Season 9 is coming one week from today with all new true stories, interviews, and more!

In this episode, John dives into one of the most astonishing mass UFO sighting and close-encounter cases in modern history — The Ariel School Encounter.

On September 16, 1994, in a small rural schoolyard outside Ruwa, Zimbabwe, more than 60 children claimed to witness a mysterious craft land nearby and strange, humanoid beings emerge. What followed were eerily consistent eyewitness reports that still baffle investigators and psychologists alike.

Through firsthand testimonies, archival footage, and expert analysis, this episode explores what really happened that morning — and why the story of the Ariel School has endured for nearly three decades.

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Long before The Exorcist terrified moviegoers, a quiet middle-class family in 1940s Maryland claimed something unholy had taken hold of their son. In this episode, we revisit the chilling, real-life case that inspired William Peter Blatty’s novel — the 1949 exorcism of a boy known only by the pseudonym Roland Doe.

We’ll retrace the case from its first strange knocks and flying objects in the family’s home, to the desperate search for help that led Jesuit priests to St. Louis, Missouri — where one of the most documented exorcisms in modern history unfolded.

Drawing on eyewitness diaries, press coverage, and later Church records, we’ll separate fact from folklore and ask: what really happened in that room? Was Roland’s possession spiritual, psychological, or something science still can’t explain?

• Thomas B. Allen, Possessed: The True Story of an Exorcism (1993)
• William Peter Blatty, The Exorcist (1971)
• The 1949 Exorcism Diary (transcripts archived by St. Louis University)
• “Diary of an Exorcist” – article, Washington Post Magazine (1998)
• American Psychological Association Journal: studies on dissociative disorders and possession-like states.

In this episode, we dive into the strange mystery of the Hexham Heads — two small carved stone heads unearthed in 1971 (or ’72) in a suburban garden in the town of Hexham in Northumberland, England.  The discovery was followed by reports of poltergeist-type phenomena: objects moving, bottles flying, a bizarre half-man/half-animal creature appearing, and a scholar who claimed to be haunted after taking the heads for study.  

• Screeton, Paul. Quest for the Hexham Heads. CFZ Press. (2010) — deep dive into the case.
• The Urban Prehistorian blog: “The Hexham Heads — discovery & contested testing” series. 
• “1976: Lost Hexham Heads Werewolf Report Rediscovered” — BBC Archive clip covering the story on the TV programme Nationwide. 
• Articles on the Hexham Heads in the context of hauntings and folk horror: e.g., “The Horrifying Hexham Heads” by A.C. Luke.  

Thanks for tuning in to this exploration of the Hexham Heads. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate & review From the Void, share it with anyone who loves eerie mysteries, and follow us on all the socials!

Until then — keep your curiosity open, your mind skeptical, and your headphones ready.

In the 3rd installment of our Possession Series, we turn to one of the most controversial figures to bridge psychology and the paranormal: Dr. M. Scott Peck, psychiatrist, best-selling author of The Road Less Traveled, and—later in life—a reluctant believer in demonic possession.

This episode explores how Peck’s clinical background shaped his approach to exorcism, the patients who challenged his skepticism, and the ways he sought to reconcile science, faith, and evil. We’ll look at his case studies, his insistence that genuine possession is rare, and his cautionary stance toward both blind belief and total disbelief. Then we’ll ask what his work means for modern discussions of mental health, spirituality, and the human shadow.

• Peck, M. Scott. People of the Lie: The Hope for Healing Human Evil (1983)
• Peck, M. Scott. Glimpses of the Devil: A Psychiatrist’s Personal Accounts of Possession, Exorcism, and Redemption (2005)
• Interviews with Dr. Peck on PBS and in Psychology Today discussing the intersection of psychiatry and spirituality.
• American Psychiatric Association position papers on religion and mental health.
• Scholarly critiques of Glimpses of the Devil in The Journal of Religion and Health.

In this episode, we explore one of the most infamous poltergeist cases in North America: the so-called Great Amherst Mystery, which occurred in Amherst, Nova Scotia in 1878-79. Centering on 18-year-old Esther Cox, her sister’s household and the investigator Walter Hubbell, we walk through the bewildering phenomena of objects flying, knocks on the wall, unexplained fires, swelling seizures, and the question: was this supernatural, psychological or a hoax?

We trace the narrative from its traumatic catalyst through the escalation of events, the public spectacle, the investigation, and the eventual fading of activity. We also dig into the skeptical evaluations, the cultural context of spiritualism in the 19th century, and what this case tells us about the human mind, belief and the boundary between the seen and unseen.

