Unpleasant Dreams (Cassandra Harold with Jim Harold Media)

For our first episode, the subject is that of Black Eyed Kids. BEKs terrify experiencers with their solid black eyeballs and odd behavior. It is a fitting start to our journey into the unknown. Credits: Cassandra Harold is your host. EM Hilker is our principal writer and researcher with additional writing by Cassandra Harold. Jim Harold is our Executive Producer. Unpleasant Dreams is a production of Jim Harold Media. Sources and further reading: Dying for more stories of alleged BEK encounters? Please see the following articles: 16 Terrifying Encounters with ‘the Black Eyed Kids’ compiled by Chrissie Stockton 10 Terrifying Stories About the Black-eyed Children compiled by Lyra Radford  Witness Reports: My Friend Died After Meeting Black Eyed Children by Greg Newkirk Witness Reports: I Let The Black Eyed Children into my Home and Now I’m Slowly Dying by Greg Newkirk Dying for more analysis of the phenomenon? We recommend these books as an excellent starting place: The Black Eyed Children, 2nd ed. By David Weatherly  The Chilling, True Terror of the Black-Eyed Kids: A Monster Compilation – Second Edition By G. Michael Vasey And, of course, the following article by the excellent Ryan Sprague: Can we Come In? The Lore of the Black Eyed Children by Ryan Sprague You can find EM Hilker's full article that this podcast was based upon HERE and a transcript of the podcast version below: PODCAST TRANSCRIPT Whether it’s throughout the internet or around campfires, whispered furtively from friend to friend behind pints of ale in the darkened corners of a pub, or scribbled into journals late at night, incidents of encounters with Black Eyed Kids (BEKs for short) appear to be increasing in frequency. “Black Eyed Children” were virtually unheard of until the late 1990s, but stories of encounters with these creatures are becoming more and more common as time wears on. In addition to allegedly true accounts submitted to websites and in chat rooms across the internet, Black Eyed Kids and the lore surrounding them have inspired a short, a full-length movie, dozens of books, both fact and fiction, and yes... even a tote bag. But what are these mysterious children, and where did they come from? Are they just tall tales to be told around the campfire, or something far more sinister? There is no consensus on what a Black Eyed Kid actually is. Experiences with these entities run from encounters on roadsides to forests to fields to the very front door of the experiencer. Regardless, there’s always a feeling of strangeness and terror in the air. The black eyed child or children always ask to be let in. And always, the experiencer finds themself gazing into a disquieting pair of preternaturally, entirely black eyes. The first written modern account of the Black Eyed Kids was penned in 1998 by Texan journalist Brian Bethel.  But Bethel wasn’t just the individual who coined the term “black eyed kids.” Two years prior to his publication, Bethel found himself approached by two boys, roughly between the ages of 10 and 14, as he sat in his car and filled out a check for a nearby drop box. Mr. Bethel’s account tells of a sudden and unexplained overwhelming sensation of illness and unease that heralded the arrival of the boys. The lead boy’s increasing urgency to gain permission to enter his car was unsettling, nearly as much as  his own horror at realizing that both boys had pure black eyes -- not merely very dark human eyes but eyes lacking sclera, iris, and pupil. Their disappearance haunted him as he (wisely, it would seem) sped away into the night, shaking and deeply afraid. Author and researcher David Weatherly sought to find earlier cases of encounters with Black Eyed Kids, pre-dating both Bethel’s account and the advent of the internet in general. The earliest written first person account he uncovered of a Black Eyed Child was the experience of a teenaged boy named Harold in the 1950s, no relation to Jim, I assure you. Harold was out for a walk by himself one day when he encountered a peculiar child on the side of a country road. The child seemed strange and distant, and insisted that Harold take him home with him. As in the experience with Bethel, Harold found himself more and more afraid as the boy became more and more insistent, until ultimately he fled on foot. There are some subtle differences here between the modern accounts and this early one: Harold lacked the immediate feelings of unease and illness, as Harold he stood and spoke to the boy for some time before the sense of danger kicked in.  Additionally, Harold’s incident occurred in full daylight. However, the most defining features of the case are certainly consistent with Black Eyed Kid encounters: the orbs of the boy’s eyes were entirely black, he demanded an invitation to Harold’s home but appeared powerless to follow him without it, and the child disappeared immediately after the encounter. Upon hearing of his son’s frightening experience, Harold’s father had immediately left the house with the intention of hunting down the devil, as his father supposed he must have been, who had alarmed his son. He found no trace of the creature, who hardly could have made it very far on foot in so short of time. It had simply vanished. Weatherly further traces accounts all throughout history. A group of five strange figures very similar to modern reports of Black Eyed Kids in France in the 1970s, to a black eyed woman remembered from the experiencer’s childhood in Chile in the mid-1950s, all the way back to what Weatherly suspects may be the earliest representation of a black-eyed creature in Gobekli Tepe (Go-beck-i-lee tep-ay) more than 10,000 years ago.  Author G. Michael Vasey cites another encounter in the 1970s at a gas station, several from the 1980s, and a few from the same era as Brian Bethel’s account, though it’s unclear if those were reported at the time of the encounter as well as being submitted to his website in recent years. Vasey has searched throughout mythology to find potential precedents for the Black Eyed Kids of the modern day. He cites both the legends of the Otkon of the Iroquois and the Indian Acheri (Ache-er-ee) as clear antecedents to our modern Black Eyed Child. He has also dug up an account purportedly written by a Black Eyed Child itself, claiming descendancy from Lilith with a Vampire the Masquerade-like coevolution with humans; as Vasey himself notes, of course, there’s not a great deal of reason to believe that the account is genuine. A very different tradition of Black Eyed Children seems to have sprung up entirely independently in the modern-day United Kingdom.  These accounts feature an entirely different sort of black eyed child.  In the seemingly bedeviled area of Cannock Chase Forest in England. Over the years, there have been multiple sightings of a child, with pure black eyes (as in the US sightings) who has been traced back to the ghost of one of the three children murdered in the mid-1960s in the area. These poor black-eyed spirits don’t seem to threaten or harass. They don’t even venture to ask to come in.  They simply ask for the help that was denied them in life. Much work has been done on these particular black eyed children by researcher and author Lee Brickley, whose blog Paranormal Cannock covers the children, as well as extraterrestrials, government experiments, and other weirdness experienced in the area. Unusually for ghosts in general, he notes that the Black Eyed Kids of Cannock Chase appear regularly in daylight, and that reports on these children continue to this day. In the North American tradition of Black Eyed Kids, Weatherly lists both a set of primary attributes to the appearance and manner of the children, including solid black eyes, extremely pale skin, and monotone voice with unusual use of language. They are often clothed in drab-coloured outfits said to fit poorly or look homemade. There are also secondary characteristics, such as attempted mind control, strange noises, foul odours, and electronic interference, that speak very much to a common source of the reported North American experiences: a complete separation from the British tradition of Black Eyed Children. Weatherly also notes trauma-like after effects of these North American experiences, including a strong feeling of  paranoia, dreams and nightmares featuring Black Eyed Kids, and disrupted sleep or insomnia. There are a large number of skeptics of this phenomenon, but only a limited number of proposed explanations. Rational explanations include the use of sclera contact lenses as part of a prank, drugs,  or a blown pupil medical condition (which would give the impression of extremely dark eyes, if not completely black ones).  Others simply claim that the experiencers are mistaken or lying. Believers, of course, find none of these explanations fully satisfactory. There are a number of theories on what BEKs actually are. Some cite the prevalence of the creatures at night, the odd odours that accompany them, and their constant pleas to be let in as proof of vampiric origins.  Meanwhile others note that their black eyes and the apparent hunger in their desperation for something undefined. Still, others offer the electrical disturbances as evidence that they’re either extraterrestrials or hybrids, as Weatherly suggests. Perhaps they’re something else entirely. What can be agreed upon is that terrible, terrible things come of letting them in. Reports of cases wherein the experiencer has let the creatures in are few and far between, which suggests a bad end to those who do allow them inside; reports can be found, however. In one well-known case, a kindly couple takes in two black eyed children and suffers a frightening evening, and deteriorating health thereafter. Another report of an encounter with these beings ends with a healthy young man dead within the year. To return to the most important questions regarding Black Eyed Kids: where do they come from? What are they? Are they real, and do they need to be feared? No one knows. Clearly, people believe it, and clearly, they’re afraid. Perhaps Black Eyed Kids are not extraterrestrials or demons or vampires at all; perhaps they’re something so new, so different, that we can’t conceive of what their true nature might be. Or maybe they’re kids playing pranks, or kids on drugs, or simply an internet legend that has come to life metaphorically, and perhaps literally as well. It’s impossible to say for certain. One thing is certain, however; if they come knocking at my door, I’m turning up the music, turning on all the lights, and I am definitely not letting them in.       Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Residual hauntings are often explained by the “Stone Tape Theory.” We delve into the history and thinking behind this theory on this week’s edition of Unpleasant Dreams. --- Cassandra Harold is your host. EM Hilker is our principal writer and researcher with additional writing by Cassandra Harold. Jim Harold is our Executive Producer. Unpleasant Dreams is a production of Jim Harold Media. Sources & Further Reading: The Ninth Bridgewater Treatise by Charles Babbage http://www.victorianweb.org/science/science_texts/bridgewater/intro.htm Manual of Psychometry by Joseph Rodes Buchanan: https://amzn.to/35p9uws Sharon Hill’s excellent articles on the topic: The “Stone Tape Theory” of hauntings: A geological perspective Confusing speculative “language of stone” (Book Review) Spooky Rocks Ghost and Ghoul by TC Lethbridge: https://amzn.to/3mhkova Haunting and the Psychic Ether Hypothesis by HH Price:  https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-24108-8_2 Secret Language of Stone by Don Robins: https://amzn.to/37G0Bl7 For Your Viewing Pleasure: Strangeries’ Youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91nVUot4RcI Sharon Hill’s Spooky Geology video on the topic : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a32y-vTmhE8 Edge of the Rabbit Hole’s episode discussing Stone Tape: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5d0rEJ0iSE Stone Tape (1972): https://amzn.to/37zePUF PODCAST TRANSCRIPT A mystery man. Neither interacting with the environment around him nor being affected by it. Almost as if the world around him was merely being replayed. Seen, but not truly there. Such a mysterious figure has all the hallmarks of a residual haunting. The oft-cited Stone Tape Theory is the proposed mechanism behind residual hauntings. The idea is that emotion unleashes energy that is then saved to the most common mineral on earth, quartz crystal. That emotional energy behaves as if it were being recorded on video tape; a recording which can then be replayed under the right conditions. This suggests that apparitions are not classic ghosts in the way that we usually think of them, but a replay that has been imprinted on the objects or atmosphere surrounding the original events.  While it was not always known as “the Stone Tape theory,” the basic framework for this kind of imprinting was in place for nearly 200 years. In tracing this framework, we begin with Charles Babbage, a mathematician known primarily as “the father of computing” and the inventor of the first programmable computer.  In 1817, Babbage suggested that each spoken word leaves an everlasting imprint on the air itself. It can only be heard for a short period of time, but the word itself remains there, hanging silently in the air, forever. This suggests nothing about replay, as in the Stone Tape Theory, but brings the idea of events being “stored” into the conversation. In 1842, physician and physiology professor Joseph Rodes Buchanan introduced the world to the concept of psychometry, or the reading of the past from physical objects. Buchanan felt that all objects radiate an energy, which can transfer the object’s history to a properly sensitive person if they touch the object. He would go on to write in the Manual Of Psychometry in 1893: The discoveries of Psychometry will enable us to explore the history of man, as those of geology enable us to explore the history of the earth. There are mental fossils for psychologists as well as mineral fossils for the geologists; and I believe that hereafter the psychologist and the geologist will go hand in hand The linking of geology to psychic phenomena, the persistence of history through physical objects, all seem a clear predecessor of the Stone Tape theory. An investigative group called The Society for Psychical Research (also known as SPR) was founded on the 20th of February in 1882 , and it continues to this day. Within a few years of its creation, founder and investigator Edmund Gurney, alongside fellow investigator and eventual president of the society Eleanor Sidgwick, suggested that there were materials that could cache real world events. These events could be replayed under the correct circumstances or for the correct individual, harkening back to Buchanan’s theory. The concept appears to have been forgotten for a period of 60 years or so until then-president of SPR, HH Price, resurrected it in the early 1940s. He suggested that “psychic ether,” the dimension existing between the physical and the spiritual, could allow corporeal materials to retain the remains of remembrances and long-ago emotions.   Archeologist Thomas Charles Lethbridge expanded on this idea, spurred on by his time living in the notoriously haunted Hole House, suggesting that it was the energy fields that surrounded objects which stored memory and events, resulting in the appearance of ghosts or residual hauntings. His first true paranormal writing, 1961’s Ghost and Ghoul, spread this theory far and wide. Lethbridge is popularly credited with originating the term “Stone Tape Theory”, which renowned investigator Sharon Hill points out is quite impossible.  The term itself originates from a 1972 television movie, The Stone Tape, which wasn’t released until well after Lethbridge’s death in 1971. The film dealt quite closely with the theory that Lethbridge had put forward, though it’s unclear whether Lethbridge’s work was directly influential on the film or not. Sharon Hill further traces the evolution of Stone Tape Theory in her article The Stone Tape Theory of Hauntings through a 1988 book called The Secret Language of Stone in which the author, Don Robins, suggests a mechanism for Stone Tape Theory (a term not used in the book, but the concept is clearly the same.) He posits that memories and events are stored as energy, and that energy is stored within irregularities found in crystals. The correct physical or psychic pressure triggers a playback of these memories or events. Hill, herself a geologist, finds this theory unconvincing.  