Beyond the Ferns

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

On the morning of March 29, 2011, a man came across something horrifying along a dirt road cutting through a vineyard near the small farming community of Arvin.

The body of a woman had been left among the rows of grapevines. She had no clothing, no identification, and whoever had placed her there had gone to disturbing lengths to make sure identifying her wouldn’t be easy. Even stranger, investigators found remarkably little evidence at the scene, leading them to believe she had been killed somewhere else before being brought to this quiet stretch of farmland.

Police had no name for her. No clear connection to Arvin. And when her DNA was entered into national databases, there were no matches.

For years, she would be known only as a Jane Doe—while investigators were left with two enormous questions: Who was she, and who wanted to make sure no one ever found out?

Tune in to hear all about this cold case, and SPREAD THE WORD about these lesser known cases, so we can get them traction!

P.S. There is one part within the episode where I unfortunately say "are" instead of "is". Just know, I caught it -- but I had already finalized my episode and wasn't able to go back in and correct. :)

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

It was supposed to be an ordinary summer night.

In July 2013, 41-year-old Donna Ongsiako was home alone at her secluded farmhouse in Colts Neck, New Jersey. Her daughter was at a party for the evening, the house was quiet, and Donna was simply going through her normal nighttime routine when she opened her front door.

Standing on the other side was a stranger.

Within moments, Donna found herself fighting for her life inside the place where she should have felt safest. Severely injured and completely alone, with no neighbors close enough to hear her cries for help, her chances of surviving were quickly slipping away.

But Donna wasn’t ready to die.

What followed was an extraordinary fight for survival—and an investigation to uncover who had come to her home that night and why.

And boyyyyyy, it's not what you would expect...

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hi y'all! I am in the midst of moving -- anyone who has ever moved, knows just how chaotic an event like this can be! Because of this, we are revisiting one of my favorite throwback episodes from the archives of Dark October-- Urban Legends!

For those of you who can't wait for Halloween - this one is for you! All new episodes will resume next week <3 Thank you for listening!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this week's episode, we are headed to the vast ocean!

By the late 1940s, aviation had entered an entirely new era. World War II had pushed aircraft technology forward at an incredible pace, and when the war ended in 1945, those advancements began making their way into civilian travel. Longer routes were becoming possible, transatlantic flights were expanding, and air travel was beginning to connect parts of the world in ways that had once seemed unimaginable.

But despite all that progress, flying across the open Atlantic was still far from what it is today. Navigation was more limited, weather forecasting was imperfect, and once an aircraft ventured far enough from land, there were vast stretches of ocean where communication could become difficult.

And in 1948, one passenger aircraft would disappear somewhere within that enormous expanse.

Its name was Star Tiger.

Less than a year later, another aircraft belonging to the same airline—Star Ariel—would vanish as well.

Neither aircraft was ever found.

Their disappearances would become two of the most enduring mysteries in British aviation history and, in the decades that followed, both would become forever connected to the legend of the Bermuda Triangle—a stretch of the Atlantic blamed for the unexplained disappearances of ships, aircraft, and the people aboard them.

But what really happened to Star Tiger and Star Ariel? Were their disappearances simply the result of the very real dangers that came with this rapidly evolving era of flight… or is there something about these two cases that truly cannot be explained?
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

There’s something especially unsettling about a toy store after dark. The bright aisles are empty, the registers are silent, and hundreds of dolls, stuffed animals, and toys sit perfectly still… or at least, they’re supposed to.

For decades, employees at a Toys “R” Us in Sunnyvale, California, claimed something strange was happening inside their store. Toys seemingly moved on their own, unexplained noises echoed through empty aisles, employees felt unseen hands touch their hair, and some even believed they heard someone calling their name when no one else was around.

Eventually, the stories became so persistent that psychics and paranormal investigators were brought in—and what they claimed to uncover only made the mystery stranger.....
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices