Heart Starts Pounding: Horrors, Hauntings and Mysteries

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

179. How Reddit Shut Down the Worst Troubled Teen School in America

June 3, 2026 • 38 mins
Go to https://kachava.com and use code HSP for 15% off your first order. In 1970, a man with no clinical training opened a "therapeutic boarding school" in the Maine woods. For forty-one years, students inside were subjected to organized beatings, forced fight rings, and psychological torture while journalists, state investigators, and even Congress failed to shut it down.  Then, in 2010, one anonymous Reddit post did what none o...
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Introducing Family Lore

June 1, 2026 • 2 mins
Family Lore is a weekly narrative podcast that celebrates and investigates ancestral mystique. Each episode begins with a guest sharing a fascinating family legend, followed by a historical deep-dive to uncover the truth and meaning behind the tale. Available now. https://link.pscrb.fm/f0281/FLFD To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ...
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178. The Crash: The Mackenzie Shirilla Case (Going Beyond The Netflix Doc)

May 27, 2026 • 43 mins
In July 2022, 18-year-old Mackenzie Shirilla drove her car into a brick wall at nearly 100 miles per hour, killing her boyfriend Dominic Russo and his best friend Davion Flanagan. What looked like a drug-fueled accident unraveled fast, and the Netflix documentary only tells part of the story. This week, we go deeper: the details left on the cutting room floor, the recorded prison call that changed everything, and the question that ...
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177. Backrooms Horror: The Creepiest Levels and Darkest Lore

May 20, 2026 • 39 mins
In 2019, an anonymous photo of a yellow hallway turned into one of the biggest creepypastas of a generation. Millions of people have since built out the Backrooms. Hundreds of levels, from an infinite black ocean hiding a planet-sized creature to a children's birthday party run by entities that wear your skin. With a new A24 film bringing the Backrooms to the big screen, we're going no-clipping into the most terrifying levels, the ...
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176. Backwoods Horror: Why Do People Keep Disappearing in Nome, Alaska?

May 13, 2026 • 34 mins
Go to https://kachava.com and use code HSP for 15% off your first order. To find out how you can get involved and provide advocacy and support, visit the website for the Data for Indigenous Justice organization at www.dataforindigenousjustice.org and click on “Resources” in the top left menu. In 2003, 19-year-old Sonya Ivanoff was walking home from a friend's house in Nome, Alaska when a witness saw her get into a vehicle marked ...
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175. Terrifying True Urban Legends: A Toilet Stalker, a Demon Camel, and a Cursed Mansion

May 6, 2026 • 37 mins
Go to https://kachava.com and use code HSP for 15% off your first order. Today, we're covering three terrifying true urban legends: a South African schoolyard legend called Pinky Pinky with an unnerving connection to a real case in Japan, the history of Summerwind Mansion, which reveals more about its owners than the house itself…and the true origins behind the Red Ghost.  TW: Stalking, mention of child abuse threats Show Notes:...
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174. Reddit Scary Stories: Stalkers, Setups, and a Serial Killer (feat. Psychopedia)

April 29, 2026 • 61 mins
Today. Slater and I are reading Reddit scary stories about close encounters with people who were not who they said they were. A man offers a woman her dream job, but the company doesn't exist!? A friendly neighbor starts knowing things he was never told. A first date takes a deliberate detour. And a hitchhiker carrying a small child through a Montana blizzard may have been one of the most dangerous predators in American history. T...
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173. The College Students That Cracked A 34 Year Old Cold Case

April 22, 2026 • 37 mins
In September 1991, a young mother in Arlington, Texas, Cynthia Gonzalez, left for a late-night appointment and never came home. Her car was found 40 miles away, and the investigation that followed would consume a legendary detective's entire career through serial killer suspects, failed polygraphs, and confessions that went nowhere. Thirty-four years later, a college classroom full of students at the University of Texas at Arlingt...
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172. Dark Mysteries of the Florida Everglades: The Flat Tire Murders, Missing Planes, and The Skunk Ape