Hill then brings the evolution of Stone Tape Theory into modern day.  She points out authors who believe the earth to behave as a photographic plate, and those who involve quantum physics in their theories, bringing the most modern scientific notions into play. What this complex and varied history of thought leaves us with is the present version of the Stone Tape Theory: that residual hauntings are created by the impression of memories within stone, the very bones of the earth, which can be replayed in a similar manner to video or audio tape.  Youtube user Strangeries has claimed to have experienced this personally. He describes the incident in his video The Stone Tape Theory. When he was a teenager, he and several of his friends were hanging out and listening to music in his bedroom. The room faced an extremely busy highway. He heard a woman’s blood curdling screams accompanied by a dog howling, followed by the sound of gunshots and then silence. His friends had heard the same thing, which ought to have been impossible to hear from their location, given both the traffic and their music. He ruled out the possibility that they had overheard a literal murder, and has come to believe that what they heard was a replay of a past event.  Stories like Strangeries’ are common. Ghosts all over are reported going through the same actions over and over. Many people report seeing the same apparition carrying out the same task, such as the Winchester Mystery House’s Wheelbarrow Ghost, wherein a spectre continues his work with his wheelbarrow, endlessly. Similarly, the St. Louis Ghost Train famously rolls along the tracks, shining a bright white light and startling passersby, through eternity..  In terms of modern day science and the plausibility of the various theories behind the Stone Tape theory Sharon Hill feels that they’re entirely implausible.  Hill says –  There are specific technical components of these systems (like magnetic heads on recorders) that do not have a natural analog. The earth’s magnetic field may be strong enough to align the polarity of newly produced rock from mid-ocean ridges, but it is not strong enough or precise enough to imprint a distinct sound or image into random existing crystals in surrounding materials. Emotion is not an energy like electricity (a stream of charged particles we can measure.) Perhaps one day science will discover a means by which the Stone Tape Theory might operate, but until then it’s all anecdotes and speculation, as believers continue to search out what might be behind the phenomenon of residual hauntings. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Christmas Carol is perhaps the most loved classic holiday story of all time. Cassandra shares her narration of the full version of Ebenezer Scrooge's tale by Charles Dickens. This episode includes the complete story. "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens, originally published 1843 and is in the Public Domain. Enjoy this super sized Christmas edition of Unpleasant Dreams. Merry Christmas and God Bless Us Every One! -- Jim Harold Media LLC respects writers' intellectual property. All fictional stories on Unpleasant Dreams are in the U.S. public domain, published before 1928. For more on public domain and copyright, visit the Cornell University Library's guide on public domain: https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A terrifying tale of the sea is the subject of one of HPL's early tales, Dagon. Cassandra Harold narrates. You can find the text here: https://www.steve-calvert.co.uk/public-domain-texts/h-p-lovecraft-dagon.html "Dagon" by H.P. Lovecraft, originally published 1919 and is in the Public Domain. Follow Cassandra's new Instagram here: https://instagram.com/unpleasant_dreams_podcast Thanks for listening and please share the show with your friends!  -- Jim Harold Media LLC respects writers' intellectual property. All fictional stories on Unpleasant Dreams are in the U.S. public domain, published before 1928. For more on public domain and copyright, visit the Cornell University Library's guide on public domain: https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The death car of James Dean, Little Bastard, is said to have brought doom to many who crossed its path. Today, we explore the legend of The Curse of Little Bastard on Unpleasant Dreams! TRANSCRIPT CLICK HERE for the transcript and original article -SOURCES- Beath, Warren Newton. The Death of James Dean. Grove Press, 1986. Berg, Nik. “The Curse of James Dean’s ‘Little Bastard’ Porsche 550 Spyder.” Hagerty UK, 14 December 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2022. Coombs, Cathy. “The Unexpected and Early Death of Promising Actor James Dean.” Medium, Medium, 10 February 2022. Retrieved 1 March 2022. “Famous Cursed & Haunted Cars: Most Famous Spooky Cars.” Famous Cursed & Haunted Cars | Most Famous Spooky Cars. Retrieved 1 March 2022. Fitzgerald, Craig. “Cursed Cars: James Dean’s Haunted ‘Little Bastard’ Porsche 550.” BestRide, 29 October 2019. Retrieved 1 March 2022. Hintz, Charlie. “Little Bastard: The Disappearance of James Dean’s Cursed Car.” Cult of Weird, 26 September 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2022. “James Dean Unpublished Crash Site Photograph’s Up for Auction.” Old Cars Weekly, Old Cars Weekly, 8 August 2019. Retrieved 1 March 2022.  JP. “‘Little Bastard’: the Silver Spyder Porsche/Dean Mystery Revisited.” The Selvedge Yard, 5 December 2014. Retrieved 1 March 2022. Lerner, Preston. “What Really Happened to James Dean’s ‘Cursed’ Porsche.” CMG Worldwide. Retrieved 1 March 2022. Parker, Ryan. “Alec Guinness Warned James Dean About His Car One Week Before Deadly Crash.” The Hollywood Reporter, The Hollywood Reporter, 11 July 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2022.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A real-life series of deaths of young Hmong men inspired Wes Craven to create Nightmare On Elm Street. We tell this tragic story on this week's Unpleasant Dreams. EM Hilker is our writer and researcher with additional writing by Cassandra Harold. Jim Harold is our Executive Producer. Find the original article by EM Hilker HERE. SOURCES “Brugada Syndrome.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 5 May 2022. Retrieved 4 August 2022. “Hmong.” International Institute of Minnesota, 17 January 2017. Retrieved 28 July 2022.  Kruse, Colton. “Dying in Your Dreams: Freddy Krueger Syndrome Is Real.” Ripley’s Believe It or Not!, 21 July 2017. Retrieved 27 July 2022. Madrigal, Alexis C. “The Dark Side of the Placebo Effect: When Intense Belief Kills.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 14 September 2011. Retrieved 28 July 2022.  McCann, Erin. “Freddy Krueger Is Loosely Based on the Disturbing True Tale of 18 People Inexplicably Dying in Their Sleep.” Ranker, 14 June, 2019. Retrieved 27 July 2022. Morgan, Thaddeus. “How a Terrifying Wave of Unexplained Deaths Led to ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 30 October 2018. Retrieved 27 July 2022.  Stromberg, Joseph. “What Is the Nocebo Effect?” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 23 July 2012. Retrieved 6 August 2022. Sugg, Richard. The Real Vampires: Death, Terror, and the Supernatural. Amberley Publishing, 2019.  Tofield, Andros. “Pedro Brugada MD: The Spanish Cardiologist Who Together with His Brother Josep Brugada, First Described the Brugada Syndrome.” OUP Academic, Oxford University Press, 7 March 2020. Retrieved 5 August 2022. Vatta, Matteo, et al. “Genetic and Biophysical Basis of Sudden Unexplained Nocturnal Death Syndrome (SUNDS), a Disease Allelic to Brugada Syndrome.” OUP Academic, Oxford Academic, 1 February 2002. Retrieved 27 July 2022.      Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Granite columns in the middle of rural Georgia were placed in 1980 containing strange guidance for future generations. Who put them there and why? That is the subject of this week's Unpleasant Dreams. CLICK HERE for E.M. Hilker's original article. Show Art Photo Credit: Quentin Melson via Wikipedia -TRANSCRIPT- CLICK HERE for a full transcript Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cassandra shares the conclusion of the terrifying tale of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde! You can find the classic original, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, at this link: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/43/43-h/43-h.htm#chap02 "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" by Robert Louis Stevenson, originally published 1886 and is in the Public Domain. Thank you for listening and please tell your friends who love classic horror! Stay tuned for the full version of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens in our next episode to be released in the week before Christmas! -- Jim Harold Media LLC respects writers' intellectual property. All fictional stories on Unpleasant Dreams are in the U.S. public domain, published before 1928. For more on public domain and copyright, visit the Cornell University Library's guide on public domain: https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

They were the biggest names in spiritualism and they were also frauds. We share the sad history of The Fox Sisters on this episode of Unpleasant Dreams. -- Cassandra Harold is your host. EM Hilker is our principal writer and researcher with additional writing by Cassandra Harold. Jim Harold is our Executive Producer. Unpleasant Dreams is a production of Jim Harold Media. Sources & Further Reading: Abbot, Karen. “The Fox Sisters and the Rap on Spiritualism.” Smithsonianmag.com. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-fox-sisters-and-the-rap-on-spiritualism-99663697/ Retrieved 14 November 2020.  Buzzfeed Unsolved. “The Spiritual World of the Fox Sisters.” Youtube. 2 October 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPPgwh4yk2Q Lyttelton, George. Dialogues of the Dead. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/17667/17667-h/17667-h.htm Retrieved 14 November 2020.  Nickell, Joe. “A Skeleton’s Tale” Skeptical Inquirer vol 32, no 4. https://skepticalinquirer.org/2008/07/a-skeletons-tale-the-origins-of-modern-spiritualism/ Retrieved 15 November 2020. O’Connell, Rebecca. “The Rise and Fall of Five Claimed Mediums.” MentalFloss. https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/69973/rise-and-fall-5-claimed-mediums Retrieved 14 November 2020.  Stuart, Nancy Rubin. “The Fox Sisters: Spiritualism’s Unlikely Founders.” Historynet. https://www.historynet.com/the-fox-sisters-spiritualisms-unlikely-founders.htm Retrieved 14 November 2020.  Wehrstein, KM and McLuhan, R. “Fox Sisters.” Psi Encyclopedia. https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/articles/fox-sisters Retrieved 14 November 2020. You can find EM Hilker’s full article that this podcast was based upon HERE and a transcript of the podcast version below: PODCAST TRANSCRIPT The Fox Sisters The spiritualism movement of the early-to-mid 1800s captured the hearts and minds of a great many people. Spiritualism was the belief that the spirits of the dead are not only able to communicate with us, but are eager to share their wisdom with the living world.  Spiritualism flourished at a time when Mesmerism was a growing interest on the heels of The Second Great Awakening. This was a fifty year period of religious revivalism, and a curious populace were seeking answers amid the confusion of the day.  The Spiritualism movement has given us modern-style seances and stage mediumship; it’s what popularized commercial fortune telling. The term “seance” itself (introduced into the language sometime between 1795 and 1805) merely means a “sitting”, though the spiritual concept is older. George, First Baron Lyttleton, famously featured discussion with the deceased in his  1760’s work of fiction, Dialogues of the Dead. Seances have been divided into four categories: religious, stage mediumship, leader-assisted, and informal social seances. Although, all of the proceedings are considered a part of the spiritualism movement. The Fox sisters are credited with launching the movement, but its origins stretch back further than that. Emmanuel Swedenborg, who lived more than a century earlier, experienced a divine revelation in which he learned that communication with the spirit world and with God is possible through a certain mental state. He felt that the body was simply a vessel for the soul, and that Hell and Heaven will attempt to influence mortals to do good or evil, though the mortal in question is free to choose their path as they wish. According to Swedenborg’s beliefs, the path to Heaven or Hell is forged by your actions in life. These ideas would eventually lead to the formation of the New Church and the Swedenborgian Church in North America.  The other oft-credited influence on the spiritualism movement is Franz Mesmer, the founder of “animal magnetism” or mesmerism (more commonly known as hypnotism in the modern day). The original concept went far beyond simply putting someone into a trance –Mesmer believed animal magnetism could hold the cure for powerful healing; the trancework was only a small part of his theories. The concept of going into a trance, however, would be a tremendous influence in coming years for the spiritualism movement. The women known as “the Fox Sisters” are three of the seven Fox children: the youngest two were the core of the Fox Sisters: youngest daughter Catherine “Kate” Fox and her slightly older sister Margaretta (“Maggie”). When everything began, Kate and Maggie were in their early teens and their eldest sister, Leah, was an adult in her own home. Leah would eventually ‘manage’ the girls, though not tour with them, and was really only a part of the action for a handful of years.  The girls would later say that they began this whole thing as a prank played on their credulous mother. That is certainly consistent with the evidence we have of the early days of mysterious rappings and knockings. In early 1848, the Fox family began to hear mysterious sounds in their house in Hydesville, New York.  The noises seemed to resemble footsteps or someone knocking. On March 31, 1848, Kate decided to try to “communicate” with it. They called the entity “Mr. Splitfoot,” and it frightened their mother terribly. Maggie took pity on her mother and tried to explain that it was meant as an April Fool’s joke, but her mother would not believe it. The girls continued the “communication” in the home over weeks and months. Eventually, the family told their neighbours of these mysterious happenings, who told other people in turn, as neighbours do. It didn’t take long before there was a hubbub surrounding the Fox household. In the following year, 1849, the girls were sent to Rochester, New York, to live with their siblings, to try to escape both the haunting and the attention of the curious. Despite this, the phenomenon followed them to their new homes. Leah supported their reputation as mediums, and introduced them to her friends, the Posts. Amy and Isaac Post were luminaries in the local mesmerism movement. They wanted to explore the girls’ abilities and invited the Fox sisters to a small party in their home. The Posts planned to conduct a seance with the girls as part of the evening. The party and seance were successful, and it was here that the spirits conveniently mentioned that Leah also possessed the gift. The party was in fact such a success that the Posts rented a large room in Corinthian Hall and the Fox sisters showcased their abilities there.  The girls began holding regular seances for pay in New York, which were incredibly popular. Among the people attracted by these seances: were journalist and newspaper editor  William Cullen Bryant and abolitionist and women’s rights activist Sojourner Truth.  Andrew Jackson Davis, known as the “Poughkeepsie Seer”, was impressed by the girls’ abilities and lent them his support, and therefore credibility, as they became more and more well-known. With this traction, Maggie and Kate embarked on a tour of these shows in the area, while Leah stayed behind and worked as a medium in her own right. In 1851, Fox family member Mrs. Norman Culver confessed to being aware of the fraud, which was disclosed to her by Kate. This impacted their popularity very little, though critics began to guess at various ways that these girls could be perpetrating a hoax. Mrs. Culver alleged, and several critics correctly guessed, that the raps were produced by the girls “cracking” joints in their feet and knees. The spiritualism movement was entirely unaffected by the criticism of the Fox sisters, and both they and spiritualism continued to become more and more popular. The following year after Ms. Culver’s confession, 17 year old Maggie met skeptic and Arctic explorer Elisha Kane (a-lai-sha).  