Unpleasant Dreams

Cassandra narrates the Edgar Allan Poe classic, The Fall of the House of Usher. This episode is part one. Tune in next week for part two! Cassandra Harold is your narrator. You can find The Fall of the House of Usher at Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/932 "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe, originally published 1839 and is in the Public Domain. Follow Cassandra’s new Instagram here: https://instagram.com/unpleasant_dreams_podcast Thanks for listening and please share the show with your friends! And…may all your dreams be pleasant! -- Jim Harold Media LLC respects writers' intellectual property. All fictional stories on Unpleasant Dreams are in the U.S. public domain, published before 1928. For more on public domain and copyright, visit the Cornell University Library's guide on public domain: https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A man experiences the “strangest day of his life” and we are witnesses to this tale worthy of The Twilight Zone. The heat can do strange things… August Heat was written by W. F. Harvey in 1910. You can find the text at Project Gutenberg Australia here: http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0605761.txt "August Heat" by W.F. Harvey, originally published 1910 and is in the Public Domain. Cassandra Harold is your narrator. Follow Cassandra’s new Instagram here: https://instagram.com/unpleasant_dreams_podcast Thanks for listening and please share the show with your friends! And…may all your dreams be pleasant! -- Jim Harold Media LLC respects writers' intellectual property. All fictional stories on Unpleasant Dreams are in the U.S. public domain, published before 1928. For more on public domain and copyright, visit the Cornell University Library's guide on public domain: https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An American couple comes to England hoping to find a haunted manor. Did they find it? Listen to the conclusion of this spine tingling tale to find out! Written by Edith Wharton in 1910. Source: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/306/306-h/306-h.htm "Afterward" by Edith Wharton, originally published 1910 and is in the Public Domain. Cassandra Harold is your narrator. Follow Cassandra's new Instagram here: https://instagram.com/unpleasant_dreams_podcast Thanks for listening and please share the show with your friends! And, may all your dreams be pleasant! -- Jim Harold Media LLC respects writers' intellectual property. All fictional stories on Unpleasant Dreams are in the U.S. public domain, published before 1928. For more on public domain and copyright, visit the Cornell University Library's guide on public domain: https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An American couple comes to England hoping to find a haunted manor. Did they find it? Listen to this episode of Unpleasant Dreams to find out! Part One. "Afterward" by Edith Wharton, originally published 1910 and is in the Public Domain. Cassandra Harold is your narrator. Follow Cassandra’s new Instagram here: https://instagram.com/unpleasant_dreams_podcast Thanks for listening and please share the show with your friends! And...may all your dreams be pleasant! -- Jim Harold Media LLC respects writers' intellectual property. All fictional stories on Unpleasant Dreams are in the U.S. public domain, published before 1928. For more on public domain and copyright, visit the Cornell University Library's guide on public domain: https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A terrifying tale of the sea is the subject of one of HPL's early tales, Dagon. Cassandra Harold narrates. You can find the text here: https://www.steve-calvert.co.uk/public-domain-texts/h-p-lovecraft-dagon.html "Dagon" by H.P. Lovecraft, originally published 1919 and is in the Public Domain. Follow Cassandra's new Instagram here: https://instagram.com/unpleasant_dreams_podcast Thanks for listening and please share the show with your friends! -- Jim Harold Media LLC respects writers' intellectual property. All fictional stories on Unpleasant Dreams are in the U.S. public domain, published before 1928. For more on public domain and copyright, visit the Cornell University Library's guide on public domain: https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For Season 3, Unpleasant Dreams is back with a new format! Cassandra is now turning her attention to classic spooky stories! This week she shares the cautionary and terrifying tale of The Monkey's Paw by W.W. Jacobs. Be careful what you wish for! You can find The Monkey's Paw at Project Gutenberg here: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12122 "The Monkey’s Paw" by W.W. Jacobs, originally published 1902 and is in the Public Domain. Thanks for listening and please share the show with your friends! -- Jim Harold Media LLC respects writers' intellectual property. All fictional stories on Unpleasant Dreams are in the U.S. public domain, published before 1928. For more on public domain and copyright, visit the Cornell University Library's guide on public domain: https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A real-life series of deaths of young Hmong men inspired Wes Craven to create Nightmare On Elm Street. We tell this tragic story on this week's Unpleasant Dreams. EM Hilker is our writer and researcher with additional writing by Cassandra Harold. Jim Harold is our Executive Producer. Find the original article by EM Hilker HERE. SOURCES “Brugada Syndrome.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 5 May 2022. Retrieved 4 August 2022. “Hmong.” International Institute of Minnesota, 17 January 2017. Retrieved 28 July 2022. Kruse, Colton. “Dying in Your Dreams: Freddy Krueger Syndrome Is Real.” Ripley’s Believe It or Not!, 21 July 2017. Retrieved 27 July 2022. Madrigal, Alexis C. “The Dark Side of the Placebo Effect: When Intense Belief Kills.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 14 September 2011. Retrieved 28 July 2022. McCann, Erin. “Freddy Krueger Is Loosely Based on the Disturbing True Tale of 18 People Inexplicably Dying in Their Sleep.” Ranker, 14 June, 2019. Retrieved 27 July 2022. Morgan, Thaddeus. “How a Terrifying Wave of Unexplained Deaths Led to ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 30 October 2018. Retrieved 27 July 2022. Stromberg, Joseph. “What Is the Nocebo Effect?” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 23 July 2012. Retrieved 6 August 2022. Sugg, Richard. The Real Vampires: Death, Terror, and the Supernatural. Amberley Publishing, 2019. Tofield, Andros. “Pedro Brugada MD: The Spanish Cardiologist Who Together with His Brother Josep Brugada, First Described the Brugada Syndrome.” OUP Academic, Oxford University Press, 7 March 2020. Retrieved 5 August 2022. Vatta, Matteo, et al. “Genetic and Biophysical Basis of Sudden Unexplained Nocturnal Death Syndrome (SUNDS), a Disease Allelic to Brugada Syndrome.” OUP Academic, Oxford Academic, 1 February 2002. Retrieved 27 July 2022. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe as read by your host, Cassandra Harold. "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe, originally published 1845 and is in the Public Domain. Our little Halloween gift to you from Unpleasant Dreams. Boo! -- Jim Harold Media LLC respects writers' intellectual property. All fictional stories on Unpleasant Dreams are in the U.S. public domain, published before 1928. For more on public domain and copyright, visit the Cornell University Library's guide on public domain: https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The mysterious disappearance of a group of nine Soviet hikers in 1959 has puzzled the world for decades. What happened? Was it simply horrible weather? A secret weapons test? Or, something otherworldly? That is the subject of this very Unpleasant Dream. EM Hilker is our writer and researcher with additional writing by Cassandra Harold. Jim Harold is our Executive Producer. CLICK HERE for EM Hilker’s original article. SOURCES Borzenkov, Vladimir. “Trek Categories and Sports Ranks.” Dyatlov Pass. Retrieved 17 August 2022. Eichar, Donnie. Dead Mountain: the Untold Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident. Chronicle Books, 2013. Hadjiyska, Teodora, and Igor Pavlov. “Dyatlov Group.” Dyatlov Pass. Retrieved 17 August 2022. Gaume, Johan, and Alexander M. Puzrin. “Mechanisms of Slab Avalanche Release and Impact in the Dyatlov Pass Incident in 1959.” Nature News, Nature Publishing Group, 28 January 2021. Retrieved 17 August 2022. “Nikita Khrushchev.