April 15, 2026 • 42 mins
In the summer of 1975, the bodies of young women began surfacing in canals along the edge of the Florida Everglades. To make matters worse, investigators blamed the victims for their own deaths. Today, we will cover many things the Everglades have swallowed. From serial killers to a doomed jetliner pulled from the sky, to a creature with over 600 documented sightings. The deeper you go, the stranger it gets. TW: Death of minors, S...
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171. Three Real Imposter Nightmares: Fake Uber Drivers, The Tourist From Hell, and more

April 8, 2026 • 37 mins
Go to https://kachava.com and use code HSP for 15% off your first order. A college student gets into what she thinks is her rideshare. A speech therapist spends years pretending to be someone's mother. And a backpacker in Singapore accepts a stranger's offer to split a hotel room…then never calls home. Three stories about the people who slipped through the cracks. By the time anyone realized something was wrong, it was already to...
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170. The Mysterious Disappearance of Leah Roberts

April 1, 2026 • 40 mins
Go to https://kachava.com and use code HSP for 15% off your first order. In March 2000, 23-year-old Leah Roberts left a note for her roommate and took off on a solo cross-country trip. Nine days later, her wrecked Jeep was found by hikers at the bottom of a ravine in upstate Washington and Leah was not inside. What initially looked like a crash started to feel more sinister as the investigation continued.  More than 25 years later...
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Presenting True Crime News: The Podcast

March 27, 2026 • 7 mins
True Crime News: The Podcast is your weekly dose of real-time updates on the most gripping true crime stories, current cases, investigations, scams, and schemes. Host Ana Garcia is joined by crime experts, police officers, defense attorneys, and other leading authorities in their fields as they cover murders, scams, investigations, and unsolved crimes from across the country. Join us each week as we take you inside the biggest, mos...
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169. Real Scary Stories: A Cursed Church Camp, An Eerie Ranch, and The Deep Woods (Feat. Morgan Absher)

March 25, 2026 • 70 mins
Your terrifying stories are back, and they did not disappoint! From deep inside the Michigan woods, to a haunted church camp, to the backroads of Argentina, and a 2am parking lot encounter. Morgan from Two Hot Takes is joining us to read through tales that range from something inhuman in the trees to a dream that may have saved someone's life, as we try to figure out what is going on with you guys!! Our Small Business Spotlight th...
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168. The Scariest Reddit Stories We’ve Heard (feat. Kris & Celina from Can't Sleep)

March 18, 2026 • 64 mins
Today, we’re reading Reddit's scariest stories with KallMeKris and CelinaSpookyBoo. From glitches in the Matrix that defy all sense of logic, haunted houses full of vengeful ghosts, and a man showing up at someone’s door at 2am knowing way too many intimate details about them. Some of these have explanations. Some of them don't. And honestly? The ones with answers are scarier. Find Kris and Celina Here!  YouTube: https://www.yout...
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167. Something’s Lurking In The Woods: Terrifying Tales of Crawlers

March 11, 2026 • 37 mins
Why have so many people described seeing the same scary entity in the backwoods of Appalachia? Something that looks human, but not quite? Today, we’re talking about the terrifying entity people have been seeing in the woods for generations.  “Crawlers”Our Small Business Spotlight this week is Coco and Duckie! Shop their store here: https://cocoandduckie.com/ Show Notes: https://www.heartstartspounding.com/episodes/crawlers Subscr...
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166. Feral Children: The Wolf Girl of Devils River, The Ukrainian Dog Girl, and The Kellogg Experiment

March 4, 2026 • 39 mins
Go to https://kachava.com and use code HSP for 15% off your first order. Feral Children used to be the stuff of legends, but their stories are shocking, devastating, and real. Today, we're diving into multiple stories of feral children: the girl who was raised by her dog when her parents forgot about her, the legend of the wolf girl of Devils River, and the human experiment where a scientist tried to raise his son alongside a chim...
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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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