ClueTrail
Uncovering forgotten cases, chilling mysteries, and overlooked truths from around the world. From hidden histories to modern investigations and unsettling disappearances, each episode follows the clues...wherever they lead.
Episodes
Two mysteries, one restless question: how far will fear carry a story? We mark Halloween by walking two grim paths, through the Pendle witch trials of 1612 and out to the storm-beaten Flannan Isles, where three lighthouse keepers vanished without a trace. Along the way, we unpack how belief, law, and isolation turn everyday details into legends that refuse to fade.
If this journey through history’s darker cor...
A city built on stone and certainty watched its streets turn into a stage. In the hot summer of 1518, a woman in Strasbourg began to dance, mechanical, relentless, and impossible to stop, and within weeks hundreds followed, their feet torn and faces locked in pain. We trace how a single, baffling act became a public crisis, and why officials, doctors, and priests each tried to tame it with wildly different tools.
...
In June 1912, the small town of Villisca, Iowa, awoke to a nightmare. Eight people, including six children, were found brutally murdered inside a quiet white house on East 2nd Street. The doors were locked, mirrors were covered, and more than a century later, the question still echoes: who wielded the axe that night?
Join us as we follow the trail of one of America’s most haunting unsolved murders, through the t...
A peaceful pond, a morning walk, and a horror scene no one expected: toads swelling, twitching, and then bursting along the water’s edge. We follow the 2005 Hamburg mystery from sensational headlines to a grounded, unsettling explanation that blends animal intelligence with fragile biology. What begins as a “Frog Plague” turns into a forensic journey through missing organs, precise wounds, and a defensive reflex gone ...
A brilliant lawyer vanishes in Brasov, and suddenly an entire country is asked to decide what justice looks like without a body. We follow the case of Elodia Marilena Ghinescu from the final hours of routine calls to the first glow of luminol in a too‑clean apartment, through mountain ravines, media studios, and finally a crowded courtroom where fragments of evidence meet an aching absence.
Along the way, we confront t...
Some mysteries don't just perplex us, they haunt us across centuries. The Mary Celeste stands as perhaps the most infamous ghost ship in maritime history, her empty decks still whispering questions that have no answers.
When the Mary Celeste departed New York harbor in November 1872, Captain Benjamin Briggs had his wife Sarah and two-year-old daughter Sophia aboard, along with seven experienced sailors. ...
The Pink Panthers emerged not from Hollywood, but from the ashes of war-torn Balkans in the 1990s. Young men who once fought in brutal conflicts found themselves in collapsed economies with few legitimate opportunities but with military training, discipline, and the ruthlessness needed to execute some of history's most audacious jewellery heists.
Their name originated from a 2003 robbery at Graff Diamond...
Long before viral internet sensations, one extraordinary animal captured the hearts and imaginations of an entire nation. When Muhammad Ali, the Ottoman governor of Egypt, sought to strengthen diplomatic ties with Europe in the 1820s, he chose a gift that would prove unforgettable: a young female giraffe from Sudan. For most Europeans, giraffes existed only in books and drawings, seeing one in the flesh was almost myt...
Behind the white coat of respectability lurked one of Europe's most prolific predators. The ClueTrail podcast dives deep into the harrowing case of Joël Le Scouarnec, a French surgeon whose decades of abuse remained hidden until the brave words of a six-year-old girl finally exposed the truth.
What makes this case particularly devastating is how many warning signs were ignored. Despite a 2005 conviction ...
Ever wondered what happens when political vengeance goes beyond the grave? The Cadaver Synod of 897 stands as perhaps the most macabre judicial proceeding in religious history; a dead pope put on trial by his living successor.
Step back to late 9th century Rome, where papal politics resembled a deadly chess match. Pope Formosus had committed the cardinal sin of backing the wrong emperor candidate, choosing A...
This week’s release is a reworked edition of our Elizabeth Struhs episode.
How far would you go for your beliefs? Would you risk your child's life? That's the heartbreaking question at the core of Elizabeth Struhs story, an 8-year-old girl who loved the colour pink, dreamed of becoming a doctor, and died surrounded by 14 adults who chose prayer over the insulin she needed to survive.
Elizabeth's...
Have you ever felt so desperate to get home that you'd try anything? Probably not as desperate as Reg Spiers, the Australian javelin thrower who, in 1964, packed himself into a wooden crate and mailed himself from London to Australia when he ran out of money after failing to qualify for the Olympics.
We dive into this extraordinary tale of desperation and survival as Reg constructed a simple 5x3 foot woo...
The Beasts of Satan emerged from Milan's late 1990s heavy metal scene as something far more sinister than rebellious teenagers. What began with music, black clothing, and typical adolescent rebellion evolved into ritualistic murder that would horrify Italy and captivate international attention.
At the core of this shocking case were three figures: unpredictable drug user Andrea Volpe, manipulative leader...
A tidal wave of beer that destroyed homes and claimed lives sounds like a pub joke gone wrong, but for the residents of St. Giles in 1814 London, it was a devastating reality. The London Beer Flood stands as one of history's most peculiar yet tragic industrial accidents.
The catastrophe began at the Horseshoe Brewery on Tottenham Court Road, where an enormous wooden vat containing over 600,000 liters of porte...
The highways of post-communist Romania held a deadly secret. For years, a predator lurked along rural roads, targeting women who were simply trying to get from one place to another. They called him "The Husi Monster" - a nameless, faceless threat that haunted the countryside around the town of Husi.
We journey back to the early 2000s, when Romania was still finding its footing after decades under co...
Two bright children vanish without a trace on their way to a Puerto Rican beach, leaving behind bedrooms that would remain untouched for nearly 50 years. This is the haunting mystery of John and Janina Colonna.
Someone, somewhere, knows what happened to John and Janina Colonna. If you have any information about this case, no matter how small, please come forward. After nearly 50 years, this family deserves an...
Ever wondered what happens when well-meaning bureaucrats tackle an eight-ton problem with half a ton of dynamite? Welcome to the legendary tale of Florence, Oregon's exploding whale disaster.
November 9, 1970 started like any other day until a 45-foot sperm whale corpse appeared on the beach. As curious locals gathered, fascination quickly turned to disgust as the massive carcass rotted under the autumn ...
A family lunch ends in tragedy when a homemade beef wellington serves up more than just a gourmet meal. Three dead, one critically ill, and a small Australian town left reeling in shock.
Dive deep into the case of Erin Patterson, whose 2023 lunch invitation to her former in-laws turned deadly when death cap mushrooms made their way into her beef wellington. The quiet town of Leongata, Victoria became the epic...
Something walked across Devon, England on a snowy February night in 1855, leaving behind a mystery that has endured for over 165 years. The Devil's Footprints, as they came to be known, weren't ordinary animal tracks – they followed perfectly straight lines for reportedly 100 miles, crossing rooftops, scaling walls, and even appearing to pass through solid structures.
Victorian-era locals immediatel...
You might think you've heard every strange human feat possible, but the story of Michel Lotito will make you question everything you thought you knew about the human body's limitations. This isn't just about a man with an unusual appetite – it's about someone whose physiological makeup defied medical understanding.
Born in 1950s France, Michel discovered his peculiar ability to consume gla...
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