In 1912, four-year-old Bobby Dunbar vanished beside Louisiana’s Swayze Lake. After eight desperate months, a child was found hundreds of miles away with a travelling handyman — and the Dunbars swore he was their son.

The story became a national sensation: a miracle return, a family reunited, faith rewarded.

But ninety years later, a simple DNA test exposed one of America’s most haunting cases of mistaken identity.

This episode follows the Dunbar mystery from the muddy bayous of Opelousas to a 21st-century laboratory — uncovering a century-old lie, a mother who was never believed, and the family legend that outlived them all.

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In the summer of 1951, 67-year-old Mary Reeser was found almost entirely incinerated in her armchair in St. Petersburg, Florida — in a fire so strange, the FBI was called in. The walls were untouched. The clock had frozen at 4:20 a.m. And all that remained of Mary was a slippered foot, part of her spine, and a shrunken skull.

Her death would become one of the most famous unsolved mysteries in modern forensic history, sparking decades of debate over spontaneous human combustion, the wick effect, and whether science has ever truly explained what happened that night.

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In July 2014, 28-year-old German tourist Lars Mittank vanished without a trace from Varna Airport in Bulgaria. Just hours before his flight home, Lars suddenly ran from the terminal in a panic, leaving behind his luggage, wallet and passport. Security footage captured him sprinting into nearby fields — and he was never seen again.

What began as a summer holiday with friends quickly spiralled into one of Europe’s most unsettling modern mysteries. What happened to Lars in those final hours? Was he running from someone — or something only he could see?

In this episode of Mysteries at Bedtime, we trace Lars’s final days: the bar fight that injured his ear, the strange calls to his mother, the bizarre behaviour at the hotel, and the haunting airport footage that still chills millions of viewers online.

This is the story of the vanishing man at Varna Airport — a case that continues to baffle investigators, fuel theories, and break hearts around the world.

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Richard Lancelyn Green was the world’s leading expert on Sherlock Holmes. A lifelong collector, historian, and passionate Holmesian, he spent years uncovering long-lost treasures tied to Arthur Conan Doyle. But in March 2004, Green was found dead in his London flat under circumstances eerily reminiscent of the detective stories he adored.

Was it suicide, an accident, or something far more sinister? This episode of Mysteries at Bedtime unravels the strange twists of his final days — from secret archives and disputed literary estates to a mysterious garrotting and unanswered questions that still puzzle investigators today.

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Listener discretion advised: This story contains subject matter some may find upsetting.

In the quiet Scottish countryside, just outside Dumbarton, lies an elegant stone bridge that has become infamous around the world. Since the 1950s, Overtoun Bridge has drawn eerie attention for a chilling phenomenon: hundreds of dogs have leapt from its walls—many to their deaths—without warning or explanation. Locals call it the “Dog Suicide Bridge.” Scientists, spiritualists, and sceptics have all tried to unravel the mystery. Is it something in the landscape, a scent in the air, or something far stranger at work?

In this unsettling episode of Mysteries at Bedtime, we step into the misty grounds of Overtoun House, trace the chilling reports of inexplicable canine behaviour, and explore the folklore and theories that have haunted this bridge for decades. Prepare for a story where the line between natural instinct and the supernatural becomes dangerously blurred.

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In 1976, the small town of Circleville, Ohio, began receiving letters, hundreds of them.

Each one was anonymous. Each one accused neighbours, teachers, and officials of dark secrets. And each one carried the same eerie signature: none at all.

The anonymous writer seemed to know everything, where people worked, who they spoke to, even private affairs no one else could have known. Then came the threats, a mysterious death, and a trap wired with a gun.

When a local man was arrested, everyone thought the nightmare was over… until the letters kept coming from hundreds of miles away, even while he sat in prison.

In this episode of Mysteries at Bedtime, we revisit one of America’s most disturbing unsolved cases, a story of obsession, fear, and words that tore a town apart.

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In December 1946, 18-year-old Bennington College student Paula Jean Welden set out for a short hike on Vermont’s Long Trail. She was seen by motorists and hikers and then she was gone. Despite one of the largest searches in state history, no trace was ever found. Her case not only unsettled a community, but directly led to the creation of the Vermont State Police, and became part of the legend of the so-called Bennington Triangle.

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In 1928, nine-year-old Walter Collins vanished on his way to the cinema in Los Angeles. Months later, police declared they had solved the case and returned a boy to his grieving mother. But when Christine Collins insisted the child was not her son, she found herself locked in a battle with one of America’s most corrupt police departments and at the centre of a mystery that would spiral into one of California’s darkest criminal cases.

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In December 2016, American diplomats in Havana, Cuba, began reporting a strange set of symptoms, nausea, dizziness, headaches, and hearing loss. Many described hearing a high-pitched sound, like marbles rolling inside a funnel, just before the illness struck. By 2018, dozens of U.S. and Canadian officials had been affected, sparking panic, diplomatic fallout, and years of investigation.

Was it a new kind of weapon, crickets mistaken for sonic attacks, or mass stress spreading through embassy halls? In this episode of Mysteries at Bedtime, Jack unravels the story of the Havana Syndrome, from the first reports in Cuba to its spread in China, through government inquiries, scientific studies, and a mystery that remains unsolved to this day.

