Folklore Episodes
Discover the beliefs, customs and stories behind supernatural beings, ghost legends and seasonal traditions. Weekly Spooky explores how tales change across communities and generations, distinguishing living traditions, documented history and modern horror fiction.
Start with these three: The Golem of Prague for Jewish guardian folklore; The Wendigo for hunger and greed in Algonquian traditions; and Monthly Spooky’s Halloween Origins for Samhain, trick-or-treating and jack-o’-lanterns. Explore more folklore episodes below.
Start with these three: The Golem of Prague for Jewish guardian folklore; The Wendigo for hunger and greed in Algonquian traditions; and Monthly Spooky’s Halloween Origins for Samhain, trick-or-treating and jack-o’-lanterns. Explore more folklore episodes below.
Feb. 2, 2026
Terrifying & True | The Vanishing Village of Angikuni Lake: Arctic Mystery and UFO Folklore
A remote Arctic camp. Tents standing open in the wind. A half-finished mitten, needle still threaded—like someone stood up mid-stitch and never returned. The legend of Angikuni Lake is one of the most chilling “vanishing village” mysteries ever told: an Inuit camp along the Kazan River corridor in Nunavut—found eerily intact… but empty. In the campfire version, everything is wrong in the most cinematic way: food left behind, supplies untouched, dogs silent on their lines, and even a grave distu...
Jan. 19, 2026
Terrifying & True | The Caretos de Entrudo – Portugal’s Carnival Demons
Portugal folklore turns feral in the mountain village of Podence, where the only warning is the clatter of cowbellsricocheting off stone walls. Then the Caretos burst from the dark—men (and now women and kids, too) swallowed in ragged ribbons of red, yellow, and green, faces erased behind blood-red demon masks, hips loaded with heavy bell harnesses that turn every lunge into a metallic scream. It’s Carnival… but it moves like a hunt. This is Entrudo—a tradition believed to reach back to pre-Rom...
Jan. 9, 2026
Best of 2025: Winter Horror Stories, Cryptids & Wendigo Folklore
Bundle up, my spookies—this Best of 2025 episode of the Weekly Spooky horror podcast is a snow-choked compilation built for year-round bingeing: winter horror, blizzard dread, creature features, and a finale that pivots into true crime + folklore with a chilling Terrifying & True deep dive. Inside this Best of 2025 compilation: - “I Love the Cold” — Jonathan Lumpkin • A quiet winter evening turns wrong when comfort gives way to a creeping, unnatural chill—and the cold starts to feel less like ...
Dec. 22, 2025
Terrifying & True | Santa’s Stolen Bones: The Medieval Relic Heist of St. Nicholas
Dive into Christmas true crime, Santa Claus history, and holiday folklore with the real medieval relic heist that helped shape the legend of Santa. In 1087, sailors from Bari, Italy break into the tomb of St. Nicholas in Myra (modern Turkey)—and the world’s most famous Christmas icon gets a disturbingly real origin story. Inside the candlelit crypt, witnesses claim the tomb is flooded with mysterious liquid—the “manna” of St. Nicholas—and the thieves interpret it as a sign the saint approves. B...
Dec. 15, 2025
Terrifying & True | Père Fouettard: The French Krampus and the Dark Side of Christmas
When most people think of Christmas, they picture cozy lights, warm cocoa, and jolly Saint Nick. But in parts of France and Belgium, children grew up with a much darker figure stalking the snowy streets: Père Fouettard, the “French Krampus” — Saint Nicholas’ brutal Christmas punisher. In this chilling episode of Terrifying & True, we unwrap one of Europe’s scariest Christmas legends, where miracle stories, war, and fear-based parenting all twist together in the shadows of the holiday season. We ...
Dec. 8, 2025
Terrifying & True | Frau Perchta, the Christmas Witch: Alpine Folklore and Chilling Christmas Horror
Terrifying & True returns with dark Christmas horror rooted in real Alpine folklore and chilling winter horror stories. Long before cozy Hallmark snowfalls, families in the high Alps spent the Twelve Nights of Christmas fearing a “Christmas Witch” who...
Nov. 24, 2025
Monthly Spooky | Haunted Mansions, Holiday Scares, and the Sin Eater!
Thanksgiving horror, turkey-day traditions, haunted mansions, Sin Eater folklore. Henrique & Michelle serve cozy table talk (leftovers, cranberry, Black Friday) before carving into eerie headlines and a feast-themed deep dive into the Sin...
