There is Something in the Desert

For centuries, the deserts and mountains of the Middle East have been steeped in myth and mystery. From ancient conquerors to modern armies, those who marched into these lands often returned with stories of strange and unexplainable encounters. In more recent times, the deserts of Afghanistan and Iraq have become the backdrop for some of the world’s most intense conflicts — and with them, unsettling reports from soldiers on the ground. Amidst the dust and darkness of desert warfare, they tell of figures glimpsed through night vision, of shadows moving where no enemy should be, and of confrontations with beings that seemed anything but human. Even today, whispers persist that in these unforgiving landscapes, there may still be… something in the desert. MUSIC  Tracks used by kind permission of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Tracks used by kind permission of CO.AG Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the evening of 24 February 1978, five friends from Northern California - Ted Weiher, Jack Madruga, Bill Sterling, Jackie Huett, and Gary Mathias - set off to watch a basketball game. They never returned. Months later, four of them were discovered dead in the snowy wilderness of the Plumas National Forest, seventy miles from their intended route. The fifth man has never been found alive… or dead. The disappearance of the men from Yuba County is a case we have explored before on this podcast. However, in the years since, Bedtime Stories has become aware of previously unavailable information that sheds an entirely different light on this infamous story. Thanks to the work of a diligent investigative writer who has graciously agreed to collaborate on this episode, we may finally be ready to revisit the tragedy of the Yuba County Five. LINK TO TONY WRIGHT’S BOOK https://www.amazon.com/Things-Arent-Right-Disappearance-County/dp/1958727202 MUSIC  Tracks used by kind permission of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Tracks used by kind permission of CO.AG Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

David Paulides, a former police officer turned researcher, has spent years investigating unexplained deaths and disappearances in North America’s national parks. His work has catalogued thousands of cases that defy easy explanation. In this episode, we follow his findings and ask the question: is there something in the woods - something that stalks and hunts human beings? MUSIC  Tracks used by kind permission of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Tracks used by kind permission of CO.AG Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For centuries, reports of mysterious flying beings have surfaced across the Americas. Witnesses describe them as humanoid in form yet moving without wings, descending silently from the skies to terrify those who encounter them. But in the early 2000s, northern Mexico became the focal point of some of the most striking and widely reported cases. Police officers, farmers, and ordinary residents all came forward with disturbing testimony of wingless figures hovering above towns and villages. Their sudden appearances and inexplicable movements left communities fearful and bewildered. What are these beings that bring such terror from the sky? MUSIC  Tracks used by kind permission of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Tracks used by kind permission of CO.AG Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Located on the south-west coast of Wales, Carmarthenshire’s shoreline offers some of the nation’s most peaceful and picturesque scenery. Yet behind this natural beauty lies a history marked by tragedy, where countless lives have been lost in circumstances both sudden and severe. In this episode, we explore accounts in which visitors to the area have found themselves caught up in strange, unexplained, and sometimes ghostly encounters. A series of events known collectively as The Pembrey Forest Hauntings. MUSIC  Tracks used by kind permission of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Tracks used by kind permission of ⁠CO.AG Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Across the world, there are pockets of land where the skies seem restless. Places where strange lights appear without warning and encounters with the unknown are whispered about for generations. Their locations are often fixed on maps by triangulating the nearest towns and cities, yet their reputations are defined not by geography, but by the stories told about them. One such place lies in the heart of Scotland, a swathe of countryside where sightings occur with unsettling frequency. Known as the Falkirk Triangle, it has earned a reputation as the United Kingdom’s most active UFO hotspot, a place where the seemingly ordinary meets the extraordinary. MUSIC  Tracks used by kind permission of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Tracks used by kind permission of CO.AG Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Each year, people around the world report having encounters with bizarre animals that seem not to be of this earth. It occurs so frequently that an entire scientific discipline, cryptozoology, was established to study the phenomenon. For a brief period during the early 1970s, one small town in rural Illinois would briefly play host to an entity so mysterious that neither the residents themselves nor anyone else has ever encountered it again. Just what exactly was the Enfield Horror? MUSIC  Tracks used by kind permission of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Tracks used by kind permission of CO.AG Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In most missing persons cases, time eventually provides answers. The individual is either found safe and well, or, sadly, they are located after passing. However, in a frustratingly small number of cases, neither the family nor the public ever receives true closure. When this lack of resolution is due to police failings, the consequences can be devastating. This was certainly the case in the investigation we’ll be exploring in this episode: that of the Missing Airman. MUSIC  Tracks used by kind permission of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Tracks used by kind permission of CO.AG Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Battle of Antietam during the American Civil War remains the bloodiest day in American history. That day, and the future of the United States, could have turned out very differently, if not for a single note and three cigars. From Ballen Studios, join us - for the most heart pounding podcast in history. Listen to ⁠A Twist of History⁠ wherever you get your podcasts! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

During the Cold War, soldiers stationed on an army base in the German city of Celle began to report strange, unexplainable experiences. As time wore on, many of the men came to believe they were being terrorised by a sinister paranormal presence. These encounters proved so horrifying that some took their own lives rather than face another night on patrol. Whilst the incidents were largely dismissed, experts have uncovered long-hidden secrets that prove these men might have been telling the truth. Indeed, few places in the world have a darker, more sinister history than the Celle Neues Rathaus. MUSIC  Tracks used by kind permission of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Tracks used by kind permission of CO.AG Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices