Straight-Up Enigmas

In September 2019, 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow and 17-year-old Tylee Ryan disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Family members had heard nothing from them for months, but the children’s parents never reported the minors missing. Law enforcement visited the home of JJ and Tylee’s mother, Lori Vallow, that November to perform a welfare check on the children. Authorities later located Vallow and her husband, Chad Daybell, in H...

Frequency is everywhere — all things in our universe are constantly in motion, vibrating. Even the Earth hums at its own frequency. Knowing about frequency is fascinating, but also important for our well-being. It could impact our physical, mental, and emotional health. Some scientists think that frequency can explain life’s greatest mysteries, the reality or non-reality of ghosts and aliens — even the human consciousness. There ar...

What do TikTok and a 90s horror film have to do with the brutal unsolved murder of a woman in 1980s Chicago? Tune in to our new episode to find out!

Promos:

Reverie True Crime: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/reverie-true-crime/id1492793721 

Crimeatorium: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crimeatorium/id1530070753

Articles in Research/Narration:

https://www.rd.com/list/true-urban-legends/

https://ghoulishmedia.com/can...

Baby monitors are supposed to help give parents peace of mind — but are these devices safe? What happens when a baby monitor captures frightening sights and sounds from inside a child’s room? Are baby monitors a dangerous gateway, inviting both human and ghostly hackers into our homes? Join us as we explore some of the creepiest things ever captured on baby monitors.

Thank you to our sponsor, Best Fiends! www.bestfiends.com

Pro...

On May 16th, 1937, at around 6pm, a woman in her late 20s left a dance hall in Paris and walked quickly toward a bus stop. About 25 minutes later, she entered the metro station and took a seat in an empty first class car while the other passengers crammed into the second-class cars. When the car arrived at the next station forty-five seconds later, the doors opened on a crime scene: the woman, Laetitia Toureaux, sat slouched in her...

Honored around the world on March 8th, International Women’s Day celebrates the social, economic, and political achievements of women. International Women’s Day attempts to bring women equal access to rights and opportunities like education, protection under the law, and freedom from violence. I thought one small way I can recognize the accomplishments of women around me is by sharing the incredible shows of lady podcasters! As pod...

Starring George C. Scott, 'The Changeling' (1980) is one of the most acclaimed and terrifying horror films of all time. As frightening as the movie is, the true story of the house that inspired it is even creepier. 'The Changeling' is based on the paranormal events Russell Hunter supposedly experienced while living in an old home in Denver, Colorado, in the late 1960s. Did he really live through a haunting that would go on to inspi...

Witnesses all over the globe have reported experiencing temporal oddities. Could the explanation be related to the paranormal? If someone really can be stuck in a time loop, it opens up countless questions about time and our reality that we have yet to understand. In celebration of Groundhog Day, stay with us as we explore several creepy and unexplained stories about time loops.

Thank you to our sponsor, Memory My Way! Use promo ...

In the late 1980s, Don Decker was interviewed on the national television show, “Unsolved Mysteries,” for being known as “Rainman,” a man who could actually make it rain indoors, and the case is still a mystery to police in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. Was Don Decker possessed by a demonic force? How did he make rain appear out of thin air? If it were all just a hoax, how could one man get away with deceiving nine eyewitnesses, severa...

In this unique episode, special guest Chris Williamson of Vanished joins us for an inside look at some of the biggest disappearance cases in all of history — including Amelia Earhart, Jack the Ripper, D.B. Cooper, John Wilkes Booth, and more. Chris hosts Vanished along with his co-host, Jennifer Taylor, as part of the Straight Up Strange podcast network. He's also the creator of Chasing Earhart, the world's only Amelia Earhart-dedi...

Join us for the chilling conclusion of M.R. James’ short story, "Lost Hearts!" Aired on Christmas Day in 1973 as a short television film on BBC's A Ghost Story for Christmas, this terrifying tale is about an orphan boy, Stephen Elliott, who is sent to live with his cousin, Mr. Abney, at his remote estate in the country. Stephen will discover the fate of the two children who mysteriously disappeared from the property, as well as the...

M.R. James’ short story, "Lost Hearts," aired on Christmas Day in 1973 as a short television film on BBC's A Ghost Story for Christmas. This ghost story tells the tale of an orphan boy, Stephen Elliott, who is sent to live with his cousin, Mr. Abney, at his remote estate in the country. Stephen soon discovers that two other children, who had previously stayed at his cousin’s estate, disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Part ...

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, but for some, it’s an equally terrifying time of year. On December 6th, 1959, neighbors in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles awoke to the sound of Judye Perelson screaming and pounding on their door with blood-slicked hands. When police arrived on the scene at the Perelson's house, they found Lillian Perelson dead on the bed and her husband,  Harold Perelson, also dead from a massive drug o...

Belle Gunness (also known as Lady Bluebeard, The LaPorte Black Widow, The Mistress of Murder Farm, and Hell’s Belle) was probably one of America’s most prolific serial killers. She might have killed between 25 and 40 people, including women and children, at the turn of the 20th century. Rumors circulated that Lady Bluebeard didn’t actually die in a mysterious fire and most likely faked her death. Did she die in the fire? Did she mu...

Whether or not the superstitions are real, several tragic and unlucky events have occurred on Friday the 13th, from the unsolved murder of Tupac Shakur and the bombing of Buckingham palace to deadly natural disasters and the birth of the KKK’s first Grand Wizard. In today’s special episode, we’ll explore one devastating plane crash that took place in South America on Friday, October 13, 1972. Was it the unlucky date that caused the...

Happy Halloween, listeners! Today’s special episode is a creepy collaboration with several shows in the Straight Up Strange Podcast Network. Together, we narrate W.W. Jacob’s short story, “The Monkey’s Paw,” a terrifying tale reminding you to be careful what you wish for. We’ve got a lot of great voices in this crossover. Be sure to check out all these amazing podcasts by heading to straightupstrange.com. Thanks so much for joining...

In this chilling tale by Edith Nesbit, a man finds his beloved in a "desirable," mysterious home with her throat slit from ear to ear. But is it really her... or a vision of the future? Is there anything he can do to stop it? Listen wherever you find podcasts to find out! We hope you enjoy this terrifying tale as it's definitely been one of our favorites so far. We have one more special episode for you tomorrow (Halloween!), then w...

Posting an ad on Craigslist for black eyed kids to come and find you has a terrifying result (as we knew it would) for the author of this short story. Join us for today's minisode in our 13 Nights of Halloween series! Our next full-length episode will be on Friday, November 13.

Source material:

https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/sunshine-girl/my-black-eyed-kid-encounter-by-jake/

https://tbsnews.net/splash/legend-black-eyed-children-...