In this episode of Strange Matters a number of infamous and legendary monsters and vile creatures of America are discussed.  Each of these monsters have become well known urban legends in their own specific regions across the country. Whether it is the dark woods of New Jersey, the creeks of Kentucky, or even the snowy lands of Michigan, rumors and stories have spread of terrifying beast lurking in the dark.

The Jersey Devil is one of America’s most well known and oldest monster story.  This hybrid creature’s origin supposedly dates back before the formation of the United States even.  Combining the body parts of numerous different animals, this horrifying creature was rumored to be the spawn of the Devil itself.  This monster allegedly lurks in the deep woods of New Jersey,  scaring unsuspecting hikers with its blood curdling scream.

The Dogman of Michigan is a mysterious creature that lives in the deep snowy woods of the northern state.  Combining the torso of a man with the legs and head of a canine, the Dogman has been spotted and encountered for over a century.  Whether the Dogman is actually some type of freak hybrid creature, or just the over-imagination of the locals, has been an ongoing debate for years.

The Pope Lick Monster is a terrifying abomination, a creature combing the body parts of man, goat, and sheep together.  This violent monster is rumored to lure innocent victims onto the train tracks on its home bridge.  There, they are helpless to either face the oncoming train, or jump to their own demise below.  Though the Pope Lick Monster is well known to be merely a myth, the popularity and danger of its tale has lead to many unfortunate accidents.

Finally there is the Beast of Bladenboro, a creature responsible for a string of attacks on people’s pets and livestock in the winter of 1954.  When its legend grew, over a thousand people swarmed to the town to try and hunt this vampire like beast.  Just as quickly as the Beast arrived, the attacks soon ceased, leaving the people of Bladenboro to wonder to this day exactly what kind of creature was behind the violent animal murders.

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Episode Ambient Music By:

“Thunderbird” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

“I Think. Therefore I Am”

For millennia people have pondered and questioned exactly what is reality.  Is the world around us that we perceive everyday actually real?  Or is it instead simply a trick, smoke and mirrors, a simulated reality to keep us fooled.

In this episode of Strange Matters we discuss the possibility that mankind may all be living in some type of Matrix program, or simulated reality.   Sean and Eric present numerous ideas and theories describing how life as we know it may be a complete lie.  Whether we are all simply computer programs living our lives unaware of our coded nature, at the mercy of endless multiple dimensions, or perhaps just the creation of some all powerful dreaming deity, there are countless ideas one could come up with to doubt their own existence.

So make the decision to take the blue pill and continue to live in blissful ignorance… Or to instead take the red pill, press play, and follow us down as we discover just how deep this rabbit hole can go.

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In this episode of Strange Matters we share a collection of unexplained and creepy listener stories that have been shared with us.  Each of these stories involved personal encounters and experiences that can not be easily explained. These tales range from possible UFO sightings, to direct Alien visits, creepy shadow figures, smelly co-hosts, and bizarre strangers.  Between all the different unexplained experiences shared with us, this episode will be sure to give you the chills.

Thanks to Joan, Danielle, Dan, Fallon, and Samantha for sharing their personal creepy listener stories with us!

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For conspiracy enthusiasts we recommend listening to The Lone Gunman podcast

Aliens… Do they really exist? Are we really all alone in the universe? Perhaps it depends on your definition of the term “alien”; perhaps your stereotypical small-bodied Grey or maybe something as simple as a microbe could define this term. But how could we know that aliens exist? Some think that crop circles are a sign that aliens not only exist but have visited earth. With reports dating back centuries, this concept is not foreign. Many crop circles are localized to southern England however they can be found all over the world.

While many suggest that they are all simply pranks or hoaxes performed by very creative and skilled artists, others think that at least a certain percentage are the result of otherworldly visitors.

Other evidence for the existence of extra-terrestrial life lies in personal reports of human abduction. Perhaps the oldest reports of these abductions occurred in 1961. “The Hill Abduction” is the story of Barney and Betty Hill who were an inter-racial couple were well educated and involved in professional organizations. These individuals would have much to lose and little to gain from fabricating a story of the sort. Nonetheless they share the tale of traveling down a country road in their car one night while following a mysterious light.

