Down the Rabbit Hole

Set to embark on a ferry trip around the Northeast, Poe suddenly disappeared, only to be found five days later behind a tavern bar in Baltimore, in an entirely disoriented state of mind. It was as if Poe's writing, so filled with darkness and intrigue, foreshadowed his own death. The curiosity surrounding Poe's sudden death has never ended, confusing historians and medical practitioners for over a century. Sources at drhpod.com --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/drh-pod/support

Project MK Ultra was the code name of an illegal human experimentation program performed by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in the early 1950's. Although drugs were intended for use as an aid to interrogations, it became known that the materials were instead used for harassment, discrediting and disabling purposes. Listen to learn more about the experiments within MK Ultra and the masterminds behind the operation. Sources at drhpod.com --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/drh-pod/support

When Jane, Arnna, and Grant Beaumont failed to return home after a run of the mill summer beach day in 1966, the largest land, sea, and air search in South Australian history began. Still unsolved after over 5 decades, their disappearance will forever be known as "the loss of Australia's innocence." Sources at drhpod.com

From behind the walls of a Utah state penitentiary, Dan Lafferty infiltrated the lives of the Strack Family and set forth the string of events that ended with overwhelming paranoia and a suicide cocktail to kill 5. Sources at drhpod.com

When the killer brothers, Dan and Ron Lafferty, wrote their own scripture, they not only prophesized a "Removal Revelation", but brought it to fruition themselves. Find out how and why in this week's episode. Sources at drhpod.com

Throughout history, scary stories have been written to serve as warnings to the youth and general society... to frighten them into good behavior. But what happens when the bogeyman is real? The story of Carl Panzram is one filled with tragedy and terror that spans decades and continents, leaving a trail of bodies and horrors in its wake. Sources at drhpod.com

What does a fruity grape beverage have to do with a mass suicide? Well, maybe everything. This week, we'll learn about Reverend Jim Jones and the People's Temple, and the mass suicide that took place at Jim Jonestown in Guyana.

The Jamison family story didn't end when they vanished into the Sans Bois mountain range. Instead, when they were found 4 years later, it only led to more questions. What happened to the Jamison family? Sources at www.drhpod.com

In 1989, Faye and Ray Copeland became the oldest couple on death row at 69 and 79 years old. Tune in to find out how this duo earned the title.

Over the course of a year and half, Japanese food companies were tormented by an elusive group blackmailing and poisoning the products of the country's biggest consumer brand names. They teased the police and got away without a trace. This is the story of the Monster with 21 Faces.  For a full list of sources, visit drhpod.com/blog/glico-morinaga

Even after your loved ones pass, they still may be only a phone away. In September 2008, the Metrolink Train Disaster took the life of Charles Peck. Despite being dead for 12 hours, his call phone continually made phone calls only to the people he loved the most. And back in 1988, Dean Koontz's experience with a phantom phone saved his life when his late mother warned him about his very own father. Find my sources at drhpod.com

On California Route 204, the Villa family walked into a nightmare they couldn't have dreamt of. Instead of simple trash on the road, they found a VHS tape depicting a house on fire backed by a disturbing narration. This short episode features a case that could have gone unsolved if not for the video evidence and the power of internet traction. Sources at drhpod.com/blog/the-stockton-arsonist

The wild men are the feral humans that have lived so long in the wild that they’re closer to beasts than men. In 1969, six-year old Dennis Martin went camping with his family... could wild men be the reason he never returned? Sources at www.drhpod.com/blog/thewildmen

In a small Swedish village called Knutby lives a story of manipulation and brainwashing through sex religion that and religion that left the world in awe. Helge Fossmo convinced his lover that God was texting her orders for murder and two members of the congregation were caught in the crossfire. How did Sara Svensson get so disillusioned? Sources at drhpod.com/blog/theknutbymurders

At 3335 West Moncrieff Place in Denver, Colorado, the Peters family had no idea just what (or who) was lurking in their attic. According to investigators, “A man would have to be a spider to stand it long up there” so dive down the rabbit hole with me to find out just how he did. Find my sources at drhpod.com

