In August 1951, the town of Pont-Saint-Esprit, France was overtaken by a wave of hallucinations, delirium, and death. This episode walks through the outbreak, the investigation, and the theories that still compete to explain it. Sources listed below.

1. Gabbai, Lisbonne & Pourquier, "Ergot Poisoning at Pont St. Esprit," British Medical Journal, 15 Sept 1951, 2(4732):650-651. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2069953

2. Steven L. Kaplan, Le Pain Maudit: Retour sur la France des années oubliées, 1945-1958 (Fayard, 2008).

3. Hank P. Albarelli Jr., A Terrible Mistake (2009).

4. Mike Thomson, "Pont-Saint-Esprit poisoning: Did the CIA spread LSD?", BBC News, 23 Aug 2010. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-10996838

5. Christophe Josset, "Did the CIA poison a French town with LSD?", France 24, 11 Mar 2010.

6. Mental Floss, "When the French Village of Pont-Saint-Esprit Went Temporarily Mad," 2018.

7. John G. Fuller, The Day of St. Anthony's Fire (1968).

8. Wikipedia, "1951 Pont-Saint-Esprit mass poisoning."

There's a legend in northeastern Oregon that's been told for well over a hundred years: something lives in Wallowa Lake, and it isn't a fish.

In this episode, we trace the full story of Wally, the Wallowa Lake Monster — starting with the Nez Perce origin legend of Wahluna and Tlesca, through the first documented sighting in 1885, decades of eyewitness reports into the 1940s, 50s, and 80s, and the scientific theories (sturgeon, surviving plesiosaurs, oversized crustaceans) that still haven't closed the book on what people are seeing in that lake.

Sources for this episode:

1. Cryptid Wiki (Fandom) — "Wallowa Lake Monster" — https://cryptidz.fandom.com/wiki/Wallowa_Lake_Monster

2. Creatures Unknown podcast, Episode 39: "Wallowa Lake Monster" — iHeart — https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-creatures-unknown-178712913/episode/episode-39-wallowa-lake-monster-273910861/

3. Oregon Genealogy — "Wallowa Lake Monster, Wallowa County, Oregon" (historical account) — https://www.oregongenealogy.com/wallowa/womack/monster.htm

4. Mythical Encyclopedia — "Wallowa Lake Monster" — https://mythicalencyclopedia.com/wallowa-lake-monster/

5. The Pine Barrens Institute — "Cryptid Profile: Big Wally" — https://pinebarrensinstitute.com/cryptids/2018/8/18/quick-cryptid-snippet-big-wally-aka-the-wallowa-lake-monster

6. Memoriam Development Podcast — "138 - The Wallowa Lake Monster" — https://memoriamdevelopment.com/podcast/138-the-wallowa-lake-monster/

7. Vamzzz Blog — "The Wallowa Lake Monster of Wallowa Lake in Oregon"

https://vamzzz.com/blog/wallowa-lake-monster/

8. Folk Bestiary — "Oregon Cryptids and Folklore" (citing Wallowa County Chieftain reporting) — https://folkbestiary.com/oregon/

#WallowaLakeMonster #Cryptids #OregonFolklore #LakeMonster #Wally #PacificNorthwestLegends

In September 1982, Sylvia Heitstuman — a mother of six from La Grande, Oregon — vanished while walking her dog along Morgan Lake Road. Five days later, a massive search effort found her body in a nearby stream. She had been shot, but harsh weather conditions destroyed nearly all the forensic evidence at the scene.

More than 40 years later, no one has ever been arrested. In this episode, we trace the disappearance, the search, the investigation's frustrating dead ends, and the ongoing effort by La Grande Police's cold case unit — including a recently age-enhanced composite sketch — to finally bring answers to Sylvia's family.

📌 If you have information related to this case, contact the La Grande Police cold case team: 541-963-1017 / [email protected]

#TrueCrime #ColdCase #Oregon #UnsolvedMystery

What happens when the wilderness takes hours instead of a life? This episode traces documented “lost time” accounts — the Missing 411 archive, over a century of consistent reports from Ben MacDhui in Scotland, and a 2008 Hocking Hills account where daylight collapsed into near-darkness in minutes. We weigh the science (hypothermia, altitude, infrasound) against folklore that’s been telling this same story for centuries. Sources below.

