In the winter of 1998, a general practitioner in Manchester, England, noticed that one of her colleagues, Dr. Harold Shipman, appeared to have an unusually high death rate among his elderly female patients. An inquiry was opened into the matter, but it went nowhere and was quickly closed with no finding of wrongdoing. Then, in August, another accusation was leveled at Shipman: he was responsible for killing more than twenty of his patients. This time, the inquiry was taken more seriously and the reality was far worse than anyone could have imagined. The arrest and prosecution of Harold Shipman rocked England’s medical community and shocked people around the world. Although he was ultimately charged with and convicted of fifteen murders, investigators suspect Shipman of having killed as many as two hundred and fifty people over the course of his career, making him the most prolific killer in the nation’s history.

In the winter of 1998, a general practitioner in Manchester, England, noticed that one of her colleagues, Dr. Harold Shipman, appeared to have an unusually high death rate among his elderly female patients. An inquiry was opened into the matter, but it went nowhere and was quickly closed with no finding of wrongdoing. Then, in August, another accusation was leveled at Shipman: he was responsible for killing more than twenty of his patients. This time, the inquiry was taken more seriously and the reality was far worse than anyone could have imagined.

Weirdos! It's almost HalloWEEEEEEEEN! So grab your pillowcase, don your spookiest costume, and get ready to be treated to some iconic listener tales! To celebrate the most wonderful time of the year, Deb has curated a batch of spooky tales that are BY you FOR you and ALL ABOUT YOU! Don't forget to check out the YOUTUBE version to fully experience the iconic costumes, because Ash & Alaina are serving this month! If you’ve got a listener tale please send it to Deb by emailing us at [email protected] with “Listener Tales” somewhere in the subject line, and if you share pictures, please let us know if we can share them with fellow weirdos! :)

On the evening of December 13, 2020, twenty-one-year-old Texas State University student Jason Landry left his apartment in San Marcos, TX headed in the direction of his parents in Missouri City. Several hours later, just after midnight, a firefighter discovered Jason’s wrecked car along the side of a rural road several miles from his destination—the lights were still on and the keys still in the ignition, but there was no sign of Jason anywhere.

Spooky Season wouldn’t be complete without a visit from astrologer, author, and friend Aliza Kelly! She takes us on a cosmic deep dive to unravel another of history’s most chilling mysteries: the Axeman of New Orleans! We discuss the killer’s reign of terror, the haunting details surrounding the case, and how astrology offers cosmic perspective on this dark chapter in history.

In the spring of 2001, single father Steven LaChance moved his family from a cramped apartment to a spacious house in Union, Missouri. The house was intended to be a new start for the family, but before long their excitement turned to dread as life in the new house became a nightmare. Within weeks of moving into the house, Steven and his children began experiencing strange and unexplainable phenomena. Lights turned on and off by themselves, temperatures fluctuated wildly from room to room, and there was an ever-present feeling of being watched. In time, whatever entity lived in the house began focusing its malevolent attention on the children, exploiting their fears and terrifying them night after night. After several months, the LaChance family couldn’t tolerate the home anymore and moved out but, little did Steven know, that was only the beginning of his journey into the paranormal.

On May 2, 1933, the Harwich Center School received a telephone call from the father of ten-year-old Peggy McMath, a student at the school. Mr. McMath informed them that he was sending a driver to pick up his daughter and he expected her to be ready. However, when the driver showed up, Peggy didn’t recognize the man and was hesitant to get into the car. In response, the driver of the car, Kenneth Buck, grabbed the girl, threw her in the car, and drove off before anyone could stop him. This month's Bonus Episode is #sponsored by our friends at @netflixfilm and their riveting film release ANIMALS! Haven’t watched the film yet? Check it out NOW on @netflix!”

For as long as human beings have been locking one another up in cages or dungeons, there have been other human beings scheming and strategizing ways to escape their cells and break free of their prisons. More often than not, their attempts prove futile and they’re recaptured, their punishments extended and the conditions of their surroundings made worse. But in their experiences with freedom, however brief they may be, the escapee becomes legendary, their exploits going on to be told and retold in books, films, and songs long after the prisoner has passed away.  While some prison breaks—like those of the wrongfully incarcerated or unduly punished—can be justified and go on to be romanticized, others are less romantic or exciting and can even lead to deadly outcomes. And yet, no matter the circumstances and outcomes, each one can tell us something about the system and culture responsible for the initial sentence and subsequent escape. Here is the first volume of this fascinating subject!

In February 1938, thirty-four-year-old housewife Alma Fielding went to the press with an amazing story: her home in the London suburb of Croydon was haunted. According to Alma, objects would fly off the shelves without the aid of human hands, the family was constantly under assault from unseen forces, and on multiple occasions, they found a six-fingered handprint on a mirror. It was through a local clergyman that paranormal investigator Nandor Fodor learned of Alma’s haunting and he was immediately interested in the family. As a member of the International Institute for Psychical Research, Fodor had recently come under attack from the Spiritualist community, who saw him as nothing more than a cynic, and he was looking for precisely this kind of case to reestablish himself as a believer. However, after several months studying Alma and the haunting of the Fielding home, Fodor found himself at the center of a story far more complex than he’d ever expected.

Throughout the latter half of the nineteenth century, as America spread westward, industrial tycoons made a fortune building out the nation’s infrastructure, and growing their already substantial wealth in the process. In St. Louis, Missouri, one of those tycoons was Adam Lemp, whose Western Brewery was among the most productive and prosperous breweries in America. Following Adam’s death, the brewery was passed down to his son, William, starting a dynasty that would last nearly a century.  It seems that, when Lemp passed the business on, he may have also passed on something far more insidious to his descendants that would mark the Lemp family for tragedy. In the decades that followed, the Lemp family suffered one tragic death after another, each one playing out in the Benton Park mansion where the Lemps resided. For more than a century, the residents of St. Louis have wondered who—or what—resided in the mansion that caused so much misfortune, and whether the spirits of the Lemps still walk the halls.