Terrifying & True Episodes

Terrifying & True explores real mysteries, unsettling history, urban legends, haunted places and cryptid folklore. Join Henrique Couto for detailed investigations that separate documented events from reported encounters and speculation, while tracing the stories that keep us looking over our shoulders.
Oct. 26, 2026

Monthly Spooky | Halloween Haunts, Ghost Stories & Poltergeists

Halloween haunts and ghost lore get a skeptical twist on Monthly Spooky. Henrique Couto and Michelle revisit Pennsylvania's Bates Motel and Haunted Hayride, then open Eric Elfman's The Very Scary Almanac (1993) for Borley Rectory ghost stories, poltergeist accounts and UFO encounters. Spooky news brings new claims about the Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot film and a runaway inflatable pumpkin. Plus: Night of the Demons, Mischief Night (2013), and an eerie, unverified Reddit tale of a father who seems t...
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Oct. 23, 2026

12:01 | Halloween Horror: One Minute to Raise the Dead

In “12:01: An Anna Wu Story” by Mike Ashkewe, Halloween horror begins with stolen body parts and a warning to go home. Ice-powered agent Anna Wu follows the evidence to a hidden butcher-shop laboratory in Cloudcroft, New Mexico. A doorway to the dead will open for just one minute at midnight—and someone is building a body for whatever comes through. Can an investigator used to preserving crime scenes stop a forbidden resurrection? Narrated by Henrique Couto, this paranormal thriller blends occul...
Oct. 22, 2026

Cutting Deep Into Horror | Halloween (1978): Why Michael Myers Still Scares Us

John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978) turns a quiet neighborhood into a place where Michael Myers could be hiding anywhere. Henrique Couto and Rachael Redolfi revisit Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode, Donald Pleasence’s obsessive Dr. Loomis, Debra Hill’s teenage characters and Dean Cundey’s use of shadows and empty space. Why does the Shape’s slow, silent pursuit still get under our skin? From Carpenter’s unforgettable score to the final-girl debate, this spoiler-filled horror movie review explores...
Oct. 19, 2026

Terrifying & True | Ghostwatch: The BBC Halloween Hoax and Its Real Fallout

Ghostwatch put a fictional haunting inside the familiar frame of BBC television. On Halloween night in 1992, Michael Parkinson and Sarah Greene helped a scripted drama look like a live ghost hunt. Some viewers believed it. The backlash was real. Explore the hidden appearances of Pipes, the broadcast's unnerving tricks, and the argument over trust that followed. Original program audio and BBC Bite Back excerpts bring the scare and its contemporary criticism into focus. How did a made-up ghost lea...
Oct. 18, 2026

Unknown Broadcast | The Dead Come Back: Ghost Stories & Old-Time Radio Horror

Unknown Broadcast brings eight old-time radio tales of death, guilt, and ghostly revenge. A living man is mistaken for dead; a killer sees his victim walking behind him. The Dead Come Back features Only the Dead Remember, Dead of Night, Dead Ernest, The Tale the Dead Man Told, Wear the Dead Man's Coat, The Burial of Roger Malvin, The Coffin in Studio B, and The Dead Come Back, in that order. From Suspense and Quiet Please to Lights Out and Murder at Midnight, this four-hour Halloween horror coll...
Oct. 12, 2026

Terrifying & True | Hex Hollow Murder: Killing to Break a Curse

The Hex Hollow murder began with a search for a book and a lock of hair. In 1928, three attackers killed Pennsylvania farmer Nelson Rehmeyer, believing he had cursed them. Their attempt to burn away the evidence failed. Follow the York County investigation, the trials, and the headlines that turned a folk healer into a sinister legend. With voices from the Hex Hollow documentary, we separate Pennsylvania Dutch powwow traditions from accusations of harmful magic and return to the man behind the s...
Oct. 5, 2026

Terrifying & True | Harry Houdini's Final Halloween: Death, Seances & the Secret Code

Harry Houdini died on Halloween, October 31, 1926. For the 100th anniversary in 2026, explore his secret code for testing messages from the dead—and the mediums he fought to expose. This spooky season, Terrifying & True follows the stomach-punch legend, Arthur Conan Doyle's Spiritualism, Arthur Ford's disputed message and Bess Houdini's final 1936 seance. Hear archival recordings of Houdini, Conan Doyle and Bess herself as we separate documented history from supernatural claims. Could the world'...
Sept. 21, 2026

