Every year millions of people visit the National Parks in the United States. Families go to camp for the weekend, hikers and backpackers set out to explore the wilds of this country, photographers seek to capture the beautiful scenery of nature.  But some people will never come out of the parks and become lost in the wilderness. Many are never heard from again and no one knows exactly how many people are missing to this day in our National Parks.  Many of the cases are explainable, but there are also those that don't make much sense with the information we have.  The disappearances of Dennis Martin, Bobby Bizup and Charles McCullar are three of those cases. 

Born under tragic circumstances and raised in an abusive household, Leonarda Cianculli's early life seemed to have led her down a rough path. But poverty, a bad marriage, and the death of her children - along with a fortune teller's predictions from long ago - prompted her to lean into her superstitions and belief in magic. At the start of World War II, Leonarda found a way to protect her sons from serving and being killed in combat - she needed to take others' lives in their place. But were her superstitions her true drive for murder, or was it simply greed? 

Many of us know the story of the Pied Piper: The man in the brightly colored clothes who could make rats and mice follow him just by playing a flute. But many don't know the second, darker part to the story where children were led away from their homes by that same man and his flute, never to be heard from again. But was it just a story told to children to teach them a lesson? Or did something dark and sinister actually happen to the real-life children of Hamelin?

Happy Halloween Week, listeners! We are very excited for our first collaboration with another podcast! And for Halloween, no less! Please welcome CeCe, Alex and James from the 13th Floor as we sit down with our new friends and talk about our favorite Halloween memories and personal spooky tales to get you in the mood for October 31. 

Most Halloween haunted houses are good-natured fun, hoping to give you a good scare and a probably few laughs. But McKamey Manor is different. Here, participants are subjected to extreme physical, verbal, and mental horrors - but agree to it by signing an extremely long and detailed waiver. Broken bones, cuts, and worse are possible.  We discuss what happens at McKamey Manor, the legalities of its operation and the reception of the public, plus a few of our own stories about Halloween haunted houses. 

A group of colonists in North America disappeared from their new home on Roanoke Island sometime between 1587 and 1590. They left behind one word and many questions. It's bee over 400 years later and we're still asking: What happened to the Lost Colony of Roanoke?

On March 13, 1997, something strange was reported moving across the sky from Henderson, Nevada, travelling across the state of Arizona and disappearing into the Sonoran Desert. Hundreds of people reported the event, telling officials what they saw - and their stories are all similar. A V-shaped aircraft with bright lights appeared to be moving across Arizona. But when it reached Phoenix, people got out their cameras and documented what was to become one of the most infamous UFO events in US history. What were the Phoenix Lights? 

When Bruce and Andrea Leininger's two-year old son, James, started becoming fascinated by WWII planes, they thought it was normal for a boy his age. But when little James started experiencing vivid nightmares about plane crashes and recalling events and people he couldn't possibly know about, Andrea knew her son was experiencing something more. Was he remembering a past life as a WWII fighter pilot? 

When a man who made a living at being an inventor, travelling showman, and radio broadcaster announced that he had the cure for cancer, people were thrilled. Finally, there was a cure for this terrible disease. Except the man, Norman Baker, was no hero - he was simply a fraud, who conned thousands of people out of millions of dollars with his so-called "cure." Yet he was able to open and operate two hospitals promoting this "cure" - one of which being the Crescent Hotel in Arkansas, which still shows its evidence of Norman's terrible schemes in its history, paranormal visitors, and a surprising discovery made on it's property in 2019 .... 
Sources:

https://web.archive.org/web/20101121070622/http://www.crescent-hotel.com/bakerstory.shtml

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-i6GMCH91mI
https://crescent-hotel.com/history.shtml
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_G._Baker

https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/norman-baker-4885/
https://www.toptenz.net/10-frightening-facts-about-the-crescent-hotel.php

https://www.historichotels.org/us/hotels-resorts/1886-crescent-hotel-and-spa/ghost-stories.php

It is said to be one of the worst events of racial violence in the history of the United States. And yet almost 100 years later, many people don't know much, if anything, about it. From May 31 to June 1, white mobs attacked the Greenwood District and its black residents from the ground and from the air. When it was all over, the black community was left in ashes and it would be years before they could rebuild. And much of this rebuilding and reckoning is still happening today.