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 9 November 2009. Retrieved 15 August 2022. Niziol, Tom. “Whirls, Curls, and Little Swirls: The Science Behind Von Karman Vortices.” Weather Underground. Retrieved 18 August 2022. Osadchuk, Svetlana. “Mysterious Deaths of 9 Skiers Still Unresolved.” The St. Petersburg Times, 19 February 2008. Retrieved 10 August 2022. Solly, Meilan. “Have Scientists Finally Unraveled the 60-Year Mystery Surrounding Nine Russian Hikers’ Deaths?” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 29 January 2021. Retrieved 17 August 2022. Speltz, Lorin. “Salo.” Russiapedia. Retrieved 17 August 2022. Wedin, B, et al. “‘Paradoxical Undressing’ in Fatal Hypothermia.” Journal of Forensic Sciences, U.S. National Library of Medicine, July 1979. Retrieved 18 August 2022. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A seemingly idyllic Ohio town becomes the setting for one of the most mysterious cases of the 20th Century. Sinister letters are sent for years, a life is lost, while others are ruined and the whole matter remains a puzzle to this very day. EM Hilker is our writer and researcher with additional writing by Cassandra Harold. Jim Harold is our Executive Producer. CLICK HERE for EM Hilker’s original article. TRANSCRIPT CLICK HERE for a full transcript and sources Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Did shooting a 1956 movie in the irradiated Utah desert eventually kill John Wayne and a host of his co-stars and crew? It seems very possible and that is the just the start of tragedy on this week’s edition of Unpleasant Dreams. -BetterHelp- The Paranormal Podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. BetterHelp is professional therapy done securely online, available to people worldwide. They have a special offer for my listeners: get 10% off your first month at BetterHelp.com/dreams EM Hilker is our writer and researcher with additional writing by Cassandra Harold. Jim Harold is our Executive Producer. CLICK HERE for EM Hilker’s original article. -TRANSCRIPT- CLICK HERE for a full transcript. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Houdini was the greatest magician in history…few realize that one of his best friends was the creator of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle! They quickly bonded over their interest in Spiritualism but that was only the beginning of the story… -BetterHelp- The Paranormal Podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. BetterHelp is professional therapy done securely online, available to people worldwide. They have a special offer for my listeners: get 10% off your first month at BetterHelp.com/dreams EM Hilker is our writer and researcher with additional writing by Cassandra Harold. Jim Harold is our Executive Producer. TRANSCRIPT & SOURCES CLICK HERE for a full transcript and source list. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Numbers stations are real and very weird. What are these and what are the successors to these bizarre transmissions? We delve into the mystery in this edition of Unpleasant Dreams. CLICK HERE for E.M. Hilker’s original article. TRANSCRIPT CLICK HERE for a full transcript. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Granite columns in the middle of rural Georgia were placed in 1980 containing strange guidance for future generations. Who put them there and why? That is the subject of this week's Unpleasant Dreams. CLICK HERE for E.M. Hilker's original article. Show Art Photo Credit: Quentin Melson via Wikipedia -TRANSCRIPT- CLICK HERE for a full transcript Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This UK poltergeist case is possibly the most famous in history, inspiring many books and the motion picture, The Conjuring 2. It is the subject of tonight’s edition of Unpleasant Dreams! Primary writing is by EM Hilker with supplementary writing by Cassandra Harold. Cassandra Harold hosts and Jim Harold is the Executive Producer. -TRANSCRIPT- CLICK HERE for a full transcript. CLICK HERE for the original article by EM Hilker -SOURCES- Brennan, Zoe. “Enfield Poltergeist: The Amazing Story of the 11-Year-Old North London Girl Who ‘Levitated’ above Her Bed.” Daily Mail Online, Associated Newspapers, 4 May 2015. Retrieved 3 June 2022. “Brimsdown.” Hidden London. Retrieved 3 June 2022. “The Enfield Poltergeist: Living The Horror.” YouTube, New Line Cinema, 2016. Accessed 4 June 2022. Guglielmi, Jodi. “Inside the Real Story That Inspired The Conjuring 2.” People.com, updated 13 May 2022. Retrieved 23 May, 2022. Hyde, Deborah. “The Enfield ‘Poltergeist’: A Sceptic Speaks.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 1 May 2015. Retrieved 3 June 2022. “Interview With a Poltergeist.” YouTube, Channel 4, 2007. Posted April 2015. Accessed 4 June 2022. Playfair, Guy Lyon. This House is Haunted: The Amazing Inside Story of the Enfield Poltergeist. White Crow Books, 2011. “Poltergeist.” New World Encyclopedia, 10 May 2009. Retrieved 4 June 2022. Smith, Duncan. “Enfield Poltergeist Case Offers New Proof of Paranormal Existence.” Enfield Independent, 31 August 2010. Retrieved 3 June 2022, Ward, Diarmaid. “Ten Myths about Council Housing.” City Monitor, 26 April 2022. Retrieved 3 June 2022. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The death car of James Dean, Little Bastard, is said to have brought doom to many who crossed its path. Today, we explore the legend of The Curse of Little Bastard on Unpleasant Dreams! TRANSCRIPT CLICK HERE for the transcript and original article -SOURCES- Beath, Warren Newton. The Death of James Dean. Grove Press, 1986. Berg, Nik. “The Curse of James Dean’s ‘Little Bastard’ Porsche 550 Spyder.” Hagerty UK, 14 December 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2022. Coombs, Cathy. “The Unexpected and Early Death of Promising Actor James Dean.” Medium, Medium, 10 February 2022. Retrieved 1 March 2022. “Famous Cursed & Haunted Cars: Most Famous Spooky Cars.” Famous Cursed & Haunted Cars | Most Famous Spooky Cars. Retrieved 1 March 2022. Fitzgerald, Craig. “Cursed Cars: James Dean’s Haunted ‘Little Bastard’ Porsche 550.” BestRide, 29 October 2019. Retrieved 1 March 2022. Hintz, Charlie. “Little Bastard: The Disappearance of James Dean’s Cursed Car.” Cult of Weird, 26 September 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2022. “James Dean Unpublished Crash Site Photograph’s Up for Auction.” Old Cars Weekly, Old Cars Weekly, 8 August 2019. Retrieved 1 March 2022. JP. “‘Little Bastard’: the Silver Spyder Porsche/Dean Mystery Revisited.” The Selvedge Yard, 5 December 2014. Retrieved 1 March 2022. Lerner, Preston. “What Really Happened to James Dean’s ‘Cursed’ Porsche.” CMG Worldwide. Retrieved 1 March 2022. Parker, Ryan. “Alec Guinness Warned James Dean About His Car One Week Before Deadly Crash.” The Hollywood Reporter, The Hollywood Reporter, 11 July 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2022. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The sad tale of the Donner Party is one of the most grisly in American history. So much tragedy on this edition of Unpleasant Dreams. ARTICLE Find the original article by EM Hilker HERE Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We explore the terrifying and fascinating phenomena of Spontaneous Human Combustion on this edition of Unpleasant Dreams. JIM’S SPRING BOOK GIVEAWAY& NEWSLETTER Never miss anything going on at the Spooky Studio and qualify for Jim’s Spring Book Giveaway (some restrictions apply), sign up for Jim’s FREE newsletter HERE ARTICLE Find the original article by EM Hilker HERE TRANSCRIPT CLICK HERE for a full transcript Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Betty and Barney Hill UFO abduction case is the perhaps the most famous in the history of the phenomena. We share their story on this edition of Unpleasant Dreams. JIM HAROLD’S SPRING BOOK GIVEAWAY & NEWSLETTER Never miss anything going on at the Spooky Studio and qualify for Jim’s Spring Book Giveaway (some restrictions apply), sign up for Jim’s FREE newsletter HERE ORIGINAL ARTICLE CLICK HERE for the original article by EM Hilker TRANSCRIPT CLICK HERE for the full transcript. SOURCES AND FURTHER READING Dickinson, Terence, et al. “The Zeta Reticuli (or Ridiculi) Incident.” Astronomy.com. Retrieved 8 February 2022. Fox, Margalit. “Betty Hill, 85, Figure in Alien Abduction Case, Dies.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 23 Oct. 2004. Retrieved 8 February 2022. Lacina, Linda. “How Betty and Barney Hill’s Alien Abduction Story Defined the Genre.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 4 September 2018. Retrieved 8 February 2022. Marden, Kathleen and Stanton T. Friedman. Captured! The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience. Weiser, 2007. Pflock, Karl and Peter Brookesmith, eds. Encounters at Indian Head: The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Abduction Revisited. Anomalist Books, 2007. Robinson, J. Dennis. “Historic Portsmouth: Simon Says ‘It Was a Dream’.” Seacoastonline.com, Portsmouth Herald, 28 May 2020. Retrieved 14 February 2022. Skomorowsky, Anne. “Alien Abduction or ‘Accidental Awareness’?” Scientific American, Scientific American, 11 November 2014. Retrieved 19 February 2022. Todd, Iain. “Zeta Reticuli: Facts About the Binary Star System.” BBC Sky at Night Magazine, 18 May 2021. Retrieved 19 February 2022. “UNH Innovation Spotlight – Betty and Barney Hill Collection.” UNHInnovation, 20 October 2021. Retrieved 8 February 2022 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Did a murdered woman serve justice to her murderer from beyond the grave? It appears so and that is the subject of the Season Two premiere of Unpleasant Dreams! TRANSCRIPT CLICK HERE for a full transcript Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Season Two of Unpleasant Dreams is coming soon in April. Thank you for your kind words and support. Please keep following, subscribing and telling your friends about the show...have them listen to the archive! Wishing you pleasant dreams! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The mysterious Chupacabra is the subject of this week’s Unpleasant Dreams! Find the original article by EM Hilker that this podcast is based on HERE PODCAST TRANSCRIPT It often happens as the dusk settles itself gently over the lush rainforest. You might think farm animals, confined to pens or herded by human and canine protectors, wouldn’t have a sense of their own vulnerability or the existence of predators. But somewhere, deep down in their basest primal instincts that reach back to the dawn of time, they must have known it was coming. Even before the whiff of the rank animal in the cool evening air hits them, they have to have known. It was fast, though, and that was a blessing. It didn’t toy with them, or drag it out. It was fast. The unlucky ones watched it happen to another animal first, smelled the creature and the blood and knew deep down it was bad, and they were next; the lucky ones never saw the chupacabra. The humans who cared for the animals would never forget what it left behind. FIND THE REST OF THE TRANSCRIPT & SOURCES HERE Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Spooky (Christmas) ghost stories are the subject of this week’s Unpleasant Dreams. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year! Find the original article by EM Hilker that this podcast is based on HERE PODCAST TRANSCRIPT Yuletide is a season of warmth and joy, at least according to Hallmark. There you sit by the fireside, sipping hot chocolate, bathed in the warm glow of the lighted tree, the flickering lights from the menorah or yule log, filled with contentment. But outside (at least in the Northern parts of the globe) the bone-bare branches claw at your window as the cold, dry wind blows snow in small spirals, lifting the ethereal sparkling flakes back into the black sky. On the nights that they’re visible, the stars shine like a careless scattering of diamonds in the darkness, seemingly so close you could pluck them out of the sky. It’s bitterly cold, and very still; and it is perhaps in that stillness that you begin to feel just a little bit uneasy. Let’s face it... FOR A FULL TRANSCRIPT AND SOURCES CLICK HERE Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The real story of Krampus is the subject of today’s holiday edition of Unpleasant Dreams! Oh, and be sure to be good. You wouldn’t want to upset The Krampus… Find the original article by EM Hilker that this podcast is based on HERE PODCAST TRANSCRIPT A fresh blanket of snow glistens in the cold light of the moon, a contrast to the warm glow of street lamps, wrapping the city streets in the cozy blanket of early winter. Twinkling across the surrounding fields in the night, mirroring the light of the moon in a million broken rays, the landscape is nevertheless stark beyond the forests surrounding the city. The creatures come from there, beyond the city, thickly furred and sharply clawed, from dank caves and deep, dark, ancient places. Some have feet and some have cloven hooves, some one of each; the thick layer of snow softly crunching under feet and hooves both in a smudge of sound as they scatter across the landscape and toward the small, neat houses. Their faces, pallid and gnarled and very nearly demonic, turn from moon-silver to a pale bronze as they approach the warmly-lit city streets, chains and bells clinking gently as they draw near. CLICK HERE FOR A FULL TRANSCRIPT AND SOURCES Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A beast that terrorized the French countryside is one of history’s greatest mysteries. The Beast of Gévaudan is the subject of this episode of Unpleasant Dreams. PODCAST TRANSCRIPT Apprehensive they went, clasping each other tightly, into the night. It was so, so quiet outside of the footsteps of their papa, clomping along hurriedly, unsteadily ahead. The unnatural still of the night seeped into all three children’s blood, making them shiver as the moon poured silver upon them. They didn’t need to go out to look for her. They knew. The Beast had butchered someone in the village not even two days ago. And now, tonight, maman hadn’t come home with the flock. Papa, now far up ahead, let out a strangled cry, indecipherable. It was followed by the sound of vomiting. They ran to their father and tried not to look at whatever was up ahead of them, but they looked. They quickly buried their small, tear-streaked faces against their papa’s generous, sturdy body. But they saw, and it would be years before they would be able to close their eyes without seeing it again. Their maman’s body lay ahead of them, twisted and mauled. Where they expected to see maman’s sweet face and her tumbling waves of reddish hair, there was only a dark smear. It took her head. The youngest, huddled behind papa, widened her eyes in wonder and whispered, “loup garou.” FOR THE REST OF THE TRANSCRIPT AND SOURCES GO HERE Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Part two of our program on The Sheppard Murder case which spawned the American “Trial of The Century” before OJ. A physician is suspected of murdering his wife in a quiet, affluent 1950s Midwestern bedroom community. Did Sam Sheppard kill Marilyn Sheppard? That is the topic of this week’s edition of Unpleasant Dreams. --- Cassandra Harold is your host. EM Hilker is our principal writer and researcher with additional writing by Cassandra Harold. Jim Harold is our Executive Producer. Unpleasant Dreams is a production of Jim Harold Media. A copy of EM Hilker’s original article can be found HERE -PODCAST TRANSCRIPT- Perhaps the most thorough and well-balanced of the Sheppard trials was the one held long, long after Marilyn Reese Sheppard’s death. In the first installment of this saga, we discussed the first trial of her husband and accused killer, Sam, some of the questionable decisions made by the trial judge, and the media circus that surrounded it; we also explored briefly his retrial in the 1960s where the evidence intended to prove Sam’s motive was kept from the jury and where the science of the time, much of which has been debunked over the roughly 40 years since the retrial, favoured Sam’s innocence. This was the opportunity, in many ways, to finally reach the truth; a sequestered jury untainted by a riotous media, the benefits of the 50 years of advancement in both biological and behavioral sciences , and all the evidence on the table, At last, the chance to accurately assess whether or not Sam H. Sheppard murdered his wife. FOR THE REST OF THE TRANSCRIPT CLICK HERE – FURTHER READING AND SOURCES – Affleck, John. “Bailey Testifies in Sheppard Case.” AP NEWS, Associated Press, 16 Feb. 2000. Retrieved 9 October 2021. “AMSEC 04 — Richard Eberling Background Investigation.” EngagedScholarship@CSU, 9 Mar. 1995. Retrieved 9 October 2021. “Blood 5: Transfer Bloodstains – Crime Scene.” Google Sites. Retrieved 9 October 2021. Butterfield, Fox. “New Clues in an Old Murder Case.