Wicked Within

In the early morning hours of December 5th, 1998, 14-year-old Michael Politte, and his friend, 15-year-old Josh awoke to the smell of smoke. When they opened the door to Michael’s bedroom, they choked on the smoke billowing from 40-year-old Rita Politte’s room. While Josh ran to the neighbors house to get help, Michael ran outside to grab a hose. He tried to pull the hose inside, but it wasn’t long enough so he crawled to his mom’s...

In this episode we discuss the life and death of Tina Fontaine, a young indigenous girl whose life was marked by trauma, and systemic failures. Tina’s story is reflective of the shortcomings of the child welfare system and the pervasive issues facing indigenous women and girls in Canada. We honor her memory by calling attention to the urgent need for change and justice.

Sources:
Taken Season 1 | Episode 1: Tina Fontaine
Tina...

In this episode we explore the disappearance of one of the most famous authors in the world. In December 1926, world renowned mystery author Agatha Christie disappeared from her home outside of London, England before reappearing over almost two weeks later. Even though Agatha was eventually found, the question remains - why did she disappear in the first place?

Sources:
About Agatha Christie from AgathaChristie.com

In Part I, we discussed the lead up to the arrests of Jodi Hildebrant and Ruby Franke. In this episode, we’re going to backtrack even further to see how we got there. We’re going to do some deep dives into Jodi’s methodology with couples and how she seemed to make this connection with the Franke family. Then, we’ll discuss the events leading to R’s escape from Jodi’s home and explore Jodi’s history of “child therapy”.

Sou...

On Wednesday, August 20th, 2023, a young boy can be seen ringing the doorbell at a home outside Ivins, Utah. At first, it seems as though no one will answer the door, so the boy turns to go to the next house, but then a man steps out to greet him. The boy asks if the man can take him to the nearest police station, and the man encourages him to sit down in the shade outside the front door so he could tell him what had happened. Befo...

On Thursday, September 28th, 2000, Joseph Mesa Jr, a freshman at Gallaudet University, started to get worried about his friend, Eric Plunkett. Eric had missed an 8pm tutoring session that evening, and when Joseph started asking around, he realized that no one had seen Eric for at least a couple of days. Eric didn’t have a roommate, so Joseph went to the Resident Advisor, Thomas Koch, and asked if he could just check on Eric to make...

On July 24, 1997, Amy Wroe Bechtel went for a run in the mountains about 45 minutes outside of her home in Lander, Wyoming The terrain was familiar to Amy. She was a regular runner and she enjoyed the challenge of chasing her own personal record through the trees and rocks of the Wyoming mountains. But Amy didn’t know that this last run would turn into a mystery that has lasted over two and a half decades.

Sources:
Whe...

United Airlines Flight 629 departed the Stapleton Airport in Denver, Colorado at 6:52 pm on Tuesday, November 1st, 1955. Just 11 minutes later at 7:03 pm, just as the plane reached 10,000 feet, it suddenly disappeared from Air Traffic Radar. Meanwhile, residents of Longmont, Colorado heard an explosion in the skies overhead. Their windows rattled and they saw a bright ball of fire in the sky. They heard plane engines, even as they ...

On January 7th, 2021, supermom and corporate badass, Maya Millete, seemingly vanished into thin air, just a few days before her daughter’s birthday. But as family and friends started looking into her disappearance, her husband’s odd demeanor and controlling behavior leading up to her disappearance started to paint a much more sinister picture.

Sources:
Searching for Maya Millete from 48 Hours
Maya Millete Case Ana...

In this chilling episode we discuss the harrowing true story of the 2006 kidnapping of Elizabeth Shoaf. At just 14 years old, Elizabeth was abducted while walking home from her school bus stop in Lugoff, South Carolina. Held captive in an underground bunker hidden in the dense forest, Elizabeth endured unimaginable horrors as she fought for her survival and plotted her escape. What follows is an incredible tale of survival, resilie...

We’re switching it up with our first “paranormal” episode in quite some time, and rather than focusing on ghost stories, weird, unexplained incidents or some kind of cryptid, in this episode we’re going to talk about The Wizard of Oz, Rebel Without a Cause, Incubus, Superman and The Omen, AKA, some of the most infamous “cursed films” out there.

Sources:
The Wizard of Oz at 80: fascinating facts about the 'cursed&...

Mike and Karen Laspisa were awoken at 8am on Friday, August 30th, 2013 when they heard a knock on their front door. The couple were expecting to see their son, 19-year-old Bryce Laspisa, who was supposed to be arriving at their home in Laguna Niguel after making a lengthy drive from his apartment near Rocklin, CA. But when they opened the door, they were dismayed to find a highway patrol officer looking back at them and asking them...

On Friday, March 28th, 2003, the last bell rang at Reagan High School in Austin, Texas, and students flooded into the hallways, rejoicing that the weekend was finally here. But soon, those excited shouts and plans for the weekend turned into screams of terror, and one of the students ran into Vanessa Conner’s classroom, telling her she had to come out into the hall to see what had happened. As Ms. Conner peered over the railing to ...

On August 15, 1994, at 11:15pm 911 dispatchers in Salt Lake City, Utah received numerous phone calls from a cozy, middle class neighborhood. Several people reported hearing a terrible screaming, howling sounds as if someone was being tortured. When police arrived in the neighborhood several minutes later, they were able to follow the awful sound into the backyard of one of the houses lining the street. When they arrived, they found...

On March 28, 1937, residents of Manhattan awoke to a cold, but clear Easter Morning. The churches were full, the businesses were quiet and families started to gather for Easter Dinner. But by later that evening, newsboys covered the streets, yelling about a grisly triple murder that had occurred in one of those quiet, nondescript Manhattan apartments earlier that morning.

Sources:
Crime Easter Killer from Time Magazine
Who ...

On the 8th of September 2013, 31-year-old Morgan Huxley was dropped off just outside his flat in Sydney’s Neutral Bay suburb after he and several of his friends attended an engagement party in nearby Lane Cove. Morgan tried to convince his friends to come have one more drink with him, but it was already almost 1 in the morning, so they told him that they were going to head home. Morgan walked into The Oakes Hotel, which housed his ...

On Tuesday, May 5th, 2020, at 10 o’clock in the morning Davohnte Morgan seemingly disappeared into thin air. No one has seen any sign of him since that fateful May morning, which begs the question, was Davohnte’s disappearance an accident or not? 

Sources:
Case Of Couple Who Vanished From Manhattan Apartment In 1997 Remains A Mystery from Investigation Discovery
Police: Ku Klux Klan flyers dropped at homes in Tulel...

At 4:18 am on April 18, 2016, Missy Bevers arrived at Creekside Church of Christ to prepare for a workout she would be hosting at 5am later that morning. When Missy walked into the church at 4:20 that morning, she didn’t realize that someone was already waiting in the deserted building, almost as if they were waiting for her to arrive so that they could catch her unaware. 

Sources:
Missy Bevers Case Analysis | Surprised Burglar ...

On May 19th, 1983, employees at McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center in Springfield, Oregon were shocked and horrified when the quiet night was interrupted by a bloody woman falling out of her car and repeatedly saying, “Please help my children, please help my children.”
The woman was Diane Downs, and she told the hospital employees that she and her three children had been shot by a bushy-haired man on their drive home.

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