Terrifying & True | Dorothy Jane Scott: Stalker Calls and an Unsolved Murder

Dorothy Jane Scott disappeared from UCI Medical Center in Orange, California, in May 1980 after months of threatening phone calls. Her car was found burning; then an anonymous caller claimed he had killed her. Terrifying & True examines this unsolved murder through the stalking reports, the hospital parking-lot mystery, and the discovery of her remains in 1984. Explore what the caller appeared to know and the witness account that challenged his version of events. Did the voice on the telephone b...
Sept. 18, 2026

The Dead Don't Stay Silent: 9 Macabre True Crime Stories

A severed arm inside a shark. Two men found wearing lead masks. The Dead Don't Stay Silent gathers nine true-crime cases and macabre histories in a Terrifying & True collection. Explore the Shark Arm case, Somerton Man, Bella in the Wych Elm, Donna Doll, Lynnette Craft, and the Lead Masks mystery, plus the Salish Sea feet, the shrunken-head trade, and Carl Tanzler. More than four hours trace forensic clues, unsolved murders, and the legends that grow around human remains. What can the dead revea...
Sept. 14, 2026

Terrifying & True | Lizzie Borden: The Axe Murders, Trial and Unsolved Mystery

Lizzie Borden was acquitted of the 1892 axe murders, yet a notorious nursery rhyme still casts her as the killer. Terrifying & True returns to Fall River, Massachusetts, to examine the deaths of Andrew and Abby Borden and the evidence at her 1893 trial. From the disputed barn alibi and burned dress to the handleless hatchet, follow the clues that fueled suspicion without securing a conviction. Separate the historical record from folklore and competing theories. Why did suspicion survive the verd...
Sept. 11, 2026

No One Is Coming: 7 Stories of Murder, Survival & Haunted Places

At Hinterkaifeck, six people are murdered—and someone may have stayed at the farm afterward. No One Is Coming gathers seven Terrifying & True accounts of unsolved crime, wilderness disaster, and haunted-place folklore. Visit the Stanley Hotel, the Good Hart murders, and Bonnie Hood's death at Camp Nelson, then follow the Hamar-Daban hikers, Alfred Packer, and the Donner Party. Nearly four hours separate documented events from disputed testimony and ghost stories. When help is miles away, whose a...
Sept. 7, 2026

Terrifying & True | The Golem of Prague: Jewish Folklore's Clay Monster

The Golem of Prague is Jewish folklore's clay guardian, shaped to protect a threatened community. Terrifying & True follows Rabbi Judah Loew's legend through sacred Hebrew letters, the older golem of Chelm, and tales of a body hidden in the Old-New Synagogue attic. Discover how Yudl Rosenberg's 1909 book helped define a defender against false antisemitic accusations. We distinguish religious tradition and documented history from later fiction. What happens when a protector can obey its maker but...
Aug. 28, 2026

When Legends Turn Deadly: True Crime Meets Cryptid Folklore

Can a ghost story expose a murder, or can belief help conceal real harm? Eight Terrifying & True investigations connect the Greenbrier Ghost, the Fox sisters, the Hat Man, and the fatal exorcisms of Anneliese Michel with the stories people tell about...
Aug. 24, 2026

Terrifying & True | Elisa Lam at the Cecil Hotel: The Truth Behind the Elevator Video

Elisa Lam's Cecil Hotel elevator video became an internet mystery, but her 2013 death was officially ruled an accidental drowning. Terrifying & True follows the Canadian traveler's final days in Los Angeles and examines how a rooftop water tank became the focus of ghost stories and murder theories. Court records, the elevator's controls, and a maintenance worker's account challenge claims about impossible access and a sealed hatch. Follow the documented evidence behind the viral footage, with El...
Aug. 17, 2026

Terrifying & True | The Pale Crawler: How The Rake Became a Cryptid Legend

The Pale Crawler looks like a creature caught between a human and an animal, but The Rake began as a deliberately written horror story. Terrifying & True traces Operation Crawler, alleged Illinois and Kentucky encounters, and the viral trail-camera images that helped turn creepypasta into cryptid folklore. Misidentified wildlife, pareidolia, sleep paralysis, and staged footage offer ways to examine the claims without treating them as proof. Follow the monster from online fiction to reported wood...
Aug. 10, 2026

Terrifying & True | The Man With a Hole in His Stomach: Beaumont’s Human Experiments

Alexis St. Martin survived an 1822 gunshot wound with an opening into his stomach. William Beaumont used it to study digestion, lowering food on threads into a living man's body. Terrifying & True examines the medical breakthrough and the unequal relationship behind it: a surgeon who was also an employer, a labor contract requiring experiments, and a patient who negotiated, refused, and repeatedly left. Follow the history beyond the lurid image of a man with a hole in his stomach. When a discove...
Aug. 3, 2026