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 5 Feb. 1997. Retrieved 9 October 2021. DeSario, Jack and William D. Mason. Dr. Sam Sheppard on Trial. Kent State University Press, 2003. “Did Ancient Teeth Decay?” ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), 28 May 2008. Retrieved 9 October 2021. Drenkhan, Patrolman Fred. “Statement given to BVPD by Esther Houk.” EngagedScholarship@CSU. Retrieved 9 October 2021. “Fetus DNA Tests Inconclusive in ‘The Fugitive’ Murder Case.” Deseret News, Deseret News, 18 Jan. 2000. Retrieved 9 October 2021. Finn, Peter. “Loudoun Firm Made Sam Sheppard Case Its Own.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 9 Feb. 1997. Retrieved 9 October 2021. “Forensic Anthropology.” Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 9 October 2021. Gilbert, Terry H., and George H. Carr. “Motion in Limine to Limit Testimony of Dr. Roger Marsters.” EngagedScholarship@CSU, 13 Mar. 2000. Retrieved 9 October 2021. Linder, Douglas O. “Sam Sheppard.” Famous Trials, UMKC School of Law. Retrieved 9 October 2021. Neff, James. The Wrong Man: The Final Verdict on the Dr. Sam Sheppard Murder Case. Open Road Media: 2015. “Richard Eberling Dies; Inmate Denied Killing Wife of Sam Sheppard.” The Buffalo News, 27 July 1998. Retrieved 9 October 2021. Simon, Scott. “Son of the ‘Fugitive’ Defends His Father.” NPR, NPR, 12 Sept. 2009. Retrieved 9 October 2021. “Testimony Reveals That Sheppard Sought Out-of-Court Settlement.” CNN, Cable News Network, February 23, 2000. Retrieved 9 October 2021. Wendling, Mike. “Marilyn Sheppard Body to Be Exhumed.” AP NEWS, Associated Press, 20 Aug. 1999. Retrieved 9 October 2021. “William D. Mason.” Academic Dictionaries and Encyclopedias. Retrieved 9 October 2021. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Sheppard Murder case spawned the American "Trial of The Century" before OJ. A physician is suspected of murdering his wife in a quiet, affluent 1950s Midwestern bedroom community. Did Sam Sheppard kill Marilyn Sheppard? That is the topic of this week's edition of Unpleasant Dreams. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For our Halloween episode, we explore the strange death of the master of the macabre himself, Edgar Allan Poe. --- Cassandra Harold is your host. EM Hilker is our principal writer and researcher with additional writing by Cassandra Harold. Jim Harold is our Executive Producer. Unpleasant Dreams is a production of Jim Harold Media. You can find EM Hilker's original article HERE PODCAST TRANSCRIPT There is much that can be said about Edgar Allan Poe, but in terms of his literary habits, little that needs to be. Much more famous in death than he was in life, he was nevertheless a literary critic of some renown in his own time. His true love, however, was lurid, ghastly fiction. Poe unknowingly fathered the genre of detective fiction, through his tales of C. Auguste Dupin. The most well-known Dupin story was The Murders in the Rue Morgue, which served to set the stage for Sherlock Holmes and his ilk. He is best known now for his gothic fiction, morbid tales filled with crumbling stone castles and candle-lit catacombs, of demonic foes and bitter sweet revenge. He brought us The Raven, Hop-Frog, The Fall of the House of Usher. The creative mind of Poe was deep and dark and mysterious as a night ocean. … but little is so mysterious as Poe’s own death.... FIND THE REMAINDER OF THE TRANSCRIPT HERE SOURCES – FURTHER READING Anon. “Poe’s Death Theories.” Poe’s Death | Edgar Allan Poe Museum | Richmond, VA, www.poemuseum.org/poes-death. Retrieved 5 Sept. 2021 Birch, Doug. “The Passing of Poe: What Really Happened to the Master of the Macabre in the Days Leading up to His Death Here 145 Years Ago?” Baltimoresun.com, 24 Oct. 2018, www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1994-10-02-1994275208-story.html. Retrieved 5 Sept. 2021 Edgar Allan Poe: A Life from Beginning to End. Hourly History, 2018. Kindle ed. Eschner, Kat. “Who Was the Poe Toaster? We Still Have No Idea.” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 19 Jan. 2017, www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/who-was-poe-toaster-we-still-have-no-idea-180961820/. Retrieved 5 Sept. 2021 Geiling, Natasha. “The (Still) Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe.” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 7 Oct. 2014, www.smithsonianmag.com/history/still-mysterious-death-edgar-allan-poe-180952936. Retrieved 5 Sept. 2021 Kay, Liz F. “Poe Toaster Tribute Is ‘Nevermore’.” Baltimoresun.com, 9 Dec. 2018, www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/bs-xpm-2010-01-19-bal-poe0119-story.html. Retrieved 5 Sept. 2021. Lovejoy, Bess. Rest in Pieces. Simon and Schuster, 2013. Miller, John C. ‘The Exhumations and Reburials of Edgar and Virginia Poe and Mrs. Clemm,” Poe Studies, Dec. 1974, Vol. Vii, No. 27: 46-4, www.eapoe.org/pstudies/ps1970/p1974204.htm. Retrieved 5 Sept. 2021 Meyers, Jeffrey. Edgar Allen Poe: His Life and Legacy. Cooper Square Press, 2000. Pruitt, Sarah. “The Riddle of Edgar Allan Poe’s Death.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 26 Oct. 2015, www.history.com/news/how-did-edgar-allan-poe-die. Retrieved 5 Sept. 2021. Semtner, Christopher P. “13 Haunting Facts About Edgar Allan Poe’s Death.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 13 Jan. 2021, www.biography.com/news/edgar-allan-poe-death-facts. Retrieved 5 Sept. 2021. Walsh, John Evangelist. Midnight Dreary: The Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe. St. Martin’s Griffin, 2000. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aural death omens that are believed to be harbingers of doom across cultures around the globe. Tune into some of the sounds of death on this episode of Unpleasant Dreams. That is, if you dare. Cassandra Harold is your host. EM Hilker is our principal writer and researcher with additional writing by Cassandra Harold. Jim Harold is our Executive Producer. Unpleasant Dreams is a production of Jim Harold Media. PODCAST TRANSCRIPT There’s something of the foreboding in an unexpected sound piercing an otherwise placid stillness; perhaps it’s an eerie hoot borne through the evening hush, or the lull of the afternoon suddenly shaken by a grandfather clock chiming loudly off-time. It might be a mysterious whistling where there ought not be anyone to whistle, or a heavy knocking from an empty doorway. It chills the blood and brings to mind strange, dark suspicions of things to come. Aural death omens. Those sounds that herald the approach of death. Common across cultures all over the world, generations of people have heard them and known, deep down, that they signal an ending. Sometimes it’s the cry of an animal; sometimes it’s the full brassy ring of a bell or the chime of an old broken clock, or an inexplicable knocking or a strange, ghostly figure. Aural death omens can often take the form of an animal messenger. Perhaps one of the most interesting living aural death omens was made famous in Edgar Allen Poe’s short story The Tell-Tale Heart: “He was still sitting up in the bed listening; –just as I have done, night after night, hearkening to the death watches in the wall.” The “death watches” being referred to were, of course, the deathwatch beetle, a woodboring beetle that makes a peculiar tap-tap-tap sound from within the walls of the home or building they’ve infested. As author Laura Martisiute suggests, the beetles’ tap-tap-tapping became associated with the long sleepless vigils held by the bedsides of the dying, during which the sounds of the beetle would persist throughout the otherwise quiet night. Over time, people came to believe that the tap-tap-tap was forecasting death rather than simply accompanying it, and they came to dread it… during the long, silent nights. Birds, the natural predator of beetles, are also a common source of aural death omens. Owls in particular are generally seen as magical birds for both good and ill across many countries and cultures. And as such, they are also commonly considered death-signalling birds across vast geographical expanses. The Hottentot in Southern Africa believe that the hooting of an owl predicts death, as do a number of Native American tribes, and people in Mexico and India. A relative to the owl, the tawny frogmouth, also has a cry that portends death throughout Asia and Australia. FIND THE REST OF THE TRANSCRIPT & SOURCES HERE Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Did bluesman Robert Johnson sell his soul to the Devil himself? That is the legend of the crossroads and we explore it on this edition of Unpleasant Dreams. — Cassandra Harold is your host. EM Hilker is our principal writer and researcher with additional writing by Cassandra Harold. Jim Harold is our Executive Producer. Unpleasant Dreams is a production of Jim Harold Media. You can find the original article by EM Hilker HERE MUSIC Noé Socha (Simple Blues Boy) via Premium Beat SOURCES AND FURTHER READING Belard, Angelie. Hoodoo for Beginners: Working Magic Spells in Rootwork and Conjure with Roots, Herbs, Candles, and Oils. Hentopan Publishing, 2020. Butler, J. M. “Crossroads myth.” Mississippi Encyclopedia. 