Campfire: Tales of the Strange and Unsettling

In week three of our super special spooky season series on Halloween monsters, we discuss the fascinating and wild world of witches! Was Julia Brown a Creole Healer, Seer, Voodoo Priestess, or a Green Witch, or was she simply the closest thing to a doctor readily available to the isolated logging town of Frenier? Is this another tale of the demonization of a woman too powerful for the social constructs of her time? After discussing her life, we take a deep dive into the long history of witchcraft. From its first mentions in the Bible to the repeal of the Witchcraft Act in 1735, the relationship between witches and the establishment has been a long and arduous tale of prosecutorial discrimination. We pick up with the development of Wicca in 1926 and follow its development right through to present day.

The episode wraps up with our Top 5 witch movies of all time!

Campfire: Tales of the Strange and Unsettling is created for adult audiences only. The content and discussion in this show will necessarily engage with various accounts that include violence, anxiety, fear, and occasional body horror. Much of it will be emotionally and intellectually challenging to engage with. We will flag especially graphic or intense content so as to never put you in an uninformed or unprepared position. We will do our best to make this a space where we can engage bravely, empathetically, and thoughtfully with difficult content every week.

This week’s episode includes the following sensitive content:

Torture

Drowning

Violence against women

Bondage

Gaslighting

Emotional abuse

Join the conversation on social media at

campfirepodcastnetwork.com

Facebook:

facebook.com/campfire.tales.podcast

Instagram:

instagram.com/campfire.tales.podcast

Twitter:

twitter.com/campfiretotsau

Special Thanks:

Gregg Martin for music contributions! Go follow him on Instagram at Instagram.com/reverentmusic

Story music provided by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio

Elias Armao for graphic design! Go follow him on Instagram at instagram.com/doggedlinedesignsupply

In the second installment of the Campfire Classics Collection we have the conclusion of “The Story of William Wilson” (1839). In this odd tale of one man’s encounter with his own doppelgänger, we explore what it is to confront the best and worst of ourselves; how it is that we can move past these epiphanies of introspection in ways that leave us invigorated rather than hopeless. Enjoy this reading around a campfire or snuggled under a warm blanket. Feel free to follow the link and read along with us.

Happy Halloween!

https://americanenglish.state.gov/files/ae/resource_files/the_story_of_william_wilson.pdf

Edgar Allan Poe's best-known works include the poems “To Helen” (1831), “The Raven” (1845), and “Annabel Lee” (1849); the short stories of wickedness and crime “The Tell-Tale Heart” (1843) and “The Cask of Amontillado” (1846); and the supernatural horror story “The Fall of the House of Usher” (1839).

Campfire: Tales of the Strange and Unsettling is created for adult audiences only. The content and discussion in this show will necessarily engage with various accounts that include violence, anxiety, fear, and occasional body horror. Much of it will be emotionally and intellectually challenging to engage with. We will flag especially graphic or intense content so as to never put you in an uninformed or unprepared position. We will do our best to make this a space where we can engage bravely, empathetically, and thoughtfully with difficult content every week. 

Join the conversation on social media at

campfirepodcastnetwork.com 

Facebook:

facebook.com/campfire.tales.podcast

Instagram:

instagram.com/campfire.tales.podcast

Twitter:

twitter.com/campfiretotsau

In the second installment of our Super Special Spooky Season Series on Iconic Halloween Creatures, we sit down to discuss all things Zombies. This week’s eerie epic follows a young journalist through a harrowing encounter with the source of a zombie infection. We then discuss the origins of zombies in Afro-Caribbean culture, the blending of those roots into American folklore, and the writers and directors that made zombies a modern horror mainstay. We finish up by discussing our top five zombie movies and even talk a bit of video games. So, fashion yourself a makeshift zombie-killer, double check your stock of MREs, and throw some chains on the wheels of your fluorescent green van because we’re diving headfirst into the Zombie Apocalypse!

THEY’RE COMING FOR YOU BARBARA!!