Kane fell deeply in love with Maggie despite his beliefs that she was a fraud. Under his influence, she began to drift away from the spiritualist movement. Tragically Kane died in 1857, just shortly after a small informal wedding ceremony. Though the two considered themselves married, they allegedly lacked an actual marriage certificate. The actual legal status of Elisha and Maggie’s marriage was unclear, the confusion around which resulted in Maggie being ousted from the will by Kane’s family members. Perhaps related to Maggie’s exclusion from the will, later that same year, the youngest two Fox sisters made an attempt at a prize offered by the Boston Courier to anyone who could prove the legitimacy of mediumship. The reward equaled $500 (roughly $14,150 in modern day American currency). On the whole, aside from this attempt, Maggie continued to reject spiritualism as she fell further and further into poverty. Kate continued on alone with her mediumship during this period, and  in 1871 moved to England to pursue spiritualist opportunities there. The following year, she married fellow spiritualist HD Jencken. They had two sons, and a seemingly happy life until Jencken died in 1881.  Each grieving deeply, both Maggie and Kate had begun to self-medicate with alcohol. By 1888, both women had become alcoholics. Leah, continuing to operate as a medium herself, grew concerned with Kate’s alcoholism and her ability to care for her two sons. Word of this spread, and Kate’s two sons were briefly taken from her, though restored to her care after intercession by Maggie. Maggie was already out of the spiritualism movement and had been for some time, and Kate was livid that her abilities as a mother had been questioned. Thus, on the 21st of October in 1888, perhaps partially in revenge against Leah, perhaps partially out of financial desperation, Kate and Maggie came forward.  The two were paid $1500 (roughly 41,000 USD today) by a reporter to confess their crime at the New York Academy of Music in front of 2,000 people. They also made a number of anti-spiritualist statements during this period, with Kate calling it “one of the greatest curses that the world has ever known.” In November of the following year, Maggie recanted her confession.  This was due to her own financial needs as a result of having drunk away her confession fee, and growing pressure from other spiritualists. Maggie attempted to practice spiritualism once again for whatever meagre work she could get, but  her reputation both as a spiritualist and as a skeptic was ruined in one fell swoop. She would spend her few remaining years in poverty, as would Kate. Leah predeceased Maggie and Kate, having died in 1890, not on speaking terms with either sister. The youngest two Fox sisters died within a year of one another in Brooklyn, New York (Maggie on the 8th of March in 1893 and Kate on the 3rd of July in 1892).  The Fox Sisters left us very little writing. Maggie did not publish her own work, but she did publish the love letters written to her by her husband, entitled The Love Life of Dr. Kane, giving us a small window into their lives. Leah published a book called The Missing Link in Modern Spiritualism, in which she outlined her career as a medium. Spiritualism continued on after the passing of the Fox sisters, and continues to this day. People still hold seances very similar to the Fox sisters’, and people continue to occasionally hear rappings they attribute to the spirit world (correctly or otherwise). One only needs to look at virtually any television listing to find an assortment of ghost-hunting shows; and one can find a psychic willing to give you a reading in virtually any modern-day town. Bookshelves in your local bookstore are filled with books on finding your own psychic gifts, and many famous names have been associated with spiritualism: Arthur Conan Doyle, The Bangs sisters, Mina Crandon, Leonora Piper, and Harry Houdini (the latter admittedly as an enemy of spiritualism). As an odd sort of afternote, to the excitement of those who still believed in the legitimacy of the sisters, in 1904 it was said that a “body” had been discovered in the house that the girls had lived in, where they had claimed to be in contact with the spirit of a murdered peddler. No record has ever been found of the peddler they’d described, and the bones, of which there were only a few, turned out upon examination to be animal bones. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Believe it or not, Mark Twain actually wrote a classic ghost story. Appropriately enough, it was called, "A Ghost Story" and it is our Season 4 premiere. Much more to come this fall! It is great to be back and thanks for your patience! We'll be back next week with more chilling Unpleasant Dreams. "A Ghost Story" by Mark Twain, was originally published in 1870 and is in the Public Domain. Our narrator is Cassandra Harold. -- Jim Harold Media LLC respects writers' intellectual property. All fictional stories on Unpleasant Dreams are in the U.S. public domain, published before 1928. For more on public domain and copyright, visit the Cornell University Library's guide on public domain: https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Happy Halloween! Cassandra Harold reads the short work of prose fiction, "The Vampyre," by John William Polidori on this week's Unpleasant Dreams. It was written in 1819, was published in New Monthly Magazine that year, and is in the Public Domain. "The Vampyre" is believed to have started the romantic vampire genre. We hope you enjoy! -- Jim Harold Media LLC respects writers' intellectual property. All fictional stories on Unpleasant Dreams are in the U.S. public domain, published before 1928. For more on public domain and copyright, visit the Cornell University Library's guide on public domain: https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us this week on Unpleasant Dreams as Cassandra Harold tells us the story of Edgar Allen Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death." "The Masque of the Red Death" (originally published as "The Mask of the Red Death: A Fantasy") is a short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1842 and is in the Public Domain. -- Jim Harold Media LLC respects writers' intellectual property. All fictional stories on Unpleasant Dreams are in the U.S. public domain, published before 1928. For more on public domain and copyright, visit the Cornell University Library's guide on public domain: https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A man finds himself haunted by an unseen, malevolent force. Will he overcome it, will it drive him mad, or worse? Cassandra Harold narrates this classic Ambrose Bierce short horror story. Source of The Damned Thing: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/23172/23172-h/23172-h.htm "The Damned Thing" by Ambrose Bierce, originally published 1893 and is in the Public Domain. Follow Cassandra’s new Instagram here: https://instagram.com/unpleasant_dreams_podcast Thanks for listening and please share the show with your friends! And…may all your dreams be pleasant! -- Jim Harold Media LLC respects writers' intellectual property. All fictional stories on Unpleasant Dreams are in the U.S. public domain, published before 1928. For more on public domain and copyright, visit the Cornell University Library's guide on public domain: https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Did shooting a 1956 movie in the irradiated Utah desert eventually kill John Wayne and a host of his co-stars and crew? It seems very possible and that is the just the start of tragedy on this week’s edition of Unpleasant Dreams. -BetterHelp- The Paranormal Podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. BetterHelp is professional therapy done securely online, available to people worldwide. They have a special offer for my listeners: get 10% off your first month at BetterHelp.com/dreams EM Hilker is our writer and researcher with additional writing by Cassandra Harold. Jim Harold is our Executive Producer. CLICK HERE for EM Hilker’s original article. -TRANSCRIPT- CLICK HERE for a full transcript. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe as read by your host, Cassandra Harold. "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe, originally published 1845 and is in the Public Domain. Our little Halloween gift to you from Unpleasant Dreams. Boo! -- Jim Harold Media LLC respects writers' intellectual property. All fictional stories on Unpleasant Dreams are in the U.S. public domain, published before 1928. For more on public domain and copyright, visit the Cornell University Library's guide on public domain: https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The sad tale of the Donner Party is one of the most grisly in American history. So much tragedy on this edition of Unpleasant Dreams. ARTICLE Find the original article by EM Hilker HERE Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tune in for this classic Victorian ghost story written in 1852 by Elizabeth Gaskell. "The Old Nurse’s Story" by Elizabeth Gaskell, originally published 1852 and is in the Public Domain. Your narrator is Cassandra Harold. -- Jim Harold Media LLC respects writers' intellectual property. All fictional stories on Unpleasant Dreams are in the U.S. public domain, published before 1928. For more on public domain and copyright, visit the Cornell University Library's guide on public domain: https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Halloween has passed but the spooky stories continue on here on Unpleasant Dreams. Cassandra Harold reads the short story, The Boarded Window, by Ambrose Bierce on this week’s episode. It was written in 1891, and is in the Public Domain. Enjoy! — Jim Harold Media LLC respects writers’ intellectual property. All fictional stories on Unpleasant Dreams are in the U.S. public domain, published before 1928. For more on public domain and copyright, visit the Cornell University Library’s guide on public domain: https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We delve into the conclusion of Robert W. Chambers’ “The Mask,” a tale that intertwines love, art, and the audacity of human ambition. What happens when an artist’s quest for eternal beauty crosses the unforgiving lines of mortality? Join us as we explore a story that ventures beyond the surface, examining the emotional and psychological toll of capturing perfection—at a price. Your narrator is Cassandra Harold. You can find the original text of this classic 1895 story here: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/8492/pg8492-images.html#THE_MASK "The Mask" by Robert W. Chambers, originally published 1895 and is in the Public Domain. Thank you for listening and please tell your friends who love classic horror! -- Jim Harold Media LLC respects writers' intellectual property. All fictional stories on Unpleasant Dreams are in the U.S. public domain, published before 1928. For more on public domain and copyright, visit the Cornell University Library's guide on public domain: https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A writer becomes fascinated by a mysterious Count and his manor. This episode is part one. Tune in next week for part two! Cassandra Harold is your narrator. You can find COUNT MAGNUS at The Gutenberg Project: https://gutenberg.org/cache/epub/8486/pg8486-images.html#chap06 "Count Magnus" by M.R. James, originally published 1904 and is in the Public Domain. Follow Cassandra’s new Instagram here: https://instagram.com/unpleasant_dreams_podcast Thanks for listening and please share the show with your friends! And…may all your dreams be pleasant! -- Jim Harold Media LLC respects writers' intellectual property. All fictional stories on Unpleasant Dreams are in the U.S. public domain, published before 1928. For more on public domain and copyright, visit the Cornell University Library's guide on public domain: https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cassandra narrates the Edgar Allan Poe classic, The Fall of the House of Usher. This episode is part two! You can find part one HERE. Cassandra Harold is your narrator. You can find The Fall of the House of Usher at Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/932 "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe, originally published 1839 and is in the Public Domain. Follow Cassandra’s new Instagram here: https://instagram.com/unpleasant_dreams_podcast Thanks for listening and please share the show with your friends! And…may all your dreams be pleasant! -- Jim Harold Media LLC respects writers' intellectual property. All fictional stories on Unpleasant Dreams are in the U.S. public domain, published before 1928. For more on public domain and copyright, visit the Cornell University Library's guide on public domain: https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The real story of Krampus is the subject of today’s holiday edition of Unpleasant Dreams! Oh, and be sure to be good. You wouldn’t want to upset The Krampus… Find the original article by EM Hilker that this podcast is based on HERE PODCAST TRANSCRIPT A fresh blanket of snow glistens in the cold light of the moon, a contrast to the warm glow of street lamps, wrapping the city streets in the cozy blanket of early winter. Twinkling across the surrounding fields in the night, mirroring the light of the moon in a million broken rays, the landscape is nevertheless stark beyond the forests surrounding the city.  The creatures come from there, beyond the city, thickly furred and sharply clawed, from dank caves and deep, dark, ancient places. Some have feet and some have cloven hooves, some one of each; the thick layer of snow softly crunching under feet and hooves both in a smudge of sound as they scatter across the landscape and toward the small, neat houses. Their faces, pallid and gnarled and very nearly demonic, turn from moon-silver to a pale bronze as they approach the warmly-lit city streets, chains and bells clinking gently as they draw near. CLICK HERE FOR A FULL TRANSCRIPT AND SOURCES Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An American couple comes to England hoping to find a haunted manor. Did they find it? Listen to this episode of Unpleasant Dreams to find out! Part One. "Afterward" by Edith Wharton, originally published 1910 and is in the Public Domain. Cassandra Harold is your narrator. Follow Cassandra’s new Instagram here: https://instagram.com/unpleasant_dreams_podcast Thanks for listening and please share the show with your friends! And...may all your dreams be pleasant! -- Jim Harold Media LLC respects writers' intellectual property. All fictional stories on Unpleasant Dreams are in the U.S. public domain, published before 1928. For more on public domain and copyright, visit the Cornell University Library's guide on public domain: https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do you enjoy classic ghost stories—especially those with a festive twist? This week on Unpleasant Dreams, Cassandra Harold has a special treat for you: a reading of Charles Dickens' The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton. You might be thinking, "Wait, didn't Dickens write the iconic Christmas ghost story A Christmas Carol?" That's true! But The Story of the Goblins was published seven years earlier and actually served as an inspiration or prototype for A Christmas Carol. In this spooky tale, a grumpy sexton (a type of undertaker or gravedigger) refuses to embrace the Christmas spirit. That is, until a group of mischievous goblins kidnap him and attempt to change his outlook on life. Originally published in 1836 as part of The Pickwick Papers, this story is in the public domain. Enjoy and Happy Holidays! -- Jim Harold Media LLC respects writers' intellectual property. All fictional stories on Unpleasant Dreams are in the U.S. public domain, published before 1928. For more on public domain and copyright, visit the Cornell University Library's guide on public domain: https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Bell Witch haunting is one of the oldest American hauntings on record and it is the subject of this week’s unpleasant dream. -- Cassandra Harold is your host. EM Hilker is our principal writer and researcher with additional writing by Cassandra Harold. Jim Harold is our Executive Producer. Unpleasant Dreams is a production of Jim Harold Media. You can find EM Hilker’s original article HERE. Sources & Further Reading: 1868 article in the Courier-Journal: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7660018/the-courier-journal/ An Authenticated History of the Bell Witch by Martin Van Buren Ingram https://web.archive.org/web/20021022185219/http://bellwitch02.tripod.com/the_red_book.htm Bell Witch Folklore Centre https://web.archive.org/web/20020924085754/http://bellwitch02.tripod.com/ Bell Witch Cave official site http://www.bellwitchcave.com/ Pat Fitzhugh’s Bell Witch site http://www.bellwitch.org/story.htm The Bell Witch Poltergeist by Joe Nickell https://skepticalinquirer.org/2014/01/the-bell-witch-poltergeist/ The Terrifying True Story of the Bell Witch http://thesouthernweekend.com/bell-witch/ PODCAST TRANSCRIPT The Bell Witch haunting is one of the most famous American hauntings on record, not only for the extent of the hauntings but because it is credited as the only American haunting to result in the death of a living person. John Bell Sr died 200 years ago, and much of the haunting occurred years prior to that.  