In 1935, visitors at the Coogee Aquarium Baths were shocked to witness the 4 meter (13 feet) long Tiger Shark vomit up an intact human arm. It was no shark attack, and this story leads us down a rabbit hole of deception, crime, and the seedy underworld of Sydney, Australia.  Sources can be found at drhpod.com/blog/the-shark-arm-case

In 7 years, divorcee Cindy James reported over 100 incidents of harassment to police. They thought she was making all of it up, despite the lethal injections, stab wounds, and stocking left around her neck after every single attack. Do you think Cindy bound her own hands and feet behind or back, or is there more to the story? Sources at drhpod.com

In 1987, best friends Kevin Ives and Don Henry were found on the railroad tracks in Bryant, Arkansas. Despite the thundering diesel horn as the train approached, the boys laid exactly parallel, arms straight down their sides, partially covered from a light green tarp from waist to knee, and they never so much as flinched when the train passed them right over. No one knows who put the boys there or why, but there's plenty of suspicion in this town known for drug trafficking and corrupted officials.  Sources: Unsolved- Don Henry and Kevin Ives Wikipedia- Don Henry and Kevin Ives Unsolved Mysteries- Don Henry and Kevin Ives Geocities- The Train Deaths Unsolved mysteries- Billy Hainline and Dennis Decker WSJ

In an anomaly now known as Ben's Vortex, Ben McDaniel went underwater in 2010 for a night-time cave dive and never returned. Despite the extensive resources spent on finding him, no sign of him was every recovered, and instead... only mystery and loss were left in his wake. Sources: Atlas Obscura Tampa Bay Times Archive Boredom Therapy Wikipedia- Vortex Spring Wikipedia- Disappearance of Ben McDaniel

In 1966, Ann Miller, Patricia Blough, and Renee Bruhl went out to the beach for 4th of July festivities and never made it back home. Learn about the skeletons in their closet and decide for yourself what happened to the girls in the Indiana Dunes National Park. Sources: Chicago Tribune Ice Station Poetry NY Daily News

The story of the sleeping beauty has been retold, remastered and rewritten countless times since it was first put into words in the 1500’s. It makes me wonder if Karolina Olsson heard this story and saw the resemblance in 1908 when she herself woke up from a 32 year slumber, in awe at the world around her. Sources: Anna Belfrage- The Curious Case of Karolina Wikipedia- Karolina Olsson The Paranormal Guide Nursing Times - effects of bed rest Hektoen International Medical journal- dementia paralytica

Roland T. Owen? Eugene K. Scott? Cecil Werner? Who checked into room 1046 and why was he so brutally murdered there? Sources: KC History- https://kchistory.org/blog/mystery-room-1046-pt-1-roland-t-owen KC History- https://kchistory.org/blog/mystery-room-1046-pt-2-love-forever-louise Ranker- https://www.ranker.com/list/room-1046-mystery/orrin-grey?ref=collections&l=2625326&collectionId=2198

In a place called Ice valley, the last thing one would expect to encounter is the smell of burning flesh- but that’s exactly what the hikers were drawn to. They followed the scent to the base of Mt Ulriken in Norway, where they found the Isdal Woman for the very first time. In turn, she led Norway down a trail of coded messages, fake identities, and mystery for over 50 years.

Criminality 101 says to leave the crime scene immediately. Every minute wasted there is a minute closer to getting caught. But the Miyazawa Family killer missed that course. Instead of fleeing the scene, he made himself right at home in their home-turned-crime scene and over 20 years later, he is still getting away with it. Note: I mistakenly said Miyazama instead of Miyazawa a few times in this episode. Sources: Wikipedia- Setagaya Family Murder Youtube- Lazy Masquerade ABC.net Australia Unresolved

For two decades, Los Angeles was ravaged by fires and John Leonard Orr was there to save the day every single time. He spent his free time writing a novel, about a firefighter arsonist and it hit a little too close to home for the arson investigators on his trail. It turns out that in this case, the man who was always first to the fires, probably started them too. Sources: Wikipedia-John Leonard Orr Newsweek People California Sun Murderpedia Wikipedia- Firefighter Arson Novel Coworking- Hero Syndrome

In 2004, a man awoke behind the dumpsters at a Burger King in Georgia. He didn’t awake with a hangover though, it was something so much worse. He awoke with no memories, about himself or his past. Nothing at all. And this week we’re following his journey in finding his identity again. This is the FBI’s first and only case of an official missing person that they were looking right at. Sources: Matt Wolfe- The Last Unknown Man Unidentified.Wikia Matt Wolfe Reddit AMA

The only thing scarier than suffering from an obsession is suffering from the obsession of someone else. That's the way a love obsession works. The victim does nothing more than smile from afar, or say hello to the wrong person, at the wrong time. Then they're locked in, because an unchecked obsession only ever gets worse. Dorothy Jane Scott found herself victim to a love obsessed killer, who remains unknown to this day despite his extensive efforts to get that fix. Sources: Unsolved Casefiles True Crime Articles Wicked We The Line Up

People go missing, I tell these stories all the time. And there doesn’t necessarily have to be anything supernatural or menacing about it either… some people just step out of sight, never to be seen again. It's scary, and sad, and opens our minds to consider even the things we wish not to. Further than that, there are places, isolated or not, where these mysterious happenings occur at an alarming frequency. One of these places is the Bennington Triangle, where people seem to step out of reality and into thin air. Sources: BenningtonTriangle.com BT Wiki Legends of America

Alliteration is a poetic device that has a way of standing out in American linguistics. It's beautiful, attention grabbing, and rhythmic. But like all beautiful things, the right person can turn it into something vile and disgusting. Starting in 1971, Rochester, New York suffered under the hands of the Alphabet Killer. Tune in this week to find out why he got that name and if he was ever brought to justice. Sources: Unsolved Casebook Alphabet Murders Wiki Greatest Unsolved Mysteries

All that most parents want in life is to give their children a better life than they had. But, misguided efforts easily lead to resentful kids. It leads to kids who lie, and cheat, and steal and feel no remorse because the world "owes" them. It leads to kids like Jennifer Pan. And in her chaotic wake, she left us all wondering if she was a victim, not mentally healthy enough to cope with psychological abuse, or if she's just a sociopath... abusing our sympathy and cold enough to do it again. Sources: Crime Scene Database Jennifer Pan Wiki Everybody Kills Toronto Life

All week, Gary Mathias told his mom "We got a big game Saturday, Don't you let me oversleep." He laid his jersey out on his bed then headed out the door to attend a game at Cal State, Chico with four of his best friends. Rather quickly, Jack Madruga's Mercury Montego was found abandoned up a desolate mountain road. The car was perfectly functioning and the boys were missing. Months later, the group of boys were finally found, dead and in different places around the mountain. All but one. To this day, Gary Mathias remains missing. This week, we're talking about the bizarre disappearance of the Yuba County Five, also known as the American Dyatlov Pass. Sources: Morbidology Mental Floss YCF Wiki

In the sleepy town of Niagara, North Dakota, the story of the Midnight Rider has gone stale after over 100 years of mystery. We all thought Eugene Butler was just weird old man with mental health issues, hopping on his horse in the nighttime and screaming down the country roads. We put him up in an insane asylum until he died and thought that was the end of his story. That is until his home went under renovation and a shocking discovery was made. This week, tune in to find out what Farmer Butler was hiding and why it’s still an unsolved mystery over a decade later. Sources: Wicked We HPR Ghosts of North Dakota

The Thanksgiving holiday weekend is notorious for long lines at the airport and bumper to bumper traffic down the interstate. We've all done the holiday travel and when you’re packed in on a 17 inch wide seat, touching elbows with a complete stranger 35 thousand feet in the sky, you better hope that TSA did their job right. Luckily, TSA has largely gotten their program together, all from a lesson they learned in 1971, when a man named D. Cooper bought a one way flight for $20 and turned the crew's shift inside out. Once acquiring $20,000 from the airline, Cooper parachuted off of the plane mid-flight to Mexico City. His body, nor the ransom money ever to be seen again. Tune in to see how this could be possible and where law enforcement is today in the hunt for the unidentified man. Sources: DB Cooper Wiki Britannica History.com