4 March, 2019. Accessed 25 September 2021. Conforth, Bruce M., and Gayle Wardlow. Up Jumped the Devil: The Real Life of Robert Johnson. Chicago Review Press Incorporated, 2019. Graves, Tom. Crossroads: the Life and Afterlife of Blues Legend Robert Johnson. Rhythm Oil Publications, 2012. Lewis, John. “Robert Johnson Sells His Soul to the Devil.” The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 15 June 2011. Accessed 25 September 2021. Oakes, Brian, director. Devil at the Crossroads, Netflix Remastered, 2019. Accessed 25 September 2021. Quinn, Shannon. “18 People Who Allegedly Sold Their Soul to Pure Evil.” HistoryCollection.com. 28 September 2018. Accessed 25 September 2021. Roberts, Maddy Shaw. “Niccolò Paganini Was Such a Gifted Violinist, People Thought He Sold His Soul to the Devil.” Classic FM. Classic FM, 1 Feb. 2019. Accessed 25 September 2021. Rolling Stone. “The 27 Club: A Brief History.” Rolling Stone. 8 December 2019. Accessed 25 September 2021. Yronwode, Catherine. “Foot-Track Magic.” Foot-Track Magic in the Hoodoo Tradition. Accessed 25 September 2021. PODCAST TRANSCRIPT It’s an old, old story. The shadowed, dusty crossroads sit lonely in the sultry, oppressive summer night, seemingly waiting for the young Black man who now arrives. He holds a guitar in one hand and a mostly empty bottle of whiskey in the other. He does not stumble as he walks, but looks about warily as he slowly approaches, his misgivings chasing each other across his handsome face. The crossroads are lit only by the dull glow cast off from the sickle of light shining in the dark sky, gleaming almost bronze through the thick humidity. It is enough. He can see that he’s alone. As midnight comes upon him, he feels a change, as of movement. It’s not a smell or a sound or something he can name. His skin, already slick with the sweat of the hot night, feels clammy and a shiver thrills through his body. With his intentions, in this place, he has already crossed a threshold. And he can feel it. A figure bulks in the darkness at the crossroads now, broad as a thoroughbred and so, so tall. The young man can’t see his features, can’t even see if it’s truly a man, but he can see a wicked, white smile. He didn’t see him arrive, didn’t hear a footstep or feel a wisp of breeze. This is the right man. He is in the right place. He clears his throat, tightens his hold on the guitar, and steps forward.... For a full podcast transcript go to the post at jimharold.com HERE Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Bell Witch haunting is one of the oldest American hauntings on record and it is the subject of this week’s unpleasant dream. -- Cassandra Harold is your host. EM Hilker is our principal writer and researcher with additional writing by Cassandra Harold. Jim Harold is our Executive Producer. Unpleasant Dreams is a production of Jim Harold Media. You can find EM Hilker’s original article HERE. Sources & Further Reading: 1868 article in the Courier-Journal: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7660018/the-courier-journal/ An Authenticated History of the Bell Witch by Martin Van Buren Ingram https://web.archive.org/web/20021022185219/http://bellwitch02.tripod.com/the_red_book.htm Bell Witch Folklore Centre https://web.archive.org/web/20020924085754/http://bellwitch02.tripod.com/ Bell Witch Cave official site http://www.bellwitchcave.com/ Pat Fitzhugh’s Bell Witch site http://www.bellwitch.org/story.htm The Bell Witch Poltergeist by Joe Nickell https://skepticalinquirer.org/2014/01/the-bell-witch-poltergeist/ The Terrifying True Story of the Bell Witch http://thesouthernweekend.com/bell-witch/ PODCAST TRANSCRIPT The Bell Witch haunting is one of the most famous American hauntings on record, not only for the extent of the hauntings but because it is credited as the only American haunting to result in the death of a living person. John Bell Sr died 200 years ago, and much of the haunting occurred years prior to that. To date, there are a half dozen movies based on the story with more having been influenced by it; there is a doom metal band called Bell Witch, and several songs by other musicians based on the tale. It has spawned other stories and even traveled in a slightly altered form to become folklore in Mississippi, where several Bell children settled in their adulthood. The story itself is the story of the Bell family. In the very early years of the nineteenth century, John Bell Senior came to Robertson County, Tennessee with his wife, Lucy, and their young children. They settled along the Red River, near the modern town of Adams. Bell had been a barrel-maker in his youth, but had decided to turn to farming. He was quite successful in this, and by the time of his death, his farm would boast more than three hundred acres of land. He developed a good name for himself as well, and would eventually become an elder at the local church (though later he was excommunicated for unscrupulous business dealings). He had a good life along the Red River for well over a decade, he and his wife had nine children, and they were well-liked as a family. The “family trouble”, as the Bells would one day call it, began late in 1817. In the earliest days of the haunting, a strange creature was spied around the Bell’s farmland by a number of people. A strange mixture of dog, sometimes two-headed, and rabbit. It was large and dark and utterly unsettling. The Bell family’s slave, Dean, saw this same creature, among other bizarre and supernatural sights, multiple times on his walks in the evening to visit his wife on a nearby farm. John Bell also reportedly saw the creature lurking around on occasion. In early 1818, seemingly supernatural activity had started within the farmhouse. The children would report hearing the sounds of rats gnawing on their bedposts in the night, but upon examination neither rat nor bite mark could be found. After this came knocking sounds and the heavy rattle of chains being dragged across their wooden floors. Sounds that all the family could hear. In time, the children would be bitten at and scratched and pinched by the air itself. Their bedsheets would be yanked off their bed as night. Pillows snatched from under their sleeping heads and thrown to the floor. John Bell Sr woke one day to find his mouth paralyzed. One of the most famous parts of this story, or perhaps infamous, is the treatment of the Bell’s daughter, Betsy. All sources seem to agree that she was an uncommonly beautiful girl, and perhaps this is why the increasingly violent manifestations, allegedly those of a witch, centered around her. She was pinched and scratched more and worse than the other children, leaving her black and blue and bloody. Her hair was yanked and she was kept awake at night. She was abused and miserable. The family tried to relieve her suffering by having her stay with friends and family, but the abuse followed her wherever she went. By contrast, the entity was utterly enchanted by Lucy Bell, the mother of the family. Lucy was a well-liked woman, but it seemed especially enthralled with her. It lavished her with adulation, brought her fruit and nuts when she was sick, and sang her praises. Author Pat Fitz Hugh quite correctly points out that this can hardly be called genuine kindness on the entity’s part, given the emotional suffering Lucy would have endured in watching her family be harassed and abused. All the while, John Bell became sicker and sicker, and no one was sure what ailed him, or how to cure him of his mys