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In August 2005, 21-year-old Australian backpacker Ryan Chambers walked barefoot out of an ashram in Rishikesh, India, leaving behind his passport, wallet, phone, and shoes. He was never seen again. For nearly two decades, his family searched across India, chasing rumours and plastering posters from Punjab to Rajasthan.

In 2023, a South Australian court finally declared Ryan dead — but the mystery of what happened that morning on the banks of the Ganges remains unsolved. This is the haunting story of Ryan Chambers, one of Australia’s most enduring missing-person cases abroad.

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n January 2013, 21-year-old Canadian student Elisa Lam checked into Los Angeles’ infamous Cecil Hotel. Known for its dark history of crime, tragedy, and mystery, the hotel was the last place Elisa was seen alive.

When she failed to check out or contact her family, police launched a search. Two weeks later, security footage of Elisa inside a hotel elevator shocked the world. Her behaviour, pressing multiple buttons, hiding in corners, stepping in and out, gesturing as though to someone unseen went viral online.

Millions debated what the strange footage meant: was she running from someone, suffering a mental health episode, or caught in something far more sinister?

On February 19, Elisa’s body was discovered in one of the hotel’s rooftop water tanks, after guests had complained about the water supply. With no signs of trauma, an official ruling of accidental drowning, and countless unanswered questions, her death remains one of the most disturbing and widely discussed mysteries of the 21st century.

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In 1872, the merchant brigantine Mary Celeste left New York Harbor on a routine voyage to Italy. On board were Captain Benjamin Briggs, his wife Sarah, their young daughter Sophia, and a crew of seven experienced sailors. Just weeks later, the ship was found drifting in the Atlantic Ocean — fully seaworthy, cargo intact, provisions untouched… but not a single soul remained on board.

What happened during those missing days between her last log entry and her discovery by the Dei Gratia? Why would an experienced captain abandon a safe ship with food, water, and sails set for the journey ahead? Was it mutiny, piracy, a sudden storm, or something stranger that stole away ten lives without leaving a trace?

In this episode of Mysteries at Bedtime, we unravel the haunting voyage of the Mary Celeste, exploring the ship’s background, her fateful discovery, the Gibraltar investigation, and the enduring mystery that still captures imaginations nearly 150 years later.

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On Christmas Eve 1945, a fire tore through the Sodder family home in West Virginia. George and Jennie escaped with some of their children, but five never made it out. When no remains were found in the ashes, suspicion turned to sabotage, kidnapping, and conspiracy. This is the enduring mystery of the Sodder children.

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It was an ordinary May morning in 1978 when Polish farmer Jan Wolski set out in his horse-drawn cart. By the end of that ride, he would tell a story that has haunted Emilcin ever since. He described tall, silent beings, a hovering craft without doors, and a strange medical examination that defied explanation. Wolski’s matter-of-fact account has been studied, questioned, and celebrated as one of Europe’s most extraordinary UFO cases and more than forty years later, it still refuses to fade into obscurity.

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In June 1983, fifteen-year-old Vatican citizen Emanuela Orlandi vanished on her way home from a music lesson in Rome. What began as a missing-person case soon spiralled into one of Italy’s greatest mysteries — entangled with whispers of Cold War intrigue, mafia blackmail, and Vatican secrets. Forty years later, her fate remains unsolved.

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In 1964, at California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base, a routine missile test turned into one of the most compelling UFO encounters of the Cold War era. Radar operators, engineers, and officers reported seeing something they could not explain. In this episode of Mysteries at Bedtime, we take you inside the base, into the control rooms and along the launch pads, to relive the night when the U.S. military may have witnessed the impossible.

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On September 11, 2001, thousands of lives were lost when the Twin Towers collapsed — but one case still stands apart. Dr. Sneha Anne Philip, a 31-year-old physician living just blocks from the World Trade Center, vanished in the hours before the attacks. Security cameras caught her shopping the night before, but she was never seen again. Was she killed trying to help victims in the chaos of that morning, or did her disappearance begin before the towers fell?

In this episode of Mysteries at Bedtime, we explore Sneha’s life, her struggles, the legal battle over her recognition as an official 9/11 victim, and the haunting questions that still surround her case.

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In March 2013, Russian billionaire and outspoken Putin critic Boris Berezovsky was found dead in the bathroom of his Berkshire estate. Officially, his death was left an “open verdict,” with investigators unable to rule suicide or foul play. But Berezovsky’s life was anything but ordinary—once a Kremlin insider who helped Putin rise to power, he later became a target after falling out with Moscow. His sudden death fit a chilling pattern of Russian exiles in Britain meeting mysterious ends, from radioactive poisonings to nerve agent attacks. Was Berezovsky’s demise truly self-inflicted—or was it the latest chapter in a shadow war on foreign soil?

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In 1930s Delhi, a young girl stunned her parents and teachers with memories she should not have had. Shanti Devi insisted she had lived before — in a town over 100 miles away, with a husband, a home, and a death during childbirth. Her case became India’s most famous investigation into reincarnation, drawing the attention of Mahatma Gandhi himself. Was Shanti Devi truly remembering another life, or was there another explanation?

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When 31-year-old Gloria Ramirez was rushed to Riverside General Hospital, no one expected the chaos that would follow. Medical staff began fainting, vomiting, and collapsing as they tried to treat her. Was her body giving off toxic fumes, or was there another explanation? Known today as “The Toxic Woman,” her story remains one of the strangest medical mysteries in history.

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