We Would Be Dead

Did the Netflix series Stranger Things take over your life this holiday season? Do you like conspiracy theories, government secrets, magic and monsters? Have you ever wondered how much the United States Government would pay for a psychic division? Then boy do we have a good news for you! This episode is the second in a series of the true, and not true stories that inspired the world of Stranger Things. 

In this episode we'll cover:

Project Stargate and The Men Who Stare at Goats

FYI: If you didn't watch the show, don't worry. The stories we are going to explore in this series exist on their own, you don't need to have seen the show to understand or appreciate them. We just love a theme! If you are curious though, any images we think may be relevant, or are interesting points of comparison, will be included in the corresponding week's photo suite. 

Click to learn more (sources)

https://www.aclu.org/issues/immigrants-rights

https://www.standwithminnesota.com/

https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP96-00789R002800180001-2.pdf

https://lifeoutofbounds.com/2015/06/01/jim-channon-intergalactic-shaman/

https://www.reddit.com/r/RBI/comments/1hvio2n/gate_the_nefarious_gifted_and_talented_programme/

https://www.casemine.com/judgement/us/5e1ede584653d00964acbb49

Episode Credits:

Hosts/writers: Holly Knapp and Leslie Weidel

Editor/Composer/Producer: Jon Katity

Buy your WWBD swag here! 

Did the Netflix series Stranger Things take over your life this holiday season? Do you like conspiracy theories, government secrets, magic and monsters? Have you ever wondered what it would be like to hear Holly struggle to explain quantum physics? Then boy do we have a good news for you! This episode is the first in a series of the true, and not true stories that inspired the world of Stranger Things. 

In this episode we'll cover:

The Montauk Monster, Camp Hero, The Philadelphia Experiment/ Project Rainbow, The Montauk Project, and Nina Kulagina the Russian Woman with telekinetic powers.

FYI: If you didn't watch the show, don't worry. The stories we are going to explore in this series exist on their own, you don't need to have seen the show to understand or appreciate them. We just love a theme! If you are curious though, any images we think may be relevant, or are interesting points of comparison, will be included in the corresponding week's photo suite. 

Click to learn more (sources)

https://www.cnn.com/2008/US/07/29/montauk.monster/

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/montauk-monster-dead-racco_b_116550

https://nypost.com/2008/07/29/montauk-monster/

https://www.livescience.com/2772-montauk-monster-likely-raccoon.html

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/what-happens-when-a-body-decomposes-in-water-180963994/

https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2013/06/06/history-plum-island-animal-disease-center

https://parks.ny.gov/parks/fortterry/details.aspx

https://www.usace.army.mil/About/History/HistoricalVignettes/Fort-Terry/

https://www.archives.gov/research/foreign-policy/related-records/paperclip

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/operation-paperclip-167222690/

https://www.gsa.gov/real-estate/gsa-properties/plum-island

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nina_Kulagina

https://www.cia.gov/readingroom

https://web.randi.org

https://archive.org/details/archive-search-report-camp-hero-2000/page/n75/mode/2up

https://www.flickr.com/photos/sparetimeradio/2587438677

https://roadtrippers.com/magazine/camp-hero-montauk-conspiracy-theories/

https://www.nae.usace.army.mil/Missions/Projects-Topics/Camp-Hero-FUDS-Montauk-New-York/

https://patch.com/new-york/easthampton/bp--the-story-of-camp-hero-in-montauk

https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/p/philadelphia-experiment.html

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7984451/

https://www.amazon.com/Montauk-Project-Experiments-Time-ebook/dp/B004OEKH5Q

Episode Credits:

Hosts/writers: Holly Knapp and Leslie Weidel

Editor/Composer/Producer: Jon Katity

Buy your WWBD swag here! 

In late July 2023 Erin Patterson invited her former in-laws to lunch at her home in Leongatha, Australia. This gesture of hospitality was framed as a chance for them all to reconnect. Instead, it became the center of a case that shocked the world. Over night all 4 lunch guests became desperately ill. Rumors began to fly immediately, and investigators began piecing together a chain of events that no one in this small community could have imagined. 