Residual hauntings are often explained by the “Stone Tape Theory.” We delve into the history and thinking behind this theory on this week’s edition of Unpleasant Dreams. --- Cassandra Harold is your host. EM Hilker is our principal writer and researcher with additional writing by Cassandra Harold. Jim Harold is our Executive Producer. Unpleasant Dreams is a production of Jim Harold Media. Sources & Further Reading: The Ninth Bridgewater Treatise by Charles Babbage http://www.victorianweb.org/science/science_texts/bridgewater/intro.htm Manual of Psychometry by Joseph Rodes Buchanan: https://amzn.to/35p9uws Sharon Hill’s excellent articles on the topic: The “Stone Tape Theory” of hauntings: A geological perspective Confusing speculative “language of stone” (Book Review) Spooky Rocks Ghost and Ghoul by TC Lethbridge: https://amzn.to/3mhkova Haunting and the Psychic Ether Hypothesis by HH Price: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-24108-8_2 Secret Language of Stone by Don Robins: https://amzn.to/37G0Bl7 For Your Viewing Pleasure: Strangeries’ Youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91nVUot4RcI Sharon Hill’s Spooky Geology video on the topic : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a32y-vTmhE8 Edge of the Rabbit Hole’s episode discussing Stone Tape: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5d0rEJ0iSE Stone Tape (1972): https://amzn.to/37zePUF PODCAST TRANSCRIPT A mystery man. Neither interacting with the environment around him nor being affected by it. Almost as if the world around him was merely being replayed. Seen, but not truly there. Such a mysterious figure has all the hallmarks of a residual haunting. The oft-cited Stone Tape Theory is the proposed mechanism behind residual hauntings. The idea is that emotion unleashes energy that is then saved to the most common mineral on earth, quartz crystal. That emotional energy behaves as if it were being recorded on video tape; a recording which can then be replayed under the right conditions. This suggests that apparitions are not classic ghosts in the way that we usually think of them, but a replay that has been imprinted on the objects or atmosphere surrounding the original events. While it was not always known as “the Stone Tape theory,” the basic framework for this kind of imprinting was in place for nearly 200 years. In tracing this framework, we begin with Charles Babbage, a mathematician known primarily as “the father of computing” and the inventor of the first programmable computer. In 1817, Babbage suggested that each spoken word leaves an everlasting imprint on the air itself. It can only be heard for a short period of time, but the word itself remains there, hanging silently in the air, forever. This suggests nothing about replay, as in the Stone Tape Theory, but brings the idea of events being “stored” into the conversation. In 1842, physician and physiology professor Joseph Rodes Buchanan introduced the world to the concept of psychometry, or the reading of the past from physical objects. Buchanan felt that all objects radiate an energy, which can transfer the object’s history to a properly sensitive person if they touch the object. He would go on to write in the Manual Of Psychometry in 1893: The discoveries of Psychometry will enable us to explore the history of man, as those of geology enable us to explore the history of the earth. There are mental fossils for psychologists as well as mineral fossils for the geologists; and I believe that hereafter the psychologist and the geologist will go hand in hand The linking of geology to psychic phenomena, the persistence of history through physical objects, all seem a clear predecessor of the Stone Tape theory. An investigative group called The Society for Psychical Research (also known as SPR) was founded on the 20th of February in 1882 , and it continues to this day. Within a few years of its creation, founder and investigator Edmund Gurney, alongside fellow investigator and eventual president of the society Eleanor Sidgwick, suggested that there were materials that could cache real world events. These events could be replayed under the correct circumstances or for the correct individual, harkening back to Buchanan’s theory. The concept appears to have been forgotten for a period of 60 years or so until then-president of SPR, HH Price, resurrected it in the early 1940s. He suggested that “psychic ether,” the dimension existing between the physical and the spiritual, could allow corporeal materials to retain the remains of remembrances and long-ago emotions. Archeologist Thomas Charles Lethbridge expanded on this idea, spurred on by his time living in the notoriously haunted Hole House, suggesting that it was the energy fields that surrounded objects which stored memory and events, resulting in the appearance of ghosts or residual hauntings. His first true paranormal writing, 1961’s Ghost and Ghoul, spread this theory far and wide. Lethbridge is popularly credited with originating the term “Stone Tape Theory”,

They were the biggest names in spiritualism and they were also frauds. We share the sad history of The Fox Sisters on this episode of Unpleasant Dreams. -- Cassandra Harold is your host. EM Hilker is our principal writer and researcher with additional writing by Cassandra Harold. Jim Harold is our Executive Producer. Unpleasant Dreams is a production of Jim Harold Media. Sources & Further Reading: Abbot, Karen. “The Fox Sisters and the Rap on Spiritualism.” Smithsonianmag.com. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-fox-sisters-and-the-rap-on-spiritualism-99663697/ Retrieved 14 November 2020. Buzzfeed Unsolved. “The Spiritual World of the Fox Sisters.” Youtube. 2 October 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPPgwh4yk2Q Lyttelton, George. Dialogues of the Dead. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/17667/17667-h/17667-h.htm Retrieved 14 November 2020. Nickell, Joe. “A Skeleton’s Tale” Skeptical Inquirer vol 32, no 4. https://skepticalinquirer.org/2008/07/a-skeletons-tale-the-origins-of-modern-spiritualism/ Retrieved 15 November 2020. O’Connell, Rebecca. “The Rise and Fall of Five Claimed Mediums.” MentalFloss. https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/69973/rise-and-fall-5-claimed-mediums Retrieved 14 November 2020. Stuart, Nancy Rubin. “The Fox Sisters: Spiritualism’s Unlikely Founders.” Historynet. https://www.historynet.com/the-fox-sisters-spiritualisms-unlikely-founders.htm Retrieved 14 November 2020. Wehrstein, KM and McLuhan, R. “Fox Sisters.” Psi Encyclopedia. https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/articles/fox-sisters Retrieved 14 November 2020. You can find EM Hilker’s full article that this podcast was based upon HERE and a transcript of the podcast version below: PODCAST TRANSCRIPT The Fox Sisters The spiritualism movement of the early-to-mid 1800s captured the hearts and minds of a great many people. Spiritualism was the belief that the spirits of the dead are not only able to communicate with us, but are eager to share their wisdom with the living world. Spiritualism flourished at a time when Mesmerism was a growing interest on the heels of The Second Great Awakening. This was a fifty year period of religious revivalism, and a curious populace were seeking answers amid the confusion of the day. The Spiritualism movement has given us modern-style seances and stage mediumship; it’s what popularized commercial fortune telling. The term “seance” itself (introduced into the language sometime between 1795 and 1805) merely means a “sitting”, though the spiritual concept is older. George, First Baron Lyttleton, famously featured discussion with the deceased in his 1760’s work of fiction, Dialogues of the Dead. Seances have been divided into four categories: religious, stage mediumship, leader-assisted, and informal social seances. Although, all of the proceedings are considered a part of the spiritualism movement. The Fox sisters are credited with launching the movement, but its origins stretch back further than that. Emmanuel Swedenborg, who lived more than a century earlier, experienced a divine revelation in which he learned that communication with the spirit world and with God is possible through a certain mental state. He felt that the body was simply a vessel for the soul, and that Hell and Heaven will attempt to influence mortals to do good or evil, though the mortal in