As the light approached closer Barney stopped the car and got out wielding his trusty pistol. As he got closer he was able to spot “non-human” creatures inside what appeared to be a disk-shaped flying object. He screamed “They’re going to capture us!” as he ran back to the car, however shortly thereafter both of them report slipping into a strange trance. After waking up 35 miles south of where they had originally stopped the car, they would go on to continue their lives while being plagued by strange dreams and other odd occurrences.

Another alien encounter was reported by a “Dr. Jonathan Reed”. While out in the woods one day he came upon a strange humanoid creature fighting with his beloved dog, Suzy. When the alien got the upper hand and somehow reduced his dog to a pile of dust, Reed angrily approached the creature from behind and struck it in the head, killing it.

The remains were captured in various photographs, however the authenticity of this story has been questioned.

Travis Walton, on the other hand was a logger who was in the presence of five of his buddies when he encountered aliens. Traveling in a truck down yet another country road after a long day’s work, the men spotted a strange glowing object in the distance. As they approached it, one man would describe it as “a luminous object, shaped like a flattened disk” and nearly 20 feet in diameter.

Walton got out and approached the saucer but was immediately struck by a bright blue light emanating from the craft which knocked him back onto the ground. While the other men bolted, Walton would go missing for 5 days, only to return with a tale of alien abduction. Despite this wild tale, all the men would go on to pass polygraph tests suggesting that they were telling the truth. Tune in to this podcast episode and decide for yourself: are aliens really out there?

 

In this sequel to the original Ancient Mysteries, Eric discusses several mysterious cases from olden times. First is the legend of the screaming mummy. Gaston Maspero, the head of the Egyptian Antiquities Service was inspecting various different mummies found at Deir El Bahri near the Valley of the Kings. Amongst the newly-discovered, legendary leaders of Egypt was an unmarked sarcophagus belonging to an unknown mummy. However this was no ordinary mummy. Upon opening the case he discovered this mummy’s face was locked in an eternal scream. This body had been bound by his hands and feet, so tightly that there were marks on his bones. But despite this apparent torture the remains were carefully mummified and preserved. The body had also been wrapped in sheep or goat skin which is considered by the ancient Egyptians to be ritualistically unclean. While many believe this individual to be the traitor son of Ramses III who was punished for his alleged betrayal of his father, others suspect him to be a prince from the nearby rival civilization of the Hittites. Modern advancements in technology have shed some light on the details regarding this unexplained anomaly however this mystery has yet to be confirmed.

Next up is the “Devil’s Footprints” which were a line of footprints left in the snow, discovered one morning in 1855 in Devon, England. These footprints were said to have stretched over 100 miles which is more distance than any earthly creature would be able to cover in a single night. These cloven hoof prints were said to have either scaled 14 foot walls or passed directly through them and continued on the other side, unimpeded. One report states that the trail passed a two-mile stretch of the River Exe and then continued on the other side. While clergymen were eager to jump on this opportunity and claim these prints belonged to Satan himself and that he was here to collect souls of sinners, others took a more reasonable approach and attempted to rationalize the anomaly as belonging to animals. One thing is for sure: these footprints caused a significant amount of unrest in Devon in the 1850s.

Our final investigation is the mysterious disappearance of James Burne Worson. This story of a shoemaker and established citizen in his community in Warwickshire, England tells of this boastful individual’s habit of getting involved in impossible wagers. His latest bet involved him running to a nearby town and back again — a total round trip of nearly 40 miles. After setting out on this venture, with two fellows following him in a carriage to vouch for his completion of the task, Worson began running without difficulty for several miles. Then suddenly with their eyes fully upon him, he stumbled and began to fall, let out a shrill gut-wrenching scream and immediately vanished without hitting the ground. There have been very few reasonable explanations for what could have happened here, however the truth of the story is in question. Is it possible for individuals to not only go missing but to disappear entirely?

The Family Murders is a well known and notorious series of crimes that occurred in Adelaide, Australia.  This case includes mysterious attacks, brutal murders, and a dark conspiracy surrounding a secret group of elites that preyed on the young in the city.

Five young men were mysteriously abducted in different areas of Adelaide in a span from the late 1970s into the 80s.  Disturbingly, after going missing their bodies would soon turn up, often horribly mutilated.  Who was behind these attacks and what their motives were was unknown to the families, police, and the entire community.

As the crimes went on, rumors began to circulate of an insidious conspiracy. Some members of the police, as well as the local media, began to talk about a group dubbed “The Family.”  This secretive group was made up of important members of society, who all shared the same sick and twisted violent desires.  This murderous collective was rumored to be responsible for kidnapping and torturing these young men, as well as shielding all of its members from police investigations.

Did the Family actually exists? Was it possible that this secret group of high profile men successfully orchestrated this brutal crimes and get away with it? Or was it all the work of one psychopathic killer? Listen to this disturbing episode and hear all about the Family Murders.

In this episode we discuss a number of legendary and infamous cults, and the terrible atrocities they are known for.

The People’s Temple, lead by the notorious Reverend Jim Jones, was a socialist minded, tightly knit religious congregation.  Though the People’s Temple and Jones himself was initially known for striving for social equality, this cult would unfortunately go down in history for a more sinister event.  Jim Jones would lead his dedicated, or brainwashed, followers into what he called an act of ‘revolutionary suicide’ against the cruelties of the outside world. He convinced over 900 people to “drink the kool-aid,” in reality a mixed concoction of poison, resulting in the largest instance of mass suicide in modern history.

The Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments was a strict religious cult that was based of the Roman Catholic church.  The Movement was what is known as a doomsday cult, known for predicting the apocalypse and preparing its members for it. When the date of the end times came and went, the leaders of the movement were forced to make a new plan to prevent their mass of members from fleeing.  Instead of admitting they were wrong, those in command would set plans in motion that would see that all of their followers would perish in a fiery trap that would claim the lives of over 300 innocent people.

The Order of the Solar Temple was a secret organization that traced its origins to the Knights Templar.  This group celebrated a bizarre mix of ceremonies borrowed from Christianity, UFO religions, and the Freemasons.  Just as this group was starting to unravel from the inside, a tragic series of suicides and murders would cause it to leave its mark as one of the strangest cults in history.

Scientology is a current religious group that has reached popularity over the years for its celebrity members and strange science fiction like beliefs. The darker side of this religious cult is its supposed use of brainwashing, fraud and financial means to force its members into submission and complete loyalty.

Check out all the podcasts available at Dark Myths

Dark Myths featured podcast of the Month: Pete’s Paranormal Chronicles

If a tree falls in the forest does it really make a sound? This philosophical conundrum raises questions about humans ability to perceive and interpret reality. What is reality? How much of what we are seeing is real and how much of it is simply our brains misinterpreting our senses?

In this episode we discuss several different haunted forests around the world. The first of which is known as Hoia Baciu, also known as “The World’s Most Haunted Forest”, also known as “Romania’s Bermuda Triangle”. This forest has been known for its mysterious UFO sightings and apparitions since the 60s when a biologist went there to examine the strange curvature of the trees that grew on the land. Instead of finding an answer to his question, he snapped several photos of UFOs and also experienced the feeling that he was not alone in Hoia Baciu. Since then people who visit this small area of land complain of unexplained nausea and vomiting, rashes, scratches and feelings that they are being watched.

The next haunted forest is known as Aokigahara which is a most beautiful 16 square mile patch of land located at the base of Mt. Fuji in Japan. Many people from all over the world travel here to catch a glimpse of its splendor, however there is another more sinister attraction. It has become Japan’s number one suicide hot spot and over the last two decades hundreds of skeletons have been found in these woods. What is it about this area that attract so many desperate individuals and erodes there will to survive? Some come with the full intent of ending their lives while others come with a back up plan in case they change their mind and decide they wish to live. However one thing is for sure, and that is that this forest has an extremely treacherous terrain that could reduce your most avid hiker to nothing more then an incapacitated, lost hope.