To date, there are a half dozen movies based on the story with more having been influenced by it; there is a doom metal band called Bell Witch, and several songs by other musicians based on the tale. It has spawned other stories and even traveled in a slightly altered form to become folklore in Mississippi, where several Bell children settled in their adulthood.  The story itself is the story of the Bell family. In the very early years of the nineteenth century, John Bell Senior came to Robertson County, Tennessee with his wife, Lucy, and their young children. They settled along the Red River, near the modern town of Adams. Bell had been a barrel-maker in his youth, but had decided to turn to farming. He was quite successful in this, and by the time of his death, his farm would boast more than three hundred acres of land. He developed a good name for himself as well, and would eventually become an elder at the local church (though later he was excommunicated for unscrupulous business dealings). He had a good life along the Red River for well over a decade, he and his wife had nine children, and they were well-liked as a family.  The “family trouble”, as the Bells would one day call it, began late in 1817. In the earliest days of the haunting, a strange creature was spied around the Bell’s farmland by a number of people. A strange mixture of dog, sometimes two-headed, and rabbit. It was large and dark and utterly unsettling. The Bell family’s slave, Dean, saw this same creature, among other bizarre and supernatural sights, multiple times on his walks in the evening to visit his wife on a nearby farm. John Bell also reportedly saw the creature lurking around on occasion. In early 1818, seemingly supernatural activity had started within the farmhouse. The children would report hearing the sounds of rats gnawing on their bedposts in the night, but upon examination neither rat nor bite mark could be found. After this came knocking sounds and the heavy rattle of chains being dragged across their wooden floors. Sounds that all the family could hear. In time, the children would be bitten at and scratched and pinched by the air itself. Their bedsheets would be yanked off their bed as night. Pillows snatched from under their sleeping heads and thrown to the floor. John Bell Sr woke one day to find his mouth paralyzed. One of the most famous parts of this story, or perhaps infamous, is the treatment of the Bell’s daughter, Betsy. All sources seem to agree that she was an uncommonly beautiful girl, and perhaps this is why the increasingly violent manifestations, allegedly those of a witch, centered around her. She was pinched and scratched more and worse than the other children, leaving her black and blue and bloody. Her hair was yanked and she was kept awake at night. She was abused and miserable. The family tried to relieve her suffering by having her stay with friends and family, but the abuse followed her wherever she went.  By contrast, the entity was utterly enchanted by Lucy Bell, the mother of the family. Lucy was a well-liked woman, but it seemed especially enthralled with her. It lavished her with adulation, brought her fruit and nuts when she was sick, and sang her praises. Author Pat Fitz Hugh quite correctly points out that this can hardly be called genuine kindness on the entity’s part, given the emotional suffering Lucy would have endured in watching her family be harassed and abused. All the while, John Bell became sicker and sicker, and no one was sure what ailed him, or how to cure him of his mysterious malady. In desperation, the Bell family reached out to their good friend James Johnston for help. He and his wife agreed to spend a night in the Bell’s home. Having been as harassed and abused as the Bells had been throughout the night, they agreed in the morning that it was an authentic, malicious spirit. Around this time, the entity began to whisper to them. Barely-heard snatches of a disembodied voice at first, and then growing in power as it appeared to be getting stronger and stronger. When asked who it was, it claimed at various times to be “Old Kate Batts' witch” (Kate Batts herself was alive and well; she allegedly had a sharp tongue and a wicked temper, and was said to actually be a witch).  At other times she was the spirit of a disturbed grave who had lost a tooth under the house (though no tooth was ever found).  On Another occasion, she claimed she was the ghost of a poor murdered peddler. And yet another time, the ghost of an immigrant who had buried treasure nearby (no treasure was ever found, despite the wild goose chase “Kate” led them on). It is said that in 1819 Andrew Jackson, the then army general who would go on to be the seventh president of the United States, had heard stories of the Bell Witch. Given that the Bell’s sons had served under him, he chose to visit the farm itself to investigate. The beginning of this part of the story is the same in all versions -- Jackson and his men found their carriage wheels stuck fast on their way to the farm, and nothing they could do would loosen them. It was the work of the witch, who spoke to them: she would see General Jackson later that evening. The stories differ here: one version says that the general and his men went straight on past the farm house, never to meddle in such things again. The other, more heroic version, states that Jackson did indeed continue on to the Bell homestead.  While there, one of his men who claimed himself to be a “witch layer” was harassed and humiliated by the witch. Regardless, Jackson himself stayed the night, speaking with both the family and the witch herself long into the evening.  It is also said that 1819 was the year in which the witch began to threaten to kill “Old Jack” Bell, who was by this time incredibly weak and fading fast.  In 1820, this threat came to pass. John Bell Sr allegedly was fed a mysterious substance by the witch, after which he died. This substance was later tested on the poor family cat, who promptly died as well, leaving no doubt as to what sort of substance was in the bottle. The witch, not yet finished with “Old Jack”, sang ribald drinking songs loudly at his funeral to the family’s dismay. The haunting did not immediately stop with John Bell’s death. The following year, the Witch implored and nagged at Betsy until she called off her engagement to her fiance, promising to go away for seven years. Betsy did so, perhaps fearing that her love would die as her father had. The witch was, surprisingly, as good as her word.  The witch kept her word to return to the family, as well. She returned to Lucy and the boys in 1828. In some versions of the story they simply changed tact and chose to ignore her entirely rather than engage with the creature who had killed their father. Following this, she simply left. In other versions, she and the boys discussed philosophy and civilization, before she again left. In some versions, she told them she would return to their descendants in 107 years.  Interestingly there actually was a descendant of the family, a Dr. Bailey Bell who was alive 107 years later and was fascinated by the lore of the family witch. He wrote a book on the subject in 1934. If the witch did return to him in 1935 as promised, however, he went to his grave a decade later without telling anyone about it.  There may have been another return of the witch that hadn’t been announced to the family: in 1868, somewhere near the Bell farm, a man named Mr. Smith claimed to have occult powers from the witch. Tom Clinard and Dick Burgess alleged that he had been practising witchcraft on them. They claimed that he had made them see old grey horses and hobgoblins in the night. They proclaimed proudly that if they could do it all again, they would kill him again. They had been attempting to arrest Smith for his use of witchcraft, leading to the conflict that resulted in Smith’s death. They were found Not Guilty. In 1880, the Bell Witch’s work was attributed to a haunted house in Tennessee, where clangs and bangs were heard, but no speech from the witch as with the Bell family. There were accusations of fakery, none of which were solidly proven.  There’s also the Bell Witch Cave. The cave exists on what was once the Bell’s property, and in COVID-free times is open to the public. It doesn’t have a place in the original story, but since that time it HAS been and continues to be, the site of numerous phenomena. The Witch herself once rescued a young boy in the cave who had gotten stuck, and it’s said that the cave was where she resided when she wasn’t tormenting the Bell family.  Our primary source of information for the inside happenings of the Bell Witch haunting is a book published in 1894 by Martin Van Buren Ingram, called An Authenticated History of the Famous Bell Witch. Ingram calls himself a compiler of data in the preface of the book, some of which was “written by Williams Bell, a member of the family, some fifty-six years ago, together with other corroborative testimony by men and women of irreproachable character and unquestionable veracity.” Ingram himself makes reference to news articles of the day, none of which survive. The legend survives through oral tradition as well. In addition to the stories still told in Tennessee, the tale of the Bell witch made its way to Mississippi, with some of the names and motivations changed, where it’s still told today. The young heroine of the story is now called Mary, and a love story has been added, but the story remains very much intact.  Pat Fitzhugh brings up the possibility of John Bell Sr’s illness and death being due to a neurological disorder, rather than the evil work of the witch (however much and loudly she took credit for it at the time). The science of neurology, despite the concepts being two hundred years old, was still very much in its infancy in the 1820s. It would be 50 years before electrodes would be used to study neurology, and all the advances that they would bring. Bell’s symptoms mirror those we now know to be those of neurological illness, though of course without the patient to examine there’s no way to know for sure. Skeptic Joe Nickell believes it possible that the whole haunting was a hoax perpetrated by Betsy, as another example of “poltergeist faking syndrome”. Ingram himself admits that two of the Bell brothers took frequent boat trips down to New Orleans around 1815 - 1818, where they learned ventriloquism, which they then taught to their sister Betsy. Certainly the timing of the early days of the hauntings lines up with the acquisition of their new talent. Ingram himself does not believe this theory to be true, pointing out that the hauntings brought no good to the family.  It’s impossible to say whether this was a legitimate haunting or an elaborate trick that coincided with the neurological illness of John Bell Sr., ending in his death. All witnesses have been dead for well over a century, and the original farm house fell into ruin long, long ago. All we can do is speculate, and wonder if the world will hear from “Old Kate Batts’ witch” again one day.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week's Unpleasant Dreams features a horror story written by H.P. Lovecraft. Cassandra Harold narrates the short story, "The Music of Erich Zann." "The Music of Erich Zann" was written in 1921 and first published in 1922 and is in the Public Domain. -- Jim Harold Media LLC respects writers' intellectual property. All fictional stories on Unpleasant Dreams are in the U.S. public domain, published before 1928. For more on public domain and copyright, visit the Cornell University Library's guide on public domain: https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For Season 3, Unpleasant Dreams is back with a new format! Cassandra is now turning her attention to classic spooky stories! This week she shares the cautionary and terrifying tale of The Monkey's Paw by W.W. Jacobs. Be careful what you wish for! You can find The Monkey's Paw at Project Gutenberg here: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12122 "The Monkey’s Paw" by W.W. Jacobs, originally published 1902 and is in the Public Domain. Thanks for listening and please share the show with your friends!  -- Jim Harold Media LLC respects writers' intellectual property. All fictional stories on Unpleasant Dreams are in the U.S. public domain, published before 1928. For more on public domain and copyright, visit the Cornell University Library's guide on public domain: https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Part two of our program on The Sheppard Murder case which spawned the American “Trial of The Century” before OJ. A physician is suspected of murdering his wife in a quiet, affluent 1950s Midwestern bedroom community. Did Sam Sheppard kill Marilyn Sheppard? That is the topic of this week’s edition of Unpleasant Dreams. --- Cassandra Harold is your host. EM Hilker is our principal writer and researcher with additional writing by Cassandra Harold. Jim Harold is our Executive Producer. Unpleasant Dreams is a production of Jim Harold Media. A copy of EM Hilker’s original article can be found HERE -PODCAST TRANSCRIPT- Perhaps the most thorough and well-balanced of the Sheppard trials was the one held long, long after Marilyn Reese Sheppard’s death. In the first installment of this saga, we discussed the first trial of her husband and accused killer, Sam, some of the questionable decisions made by the trial judge, and the media circus that surrounded it; we also explored briefly his retrial in the 1960s where the evidence intended to prove Sam’s motive was kept from the jury and where the science of the time, much of which has been debunked over the roughly 40 years since the retrial, favoured Sam’s innocence. This was the opportunity, in many ways, to finally reach the truth; a sequestered jury untainted by a riotous media, the benefits of the 50 years of advancement in both biological and behavioral sciences , and all the evidence on the table,   At last, the chance to accurately assess whether or not Sam H. Sheppard murdered his wife. FOR THE REST OF THE TRANSCRIPT CLICK HERE – FURTHER READING AND SOURCES – Affleck, John. “Bailey Testifies in Sheppard Case.” AP NEWS, Associated Press, 16 Feb. 2000. Retrieved 9 October 2021.  “AMSEC 04 — Richard Eberling Background Investigation.” EngagedScholarship@CSU, 9 Mar. 1995. Retrieved 9 October 2021. “Blood 5: Transfer Bloodstains – Crime Scene.” Google Sites. Retrieved 9 October 2021. Butterfield, Fox. “New Clues in an Old Murder Case.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 5 Feb. 1997. Retrieved 9 October 2021.  DeSario, Jack and William D. Mason. Dr. Sam Sheppard on Trial. Kent State University Press, 2003.  “Did Ancient Teeth Decay?” ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), 28 May 2008. Retrieved 9 October 2021. Drenkhan, Patrolman Fred. “Statement given to BVPD by Esther Houk.” EngagedScholarship@CSU. Retrieved 9 October 2021. “Fetus DNA Tests Inconclusive in ‘The Fugitive’ Murder Case.” Deseret News, Deseret News, 18 Jan. 2000. Retrieved 9 October 2021. Finn, Peter. “Loudoun Firm Made Sam Sheppard Case Its Own.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 9 Feb. 1997. Retrieved 9 October 2021. “Forensic Anthropology.” Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 9 October 2021. Gilbert, Terry H., and George H. Carr. “Motion in Limine to Limit Testimony of Dr. Roger Marsters.” EngagedScholarship@CSU, 13 Mar. 2000. Retrieved 9 October 2021. Linder, Douglas O. “Sam Sheppard.” Famous Trials, UMKC School of Law. Retrieved 9 October 2021. Neff, James. The Wrong Man: The Final Verdict on the Dr. Sam Sheppard Murder Case. Open Road Media: 2015. “Richard Eberling Dies; Inmate Denied Killing Wife of Sam Sheppard.” The Buffalo News, 27 July 1998. Retrieved 9 October 2021. Simon, Scott. “Son of the ‘Fugitive’ Defends His Father.” NPR, NPR, 12 Sept. 2009. Retrieved 9 October 2021. “Testimony Reveals That Sheppard Sought Out-of-Court Settlement.” CNN, Cable News Network, February 23, 2000. Retrieved 9 October 2021.   Wendling, Mike. “Marilyn Sheppard Body to Be Exhumed.” AP NEWS, Associated Press, 20 Aug. 1999. Retrieved 9 October 2021. “William D. Mason.” Academic Dictionaries and Encyclopedias. Retrieved 9 October 2021. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A beast that terrorized the French countryside is one of history’s greatest mysteries. The Beast of Gévaudan is the subject of this episode of Unpleasant Dreams. PODCAST TRANSCRIPT Apprehensive they went, clasping each other tightly, into the night. It was so, so quiet outside of the footsteps of their papa, clomping along hurriedly, unsteadily ahead. The unnatural still of the night seeped into all three children’s blood, making them shiver as the moon poured silver upon them. They didn’t need to go out to look for her. They knew. The Beast had butchered someone in the village not even two days ago. And now, tonight, maman hadn’t come home with the flock. Papa, now far up ahead, let out a strangled cry, indecipherable. It was followed by the sound of vomiting. They ran to their father and tried not to look at whatever was up ahead of them, but they looked. They quickly buried their small, tear-streaked faces against their papa’s generous, sturdy body. But they saw, and it would be years before they would be able to close their eyes without seeing it again. Their maman’s body lay ahead of them, twisted and mauled. Where they expected to see maman’s sweet face and her tumbling waves of reddish hair, there was only a dark smear. It took her head. The youngest, huddled behind papa, widened her eyes in wonder and whispered, “loup garou.”  FOR THE REST OF THE TRANSCRIPT AND SOURCES GO HERE Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The mysterious disappearance of a group of nine Soviet hikers in 1959 has puzzled the world for decades. What happened? Was it simply horrible weather? A secret weapons test? Or, something otherworldly? That is the subject of this very Unpleasant Dream. EM Hilker is our writer and researcher with additional writing by Cassandra Harold. Jim Harold is our Executive Producer. CLICK HERE for EM Hilker’s original article. SOURCES Borzenkov, Vladimir. “Trek Categories and Sports Ranks.” Dyatlov Pass. Retrieved 17 August 2022.  Eichar, Donnie. Dead Mountain: the Untold Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident. Chronicle Books, 2013. Hadjiyska, Teodora, and Igor Pavlov. “Dyatlov Group.” Dyatlov Pass. Retrieved 17 August 2022. Gaume, Johan, and Alexander M. Puzrin. “Mechanisms of Slab Avalanche Release and Impact in the Dyatlov Pass Incident in 1959.” Nature News, Nature Publishing Group, 28 January 2021. Retrieved 17 August 2022. “Nikita Khrushchev.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 9 November 2009. Retrieved 15 August 2022. Niziol, Tom. “Whirls, Curls, and Little Swirls: The Science Behind Von Karman Vortices.” Weather Underground. Retrieved 18 August 2022.  Osadchuk, Svetlana. “Mysterious Deaths of 9 Skiers Still Unresolved.” The St. Petersburg Times, 19 February 2008. Retrieved 10 August 2022. Solly, Meilan. “Have Scientists Finally Unraveled the 60-Year Mystery Surrounding Nine Russian Hikers’ Deaths?” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 29 January 2021. Retrieved 17 August 2022.  Speltz, Lorin. “Salo.” Russiapedia. Retrieved 17 August 2022.  Wedin, B, et al. “‘Paradoxical Undressing’ in Fatal Hypothermia.” Journal of Forensic Sciences, U.S. National Library of Medicine, July 1979. Retrieved 18 August 2022. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Houdini was the greatest magician in history…few realize that one of his best friends was the creator of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle! They quickly bonded over their interest in Spiritualism but that was only the beginning of the story… -BetterHelp- The Paranormal Podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. BetterHelp is professional therapy done securely online, available to people worldwide. They have a special offer for my listeners: get 10% off your first month at BetterHelp.com/dreams EM Hilker is our writer and researcher with additional writing by Cassandra Harold. Jim Harold is our Executive Producer. TRANSCRIPT & SOURCES CLICK HERE for a full transcript and source list. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For this special Halloween edition, Cassandra shares the terrifying tale of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde! This is part one.  You can find the classic original, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, at this link: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/43/43-h/43-h.htm#chap02 "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" by Robert Louis Stevenson, originally published 1886 and is in the Public Domain. Thank you for listening and please tell your friends who love classic horror! Happy Halloween! -- Jim Harold Media LLC respects writers' intellectual property. All fictional stories on Unpleasant Dreams are in the U.S. public domain, published before 1928. For more on public domain and copyright, visit the Cornell University Library's guide on public domain: https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We delve into Robert W. Chambers' "The Mask," a tale that intertwines love, art, and the audacity of human ambition. What happens when an artist's quest for eternal beauty crosses the unforgiving lines of mortality? Join us as we explore a story that ventures beyond the surface, examining the emotional and psychological toll of capturing perfection—at a price. Your narrator is Cassandra Harold. This is Part One. You can find the original text of this classic 1895 story here: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/8492/pg8492-images.html#THE_MASK "The Mask" by Robert W. Chambers, originally published 1895 and is in the Public Domain. Thank you for listening and please tell your friends who love classic horror! -- Jim Harold Media LLC respects writers' intellectual property. All fictional stories on Unpleasant Dreams are in the U.S. public domain, published before 1928. For more on public domain and copyright, visit the Cornell University Library's guide on public domain: https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join Cassandra on a journey to the mysterious Goblin Market on this edition of Unpleasant Dreams! "Goblin Market" by Christina Rossetti, originally published 1862 and is in the Public Domain. Thank you for listening and please share the show your friends! -- Jim Harold Media LLC respects writers' intellectual property. All fictional stories on Unpleasant Dreams are in the U.S. public domain, published before 1928. For more on public domain and copyright, visit the Cornell University Library's guide on public domain: https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Betty and Barney Hill UFO abduction case is the perhaps the most famous in the history of the phenomena. We share their story on this edition of Unpleasant Dreams. JIM HAROLD’S SPRING BOOK GIVEAWAY & NEWSLETTER Never miss anything going on at the Spooky Studio and qualify for Jim’s Spring Book Giveaway (some restrictions apply), sign up for Jim’s FREE newsletter HERE ORIGINAL ARTICLE CLICK HERE for the original article by EM Hilker TRANSCRIPT CLICK HERE for the full transcript. SOURCES AND FURTHER READING Dickinson, Terence, et al. “The Zeta Reticuli (or Ridiculi) Incident.” Astronomy.com. Retrieved 8 February 2022.  Fox, Margalit. “Betty Hill, 85, Figure in Alien Abduction Case, Dies.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 23 Oct. 2004. Retrieved 8 February 2022. Lacina, Linda. “How Betty and Barney Hill’s Alien Abduction Story Defined the Genre.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 4 September 2018. Retrieved 8 February 2022. Marden, Kathleen and Stanton T. Friedman. Captured! The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience. Weiser, 2007. Pflock, Karl and Peter Brookesmith, eds. Encounters at Indian Head: The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Abduction Revisited. Anomalist Books,  2007. Robinson, J. Dennis. “Historic Portsmouth: Simon Says ‘It Was a Dream’.” Seacoastonline.com, Portsmouth Herald, 28 May 2020. Retrieved 14 February 2022.  Skomorowsky, Anne. “Alien Abduction or ‘Accidental Awareness’?” Scientific American, Scientific American, 11 November 2014. Retrieved 19 February 2022. Todd, Iain. “Zeta Reticuli: Facts About the Binary Star System.” BBC Sky at Night Magazine, 18 May 2021. Retrieved 19 February 2022. “UNH Innovation Spotlight – Betty and Barney Hill Collection.” UNHInnovation, 20 October 2021. Retrieved 8 February 2022 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

https://jimharold.com/count-magnus-part-two-unpleasant-dreams-38/A writer becomes fascinated by a mysterious Count and his manor. This episode is the thrilling conclusion. Cassandra Harold is your narrator. You can find COUNT MAGNUS at The Gutenberg Project: https://gutenberg.org/cache/epub/8486/pg8486-images.html#chap06 "Count Magnus" by M.R. James, originally published 1904 and is in the Public Domain. Follow Cassandra’s new Instagram here: https://instagram.com/unpleasant_dreams_podcast Thanks for listening and please share the show with your friends! And…may all your dreams be pleasant! -- Jim Harold Media LLC respects writers' intellectual property. All fictional stories on Unpleasant Dreams are in the U.S. public domain, published before 1928. For more on public domain and copyright, visit the Cornell University Library's guide on public domain: https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We explore the terrifying and fascinating phenomena of Spontaneous Human Combustion on this edition of Unpleasant Dreams. JIM’S SPRING BOOK GIVEAWAY& NEWSLETTER Never miss anything going on at the Spooky Studio and qualify for Jim’s Spring Book Giveaway (some restrictions apply), sign up for Jim’s FREE newsletter HERE ARTICLE Find the original article by EM Hilker HERE TRANSCRIPT CLICK HERE for a full transcript Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Happy Valentine's Day! Here's the perfect story for a day dedicated to our hearts. It's The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe. Enjoy! "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe, originally published 1843 and is in the Public Domain. Cassandra Harold is our narrator. -- Jim Harold Media LLC respects writers' intellectual property. All fictional stories on Unpleasant Dreams are in the U.S. public domain, published before 1928. For more on public domain and copyright, visit the Cornell University Library's guide on public domain: https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on Unpleasant Dreams we dive into an eerie tale that tests the boundaries of darkness and the sway it holds over the mind. Our story is Edith Nesbit's "The Power of Darkness." "The Power of Darkness" by Edith Nesbit, originally published 1905 and is in the Public Domain. Our narrator is Cassandra Harold. Link: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/33028 -- Jim Harold Media LLC respects writers' intellectual property. All fictional stories on Unpleasant Dreams are in the U.S. public domain, published before 1928. For more on public domain and copyright, visit the Cornell University Library's guide on public domain: https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Did bluesman Robert Johnson sell his soul to the Devil himself? That is the legend of the crossroads and we explore it on this edition of Unpleasant Dreams. — Cassandra Harold is your host. EM Hilker is our principal writer and researcher with additional writing by Cassandra Harold. Jim Harold is our Executive Producer. Unpleasant Dreams is a production of Jim Harold Media. You can find the original article by EM Hilker HERE MUSIC Noé Socha (Simple Blues Boy) via Premium Beat SOURCES AND FURTHER READING Belard, Angelie. Hoodoo for Beginners: Working Magic Spells in Rootwork and Conjure with Roots, Herbs, Candles, and Oils. Hentopan Publishing, 2020.  Butler, J. M. “Crossroads myth.” Mississippi Encyclopedia. 4 March, 2019. Accessed 25 September 2021. Conforth, Bruce M., and Gayle Wardlow. Up Jumped the Devil: The Real Life of Robert Johnson. Chicago Review Press Incorporated, 2019.  Graves, Tom. Crossroads: the Life and Afterlife of Blues Legend Robert Johnson. Rhythm Oil Publications, 2012.  Lewis, John. “Robert Johnson Sells His Soul to the Devil.” The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 15 June 2011. Accessed 25 September 2021. Oakes, Brian, director. Devil at the Crossroads, Netflix Remastered, 2019. Accessed 25 September 2021.  Quinn, Shannon. “18 People Who Allegedly Sold Their Soul to Pure Evil.” HistoryCollection.com. 28 September 2018. Accessed 25 September 2021. Roberts, Maddy Shaw. “Niccolò Paganini Was Such a Gifted Violinist, People Thought He Sold His Soul to the Devil.” Classic FM. Classic FM, 1 Feb. 2019. Accessed 25 September 2021. Rolling Stone. “The 27 Club: A Brief History.” Rolling Stone. 8 December 2019. Accessed 25 September 2021. Yronwode, Catherine. “Foot-Track Magic.” Foot-Track Magic in the Hoodoo Tradition. Accessed 25 September 2021. PODCAST TRANSCRIPT It’s an old, old story. The shadowed, dusty crossroads sit lonely in the sultry, oppressive summer night, seemingly waiting for the young Black man who now arrives. He holds a guitar in one hand and a mostly empty bottle of whiskey in the other. He does not stumble as he walks, but looks about warily as he slowly approaches, his misgivings chasing each other across his handsome face. The crossroads are lit only by the dull glow   cast off from the sickle of light shining in the dark sky, gleaming almost bronze through the thick humidity. It is enough. He can see that he’s alone. As midnight comes upon him, he feels a change, as of movement. It’s not a smell or a sound or something he can name. His skin, already slick with the sweat of the hot night, feels clammy and a shiver thrills through his body. With his intentions, in this place, he has already crossed a threshold. And he can feel it. A figure bulks in the darkness at the crossroads now, broad as a thoroughbred and so, so tall. The young man can’t see his features, can’t even see if it’s truly a man, but he can see a wicked, white smile. He didn’t see him arrive, didn’t hear a footstep or feel a wisp of breeze. This is the right man. He is in the right place. He clears his throat, tightens his hold on the guitar, and steps forward.... For a full podcast transcript go to the post at jimharold.com HERE Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A terrifying tale of a lost soul on the sea crying for any help he can find for himself and his doomed wife. Cassandra Harold narrates the classic short story, "A Voice In The Night" by William Hope Hodgson. "A Voice in the Night" by William Hope Hodgson, originally published 1907 and is in the Public Domain. Please share this episode with your friends who love classic horror! -- Jim Harold Media LLC respects writers' intellectual property. All fictional stories on Unpleasant Dreams are in the U.S. public domain, published before 1928. For more on public domain and copyright, visit the Cornell University Library's guide on public domain: https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Perhaps the most mysterious death of the 21st century is that of Elisa Lam. We share the tragic story of this young woman on this edition of Unpleasant Dreams. Cassandra Harold is your host. EM Hilker is our principal writer and researcher with additional writing by Cassandra Harold. Jim Harold is our Executive Producer. Unpleasant Dreams is a production of Jim Harold Media. SOURCES AND FURTHER READING: Anderson, Jake. Gone at Midnight: The Mysterious Death of Elisa Lam. Citadel, 2020.  Anon. “Questions Remain Three Years After…” LosAngeles.cbslocal.com. https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2016/10/31/questions-remain-3-years-after-womans-body-was-found-inside-la-hotels-rooftop-water-tank/ Retrieved 16 February 2021.  Barrett, Christina. The Mysterious Death of Elisa Lam. CreateSpace, 2016. Brown, Jack. “Body Language Analysis No. 2313: Elisa Lam Video in Elevator at Cecil Hotel.” BodyLanguageSuccess.com. https://www.bodylanguagesuccess.com/2013/02/nonverbal-communication-analysis-2313.html Retrieved 16 February 2021.  