Welcome to our 5 year anniversary, 5-part series re-release! This month, we're bringing back Psychedelic Nightmare, a podcast series on the impact of the CIA's LSD-fueled experiments on mind control, MKUltra*, & the domino effect it (in)directly created worldwide. 

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Part 2: So, Evil Bro 

content warning: violence, torture, anti-black racism, mention of drugs 

In part two of this series on MKUltra, you’ll learn more about the roll out of these LSD-fueled experiments and how they came to a close.We take a deeper look at the cruel intersections of racism and classism that guided these projects and the role(s) that criminalization/punishment played. We also highlight the stark contrast between the trauma and dehumanization experienced by unknowing “test subjects” in mental institutions and prisons, and the bohemian counter-culture cultivated by white beat writers who were willing participants of MK Ultra university experiments. You’ll also learn more about popular conspiracies tied to these experiments and the psychology behind conspiracy-based beliefs. 

Reach out to us with thoughts, comments, questions or collab requests!

Theme Song Title: Creepy Mood | Artist Name: Oleg Fedak

Support the show

From October to December 2025 we will be re-releasing our favorite series' - A Lethal Location and A Psychedelic Nightmare. They will only be available for a limited time, as starting January our minisodes and 2nd part onwards of our series' will be exclusively available for our wonderful patrons.

Thank you for listening to our passion project <3 You can find us on social media here! We're a team of 2 people & have always been ad-free. If you are enjoying, please consider supporting our sustainability on Patreon or through Buzzsprout.

- your grateful hosts

P.S. We're in the process of updating our intro and making edits to our episodes. You may notice inconsistencies as we do that!

Welcome to our 5 year anniversary, 5-part series re-release! This month, we're bringing back Psychedelic Nightmare, a podcast series on the impact of the CIA's LSD-fueled experiments on mind control, MKUltra*, & the domino effect it (in)directly created worldwide. 

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Part 1: A Fucked Up Set & Settting 

Back in 2022, we covered  MKULTRA, a secret CIA project so absurd and inhumane it was rumored to be a conspiracy theory until declassified documents and whistleblowers made their way to the public. Taking place between the early 1950s to the early 1970s, the CIA conducted hundreds of tortuous experiments were conducted on (mostly) unsuspecting human subjects under the name of Project MKULTRA. Sidney Gottlieb, the project lead's "Poisoner in Chief" aimed to develop strategies and identify drugs (such as LSD), that could be used for the purposes of “mind-control” (read: how can we psychologically torture, force confessions and manipulate the consciousness of the human mind?). In the first part of thi series, we dig in to Allan Memorial, one of the many institutions where these experiments took place & set the stage for MKUltra. Learn about how the Cold War and the Red Scare motivated the creation of this project, the discovery of Lysergic Acid Diethylamide and what the fuck is going on with Sidney in the first episode of Psychedelic Nightmare.

content warning: gun violence, torture, homophobia, racism, drugs 

Reach out to us with thoughts, comments, questions or collab requests!

Theme Song Title: Creepy Mood | Artist Name: Oleg Fedak

Support the show

From October to December 2025 we will be re-releasing our favorite series' - A Lethal Location and A Psychedelic Nightmare. They will only be available for a limited time, as starting January our minisodes and 2nd part onwards of our series' will be exclusively available for our wonderful patrons.

Thank you for listening to our passion project <3 You can find us on social media here! We're a team of 2 people & have always been ad-free. If you are enjoying, please consider supporting our sustainability on Patreon or through Buzzsprout.

- your grateful hosts

P.S. We're in the process of updating our intro and making edits to our episodes. You may notice inconsistencies as we do that!

Halloweekend is a state of mind... and with that we bring you EVEN more creepy stories as we delve deep into the dark, mysterious and unnerving world of sleep paralysis. Not unlike doppelgangers and mimics, sleep paralysis has been documented for hundreds of years, with communities across the globe having folklore associated with the strangely similar beings that people encounter in this liminal space. From the origins of the word nightmare to the fashion of the hat man -- in the second part of our Halloween special, we're covering the science, lore and stories behind a common but terrifying phenomenon. 