It all started with feed from the wrong baby monitor. That technological mishap by a next door neighbor would uncover one of the most chilling child abuse cases seen yet in the Czech Republic. But it’s actually not just a sad story. It’s actually full of twists and turns as our main characters aren’t who we think they are, and you learn you can’t trust anyone. Our 13 year old, traumatized orphan actually executed an elaborate plan and was going to keep ruining lives until finally caught. This is The Kuřim Case. Trigger warning: I have excluded every graphic piece of this story and brought it down to the bare bones mania that it encompasses. But, the topic of abuse in general is heavy and I encourage you to try any of my other episodes if this is too sensitive. Sources: Reddit Unresolved Mysteries Cult Education Morbidology Tales of Crime

Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary was never meant to be a place for rehabilitation, but purely for punishment and containment. During the 29 years it was in use, the jail held some of the most notorious criminals in American history, such as Al Capone, Robert Franklin Stroud, and Alvin Karpis. To this day, they claim that in those 29 years of operation, no prisoner ever escaped successfully. But, the truth is that they don’t know that for sure. Because on June 11th, 1962, Frank Morris, John and Clarence Anglin carried out one of the most intricate escapes ever seen, and to this day they’ve never been found. This week, hear the story of how this trio made the only potentially successful escape off the Rock. Sources: Frank Morris Wiki Unsolved Mysteries FBI NY Daily News

If you see something, say something. We’ve all heard it, but how many of us actually act on it? It’s a phenomenon taught in every Psychology 101 course known as the bystander effect. In the early hours of March 13, 1964, Kitty Genovese was stabbed outside of her own apartment. Over 38 witnesses saw or heard the attack, but not one called the police or came to her aid. The homicide of this young woman is arguably one of the most cited and referenced true crimes in modern history, so if you didn’t recognize her, you should. Tag along this week while we learn about this psychological phenomenon and the case which prompted the installment of the current 911 system. Sources: Kitty Genovese Wiki History.com Vintage News World Atlas

Organ trafficking has been called the most lucrative global enterprise, generating between $500 million to $1 billion dollars annually. In Mumbai India, Sundar Singh Jatav was coerced into selling his kidney and in turn, he ended up exposing a major kidney trafficking network based inside of a highly prestigious Indian hospital. We are raised to trust doctors and despite the medical horror stories we’ve heard, like Dr. Death or H. H. Holmes, we do anyways, because we have no other choice. This week, listen in as I share Sundar's story and hear the horrible reality that desperate and voiceless populations have been living for decades. Sources: LA Times PBS Washington Post

Mary Ashford and Barbara Forrest, both just 20 years old, spent their last hours alive dancing on May 27. The similarities between these two unsolved murders lead us to believe that they're obviously connected... but what if I told you the identical murders took place exactly 157 years apart? What in the world is going on in the small suburb of Erdington, England? Sources: Unsolved Mysteries Paranorms Birmingham Mail The Line Up

In this day and age, the very first thing you bring on a road trip is your phone, passport, ID, and money. Well the Tromp family knew it and chose not to when they abandoned their home and business and embarked on a trip off the grid and headed nearly one thousand miles across Australia. In a turn of events, each member of the family broke apart from the others, leading to 5 separately lost family members across Australia. It took 6 days to reunite the family and while all were found, all were not well. Tune in this week for another possible case of the rare folie a deux. Sources: BBC Reddit Unsolved Mysteries Mama Mia

In psychology, Folie à deux is a rare psychiatric phenomenon where delusional beliefs are shared between two people, usually related. It’s French for “a madness shared by two.” This week we’re looking at the case of Ursula and Sabina Eriksson, two Swedish twins who are believed to be a perfect example of the frightening illness. The had no history of delinquency or mental illness, so why then, did they embark on a suicide mission by running down the M6 Motorway into oncoming traffic? These twins went on this one day bender in 2008 and have not been seen or heard from since. Sources: Erikkson sisters wiki I Can't Believe It's Nonfiction Bizarrepedia Real Unexplained Mysteries

A 28-year-old man from northern Germany, Lars Mittank, is now being described as the "most famous missing person on YouTube" after he disappeared over 5 years ago in Bulgaria on July 8, 2014. In the Varna airport CCTV footage, we watch a calm Lars enter for a flight home, just to flee back out at full speed, over a barbed wire fence, and into the forest, where he is never seen again. Listen this week to hear the bizarre story of Lars Mittank and everything leading up to his disappearance. Sources: Mysterious Universe Meaww Lars Mittank Wiki Bizarrepedia

This week, we're digging deeper into the mystery of missing Brandon Lawson. Now that you know the whole story, we're are going to look specifically at his 911 call and try to figure out what in the world happened between 12:54 and 1:18, when everything spiraled out of control. Sources: Missing Brandon Lawson Thought Catalog Go San Angelo True Crime Articles

Back in 2012, many words could describe Brandon... Blue collared, family man, loyal husband, overcomer. Now the only word we have is "Missing." This week, we cover the basics of Brandon Lawson's disappearance. Who was Brandon and how did he vanish without leaving a single trace? Sources: Missing Brandon Lawson Thought Catalog Go San Angelo True Crime Articles

An unknown writer terrorized this Westfield, NJ family for years, eventually pushing them to give up their $1.3M new home. What would it take for you to be driven out of your dream home? Find out their last straw on this week’s episode. Sources: Historic Mysteries The Cut True Crime Guy

Throughout the 1990’s, Phil Kennedy was at the forefront of neuroscience. Breakthrough after breakthrough, the next thing he knew, he was looking at his shaved head in the mirror, in a 13 room hospital in Belize. He needed to tap into a healthy human brain even if it meant that he would have to use his own. Sources: Wired Reddit Hacked

In 2014, Kenny Veach went missing after finding a strange cave out in the Mojave Desert, which seemed to have supernatural properties. Did he stumble upon something he was never meant to find? More importantly... where is the M Cave and where is Kenny? Sources: Message To Eagle Nevada Magazine Youtube Nomoria

Georgia Tann is a name somehow lost in history. But, for 26 years, Georgia Tann and the Tennessee Children’s Home Society stole and sold an estimated 5,000 children through black market adoption. Through trickery, deceit and outright fraud, she stole children from parents through a variety of sources such as baby scouts, corrupt Judges and even more corrupt politicians. This week, we're diving into a story full of intrigue, fascination, horror, and disbelief as we learn about the things Georgia did and how it has shaped modern de-stigmatized adoption. Sources: Unsolved Mysteries Insider All That's Interesting

This week we’re talking about Dr. John Calhoun, who spent the 1960s and 1970s playing god to thousands of rodents. He dedicated his time to building better and better mouse paradises with beautiful buildings and limitless food. Life was theoretically issue free. Each experiment, he introduced a few mice and let them live and reproduce in paradise. But, shortly after, the mice had created their own apocalypse… each and every time. It seems that evolution has given animals an innate and irreversible self-destruct button to prevent a species from overpopulating its habitat, will this apply to humans too? Sources: John Calhoun Wiki Brilliant Atlas Obscura Smithsonian Mag

Back in 1976, residents of Circleville, Ohio began receiving threatening letters exposing their personal information. The letters continued for 25 years, to the tune of over 1000 letters. All the while resulting in a suspicious death, an attempted murder, and a possible wrongful conviction. After all, our suspect was in jail for a decade, and the letters never stopped. So… who REALLY wrote the infamous Circleville letters? Sources: Unsolved Mysteries Historic Mysteries The Line Up Scare Street

This week's story is about a pizza delivery gone wrong with a complex plot involving a bank robbery, a scavenger hunt, and a homemade collar bomb. We have a whole cast of characters ranging from a high school dropout delivery man, a wicked smart boyfriend killer, an ex-crackhead turned hit man, and the kind of loyal woodworking friend who will hold a body in his freezer as a favor. Who do you think the real mastermind was behind the collar bomb heist? Sources: Wired Brian Wells wiki Time FBI Archives

In March of 1997, the San Diego Sheriffs Department received an anonymous tip, leading them the Heaven's Gate mansion, where 39 members committed a ritualistic suicide. Heaven's Gate provided an insane amount of documentation throughout their existence and told us that the suicide was in order to reach the next level of human existence through an spacecraft trailing the Hale-Bopp comet. Dive in with me this week, to learn about how Heaven's Gate came to be and how Do and Ti captured the hearts and loyalty of so many. Sources: Bizarrepedia Forbidden Symbols Heavens Gate All That's Interesting Heavens Gate wiki