In this installment we will examine how this horrible event was able to occur and what lead up to it. 

Click to learn more (sources)

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-28/erin-patterson-mushroom-murder-trial-wednesday-may-28/105348612

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/subscribe/news/1/?sourceCode=TAWEB_WRE170_a_GGL&dest=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theaustralian.com.au%2Fnation%2Ferin-patterson-trial-death-cap-mushrooms-seen-near-accuseds-home-months-before-fatal-lunch%2Fnews-story%2Fb9a4b965adbe1070edcf03b430484abc&memtype=anonymous&mode=premium&v21=GROUPA-Segment-2-NOSCORE&V21spcbehaviour=append

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08-08/erin-patterson-mushroom-murder-trial-jury-evidence/105476940

https://www.9news.com.au/national/erin-patterson-guilty-the-timeline-of-events-that-led-to-the-verdicts/8af7134e-ea24-41e2-a55c-46d114949195

https://www.nbcnews.com/world/australia/australia-mushroom-murderer-left-half-alive-lone-surviving-victim-says-rcna226920

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c74zwevy181o

https://www.sgst.com.au/news/timeline-of-erin-pattersons-mushroom-murders

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jul/07/erin-patterson-hospital-visit-beef-wellingtons-mushroom-exhibits-revealed-ntwnfb

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g8zr16y21o

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-06/erin-patterson-mushroom-murder-trial-evidence-timeline/105245152

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce82lj7g1g7o

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0m8glx2zleo

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/may/28/erin-patterson-computer-text-messages-mushroom-lunch-trial-australia-ntwnfb

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09-08/mushroom-murder-erin-patterson-legacy-analysis/105745284?fbclid=IwY2xjawOIi_VleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyCGNhbGxzaXRlAjMwAAEe9mUhuPckO6bqE0lX5CHydZajfAcGS0emygIXlUEj-mt_T8EXhBsQEtEnNIc_aem_hIds4nARmeVO7kJnq5fBLQ

Episode Credits:

Hosts/writers: Holly Knapp and Leslie Weidel

Editor/Composer/Producer: Jon Katity

Buy your WWBD swag here! 

Happy Thanksgiving Fiends! We took a little break this week to enjoy family and get ready for the Christmas season but we didn't want to leave you hanging entirely! Next week we will be back with part 2 of the Mushroom Murders saga, but for today we are rebroadcasting our episode on Joel Michael Guy, Jr. One of our fiends posted about this becoming their unintentional yearly thanksgiving re-listen, so we thought we would all get onboard. 

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For most of us, our childhood home is a sacred place; it holds our memories, our daydreams, our secrets. It's a place where we learned and grew and discovered who we were. Your childhood home should radiate safety especially, around the holidays. It should be a place that appears in your dreams and photographs for the rest of your life. It should never be the scene of your worst nightmare come to life. That is, unfortunately, exactly what the Guy family of Knoxville, Tennessee, had to face. Just after spending a wonderful thanksgiving together, Joel and Lisa were brutally murdered in their home. 

On Monday November 28th, 2016, The Knox County sheriff's department was called in to do a wellness check on 55 year old Lisa Guy and her husband Joel, but what they found has gone down in history as one of the worst crime scenes imaginable. The officer's who found Joel and Lisa could only describe it as "A diabolical stew of human remains". What kind of monster could do this you might ask? Only one who was very close to home, a monster that one could say, hid under the bed... A monster that Joel and Lisa spent 28 years caring for... their son.

Helpful hints for holiday family stress

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In late July 2023 Erin Patterson invited her former in-laws to lunch at her home in Leongatha, Australia. This gesture of hospitality was framed as a chance for them all to reconnect. Instead, it became the center of a case that shocked the world. Over night all 4 lunch guests became desperately ill. Rumors began to fly immediately, and investigators began piecing together a chain of events that no one in this small community could have imagined. 

In part one we'll examine the "who", "what" and "where" of this case, but you'll have to wait until part 2 for the "how" and "why"!

