Castles & Cryptids

Hey cryptic cuties, hope your 2026 is treating you well and we are so excited to be back. We have a fun episode for you, diving into the fascinating world of counterfeiting, forgeries and replicas, featuring everything from the well done, all the way to the bizarre and laughable. 

Starting with the arrest of Frank Bourassa, Kelsey covers how a life of crime led one man on a path to printing millions and becoming named the world's greatest counterfeiter. 

Alanna closes out the ep with a collection of expensive forgeries that shook the world, as well as some failed restorations that made the 2 of us question if some things should just be left alone. 

Happy listening and catch up with you all next time! Join our patron for exclusive episodes, videos and even more banter and tangents!

Darkcast spotlight: Box in the Basement 

Happy Holidays, here is your second helping of psychic stuff! We love talking about parapsychology, and of course, we are not the only ones. So Alanna's topic of the day is telepathy; trying to test it, a brief history of our fascination with it, and into the most recent claims and controversies! 

After some minor Game of Thrones spoilers (its old, come on, it's ok ), we dig into some topics discussed on the Telepathy Tapes Podcast and the response to both it's popularity, and some pushback against it.  So some spoilers for that podcast too, as we talk about how we can try and do better in testing in the future, and in education for people with special needs.  We did our best to be respectful as we navigated this touchy subject, so please listen with care as well, as you all do!  There's a mention of a banned Ted Talk, which can happen, we guess! Don't ban us lol, we are just asking some questions and trying to teach ourselves lol. Don't put us on the dark web! We love you all and hope you have a safe and Happy New Year!  

Hello Cryptic Crew, and welcome back to our latest episode! 

This time its Kelsey's turn to deliver a curious case of a man who had some very prophetic dreams. Chris Robinson (not the one married to Amanda Knox, not to be confused with Canadian icon Christopher Robin either, you're welcome :) 

He was often accurate at predicting disasters like airplane crashes and received the information through dreams. He even had a working relationship with local police. Theories include other worldly guides giving him advance knowledge, but you be the judge! We like to try and keep our minds open, and don't forget the movie talk, has anyone else seen Tron: Ares lol or ... what are you all watching this season? 

Part two will be a dive into Telepathy Tests and  Controversies too! Stay tuned, it's dropping soon as a Yule treat! Keep it Cryptic! 

Head to Patreon.com for bonus content monthly and a backlog of hundreds of hours of creepy and cool stories!  

Welcome back, this week we dive into some drug-related crimes. Kelsey  shares the scary tale of the Paraquat Vending Machine Murders in Japan- we are sad to say we'd never heard of it. A motive is nothing but senseless murder of strangers, so it's especially hard to fathom. So random.

Then we move to the Canadian Maritimes where the story might be called Cocaine Plane, but it doesn't really get off the ground? It's been called the biggest drug bust in the country's history, but what really went down is more unexpected than we ever guessed. Tune in but party on responsibly with Drug Crimes. Oh did we mention Mounties and Mustaches, Canada's Country-wide fake Girlfriends and boyfriends alibis, and some facts about Pablo Escobar and his thwarted-New Brunswick jailbreak. Keep it Cocaine-free and cryptic!

This week is a Patreon Peek! We opened up the vault to give us some time to recover from some colds that can take down a host for a bit. But we love this episode, two very different takes on forensics, first a crimes solved with some, and then a teaching tool to solve killings with a unique twist. 

So Kelsey covers the Soham murders, so-called for the area of the crimes, and trigger warning for child violence. But Forensic science and botany would play a big role in the evidence in this case, key to solving it. 

Finally Alanna tells the tale of Frances Lee Glessner, A very smart woman who put her talents into re-creating crime scenes on a small scale for learning and training purposes. Her mini murder and unclassified death sequences were done to the most precise detail and the cases still kept secret for officers to learn from today. 

Thanks for your patience and we should be back next week, so Keep it Cryptic! Much love!

Samhain/Sauin season is here and a Happy All Hallow's Eve to all of you! Call them creepy campfire stories, or what you want but we wanted the dark and eerie vibes this time!

So let's all snuggle in for the first tale of terror- Kelsey's recitation  of the Man Who Watched Me Sleep story?! Or should we say the Red Man Story...

