Heart Starts Pounding: Horrors, Hauntings and Mysteries

Heart Starts Pounding is a Signal Awards Finalist! Go to ⁠⁠https://vote.signalaward.com/⁠⁠ by October 9th to cast your vote for the Listener's Choice Award.

In 1929, bodies were turning up all over Dusseldorf, Germany with one horrifying thing in common. It looked like someone had bitten their necks, and in some cases, tried to drain them of blood. 

Immediately word of a vampire spread throughout the city, but that did little to stop the attacks, which would eventually point back to one of the most depraved human beings that we’ve covered on this show…

TW: Reference to child harm, sexual assault, incest, and animal cruelty.

https://www.heartstartspounding.com/episodes/vampireofdusseldorf

Heart Starts Pounding is a Signal Awards Finalist! Go to ⁠https://vote.signalaward.com/⁠ by October 9th to cast your vote for the Listener's Choice Award.

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From a woman's mother in law attempting to kill her with latex gloves, a near child kidnapping where the biological parents were doubted, to having to take matters into your own hands with your stalker, these are all real Reddit Scary Stories so dark they could be True Crime Documentaries. 

Find Annie Elise here! @annieelise https://www.youtube.com/@annieelise

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Simpsons fans —THE VAULT IS OPEN! 

I’m Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart Simpson for 35+ years, and I’m finally taking you inside Springfield. Simpsons Declassified is your all-access pass to the world’s most iconic, animated  series.  

Each week, we crack open wild predictions, eerie coincidences and fan conspiracies and stories  from 36 seasons (that’s 800+ episodes!) behind-the-scenes with writers, directors, the cast and  celebrity superfans, PLUS…Simpsons-themed games— play along and test your Springfield IQ.  

Hear exclusive stories from our guests who were there! Perhaps some scenes that almost never  aired, the jokes that died, the ones that lived and the moments that still shock me at the mic. 

Produced and showrun by Monica Gil-Rodriguez. From Audacy Podcasts and CRE84U  Entertainment.

Follow now to get new episodes first — and drop your wildest Simpsons’ theory in a review for  a chance to be featured on our uniquely unique podcast, Simpsons Declassified.

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At 4:47 AM on August 18th, 2025, after 280 hours of torture streamed live to thousands of viewers, Jean Pormanove died in his sleep while on camera. The official cause of death was cardiac arrest. But what really killed him was a system perfectly designed to monetize human suffering, to turn degradation into content, to transform a vulnerable man's destruction into entertainment. The streaming continues. The algorithm watches. And somewhere, another Jean Pormanove is typing his first message to his mother: "I feel like I'm being held hostage."

The question isn't whether this will happen again. It's happening right now, the only question is whether we'll keep watching.

TW: Torture, Death

Subscribe on⁠ Patreon⁠ to become a member of our Rogue Detecting Society and enjoy ad-free listening, monthly bonus content, merch discounts and more. Members of our High Council on Patreon also have access to our weekly after-show, Footnotes, where I share my case file with our producer, Matt.

You can also enjoy many of these same perks, including ad-free listening and bonus content when you subscribe on Apple Podcasts .

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Lost media, TV urban legends, and the moments kids’ networks never wanted you to see. This episode investigates the rumored Nickelodeon “destroyed tape” from Legends of the Hidden Temple, real broadcast signal hijackings (including the infamous Handy Manny incident), and a haunting stop-motion short known only as “The Butcher.” From grueling game-show sets to vanished DVR recordings, we dig into how media disappears and why people won’t stop looking for it.

Show Notes: https://www.heartstartspounding.com/episodes/childrenlostmedia

Subscribe on Patreon to become a member of our Rogue Detecting Society and enjoy ad-free listening, monthly bonus content, merch discounts and more. Members of our High Council on Patreon also have access to our weekly after-show, Footnotes, where I share my case file with our producer, Matt.

You can also enjoy many of these same perks, including ad-free listening and bonus content when you subscribe on Apple Podcasts .

Follow on Tik Tok and Instagram for a daily dose of horror.

From a recent and tragic double murder in Devil's Den State Park, to a hiker entering a time warp, to unknowingly encountering a serial killer while camping, today we're talking through all the terrifying and mysterious national park stories.

Make sure to follow our guests of today's episode ‪@NationalParkAfterDarkPodcast‬

Episodes Mentioned:

110. Backwoods Horror: Unexplained Disappearances in the Alaska Triangle

Subscribe on Patreon for bonus content and to become a member of our Rogue Detecting Society. Patrons have access to bonus content as well as other perks. And members of our High Council on Patreon have access to our after-show called Footnotes, where I share my case file with our producer, Matt.

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The idea of a “Ghost ship” -- a ship that is floating completely off course with its crew mysteriously gone or dead, has become more ridiculous over the years. Sure, maybe back in the day, with a lack of GPS tracking and communication a whole crew could vanish, but that could never happen today. Right?

The Kaz II which has been coined “The Ghost Yacht,” perhaps a more modern version of a ghost ship, and the fate of those three men—Derek Batten, James Tunstead, and Peter Tunstead—still remains a mystery to this day.

Subscribe on Patreon for bonus content and to become a member of our Rogue Detecting Society. Patrons have access to bonus content as well as other perks. And members of our High Council on Patreon have access to our after-show called Footnotes, where I share my case file with our producer, Matt.

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In 1966, three children vanished without a trace in Australia, and no one knows what happened. It’s a mystery that still plagues the country to this day, and may credit it as the reason people started locking their doors there. 

But today, we have a much clearer picture of the crime, who might have been responsible, and there’s even been updates on the case as of this year.

TW: mention of child abuse

Subscribe on Patreon for bonus content and to become a member of our Rogue Detecting Society. Patrons have access to bonus content as well as other perks. And members of our High Council on Patreon have access to our after-show called Footnotes, where I share my case file with our producer, Matt.

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Show Notes: https://www.heartstartspounding.com/episodes/beaumontchildren

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Official Göhrde Police Investigation Website: https://www.pd-lg.polizei-nds.de/startseite/kriminalitaet/deliktsbereiche/cold_cases/ermittlungsgruppe-goehrde-113732.html

This story starts with a police officer who was investigating a suspect in a missing woman's case. When the officer went down into the man’s basement, he found a secret, locked leather door in the far back corner of the room. 

Now, to understand what was in that room, and who that man was, we need to start all the way at the beginning, and go deep into the Göhrde Forest where in 1989, multiple bodies were discovered deep within the woods. 

Subscribe on Patreon for bonus content and to become a member of our Rogue Detecting Society. Patrons have access to bonus content as well as other perks. And members of our High Council on Patreon have access to our after-show called Footnotes, where I share my case file with our producer, Matt.

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Show Notes: https://www.heartstartspounding.com/episodes/ghordeforestmurder

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Summer is the perfect time to visit an amusement park, but for every park that’s open and bustling during the warmer months, there’s one that’s fallen into disrepair and sits there abandoned. 

But what causes this to happen? Well, sometimes a series of horrible accidents cause the public to lose faith in a park, and ticket sales plummet. Sometimes, a once in a generation disaster occurs and an entire city must evacuate, leaving the park inside empty. And other times, a park somehow winds up built on an ancient graveyard, and unexplained, supernatural events scare the public away. 

Today, we’re talking about River Country, Pripyat Amusement Park, and Lake Shawnee Abandoned Amusement Park 

TW: Child death

Subscribe on Patreon for bonus content and to become a member of our Rogue Detecting Society. Patrons have access to bonus content as well as other perks. And members of our High Council on Patreon have access to our after-show called Footnotes, where I share my case file with our producer, Matt.

Apple subscriptions are now live! Get access to ad-free episodes and bonus episodes when you subscribe on Apple Podcasts.

Follow on Tik Tok and Instagram for a daily dose of horror.

https://www.heartstartspounding.com/episodes/rivercountry