Beyond the Ferns

In this week's episode, Beyond the Ferns listener John takes us back to the late 1990s, to a haunted house in Texas where an unsettling presence seemed to lurk within its walls. But what began as an eerie atmosphere took a terrifying turn when his family witnessed something they could hardly comprehend—someone desperately grasping at their family member's throat, struggling against an unseen force. They could see the terror unfolding right in front of them, but whatever had its grip on him was unknown.

Join us as we explore what the paranormal truly means to us and delve into the unsettling possibility that hauntings aren't always tied to places. Sometimes, it's the people themselves who are haunted.

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On this week's episode, we are headed to London!

In the spring of 1971, two young brothers were pulling weeds in the garden of their family home in England, when they uncovered something strange beneath the soil: two small, formed stone-like heads.

At first, they seemed like little more than an unusual discovery.

Then, according to the families involved, things began to happen.

Objects reportedly moved on their own. Strange noises traveled through otherwise empty rooms. Glass shattered without explanation. An overpowering animal-like smell appeared and disappeared. And eventually, witnesses began describing something far more disturbing—a large, dark figure that seemed to exist somewhere between human and animal.

When the mysterious heads were later taken from the home and examined by Celtic scholar Dr. Anne Ross, the story should have become easier to explain.

Instead, it became even stranger.

Were the Hexham Heads ancient artifacts pulled from ground that had kept them hidden for centuries? A modern creation surrounded by coincidence and fear? Or had two ordinary objects somehow become attached to something no one could explain?

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

Christmas morning, 2002. As record-breaking snow blanketed Middletown, Pennsylvania, a family gathering that should have happened the night before had never taken place.

When Jean Wholaver and her daughters, 20-year-old Victoria and 15-year-old Elizabeth, failed to show up for their traditional Christmas Eve celebration, concern quickly grew. By the following morning, police were sent to the family's home to check on them.

Inside, they discovered a scene that would forever change Christmas for those who loved the Wholaver family. Jean, Victoria, and Elizabeth had all been murdered. Yet amid the silence of the house, investigators heard something from upstairs—a baby crying.

What initially appeared to be a horrific triple homicide would soon unravel into a much darker story involving the who and why would someone do this...

Join along to hear everything from the murders to the investigation to justice served.

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In the early morning hours of October 29, 1995, 24-year-old Leah Ulbrich was seen struggling with a man inside a dark-colored car.

Minutes later, that same car was speeding through the streets toward the town of Wethersfield—with Leah's body dragging outside the passenger door.

What followed was a horrifying journey that stretched for miles through an area that was already beginning to wake up for the morning. People heard screams. Witnesses caught glimpses of the car. A police officer even crossed paths with the vehicle and attempted to follow it.

By sunrise, police were left with a crime scene spanning miles, pieces of evidence scattered along the roadway, conflicting descriptions of a dark-colored car, and one enormous question:

Who was the person behind the wheel?

More than 30 years later, investigators are still trying to answer it.

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