Missing 411

• Skeptical Inquirer, “An Investigation of the Missing411 Conspiracy” — https://skepticalinquirer.org/2017/07/an-investigation-of-the-missing411-conspiracy/

• Skeptical Inquirer, “Assessing the Missing 411 Conspiracy Theory: A Conversation with Data Skeptic Kyle Polich” — https://skepticalinquirer.org/exclusive/assessing-the-missing-411-conspiracy-theory-a-conversation-with-data-skeptic-kyle-polich/

• Unexplained Sightings, “Missing 411: Paulides’ National Park Cases” — https://unexplainedsightings.com/missing-411-paulides/

The Big Grey Man of Ben MacDhui

• Spooky Isles, “What Is The Monstrous Big Grey Man Of Ben Mac Dhui?” — https://www.spookyisles.com/big-grey-man-ben-macdhui/

• Icy Sedgwick, “Who is the Grey Man of Ben Macdui?” — https://www.icysedgwick.com/grey-man-of-ben-macdui/

• Spooky Scotland, “Grey Man of Ben Macdhui” — https://spookyscotland.net/grey-man-of-ben-macdhui/

• ShukerNature, “The Big Grey Man of Ben MacDhui” — https://karlshuker.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-big-grey-man-of-ben-macdhui.html

• Connect Paranormal Blog, “The Enigmatic Big Grey Man of Scotland” — https://connectparanormal.net/2026/02/10/the-enigmatic-big-grey-man-of-scotland/

Hocking Hills time slip account

• “Curious TIME SLIP Experience Reported in Hocking Hills State Park, Ohio” (account originally shared via Expanded Perspectives) — https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/23895575-curious-time-slip-experience-reported-in-hocking-hills-state-park-ohio

The Spooky Isles, Icy Sedgwick, and Spooky Scotland pages tell overlapping versions of the same Ben MacDhui accounts 

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Warren Forrest was convicted of murder in 1978 — and for decades, that was treated as the end of his story. It wasn't.

This episode covers the 2015 identification of a second victim, Martha Morrison, and the 2023 DNA breakthrough that finally connected Forrest to her murder nearly 50 years after she disappeared. We also cover the cases that remain unsolved and actively under investigation by Clark County's cold case unit: Carol Valenzuela, Jamie Grissim, and Barbara Derry.

This is Part 2 of a two-part series. If you haven't seen Part 1, start there for the full story of Forrest's early crimes and 1974 arrest.

If you have information related to any of these cases, contact the Clark County Sheriff's Office cold case tip line — 564-397-2036

 SOURCES

- The Columbian — "Survivor recalls night of terror" (2014)

- The Columbian — "Clark County jury finds Warren Forrest guilty in 1974 murder" (Feb 2023)

- KATU — "Cold case team says Warren Forrest may be tied to seven deaths in Clark County" (Feb 2026)

- Wikipedia: Warren Forrest

- Grokipedia: Warren Forrest (cross-referenced for court record details)

- KSL Podcasts — "Stolen Voices of Dole Valley" (episode descriptions, for factual cross-referencing only — not a source of quoted material)

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Today on Twisted Mysteries... Warren Forrest worked for the Clark County, Washington Parks Department. He was married, had two daughters, and by most accounts was unremarkable — which is exactly how he was able to move through his community for years while young women went missing.

This is Part 1 of a two-part series covering the case of Warren Forrest: his early life, the suspected early victims, the 1974 murders of Krista Blake and Martha Morrison, and the survivor whose escape from Lacamas Lake led to his arrest.

Part 2 is available Monday, 8/24, covering the 1978 trial, the decades of unresolved suspicion, and the 2023 DNA breakthrough that finally connected Forrest to a second murder.

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Sources for this episode:

- The Columbian — "Survivor recalls night of terror" (2014)

- The Columbian — "Clark County jury finds Warren Forrest guilty in 1974 murder" (Feb 2023)

- KATU — "Cold case team says Warren Forrest may be tied to seven deaths in Clark County" (Feb 2026)

- Wikipedia: Warren Forrest

- Grokipedia: Warren Forrest (cross-referenced for court record details)

- KSL Podcasts — "Stolen Voices of Dole Valley" (episode descriptions, for factual cross-referencing only — not a source of quoted material)

In 2002, deep in the mountains of Kandahar Province, a U.S. patrol vanished without a trace. When a Special Forces team was sent to find them, they discovered a cave littered with bones, scattered gear — and something waiting inside that shouldn't have existed. Thirteen feet tall. Red hair. Six fingers on each hand. What happened next has been told and retold in veteran circles and cryptid communities for over two decades, surfacing publicly only in 2016 through a documentary built on a single anonymous source. The Pentagon says there's no record of it. Believers say that's exactly the point. In this episode, we trace the Giant of Kandahar from cave mouth to conspiracy — and ask what it means that stories like this keep surfacing from every war fought in unfamiliar terrain.

