Astonishing Legends

Astonishing Legends

The world is more mysterious than most people are comfortable imagining. We cross paths with the mystical from time to time and may not even notice it. If we do, we quickly return to our usually mundane daily existence. But what if we not only acknowledged the unknown, we investigated it and spoke with those in the know? That's what co-hosts Scott Philbrook & Forrest Burgess, and co-executive producer Tess Pfeifle do at Astonishing Legends. Over 100 million downloads and hundreds of thousands of listeners have discovered the thrill of exploring the mysteries of our world, showing that the unknown can be both captivating and intriguing. Welcome to Astonishing Legends!

Episodes

August 26, 2025 34 mins
In tonight’s dead letter… Listener, Scott recounts a series of unexplained howls heard in the woods near his Alabama home. Night after night, he and his family would sit on the porch and listen, noticing patterns in the sounds. This progresses later to him being stalked by something he could not see.

Alabama Bigfoot Website (via Wayback Machine) Most audio links not working:
https://web.archive.org/web/20110518043...
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From Jonestown to Heaven’s Gate, to the Octopus Murders and the Waco Siege, the world is full of deception, manipulation, and destruction. Listen to Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes every Wednesday as we explore the real people at the center of the world’s most shocking secrets and nefarious organizations. Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes is a Crime House Original powered by PAVE Studios. Follow the show now so you...
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August 19, 2025 14 secs
This week’s Dead Letter Office is cancelled, but the show will return next week. Thank you for your patience and understanding!
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August 12, 2025 36 mins
In tonight’s dead letter, listener Jerri-Kay recounts a story from her childhood when her mother witnessed multiple shadow figures entering their bedroom in broad daylight. Later that night, while seemingly half-asleep, when her mom enters her room she yells that she's not her mother and points to lights that only she can see in the room, leaving the family shaken and searching for answers. Were these events positive or negati...
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August 9, 2025 107 mins
This week, Scott and Forrest welcome back Richard Hatem of Richard Hatem's Paranormal Bookshelf to Astonishing Legends! Join us as we delve into Richard's unique insights on paranormal literature, including odd details in famous experiences like Whitley Strieber's book, Communion and others. We'll explore Rich’s favorite episodes and get a sneak peek into his upcoming season. Plus, we'll hear about his pending tour across the ...
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In tonight’s dead letter, we hear from our listener Sam, who shares two spooky stories. The first involves two hauntings at an aquarium in the UK. An old lady ghost with a penchant for floral perfume, and as one might expect…a fisherman. While the second features a mysterious, hunched-over shadow figure lurking in a South Carolina home. Sometimes these shorter letters are the most freaky. As we often remind our listeners, the ...
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July 29, 2025 31 mins
In tonight’s dead letter listener Henry, a marine, recounts his experiences on guard duty in Iraq, where his platoon was stationed at an abandoned hotel near the Jordanian border. During a late-night watch, he and another marine hear footsteps in the stairwell, but a search of the building yields nothing but an unsettling encounter with glowing eyes in the boiler room. The mystery deepens when a fellow marine suggests the pres...
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July 22, 2025 36 mins
In tonight’s dead letter… Josh shares a chilling encounter with a being we’ve discussed on the show numerous times. The Hat Man. For Josh he appears as a shadowy figure sitting in his bedroom in the middle of the night. What would you do in this situation? It’s easy to answer that until you’re confronted with it yourself. Josh gave into paranormal apathy, something we’ve identified at Astonishing Legends as a common reaction t...
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July 15, 2025 33 mins
In tonight’s dead letter, listener Renee shares a strange encounter in Los Angeles. Late one night, while walking her dog, she saw what appeared to be a gray alien. After a moment of shock, she looked again and saw a middle-aged African-American woman. Renee was left wondering if she had seen a psychic mask slip or if it was just a trick of the light.

Send your story to deadletteroffice@astonishinglegends.com
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July 12, 2025 141 mins
On September 12th, 1952, in Flatwoods, West Virginia, five boys witnessed a fiery object slowly descend from the sky and land nearby, seemingly under intelligent control. What followed became one of the strangest UFO encounters in American history. Joined by a 32-year-old mother and a National Guard member, the group were allegedly pursued by a towering, mist-shrouded, humanoid figure that emitted strange lights and sounds. An...
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July 8, 2025 38 mins
In tonight’s dead letter, Cody shares a chilling experience from a trip to Jacob City, a ghost town in Utah. While camping with friends and their dogs, they captured eerie EVPs, including one that called out Cody’s name. As the night grew darker, the dogs became unusually frightened, and a sudden, strong wind forced them to pack up and leave before their campfire got out of control. This is history, mystery, and a reminder to ...
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July 1, 2025 41 mins
In tonight’s dead letter, Jordan recalls a strange encounter in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she spotted nearly a dozen silver crafts hovering over the Sandia Mountains. These objects appeared to be linked and moved in unison, with one larger craft seemingly in charge. A large black helicopter sped off in the direction of the crafts after they disappeared, leaving Jordan with a sense of wonder and the feeling that they were ...
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June 28, 2025 112 mins
This week, we revisit a favorite Patreon Junk Drawer episode featuring Max Kelso's unsettling experiences at a Boy Scout camp in the heart of Ohio.
We explore Max's first encounter as a young scout when he saw a shadowy figure watching him through the window of his cabin late one night. Years later, during a game at the same camp, Max experiences something even stranger.
The Junk Drawer is a more casual, conversational...
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June 24, 2025 31 mins
In tonight’s dead letter, Scott and Forrest share Arthur’s story. He recounts a frightening encounter in the Bronx in 1998 when while stopped at a red light he saw something, or someone that didn’t seem right. The person in the car next to him had pale skin, completely black eyes, and an impossible smile. But that’s really just the beginning of this bizarre tale.

Books by David Weatherly on Amazon
https://www.amaz...
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June 17, 2025 29 mins
In tonight’s dead letter, Scott and Forrest read a dead letter from a woman with ties to the Otoe-Missouria tribe in Oklahoma. She recounts a terrifying experience driving on Highway 60 at night when a dark fog hit the truck she was in, causing a flat tire. The story delves into local legends, the importance of oral traditions, and the listener’s theory that the area is haunted due to indigenous people buried there by settlers...
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June 14, 2025 104 mins
In 1850, the quiet town of Stratford, Connecticut was shaken by a bizarre and terrifying haunting that gripped the world’s attention. Reverend Eliakim Phelps and his family were tormented by objects falling from nowhere, cryptic messages, and strange effigies crafted from household items. As the phenomena escalated—turning violent and targeting the children—skeptics, spiritualists, and investigators descended on the mansion in...
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June 10, 2025 28 mins
In tonight’s Dead Letter, Kaleb recounts a few paranormal experiences, starting with a childhood memory of a stuffed bear that seemed to turn its head on its own, but for some bizarre reason didn't frighten him. Years later, he experienced a potent wave of fear in a dark basement, reminding Scott of his experience at the Sallie House. Forrest and Scott then delve into the nature of fear, the existence of multiple entities in h...
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June 3, 2025 29 mins
In tonight’s dead letter, Forrest and Scott read a submission from Misael, who recalls a bizarre childhood encounter involving a blue ball of fire that appeared while he and his sister were playing basketball. The strange sphere, which seemed to be made of stone and engulfed in flames, hovered near them before shooting off toward a neighbor's light post and disintegrating.

The Encyclopedia of Demons and Demonology
...
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May 27, 2025 37 mins
In tonight’s dead letter, listener Barry talks about the strange phenomenon of table tipping. He recounts an experience from 25 years ago, when he and a friend attempted to raise a heavy coffee table through meditation, with unexpected results. This leads to a larger discussion about EVPs and Forrest shares an anecdote from a recent ghost hunt at a theater, where a table moved during a tipping experiment, and they captured som...
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We are once again joined by investigator Philip Mantle to dive back into the Pascagoula Abduction with Part 2 of our series, peeling back layers of a story that stretches far beyond one night in 1973. While skeptics cite a silent bridgetender, fresh eyewitness accounts —from shipyard workers to families at home — suggest something far stranger was unfolding. 

In this episode, we uncover a decades-hidden encounter from...
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