Creepy Shit

In 897 AD, Pope Stephen VI ordered the exhumed corpse of his predecessor, Pope Formosus, dressed in full papal vestments and placed on trial before the Roman public in the Basilica of St. John Lateran — an event historians now call the Cadaver Synod. 

In this episode of Creepy Shit, we break down the fully documented, real history behind one of the most bizarre trials in Catholic Church history: the exhumation, the corpse trial, the mutilation and disposal of the body, and the shocking downfall of the pope who orchestrated it all — strangled in his own jail cell within the same year. 

This is a true, chronicled historical event, not legend, told in full storytelling detail.

Mattoon, Illinois was gripped by panic when residents began reporting a sickly sweet odor followed by nausea, weakness, and temporary paralysis. 

Over two dozen separate attacks were reported to police in under two weeks, sparking armed citizen patrols and nationwide media coverage of the mysterious "Mad Gasser." 

In this episode of Creepy Shit, we dig into the real, documented history of the Mad Gasser of Mattoon — one of the most famous unsolved mass-hysteria cases in American history — the victims, the failed police investigation, and the theories that still divide researchers over 80 years later. 

Hidden in Italy’s beautiful Venetian Lagoon lies a small island that locals refuse to talk about. For over 700 years, Poveglia Island served as Venice’s dumping ground for plague victims, mental patients, and human suffering. An estimated 160,000 people died on this 17-acre patch of land, creating soil that’s literally 50% human ash.

But the dead didn’t stay quiet.

In this spine-chilling episode, we dive deep into the dark history of Italy’s most haunted island - from the Black Death victims burned alive in massive pyres to the sadistic mental hospital doctor who performed horrific experiments in the old bell tower. We’ll explore the modern paranormal encounters that have terrified every visitor brave enough to set foot on this cursed ground.

Why does the Italian government keep Poveglia locked away like supernatural nuclear waste? What really happened to the investigation team whose equipment mysteriously failed in 2014? And why do fishermen still pull up human bones in their nets centuries later?

Join me as we uncover the brutal truth behind Italy’s island of the damned, where shadow figures roam crumbling buildings and invisible hands still reach out from the grave. Some places hold onto their trauma - and Poveglia Island might just be the most haunted place on Earth.

*Warning: This episode contains graphic descriptions of historical violence and disturbing paranormal encounters.*

Bihl Manor, one of America's most talked-about haunted houses in Fremont, Ohio, is about to get the HGTV treatment in the new series A Very Haunted Renovation, premiering September 15th. 

In this episode, we cover the real, documented history of Bihl Manor — from its 1890s origins as a private family home to its decades as a children's group home — and take an honest, opinionated look at how the new show's ghost-story framing lines up against actual local historical records. 

This is a documentation-first breakdown of where the real history ends and the "TV lore" begins. Time to press play

In the 1980s, a sweet-looking grandmother ran a boarding house in Sacramento, California. Dorothea Puente took in the city’s most vulnerable residents—elderly folks on Social Security, mentally ill individuals, recovering addicts—and presented herself as a caring caretaker who gave them a safe place to live.

But behind the floral dresses and homemade cookies, Dorothea was systematically murdering her tenants, burying their bodies in her yard, and cashing their Social Security checks for months or years after their deaths.

In November 1988, police excavated her property at 1426 F Street and found seven bodies buried in the garden. The subsequent investigation revealed at least nine confirmed victims, and possibly many more. This is the story of one of America’s most chilling serial killers—a woman who weaponized the appearance of kindness to prey on society’s most forgotten people.

**CONTENT WARNING:** This episode contains detailed discussions of elder abuse, murder, financial exploitation of vulnerable people, and descriptions of bodies being discovered. Listener discretion is advised.

Belle Gunness — known as Lady Bluebeard, the Mistress of Murder Farm, and Hell's Belle — is considered one of the most prolific serial killers in American history. In this episode of Creepy Shit, we dig into the true, documented story of how a LaPorte, Indiana farm woman used matrimonial ads, insurance fraud, and a remote farmhouse to lure and kill more than forty men in the early 1900s. From two suspicious husband deaths to the discovery of the "murder farm" after a mysterious 1908 fire, to the unresolved mystery of whether the headless body found in the ashes was really hers — this is a fully documented true crime deep dive into one of the most disturbing and unsolved cases in American history. Keywords: Belle Gunness, LaPorte Indiana murder farm, Lady Bluebeard, female serial killer history, true crime podcast, unsolved murder mysteries, historical true crime, Gunness farm fire 1908.

Between 1907 and 1916, a charming caregiver named Amy Archer-Gilligan operated a quiet rest home in Windsor, Connecticut. But behind the respectable facade of the Archer Home for Elderly People, a nightmare was unfolding. At least 60 residents died under suspicious circumstances—many within weeks of paying substantial “lifetime care” fees. Their cause of death? Systematic poisoning with arsenic and strychnine.

In this deep-dive episode, we explore one of the most prolific—yet forgotten—female serial killers in American history. Amy Archer-Gilligan murdered vulnerable elderly patients for profit over nearly a decade, and her crimes directly inspired the classic play and film “Arsenic and Old Lace.”

Kelly Road, Pennsylvania. One mile. Decades of witnesses. Animals going feral, people erupting in rage — and a hard boundary where it all stops. 
To wrap up the Summer Series this week I have Ashley from Ghost Gossip dig into Mystery Mile: the haunted road Pennsylvania forgot to talk about.

 Indigenous displacement history, cult activity in the woods, infrasound science, and an unsolved death from the 1950s. Documented. Sourced. Deeply strange.

Get ready and push play now. 
PS we do have some weird techinical feedback on this one but stay with it - it does work itself out

On February 11th 1979 five friends from the small Hawaiian town of Hana borrowed a seventeen foot Boston Whaler, loaded it with beer and snacks, and headed out into a calm and beautiful Pacific morning for a day of fishing. By mid-afternoon a storm came out of nowhere. 

The Coast Guard searched 73,000 square miles and found nothing. Not the boat. Not the men. Not a single piece of wreckage. Nine years later — 2,300 miles away on one of the most remote and uninhabited atolls in the Pacific — a marine biologist stumbled across the wrecked boat half-buried in sand. And 100 yards away, a shallow grave marked with a driftwood cross. Inside — the partial remains of one of the five men. And buried beside him, something that has never been explained: a stack of papers separated by squares of tin foil. No writing. No markings. Just paper and foil, buried deliberately with the dead. 

Who put him there? How did that boat travel 2,300 miles through a narrow reef passage that oceanographers say it almost certainly couldn’t have navigated alone? Where are the other four men? And what was buried in that grave with Scott Moorman? 

This is the full documented story of the Sarah Joe — one of Hawaii’s most enduring and genuinely haunting maritime mysteries. All of it is real. None of it has ever been explained.

Topics covered: Sarah Joe disappearance, Hawaiian maritime mystery, Scott Moorman, Taongi Atoll Marshall Islands, missing fishermen Hawaii 1979, unsolved disappearances, paranormal history, maritime mysteries, Pacific Ocean mystery, joss paper burial, unexplained mysteries, dark history, creepy true crime, unsolved mysteries

On January 2nd 1935 a young man walked into the Hotel President in Kansas City Missouri, checked into Room 1046, and was found two days later beaten, stabbed, bound, and barely breathing in a blood soaked room. He died without ever naming his attacker. His name wasn’t even real. It took nearly two years to identify him. And then, after he was dead and buried, someone started sending his mother letters. Typed letters. From cities across the country. Pretending to be him. 

This case has been open for over 90 years. There is a five inch thick police file sitting in the Kansas City Police Department right now. The hotel still stands — it’s a Hilton. Room 1046 still exists. And not a single person has ever been charged. 

This is the full story of one of the most bizarre, layered, and genuinely haunting unsolved cases in American history — and we are going all the way in.

Topics covered: Room 1046, Hotel President Kansas City, Artemus Ogletree, Roland T Owen, unsolved murder 1935, Kansas City cold case, true crime, paranormal history, haunted hotels, dark history, unsolved mysteries, creepy true crime, bizarre historical cases