Sources for today include:

1. Snopes, “Did U.S. Special Forces Kill a Giant in Kandahar?” (2016) — the fact-check; confirms no DoD record of the incident.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/u-s-special-forces-killed-a-giant-in-kandahar/

2. L.A. Marzulli, Watchers 10 (2016, IMDb page) — the documentary that introduced “Mr. K” and made the story mainstream.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7546462/

3. Nick Orton, Tales from the Grid Square: Volume One — anonymous-submission collection of military paranormal stories

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61470267-tales-from-the-grid-square

4. Havok Journal, “Enemy Unknown: High Strangeness in the Shadow of the Afghan War” — 

https://havokjournal.com/culture/military/enemy-unknown-high-strangeness-in-the-shadow-of-the-afghan-war/

5. Military Times, “Here be giants — outlandish tales of the military & the Afghan colossi” (2022) 

https://www.militarytimes.com/off-duty/military-culture/2022/11/01/here-be-giants-outlandish-tales-of-the-military-the-afghan-colossi/

6. Weird Darkness, “The Giant of Kandahar” writeup — notes the story was first broadcast on Coast to Coast AM in 2005, later covered by Military Times for a 2023 Halloween episode, and separately came up when former Navy SEAL MrBallen mentioned an interpreter telling him about it during his own Afghanistan deployment. 

https://weirddarkness.com/giant-of-kandahar/

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Three real people. Three first-hand ghost stories from the Pacific Northwest wilderness — a vanishing hiker near Zigzag Mountain, marching footsteps on the Tahoma Glacier, and a trail of torn leather leading up a silent hillside at Wallowa Lake. Sources in the show notes.

Sources…

The Zigzag Mountain Ghost Originally shared on the Oregon Hikers Forum, thread “Gather ’round the campfire for (real) ghost stories..!!” https://www.oregonhikers.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=17955

Northwesthiker.com

AllTrails.com

The Tahoma Glacier Ghost First-hand account by Les Profitt, “Tahoma Glacier Ghost Story,” Tall Tales From Capt Rogue (blog), December 14, 2019 https://talltalesfromcaptrogue.com/2019/12/14/tahoma-glacier-ghost-story/

Historical background on the 1946 Marine Corps plane crash: Daryl C. McClary, “A Curtis Commando C-46 transport plane crashes into Mount Rainier, killing 32 U.S. Marines, on December 10, 1946,” HistoryLink.org, Essay 7820, posted July 29, 2006 https://www.historylink.org/File/7820

Wikipedia.com

Army.mil

Coppercreekinn.com

The Wallowa Lake Boulders Listener account submitted by “Michaela,” featured in Heart Starts Pounding podcast, episode “Ghost of The Appalachian Trail, Creature Encounters In The Backwoods, and more Listener Stories,” June 17, 2025 https://www.heartstartspounding.com/episodes/appalachiantrail

Wallowalakeresort.com

Josephoregon.com

Thervatlas.com

A quick note worth mentioning is that these are all first-hand accounts as told by the original posters, shared on forums and podcasts that don’t independently verify claims.

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Between February and May 2023, six women went missing or were found dead across the Portland metro area. For months, investigators denied any connection between the cases. They were wrong.

In this episode, we tell the story of Kristin Smith, Charity Perry, Joanna Speaks, Bridget Webster, and Ashley Real — five women whose deaths are now tied to one man, Jesse Lee Calhoun, currently awaiting trial on five counts of second-degree murder. We trace how a wildfire-clemency program put him back on the street, how one victim’s assault report vanished into a jurisdictional gap months before she was killed, and how five families found each other across years of waiting for answers.

This is not a story about the accused. It’s about the women he’s charged with killing, and the families still fighting for them.

Content warning: this episode discusses violence against women and may be difficult for some listeners.

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A two-year-old vanishes from a remote Oregon ranch in broad daylight.

Hundreds search.

No one finds him.

Then, after a freezing night alone in the wilderness, he’s discovered miles away… alive.

Tonight on Twisted Mysteries, we investigate the incredible survival story of Keith Parkins—a case that has inspired legends, sparked Missing 411 comparisons, and left investigators asking one haunting question:

How did a toddler survive the impossible?

Case Sources:

• Reddit.com
• Squatchable.com
• Abcnews.com
• insideedition.com
• locationsunknown.org episode 22
• Missing 411, by David Paulides
• newspapers.com
• TripAdvisor.com

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