Campfire: Tales of the Strange and Unsettling is created for adult audiences only. The content and discussion in this show will necessarily engage with various accounts that include violence, anxiety, fear, and occasional body horror. Much of it will be emotionally and intellectually challenging to engage with. We will flag especially graphic or intense content so as to never put you in an uninformed or unprepared position. We will do our best to make this a space where we can engage bravely, empathetically, and thoughtfully with difficult content every week.

This week’s episode includes the following sensitive content:

Extreme body horror

Join the conversation on social media at

campfirepodcastnetwork.com

Facebook:

facebook.com/campfire.tales.podcast

Instagram:

instagram.com/campfire.tales.podcast

Twitter:

twitter.com/campfiretotsau

Special Thanks:

Gregg Martin for music contributions! Go follow him on Instagram at Instagram.com/reverentmusic

Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio - Within The Shadows

Elias Armao for graphic design! Go follow him on Instagram at instagram.com/doggedlinedesignsupply

In the first installment of the Campfire Classics Collection, in honor of the Halloween season, today we’re reading “The Story of William Wilson” (1839). In this odd tale of one man’s encounter with his own doppelgänger, we explore what it is to confront the best and worst of ourselves; how it is that we can move past these epiphanies of introspection in ways that leave us invigorated rather than hopeless. Enjoy this reading around a campfire or snuggled under a warm blanket. Feel free to follow the link and read along with us.

Happy Halloween!

https://americanenglish.state.gov/files/ae/resource_files/the_story_of_william_wilson.pdf

Edgar Allan Poe's best-known works include the poems “To Helen” (1831), “The Raven” (1845), and “Annabel Lee” (1849); the short stories of wickedness and crime “The Tell-Tale Heart” (1843) and “The Cask of Amontillado” (1846); and the supernatural horror story “The Fall of the House of Usher” (1839).

Campfire: Tales of the Strange and Unsettling is created for adult audiences only. The content and discussion in this show will necessarily engage with various accounts that include violence, anxiety, fear, and occasional body horror. Much of it will be emotionally and intellectually challenging to engage with. We will flag especially graphic or intense content so as to never put you in an uninformed or unprepared position. We will do our best to make this a space where we can engage bravely, empathetically, and thoughtfully with difficult content every week. 

Join the conversation on social media at

campfirepodcastnetwork.com 

Facebook:

facebook.com/campfire.tales.podcast

Instagram:

instagram.com/campfire.tales.podcast

Twitter:

twitter.com/campfiretotsau

In the first of our special spooky season episodes, we dive headfirst into the world of werewolves. This week’s terrifying tale concerns a possibly lycanthropic beast from 18th Century France. Reportedly responsible for the deaths of over 300 men, women, and children; the Beast of Gevaudan has a body count like no creature that we have ever covered. We then discuss the origins of werewolves, mythology from around the globe, and the place of lycanthropes of all kinds in pop culture. We finish up by discussing our top five werewolf movies! So, strap in for the introductory episodes in our series on Halloween’s most iconic creatures!

HAPPY SPOOKY SEASON!

Campfire: Tales of the Strange and Unsettling is created for adult audiences only. The content and discussion in this show will necessarily engage with various accounts that include violence, anxiety, fear, and occasional body horror. Much of it will be emotionally and intellectually challenging to engage with. We will flag especially graphic or intense content so as to never put you in an uninformed or unprepared position. We will do our best to make this a space where we can engage bravely, empathetically, and thoughtfully with difficult content every week.

This week’s episode includes the following sensitive content:

Violence against children

Extreme body horror

Animal attacks

Violence against animals

Join the conversation on social media at

campfirepodcastnetwork.com

Facebook:

facebook.com/campfire.tales.podcast

Instagram:

instagram.com/campfire.tales.podcast

Twitter:

twitter.com/campfiretotsau

Special Thanks:

Gregg Martin for music contributions! Go follow him on Instagram at Instagram.com/reverentmusic

Elias Armao for graphic design! Go follow him on Instagram at instagram.com/doggedlinedesignsupply

In the winter of 1959, nine experienced hikers died in a remote section of the Ural Mountains. The mysterious nature of these deaths was compounded by the cloak and dagger nature of the Soviet government. Details of the event were kept under lock and key until the collapse of the Soviet Union in August of 1991. In the records we found that the nine victims were found scattered all over the mountainside in various states of undress and having suffered all manor of injury from deep frostbite to sever internal damage and missing tongues. This mystery became so ubiquitous throughout Europe and Asia that, in 2019, the Russian government officially reopened the investigation. While we may never know what happened on that snowy mountainside, one thing we certainly do know is..