question is free to choose their path as they wish. According to Swedenborg’s beliefs, the path to Heaven or Hell is forged by your actions in life. These ideas would eventually lead to the formation of the New Church and the Swedenborgian Church in North America. The other oft-credited influence on the spiritualism movement is Franz Mesmer, the founder of “animal magnetism” or mesmerism (more commonly known as hypnotism in the modern day). The original concept went far beyond simply putting someone into a trance –Mesmer believed animal magnetism could hold the cure for powerful healing; the trancework was only a small part of his theories. The concept of going into a trance, however, would be a tremendous influence in coming years for the spiritualism movement. The women known as “the Fox Sisters” are three of the seven Fox children: the youngest two were the core of the Fox Sisters: youngest daughter Catherine “Kate” Fox and her slightly older sister Margaretta (“Maggie”). When everything began, Kate and Maggie were in their early teens and their eldest sister, Leah, was an adult in her own home. Leah would eventually ‘manage’ the girls, though not tour with them, and was really only a part of the action for a handful of years. The girls would later say that they began this whole thing as a prank played on their credulous mother. That is certainly consistent with the evidence we have of the early days of mysterious rappings and knockings. In early 1848, the Fox family began to hear mysterious sounds in their house in Hydesville, New York. The noises seemed to resemble footsteps or someone knocking. On March 31, 1848, Kate decided to try

Shadow People. What are they? We discuss these mysterious entities on this week’s edition of Unpleasant Dreams! Cassandra Harold is your host. EM Hilker is our principal writer and researcher with additional writing by Cassandra Harold. Jim Harold is our Executive Producer. Unpleasant Dreams is a production of Jim Harold Media. Further Reading Want to spend some time curled up with a book or your kindle and getting terrified? Here are some great books to start with: The Paranormal Researcher’s Guide to Shadow People by Charis Branson The Hat Man: The True Story of Evil Encounters by Heidi Hollis The Hatman and the Shadow People by Dominic Kelly Shadow People: Who are they and where did they come from? By Dr. Terry King Is browsing websites more your deal? I recommend the following sites to start with: http://www.shadowpeople.org/ https://www.thoughtco.com/shadow-people-2596772 https://www.ranker.com/list/what-are-shadow-people/brandon-michaels Of course, you can find true tales of shadow people and other creatures on Jim Harold’s Campfire podcast You can find EM Hilker’s full article that this podcast was based upon HERE and a transcript of the podcast version below: PODCAST TRANSCRIPT Shadow People: Darker than the night itself, moving silently in the shadows. They skulk furtively in the periphery of your vision, sometimes lurking darkly at the foot of a sleeping person’s bed, sometimes watching almost unnoticed from a corner of the room. They are enigmatic in more ways than simply the obvious. There is little agreement in the paranormal community on who they are, what they want, where they come from, and why they’re here; in fact, there isn’t much in the way of agreement on what constitutes a Shadow Person in the first place. There are, of course, agreed upon characteristics. They are nearly always humanoid in form (though there are reports of them in the form of cats, spiders, and other small creatures). They are even blacker than the surrounding darkness, such that they appear to be distinct three dimensional figures even in an unlit room. They almost always appear initially out of the corner of the eye before moving into full view. In some, though not all, cases they may have red eyes, glowing like embers in the dark. Many researchers have attempted to sort through the varying accounts and traits of shadow people by breaking them down into categories: Rosemary Ellen Guiley divided them into seven classifications based on their role or intention (sentinels, lurkers, minding-their-own-business, predators, visitors, omens, and haunters); Dr. Terry King demarcates five categories based on appearance (humanoid, hat man, animals, black smoke, red-eyed), and Heidi Hollis, who was the originator of the term “Shadow People,” famously demonstrates the difference between regular Shadow People and The Hatman in her book of the same name. These classifications are useful for study, to begin to wrap our collective head around what Shadow People are or what they are not. However, classification in and of itself does not and CAN not go very far in solving the mystery. Certainly it highlights the potential for there to be an entire society of shadow people, as diverse as human society or perhaps even as diverse as our own class, mammalia. We need to delve deeper than mere classification, perhaps even back through time itself. As difficult as it is to categorize and define what makes an entity a Shadow Person, it’s equally difficult to say when the phenomenon began. The history of shadow people can be told briefly, if only because it came about in modern day in such an explosion of reports. Certainly Shadow People entered the zeitgeist in 2001 after they were discussed on the popular radio talk show Coast to Coast, though individual reports of Shadow People predate that. Supernatural investigator; Heidi Hollis herself saw her first shadow person in 1990, while in the company of a friend who had been followed by that very creature since her own childhood. Since then, a number of pre-2001 sightings have been reported. Brandon Michaels writes that the earliest Shadow People can be traced through folklore to 600 BCE in Egypt, where they believed in a form of Shadow Person called a “khailbut.” Fast forward to ancient Greece and Rome, where they were believed to be of the Underworld. Then in 600 CE there’s reference in the Quran to beings created from flame that are fully, solidly black. None of these are the type of Shadow Person we see today, precisely, but surely there’s enough commonality to make us wonder what larger truth or phenomenon these ancient tales refer to. Perhaps, then, the best way to further seek answers is to speculate on what they are, beyond simply beings made of shadow that may or may not be ancient. The explanations of what people are seeing when they spot a Shadow Person are wildly varied. There is, of course, the Skeptical explanation that they are a figment of imagination, pareidolia (the tendency of

Perhaps the most mysterious death of the 21st century is that of Elisa Lam. We share the tragic story of this young woman on this edition of Unpleasant Dreams. Cassandra Harold is your host. EM Hilker is our principal writer and researcher with additional writing by Cassandra Harold. Jim Harold is our Executive Producer. Unpleasant Dreams is a production of Jim Harold Media. SOURCES AND FURTHER READING: Anderson, Jake. Gone at Midnight: The Mysterious Death of Elisa Lam. Citadel, 2020. Anon. “Questions Remain Three Years After…” LosAngeles.cbslocal.com. https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2016/10/31/questions-remain-3-years-after-womans-body-was-found-inside-la-hotels-rooftop-water-tank/ Retrieved 16 February 2021. Barrett, Christina. The Mysterious Death of Elisa Lam. CreateSpace, 2016. Brown, Jack. “Body Language Analysis No. 2313: Elisa Lam Video in Elevator at Cecil Hotel.” BodyLanguageSuccess.com. https://www.bodylanguagesuccess.com/2013/02/nonverbal-communication-analysis-2313.html Retrieved 16 February 2021. Buzzfeed Unsolved. “The Bizarre Death of Elisa Lam.” Youtube. 