Heart Starts Pounding: Horrors, Hauntings and Mysteries

Horrors, hauntings and mysteries! A collection of scary stories that will have you on the edge of your seat. If you’re a fan of all things spooky, creepy, and thrilling, this is the podcast for you. Want more darkly curious content? Join the Rogue Detecting Society on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/heartstartspounding) for ad-free listening, exclusive bonus content and more! Follow @heartstartspounding on: YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@heartstartspounding/) // TikTok (https://www.tiktok.com/@heartstartspounding) // Instagram (https://instagram.com/heartstartspounding) // Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/people/Heart-Starts-Pounding/100087903971907/) Have a horrifying tale, paranormal encounter, or unsolved mystery that you’d like to share? Visit https://www.heartstartspounding.com/stories and submit your heart-pounding story to be featured on the podcast.

Episodes

165. Terrifying True Urban Legends: A Haunted Forest, The Elevator Game, Britain’s Hannibal Lecter

February 25, 2026 • 38 mins

When villagers in a remote Thai forest heard screams echoing from the woods every hour for three straight days, they were convinced the legends of ancient spirits haunting those trees had come to life. In Taiwan, a woman and her young daughter walked into an elevator, rode to the top floor of an 11-story building, and seemingly vanished, feeding into the internet's most haunting urban legends, “The Elevator Game”. And in England, a...

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164. Backwoods Horror: The Mysterious Disappearances of Amy Bechtel & Polly Melton

February 18, 2026 • 42 mins

Go to https://kachava.com and use code HSP for 15% off your first order. One summer, a 24-year-old runner parked her car on a remote Wyoming road, left behind a to-do list with one uncrossed item "run" and was never seen again. Across the country, another woman was walking with friends on a well-traveled trail in the Great Smoky Mountains, went off ahead of her friends, and vanished without a trace. Today, we're diving into two ba...

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163. Reddit Scary Stories: Djinn, Doppelgängers, and Imaginary Friends (feat. Two Girls One Ghost)

February 11, 2026 • 74 mins

Our listeners get 15% off plus free shipping when they buy two or more pairs of prescription glasses at WarbyParker.com/HSP — Using our link helps support the show. #WarbyParker #ad A face drawn in the fog of a bathroom mirror that looks exactly like you. A husband standing in the doorway who doesn't speak, doesn't move — and swears he was never there. From djinn that fall in love through reflections to entities that mimic the pe...

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162. How Reddit Solved a Cold Case // Lyle Stevik

February 4, 2026 • 39 mins

Go to https://kachava.com and use code HSP for 15% off your first order. In September 2001, a housekeeper discovered an unidentified man's body in a remote Washington motel room, no ID, no belongings, and a fake name scrawled in the guest book. For 17 years, detectives hit dead ends while an obsessive online community became consumed by one haunting question: who was the man in room five? This is the story of how thousands of str...

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161. The Mysterious Murder of An Aspen Socialite

January 28, 2026 • 41 mins

Go to https://kachava.com and use code HSP. New customers get twenty dollars off an order of two bags or more, January 1st through 31st! In February 2014, Aspen socialite Nancy Pfister was discovered murdered in the closet of her mountainside home, sending shockwaves through one of America's most exclusive communities. This is a case of wealth, betrayal, a shocking confession, and lingering questions that remain unanswered to this...

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160. Lost Media: Tapes Too Dark For The Public

January 21, 2026 • 38 mins

Today, I want to look at two pieces of “lost media” with you all. One piece is lost because it was deemed too dark for the public to ever hear, and the other was lost when it was intentionally destroyed by the US government. That’s right, we’re going over the case of Timothy Treadwell aka Grizzly Man, and the Cavalese Tapes. So roll up your sleeves and let’s dive into the darkness together. TW: Animal Mistreatment Show Notes: htt...

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159. The Mystery of The Setagaya Family Murders

January 14, 2026 • 44 mins

Go to https://kachava.com and use code HSP. New customers get twenty dollars off an order of two bags or more, January 1st through 31st! One of my most terrifying fears is the idea that someone is watching me without me knowing about it. Or worse, that someone is inside my home watching me without me knowing about it. If that freaks you out as well, this might be a tough episode for you. Because today we are going to tell you abou...

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158. Inside the World's Most Haunted Castles | True Ghost Stories

December 29, 2025 • 43 mins

Go to https://kachava.com and use code HSP. New customers get twenty dollars off an order of two bags or more, January 1st through 31st! This week, we're exploring three of the world's most haunted castles—and the dark histories that made them that way. At Windsor Castle in England, we'll encounter the ghost of a beheaded king who appears whole. In Austria's Moosham Castle, we explore the only male dominated witch trials. And fina...

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157. "Something Is Mimicking My Sister" and Other Terrifying True Stories From Listeners

December 22, 2025 • 39 mins

Can listening to Heart Starts Pounding attract paranormal activity to your home? Today I'm reading the spooky stories YOU sent me, and they're absolutely terrifying. From haunted houses with dark figures and hidden tunnels, to roads that exist outside of time, to something that can perfectly mimic the people you love...these listener tales will make you question every shadow in your hallway. Music provided by: YouTube @copyrightfr...

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156. Lost Media Vol. 2: Missing Holiday Media

December 15, 2025 • 37 mins

Go to https://kachava.com and use code HSP for 15% off your next order. What happens when beloved holiday entertainment crosses the line? From Disney's The Santa Clause hiding adult Easter eggs that horrified parents, to the 1997 Macy's Day Parade disaster NBC tried to erase, to Vincent Price's final grief-stricken performance that Disney deemed "unusable". These aren't just missing tapes; they're pieces of holiday history someone...

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155. Vanished At Christmas: Two Mysteries That Will Make You Question Everything

December 8, 2025 • 42 mins

Today, I want to tell you about two winter mysteries that have haunted New York for over a century. The first is about Dorothy Arnold, who disappeared on a cold December day in 1910 after leaving a bookstore in Manhattan. And the second is about a devastating Christmas night fire in Staten Island in 1843, and the legend of the witch who started it. Show Notes: https://www.heartstartspounding.com/episodes/witchofstatenisland Subsc...

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Presenting: Otherworld | Zaza

December 4, 2025 • 9 mins

Otherworld tells real stories of people who have experienced something paranormal or unexplainable. Host Jack Wagner takes an open minded and journalistic approach to the subject matter and aims to uncover some of the biggest mysteries of the world and how people react to it. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit http...

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154. Christmas Horror Folklore: Krampus, Frau Perchta & The Other St. Nick

December 1, 2025 • 36 mins

Today I want to tell you about the dark origins of Christmas, before Santa Claus ever existed. We're diving into Frau Perchta, a Christmas witch who visited homes with iron scissors and a taste for porridge...whether she had to cut it out of you or not. We'll also cover the real Saint Nicholas and his disturbing miracles, and the demonic Krampuses who worked alongside him to drag sinners straight to hell. This beloved holiday is ac...

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153. Cold Cases Solved This Year

November 24, 2025 • 46 mins

Cold cases can sit on shelves for years without answers, but this year we’ve seen some amazing advancements in cases that police thought would never get solved. I want to tell you about three of them today, with twists that no one saw coming. We'll cover the Yogurt Shop Murders, and the shocking discoveries that led to arrests in the murders of Aliza Sherman and Doris Worrell. Show Notes: https://www.heartstartspounding.com/episod...

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152. Reddit Scary Stories: Terrifying Cult Encounters With Amanda Montell

November 19, 2025 • 70 mins

Go to https://kachava.com and use code HSP for 15% off your next order Rula patients typically pay $15 per session when using insurance. Connect with quality therapists and mental health experts who specialize in you at https://www.rula.com/HSPPOD #rulapod Today, we're discussing real terrifying encounters that people had with alleged cults. We’re talking Scientology, people from a “church” showing up at your door to maybe kidnap...

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151. Mount Everest Horror: The Lost Climbers of the Death Zone

November 12, 2025 • 38 mins

Last year, a group of adventurers with National Geographic were hiking Mount Everest when they saw a human foot sticking out of the ice. Now, it is not rare to see dead bodies on the mountain, there are at least 200 of them scattered around Everest, and many of them act as markers for trails, frozen forever in time where they fell But this human foot in particular, had been on the mountain for 100 years and solved a century old my...

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150. Terrifying True Urban Legends: Cropsey and The Missing Children

November 5, 2025 • 37 mins

Get 15% off OneSkin with the code HSP at https://www.oneskin.co #oneskinpod Go to https://kachava.com and use code HSP for 15% off your next order Today, I want to tell you about a horrifying urban legend that haunted a community nearby the ruins of the abandoned Willowbrook State School in Staten Island for decades. Eventually, children started really disappearing from this community, so let's explore the real story behind the ...

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149. Skinwalkers, Stalked In The Backwoods, And Other Terrifying True Stories From Listeners (feat. Morgan Absher)

October 29, 2025 • 72 mins

A strange whistling in the desert. A suspicious man lurking for young hikers. A timeslip. A house whose inhabitant might not be living. And More. The spooky tales we received from listeners like you, with special guest Morgan Absher from Two Hot Takes! Listen to our other spooky collab! In Our Spooky Era.. || Two Hot Takes Podcast || Scary Reddit Stories https://youtu.be/3qKr1ms2FuM?si=lrh3tbYYKklk5_OY Find Morgan Here! YouTu...

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HSP Presents: The Timekeeper Ep. 4 "Win Or Die."

October 23, 2025 • 37 mins

Charlie and Zoe race against the clock as they confront the true horror of Shady Pines and learn the truth behind Fairchild’s death. The Timekeeper, features Judah Lewis as Charlie, Chandler Kinney as Zoe, and Arjun Athalye as Gama. The Timekeeper was created, written, and directed by Matthew A Brown. Sound Design, Scoring and Mix by Jeff Schmidt Original Score composed by Joshua Zimmerman Additional dialog editing by Marika P...

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147. The Werewolf: H.H Holmes and His Murder Castle // MONSTERS SERIES

October 22, 2025 • 52 mins

Step inside the legend of H.H. Holmes and the chilling labyrinth he built during the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. We'll follow a string of disappearances through the “Murder Castle” he built: a three story building with the sole purpose of killing as many people as discreetly as possible. Was Holmes a criminal mastermind, or has time twisted the tale? Show Notes: https://www.heartstartspounding.com/episodes/murdercastle Subscri...

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Heart Starts Pounding: Horrors, Hauntings and Mysteries

Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}165. Terrifying True Urban Legends: A Haunted Forest, The Elevator Game, Britain’s Hannibal Lecter

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}164. Backwoods Horror: The Mysterious Disappearances of Amy Bechtel & Polly Melton

163. Reddit Scary Stories: Djinn, Doppelgängers, and Imaginary Friends (feat. Two Girls One Ghost)

162. How Reddit Solved a Cold Case // Lyle Stevik

161. The Mysterious Murder of An Aspen Socialite

160. Lost Media: Tapes Too Dark For The Public

159. The Mystery of The Setagaya Family Murders

158. Inside the World's Most Haunted Castles | True Ghost Stories

157. "Something Is Mimicking My Sister" and Other Terrifying True Stories From Listeners

156. Lost Media Vol. 2: Missing Holiday Media

155. Vanished At Christmas: Two Mysteries That Will Make You Question Everything

Presenting: Otherworld | Zaza

154. Christmas Horror Folklore: Krampus, Frau Perchta & The Other St. Nick

153. Cold Cases Solved This Year

152. Reddit Scary Stories: Terrifying Cult Encounters With Amanda Montell

151. Mount Everest Horror: The Lost Climbers of the Death Zone

150. Terrifying True Urban Legends: Cropsey and The Missing Children

149. Skinwalkers, Stalked In The Backwoods, And Other Terrifying True Stories From Listeners (feat. Morgan Absher)

HSP Presents: The Timekeeper Ep. 4 "Win Or Die."

147. The Werewolf: H.H Holmes and His Murder Castle // MONSTERS SERIES

Popular Podcasts

165. Terrifying True Urban Legends: A Haunted Forest, The Elevator Game, Britain’s Hannibal Lecter

164. Backwoods Horror: The Mysterious Disappearances of Amy Bechtel & Polly Melton