Hubbell, Walter. The Great Amherst Mystery: A True Narrative of the Supernatural. 1888. 

“Esther Cox and the Great Amherst Mystery” — Episode from Stuff You Missed in History Class. 

“A Critical Study of ‘The Great Amherst Mystery’” — by Dr. Walter Prince, Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, 1919. 

Wikipedia entry on the Great Amherst Mystery. 

Thank you for joining us for this deep dive into the Amherst case. If you enjoyed the episode, please rate & review From the Void on your favorite podcast platform, share it with someone who loves spooky history, and follow us on social media.

Until then — keep your eyes open, your mind curious, and your headphones plugged in.

In 1976, a 23-year-old German woman named Anneliese Michel died after undergoing 67 Catholic exorcisms over 10 months.

Her death would spark one of Europe’s most controversial legal battles — pitting faith against medicine, and belief against responsibility.

Was Anneliese a victim of possession? Or of a system that failed to recognize mental illness as something sacred, not demonic?

In this haunting episode, John Williamson takes you beyond the horror-film legend to uncover the human story — one of devotion, suffering, and the thin line between faith and fear.

Court Records, Klingenberg am Main (1978) – West German trial transcripts of Fr. Ernst Alt, Fr. Arnold Renz, and the Michel family.

Der Spiegel Archives (1976–1978) – German reporting on the death, trial, and public reaction.

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung – Coverage of the legal and theological controversy following the verdict.

Bishop Josef Stangl’s Official Approval (1975) – Diocese of Würzburg documentation authorizing the exorcisms under the Rituale Romanum.

The Guardian, “Faith and Madness: The Story of Anneliese Michel” (2003).

BBC Radio 4 – Beyond Belief (2013) – Episode exploring demonic possession and the Michel case.

Anna Katharina Michel, Anneliese: A Family’s Story (1999) – Family perspective and diary excerpts.

Felix Kersten, Der Teufel und Anneliese Michel (2006) – German investigative account combining psychological and theological interpretation.

Dr. Felicitas Goodman, anthropologist, How About Demons? Possession and Exorcism in the Modern World (1988).

DSM-II / DSM-III Diagnostic Shifts – Understanding how epilepsy and psychosis were classified in the 1970s.

Catholic Canon Law on Exorcism (1962–1999) – Comparison of pre- and post-Vatican II guidelines.

The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005) – Hollywood’s adaptation of the case, and how the real story differs.

Faith vs. Medicine – When spiritual belief collides with scientific understanding.

Obedience and Guilt – How devotion to authority shaped Anneliese’s final days.

Suffering and Meaning – Why humanity continues to see the sacred in pain.

Media Mythology – How Anneliese’s death became one of modern history’s most enduring exorcism legends.

Written & Hosted by: John Williamson

Produced by: John Williamson Productions LLC

Research & Script Development: Harper (Research Assistant)

Music: Original score inspired by Jóhann Jóhannsson and Ben Frost.

Special Thanks: To theologians, psychiatrists, and survivors who continue to examine the boundaries of faith and the mind.

In the spring of 1990, families across Britain began reporting visits from strangers claiming to be social workers.  They spoke with authority, carried clipboards, even asked to photograph or examine children — and then vanished.

Police launched Operation Childcare, a nationwide manhunt involving more than twenty forces, but no arrests were ever made.

Were these criminals, insiders, or the product of a moral panic born from fear and mistrust?

Join John Williamson by the fireside as we unravel one of the strangest unsolved mysteries of late-20th-century Britain — a story where rumor met authority, and where fear itself became the evidence.

The Guardian (1990 – 1991) – National coverage of “bogus social workers” investigations.

The Independent (2 July 1995) – Retrospective article, “Huge sums wasted on bogus social worker hunt.”

The Scotsman, Yorkshire Post, and Sheffield Star (1990) – Regional reporting of early incidents and community reactions.

South Yorkshire Police – Operation Childcare Summaries (1990 – 1991) – Referenced in The Independent and later BBC coverage.

BBC Archives / BBC News Magazine Features – “Bogus social workers and the panic of 1990.”

Unresolved Podcast, episode “Phantom Social Workers,” forensic summary of police statements and media timeline.

All That’s Interesting – “Inside The Strange Phantom Social Worker Panic That Swept Britain In The 1990s” (2023).

Michele Gargiulo Blog – “Phantom Social Workers and the UK Mystery” (2020), with references to Operation Childcare documents.

