Found in an abandoned cabin in the New Jersey woods, the Devil's Journal reveals the dark secrets of a group of people invited to a retreat. Who are they? Are they really strangers, or something else altogether? This week offers Entry 8 in the ongoing journal, written anonymously for your own safety.

On a quiet farm in Bavaria, six people vanished into silence — and no one heard a thing. In March 1922, the Gruber family and their maid were found brutally murdered at Hinterkaifeck, a remote homestead outside Munich. The killer stayed for days afterward — feeding the animals, eating meals in the kitchen — and was never identified. A century later, it remains one of Germany's most chilling unsolved mysteries. This is Hinterkaifeck.

Found in an abandoned cabin in the New Jersey woods, the Devil's Wood Journal continues with Entry 7. The story has been told by the fireplace, but is any of it real? Is any of it even possible? Anonymous and the others debate the merits of a story so incredible it must be real.

The Devil's Wood Journal continues with Entry 6. Anonymous is starting to think the others at the reatreat may not be strangers after all. But is it his imagination? And who has arranged and orchestrated this all?

The curse has been broken! Devil's Wood is now available as an ebook and paperback on Amazon (including Kindle Unlimited), and soon through Ingram for wider distribution. Today on the Fearsome Fiction podcast I offer a short introduction on the book's release, then treat listeners to the Devil's Wood mythology, all part of The Devil's Wood project. Check it out at TheDevilsWood dotcom for much more, and listen to this origin story and the legend behind it all.

True Crime Tuesdays on Fearsome Fiction: Axe Murders and Mirrors

On the night of June 9th, 1912, eight people went to sleep in a small farmhouse in Villisca, Iowa. Six of them were children. By morning, all eight were dead, killed with an axe as they slept, in a crime so deliberate the killer stopped to cover every mirror in the house before he left. More than a century later, despite two trials, a confessed minister, a state senator with a grudge, and a theory that reaches all the way to a serial killer riding the rails, nobody has ever been convicted.

This week on True Crime Tuesdays, we walk through the Villisca ax murders: the victims, the suspects, and the eerie detail that still brings visitors to the restored murder house today, some of whom don't make it until morning.

The Devil's Wood Journal continues with Entry 5, as the anonymous author describes his dinner at a mysterious retreat, with his equally mysterious companions. He'd assumed they were all strangers, but are they? And if they're not, what do they all know - or hide - that he does not?

Listen to Entry 4 in the Devil's Wood Journal as the anonymous author takes us on his own journey into the heart of darkness. A mysterious retreat, 7 strangers, and a story so terrifying it must be true. Where is the Devil's Wood, and once you've entered, can you ever leave? Find out for yourself at TheDevilsWood.com.

Long before the term "serial killer" existed, Herman Webster Mudgett—better known as H.H. Holmes—was quietly perfecting the art of murder in plain sight. This week's True Crime Tuesday episode takes listeners inside the infamous "Murder Castle," the Chicago building Holmes constructed and outfitted with hidden rooms, trap doors, and a body chute, all disguised behind the bustle of the 1893 World's Fair.

We trace Holmes's path from small-time swindler to one of the most prolific killers in American history, examining how his charm and cunning allowed him to hide in plain sight for years. It's a story of ambition, deception, and horror that laid the groundwork for how we think about serial killers today.

Tune in to this episode of the Fearsome Fiction Podcast to hear the full story.

In the lonely grasslands of southeast Kansas, a small roadside inn offered weary travelers a hot meal, a warm bed, and a canvas curtain separating the dining room from the family's living quarters. What guests couldn't see was the trapdoor beneath their feet, or the hammer waiting behind that canvas.

Between 1871 and 1873, the Bender family ran one of the most chillingly efficient killing operations in American frontier history. At least a dozen travelers vanished after stopping at their door, seated at the table of honor directly over a hidden pit, never to leave again. When suspicion finally caught up with them, the Benders disappeared into the night, leaving behind an inn full of buried secrets and a manhunt that has never definitively ended. This week on True Crime Tuesdays, we step into the Bender Inn, where hospitality meets murder.