18 March 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48jBi86ih5Q Moncrieff, JH. “Whatever Happened to Elisa Lam?” JHMoncrieff.com. https://www.jhmoncrieff.com/whatever-happened-elisa-lam/ Retrieved 16 February 2021. Peters, Lucia. Dangerous Games to Play in the Dark. Chronicle Books, 2019. Steel, Danielle. How Elisa Lam Got Disappeared. Sifox, 2017. Swann, Jennifer. “Elisa Lam Drowned in a Water Tank Three Years Ago, but the Obsession with her Death Lives On.” Vice.com. https://www.vice.com/en/article/3bkmg3/elisa-lam-drowned-in-a-water-tank-two-years-ago-but-the-obsession-with-her-death-lives-on-511. Retrieved 16 February 2021. You can find EM Hilker’s full article that this podcast was based upon HERE and a transcript of the podcast version below: PODCAST TRANSCRIPT It was early February of 2013 when some of the residents of the Stay on Main (formerly the Cecil Hotel) began to have problems with their tap water. The water pressure was inconsistent, and the water itself tasted peculiar and was oddly discoloured. In response to the residents’ complaints, the hotel sent employee Santiago Lopez to investigate the issue. His investigation took him to the water towers on the roof of the hotel where, upon examination, he found the decomposing body of a solitary young woman, naked, floating in the cistern, her clothing and some personal effects in the water alongside her. No one recognized by authorities knows precisely how Elisa Lam died. The known facts are that Elisa arrived in Los Angeles on January 26th 2013 and checked into the Stay on Main on January 28th. She was reported missing on February 1st, 2013, after she had fallen out of contact with her family; some time prior to that she displayed seemingly erratic behavior in the hotel elevator, which was caught on tape and has been much-analyzed by professionals and amateur sleuths alike. Her body and clothing were found in one of the rooftop water cisterns, which, in theory, should have been inaccessible by the hotel guests. For a period of time, the guests consumed the water that contained her body, which had been discoloured and had an unwholesome taste. Her clothes were in the cistern as well, covered with what appeared to be sand. It was noted that her cell phone and glasses were missing. Autopsy revealed that she had been dead for several days at a minimum, that there was water in neither her lungs nor her stomach, and that aside from a small abrasion on her knee that she could have gotten anywhere, she had no obvious external trauma that wasn’t accounted for by decomposition. Among the things that are unknown: how did Elisa get in that cistern, which was said to have been difficult to access? How did she get onto the roof, for that matter, where the cisterns are located, past the secured door? What was Elisa up to in that elevator? Was she alone? Before we delve into the details of this strange case, and the plentiful theories of what precisely happened, there is Elisa herself. She was a young woman, only 21 years old at the time of her death, and at the beginning of her adult life. She had struggled with mental illness for many years, but despite her struggles she was kind, empathetic, dedicated, and passionate. She liked fashion, art, and literature, and found a great deal of solace on her blogs “Nouvelle/Nouveau” and “Ether Fields.” She was close to her parents, with whom she connected each day as she traveled. She called her trip “the West Coast Tour.” She had been very excited about it. I think it’s important to remember who Elisa was. That she was a real, warm, living person with hopes and goals and dreams and struggles. It’s easy to forget Elisa herself in the twisting paths of this case, in all the weirdness of the circumstances and the copious amount of theories on what really happened to her. Elisa wasn’t just a part of a mystery to be solved: she was a vibrant young woman, taken

For our first episode, the subject is that of Black Eyed Kids. BEKs terrify experiencers with their solid black eyeballs and odd behavior. It is a fitting start to our journey into the unknown. Credits: Cassandra Harold is your host. EM Hilker is our principal writer and researcher with additional writing by Cassandra Harold. Jim Harold is our Executive Producer. Unpleasant Dreams is a production of Jim Harold Media. Sources and further reading: Dying for more stories of alleged BEK encounters? Please see the following articles: 16 Terrifying Encounters with ‘the Black Eyed Kids’ compiled by Chrissie Stockton 10 Terrifying Stories About the Black-eyed Children compiled by Lyra Radford Witness Reports: My Friend Died After Meeting Black Eyed Children by Greg Newkirk Witness Reports: I Let The Black Eyed Children into my Home and Now I’m Slowly Dying by Greg Newkirk Dying for more analysis of the phenomenon? We recommend these books as an excellent starting place: The Black Eyed Children, 2nd ed. By David Weatherly The Chilling, True Terror of the Black-Eyed Kids: A Monster Compilation – Second Edition By G. Michael Vasey And, of course, the following article by the excellent Ryan Sprague: Can we Come In? The Lore of the Black Eyed Children by Ryan Sprague You can find EM Hilker's full article that this podcast was based upon HERE and a transcript of the podcast version below: PODCAST TRANSCRIPT Whether it’s throughout the internet or around campfires, whispered furtively from friend to friend behind pints of ale in the darkened corners of a pub, or scribbled into journals late at night, incidents of encounters with Black Eyed Kids (BEKs for short) appear to be increasing in frequency. “Black Eyed Children” were virtually unheard of until the late 1990s, but stories of encounters with these creatures are becoming more and more common as time wears on. In addition to allegedly true accounts submitted to websites and in chat rooms across the internet, Black Eyed Kids and the lore surrounding them have inspired a short, a full-length movie, dozens of books, both fact and fiction, and yes... even a tote bag. But what are these mysterious children, and where did they come from? Are they just tall tales to be told around the campfire, or something far more sinister? There is no consensus on what a Black Eyed Kid actually is. Experiences with these entities run from encounters on roadsides to forests to fields to the very front door of the experiencer. Regardless, there’s always a feeling of strangeness and terror in the air. The black eyed child or children always ask to be let in. And always, the experiencer finds themself gazing into a disquieting pair of preternaturally, entirely black eyes. The first written modern account of the Black Eyed Kids was penned in 1998 by Texan journalist Brian Bethel. But Bethel wasn’t just the individual who coined the term “black eyed kids.” Two years prior to his publication, Bethel found himself approached by two boys, roughly between the ages of 10 and 14, as he sat in his car and filled out a check for a nearby drop box. Mr. Bethel’s account tells of a sudden and unexplained overwhelming sensation of illness and unease that heralded the arrival of the boys. The lead boy’s increasing urgency to gain permission to enter his car was unsettling, nearly as much as his own horror at realizing that both boys had pure black eyes -- not merely very dark human eyes but eyes lacking sclera, iris, and pupil. Their disappearance haunted him as he (wisely, it would seem) sped away into the night, shaking and deeply afraid. Author and researcher David Weatherly sought to find earlier cases of encounters with Black Eyed Kids, pre-dating both Bethel’s account and the advent of the internet in general. The earliest written first person account he uncovered of a Black Eyed Child was the experience of a teenaged boy named Harold in the 1950s, no relation to Jim, I assure you. Harold was out for a walk by himself one day when he encountered a peculiar child on the side of a country road. The child seemed strange and distant, and insisted that Harold take him home with him. As in the experience with Bethel, Harold found himself more and more afraid as the boy became more and more insistent, until ultimately he fled on foot. There are some subtle differences here between the modern accounts and this early one: Harold lacked the immediate feelings of unease and illness, as Harold he stood and spoke to the boy for some time before the sense of danger kicked in. Additionally, Harold’s incident occurred in full daylight. However, the most defining features of the case are certainly consistent with Black Eyed Kid encounters: the orbs of the boy’s eyes were entirely black, he demanded an invitation to Harold’s home but appeared powerless to follow him without it, and the child disappeared immediately after the encounter. Upon hearing of his son’s frightening experience, Harold’s father had immediately le

Welcome To Unpleasant Dreams. Chilling stories told by Cassandra Harold. Topics include strange phenomena, mind benders, head scratchers and mysterious true crime cases. Unpleasant Dreams is a production of Jim Harold Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices