State of the Unknown | Documentary Stories of Real Unexplained Encounters

In the 1980s, the Snedeker family moved into a house in Southington, Connecticut, looking for space and stability while their son Philip underwent cancer treatment. What they didn’t fully understand at the time was what the house had been before they moved in.

It wasn’t just an older home.

It had once operated as a funeral home.

Rooms that didn’t quite make sense. Doorways wider than expected. A basement built around a fixed porcelain table and a floor designed to drain.

At first, those details didn’t mean much.

But over time, the family began to describe experiences inside the house that they couldn’t explain—starting in the basement, and eventually extending beyond it.

Join host Robert Barber as he examines the reported events of the Snedeker haunting, a case that drew in Ed and Lorraine Warren and later became the basis for The Haunting in Connecticut. Through firsthand accounts, reported experiences, and the way the story was later shaped and retold, this episode looks at what was said to have happened inside that house—and what remains uncertain.

According to the family, what began as a sense that something wasn’t right became something more direct. Objects appeared to move. Sounds were heard in empty rooms. And in the basement, Philip described encounters that went beyond anything easily explained.

As the situation escalated, the Warrens were called in to investigate. After spending time in the house, they concluded that what was happening wasn’t isolated—and wasn’t likely to stop on its own. Their involvement gave the case a framework, but it didn’t bring it to a clear end.

Over time, the story of the Snedeker haunting spread beyond the house itself. It was documented, adapted, and eventually turned into a major motion picture. But as the story grew, so did the questions.

How much of what’s known today comes directly from what the family experienced?

And how much was shaped afterward?

This episode of State of the Unknown breaks down the layers of the case—what was reported, how it was presented, and why the details don’t always line up the same way.

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Membership is completely optional, and the show remains free for everyone.

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🔍 New episodes every Tuesday
🌐 Visit stateoftheunknown.com for show notes and to submit your own story.
📬 Questions, theories, or story ideas? Reach out at [email protected] or @stateoftheunknownpodcast.

Some stories don’t stay buried.
We go looking anyway.

A young girl said the haunting was a hoax. But police were inside the house when objects reportedly moved….

In 1974, police were called to a small home on Lindley Street in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Inside, they reported objects moving on their own. Furniture shifting. Activity that continued while people were in the room watching—and without a clear source.

What started inside that house didn’t stay there.

Neighbors came to see it. More people followed. Even those who arrived expecting to find an explanation began reporting things they couldn’t account for.

But as more people became involved, the story became harder to pin down.

Some described movement happening directly in front of them.

Others described moments where something had already changed before they realized it.

And over time, the question shifted.

Not just what was happening inside that house…

but whether everyone was seeing the same thing when it did.

Join host Robert Barber as he examines the Lindley Street Poltergeist—what was reported, who was there, and what holds up under closer examination.

Episode mentioned:  The Haunting of Madison Seminary: The Investigation That Spoke Back - Ep. 27

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Support the show

Support State of the Unknown

If you enjoy the show and would like to help support it, you can become a Sasquatch Supporter for $3 a month. Your support helps cover the costs of researching and producing the show, website hosting, distribution, and helping more people discover State of the Unknown.

Membership is completely optional, and the show remains free for everyone.

Become a Sasquatch Supporter on Patreon

🔍 New episodes every Tuesday
🌐 Visit stateoftheunknown.com for show notes and to submit your own story.
📬 Questions, theories, or story ideas? Reach out at [email protected] or @stateoftheunknownpodcast.

Some stories don’t stay buried.
We go looking anyway.

On December 29, 1980, three witnesses driving along a rural road outside Dayton, Texas reported one of the most unusual UFO encounters ever documented in the United States.

Betty Cash, Vickie Landrum, and Vickie’s seven-year-old grandson Colby Landrum were returning home after a night of bingo when they noticed a bright light ahead on Farm-to-Market Road 1485. As they drove closer, the light revealed a massive diamond-shaped craft hovering low above the road.

Witnesses later said flames burst from the underside of the object and intense heat filled the car. When Betty Cash briefly stepped outside to look at the craft, she later said the air itself felt hot enough to burn.

Moments later, the sky filled with multiple military-style helicopters surrounding the glowing craft. Witnesses estimated that as many as twenty helicopters were present, and several observers later noted that the aircraft described resembled CH-47 Chinook helicopters, a heavy-lift aircraft used by the United States Army.

Within hours of the encounter, the witnesses began suffering severe physical symptoms including burning skin, blisters, nausea, headaches, and hair loss. Betty Cash was eventually hospitalized with documented burns and blistering, injuries that some physicians said resembled patterns sometimes associated with radiation exposure, although no confirmed radiation source was ever identified.

In 1982, Betty Cash and Vickie Landrum filed a lawsuit against the United States government under the Federal Tort Claims Act, arguing that the presence of military helicopters suggested the object might have been connected to a government operation.

After several years of investigation, the case was dismissed in federal court in 1986 because the witnesses could not prove the helicopters belonged to the U.S. military.

More than four decades later, the Cash–Landrum Incident remains one of the most controversial UFO encounters ever reported.

Cash–Landrum Incident
Texas UFO encounter
Dayton Texas UFO sighting
Betty Cash and Vickie Landrum
CH-47 Chinook helicopters
UFO lawsuit against the U.S. government

Support the show

Support State of the Unknown

If you enjoy the show and would like to help support it, you can become a Sasquatch Supporter for $3 a month. Your support helps cover the costs of researching and producing the show, website hosting, distribution, and helping more people discover State of the Unknown.

Membership is completely optional, and the show remains free for everyone.

Become a Sasquatch Supporter on Patreon

🔍 New episodes every Tuesday
🌐 Visit stateoftheunknown.com for show notes and to submit your own story.
📬 Questions, theories, or story ideas? Reach out at [email protected] or @stateoftheunknownpodcast.

Some stories don’t stay buried.
We go looking anyway.

In the late 1960s, a quiet home in the Black Forest area near Colorado Springs became the center of a disturbing series of events. The family living there claimed objects moved on their own, household items were thrown across rooms, and unexplained disturbances seemed to occur while people were standing there watching.

In this bonus episode of State of the Unknown, join host Robert Barber as he examines the reported events surrounding the Black Forest haunting, a lesser-known American poltergeist case that has circulated in paranormal literature for decades.

Accounts of the case place the disturbances in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when the Black Forest region was far more isolated than it is today. According to the family who lived in the home, the activity began with small incidents before escalating into objects sliding across tables, items falling from shelves, and objects reportedly being thrown across rooms without anyone touching them.

Reports of the disturbances eventually reached paranormal researchers familiar with alleged poltergeist activity. Investigators looked for ordinary explanations including structural issues, environmental factors, and psychological stress within the household. But like many reported poltergeist cases, the events eventually faded and no clear explanation was ever established.

Today the Black Forest haunting remains one of many unsettling cases that sit somewhere between witness testimony and documented evidence.

Were the disturbances the result of misunderstood natural causes… or something that investigators simply couldn’t explain?

This episode was inspired by a listener suggestion. If there’s a case you think I should cover, you can email me at [email protected] — I read every message

Support the show

Support State of the Unknown

If you enjoy the show and would like to help support it, you can become a Sasquatch Supporter for $3 a month. Your support helps cover the costs of researching and producing the show, website hosting, distribution, and helping more people discover State of the Unknown.

Membership is completely optional, and the show remains free for everyone.

Become a Sasquatch Supporter on Patreon

🔍 New episodes every Tuesday
🌐 Visit stateoftheunknown.com for show notes and to submit your own story.
📬 Questions, theories, or story ideas? Reach out at [email protected] or @stateoftheunknownpodcast.

Some stories don’t stay buried.
We go looking anyway.

The L-8 Ghost Blimp is one of the strangest unsolved aviation mysteries of World War II — a Navy patrol airship that returned from a mission over the Pacific with its engines running and its crew missing.

In August of 1942, a U.S. Navy patrol blimp lifted off from Naval Air Station Treasure Island for what should have been a routine anti-submarine patrol along the California coast.

Hours later, the aircraft drifted inland over Daly City.

The engines were still running.

The controls were still set for flight.

But the control cabin was empty.

The blimp, known as L-8, had returned from its mission without the two officers flying it.

Earlier that morning, Lieutenant Ernest Cody and Ensign Charles Adams radioed that they were investigating a suspicious oil slick near the Farallon Islands, a possible sign of a Japanese submarine operating off the West Coast during World War II.

That transmission would be the last confirmed contact with the aircraft.

In this episode, join host Robert Barber as he examines one of the strangest aviation mysteries of the war: the case of the L-8 Ghost Blimp, a patrol airship that continued flying after its crew disappeared.

Investigators searched the ocean west of San Francisco for days.

They never found the men.

So what actually happened aboard the L-8 that morning?

Did the crew fall while investigating the oil slick?

Did something go wrong during the patrol?

Or is there another explanation for how two trained Navy officers vanished from an operational aircraft?

This is the story of the L-8 Ghost Blimp.

Support the show

Support State of the Unknown

If you enjoy the show and would like to help support it, you can become a Sasquatch Supporter for $3 a month. Your support helps cover the costs of researching and producing the show, website hosting, distribution, and helping more people discover State of the Unknown.

Membership is completely optional, and the show remains free for everyone.

Become a Sasquatch Supporter on Patreon

🔍 New episodes every Tuesday
🌐 Visit stateoftheunknown.com for show notes and to submit your own story.
📬 Questions, theories, or story ideas? Reach out at [email protected] or @stateoftheunknownpodcast.

Some stories don’t stay buried.
We go looking anyway.

In the late 1980s, a family living in San Pedro, California reported a series of unexplained disturbances inside their apartment. Objects allegedly moved without physical contact. Items fell from shelves. Activity was said to occur in front of multiple adult witnesses who later stated they were standing in the room when it happened.

The incident became known as the San Pedro Poltergeist, one of several Southern California poltergeist cases reported during that era. Unlike folklore-based hauntings, this case centered on direct claims of physical object movement and escalating disturbances inside a single residence.

In this episode, host Robert Barber examines the San Pedro poltergeist case through reported timelines, witness statements, and contemporary coverage. What was described? Who claimed to see it? And how does this apartment case compare to other documented American poltergeist reports from the 20th century?

Rather than dramatizing the story, this episode focuses on what was claimed, what can be supported, and why the San Pedro case continues to be referenced in discussions of modern poltergeist activity.

Support the show

Support State of the Unknown

If you enjoy the show and would like to help support it, you can become a Sasquatch Supporter for $3 a month. Your support helps cover the costs of researching and producing the show, website hosting, distribution, and helping more people discover State of the Unknown.

Membership is completely optional, and the show remains free for everyone.

Become a Sasquatch Supporter on Patreon

🔍 New episodes every Tuesday
🌐 Visit stateoftheunknown.com for show notes and to submit your own story.
📬 Questions, theories, or story ideas? Reach out at [email protected] or @stateoftheunknownpodcast.

Some stories don’t stay buried.
We go looking anyway.

In November 1966, residents of Point Pleasant, West Virginia began reporting encounters with a tall, winged figure near the McClintic Wildlife Management Area, known locally as the TNT Area. Police documented statements. The local newspaper recorded names. Witness descriptions were consistent: a figure six to seven feet tall, wings folded behind its back, and red eyes reflecting in headlights.

Sightings continued for more than a year.

On December 15, 1967, the Silver Bridge collapsed during rush hour traffic, killing forty-six people. The official investigation concluded that the disaster was caused by a fractured eyebar, an internal structural crack that could not be detected through routine inspection.

There is no official finding linking the Mothman sightings to the bridge collapse. Yet the timing created a lasting association in the community. Reports stopped soon after the disaster.

In this episode, host Robert Barber examines the original police reports, the Indrid Cold encounter, the engineering findings behind the Silver Bridge collapse, and the tension between documented mechanical failure and repeated witness accounts.

Support the show

Support State of the Unknown

If you enjoy the show and would like to help support it, you can become a Sasquatch Supporter for $3 a month. Your support helps cover the costs of researching and producing the show, website hosting, distribution, and helping more people discover State of the Unknown.

Membership is completely optional, and the show remains free for everyone.

Become a Sasquatch Supporter on Patreon

🔍 New episodes every Tuesday
🌐 Visit stateoftheunknown.com for show notes and to submit your own story.
📬 Questions, theories, or story ideas? Reach out at [email protected] or @stateoftheunknownpodcast.

Some stories don’t stay buried.
We go looking anyway.

In 2011, a family in Gary, Indiana reported escalating disturbances inside their rental home on Carolina Street. What began as unexplained noises and strange behavior would eventually involve the Gary Police Department, Methodist Hospital medical staff, and the Indiana Department of Child Services.

According to official DCS documentation later obtained by the Indianapolis Star, a hospital caseworker reported witnessing a child walk backward up a wall during a medical evaluation. The case generated a 77-page investigative file and drew the attention of local clergy, including Reverend Michael Maginot, who later performed exorcisms.

Years later, paranormal investigator Zak Bagans purchased the property and documented his own investigation in the film Demon House before demolishing the structure in 2016.

Join host Robert Barber as he examines the documented reports, the custody battle, the hospital incident, and the demolition that turned a Gary rental house into one of the most debated haunting cases in modern American history.

Support the show

Support State of the Unknown

If you enjoy the show and would like to help support it, you can become a Sasquatch Supporter for $3 a month. Your support helps cover the costs of researching and producing the show, website hosting, distribution, and helping more people discover State of the Unknown.

Membership is completely optional, and the show remains free for everyone.

Become a Sasquatch Supporter on Patreon

🔍 New episodes every Tuesday
🌐 Visit stateoftheunknown.com for show notes and to submit your own story.
📬 Questions, theories, or story ideas? Reach out at [email protected] or @stateoftheunknownpodcast.

Some stories don’t stay buried.
We go looking anyway.

Coral Castle is one of the most enduring mysteries in American history.
In South Florida, a single man named Edward Leedskalnin spent decades building a massive stone monument entirely on his own. He worked at night, refused help, and left behind no clear explanation. The limestone blocks weigh several tons, yet no witnesses ever saw how they were moved.

Join host Robert Barber on State of the Unknown as he examines the documented history of Coral Castle, the life of its builder, and the engineering questions that continue to surround this strange landmark. This episode explores verified accounts, historical records, and firsthand observations while separating real evidence from speculation.

Often described as an unexplained engineering feat, Coral Castle has been linked to theories involving magnetism, lost knowledge, and paranormal encounters. But what can actually be proven? And what remains unresolved?

This is not a story about miracles or mythology. It is a grounded, documentary-style look at one of America’s most puzzling historical mysteries and the real unanswered questions it leaves behind.

Support the show

Support State of the Unknown

If you enjoy the show and would like to help support it, you can become a Sasquatch Supporter for $3 a month. Your support helps cover the costs of researching and producing the show, website hosting, distribution, and helping more people discover State of the Unknown.

Membership is completely optional, and the show remains free for everyone.

Become a Sasquatch Supporter on Patreon

🔍 New episodes every Tuesday
🌐 Visit stateoftheunknown.com for show notes and to submit your own story.
📬 Questions, theories, or story ideas? Reach out at [email protected] or @stateoftheunknownpodcast.

Some stories don’t stay buried.
We go looking anyway.

In 1974, a woman named Doris Bither reported a series of disturbing events inside her small rental home in Culver City, California. What began with unexplained object movement soon escalated into reported physical encounters witnessed by family members and later observed by researchers connected to the UCLA parapsychology laboratory.

The case became known as the Culver City Poltergeist and would later inspire the 1982 film The Entity. Investigators, including parapsychologist Barry Taff, documented interviews, environmental observations, and attempts to record activity inside the home.

In this episode, host Robert Barber examines the Doris Bither case through documented reports, firsthand testimony, and the formal investigation that followed — separating what was observed, what was alleged, and how the narrative shifted once it entered popular culture.

The events inside that Culver City house were never conclusively explained. But the case left a lasting mark on those involved and became one of the most debated American poltergeist cases of the 1970s.

Support the show

Support State of the Unknown

If you enjoy the show and would like to help support it, you can become a Sasquatch Supporter for $3 a month. Your support helps cover the costs of researching and producing the show, website hosting, distribution, and helping more people discover State of the Unknown.

Membership is completely optional, and the show remains free for everyone.

Become a Sasquatch Supporter on Patreon

🔍 New episodes every Tuesday
🌐 Visit stateoftheunknown.com for show notes and to submit your own story.
📬 Questions, theories, or story ideas? Reach out at [email protected] or @stateoftheunknownpodcast.

Some stories don’t stay buried.
We go looking anyway.