A World of Ghosts

In 1968 and '69, the Zodiac Killer attacked seven people in four different Northern California locations. His first three targets were couples in secluded areas; two of these people survived. His last known victim was a taxi driver killed on October 11, 1969, in San Francisco. During and after his killing spree, Zodiac received attention and spread fear as he shared ciphers, letters, information and threats with authorities and the public. No murder has been officially linked to the Zodiac Killer since October 1969, but the unsolved case continues to fascinate.

By the mid-1940s, Short was living in Los Angeles, California, working as a waitress to support herself while dreaming of catching her big break into Hollywood's acting scene. Her chance at stardom, however, would never come. In January 1947, a horrific tragedy occurred: At the age of 22, Short was brutally murdered in Los Angeles, her body cut in half and severely mutilated. Her body was found, nude and posed, by a local female resident on January 15, 1947, in a vacant lot near Leimert Park, on the 3800 block of L.A.'s South Norton Avenue. While the case has been closed, who could the killer be?

In the early morning hours of September 30, 1888, police discovered the mutilated body of Catherine Eddowes, her throat slit and left kidney removed, in London’s Mitre Square. Eddowes had been the second prostitute inside of an hour found murdered in that section of the city, and the slaying bore the grisly signatures of the serial killer who for weeks had been terrorizing London’s East End—Jack the Ripper.

Jack the Ripper was an unidentified serial killer active in the largely impoverished areas in and around the Whitechapel district of London in 1888. In both the criminal case files and contemporary journalistic accounts, the killer was called the Whitechapel Murderer and Leather Apron. But who his real idea was is a secret kept hidden in the dark. 

Late in the evening on April 14, 1912, the R.M.S. Titanic hit an iceberg and sank into the icy waters of the North Atlantic, killing 1,517 of the 2,223 passengers and crew members aboard. To make sense of this tragic and seemingly random disaster, people over the past century have told stories of ominous signs of bad luck that were supposedly ignored beforehand, or spun elaborate conspiracy theories to explain the “real” reason it sank. Today, we'll be discussing a few of these logical and illogical theories. 

The greatest and grandest of all conspiracy theories is the Kennedy assassination conspiracy theory. The immense amount of controversy surrounding the event has resulted in bitter disputes between those who support the conclusion of the Warren Commission and those who reject it, or are critical of the official explanation. In today's podcast, we discuss possible theories and evidence behind President Kennedy's death. 

It was a September night in 1961, they hadn’t seen a car for miles, and a strange light in the sky seemed to follow them. When they finally got home to Portsmouth at dawn, they were far from relieved. They felt dirty. Their watches stopped working. Barney’s shoes were strangely scuffed and Betty’s dress was ripped. There were two hours of the drive that neither one of them could remember. What had happened? 

In one cataclysmic night, the gods sent a battalion of fire and earthquakes so intense that the Utopian kingdom of Atlantis sank deep into the ocean, never to be found again. So tells Plato's infamous myth, which has captivated audiences for more than 2,300 years. Many theories exist which question where Atlantis is, how long it's been there, and even if it really exists. In today's podcast, we discuss evidence proving and disproving the existence of Atlantis. 

On December 1, 1948, an unknown man was found dead on Somerton Beach in Adelaide, Australia. The man died on the beach with his feet crossed, with no signs of struggle or distress to mark his end. In his pocket, a note was found with the words "the end" written across. Unable to identify the man or his relatives, detective Derek Abott and Gerry Feltus set out to uncover the mystery. And, what they find is far more daunting than the dead man himself. 

The government has hidden dozens of secrets in the past, from confidential CIA missions to the Illuminati, and possibly even the moon landing is a hoax. During the Space Race, the United Sates was desperate to outpace Russia to the moon. And, while they did win -- sending Lance Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to space -- many speculate if it ever happened. Doesn't the timing and evidence seem a bit too convenient for it all to be true? In today's podcast, we discuss several theories about the moon landing, evidence to support those theories, and evidence against those theories. 

In 1854 a three-mast schooner named the Ellen Austin was built in Damariscotta, Maine. In 1881 during its voyage, the ship encountered a derelict, steering aimlessly along the sea. However, there was no crew aboard the ghost ship. Intrigued by its unexplainable movement, Captain Griffin and his prize crew set out to discover the truth behind this phantom ship. After sending his prize crew aboard the derelict for a meager two days, the crew was never to be seen again. As for an explanation to their disappearance, there was none to be found.