Policing the Paranormal

Most of us move through time without ever noticing it. Seconds pass, days accumulate, years slip quietly behind us. But on rare occasions, something appears to go wrong. A person finds themselves somewhere they do not belong, surrounded by a world that feels unfamiliar, faster, louder, and strangely hostile. In the winter of 1951, in the heart of New York City, witnesses reported seeing a man step into existence where no man had stood a moment before. Within minutes he was dead, but when investigators searched his body, it left them questioning not so much where he came from, but when. 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 the great deserts of the American Southwest, people vanish with unsettling regularity. Some leave behind traces that hint at what happened. Others seem to step out of the world entirely, swallowed by a landscape vast enough to hide anything and quiet enough that no one hears it happen. But every so often, a disappearance leaves behind more questions than answers. A hiker known for pushing his limits. A cave he insisted held something unusual. A final journey that should have ended like all the others, yet never did. This is the story of Kenny Veach, and the place he never came back from. 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 a previous episode, we explored several disturbing encounters involving a creature long feared within Navajo tradition; an entity said to move with unnatural speed, mimic familiar voices, and stalk the lonely highways of the American Southwest. Those stories were unsettling enough, yet they represent only a fraction of the reports that continue to emerge. In this episode, we return to the shadows once more, to examine a new collection of chilling encounters that are every bit as harrowing as the first. 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

During the late 1970s, a fully laden DC-10 passenger jet crashed shortly after take-off, killing everyone on board. The disaster shocked the nation, prompting investigations, headlines, and a long search for answers. Yet in the days leading up to the tragedy, something quietly unsettling had been unfolding elsewhere. One man, living hundreds of miles away and with no connection to the flight, began experiencing a series of vivid, disturbing dreams. Only after the crash would he realise that what he had seen in his sleep was not imagination at all, but a chilling premonition. 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 1955, a small silver sports car rolled out of a California garage and into American folklore. It was sleek, fast, and dangerous. A machine built for the racetrack. But within weeks, its young owner would be dead, and the car itself would become infamous. What followed were decades of bizarre accidents, unexplained fatalities, and eerie coincidences, all linked to the same deadly machine. Some now claim the car was cursed. Others insist the stories are nothing more than myth. In this episode, we examine the legend of James Dean’s Porsche… Little Bastard. 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 1947, a cargo ship was discovered drifting aimlessly through calm waters in the Indian Ocean. When rescuers finally boarded, what they found defied all logic. Every member of the crew lay dead, sprawled across the decks, their eyes wide open, mouths frozen mid-scream. Yet the vessel itself showed no sign of fire, struggle, or damage of any kind. No wounds, no blood, no explanation. To this day, no one knows what truly happened or why every man aboard the Ourang Medan met his end in such terrifying silence. 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, humankind has turned its gaze towards the heavens in search of mystery. Yet time and again, it is beneath the ground where the most enduring enigmas are found. Across every continent lie tales of ancient tunnels, lost chambers, and sealed structures that predate all known civilisation. One such story emerged from the mountains of wartime Slovakia, where a wounded soldier claimed to have uncovered something buried deep within the earth, its surface smooth as glass, hard as diamond, and impossible to explain. 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

One night, while walking through the woods on the outskirts of her town, an elderly woman discovered what she thought was an abandoned infant lying in the dirt. She carried it home and resolved to raise it herself, but what began as an act of compassion would soon spiral into a mystery that left her community asking whether the baby Aleshenka was even human. 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 1996, the quiet Brazilian town of Varginha became the centre of one of the strangest UFO cases in modern history. Nestled amongst the hills of Minas Gerais, its residents reported encounters with a bizarre, non-human creature, an event that would draw global attention, military involvement, and decades of speculation. Was it all an elaborate hoax to put this small town on the map, or did something truly extraordinary unfold in what would come to be known as The Alien of Varginha? 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

Experience tells us there are certain professions in which people are far more likely to encounter the unexplained than others. As the many accounts featured on our sister podcast Wartime Stories clearly demonstrate, one such group is military personnel. But another, just as frequently, is the world of law enforcement, where officers across the globe have reported experiences that defy logic, reason, and training alike. In this episode, we’ll be exploring some of those accounts, cases in which those sworn to uphold the law found themselves policing the paranormal. 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