Happy Halloween from Unpacking the Eerie! 

Sources:

• https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/21974-sleep-paralysis
• https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18691361/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLTGu3Y404M
• https://neurolaunch.com/sleep-paralysis-out-of-body/
• https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/sleep-paralysis-names-around-the-world
• https://yokai.com/kanashibari/
• Documentary: Sleep Paralysis and the Phenomenon of the Shadow People
• Podcast: Monsters Among Us 
• Podcast: Sleep Paralysis News

Reach out to us with thoughts, comments, questions or collab requests!

Theme Song Title: Creepy Mood | Artist Name: Oleg Fedak

Support the show

From October to December 2025 we will be re-releasing our favorite series' - A Lethal Location and A Psychedelic Nightmare. They will only be available for a limited time, as starting January our minisodes and 2nd part onwards of our series' will be exclusively available for our wonderful patrons.

Thank you for listening to our passion project <3 You can find us on social media here! We're a team of 2 people & have always been ad-free. If you are enjoying, please consider supporting our sustainability on Patreon or through Buzzsprout.

- your grateful hosts

P.S. We're in the process of updating our intro and making edits to our episodes. You may notice inconsistencies as we do that!

doppelganger  ˈdɒp(ə)lˌɡaŋə "an apparition or double of a living person."

Throughout time, communities globally have documented eerily similar encounters with doubles of themselves and people they know. From Appalachian mountain folklore to doppleganger death premonition stories and glitch in the matrix theories - we're covering lore from all over the world that assert their own versions of dopplegangers, mimics and other creepy phenomena. 

Happy Halloween from Unpacking the Eerie! 

Sources for this episode

Learn more about our Ghosty Giver Beneficiary and related orgs here

Reach out to us with thoughts, comments, questions or collab requests!

Theme Song Title: Creepy Mood | Artist Name: Oleg Fedak

Support the show

From October to December 2025 we will be re-releasing our favorite series' - A Lethal Location and A Psychedelic Nightmare. They will only be available for a limited time, as starting January our minisodes and 2nd part onwards of our series' will be exclusively available for our wonderful patrons.

Thank you for listening to our passion project <3 You can find us on social media here! We're a team of 2 people & have always been ad-free. If you are enjoying, please consider supporting our sustainability on Patreon or through Buzzsprout.

- your grateful hosts

P.S. We're in the process of updating our intro and making edits to our episodes. You may notice inconsistencies as we do that!

It's been 5 years since we started Unpacking The Eerie! Man does time fly. In honor of this anniversary, and in honor of Halloween we're doing some re-releases. Hope you enjoy!

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Can you believe that there are multiple serial killers who stayed at the Hotel Cecil? We can’t, but somehow it’s true. Join us as we dig in to the life and crimes of Austrian serial-killer, author and narcissist, Johann “Jack” Unterweger.  In this episode, we explore the movie-like story of Jack and how he got away with murdering sex workers across multiple countries and continents. We will also dig in to misogyny, narcissistic personality disorder, sexual sadism and the pathologizing of BDSM and kink. This segment is part 3 of “A Lethal Location,” a short series we’re putting together highlighting the horrors that are somehow connected by the Cecil Hotel. 

Content warning: child abuse, domestic violence, sexual assault and rape, violence against sex workers

Click here for sources. 

Reach out to us with thoughts, comments, questions or collab requests!

Theme Song Title: Creepy Mood | Artist Name: Oleg Fedak

Support the show

From October to December 2025 we will be re-releasing our favorite series' - A Lethal Location and A Psychedelic Nightmare. They will only be available for a limited time, as starting January our minisodes and 2nd part onwards of our series' will be exclusively available for our wonderful patrons.

Thank you for listening to our passion project <3 You can find us on social media here! We're a team of 2 people & have always been ad-free. If you are enjoying, please consider supporting our sustainability on Patreon or through Buzzsprout.

- your grateful hosts

P.S. We're in the process of updating our intro and making edits to our episodes. You may notice inconsistencies as we do that!

It's been 5 years since we started Unpacking The Eerie! Man does time fly. In honor of this anniversary, and in honor of Halloween we're doing some re-releases. Hope you enjoy!

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TOPIC: Richard Ramirez, The Night Stalker - December 2020

Teleport to the mid-1980s with us as we cover serial killer, Ricardo “Richard” Ramirez a.k.a. The Night Stalker. In this episode, we take a look at the factors that shaped him, and the experiences of the people who survived him. We also touch on the death penalty, and explore the lasting impacts of trauma, & traumatic grief. This segment is part 2 of “A Lethal Location,” a short series we’re putting together highlighting the horrors that are somehow connected by the Cecil Hotel. Take a listen, and learn how it all ties together in A Cocktail for Disaster.

Content warning: graphic violence, sexual assault, domestic violence, substance abuse, child abuse, PTSD

SOURCES: 

Thanksgiving Sources:
Instagrams - @ndn.o , @lilnativeboy, @southrootsofla
https://native-land.ca

Documentaries:
LA Night Stalker | Was Richard Ramirez Born to Kill? - Real Crime

Podcasts:
Lights Out Podcast - 20: Richard Ramirez, Night Stalker 
What Makes a Killer - 4: Richard Ramirez 
Unpopular Culture Podcast - I’m in Love with a Serial Killer 

Articles & Media Sources can be found here. 

Reach out to us with thoughts, comments, questions or collab requests!

Theme Song Title: Creepy Mood | Artist Name: Oleg Fedak

Support the show

From October to December 2025 we will be re-releasing our favorite series' - A Lethal Location and A Psychedelic Nightmare. They will only be available for a limited time, as starting January our minisodes and 2nd part onwards of our series' will be exclusively available for our wonderful patrons.

Thank you for listening to our passion project <3 You can find us on social media here! We're a team of 2 people & have always been ad-free. If you are enjoying, please consider supporting our sustainability on Patreon or through Buzzsprout.

- your grateful hosts

P.S. We're in the process of updating our intro and making edits to our episodes. You may notice inconsistencies as we do that!

It's been 5 years since we started Unpacking The Eerie! Man does time fly. In honor of this anniversary, and in honor of Halloween we're doing some re-releases. Hope you enjoy!

---------------------------------

TOPIC: Cecil Hotel//Elisa Lam - October 2020

Join us as we begin to explore the Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles, CA and the mysterious death of Elisa Lam. This disturbing case was deemed an accident, but was it? Unpack the eerie with us this week as we dig into the life of Elisa Lam, the suspicious circumstances that surrounded her untimely death in February 2013 and the location where it took place: a site that has seen a shocking number of unnatural deaths since its grand opening in the 1920s.

This is the first episode in a series about the Cecil Hotel.

CW: ableism, suicide, sexual, physical and racial violence, mental illness

Sources:

Articles/Blogposts/Websites 

1. https://www.countryliving.com/life/travel/a45235/creepy-history-cecil-hotel-los-angeles/
2. https://allthatsinteresting.com/cecil-hotel-los-angeles
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecil_Hotel_(Los_Angeles)
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deaths_and_violence_at_the_Cecil_Hotel
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tongva (Learn more about indigenous LA  here)
6. http://www.laalmanac.com/history/hi06e.hp
7. https://www.lapl.org/collections-resources/blogs/lapl/chinese-massacre-1871
8. https://www.vice.com/en/article/yvezpv/hospitals-are-dumping-mentally-ill-patients-in-los-angeles-skid-row
9. https://www.cracked.com/personal-experiences-2587-6-morbid-facts-about-people-dying-in-hotel-rooms.html
10. https://medium.com/@jddean/the-se

Reach out to us with thoughts, comments, questions or collab requests!

Theme Song Title: Creepy Mood | Artist Name: Oleg Fedak

Support the show

From October to December 2025 we will be re-releasing our favorite series' - A Lethal Location and A Psychedelic Nightmare. They will only be available for a limited time, as starting January our minisodes and 2nd part onwards of our series' will be exclusively available for our wonderful patrons.

