EchosOfThePast

CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains graphic descriptions of necrophilia, corpse desecration, grave robbery, and severe mental illness. It is extremely disturbing. Listener discretion is strongly advised.

In the historic Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod, respected academic Anatoly Moskvin was known as a brilliant linguist, historian, and expert on local cemeteries.

But for over a decade, hidden in his cluttered apartment, he harbored a horrifying secret: 26 mummified corpses of young women and girls, exhumed from graves, preserved, dressed, and transformed into life-sized “dolls.”

He named them. Talked to them. Believed they talked back.

Discovered in 2011, the case shocked the world—not for murder, but for one of the most bizarre and disturbing acts of necrophilia and grave desecration ever documented.

Bubah explores the mind of a profoundly schizophrenic man whose loneliness twisted into delusion, the devastating impact on grieving families, and the complex questions of criminal responsibility when severe mental illness is involved.

This is one of the darkest cases we’ve ever covered.

If this episode brings up difficult feelings, help is available:

SAMHSA National Helpline (U.S.): 1-800-662-4357 (free, confidential, 24/7)

Or find local crisis resources in your country.

Submit cases or say hi:

Email: [email protected]

X: @EchosPoddCast

TikTok/Instagram: @echosofthepastpod

References

Russian court records & forensic psychiatric reports (2011–2012)

Contemporary reporting: Komsomolskaya Pravda, RIA Novosti

Victim family statements (via Russian media)

BBC News coverage (2012)

Psychological analysis in The Journal of Forensic Sciences

Moskvin’s own academic publications (for public persona context)

© B.Moreno 2026 Echos of the Past. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use prohibited.

#strange #necro #Strange #truecrime #mentalhealth

CLOSING Season 1 with a Bonus True Tale episode: What happens in a remodeled restaurant in a small town? Strange events unfold, leaving more questions than answers. Was it the father-son duo seen in dreams, or is there something else lurking in the town that can't find peace from the Civil War's Battle of Round Mountain? Enjoy, and Happy New Year!

#truestory #paranormal #haunting #civilwar #ghost

© B.Moreno 2025 Echos of the Past. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use prohibited.

Episode Title: The Christmas Spider: A Folktale of Silver and KindnessEchos of the Past

CONTENT WARNING: None! This is a wholesome, family-friendly holiday folktale—perfect for all ages. No scares, just magic, kindness, and a little eight-legged wonder.

Gather ‘round the (virtual) fireplace for our special holiday episode.

In a humble Ukrainian cottage long ago, a poor family brings home a simple fir tree for Christmas. They decorate it with love—but it’s missing that magical sparkle the children dream of.

Overnight, the quiet spiders who share their home weave a miracle of delicate silk across every branch. At dawn, sunlight touches the webs… and transforms them into shimmering silver and gold.

This gentle folktale explains the origin of tinsel on Christmas trees—and why, in many Eastern European homes, you’ll find beautiful spider ornaments hidden in the branches for good luck.

Bubah and Z share the full legend, its heartfelt lessons on kindness (even to the smallest creatures), and how this story spread across cultures to become a beloved tradition.

From our little podcast family to yours: May your holidays be filled with warmth, wonder, and maybe a touch of friendly spider magic ✨🕸️🎄

Got a family folktale, holiday tradition, or local legend?Email: [email protected]X: @EchosPoddCastTikTok/Instagram: @echosofthepastpod

#folklore #tranditions #family

ReferencesUkrainian folk tale collections & “The Spider’s Gift” variantsJ. Patrick Lewis, The Christmas Spider (illustrated)Tanya Gulevich, The Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's CelebrationsJournal of American Folklore (1972 spider legend study)Ukrainian Museum archival materials on pavuchky ornamentsComparative Slavic folklore studies (Shevchenko Scientific Society & others)

© B.Moreno 2025 Echos of the Past. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use prohibited.

Episode Title: The Enfield Horror: Three Toes in the Illinois DarkEchos of the Past

CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains descriptions of frightening creature encounters, intense fear experienced by children and families, gunshots, and home invasions by an unknown entity. It’s spooky but respectful—no gore, just good old-fashioned nightmare fuel.

Spring 1973. Tiny Enfield, Illinois (pop. ~800). One stoplight. One set of railroad tracks… and one thing that absolutely did not belong.

Over three terrifying nights, the McDaniel family—and half the town—came face-to-face with a gray, squat creature sporting glowing pink eyes, massive claws, and three powerful legs. It scratched at doors, hissed like a demon, took four .22 rounds without flinching, and left behind six-toed footprints that baffled police.

Plaster casts, deep claw gouges in siding, slashed shoes on a 10-year-old boy, and a chilling scream captured on tape by radio personality Rick Rainbow—all documented in 1973 police reports.

Was it an escaped primate? A vengeful railroad worker in a suit? Mass hysteria? Or something that still hasn’t been cataloged?

Bubah and Z (back from being sick!) break down the evidence, the witnesses, the theories, and why this messy, half-century-old case refuses to stay buried.

Fifty years later, the plaster casts are still in an evidence locker… and a single gray hair is waiting in a Dallas freezer for answers.

If this one gave you chills, you’re not alone. For support with fear or anxiety, text HOME to 741741 (Crisis Text Line – free, 24/7).

Got your own local legend or porch-scratching story?Email: [email protected]X: @EchosPoddCastTikTok/Instagram: @echosofthepastpod

Drop #EnfieldHorror or #EnfieldEcho in your comments—we’re reading them all 👀

© B.Moreno 2025 Echos of the Past. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use prohibited.

ReferencesContemporary reports from The Carmi Times & The Southern Illinoisan (1973)Henry McDaniel radio interviews (May 1973)Rick Rainbow audio recording & analysis by Loren ColemanWhite County Sheriff’s Office incident reportsLoren Coleman, Mysterious America (1983)FOIA-released witness statements (2018)Recent evidence locker access & hair analysis (Kyle Redfern, 2023)

#cryptid #unsolved #strangestory #paranormal

Echos of the Past

CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains graphic discussions of the sexual assault and murder of a 9-year-old child, suicide, and generational trauma. Listener discretion is strongly advised.

On a cold March afternoon in 1959, 9-year-old Candy Rogers left her Spokane home with a handful of Camp Fire Girls mints to sell door-to-door. She never came home.

What followed was one of Washington State’s largest searches, the tragic deaths of three airmen trying to find her, and a 62-year investigation that became known as “the Mount Everest of cold cases.”

For six decades, the killer walked free — until a single drop of 62-year-old DNA and one courageous daughter finally gave Candy a name for her monster: John Reigh Hoff.

This is the heartbreaking, infuriating, and ultimately redemptive story of the little girl with the mints… and the echo that refused to fade for 66 years.

Every March 6th, people still leave unopened boxes of mints on Candy’s grave.

If this episode affected you, help is available 24/7:Call or text 988 (U.S. Suicide & Crisis Lifeline)Text HOME to 741741 (Crisis Text Line)

Submit your own case or say hi ↘Email: [email protected]X: @EchosPoddCastTikTok/Instagram: @echosofthepastpod

#CandyRogers #TrueCrime #ColdCaseSolved #SpokaneTrueCrime #GeneticGenealogy #UnsolvedNoMore #1959Murder #TrueCrimePodcast #TrueCrimeCommunity #EchosOfThePast #CrimeTok #TrueCrimeTok #ParanormalPodcast #HistoricalTrueCrime #JusticeForCandy #FYP #ForYou #Viral

© B.Moreno 2025 Echos of the Past. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use prohibited.

Content Warning – PLEASE READExtremely graphic descriptions of serial murder, prolonged torture, sexual sadism, mutilation, decapitation, arson on bodies, child victims, and violence against women. This is one of the heaviest episodes we’ve ever done. Listener discretion is strongly advised. Resources at the bottom.

Episode SummaryHe clocked in every day at a respectable job in Manhattan, kissed his kids goodnight, and coached Little League… while carrying a black bag full of handcuffs, knives, and souvenirs from the women he tortured to death.Between 1967 and 1980, Richard Cottingham – the “Times Square Killer,” “Torso Killer,” or “Torpedo Ripper” – murdered at least 17 confirmed women and girls across New York and New Jersey (he claims 85–100). He targeted the invisible: sex workers, runaways, teenage girls walking home, a young mother after bingo night. He drugged them, handcuffed them, and subjected them to hours (sometimes days) of unimaginable sadistic torture before killing them and, in several cases, decapitating them and burning or dumping the heads and hands so they could never be identified.For 13 years, he was never a suspect – because the quiet computer programmer next door looked nothing like the monster the police were hunting.It all ended in May 1980 when an 18-year-old survivor, Leslie Ann O’Dell, screamed loud enough and fought hard enough that a motel maid and clerk finally ran toward the sound instead of away from it.

Confirmed Victims Mentioned (in order of murder)

• Nancy Schiava Vogel (29) – 1967
• Jacalyn “Jackie” Harp (13) – 1968
• Irene Blase (18) – 1969
• Denise Falasca (15) – 1969
• Mary Annette Pryor (17) & Lorraine Marie Kelly (16) – 1974
• Maryann Della Carr (26) – 1977
• Deedah Godzari (22) & Unidentified Teen – 1979 (Times Square torsos)
• Valerie Ann Street (19) – 1980
• Jean Reyner (25) – 1980
• Leslie Ann O’Dell (18) – survived

• at least 6 more confirmed since 2021 via Cottingham confessions

Resources & SupportYou are not alone.