Oct. 27, 2025
Monthly Spooky | Halloween Urban Legends: Poisoned Candy, Haunted Houses & Spooky Stories
Why does the poisoned Halloween candy story persist? Henrique and Michelle explore the panic, its origins, and the gap between documented incidents and stranger-danger folklore in this October 2025 Monthly Spooky. A grocery-store ghost, haunted real estate, and the Hair Museum's farewell add eerie places and objects to the conversation. The horror-movie roundup includes Good Boy, while the hosts mark their fortieth installment. Settle in for Halloween legends, strange news, and attraction cultur...
Sept. 29, 2025
Monthly Spooky | Halloween Origins: Samhain, Trick-or-Treat & Jack-O’-Lanterns
Why did Halloween trade carved turnips for pumpkins, and how did souling and guising help shape trick-or-treating? This September 2025 Monthly Spooky explores Samhain, All Hallows, bonfires, apple games, and harvest divination as traditions that changed across places and centuries. Witches, black cats, and Mischief Night add folklore to the history. The episode's news discussion covers Erin Patterson's mushroom case, a UFO-festival stunt, a neighborhood sinkhole, and an aggressive squirrel. Hear...
Sept. 22, 2025
Terrifying & True | Spook Hollow: Haunted Roads, Headless Bridges and Goat-Man Legends
Why do haunted roads across America share the name Spook Hollow? Terrifying & True maps the Camboan ghost legend in Nyack, New York; Goat-Man sightings and phantom cars near Pine Hill Cemetery in Phelps County, Missouri; and Oregonia, Ohio's...
Sept. 8, 2025
Terrifying & True | Resurrection Mary: Chicago’s Archer Avenue Vanishing Hitchhiker
Resurrection Mary accepts a ride along Chicago's Archer Avenue, then vanishes near Resurrection Cemetery. Who inspired this vanishing-hitchhiker legend? Terrifying & True follows reported ghost encounters, dance-hall memories, and the stories surrounding Mary Bregovy and Anna Norkus, two women proposed as Mary's real identity. This Weekly Spooky folklore documentary traces the haunted road through historical records and paranormal accounts. A young woman in white, a late-night lift, an empty bac...
July 14, 2025
Terrifying & True | The Changeling Legend — Fairy Folklore and Real-Life Horror
Changeling folklore warned that fairies or trolls could steal a person and leave an uncanny substitute behind—but belief in the legend caused real human suffering. Terrifying & True explores the changeling traditions of Ireland, Scotland, Scandinavia, and the wider Germanic world. Stories of the Aos Sí and other supernatural beings once offered families an explanation for sudden illness, disability, developmental differences, or a child who seemed unlike the one they remembered. Those explanati...
June 23, 2025
Terrifying & True | The Hat Man — Sleep Paralysis Entity or Paranormal Threat?
A tall shadow in a wide-brimmed hat stands beside the bed, watching but never speaking. Why do so many people report seeing the same terrifying figure? Terrifying & True investigates the Hat Man, one of the most recognizable entities in modern paranormal lore. Witness accounts often describe a black silhouette, long coat, featureless face, and overwhelming sense of menace during the borderland between sleep and waking. Some experiencers interpret him as a shadow person, supernatural predator, o...
June 9, 2025
Terrifying & True | Shrunken Heads — Tsantsa Rituals, Murder, and the Black Market
The tsantsa was a sacred object created to contain an enemy’s spirit—not the grotesque souvenir that foreign collectors turned it into. Terrifying & True explores the history of shrunken heads among Jivaroan peoples, including the Shuar and Achuar communities of the Ecuadorian and Peruvian Amazon. The ritual had a specific spiritual and social purpose: neutralizing the avenging power of a slain enemy and managing forces believed to threaten the living. Reducing it to a “tribal trophy” erases th...
April 28, 2025
Monthly Spooky | Haunted Morgues, Cropsey and Staten Island Horror
Cropsey folklore, Andre Rand’s crimes, Jennifer Schweiger’s disappearance, haunted morgues, and Staten Island horror history lead this Monthly Spooky investigation. Whether you love horror podcasts, true crime podcasts, or spooky urban legends podcasts, this episode of Monthly Spooky delivers chills, laughs, and unforgettable stories. Tune in for your monthly fix of true crime horrors, haunted legends, and tales that will keep you looking over your shoulder. Subscribe now for new haunted histor...
April 7, 2025
Terrifying & True | The Bennington Triangle — Five Unsolved Vermont Disappearances
Five people disappeared around Vermont’s Glastenbury Mountain between 1945 and 1950, creating the mystery now called the Bennington Triangle. Experienced guide Middie Rivers vanished while hunting in 1945. Bennington College student Paula Welden disappeared on the Long Trail in 1946. World War I veteran James Tedford failed to arrive home from a bus trip in 1949, while his luggage continued without him. Eight-year-old Paul Jepson vanished from his family’s truck in October 1950, and Frieda Lang...
March 10, 2025
Terrifying & True | The Golem of Prague — Jewish Folklore’s Clay Guardian
Jewish folklore tells of a clay guardian brought to life in Prague to defend a persecuted community—then deactivated when its power became dangerous. Terrifying & True explores the Golem of Prague, traditionally associated with sixteenth-century Rabbi Judah Loew. In the legend, sacred names, prayers, and Hebrew letters animate an earthen figure sometimes called Joseph. The silent protector serves the Jewish quarter, but later versions warn that a created servant can exceed its maker’s control. ...
March 3, 2025
Terrifying & True | The Melonheads of Ohio — Dr. Crow and Kirtland’s Urban Legend
Kirtland, Ohio, folklore warns of childlike figures with oversized heads hiding near lonely roads—but no record proves that the Melonheads ever existed. Terrifying & True follows the regional urban legend through Ohio, Michigan, and Connecticut, where its location and origin change with every retelling. The best-known Ohio version centers on Dr. Crow, Crowe, Krohe, or “Dr. Melonhead.” In one story he shelters children with hydrocephalus; in another he subjects them to cruel experiments until th...
Feb. 3, 2025
Terrifying & True | The Wendigo — Indigenous Folklore of Hunger, Greed, and Cannibalism
The wendigo is more than a winter monster: in Algonquian-speaking traditions, its endless hunger warns what happens when greed consumes a person. Terrifying & True explores windigo or wendigo stories among Ojibwe, Cree, Saulteaux, Naskapi, Innu, and other Indigenous peoples of North America. Accounts vary across communities, but many connect the being to famine, isolation, cannibalism, moral corruption, and an appetite that grows with everything it devours. Ojibwe scholar Basil H. Johnston desc...
Dec. 30, 2024
Monthly Spooky | Strange New Years, Mystery Money and Ghostly Doors!
Monthly Spooky explores eerie New Year superstitions, mystery money, ghostly doors, strange holiday news, and rituals meant to control fate. Henrique and Michelle close out 2024 with a sardonic tour through seasonal mishaps, paranormal headlines, and the customs people use to welcome—or survive—a new year. Their spooky news roundup includes a stolen Baby Jesus returned with an apology, a viral video blamed on a ghost, a supposedly haunted British door opening on command, and magnet fishers pull...
Nov. 25, 2024
Monthly Spooky | Spectral Harassment, Dangerous Giraffes and Christmas Hauntings!
Monthly Spooky investigates spectral harassment, bizarre animal encounters, holiday hauntings, and the strangest headlines of the season. Henrique Couto and Michelle begin with deep-sea fish washing ashore along the California coast and the folklore that treats unusual marine activity as an omen. Their post-Halloween catch-up also visits neighborhood trick-or-treating, childhood memories, and the delicate art of giving young visitors a playful scare without ruining the night. The spooky-news d...
Nov. 11, 2024
Terrifying & True | Indrid Cold, the Grinning Man — West Virginia’s Strangest UFO Visitor
Who is Indrid Cold? The Grinning Man is a figure in West Virginia UFO folklore, made famous by Woodrow Derenberger’s reported 1966 encounter near Mineral Wells. Listen to Terrifying & True as we trace the witness account, its connection to Mothman lore, and the questions that remain.
Nov. 4, 2024
Terrifying & True | Bloody Mary: Mirror Ritual, Mary Worth & the History Behind the Legend
Say “Bloody Mary” into a darkened mirror and a blood-covered woman may appear—or so generations of sleepover dares, schoolyard warnings, and urban legends insist. Terrifying & True explores a ritual whose rules change with every teller. Her name may be repeated three times, thirteen times, or until the participant’s fear turns an ordinary reflection into something hostile. Some versions promise a ghostly face; others warn of scratches, screams, prophecy, or a figure reaching through the glass. ...
Oct. 28, 2024
Monthly Spooky | Evil Hauntings, Dangerous Dolls, and Terrifying Halloween Realities!
Dangerous dolls, racoons attacking, haunted houses and then dive into the reality of terrifying Halloween myths lead this Monthly Spooky crypt conversation. Each segment follows one of the subjects named in Evil Hauntings, Dangerous Dolls, and Terrifying Halloween Realities, moving between real-world oddities, supernatural lore, and horror entertainment. Listeners can move from one uncanny subject to the next without losing the relaxed, curious rhythm that defines Monthly Spooky. Check out Mi...