Astonishing Legends
The world is more mysterious than most people are comfortable imagining. We cross paths with the mystical from time to time and may not even notice it. If we do, we quickly return to our usually mundane daily existence. But what if we not only acknowledged the unknown, we investigated it and spoke with those in the know? That's what co-hosts Scott Philbrook & Forrest Burgess, and co-executive producer Tess Pfeifle do at Astonishing Legends. Over 100 million downloads and hundreds of thousands of listeners have discovered the thrill of exploring the mysteries of our world, showing that the unknown can be both captivating and intriguing. Welcome to Astonishing Legends!
Episodes
July 29, 2025 • 31 mins
In tonight’s dead letter listener Henry, a marine, recounts his experiences on guard duty in Iraq, where his platoon was stationed at an abandoned hotel near the Jordanian border. During a late-night watch, he and another marine hear footsteps in the stairwell, but a search of the building yields nothing but an unsettling encounter with glowing eyes in the boiler room. The mystery deepens when a fellow marine suggests the pres...
Mark as Played
July 22, 2025 • 36 mins
In tonight’s dead letter… Josh shares a chilling encounter with a being we’ve discussed on the show numerous times. The Hat Man. For Josh he appears as a shadowy figure sitting in his bedroom in the middle of the night. What would you do in this situation? It’s easy to answer that until you’re confronted with it yourself. Josh gave into paranormal apathy, something we’ve identified at Astonishing Legends as a common reaction t...
Mark as Played
July 15, 2025 • 33 mins
In tonight’s dead letter, listener Renee shares a strange encounter in Los Angeles. Late one night, while walking her dog, she saw what appeared to be a gray alien. After a moment of shock, she looked again and saw a middle-aged African-American woman. Renee was left wondering if she had seen a psychic mask slip or if it was just a trick of the light.
Send your story to deadletteroffice@astonishinglegends.com
Send your story to deadletteroffice@astonishinglegends.com
Mark as Played
July 12, 2025 • 141 mins
On September 12th, 1952, in Flatwoods, West Virginia, five boys witnessed a fiery object slowly descend from the sky and land nearby, seemingly under intelligent control. What followed became one of the strangest UFO encounters in American history. Joined by a 32-year-old mother and a National Guard member, the group were allegedly pursued by a towering, mist-shrouded, humanoid figure that emitted strange lights and sounds. An...
Mark as Played
July 8, 2025 • 38 mins
In tonight’s dead letter, Cody shares a chilling experience from a trip to Jacob City, a ghost town in Utah. While camping with friends and their dogs, they captured eerie EVPs, including one that called out Cody’s name. As the night grew darker, the dogs became unusually frightened, and a sudden, strong wind forced them to pack up and leave before their campfire got out of control. This is history, mystery, and a reminder to ...
Mark as Played
July 1, 2025 • 41 mins
In tonight’s dead letter, Jordan recalls a strange encounter in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she spotted nearly a dozen silver crafts hovering over the Sandia Mountains. These objects appeared to be linked and moved in unison, with one larger craft seemingly in charge. A large black helicopter sped off in the direction of the crafts after they disappeared, leaving Jordan with a sense of wonder and the feeling that they were ...
Mark as Played
June 28, 2025 • 112 mins
This week, we revisit a favorite Patreon Junk Drawer episode featuring Max Kelso's unsettling experiences at a Boy Scout camp in the heart of Ohio.
We explore Max's first encounter as a young scout when he saw a shadowy figure watching him through the window of his cabin late one night. Years later, during a game at the same camp, Max experiences something even stranger.
The Junk Drawer is a more casual, conversational...
We explore Max's first encounter as a young scout when he saw a shadowy figure watching him through the window of his cabin late one night. Years later, during a game at the same camp, Max experiences something even stranger.
The Junk Drawer is a more casual, conversational...
Mark as Played
June 24, 2025 • 31 mins
In tonight’s dead letter, Scott and Forrest share Arthur’s story. He recounts a frightening encounter in the Bronx in 1998 when while stopped at a red light he saw something, or someone that didn’t seem right. The person in the car next to him had pale skin, completely black eyes, and an impossible smile. But that’s really just the beginning of this bizarre tale.
Books by David Weatherly on Amazon
https://www.amaz...
Books by David Weatherly on Amazon
https://www.amaz...
Mark as Played
June 17, 2025 • 29 mins
In tonight’s dead letter, Scott and Forrest read a dead letter from a woman with ties to the Otoe-Missouria tribe in Oklahoma. She recounts a terrifying experience driving on Highway 60 at night when a dark fog hit the truck she was in, causing a flat tire. The story delves into local legends, the importance of oral traditions, and the listener’s theory that the area is haunted due to indigenous people buried there by settlers...
Mark as Played
June 14, 2025 • 104 mins
In 1850, the quiet town of Stratford, Connecticut was shaken by a bizarre and terrifying haunting that gripped the world’s attention. Reverend Eliakim Phelps and his family were tormented by objects falling from nowhere, cryptic messages, and strange effigies crafted from household items. As the phenomena escalated—turning violent and targeting the children—skeptics, spiritualists, and investigators descended on the mansion in...
Mark as Played
June 10, 2025 • 28 mins
In tonight’s Dead Letter, Kaleb recounts a few paranormal experiences, starting with a childhood memory of a stuffed bear that seemed to turn its head on its own, but for some bizarre reason didn't frighten him. Years later, he experienced a potent wave of fear in a dark basement, reminding Scott of his experience at the Sallie House. Forrest and Scott then delve into the nature of fear, the existence of multiple entities in h...
Mark as Played
June 3, 2025 • 29 mins
In tonight’s dead letter, Forrest and Scott read a submission from Misael, who recalls a bizarre childhood encounter involving a blue ball of fire that appeared while he and his sister were playing basketball. The strange sphere, which seemed to be made of stone and engulfed in flames, hovered near them before shooting off toward a neighbor's light post and disintegrating.
The Encyclopedia of Demons and Demonology
...
The Encyclopedia of Demons and Demonology
...
Mark as Played
May 27, 2025 • 37 mins
In tonight’s dead letter, listener Barry talks about the strange phenomenon of table tipping. He recounts an experience from 25 years ago, when he and a friend attempted to raise a heavy coffee table through meditation, with unexpected results. This leads to a larger discussion about EVPs and Forrest shares an anecdote from a recent ghost hunt at a theater, where a table moved during a tipping experiment, and they captured som...
Mark as Played
May 24, 2025 • 117 mins
We are once again joined by investigator Philip Mantle to dive back into the Pascagoula Abduction with Part 2 of our series, peeling back layers of a story that stretches far beyond one night in 1973. While skeptics cite a silent bridgetender, fresh eyewitness accounts —from shipyard workers to families at home — suggest something far stranger was unfolding.
In this episode, we uncover a decades-hidden encounter from...
In this episode, we uncover a decades-hidden encounter from...
Mark as Played
May 20, 2025 • 27 mins
In tonight’s dead letter, a scientist recounts an eerie experience from his teenage years on Long Island. A self-proclaimed skeptic, he describes waking up one night to see a glowing, humanoid figure in his sister's room. The story takes an even stranger turn when he mentions a family get-together where his sister and father recall their own unsettling experiences from that time, possibly tying everything together.
Se...
Se...
Mark as Played
May 18, 2025 • 107 mins
In October 1973, as the Vietnam War waned and Watergate filled headlines, two friends in Pascagoula, Mississippi—Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker—had an encounter that would shake them for life and baffle the world. While fishing after work, they claimed to be abducted by strange beings from a hovering craft, describing elephant-skinned entities with claw-like hands, and examined aboard the vessel. Though skeptics dismissed i...
Mark as Played
May 13, 2025 • 31 mins
In tonight’s dead letter, Scott and Forrest read a listener submission from Karena in Semaphore, Australia, who recounts a puzzling experience during her morning walk. On a bright, hot summer's day, she encountered a man walking 3 dogs. That itself is certainly not unusual, but he was dressed in clothes from another time and he vanished into thin air.
Semaphore | South Australia
Semaphore, South Australia - W...
Semaphore | South Australia
Semaphore, South Australia - W...
Mark as Played
May 10, 2025 • 117 mins
This week, we’re heading into the world of parapsychology with a visit to the legendary Rhine Research Center in North Carolina—an institution that’s been quietly pushing the boundaries of the human mind for nearly a century. Founded in the 1930s by J.B. and Louisa Rhine at Duke University, the center has long been a hub for rigorous scientific inquiry into phenomena like telepathy, clairvoyance, and psychokinesis. Recently, f...
Mark as Played
May 6, 2025 • 31 mins
In tonight’s dead letter, we dive deep into the woods of Michigan's Upper Peninsula with Alicia, an experienced outdoorswoman who encounters a mysterious forest dweller during her hunting trip. As she waits silently, a small, dark form captures her attention—what could it possibly be? Is it a creature of folklore peeking into our world, or just an intricate game of light and shadow?
Michigan's Upper Peninsula
...
Michigan's Upper Peninsula
...
Mark as Played
April 29, 2025 • 26 mins
In tonight’s dead letter, we dive into "The Scented Ghost," a story from Buffalo, New York, shared by our listener Cheryl. In her old apartment, she and her boyfriend often noticed a strong, unusual floral scent, which could selectively present itself to either one of them. Things got eerie when Cheryl encountered a mysterious figure one night, leaving her spooked. Years later, a chance encounter adds an unexpected twist to he...
Mark as Played
Popular Podcasts
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.