IT WAS NOT A HURRICANE!

Campfire: Tales of the Strange and Unsettling is created for adult audiences only. The content and discussion in this show will necessarily engage with various accounts that include violence, anxiety, fear, and occasional body horror. Much of it will be emotionally and intellectually challenging to engage with. We will flag especially graphic or intense content so as to never put you in an uninformed or unprepared position. We will do our best to make this a space where we can engage bravely, empathetically, and thoughtfully with difficult content every week.

This week’s episode includes the following sensitive content:

Ocular trauma

Oral trauma

Severe bodily injury

Severe weather conditions

Join the conversation on social media at

campfirepodcastnetwork.com

Facebook:

facebook.com/campfire.tales.podcast

Instagram:

instagram.com/campfire.tales.podcast

Twitter:

twitter.com/campfiretotsau

Special Thanks:

Gregg Martin for music contributions! Go follow him on Instagram at Instagram.com/reverentmusic

Elias Armao for graphic design! Go follow him on Instagram at instagram.com/doggedlinedesignsupply

We’re headed back across the pond this week to the small town of Ossett, West Yorkshire. During the recession of the 1970s, the financial and emotional hardships of the Taylor family reached a tipping point and Michael Taylor turned to God. The Christian Fellowship Group, a vaguely protestant Christian group with no affiliation to any larger religious body, enjoyed the freedoms that came along with a lack of oversight on their interpretation of scripture. With fire and brimstone, laying of hands, and demonic possession at the center of their doctrine; it was only a matter of time before disaster struck. This everyday family would soon become the center of a terrifying tale that shook the community’s collective imagination and faith to the core, culminating in one of the most horrific murders in modern English history. Was this a case of legitimate demonic possession and incompetent exorcists or did we accidentally cover a true crime case?

WE MAY NEVER KNOW!!

Campfire: Tales of the Strange and Unsettling is created for adult audiences only. The content and discussion in this show will necessarily engage with various accounts that include violence, anxiety, fear, and occasional body horror. Much of it will be emotionally and intellectually challenging to engage with. We will flag especially graphic or intense content so as to never put you in an uninformed or unprepared position. We will do our best to make this a space where we can engage bravely, empathetically, and thoughtfully with difficult content every week.

This week’s episode includes the following sensitive content:

Self harm

Domestic violence

Animal cruelty

Restraint

Confinement

Ocular trauma

Oral trauma

Intense medical situations

Demonic Possession

Visual and auditory hallucinations

Sexual violence 

Join the conversation on social media at

campfirepodcastnetwork.com

Facebook:

facebook.com/campfire.tales.podcast

Instagram:

instagram.com/campfire.tales.podcast

Twitter:

twitter.com/campfiretotsau

Special Thanks:

Gregg Martin for music contributions! Go follow him on Instagram at Instagram.com/reverentmusic

Elias Armao for graphic design! Go follow him on Instagram at instagram.com/doggedlinedesignsupply

Just 25 miles southeast of Chicago, Gary, Indiana is an post-industrial city on the shores of Lake Michigan. This week’s tale is one of terror, economic strife, and demonic possession. The Ammons family experienced fly infestations, disembodied children’s laughter and barking, shadow figures, and unexplained wet boot prints. This experience culminated in the apparent possession of all but one member of the family. Long after their departure, the house’s diabolical occupants would bring permanent bodily injury to one of the most famous names in the paranormal field. Strap in for this one and prepare for...

THE HOUSE OF 200 DEMONS.

