey of the Present Results of Psychical Research with Special Reference to their Bearings upon the Interests of Everyday Life. New York & London: G.P. Putnam & Sons.Myers, F.W.H. (1903/1961). Human Personality and its Survival of Bodily Death. New Hyde Park, NY: University Books, Inc.Stevens, E.W. (1887). The Case of Lurancy Vennum.  Chicago: Religio-Philosophical Publishing House.

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The Slavic crone, known for living in a house built on chicken legs and feasting on children, is a complex character. In fairy tales, women of a certain age usually take one of two roles: the wicked witch or the evil stepmother, and sometimes both. Baba Yaga is all that and a house on chicken legs.

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Just over 30 years ago, two dozen emergency room staff were mysteriously felled by fumes emanating from a dying young woman. Investigations turned up nothing — until a team of chemists from a nuclear weapons lab got involved. They claimed to have solved the mystery of what killed Gloria Ramirez and hospitalized the staff attempting to save her. But did they?

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In part two of Amy Bradley's missing person case, I'll delve into the most prominent theories that have evidence to support them and those that have been disproven. There are also more than a dozen cases of cruise passengers and crew missing or presumed dead. Some bear an eerie similarity to Amy and her disappearance.

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Amy Lynn Bradley disappeared from the cabin she shared with her family aboard a cruise ship in the early morning hours. The 23-year-old has never been found, nor have her family or dear friends heard from her since 1998. The question of what happened to Amy remains a mystery, but there is a possibilty she's still out there somewhere.

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The case of Judy Smith -- who went missing in Philadelphia and was then inexplicably found dead more than 600 miles away in Asheville, North Carolina – is one that has baffled police and amateur sleuths alike. Despite several eyewitness accounts and sightings, it remains unclear if Judy Smith ever even traveled to Philadelphia to begin with, let alone went missing from the city. The lack of modern technology, such as CCTV footage, traffic cameras, and cell phone data, made for a timeline of events that’s incredibly difficult to confirm. 

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When three light keepers disappear from their post, those sent to investigate were left with more questions than answers. No sign of the light keepers was ever found, but the mystery of their disappearances endures.

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In the early morning hours of August 22, 1992, Charles and Esther Quinn were awakened by a frantic phone call from the girlfriend of Esther’s eighteen-year-old son, Andre Jones. She told them the Jackson police had arrested Andre.

The following day, the Quinns were informed by police that Andre had committed suicide while in jail. What followed were decades worth of investigations into not only Andre's death, but also other Mississippi inmates who died in the same manner.

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Strapped aboard plane wreckage hurtling uncontrollably towards Earth, 17-year-old Juliane Koepcke had a fleeting thought as she glimpsed the ground 1,000 feet, or 3,000 metres, below her.  The trees in the dense Peruvian rainforest looked like heads of broccoli, she thought, while falling towards them.

A wild thunderstorm had destroyed the plane she was travelling in, and the row of seats Juliane was still harnessed to twirled through the air as it fell. She lost consciousness, assuming that odd glimpse of lush Amazon trees would be her last. 

But then, Juliane woke up.






Sources cited within the episode

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Have you ever met someone who seemed too good to be true? A stranger who came to town and gave you a vague backstory about secret government work? That would send up a red flag for most people, and it did for Leigh Wainscott, but before she could end things with the new man in her life, police dropped a bombshell: John Zorn wasn’t really who he said he was. His true identity was Army reservist turned McDonald’s robber turned prison escapee, Jeffrey Manchester, also known as Roofman. 

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In 1980, Michelle Proby and her psychiatrist published a book describing supposed horrific childhood abuse by a Satanic cult. Soon after, Satanic Panic swept across North America. But was her story accurate or the product of hypnosis techniques?

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The final trial in the Crystal Rogers murder case has concluded, with both Defendants, Houck and Lawson, being found guilty. New evidence presented in the trial revealed the methods most likely used to dispose of Crystal's body, and cell phone evidence obliterated alibis. Next up, the "unindicted co-conspirators" are expected to be charged (hopefully).

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The Mills family fled the Peoples Temple before the massacre at Jonestown, but they wouldn't survive. Only a year later, three of four members of the family living in a Berkeley cottage would be gunned down. The lone survivor claims not to have heard or seen a thing from the next room.



Sources cited within episode

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Yes, you read the title correctly, it's an episode about US and other world governments attempting to create a real-life "gaydar" machine and/or a system to identify gay people. I wish I were making this up.

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In the mid-1920s, a double murder in New Jersey became a media obsession. On September 16, 1922, an Episcopal reverend and his choir-singing lover were found posed in a grisly tableau near a lover's lane. Social status, physical appearance, and, of course, money play a huge role in this sensationalized unsolved homicide.

SOURCES
https://www.nbfpl.org/local-history/hall-mills-murder-radio-broadcasthttps://www.nbfpl.org/george-wilson-collectionKatz, Hélèna. Cold Cases: Famous Unsolved Mysteries, Crimes, and Disappearances in America. Santa Barbara, Calif.: Greenwood Press, 2010.Kunstler, William M. The Hall-Mills Murder Case: The Minister and the Choir Singer. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1980.Tomlinson, Gerald. Fatal Tryst: Who Killed the Minister and the Choir Singer? Lake Hopatcong, N.J.: Home Run Press, 1999.


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I'm baaaaack! We're headed back to Bardstown, Kentucky, for a HUGE update on missing mother Crystal Rogers. There has been one trial so far, with two more defendants scheduled to be tried shortly. Finally, Crystal Rogers and her family may know justice. 

SOURCES

https://www.whas11.com/article/news/investigations/bardstown/crystal-rogers-disappearance-investigation-timeline-bardstown/417-3974f9aa-f845-4d67-a00c-fad30c803657
https://www.whas11.com/article/news/investigations/bardstown/crystal-rogers-death-investigation-suspects-trial-case-updates-latest/417-bbef69d8-d318-4d33-8633-c9d4e19fe146
CI, 23-CR-00309, COMMONWEALTH VS. HOUCK, BROOKS WILLIAM
https://interactive.whas11.com/pdfs/Commonwealthresponse.PDF
https://interactive.whas11.com/pdfs/def-brooks-houcks-sur-reply-in-opposition-to-motion.pdf 

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Happy Halloween! Here's a spooky little treat of an episode about seances, Ouija boards, and famous people in history who have believed in them (and were institutionalized because of it).

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