Terrifying & True | USS Indianapolis Sinking: Sharks, Survival and Captain McVay

The USS Indianapolis sank on July 30, 1945, leaving its crew adrift with dehydration, exposure, and shark attacks. Only 316 survived. Terrifying & True follows the secret atomic-bomb delivery mission, the torpedoes from Japanese submarine I-58, and the failure to recognize that a warship was missing. Survivor accounts and the eventual rescue lead to Captain Charles McVay's court-martial and the campaign to clear his name. Beyond the famous Jaws monologue is a disaster whose shark death toll cann...
July 20, 2026

Terrifying & True | Brian Barrett: The TalHotBlond Internet Love Triangle Murder

Brian Barrett was himself online; the adults in the TalHotBlond romance were hiding behind invented identities. In 2006, the 22-year-old student and coach was murdered outside his workplace near Buffalo. Terrifying & True traces Thomas Montgomery's teenage Marine persona, Mary Shieler's use of her daughter's identity, and the jealousy that crossed from chatrooms into real violence. Messages, physical evidence, and the investigation reveal how the deception unraveled. Follow the case beyond its s...
July 13, 2026

Terrifying & True | The Taos Hum: New Mexico’s Unexplained Low-Frequency Noise

Some Taos residents described a distant diesel engine that never stopped, even when investigators struggled to find its source. Terrifying & True follows the Taos Hum in New Mexico, from disrupted sleep and daily life to the 1993 investigation. Microphones, surveys, and hearing research tested a mystery heard by only part of the community. Industrial noise, tinnitus, auditory perception, and government-secrecy theories enter the discussion without becoming findings. Could one name be gathering s...
July 6, 2026

Terrifying & True | The Greenbrier Ghost: A Haunted Murder Mystery

Zona Heaster Shue's mother said a ghost revealed her daughter's murder; an exhumation supplied physical evidence. Terrifying & True revisits the 1897 Greenbrier Ghost case in West Virginia, where Mary Jane Heaster challenged a natural-death ruling and accused Zona's husband, Trout Shue. Follow the broken-neck findings, the trial, and the defense questioning that brought the apparition story before jurors. A murder conviction followed, but the ghost claim remains a claim. Examine how a mother's i...
June 22, 2026

Terrifying & True | Brian Shaffer: The Ugly Tuna Saloona Disappearance

Brian Shaffer was last seen near closing time at a Columbus bar on April 1, 2006. The Ohio State medical student's disappearance drew attention to footage that did not clearly show him leaving. Terrifying & True examines the Ugly Tuna Saloona, camera blind spots, searches, and the theories that grew around the missing images. It remains a missing-person investigation, with a family and loved ones behind every unanswered question. Follow what the record establishes and where it stops, without tur...
June 8, 2026

Terrifying & True | 10-Year-Old Killer & Dark American Murder History

The murder of Jeffrey Hall is one of the most disturbing modern American true crime cases — not because the killer was hidden, but because the person who pulled the trigger was only 10 years old. On May 1, 2011, in Riverside, California, 32-year-old Jeffrey Hall was asleep on the couch when his son, Joseph Hall, took a .357 revolver from a closet, walked downstairs, and shot him in the head. Jeffrey Hall was not just a father. He was a local leader in the National Socialist Movement, a neo-Nazi...
June 1, 2026

Terrifying & True | The Murder of Katarzyna Zowada: Krakow's Darkest Unsolved Murder

On November 12, 1998, twenty-three-year-old Katarzyna Zowada vanished in Krakow, Poland—a disappearance that would transform into one of modern horror history's most disturbing cases. Weeks later, a discovery on the Vistula River revealed forensic horror and unanswered questions that still haunt the city. Join Henrique as we explore the gaps, the inexplicable details, and the paranormal mystery behind one of Poland's most chilling unsolved murders. Inside this episode: • The disappearance of Ka...
May 18, 2026

Terrifying & True | Beast of Bray Road: Wisconsin Werewolf Folklore & Cryptid Horror

Drivers near Elkhorn, Wisconsin, reported a wolf-headed figure beside Bray Road. Linda Godfrey's reporting helped turn those accounts into the Beast of Bray Road, one of America's best-known dogman legends. Terrifying & True follows the early-1990s sightings, the newspaper investigation, and the werewolf folklore that gathered around a rural road. Witness claims meet possible explanations involving bears, wolves, and mistaken identity, with no physical proof establishing a monster. What makes a ...