Either way, we on the edge of our seats and butts puckered! Always watching me....

 then it's on to some older tales...

In some sort of old-school stories of Samhain, from Celtic folklore gods and goddesses of death and destruction, to anecdotes of the unexplained, Alanna runs through some morbid mythology then a Sumerian story of a trip to the Underworld. Bloodthirsty battles can leave deep scars, it seems, and we wonder, are some warriors-mostly called berserkers, infected with "battle madness"? What a superpower she must have! 

Send us your favourite creepy pastas, odd tales, and other weird stories you might have! we will feature all in a future episode, so don't delay! thanks and as always, Keep it Cryptic!

Darkcast Network Promo of the Week: Tragedy with a View

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Thanks Cryptic Cuties!!!

Hey cryptic cuties! Hope you are all enjoying the fall and spooky season as much as we are. This week we thought we would take a look at 2 cases involving disguises or costumes (in honour of halloween of course). 

First up, Kelsey shares the details of the murder of Marlene Warren, who was shot on her doorstep by a creepy clown, and whose identity would take decades to confirm. 

Alanna lightens the mood with the life and crimes of William Sutton, known as "Slick Willie" or "Willie the Actor", a man who frequently wore disguises during his 40 year career. 

If you have any spooky stories you would like us to read next ep, please send them to us through any of our socials or by e mail! 

Darkcast spotlight is The Final Trace! 

Birdie Promo!

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Hello friends and Happy Spooky Season! It's official we hit 200 episodes and it's time for something completely different!  A man with 3 buttocks! no wait, that's a different show...

Intro includes topics from A.I. actors, cryptid-inspired flavors, and light laughing  at children's descriptions of cryptids. Then we move into our appetizer, the Cryptid Quiz! How well do YOU know your cryptids? Play along and find out, we haven't covered all of these ones! So you think you're smarter than a podcaster, lol, our new show! Wink!

BTW, there are SO many sea creatures, damn!! Love a lake monster, too. On to the entree, a new, possibly one-off segment called Cryptid of the Week! If you like it, maybe we do more... lol let us know!

Finally, we cap it off with a Peek into the Patreon content-some Reddit threads that are curated by Alanna and her ADHD! Embarrassing anecdotes, stupid movie tropes, and when artificial intelligence tries to create ads, and fail terribly. Guess Kelsey's doubling-down on her bot-craze! Thank you so very much for listening for so many episodes and Keep it Cryptic! Or ELSE :)

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If you want more C+C shenanigans, check us out on Patreon.com/castlesandcryptids !

See you soon!

Sorry for the late evening episode, it's been a long week here at C+C HQ! 

We're kicking off the spookiest season with some witchy, pagan style celebrations and we couldn't be more excited! Or hungry, by the end of the recording. Applesauce and pork and root veggies, hell yeah! 

So once we go over some of the sausage and symbols of the autumn fest, Kelsey gives us some other ways to get your Mabon on. Yes, there is lots of red, orange and gold so the fall vibes are strong with this one!

Then we dive into some origin stories like the Welsh fable from which it gets its name. It's full of unpronouncable names like Culhwch, sage old Salmon, the questing beast, and even a name drop of King Arthur! He's low-key like that's my cuz, man. So grab a snack, say Son-of-a-mother! and tune in to Mabon Fests and Feasts!

Darkcast Promo of the Week: Scottish Murders! All about crimes in Scotland and involving Scots. Such a good show!

Happy September cryptic cuties, hope you are enjoying the last of the warm weather before we dive straight into fall and pumpkin spice everything. This week we investigated a few more cults we wanted to share with you all, we hope you find cults as fascinating as we do.  

Kelsey creeps Alanna out by telling her about a group that hit a little too close to home. The College of Integrated Philosophy may seem harmless on the surface, but they have had their fair share of controversy and court cases over their decades long history. 

Alanna shares updates on a cult we first discussed over on our patreon after watching Escaping The Twin Flames Universe, leaders Jeff and Shaleia Divine were recently interviewed about their beliefs, and it has everyone talking about them once again. Happy listening!

Darkcast spotlight is The Bell Witch Podcast