Buzzfeed Unsolved. “The Bizarre Death of Elisa Lam.” Youtube. 18 March 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48jBi86ih5Q Moncrieff, JH. “Whatever Happened to Elisa Lam?” JHMoncrieff.com. https://www.jhmoncrieff.com/whatever-happened-elisa-lam/ Retrieved 16 February 2021.  Peters, Lucia. Dangerous Games to Play in the Dark. Chronicle Books, 2019. Steel, Danielle. How Elisa Lam Got Disappeared. Sifox, 2017. Swann, Jennifer. “Elisa Lam Drowned in a Water Tank Three Years Ago, but the Obsession with her Death Lives On.” Vice.com. https://www.vice.com/en/article/3bkmg3/elisa-lam-drowned-in-a-water-tank-two-years-ago-but-the-obsession-with-her-death-lives-on-511. Retrieved 16 February 2021.  You can find EM Hilker’s full article that this podcast was based upon HERE and a transcript of the podcast version below: PODCAST TRANSCRIPT It was early February of 2013 when some of the residents of the Stay on Main (formerly the Cecil Hotel) began to have problems with their tap water. The water pressure was inconsistent, and the water itself tasted peculiar and was oddly discoloured. In response to the residents’ complaints, the hotel sent employee Santiago Lopez to investigate the issue. His investigation took him to the water towers on the roof of the hotel where, upon examination, he found the decomposing body of a solitary young woman, naked, floating in the cistern, her clothing and some personal effects in the water alongside her.  No one recognized by authorities knows precisely how Elisa Lam died. The known facts are that Elisa arrived in Los Angeles on January 26th 2013 and checked into the Stay on Main on January 28th. She was reported missing on February 1st, 2013, after she had fallen out of contact with her family; some time prior to that she displayed seemingly erratic behavior in the hotel elevator, which was caught on tape and has been much-analyzed by professionals and amateur sleuths alike. Her body and clothing were found in one of the rooftop water cisterns, which, in theory, should have been inaccessible by the hotel guests. For a period of time, the guests consumed the water that contained her body, which had been discoloured and had an unwholesome taste. Her clothes were in the cistern as well, covered with what appeared to be sand. It was noted that her cell phone and glasses were missing. Autopsy revealed that she had been dead for several days at a minimum, that there was water in neither her lungs nor her stomach, and that aside from a small abrasion on her knee that she could have gotten anywhere, she had no obvious external trauma that wasn’t accounted for by decomposition.  Among the things that are unknown: how did Elisa get in that cistern, which was said to have been difficult to access? How did she get onto the roof, for that matter, where the cisterns are located, past the secured door? What was Elisa up to in that elevator? Was she alone? Before we delve into the details of this strange case, and the plentiful theories of what precisely happened, there is Elisa herself.  She was a young woman, only 21 years old at the time of her death, and at the beginning of her adult life. She had struggled with mental illness for many years, but despite her struggles she was kind, empathetic, dedicated, and passionate. She liked fashion, art, and literature, and found a great deal of solace on her blogs “Nouvelle/Nouveau” and “Ether Fields.” She was close to her parents, with whom she connected each day as she traveled. She called her trip “the West Coast Tour.” She had been very excited about it.   I think it’s important to remember who Elisa was. That she was a real, warm, living person with hopes and goals and dreams and struggles. It’s easy to forget Elisa herself in the twisting paths of this case, in all the weirdness of the circumstances and the copious amount of theories on what really happened to her. Elisa wasn’t just a part of a mystery to be solved: she was a vibrant young woman, taken too soon from a life that she had only just begun. LAM-ELISA TB Test The circumstances surrounding Elisa’s death, and her stay in Los Angeles in general, were strange, but little was as strange on the surface as the colossal coincidence of the LAM-ELISA tuberculosis test. The name LAM-ELISA seems like an improbable coincidence. The test was developed at the University of British Columbia, oddly enough, the university Elisa had attended more than four years before her last, fateful trip. LAM-ELISA is named for enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, or ELISA, an enzyme used to detect lipoarabinomannan (Lie-poe-a-rab-in-o-min-in) (LAM) in samples of human sputum, in order to diagnose tuberculosis in the patient. There was, additionally, an outbreak of TB in the Skid Row section of Los Angeles at the time of Elisa’s disappearance. Some conspiracy theories have cropped up around these coincidences, though none really fit the facts. The naming convention of the test is clear and logical, the test itself predates Elisa’s stay in LA by literal years, and there was no sign of TB in Elisa’s autopsy findings.  Dark Water Another strange coincidence comes in the form of two movies called ‘Dark Water’ (a Japanese movie from 2002, and the American remake from 2005) as well as the short story by Koji Suzuki on which the two movies were based. As in Elisa’s case, there were water supply issues caused by the body of a young girl in the building’s water tower. Interestingly as well, the American remake names the lead character, Dahlia, which just so happens to be the press’ nickname for murder victim Elizabeth Short.  The Elizabeth Short who was allegedly drinking at the then-Cecil hotel’s bar shortly before her murder.  “The Suicide” The Stay on Main, formerly the Cecil Hotel but re-named in 2011, has a dark and violent history. There have been at least sixteen deaths (that we know of) at the Cecil hotel since the first recorded suicide in November 1931 (a selection of which include: self-poisoning, infanticide, and strangulation). Jake Anderson, author of, Gone At Midnight, the book on the case, believes the number to be higher.  Because of its reputation as a place frequented by death, it was popularly called “The Suicide.” In addition to the selection of murders and suicides in the hotel itself, it was also known for having housed both Richard “The Night Stalker” Ramirez during the period of his murder spree in the 1980s and Austrian serial killer Johann “Jack” Unterweger in the 1990s. Also, as previously mentioned, there is the fact that Elizabeth Short, “The Black Dahlia”, may or may not have had a drink at the Cecil in the last few days of her life. Inaccessible roof and sealed water tower? The roof should have been, many have said, inaccessible. The set of stairs leading to the roof from the fourteenth floor had a security alarm, which was not triggered the night of Elisa’s disappearance. Indeed, Santiago Lopez had to disarm it before finding Elisa’s body on the roof. There were, however, fire escapes that could be climbed to access the roof. Jake Anderson points out that there was graffiti on the roof, as well as reports of drinking up there; someone was accessing it. The cisterns have been said to be sealed in some sources, but elsewhere simply awkward and heavy. Somebody — Elisa or otherwise — got it open, after all. And then, perhaps most disturbing The Elevator Footage The footage of Elisa playing in an elevator on what was most likely the last day of her life, which the LAPD released to the public on February 15, has gotten a lot of attention online. The footage, as released, is certainly disquieting to watch, if only because of what would happen to her later that night. This footage has originated a number of the theories that we will discuss later. All is not as it seems on the surface, however. Often noted is that the elevator doors take an unusually long time to close in the video, though upon examination Kay Theng found that the doors to the elevator only close upon pressing the “close door” button or upon someone summoning the elevator from another floor. This may have been unusual behavior for elevators in general, but it was not unusual behavior for this particular elevator. Body language expert Dr. Jack Brown believes her body language to be playful rather than afraid, and speculates that there may be another person outside the elevator she’s playing with.  However strange the circumstances surrounding her trip may be, the question remains, how did Elisa wind up in that water tower? The Paranormal Theory Well before Elisa’s death, the hotel was thought to be haunted. The Ghost Adventures team has recorded a two-hour special in the former Cecil, noting that “it’s undeniable that there are spirits inside this building.” Renowned psychic Joni Mayhan was asked to analyze the case for Anderson, and concluded that Elisa had been murdered, her murderer having been influenced by a malevolent force.  The Elevator Game The elevator game, which is said to have originated in Korea, has a very simple premise: you enter an elevator in a building that has a minimum of ten stories, alone, and after entering the elevator on the ground floor,  press the buttons in sequence, each after traveling to the last buttons’ floor, without exiting the elevator. The order is 4, 2, 6, 2, 10, 5, 1. Certain things are said to happen along the way – a woman may enter the elevator at the fifth floor, to whom you must neither speak nor look at. It’s not clear what happens to you if you do. In theory, if you’ve done all this correctly, when you press “one” to return to the ground floor, the elevator should instead ascend to the tenth floor, where you will find another world. You can either leave the elevator and explore this new world, an empty, dark world with a burning crucifix in the distance, or reverse the sequence of floors that you pressed to get here. The dark world is said to be hard to find your way back from (you need to use the same elevator that you used to get there). And, internet speculation has it, that Elisa Lam was playing that game in the elevator footage. I have a few problems with this theory: first, and perhaps most importantly: “Elisa had given virtually no attention to the paranormal. In all of her hundreds of pages of writings, not once did she ever reference ghosts, or hauntings, or possessions, or anything in the esoteric paranormal realm,” as Jake Anderson observes. There’s no reason to believe that she would have played a relatively obscure game to go to another dimension, when she doesn’t seem to have done so much as watched an episode of Ghost Hunters. Secondly, the infamous elevator footage took place on the fourteenth floor. The fourteenth floor isn’t part of the elevator game, and the rules are very clear that you must begin on the ground floor. Thirdly, she’s shown pressing what appears to be random buttons hurriedly, rather than traveling to each floor before pressing the next button in the sequence, and she doesn’t appear to be pressing them in the order of the game. Finally, she leaves the elevator, which you’re not to do until you reach the tenth floor. The Mental Health Aspect Elisa Lam was diagnosed and medicated for bipolar disorder, which she seems to have struggled with for most of her life and wrote about at length online. She had been taking medications to treat the disorder, but the toxicology results from her autopsy suggest that she hadn’t been taking all of her medications at the time of her death. She appears to have been taking one of her antidepressants (Venlafaxine, ven·luh·fak·seen) regularly, but her other antidepressant (bupropion,byoo·prow·pee·aan) was in small enough amounts to indicate that it had been taken recently but certainly not that day. This was true of her mood stabilizing drug Lamotrigine (luh·mow·truh·jeen) as well. The antipsychotic she had been prescribed, quetiapine (kwuh·tai·uh·peen), was entirely absent from her system.  The autopsy report isn’t the only reason to believe that something was amiss, however; Elisa had originally checked into her hotel room with two other women. Several days into Elisa’s stay, the roommates complained to management that Elisa was acting in ways that made them uncomfortable, and Elisa was moved to her own room. Anderson had discovered one of the last people to see her alive, a man named Tosh Berman, who had encountered her in a bookstore. He described her behavior as erratic and unbalanced, and noted that he had been worried for her safety, not because of any immediate threat but simply because she was so unstable, and seemed so vulnerable. Skinny Dipping One theory on how Elisa wound up in that water tower is that she got in voluntarily. That perhaps in her manic state, she chose to go skinny dipping, alone, in a water reservoir on the roof of a 19 storey hotel that is — in theory, at least — hard to access, sometime in  February. The average daytime temperature in Los Angeles in February is 21 degrees celsius, or 69.8 degrees fahrenheit. That is, of course, assuming she had stolen away to do this during the day, when it’s warmest but also presumably the easiest time to get caught). The interior of the water reservoir was completely smooth, lacking entirely in any way for her to climb back out. The theory is that she realized this too late, and the poor woman was left to tread water, hopelessly, knowing that no one knew she was there, knowing that rescue would never come, until she died.  The Murder/Manslaughter Hypothesis A very common theory is that Elisa was murdered, and that perhaps she was dead before her body entered the cistern. Dr. John Hiserolt believes that she may have been suffocated, and her body thrown in the water tower. He acknowledges the possibility of laryngospasm , sometimes called “dry drowning,” but finds it unusual that there was also no water in her stomach. Many have pointed out that a hotel employee could have accompanied her to the roof without setting off the alarm, and many others have pointed out that there were several registered sex offenders in the hotel at the time of Elisa’s death. Jake Anderson himself suspects perhaps a date rape that became a murder. Mystery author JH Moncrieff agrees, writing at one point that “Personally, I think she was murdered, and not by a ghost, either.”  Ultimately, we may never know what happened to Elisa. But there’s one more theory I’d like to share with you, which may be no more true than the others, but which accounts for at least most of the facts: It’s possible that Elisa may have indeed gone skinny dipping in the water tower, perhaps in a manic state, with whoever she was playing with in the elevator footage. This person may also have helped her open the lid to the cistern. She took off her clothes, her watch, and her hotel key card, placing them in a pile on the floor of the roof, picking up the particulate matter that was found on them, and jumped in the water first. Quickly realizing that there was no way to get back out, her companion perhaps panicked (if this hadn’t been the plan all along), and rather than getting help, threw her clothing and personal effects in after her, and left her to die. It’s hard to hope for an answer to the mystery of Elisa Lam’s death. At the time of this recording, it has been eight years. There is hope, however: recently, Netflix has released a documentary, and Jake Anderson has drummed up new interest with Gone At Midnight. With luck, this new spotlight on the case will lead to fresh information on Elisa, her last days, and perhaps finally an answer to the circumstances surrounding her tragic loss.     Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Season Two of Unpleasant Dreams is coming soon in April. Thank you for your kind words and support.  Please keep following, subscribing and telling your friends about the show...have them listen to the archive! Wishing you pleasant dreams! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome To Unpleasant Dreams. Chilling stories told by Cassandra Harold. Topics include strange phenomena, mind benders, head scratchers and mysterious true crime cases. Unpleasant Dreams is a production of Jim Harold Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aural death omens that are believed to be harbingers of doom across cultures around the globe. Tune into some of the sounds of death on this episode of Unpleasant Dreams. That is, if you dare. Cassandra Harold is your host. EM Hilker is our principal writer and researcher with additional writing by Cassandra Harold. Jim Harold is our Executive Producer. Unpleasant Dreams is a production of Jim Harold Media. PODCAST TRANSCRIPT There’s something of the foreboding in an unexpected sound piercing an otherwise placid stillness; perhaps it’s an eerie hoot borne through the evening hush, or the lull of the afternoon suddenly shaken by a grandfather clock chiming loudly off-time. It might be a mysterious whistling where there ought not be anyone to whistle, or a heavy knocking from an empty doorway. It chills the blood and brings to mind strange, dark suspicions of things to come. Aural death omens. Those sounds that herald the approach of death. Common across cultures all over the world, generations of people have heard them and known, deep down, that they signal an ending. Sometimes it’s the cry of an animal; sometimes it’s the full brassy ring of a bell or the chime of an old broken clock, or an inexplicable knocking or a strange, ghostly figure. Aural death omens can often take the form of an animal messenger. Perhaps one of the most interesting living aural death omens was made famous in Edgar Allen Poe’s short story The Tell-Tale Heart: “He was still sitting up in the bed listening; –just as I have done, night after night, hearkening to the death watches in the wall.” The “death watches” being referred to were, of course, the deathwatch beetle, a woodboring beetle that makes a peculiar tap-tap-tap sound from within the walls of the home or building they’ve infested. As author Laura Martisiute suggests, the beetles’ tap-tap-tapping became associated with the long sleepless vigils held by the bedsides of the dying, during which the sounds of the beetle would persist throughout the otherwise quiet night. Over time, people came to believe that the tap-tap-tap was forecasting death rather than simply accompanying it, and they came to dread it… during the long, silent nights. Birds, the natural predator of beetles, are also a common source of aural death omens. Owls in particular are generally seen as magical birds for both good and ill across many countries and cultures. And as such, they are also commonly considered death-signalling birds across vast geographical expanses. The Hottentot in Southern Africa believe that the hooting of an owl predicts death, as do a number of Native American tribes, and people in Mexico and India. A relative to the owl, the tawny frogmouth, also has a cry that portends death throughout Asia and Australia. FIND THE REST OF THE TRANSCRIPT & SOURCES HERE Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Shadow People. What are they? We discuss these mysterious entities on this week’s edition of Unpleasant Dreams! Cassandra Harold is your host. EM Hilker is our principal writer and researcher with additional writing by Cassandra Harold. Jim Harold is our Executive Producer. Unpleasant Dreams is a production of Jim Harold Media. Further Reading Want to spend some time curled up with a book or your kindle and getting terrified? Here are some great books to start with: The Paranormal Researcher’s Guide to Shadow People by Charis Branson The Hat Man: The True Story of Evil Encounters by Heidi Hollis The Hatman and the Shadow People by Dominic Kelly Shadow People: Who are they and where did they come from? By Dr. Terry King Is browsing websites more your deal? I recommend the following sites to start with: http://www.shadowpeople.org/  https://www.thoughtco.com/shadow-people-2596772 https://www.ranker.com/list/what-are-shadow-people/brandon-michaels Of course, you can find true tales of shadow people and other creatures on Jim Harold’s Campfire podcast You can find EM Hilker’s full article that this podcast was based upon HERE and a transcript of the podcast version below: PODCAST TRANSCRIPT Shadow People: Darker than the night itself, moving silently in the shadows. They skulk furtively in the periphery of your vision, sometimes lurking darkly at the foot of a sleeping person’s bed, sometimes watching almost unnoticed from a corner of the room. They are enigmatic in more ways than simply the obvious. There is little agreement in the paranormal community on who they are, what they want, where they come from, and why they’re here; in fact, there isn’t much in the way of agreement on what constitutes a Shadow Person in the first place. There are, of course, agreed upon characteristics. They are nearly always humanoid in form (though there are reports of them in the form of cats, spiders, and other small creatures). They are even blacker than the surrounding darkness, such that they appear to be distinct three dimensional figures even in an unlit room. They almost always appear initially out of the corner of the eye before moving into full view. In some, though not all, cases they may have red eyes, glowing like embers in the dark.  Many researchers have attempted to sort through the varying accounts and traits of shadow people by breaking them down into categories: Rosemary Ellen Guiley divided them into seven classifications based on their role or intention (sentinels, lurkers, minding-their-own-business, predators, visitors, omens, and haunters); Dr. Terry King demarcates five categories based on appearance (humanoid, hat man, animals, black smoke, red-eyed), and Heidi Hollis, who was the originator of the term “Shadow People,” famously demonstrates the difference between regular Shadow People and The Hatman in her book of the same name.  These classifications are useful for study, to begin to wrap our collective head around what Shadow People are or what they are not. However, classification in and of itself does not and CAN not go very far in solving the mystery. Certainly it highlights the potential for there to be an entire society of shadow people, as diverse as human society or perhaps even as diverse as our own class, mammalia. We need to delve deeper than mere classification, perhaps even back through time itself. As difficult as it is to categorize and define what makes an entity a Shadow Person, it’s equally difficult to say when the phenomenon began. The history of shadow people can be told briefly, if only because it came about in modern day in such an explosion of reports. Certainly Shadow People entered the zeitgeist in 2001 after they were discussed on the popular radio talk show Coast to Coast, though individual reports of Shadow People predate that. Supernatural investigator; Heidi Hollis herself saw her first shadow person in 1990, while in the company of a friend who had been followed by that very creature since her own childhood. Since then, a number of pre-2001 sightings have been reported. Brandon Michaels writes that the earliest Shadow People can be traced through folklore to 600 BCE in Egypt, where they believed in a form of Shadow Person called a “khailbut.”   Fast forward to ancient Greece and Rome, where they were believed to be of the Underworld.  Then in 600 CE there’s reference in the Quran to beings created from flame that are fully, solidly black. None of these are the type of Shadow Person we see today, precisely, but surely there’s enough commonality to make us wonder what larger truth or phenomenon these ancient tales refer to. Perhaps, then, the best way to further seek answers is to speculate on what they are, beyond simply beings made of shadow that may or may not be ancient. The explanations of what people are seeing when they spot a Shadow Person are wildly varied. There is, of course, the Skeptical explanation that they are a figment of imagination, pareidolia (the tendency of humans to see faces or forms in random patterns). A false perception of stimuli. Meanwhile, other skeptics claim accounts are outright lies. One commonly offered explanation by believers is that they are ghosts or demons. Charis Branson observes that they walk through solid objects as ghosts are said to and can vanish in a blink, and both of those characteristics are certainly common to ghosts. Unlike ghosts, of course, are they in colour (or lack thereof).  They also lack solidity or resemblance to any specific individual. Heidi Hollis is very clear that they are not ghosts. She supports her belief with the accounts of several accomplished ghost hunters who later encountered Shadow People and were quite convinced that they were very different beings. The theory that they are demons seems a little more solidly based. As he writes in his harrowing real-life tale, The Hatman and the Shadow People, Dominic Kelly resolved his issue with a shadow person, by blessing his house with holy salt, believing it was a demon attracted by negativity. After the blessing his life became much more positive and he hasn’t had an encounter since. Hollis agrees that Hat Man feeds off negativity and that the Hatman itself is in fact a direct analogue of, if not literally, Satan.  Another very popular theory suggests that the Shadow People are in fact extraterrestrials. Heidi Hollis is a very strong proponent of this theory. She believes that the Shadows who haunted her were sent by the Greys, with whom she’d had considerable contact with in the past. She eventually found herself able to stand up to the Greys to exact a sort of psychic/psychological revenge. Other contactees and abductees have also reported feeling strongly that there was a connection between the two, though in general there seems to be very little solid evidence of a relationship. Charis Branson and others raise the possibility that they are time travelers, sent to watch the past as unobtrusively as possible, and these shadows are all that we see in our world to mark their presence.  Another fascinating theory by that of  Dr. Terry King, claims that Shadow People are in fact us. Each of us, traveling through time and space to observe our own pasts and other lives we’ve lived.  There are, of course, variations on all these explanations; some paint the Shadow People as good, some as bad, some as entirely indifferent. Sometimes they have a plan, a motive, a goal; sometimes they’re carrying on with their own business, simply living their own shadowy lives. It’s impossible to say with certainty. Perhaps all of these are, in a sense, correct, and we’re not looking at a single type of being at all. Perhaps it is two or ten or two hundred types of beings that appear to be similar-but-not-identical to human eyes. Beings that in actuality are very much their own creatures. It’s clear that there aren’t any easy, immediate answers to what a Shadow Person is. In fact, many on the internet have taken to calling them Shadow Beings, on account of the different forms that have been reported. Yes  Aside from the commonality of these creatures appearing as three dimensional solid shadows, there are no clear conclusions to be drawn. Except perhaps for one.  Late at night, I’m careful not to look too closely into the corners of my darkened rooms for fear of seeking them out. And I suggest you do the same. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Did a murdered woman serve justice to her murderer from beyond the grave? It appears so and that is the subject of the Season Two premiere of Unpleasant Dreams! TRANSCRIPT CLICK HERE for a full transcript   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A man gets a most unwelcome visitor late at night! Cassandra Harold is your narrator. You can find A Midnight Visitor by John Kendrick Bangs at The Gutenberg Project: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/8377/pg8377.html "A Midnight Visitor" by John Kendrick Bangs, originally published 1904 and is in the Public Domain. Follow Cassandra’s new Instagram here: https://instagram.com/unpleasant_dreams_podcast Thanks for listening and please share the show with your friends! And…may all your dreams be pleasant! -- Jim Harold Media LLC respects writers' intellectual property. All fictional stories on Unpleasant Dreams are in the U.S. public domain, published before 1928. For more on public domain and copyright, visit the Cornell University Library's guide on public domain: https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A man experiences the “strangest day of his life” and we are witnesses to this tale worthy of The Twilight Zone. The heat can do strange things… August Heat was written by W. F. Harvey in 1910. You can find the text at Project Gutenberg Australia here: http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0605761.txt "August Heat" by W.F. Harvey, originally published 1910 and is in the Public Domain. Cassandra Harold is your narrator. Follow Cassandra’s new Instagram here: https://instagram.com/unpleasant_dreams_podcast Thanks for listening and please share the show with your friends! And…may all your dreams be pleasant! -- Jim Harold Media LLC respects writers' intellectual property. All fictional stories on Unpleasant Dreams are in the U.S. public domain, published before 1928. For more on public domain and copyright, visit the Cornell University Library's guide on public domain: https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For our Halloween episode, we explore the strange death of the master of the macabre himself, Edgar Allan Poe. --- Cassandra Harold is your host. EM Hilker is our principal writer and researcher with additional writing by Cassandra Harold. Jim Harold is our Executive Producer. Unpleasant Dreams is a production of Jim Harold Media. You can find EM Hilker's original article HERE PODCAST TRANSCRIPT There is much that can be said about Edgar Allan Poe, but in terms of his literary habits, little that needs to be. Much more famous in death than he was in life, he was nevertheless a literary critic of some renown in his own time. His true love, however, was lurid, ghastly fiction. Poe unknowingly fathered the genre of detective fiction, through his tales of C. Auguste Dupin. The most well-known Dupin story was The Murders in the Rue Morgue, which served to set the stage for Sherlock Holmes and his ilk. He is best known now for his gothic fiction, morbid tales filled with crumbling stone castles and candle-lit catacombs, of demonic foes and bitter sweet revenge. He brought us The Raven, Hop-Frog, The Fall of the House of Usher. The creative mind of Poe was deep and dark and mysterious as a night ocean.  … but little is so mysterious as Poe’s own death.... FIND THE REMAINDER OF THE TRANSCRIPT HERE SOURCES – FURTHER READING Anon. “Poe’s Death Theories.” Poe’s Death | Edgar Allan Poe Museum | Richmond, VA, www.poemuseum.org/poes-death. Retrieved 5 Sept. 2021 Birch, Doug. “The Passing of Poe: What Really Happened to the Master of the Macabre in the Days Leading up to His Death Here 145 Years Ago?” Baltimoresun.com, 24 Oct. 2018, www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1994-10-02-1994275208-story.html. Retrieved 5 Sept. 2021 Edgar Allan Poe: A Life from Beginning to End. Hourly History, 2018. Kindle ed. Eschner, Kat. “Who Was the Poe Toaster? We Still Have No Idea.” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 19 Jan. 2017, www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/who-was-poe-toaster-we-still-have-no-idea-180961820/. Retrieved 5 Sept. 2021  Geiling, Natasha. “The (Still) Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe.” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 7 Oct. 2014, www.smithsonianmag.com/history/still-mysterious-death-edgar-allan-poe-180952936. Retrieved 5 Sept. 2021 Kay, Liz F. “Poe Toaster Tribute Is ‘Nevermore’.” Baltimoresun.com, 9 Dec. 2018, www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/bs-xpm-2010-01-19-bal-poe0119-story.html. Retrieved 5 Sept. 2021. Lovejoy, Bess. Rest in Pieces. Simon and Schuster, 2013. Miller, John C. ‘The Exhumations and Reburials of Edgar and Virginia Poe and Mrs. Clemm,” Poe Studies, Dec. 1974, Vol. Vii, No. 27: 46-4, www.eapoe.org/pstudies/ps1970/p1974204.htm. Retrieved 5 Sept. 2021 Meyers, Jeffrey. Edgar Allen Poe: His Life and Legacy. Cooper Square Press, 2000. Pruitt, Sarah. “The Riddle of Edgar Allan Poe’s Death.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 26 Oct. 2015, www.history.com/news/how-did-edgar-allan-poe-die. Retrieved 5 Sept. 2021. Semtner, Christopher P. “13 Haunting Facts About Edgar Allan Poe’s Death.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 13 Jan. 2021, www.biography.com/news/edgar-allan-poe-death-facts. Retrieved 5 Sept. 2021. Walsh, John Evangelist. Midnight Dreary: The Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe. St. Martin’s Griffin, 2000.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cassandra Harold engages in some whimsy and nonsense this week on Unpleasant Dreams, reading two poems by Lewis Carroll. "Jabberwocky" was published in 1871 and is considered one of the greatest nonsense poems written in English. The poem has given us the nonsense words and neologisms such as "galumphing" and "chortle". It was included in Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass, the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Then, Cassandra tells us Carroll's poem "The Hunting of the Snark" which was published in 1876. It is also considered a nonsense poem. There are many analyses about what the poem means, with some people indicating it is an allegory for the search for happiness. What do you think? Both poems are in the Public Domain. Enjoy! -- Jim Harold Media LLC respects writers' intellectual property. All fictional stories on Unpleasant Dreams are in the U.S. public domain, published before 1928. For more on public domain and copyright, visit the Cornell University Library's guide on public domain: https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A seemingly idyllic Ohio town becomes the setting for one of the most mysterious cases of the 20th Century. Sinister letters are sent for years, a life is lost, while others are ruined and the whole matter remains a puzzle to this very day. EM Hilker is our writer and researcher with additional writing by Cassandra Harold. Jim Harold is our Executive Producer. CLICK HERE for EM Hilker’s original article. TRANSCRIPT CLICK HERE for a full transcript and sources   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This UK poltergeist case is possibly the most famous in history, inspiring many books and the motion picture, The Conjuring 2. It is the subject of tonight’s edition of Unpleasant Dreams! Primary writing is by EM Hilker with supplementary writing by Cassandra Harold. Cassandra Harold hosts and Jim Harold is the Executive Producer. -TRANSCRIPT- CLICK HERE for a full transcript. CLICK HERE for the original article by EM Hilker -SOURCES- Brennan, Zoe. “Enfield Poltergeist: The Amazing Story of the 11-Year-Old North London Girl Who ‘Levitated’ above Her Bed.” Daily Mail Online, Associated Newspapers, 4 May 2015. Retrieved 3 June 2022. “Brimsdown.” Hidden London. Retrieved 3 June 2022. “The Enfield Poltergeist: Living The Horror.” YouTube, New Line Cinema, 2016. Accessed 4 June 2022.  Guglielmi, Jodi. “Inside the Real Story That Inspired The Conjuring 2.” People.com, updated 13 May 2022. Retrieved 23 May, 2022.  Hyde, Deborah. “The Enfield ‘Poltergeist’: A Sceptic Speaks.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 1 May 2015. Retrieved 3 June 2022. “Interview With a Poltergeist.” YouTube, Channel 4, 2007. Posted April 2015. Accessed 4 June 2022.  Playfair, Guy Lyon. This House is Haunted: The Amazing Inside Story of the Enfield Poltergeist. White Crow Books, 2011. “Poltergeist.” New World Encyclopedia, 10 May 2009. Retrieved 4 June 2022. Smith, Duncan. “Enfield Poltergeist Case Offers New Proof of Paranormal Existence.” Enfield Independent, 31 August 2010. Retrieved 3 June 2022, Ward, Diarmaid. “Ten Myths about Council Housing.” City Monitor, 26 April 2022. Retrieved 3 June 2022. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Classmates exchange mysterious tales about their "ordinary" Latin teacher. Their banter spirals into a gripping saga of ghostly encounters, where reality blurs with the realm of the unknown. Cassandra Harold reads this classic tale, A School Story by M.R. James on this edition of Unpleasant Dreams. You can find the short story here: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9629 "A School Story" by M.R. James, originally published 1911 and is in the Public Domain. Here's wishing you pleasant dreams!!! -- Jim Harold Media LLC respects writers' intellectual property. All fictional stories on Unpleasant Dreams are in the U.S. public domain, published before 1928. For more on public domain and copyright, visit the Cornell University Library's guide on public domain: https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ever get an offer too good too be true? That's the terrifying predicament of our subject on this week's Unpleasant Dreams. Cassandra Harold narrates this classic short horror story. Source of A Suspicious Gift by Algernon Blackwood: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14471 "A Suspicious Gift" by Algernon Blackwood, originally published 1906 and is in the Public Domain. Follow Cassandra’s Instagram here: https://instagram.com/unpleasant_dreams_podcast Thanks for listening and please share the show with your friends! And…may all your dreams be pleasant! -- Jim Harold Media LLC respects writers' intellectual property. All fictional stories on Unpleasant Dreams are in the U.S. public domain, published before 1928. For more on public domain and copyright, visit the Cornell University Library's guide on public domain: https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Christmas Carol is perhaps the most loved classic holiday story of all time. Cassandra Harold, once again shares her narration of the full version of Ebenezer Scrooge's tale by Charles Dickens. Did you know that while the phrase "Merry Christmas" first appeared in written form in 1536, it was Charles Dickens who helped popularize its use in Victorian society through A Christmas Carol? Did you know the term "Scrooge" came to be synonymous with a miser and was officially added to the Oxford English Dictionary with this meaning in 1982? Enjoy this super sized Christmas edition of Unpleasant Dreams. Merry Christmas and God Bless Us Every One! This episode includes the complete story. A Christmas Carol  by Charles Dickens, originally published 1843 and is in the Public Domain. -- Jim Harold Media LLC respects writers' intellectual property. All fictional stories on Unpleasant Dreams are in the U.S. public domain, published before 1928. For more on public domain and copyright, visit the Cornell University Library's guide on public domain: https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What would you do if you were on your way to a wedding and a sailor stops you tell you a story about life or death? This week Cassandra Harold tells us The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. This poem was first published in 1798 and is in the Public Domain. Cassandra is narrating an 1834 edition. This famous poem features popular phrases that are still used today : "albatross around one's neck" and "Water, water, every where, / Nor any drop to drink". Enjoy! -- Jim Harold Media LLC respects writers' intellectual property. All fictional stories on Unpleasant Dreams are in the U.S. public domain, published before 1928. For more on public domain and copyright, visit the Cornell University Library's guide on public domain: https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An American couple comes to England hoping to find a haunted manor. Did they find it? Listen to the conclusion of this spine tingling tale to find out! Written by Edith Wharton in 1910. Source: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/306/306-h/306-h.htm "Afterward" by Edith Wharton, originally published 1910 and is in the Public Domain. Cassandra Harold is your narrator. Follow Cassandra's new Instagram here: https://instagram.com/unpleasant_dreams_podcast Thanks for listening and please share the show with your friends! And, may all your dreams be pleasant! -- Jim Harold Media LLC respects writers' intellectual property. All fictional stories on Unpleasant Dreams are in the U.S. public domain, published before 1928. For more on public domain and copyright, visit the Cornell University Library's guide on public domain: https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Spooky (Christmas) ghost stories are the subject of this week’s Unpleasant Dreams. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year! Find the original article by EM Hilker that this podcast is based on HERE PODCAST TRANSCRIPT Yuletide is a season of warmth and joy, at least according to Hallmark. There you sit by the fireside, sipping hot chocolate, bathed in the warm glow of the lighted tree, the flickering lights from the menorah or yule log, filled with contentment. But outside (at least in the Northern parts of the globe) the bone-bare branches claw at your window as the cold, dry wind blows snow in small spirals, lifting the ethereal sparkling flakes back into the black sky. On the nights that they’re visible, the stars shine like a careless scattering of diamonds in the darkness, seemingly so close you could pluck them out of the sky. It’s bitterly cold, and very still; and it is perhaps in that stillness that you begin to feel just a little bit uneasy. Let’s face it...  FOR A FULL TRANSCRIPT AND SOURCES CLICK HERE Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Numbers stations are real and very weird. What are these and what are the successors to these bizarre transmissions? We delve into the mystery in this edition of Unpleasant Dreams. CLICK HERE for E.M. Hilker’s original article. TRANSCRIPT CLICK HERE for a full transcript. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

December 5th is Krampusnacht! In honor of this special occasion, we revisit the real story of Krampus in today’s holiday edition of Unpleasant Dreams! Oh, and be sure to be good. You wouldn’t want to upset The Krampus… Find the original article by EM Hilker that this episode is based on HERE Episode originally released in 2021. SOURCES AND FURTHER READING Alchemist., The. “Witch Bells and How to Use Them.” Magical Recipes Online, 19 May 2019. Retrieved 5 December 2021. Armstrong, Patti Maguire. “An Exorcist Explains Why the Devil Hates Bells So Much.” NCR. Retrieved 5 December 2021. Billock, Jennifer. “The Origin of Krampus, Europe’s Evil Twist on Santa.” Smithsonian.com. Smithsonian Institution, 4 December 2015. Retrieved 5 December 2021.  Brom. Krampus: the Yule Lord. Harper Voyager, 2012.  “Devils – Afraid of Bells.” Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 5 December 2021. Hart, Sandra Merville. “Ten Christmas Songs That Mention Bells.” Sandra Merville Hart, 6 December 2018. Retrieved 5 December 2021. History.com Editors. “Halloween.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 18 November 2009. Retrieved 5 December 2021.  Hix, Lisa. “You’d Better Watch Out: Krampus Is Coming to Town.” Collectors Weekly, 11 December 2012. Retrieved 5 December 2021.  Little, Becky. “Meet Krampus, the Christmas Devil Who Punishes Naughty Children.” History.com. A&E Television Networks, 5 December 2018. Retrieved 5 December 2021. Littlechild, Chris. “The Terrible Tale of Hans Trapp, the Christmas Scarecrow.” Ripley’s Believe It or Not!, 8 December 2020. Retrieved 5 December 2021.  Loh-Hagan, Virginia. Krampus: Magic, Myth, and Mystery. Cherry Lake Publishing, 2019.  “Guardian Bells.” Motorcycle Minds, 28 November 2019. Retrieved 5 December 2021. Pandza, Tina. “The German Postcard Craze: Then and Now.” DW.COM, 21 Sept. 2007. Retrieved 5 December 2021. Raedisch, Linda. The Old Magic of Christmas: Yuletide Traditions for the Darkest Days of the Year. Llewellyn, 2013. Ridenour, Al. The Krampus and the Old, Dark Christmas: Roots and Rebirth of the Folkloric Devil. Feral House, 2016. Rogers, Jude. “The Mari Lwyd.” Wales. Retrieved 5 December 2021.  This post contains Amazon affiliate links that benefit Jim Harold Media when you make a qualifying purchase. Thank you for your support! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Yellow Wallpaper is a horror tale from 1892 which details a woman's decent into madness. Yet, it is much more and is considered a classic of feminist literature. The author is Charlotte Perkins Gilman and you can find the full text at Project Gutenberg. "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, originally published 1892 and is in the Public Domain. Your narrator is Cassandra Harold. Thank you for listening and share the show with your friends right from your favorite podcast app. -- Jim Harold Media LLC respects writers' intellectual property. All fictional stories on Unpleasant Dreams are in the U.S. public domain, published before 1928. For more on public domain and copyright, visit the Cornell University Library's guide on public domain: https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cassandra shares the troubling tale of "The Vale of Corbies" written by Arthur J. Burks. "The Vale of Corbies" by Arthur J. Burks, originally published 1926 and is in the Public Domain. You can find the original at The Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/WeirdTalesV06N05192511/page/n31/mode/1up Please tell your classic horror loving friends about Unpleasant Dreams! -- Jim Harold Media LLC respects writers' intellectual property. All fictional stories on Unpleasant Dreams are in the U.S. public domain, published before 1928. For more on public domain and copyright, visit the Cornell University Library's guide on public domain: https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cassandra narrates the Edgar Allan Poe classic, The Fall of the House of Usher. This episode is part one. Tune in next week for part two! Cassandra Harold is your narrator. You can find The Fall of the House of Usher at Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/932 "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe, originally published 1839 and is in the Public Domain. Follow Cassandra’s new Instagram here: https://instagram.com/unpleasant_dreams_podcast Thanks for listening and please share the show with your friends! And…may all your dreams be pleasant! -- Jim Harold Media LLC respects writers' intellectual property. All fictional stories on Unpleasant Dreams are in the U.S. public domain, published before 1928. For more on public domain and copyright, visit the Cornell University Library's guide on public domain: https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Sheppard Murder case spawned the American "Trial of The Century" before OJ. A physician is suspected of murdering his wife in a quiet, affluent 1950s Midwestern bedroom community. Did Sam Sheppard kill Marilyn Sheppard? That is the topic of this week's edition of Unpleasant Dreams. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The mysterious Chupacabra is the subject of this week’s Unpleasant Dreams! Find the original article by EM Hilker that this podcast is based on HERE PODCAST TRANSCRIPT It often happens as the dusk settles itself gently over the lush rainforest.  You might think farm animals, confined to pens or herded by human and canine protectors, wouldn’t have a sense of their own vulnerability or the existence of predators. But somewhere, deep down in their basest primal instincts that reach back to the dawn of time, they must have known it was coming. Even before the whiff of the rank animal in the cool evening air hits them, they have to have known. It was fast, though, and that was a blessing. It didn’t toy with them, or drag it out. It was fast. The unlucky ones watched it happen to another animal first, smelled the creature and the blood and knew deep down it was bad, and they were next; the lucky ones never saw the chupacabra. The humans who cared for the animals would never forget what it left behind.  FIND THE REST OF THE TRANSCRIPT & SOURCES HERE Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do you like stories of terror and horror? You are in for a treat this week as Cassandra Harold tells us the short story, "What Was It? A Mystery". Written by Fitz-James O'Brien and first published in Harper's Magazine in 1859. It is in the Public Domain. This story is among the earliest modern tales to include the concept of "invisibility," predating H.G. Wells's 1897 work, "The Invisible Man." Enjoy! -- Jim Harold Media LLC respects writers' intellectual property. All fictional stories on Unpleasant Dreams are in the U.S. public domain, published before 1928. For more on public domain and copyright, visit the Cornell University Library's guide on public domain: https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A hard boiled journalist encounters something that shakes him to his core. That is the premise of H.F. Arnold's classic short story, The Night Wire. You can find it here: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Night_Wire  "The Night Wire" by H.F. Arnold, originally published 1926 and is in the Public Domain. Cassandra Harold is our narrator. Thank you for listening and please share with your friends who enjoy classic horror! -- Jim Harold Media LLC respects writers' intellectual property. All fictional stories on Unpleasant Dreams are in the U.S. public domain, published before 1928. For more on public domain and copyright, visit the Cornell University Library's guide on public domain: https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices