Morbid

In the fall of 1961, Betty and Barney Hill took a trip to Niagara Falls. On the drive back from Canada to their home in Portsmouth, NH, the Hills claimed their trip was interrupted when, after stopping to investigate a strange flying object hovering above the car, the couple was abducted by what Barney later described as “beings [that] were somehow not human.” Thank you to the wondrous Dave White for Research Assistance! References: Friedman, Stanton, and Kathleen Marden. 2007. Captured! The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience. Red Wheel : Newburyport, MA. Palmer, Barry. 1965. "Portsmouth couple wes 600 persons here." Nashua Telegraph, December 1: 3. Public Broadcasting Sysetm. 1997. Nova: Kidnapped by UFOs? Boston, MA, April 1. Robinson, J. Dennis. 1999. "The Grounding of Betty Hill." The Portsmouth Herald, February 5. —. 2008. The UFO romance of Betty and Barney Hill. Accessed August 17, 2023. http://www.seacoastnh.com/the-ufo-romance-of-betty-and-barney-hill/?showall=1. The Portsmouth Herald. 1969. "Barney Hill dies in city at age 46." The Portsmouth Herald, February 26: 3. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It’s wackadoodle time on this week’s listener tales. In this installment we have the only and only butt mountain, possible imposter police officers, attempted kidnappings, psychic friends, demon filled dorm rooms, and haunted airbnbs. If you have a tale you would like to send in please send it to [email protected] with “Listener Tales” somewhere in the subject line :) See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In the summer of 1974, paranormal investigators and UCLA students Barry Taff and Kerry Gaynor were approached in a bookstore by a woman who’d overheard their conversation about the supernatural and said she had a friend who needed help from someone with their expertise. The friend in question was Doris Bither, a middle-aged single mother of four who claimed she and her family were under attack from unseen entities in their Culver City, California home.  According to Doris, the attacks began several months earlier and included, among other things, objects moving on their own, the presence of inexplicable foul odors in the house, unusual noises with no point of origin, and most distressingly, multiple physical and sexual assaults that were increasing in frequency and intensity.  Thank you to the lovely David White for research assistance :) References Biddle, Kenny. 2021. "A Closer Look at the Entity Photographs." Skeptical Inquirer 45 (6). O'Keeffe, Ciaran, James Houran, Damian Houran, Neil Dagnall, Kenneth Drinkwater, Lorraine Sheridan, and Brian Laythe. 2019. "The Dr. John Hall story: a case study in putative “Haunted People Syndrome"." Mental Health, Religion & Culture 22 (9): 910-929. Ortega, Xavier. 2011. The Real Entity Case, Part II. August 6. Accessed August 23, 2023. https://www.ghosttheory.com/2011/08/06/the-real-entity-case. Radford, Benjamin. 2021. "The ‘True’ Story behind The Entity: Untangling Hollywood Horror." Skeptical Inquirer 45 (6). https://skepticalinquirer.org/2021/10/the-true-story-behind-the-entity-untangling-hollywood-horror/. 2005. The Entity Files. Directed by Perry Martin. Produced by Anchor Bay Entertainment. Performed by Barry Taff. —. 2011. The Real Entity Case. August. Accessed August 24, 2023. http://barrytaff.net/2011/08/the-real-entity-case-2/. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In the depths of American history there are few examples of mass hysteria that loom larger than the Salem witch trials of 1692. As horrific as it was, it was far from the only example of witch-hunting in Massachusetts’ history. In fact, ten years before hysteria over black magic gripped the village of Salem, similar accusations of witchcraft were aimed at Mary Webster of Hadley, a small village in Western Massachusetts.   Thank you to the incredible Dave White for Research assistance. References Clancy, Hal. 1977. "In good old days, wicthes would hang for a May snow." The Boston Globe, May 14: 1. Judd, Sylvester. 1905. History of Hadley. Springfield, MA: H.R. Hunting. Manning, Alice. 1976. "Witches in the Connecticut Valley: a historical perspective." Daily Hampshire Gazette, December 15: 35. Marshall, Bridget. 2003. "Mary (Reeve) Webster, the "Witch" of Hadley." University of Massachusetts Lowell. Accessed August 28, 2023. https://faculty.uml.edu//bmarshall/Mary%20Webster.htm. Mather, Cotton. 1967. Magnalia Christi Americana. New York, NY: Russell and Russell. Perera, Lisa. 1992. "Before Salem, Valley had witch trials of its own." Daily Hampshire Gazette, May 16: 22. Smith, Anna. 2019. The Witch of Hadley: Mary Webster, the Weird, and the Wired. October 15. Accessed August 28, 2023. https://www.massreview.org/node/7575. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Did you know that on The ReWatcher: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Ash & Alaina find themselves in Sunnydale every single Monday? Yup, Welcome to The Hellmouth Weirdos! They’re watching Buffy from the very beginning. Alaina grew up a diehard fan of Buffy, and Ash is watching it for the very first time. Each week, they break down Buffy and her friends’ heroism and heartbreak through weekly recaps, categories and awards, while Ash takes some (wooden stake) stabs at predicting what she thinks will happen next to Buffy, Willow, Spike, and the rest. They also welcome the occasional Buffy cast member to join in the slaying. Follow and Listen to The ReWatcher Buffy the Vampire Slayer here:  http://wondery.fm/The_Rewatcher and follow @The_ReWatcher on Instagram. You can listen early and ad-free by subscribing to Wondery Plus in Apple Podcasts or the Wondery app. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.