Click to learn more (sources)

All sources will be provided in the show notes for Part 2 of this case. We don't want to give anything away!

Episode Credits:

Hosts/writers: Holly Knapp and Leslie Weidel

Editor/Composer/Producer: Jon Katity

Buy your WWBD swag here! 

When the darkness reaches its Zenith

And the moon floats high and white

When the spirits scream

And knife blades gleam

It’s….

Shortly After Midnight

Hello fiends, and welcome to the darkest time of day. 

In this week's original story, we bring you, Engulfed, a dark, slow-burn story about a glance that turns into an obsession. What starts as a spark of connection becomes something dangerous, something that smolders beneath the surface until it can't be contained. Desire, loneliness, and fire. They all have one thing in common: once they start they're hard to control. 

Engulfed is a We Would Be Dead Production, written by Leslie Weidel and read by Jon Katity.  Sound and score by Jon Katity, and sparkling prologue / epilogue commentary by cohosts Holly Knapp and Leslie Weidel.

Buy your WWBD swag here! 

Happy Halloween Fiends! Join us for a deep dive into the world of Victor Frankenstein, his monstrous creations, and all the tortured poets and mad scientists who inspired OG goth girl Mary Shelley to write this torrid tale.

Click to learn more (sources)

https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/history-quirky-science-science-science-everywhere/professor-aldinis-strange-antics

https://www.grahamhenderson.ca/percy-bysshe-shelley-blog/shelleys-mighty-heart

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Luigi-Galvani

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alessandro-Volta

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/things-to-do-gernsheim-frankenstein-castle

Buy your WWBD swag here! 

When the darkness reaches its Zenith

And the moon floats high and white

When the spirits scream

And knife blades gleam

It’s….

Shortly After Midnight

Hello fiends, and welcome to the darkest time of day. 

This week's original story, Polly Pocket, is a spellbinding blend of nostalgia and nightmares told through the eyes of the scariest creatures known to man, Middle school girls. Set In the not so distant past, this terrifying tale takes us on a trip to a charming little hideaway deep in the woods, filled with dappled sunlight, singing birds and terrifying secrets.

Polly Pocket is a We Would Be Dead Production, written and read by Holly Knapp, with sound and score by Jon Katity, and sparkling prologue / epilogue commentary by cohosts Holly Knapp and Leslie Weidel.

Buy your WWBD swag here! 

REPOST: Due to the sensational new season of the Netflix show "Monster", Ed Gein has been everywhere lately.  Monster: The Ed Gein Story promises an accurate retelling of the life this deeply troubled man, but instead delivers a considerable amount of inaccuracies and copious amounts of downright fabricated information. Ever the truth enthusiasts,  upon hearing this, we decided to share our coverage of what Holly considers to be the most interesting person we've ever explored. We would argue that the word "monster" is actually not appropriate in this case. Perhaps after listening, or re-listening you'll think so too! Either way, hop on over to our social media to let us know your thoughts.   

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On the morning of November 16th, 1957, Waushara County Wisconsin police officers responded to the report of missing local hardware store owner, Bernice Worden. Berince lived and worked in the nearby village of Plainfield. The investigation that followed lead authorities to an old farm on the outskirts of town. They were in search of a local man who had been the last reported customer Bernice served before the hardware store went mysteriously dark for the rest of the day. What the police would soon discover in that house however, would put sleepy Plainfield on the map, and change the face of horror movies forever.  

This episode takes a look at the deeply twisted story of Ed Gein, a quiet and unassuming man who did things beyond the realms of most human imaginations. Hang on to your hats this week fiends, because things get graphic!

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Lets get October started with re-listen to episode 130... We will be back next week with a Shortly After Midnight, followed by some terrifying tales perfect for this Halloween season!

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Charlie Brandt was a quiet man, a loving husband and a good friend. All in all Charlie was what you might call normal. His sudden death however, was anything but. In the process of investigating what appeared to be a gruesome murder suicide, law enforcement discovers a horrifying secret that Charlie and his family kept buried for decades.

CBS news Deadly Obsession

Angela's Police Interview

ATI Charlie Brandt

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