Beyond the Ferns

On this week's episode we are headed to the greate state of Alaska!

On April 26, 1993, 20-year-old Sophie Sergie was found murdered in a women's restroom inside Bartlett Hall at University of Alaska Fairbanks. Sophie, a Yup'ik student from the small village of Pitkas Point, had traveled to Fairbanks for orthodontic appointments and was staying with friends in the dormitory. Investigators determined that she had been sexually assaulted and shot in the back of the head sometime during the early morning hours of April 26. Despite hundreds of interviews and years of investigation, the case went cold and remained unsolved for more than two decades.

However, investigators would have their breakthrough in 2018. Despite knowing the person responsible for murdering Sophie, there were many questions that have continued to puzzle investigators. No murder weapon, an unclear motive, what exactly would lead someone to do such a heinous act?

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This week we are headed to Rhode Island!

On the evening of August 31, 1990, Adam and Elena Emery were enjoying dinner with friends in Rocky Point, Rhode Island, when a passing vehicle sideswiped Adam's parked Ford Thunderbird. Rather than stopping to exchange information, the driver sped away into the night. Furious over the damage and determined to find the person responsible, Adam started chasing the car he believed to be responsible. However, this night ended in way more than confrontation. After forcing a young group of men in the car before them, the altercation turned from road rage fury to a full blown murder investigation.

In the weeks and months that followed, investigators worked to unravel exactly what happened that night, while the case drew intense media attention across the state. As the legal proceedings moved forward, it appeared the story was headed toward a conclusion.

But then came a shocking twist.

Authorities discovered Adam and Elena's vehicle abandoned on the Claiborne Pell Bridge, which stretches across Narragansett Bay. And there would be plenty of unanswered questions, that only Adam and Elena had the answers to... unfortunately, there's a lot of missing pieces even thirty years later...

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In this week's episode, we are headed to Iowa!

Towering above the graves of Oakland Cemetery in Iowa City stands one of the most highly debated, ominous monuments in the Midwest — the Black Angel. Darkened with age and looming beneath the trees, the massive bronze statue has watched over the cemetery for more than a century, its hollow eyes and blackened wings turning it into the center of whispers, rumors, stories and legends, and fear. But behind the eerie appearance is the story of Teresa Feldevert, a woman whose life was marked by tragedy, loss, and loneliness. We will dig into the real history behind the monument, the strange stories that began surrounding it, and why so many people still avoid getting too close to the angel after dark. What is legend, lore, and truth? It really depends on who you ask...
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This week we are headed to Maryland!

We will be stepping inside the mind of Edgar Allan Poe to explore the darkness that shaped some of his most haunting works. Poe’s writing wasn’t simply created from imagination — it was deeply rooted in his own grief, isolation, fear, and a lifelong sense of never truly belonging anywhere. After enduring repeated loss throughout his life, including the deaths of the women closest to him, Poe became consumed by themes of mortality, madness, psychological torment, and the terrifying fragility of the human mind.

We will deep dive into writings, including The Tell-Tale Heart, The Premature Burial, The Raven, and The Fall of the House of Usher — unraveling the fears, obsessions, and emotional wounds hidden between the lines. From paranoia and guilt to death and the fear of losing those we love most, this episode explores how Poe transformed personal suffering into some of the darkest literature ever written.
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This week, we are staying in Indiana to finish out Belle Gunness' horrifyingly shocking legacy!

After arriving in La Porte, Indiana, Belle Gunness seemed determined to build the kind of life she had always wanted—land, financial security, and control. To neighbors, she appeared hardworking and capable, running her farm with a steady hand while raising children and welcoming a steady stream of hired men, visitors, and suitors through her doors. But beneath the surface, strange patterns began to emerge. Farmhands disappeared without much explanation. Men who arrived carrying savings or dreams of a new life were suddenly gone, often with Belle calmly offering a reason no one could fully verify.

As the years passed, rumors around the farm grew harder to ignore. Belle continued expanding her property and finances, even as tragedy seemed to follow closely behind her. Fires, sudden deaths, missing people, and whispered suspicions became woven into the story surrounding the isolated farmhouse on McClung Road. Then, in the spring of 1908, everything changed when a devastating fire tore through the property in the middle of the night—leaving behind a scene so horrifying that it would turn the quiet Indiana farm into one of the most infamous crime scenes in American history.

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