The Wraith of Trench Pool

In 1922, six people were brutally murdered at a remote German farmstead, their bodies discovered in bloodied bedclothes after suffering repeated blows to the head. The isolated nature of the property only deepened the mystery, leaving investigators struggling to determine who could have carried out such a savage attack. Was it the work of a deranged killer, an escalating family feud that turned deadly, or something more calculated, perhaps even politically motivated? More than a century later, the truth of what happened at Hinterkaifeck remains frustratingly out of reach. 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

There have been countless reports of alleged encounters with extraterrestrial beings over the years. Most involve a single witness describing a strange sighting that lasted only a few fleeting moments before disappearing again. But the cases that attract the greatest attention are those in which multiple people, often unknown to one another, come forward with accounts that appear to describe the same phenomenon. Separate incidents unfolding across different locations, yet connected by a series of striking similarities. Such was the situation that began to unfold in rural Wyoming during the mid–1970s. A sequence of bizarre encounters that would eventually lead witnesses to claim they had come face to face with a mysterious race of beings known only as The Star People. 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

Whilst cycling to work in the early hours of the morning, a young man found himself confronted by a chilling apparition near the dark waters of Trench Pool. What began as a single terrifying encounter soon escalated into something far more disturbing, as the figure continued to stalk him for weeks afterwards; a haunting presence he would come to know as The Wraith of Trench Pool. 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 Vietnam War was a conflict defined by brutality and uncertainty. Dense jungle concealed ambushes, artillery shattered the night, and young soldiers were forced to fight an enemy they could rarely see. It was a war of exhaustion, paranoia and relentless fear. Yet for some who served there, the Viet Cong were not the only threat moving through the trees. In whispered accounts that surfaced years later, they spoke of another presence in those jungles; an enemy unexplained. 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

We have previously examined three forested regions of the United Kingdom, each of which has become a focal point for reports of high strangeness. Cannock Chase brought with it accounts of shadowed figures, cryptids and unexplained encounters. Clapham Wood revealed whispers of spectral entities and deeply unsettling phenomena. Pembrey Forest, outwardly quiet and unassuming, carried its own catalogue of strange sights and unnerving experiences. Now, we turn to another woodland. A forest where reports do not centre on a single apparition or isolated creature, but on a bewildering array of entities, sightings and encounters, spanning generations. This time, we step into the darkness of Delamere. 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

Throughout history, there are countless examples of places or objects said to bring suffering to those connected with them, earning a reputation for being cursed. In earlier episodes, we have explored several of these stories, from infamously unlucky motor vehicles to the final resting place of a convicted murderer. In this episode, we turn our attention to the preserved remains of an Ice Age hunter, a body some believe is linked to a series of unexplained deaths. Together, these events have come to be known as The Iceman’s Curse. 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

Some places sit quietly on the map, rarely drawing attention beyond those who live nearby. Others become known not for what happens there once, but for what keeps happening again and again; events that resist explanation, leave no clear record, and blur the line between history and testimony. In the mid twentieth century, a remote corner of Indonesia became the focus of a series of accounts that defied easy categorisation. Fishermen, villagers, and visiting outsiders all described encounters that did not fit local folklore, modern science, or conventional misunderstanding. What follows is not a single incident, but a pattern; fragmented, unsettling, and difficult to dismiss. 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

He set off expecting nothing more than a long drive. A journey from Oregon to Florida, planned, ordinary, and uneventful. Somewhere along the way, however, Timothy Braddy disappeared. His truck would later be found parked beside a high school, undamaged and unlocked, as though he had stepped away briefly and never returned. There were no signs of violence, no clear reason for him to stop, and no trace of where he went next. What followed was not clarity, but silence. And with it, a question that still has no answer: how does someone simply vanish in plain sight? 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 late 2021, an ordinary man from the north of England reported two encounters that would alter the course of his life. The first took place in the early hours of the morning and left him questioning the nature of consciousness itself. The second occurred months later. Between those two events lay a period of illness so severe that doctors could not explain how he survived it at all. Whether these experiences were connected remains uncertain. But taken together, they form a deeply unsettling account of contact, consequence, and the possibility that some encounters are never meant to be remembered. 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

When a thirteen-year-old boy growing up on a remote farm in Mexico takes part in what he believes is nothing more than a harmless game, he has no way of knowing what he is about to invite into his life. What begins as curiosity soon gives way to fear, as subtle changes take hold and the atmosphere within the household begins to shift. Over the following months, the boy’s family becomes convinced that something unnatural has attached itself to him, something that refuses to leave quietly. What follows is a disturbing descent into belief, desperation, and the terrifying idea that the greatest threat may come not from outside the home, but from within. 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