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
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...
Mark as Played
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...
Mark as Played
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...
Mark as Played
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...
Mark as Played
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...
Mark as Played
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...
Mark as Played
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...
Mark as Played
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...
Mark as Played
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...
Mark as Played
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...
Mark as Played
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...
Mark as Played
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...
Mark as Played
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...
Mark as Played
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 ...
Mark as Played
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...
Mark as Played
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...
Mark as Played
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...
Mark as Played
October 16, 2025 • 32 mins
Charlie, Zoe and Gama head toward the coordinates Tim wrote down while he was playing the game, hoping to find him alive. Charlie keeps playing and finding more keys, but he can feel the Timekeeper closing in as his clock ticks down.
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 Mi...
Mark as Played
October 15, 2025 • 50 mins
Imagine you hear a strange sound coming from your attic one evening. What is scarier? That it’s paranormal? Maybe a ghost haunting your space? Or that it’s a person, an unknown intruder watching you from inside your own home? That is a question that a family in the German countryside had to ask themselves a hundred years ago. But we would never know their answer, because after hearing strange sounds coming from their attic, the ent...
Mark as Played
October 13, 2025 • 114 mins
**There is no ad-free version of this episode since it's not part of Heart Starts Pounding **
Today I’m sharing a special bonus episode from Clues, where Morgan Absher and I dig into the chilling mystery of Jack the Ripper.
In 1888, a brutal killer stalked London’s Whitechapel district, leaving behind mutilated victims, taunting letters, and a mystery that still grips the world. Jack the Ripper claimed at least five lives, and mo...
Mark as Played
Popular Podcasts
Two Guys (Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers). Five Rings (you know, from the Olympics logo). One essential podcast for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. Bowen Yang (SNL, Wicked) and Matt Rogers (Palm Royale, No Good Deed) of Las Culturistas are back for a second season of Two Guys, Five Rings, a collaboration with NBC Sports and iHeartRadio. In this 15-episode event, Bowen and Matt discuss the top storylines, obsess over Italian culture, and find out what really goes on in the Olympic Village.
The 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina are here and have everyone talking. iHeartPodcasts is buzzing with content in honor of the XXV Winter Olympics We’re bringing you episodes from a variety of iHeartPodcast shows to help you keep up with the action. Follow Milan Cortina Winter Olympics so you don’t miss any coverage of the 2026 Winter Olympics, and if you like what you hear, be sure to follow each Podcast in the feed for more great content from iHeartPodcasts.
Listen to the latest news from the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
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.