• National Sexual Assault Hotline (US): 1-800-656-HOPE (4673)
• National Human Trafficking Hotline: 1-888-373-7888
• Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741
• International resources: findahelpline.com

References & Further Reading

1. Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office & NJ State Police case files – Official archives available via FOIA requests.
2. NYPD Homicide Division archives – Historical records from NYC police on 1970s-80s cases.
3. Court transcripts – State of New Jersey v. Richard Cottingham (1981-1984 trials).
4. Anzilotti, Robert (Retired Chief of Detectives) – interviews: NYT article on confessions; Fox News doc feature; A&E YouTube clip.
5. Vronsky, Peter – American Serial Killers: The Epidemic Years 1950-2000: Amazon; Penguin Random House; Audible.
6. The Record (Bergen County) & New York Times archival reporting: NYT sentencing article (1981) [via wiki summary, original paywalled]; The Record on confessions [cross-ref with Record].
7. Jennifer Weiss (daughter of victim Deedah Godzari) – public statements: NJ.com interview; YouTube interview; Podcast ep.
8. Netflix – Crime Scene: The Times Square Killer (2021): Netflix official site; IMDb; Wikipedia.

Connect With UsEmail your thoughts (or your own stories) → [email protected]X → @EchoesPodCastInstagram → @

#truecrime #SerialKiller #Missing

Thank you for walking through the dark with us.Keep their names alive.— Bubah

© B.Moreno 2025 Echos of the Past. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use prohibited.

Content WarningThis episode contains detailed accounts of a cryptid encounter, graphic animal violence, psychological trauma, suicide, substance abuse, and the socioeconomic collapse of the Rust Belt. Listener discretion is strongly advised.

Episode SummaryIn the summer of 1987, four teenage boys snuck into the abandoned Youngstown Sheet & Tube Campbell Works in Youngstown, Ohio, just ten years after “Black Monday” killed the city’s steel industry. What started as another night hanging out by a pallet fire in their secret “den” turned into a life-altering encounter with something that should not exist: an 8–9 ft bipedal canine creature with glowing amber eyes, unnatural strength, and reality-bending properties.

Over 38 years later, primary witness Matthew “Matt” McH (Planet 412) still carries the trauma, two of the four boys are dead long before their time, and the city that once threatened to “ruin” them if they talked has mostly demolished the site… but the massive coke piles where the creature first appeared are still there, just buried under grass.

We walk through the minute-by-minute timeline, the police cover-up, the priest who called it a “real manifestation,” the dead dogs, the “glitching” paw, the train horn that saved their lives, and every major theory: classic Dogman cryptid, demonic entity, interdimensional intruder, or hoax. Spoiler: hoax doesn’t survive contact with the evidence.

Resources & SupportIf this episode was heavy for you, please reach out:

• USA: 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (call or text 988)
• Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741
• Trevor Project (LGBTQ+): 1-866-488-7386
• Find a therapist: PsychologyToday.com

Primary Sources & References

1. Matthew McH – 2022 full interview on “What Lurks Beneath” (Planet 412 Network)
2. Planet412.com – Matt’s written accounts (2005–2025)
3. Youngstown PD FOIA logs (1985–1987) – redacted reports of “large animal” sightings at Campbell Works
4. The Vindicator, June 20, 1987 – “Animal Control Investigates Mill Dog Pack Deaths”
5. Dogman Encounters Radio archives – comparative Ohio cases
6. Fortean Times #64 (1992) – North American bipedal canine survey
7. Ohio Bureau of Vital Statistics (1995, 1998) – redacted mortality records of two witnesses
8. USGS topographic maps (1987) – Campbell Works layout & coke pile locations
9. Ohio EPA (2005) – Campbell Works demolition report
10. Statement relayed from Father Thomas (Youngstown Catholic Diocese, 1987)
11. Scott, R. (2024) “The Ruins of Steel” – social history of post-Black Monday Youngstown

Connect With UsEmail your own encounters or theories → [email protected]X/Twitter → @EchosPoddCastInstagram → @echoesofthepastpod

#dogman #Cryptids #truestory

© B.Moreno 2025 Echos of the Past. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use prohibited.

In the sun-drenched streets of Key West sits a doll that’s anything but child’s play. Join Bubah (flying solo this time) as we uncover the documented history behind Robert the Doll—from a 1904 Steiff prototype gifted to a lonely artistic boy, to decades of giggling in the attic, moving furniture, and “Robert did it,” to his current plexiglass prison at Fort East Martello Museum where visitors must ask permission to snap a photo… or risk his wrath.We separate verified facts (census records, Steiff archives, family lawsuits) from folklore (the Obeah curse, voodoo nanny revenge) while honoring the eerie legacy that’s inspired movies, TV, and over 3,000 apology letters.Content Warning: Discussions of folklore, psychological phenomena, and unsettling haunted-object legends. Listener discretion advised.Listen if you dare… and remember: always ask Robert first. 👁️🪡 #RobertTheDoll #HauntedObjects #KeyWestHistory

Verified History & Sources

• U.S. Census (1900–1920): Otto family in Key West → FamilySearch.org (search: Robert Eugene Otto)
• Steiff prototype confirmation → Atlas Obscura
• Find a Grave: Robert Eugene “Gene” Otto → findagrave.com/memorial/24778775
• WikiTree genealogy → wikitree.com/wiki/Otto-3973
• Artist House records → artisthousekeywest.com/robert-the-doll
• Keys Life Magazine (2022) → keyslifemagazine.com/spooky-history-robert-the-doll
• Ghost City Tours fact vs. fiction → ghostcitytours.com/key-west/ghost-stories/robert-the-doll

Books & Deeper Dives

• Robert the Doll: The True Biography by David L. Sloan (2007) – Amazon or Key West shops
• Pareidolia studies: Dehaene et al., Science (2003) → DOI: 10.1126/science.1083958
• Obeah context: Obeah, Witchcraft in the West Indies (1976)

Visit RobertFort East Martello Museum – 3501 S Roosevelt Blvd, Key West, FL→ kwahs.org/museums/fort-east-martelloRule: Ask permission before photos. 3,000+ apology letters on file.

Email: [email protected]X (Twitter): @EchosPoddCast

#E.O.P. #ParanormalPodcast #TrueHistory#HauntedDolls

Episode SummaryReferences

© B.Moreno 2025 Echos of the Past. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use prohibited.

Some roads don't just lead to a destination—they lead to a story. For our premiere episode, join hosts Bubah and Z as they take a terrifying trip down three of America's most haunted highways.

First, we descend into the cursed valley of Zombie Road in Wildwood, Missouri, where a history of industrial accidents, a forgotten smallpox pit, and tragic deaths have given rise to shadow figures, phantom trains, and a legion of lost souls.

Then, the terror gets real as we shift to Route 29 in Fairfax, Virginia. This busy commuter corridor was the hunting ground for not one, but two predators—a cold-case "nice guy" killer from the 90s who vanished without a trace, and a modern-day stalker whose brutal road-rage attacks were documented in real-time, creating a very modern ghost: the memory of fear itself.

Finally, we journey to Boone County Road in Florence, Kentucky, home to the mournful legend of the Graveyard Girl. This vanishing hitchhiker in a white prom dress isn't a monster, but a phantom of profound sorrow, forever trying to find her way home after her life was cut short on the night of her prom.

From layered historical tragedy and real-world crime to a poignant local legend, this episode explores the dark echoes that linger where asphalt meets the unknown. Buckle up—it's going to be a long, dark night.

Content Warning: This episode contains discussions of violent crime, stalking, historical tragedies, and paranormal themes. Listener discretion is advised.

Listen, subscribe, and follow the echoes...
Email: [email protected]
X (Twitter): @EchosPoddCast

References

Zombie Road:

1. https://www.stlmag.com/culture/history/zombie-road-the-true-story-of-st-louis-countys-infamous-haunted-trail/
2. https://www.legendsofamerica.com/mo-zombieroad/
3. https://www.riverfronttimes.com/news/the-legend-of-zombie-road-2476934
4. https://jaytee2.tripod.com/zombie.htm

Route 29 Stalker:

1. https://fcpdnews.wordpress.com/ (search 'Route 29')
2. https://wtop.com/fairfax-county/2022/10/man-sentenced-for-series-of-route-29-stalker-assaults-in-fairfax-county/
3. https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/10/14/route-29-stalker-sentenced-prison/
4. https://eapps.courts.state.va.us/CJISWeb/ (search Daniel S. Lee)

Boone County Road / Graveyard Girl:

1. https://www.kentucky.com/living/article44398745.html
2. https://books.google.com/books/about/Weird_U_S.html?id=bU9LwRjANagC
3. https://www.reddit.com/r/Kentucky/search?q=boone+county+graveyard
4. https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2015/10/29/haunted-northern-kentucky/74798576/

Listen if you dare... 🚗👻 #HauntedRoads #UrbanLegends #TrueCrime"

© B.Moreno 2025 Echos of the Past. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use prohibited.

Hey! This is just our introduction to the world of podcasting. We hope you'll join us on this journey as we build a space for all the strange happenings in the world. Each week, we will bring you a new episode from the past—some stories you may have heard of and others that you might never have encountered. We’ll also share some personal experiences and invite you to share your stories with us as well.

#TrueCrimePodcast

#HistoricalMysteries

#ColdCases

#Unsolved

#DocumentaryPodcast