Our final haunted forest lands closer to our home in Virginia, United States of America. Along the Appalachian Trail many people have reported seeing the ghost of a young boy known as Ottie Cline Powell. This young boy went missing over a century ago, never to return. His body was found lifeless and frozen huddled at the top of Bluff Mountain where he had strayed over 7 miles from his schoolhouse. This sad story is believed to have resulted in his ghost wandering the AT for over a century in search of a way home to his family.

 

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In this episode of Strange Matters, three cases are presented in which someone suddenly vanished without a trace.  In each of these unsolved mysteries, the victims would be going about living normal lives, until the next moment they were simply gone, forever.

Danielle Imbo and Richard Petrone were hanging at a bar late one night with some friends. At around midnight, the pair left the bar to head towards Richard’s truck. Neither of them would ever be seen again.  This case has puzzled police and the community for over a decade, as no one can see how its possible for two people and a truck could simply go missing without a shred of evidence.

Angela Hammond was on a payphone late at night, talking to her fiance Rob. Suddenly, she screamed into the phone.  Her fiance ran to his car and raced towards to where she was, when a truck passed by with a woman inside screaming his name.  Unfortunately, Rob could not catch up and the truck would drive away, apparently taking Angela with it.  No signs of her would ever be found.

In the last case, teenage Laureen Rahn was enjoying a day with two friends in her apartment.  Later that night, Laureen’s mother came home, to find that only her daughter’s friend was still at the apartment.  Her daughter was gone, with no signs of forced entry or a struggle, and all her belongings left behind.  It’s as if Laureen stepped outside and was suddenly gone, without a trace.  Though there were a few odd leads in this case, the police could find absolutely no clues as to what happened to the missing teenager.

 

Visit Dark Myths to find other quality podcasts discussing mysteries, crimes, and more!

Episode music by:

“Lightless Dawn”,  “Rains Will Fall” , “With a Creation”

Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

In this episode the crew of Strange Matters dives back into the realm of the paranormal and unknown, with four creepy tales of haunted artifacts, werewolves, angry poltergeists, and disturbed attic dwellers.  These stories of unwanted guests will be sure to send chills down your spine.

The first story is that of the Hexham Heads, strange stone artifacts discovered that seemed to carry with them a dark curse. Several people who had ownership of these heads, and for a few unlucky individuals who just happened to be nearby, witnessed several unexplained and disturbing encounters.  There are claims of ghostly and poltergeist activity connected with the stone heads, not to mention sightings of a werewolf creature that seems to follow them everywhere.

Next up is the infamous Man in the Attic, or the San Pedro Haunting.  This story involves a woman named Jackie who is experiencing a literal house full of horrors, including unworldly noises, moving objects, ghostly sightings, and even walls dripping human blood.  For those who agreed to investigate the house, their experiences would be much worse, and nearly fatal.  This case is one of the most famous cases of paranormal and poltergeist activity in the United States.

The Jacksonville Clowns were a bizarre case that would terrify anyone who shares a phobia of clowns.  A series of men, dressed up as clowns, was caught on several surveillance cameras approaching houses.  Whether this was a meaningless prank or perhaps something more sinister is unknown to this day.

The last case is that of the Woman in the Ceiling.  A paranoid man sets up a night vision camera in his apartment, in the process catching a woman descending from his loft’s attic space to eat his food and walk around his apartment while he slept.  Though some claim this might be a hoax, the man still swears this disturbing intruder actually dwelled in his place for some time, all the time unknown to him.

Enjoy these stories of bizarre and creepy unwanted guests!

For more podcasts discussing the paranormal and mysterious, check out all the shows over at Dark Myths

Episode Music by:

“Long Note One” , “Lightless Dawn” , “Long Note Two”

Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/