Thank you for listening to our passion project <3 You can find us on social media here! We're a team of 2 people & have always been ad-free. If you are enjoying, please consider supporting our sustainability on Patreon or through Buzzsprout.

- your grateful hosts

P.S. We're in the process of updating our intro and making edits to our episodes. You may notice inconsistencies as we do that!

TRUE CRIME: Jeffrey Dahmer Murders

Content warning: violence, sexual assault, murder, necrophilia, cannibalism, homophobia, racism

In part 2 of A Haunted Genetic Architecture, we pick back up after Jeffery Dahmer’s trial and subsequent death a few years post-imprisonment. We spend time spotlighting the lives of those he targeted and the devastating impact these murders had on surviving family members, loved ones and the community at large. We’ll go over the rise of homophobia that occurred after media coverage of this case as well as the grassroots activism that emerged in response. Finally, we’ll highlight some groups doing vital police accountability, queer liberation and Black liberation work in Milwaukee, WI, where these stories take place.  

Sources

Support the show

Reach out to us with thoughts, comments, questions or collab requests!

Theme Song Title: Creepy Mood | Artist Name: Oleg Fedak

Support the show

From October to December 2025 we will be re-releasing our favorite series' - A Lethal Location and A Psychedelic Nightmare. They will only be available for a limited time, as starting January our minisodes and 2nd part onwards of our series' will be exclusively available for our wonderful patrons.

Thank you for listening to our passion project <3 You can find us on social media here! We're a team of 2 people & have always been ad-free. If you are enjoying, please consider supporting our sustainability on Patreon or through Buzzsprout.

- your grateful hosts

P.S. We're in the process of updating our intro and making edits to our episodes. You may notice inconsistencies as we do that!

Send us a text

Laugh uncomfortably with us as we unpack the eerie! Here, we’ll explore true crime, the occult, conspiracy theories & other unknowns via dark humor, and a psychosocial/social justice lens. Each episode we’ll dig past the surface of morbid fascination, scavenging for unasked questions surrounding the stories that creep the hell out of us. Follow us on Instagram @unpackingtheeerie, Facebook at Facebook.com/unpackingtheeerie  and Twitter at twitter.com/unpacktheeerie

Support the show

Thank you for listening to our passion project <3 You can find us on social media here! We're a team of 2 people & have always been ad-free. If you are enjoying, please consider supporting our sustainability on Patreon or through Buzzsprout.

- your grateful hosts

P.S. We're in the process of updating our intro and making edits to our episodes. You may notice inconsistencies as we do that!

TRUE CRIME: Jeffrey Dahmer Murders

Content warning: sexual assault, ableism, murder, necrophilia, cannibalism, pedophilia, homophobia, racism, police violence/neglect.

We’re backkkk!!!!!! After a long hiatus caused by multiple huge life changes on both our ends, we bring you our first story recorded in two separate continents. It’s a heavy one - we’re covering the Jeffrey Dahmer murders. But as is always true with us, it’s less about the violence itself and more about the historical and social context these murders are situated in. You’ll learn about 1960/70s Queer Black history in MKE, including the ‘Stonewall’ of Milwaukee that happened 8 years before Stonewall. We unearth the brutality of police negligence and also do a deep dive framing Dahmer’s violence as a microcosm of European conquest and colonialism. (Stay tuned for Part 2, which will go deep on victim stories, the fall out of the murders on the community, and some amazing theses about the socio-political implications of this case we found while digging deep into this story).

Sources

Reach out to us with thoughts, comments, questions or collab requests!

Theme Song Title: Creepy Mood | Artist Name: Oleg Fedak

Support the show

From October to December 2025 we will be re-releasing our favorite series' - A Lethal Location and A Psychedelic Nightmare. They will only be available for a limited time, as starting January our minisodes and 2nd part onwards of our series' will be exclusively available for our wonderful patrons.

Thank you for listening to our passion project <3 You can find us on social media here! We're a team of 2 people & have always been ad-free. If you are enjoying, please consider supporting our sustainability on Patreon or through Buzzsprout.

- your grateful hosts

P.S. We're in the process of updating our intro and making edits to our episodes. You may notice inconsistencies as we do that!