They call her the Old Hag — a shadow that crawls into your room at night, sits on your chest, and steals your breath. For centuries, people across the world have described the same haunting experience: waking in the dark, unable to move, while a presence presses down from the edge of the bed. But is it a demon, a dream, or something in between?

In this episode, I dive into the folklore and science behind sleep paralysis — from ancient Newfoundland tales of the Hag to Japanese legends of the kanashibari. You’ll hear how fear itself can turn our own minds into the perfect stage for a nightmare.

They say when the storm rolls in over the English coast, you can still hear its howl the ghostly hound with eyes like fire. The Black Shuck has haunted East Anglia for centuries, appearing as both omen and protector, devil and god.

In this episode, we trace the legend from the burning churches of 1577 to modern-day sightings on the misty roads of Suffolk. Was the Shuck a spirit of death, a guardian from the old gods, or just a shadow born from fear itself?

Turn down the lights… and listen for the footsteps behind you.

In this episode, I take you into one of the strangest corners of medieval history — the animal trials. Yes, you heard that right. Pigs were dressed in trousers and put on trial for murder, roosters were burned at the stake for “laying eggs,” and even rats had lawyers who argued they couldn’t make it to court because cats were waiting on the roads. I’ll walk you through the bizarre cases, the logic behind them, and why people took it all so seriously. It’s dark, it’s funny, and it’s very real.

In the summer of 1518, hundreds of people in Strasbourg began dancing — not for fun, but endlessly, painfully, and in some cases fatally. They danced until their feet bled, until they collapsed, and some never got back up again.

In this very first episode of Allegedly Interesting, I’m diving into the strange mystery of the Dancing Plague of 1518.

Come with me as I explore one of history’s weirdest events — a story that’s as unsettling as it is fascinating, and maybe a little too relatable for anyone who’s ever felt like life was just too much.