Campfire: Tales of the Strange and Unsettling is created for adult audiences only. The content and discussion in this show will necessarily engage with various accounts that include violence, anxiety, fear, and occasional body horror. Much of it will be emotionally and intellectually challenging to engage with. We will flag especially graphic or intense content so as to never put you in an uninformed or unprepared position. We will do our best to make this a space where we can engage bravely, empathetically, and thoughtfully with difficult content every week.

This week’s episode includes the following sensitive content:

Self harm

Domestic violence

Animal cruelty

Restraint

Confinement

Child endangerment

Intense medical situations

Demonic Possession

Visual and auditory hallucinations

Join the conversation on social media at

campfirepodcastnetwork.com

Facebook:

facebook.com/campfire.tales.podcast

Instagram:

instagram.com/campfire.tales.podcast

Twitter:

twitter.com/campfiretotsau

Special Thanks:

Gregg Martin for music contributions! Go follow him on Instagram at Instagram.com/reverentmusic

Elias Armao for graphic design! Go follow him on Instagram at instagram.com/doggedlinedesignsupply

Just an hour Southwest of Phoenix, Arizona, on the edge of Rainbow Valley, sits a small 10-acre property named Stardust Ranch. What it lacks in size it makes up in strangeness. In a wild story of UFOs, shadow creatures, attempted abduction, cattle mutilation, and men in black that spanned over two decades, a couple who just wanted to save sick horses ended up fighting for their lives against ostensibly extraterrestrial forces on a near-daily basis. Was this a case of alien torment or the most successful real estate marketing scheme in history? Tune in to find out.

ANOTHER HOTSPOT!?

Campfire: Tales of the Strange and Unsettling is created for adult audiences only. The content and discussion in this show will necessarily engage with various accounts that include violence, anxiety, fear, and occasional body horror. Much of it will be emotionally and intellectually challenging to engage with. We will flag especially graphic or intense content so as to never put you in an uninformed or unprepared position. We will do our best to make this a space where we can engage bravely, empathetically, and thoughtfully with difficult content every week.

This week’s episode includes the following sensitive content:

Enclosed spaces

Restraints

Animal mutilation

Body horror

Sleep paralysis

Gunfire

Home invasion

Violence against pets

Join the conversation on social media at

campfirepodcastnetwork.com

Facebook:

facebook.com/campfire.tales.podcast

Instagram:

instagram.com/campfire.tales.podcast

Twitter:

twitter.com/campfiretotsau

Special Thanks:

Gregg Martin for music contributions! Go follow him on Instagram at Instagram.com/reverentmusic

Elias Armao for graphic design! Go follow him on Instagram at instagram.com/doggedlinedesignsupply

This week, we’re headed back to the North-Kentucky brush country where just 20 miles east of Louisville sits the small township of Pope Lick. Beneath the century-old Pope Lick Trestle Bridge, legend says that a maniacal monstrosity creeps through the underbrush waiting for the opportunity to lure its next victim with its siren song; straight into a head-on collision with an oncoming locomotive. With a body count nearing double digits, this goat man stands near the top of the cryptid catalog. Is this an aged sideshow performer consumed with bitterness? The unintentional result of some misguided attempt T gene splicing? or a diabolical entity stalking the Kentucky countryside?

Either way, A TRAIN IS COMING!

Campfire: Tales of the Strange and Unsettling is created for adult audiences only. The content and discussion in this show will necessarily engage with various accounts that include violence, anxiety, fear, and occasional body horror. Much of it will be emotionally and intellectually challenging to engage with. We will flag especially graphic or intense content so as to never put you in an uninformed or unprepared position. We will do our best to make this a space where we can engage bravely, empathetically, and thoughtfully with difficult content every week.

This week’s episode includes the following sensitive content:

Enclosed spaces

Child endangerment

Train collision

Falling death

Join the conversation on social media at

campfirepodcastnetwork.com

Facebook:

facebook.com/campfire.tales.podcast

Instagram:

instagram.com/campfire.tales.podcast

Twitter:

twitter.com/campfiretotsau

Special Thanks:

Gregg Martin for music contributions! Go follow him on Instagram at Instagram.com/reverentmusic

Elias Armao for graphic design! Go follow him on Instagram at instagram.com/doggedlinedesignsupply