Terrifying & True Episodes

This Halloween, jump into the eerie tale of Elmer McCurdy—a true crime deep dive into urban legends and America’s carnival underbelly. In 1976, a seemingly innocuous Halloween haunt took a terrifying turn when a “mannequin” on a Long Beach dark ride wasn’t a prop—it was a real human corpse. In 1976, a TV crew at The Pike’s Laff in the Dark discovered human bone after a stunt arm snapped. Forensics exposed arsenic embalming, a copper bullet jacket, and a 1924 penny with old carnival tickets—bread...

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...

On July 4, 1984, police dogs uncovered a shallow grave in the quiet town of Northport, Long Island. Inside lay the mutilated body of 17-year-old Gary Lauwers—stabbed more than 30 times in a drug-fueled frenzy by his friend Ricky “The Acid King” Kasso. Within days, the story became national news, sparking headlines of Satanic sacrifice and cementing Kasso as the terrifying face of America’s 1980s Satanic Panic. But was this really the work of a Satanic cult, or simply the grim fallout of teenage...

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...

On a sweltering July night in 1966, Richard Speck forced his way into a South Side Chicago townhouse filled with young student nurses. By morning, eight women were dead—strangled, stabbed, and terrorized in what became known as the Chicago Nurse Massacre. Only one survivor lived to tell the tale, her testimony etching this crime into history. In this episode of Terrifying & True, we unravel the story of Richard Speck—his violent past in Texas, the night of horror that gripped Chicago, the frant...

Since 2007, more than twenty human feet have washed ashore around British Columbia and Washington, usually still inside modern running shoes. Terrifying & True follows the Salish Sea discoveries from the first foot found on Jedediah Island through the identifications, matched pairs, hoaxes, and headlines that turned a forensic phenomenon into an international mystery. The locations and missing bodies inspired theories involving serial killers, organized crime, plane crashes, and the 2004 Indian...

Mary Mallon appeared healthy, yet outbreaks of typhoid fever followed the New York cook from household to household in the early twentieth century. Terrifying & True traces how sanitary engineer George Soper connected a 1906 outbreak in Oyster Bay to Mallon and identified her as an asymptomatic carrier of Salmonella Typhi. Her refusal to accept the diagnosis led to forced testing and years of quarantine on North Brother Island, making “Typhoid Mary” a public-health warning and a lasting symbol ...

Northern Illinois University student Donna Doll vanished after leaving her library job in October 1970. Nine days later, she was found dead in a cornfield. The 21-year-old had been missing since October 2, when she finished work on the NIU campus in DeKalb, Illinois. Her body was discovered on October 11, without her shoes, purse, or coat. Investigators believed she had remained alive for roughly two days after disappearing and determined that she died by suffocation, but the scene offered no s...

Why do millions remember “Berenstein Bears,” a Sinbad genie movie called Shazaam, and Darth Vader saying “Luke, I am your father” when the records say otherwise? Terrifying & True investigates the Mandela Effect, the phenomenon in which large groups confidently share the same false memory. The name traces to paranormal researcher Fiona Broome and reports from people who remembered Nelson Mandela dying in prison in the 1980s, even though he was released in 1990 and died in 2013. Famous examples ...

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...

Carrie Culberson disappeared from Blanchester, Ohio, in August 1996 after enduring escalating violence from her on-and-off boyfriend, Vincent Doan. The 22-year-old and her red Honda CRX vanished during the night of August 28–29. Witness testimony, a history of abuse, and evidence surrounding her final hours focused the investigation on Doan, but searches—including a troubled search of a pond—failed to recover Carrie’s body or car. In 1997, a jury convicted Doan of aggravated murder and kidnappi...

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...

Carl Tanzler stole Maria Elena Milagro de Hoyos’s body from a Key West mausoleum and kept her remains in his home for seven years. Terrifying & True examines the disturbing case behind the romanticized legend. Tanzler, a German-born radiology technician at the U. S. Marine Hospital, became obsessed with the young Cuban-American tuberculosis patient after meeting her in 1930. She died the following year despite his attempts to treat her, but his fixation continued through repeated visits to her ...

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...

In 1958, bottles popped open and heavy objects flew through the Herrmann family’s Seaford, Long Island, home—sometimes in front of police and reporters. The disturbances began with household containers mysteriously spilling their contents, then escalated to moving figurines, overturned furniture, and dangerous projectiles. Nassau County detective Joseph Tozzi investigated, tested conventional explanations, and documented 67 reported incidents. National press and television crews turned the subu...

Nineteen-year-old Brandon Swanson vanished on a rural Minnesota road while speaking to his father by phone. His final words were a startled “Oh, shit.” After celebrating the end of his college semester on May 14, 2008, Brandon drove into a ditch near Taunton but mistakenly believed he was close to Lynd. He called his parents and began walking toward lights he thought marked the town. The conversation continued for 47 minutes as his father searched—then the line went silent. Brandon’s car was re...

When Annie Börjesson’s body washed up on a beach in Prestwick, Scotland, police ruled it suicide within hours. But the evidence told a different story.She had bruises. Her hair was hacked off. Her lungs showed signs of freshwater drowning—despite being found by the ocean. Nearly 20 years later, Annie’s case remains one of Europe’s most unsettling unsolved deaths. In this episode, we dive deep into her final hours, explore a possible cover-up, and examine every chilling clue: - Her sudden exit f...

Five members of the Tromp family abruptly fled their Australian farm in August 2016, abandoning their phones, cards, passports, and ordinary lives. Mark and Jacoba Tromp left Silvan, Victoria, with their adult children Riana, Mitchell, and Ella, convinced that someone was pursuing them. Their technology-free escape stretched hundreds of miles into New South Wales before the family began to separate. Mitchell left near Bathurst; Ella returned home; Riana was discovered distressed in the back of ...

David Hampson repeatedly stood in the same Swansea road, blocked traffic, accepted arrest, and refused to explain a single thing to police or the courts. Known as “The Silent Man,” Hampson returned to De La Beche Street near Swansea Central police station again and again between 2014 and 2018. Conditional discharge, criminal behaviour orders, and prison sentences failed to stop the cycle. After serving more than three years, he went back in December 2021 and repeated the unexplained obstruction...

Angela Hammond was speaking to her fiancé from a Clinton, Missouri, payphone when a circling pickup stopped nearby and her casual call became an abduction. On April 4, 1991, the 20-year-old described an older green Ford truck and the stranger approaching her booth. Rob Shafer heard a scream, raced seven blocks toward her, and passed the fleeing vehicle as Angela shouted his name from inside. He turned to pursue it, but damage to his transmission ended the chase after two miles. Angela and the d...

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...

Three young girls were found beneath a blanket near Pennsylvania’s Pine Grove Furnace in November 1934, unidentified and abandoned far from home. Thousands viewed the bodies as authorities tried to learn who the “Babes in the Wood” were. The investigation ultimately traced them to California: Norma, Dewilla, and Cordelia Noakes had crossed the country with their father, Elmo Noakes, and his 18-year-old niece, Winifred Pierce, during the Great Depression. Early reports struggled to determine whe...

Two thieves dressed as police entered Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum on March 18, 1990, restrained the guards, and stole thirteen works of art. Over 81 minutes, the intruders moved through the galleries and took pieces by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Degas, and others—including The Storm on the Sea of Galilee and The Concert. They cut paintings from their frames, removed security records, and disappeared before the morning shift found guards Rick Abath and Randy Hestand handcuffed in the basem...

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. ...