The Cleveland Inquiry (1988) – UK Parliamentary report into the Cleveland, England, child-abuse scandal that precipitated nationwide mistrust of social services.

Children Act 1991 (UK) – Legislative reforms to child-protection policy and identity verification for social workers following late-1980s abuse cases.

Sociological Texts on Moral Panic – Stanley Cohen, Folk Devils and Moral Panics (1972; rev. ed. 1980), foundational framework referenced by UK academics analyzing the case.

Trust vs. Authority — How fear of the state and desire for safety collided.

Information and Rumor — Life before the internet and the limits of 1990s investigation.

The Afterlife of Fear — Why some mysteries persist precisely because they were never solved.

Written & Hosted by: John Williamson

Produced by: John Williamson Productions LLC

Research & Script Development: Harper (Research Assistant)

Phantom Social Worker: Ashley Tarbet

Music: Original score inspired by Ben Frost, Max Richter, and Ólafur Arnalds.

From The Void: The Ammons Family Exorcism

In 2011, in a small house in Gary, Indiana, something terrifying took hold of a family. The Ammons household became the site of strange noises, violent possessions, and chilling encounters that drew in police, social workers, and eventually the Catholic Church.

This case would come to be known as the “House of 200 Demons”—a story so unsettling that seasoned professionals walked away shaken. From levitating children to inexplicable footprints, from midnight terrors to an exorcism documented in official records, the Ammons case has been called one of the most compelling modern American hauntings.

In this episode of From The Void, we sit by the fire and dive deep into the chilling events of the Ammons Family Exorcism. Was it genuine demonic possession? Mass hysteria? Or something stranger still?

Resources & Further Reading

Want to dig deeper into the Ammons case? Here are some of the primary sources and reports referenced in this episode:

•Indianapolis Star Investigation by Marisa Kwiatkowski (January 2014): “The Exorcisms of Latoya Ammons” – the definitive longform piece that first broke the story nationally.

•Indiana Department of Child Services reports (2012–2013) documenting unusual events and observations by caseworkers.

•Father Michael Maginot’s testimony and diocesan records from the Catholic Diocese of Gary.

•Police Captain Charles Austin’s statements about his own experiences at the Ammons house.

•Zach Bagans’ documentary Demon House (2018) – a sensationalized but notable pop-culture treatment of the case.

•Coverage in The Washington Post, USA Today, and The Daily Mail (2014) reporting on the story’s reach.

Follow & Support

If you enjoyed this episode:

•Subscribe to From The Void wherever you get your podcasts.

•Follow along on social media for my 31 Days of Horror film challenge and behind-the-scenes looks at upcoming episodes.

•Share this episode with friends who love true hauntings and unexplained mysteries.

In this episode, we dig into one of Brazil’s most baffling unsolved mysteries: the 1966 deaths of two electronics technicians, found wearing lead masks on Vintém Hill. What were they trying to do? What clues did they leave behind? And why has this strange case captivated investigators, UFO hunters, spiritualists, and conspiracy theorists for decades?

The timeline and discovery: how the bodies were found, what was with them (masks, notes, clothing)

Biographical background: who were Manoel Pereira da Cruz and Miguel José Viana

The cryptic instructions left behind — “ingest capsules,” “await signal,” “protect metals”

Possible explanations: spiritualism / UFO contact, ritual experiment, poisoning, homicide, hoax

Skeptical assessment: what we do know, what is speculation, where evidence fails

Why the case still fascinates — how mystery becomes mythology

Lessons for seekers of weird and unexplained phenomena

General Overviews / Reference

“Lead masks case” (Wikipedia) — solid baseline for facts and variants 

Solving the Lead Masks of Vintem Hill (Skeptoid) — skeptical breakdown of theories 

The Lead Masks Case: Brazil’s Most Chilling Mystery (Michele Gargiulo blog) — atmospheric telling + context 

The Lead Masks Case: Unexplained Deaths & Alleged Extraterrestrial Contact (Dante Castelo) — a speculative lens on the story 

Podcast / Audio / Video

Stuff They Don’t Want You to Know — “The Lead Mask Case” episode (show notes) 

YouTube: The Lead Masks of Vintém Hill (documentary / storytelling

Historical / Deep-Dive Analyses

The Lead Masks Case — PMIG96 blog (Portuguese / translated source with investigative detail) 

Dead in Lead: The Puzzling Lead Mask Deaths (Medium) — a fresh narrative framing 

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