In the quiet town of Villisca, Iowa, 1912, eight people—two adults and six children—were bludgeoned to death in their sleep with an axe. Over a century later, the crime remains unsolved. Who murdered the Moore family and the visiting Stillinger sisters that night? Was it a jealous businessman? A deranged travelling preacher? Or a serial killer moving from town to town by train?

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Source Information:

https://www.villiscaiowa.com/murder-house.php

https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/villisca/murder.html

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2015/06/10/villisca-axe-murder-anniversary/28791541/

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/a-chilling-look-back-at-the-villisca-axe-murders-117037374/

https://iowacoldcases.org/case-summaries/villisca-axe-murders/

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/58946/unsolved-case-villisca-axe-murders

https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/iowa/villisca-axe-murder-house-ia/

https://www.kcci.com/article/ghost-adventures-villisca-axe-murder-house-investigation/43942031

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/danvergano/ghosts-villisca-axe-murder-house

https://www.history.com/news/villisca-axe-murders-mystery

https://the-line-up.com/villisca-axe-murders

https://www.npr.org/2017/09/24/552195468/the-man-from-the-train-investigates-americas-axe-murderer

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34137794-the-man-from-the-train

https://www.hauntedrooms.com/iowa/villisca-axe-murder-house

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2014/11/07/paranormal-investigator-stabs-himself-villisca-axe-murder-house/18658241/

https://www.travelchannel.com/shows/ghost-adventures/episodes/villisca-axe-murder-house

Thanks so much for listening, and I'll catch up with you again next Thursday.

Sarah & Rog xx

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In the quiet town of Villisca, Iowa, 1912, eight people—two adults and six children—were bludgeoned to death in their sleep with an axe. Over a century later, the crime remains unsolved. Who murdered the Moore family and the visiting Stillinger sisters that night? Was it a jealous businessman? A deranged travelling preacher? Or a serial killer moving from town to town by train?

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Source Information:

https://www.villiscaiowa.com/murder-house.php

https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/villisca/murder.html

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2015/06/10/villisca-axe-murder-anniversary/28791541/

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/a-chilling-look-back-at-the-villisca-axe-murders-117037374/

https://iowacoldcases.org/case-summaries/villisca-axe-murders/

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/58946/unsolved-case-villisca-axe-murders

https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/iowa/villisca-axe-murder-house-ia/

https://www.kcci.com/article/ghost-adventures-villisca-axe-murder-house-investigation/43942031

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/danvergano/ghosts-villisca-axe-murder-house

https://www.history.com/news/villisca-axe-murders-mystery

https://the-line-up.com/villisca-axe-murders

https://www.npr.org/2017/09/24/552195468/the-man-from-the-train-investigates-americas-axe-murderer

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34137794-the-man-from-the-train

https://www.hauntedrooms.com/iowa/villisca-axe-murder-house

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2014/11/07/paranormal-investigator-stabs-himself-villisca-axe-murder-house/18658241/

https://www.travelchannel.com/shows/ghost-adventures/episodes/villisca-axe-murder-house

Thanks so much for listening, and I'll catch up with you again next Thursday.

Sarah & Rog xx

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Two sisters, identical in every way, walk into traffic on one of the UK’s busiest motorways. Cameras capture the horror: one is struck by a lorry, the other hit head-on by a car. Moments later, one of them rises — wild-eyed, screaming of stolen organs and secret threats. And that was only the beginning. This is the story of Ursula and Sabina Eriksson, whose bizarre and violent descent unfolded on the M6 and culminated in a senseless killing. Was it madness, shared psychosis, or something far stranger? From Sweden to Stoke-on-Trent, the Eriksson twins left behind a trail of mystery, tragedy, and one of the most unsettling true events ever captured on film.

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Source Information:

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-11078165

https://www.vice.com/en/article/3byvgn/the-eriksson-twins

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/sep/03/motorway-murderer-mental-illness

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/6139941/Woman-who-stabbed-Glen-Hollinshead-had-rare-mental-condition.html

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/ursula-eriksson-sabina-twins-sisters-21464513

https://www.ranker.com/list/sabina-and-ursula-eriksson-facts/jacob-shelton

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/mystery-twin-who-survived-horror-21487096

https://allthatsinteresting.com/ursula-sabina-eriksson

https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/folie-deux-shared-psychotic-disorder

https://www.crimeandinvestigation.co.uk/crime-files/the-eriksson-twins

Thanks so much for listening, and I'll catch up with you again next Thursday.

Sarah & Rog xx

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He was supposed to be home by sunrise. Instead, 19-year-old Brandon Swanson called his parents from a gravel ditch, stranded miles from his hometown, promising to wave them down at a nearby bar. For 47 minutes they guided him over the phone through pitch-black fields—until, suddenly, Brandon screamed, “Oh, s**t,” and the line went dead. When his car was discovered the next morning, paramedics found it intact but empty, his phone gone, and no sign of Brandon. A massive search ensued across Minnesota’s backroads and riverbanks, fuelled by cell-tower pings and hounded by river currents and tall prairie grass. Weeks turned into years with no clue—no footprints, no body, no answers. Was it a tragic slip into the icy water of the Yellow Medicine River? Or something far darker? This episode unravels the full story of Brandon Swanson’s disappearance: the final phone call, the frantic search, the theories—both plausible and paranormal—and the family’s unending hope that the boy who walked into the night might one day be found.

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Source Information:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Brandon_Swanson

https://www.startribune.com/longtime-search-for-brandon-swanson/511570982/

https://bringbrandonhome.org/

https://www.doenetwork.org/cases/7900dmn.html

https://www.cnn.com/2008/US/05/15/missing.student/

https://www.kare11.com/video/news/local/landmark-search-for-brandon-swanson-part-1/89-540545156

https://www.abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=4921020&page=1

https://www.startribune.com/search-for-brandon-swanson-continues/14127539/

https://secure.dps.state.mn.us/CDT/Search.aspx?idx=65174

https://www.postbulletin.com/news/state/search-continues-for-minnesota-student/article_8b3b70b4-b05f-5720-820b-2b47b0793f3c.html

Thanks so much for listening, and I'll catch up with you again next Thursday.

Sarah & Rog xx

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In a quiet German village in the mid-1800s, a young woman named Gottliebin Dittus began to experience something unholy. It started with whispering in the walls and footsteps in the night—but soon escalated into violent seizures, terrifying visions, and claims of demonic visitations. Witnesses said she spoke in languages she had never learned. Her pastor, Johann Christoph Blumhardt, claimed to confront evil itself in a grueling two-year spiritual battle that would change his life—and hers—forever. Was Gottliebin truly possessed… or caught in a storm of psychological torment, religious hysteria, and deeply rooted fear? This is the true story behind one of the most disturbing exorcisms in European history.?

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Source Information:

https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/inside-history/johann-christoph-blumhardt.html

https://www.modernghana.com/news/1093640/gottliebin-dittus-and-the-power-of-prayer.html

https://www.thetreeofawakening.com/blog/johann-christoph-blumhardt/

https://occult-world.com/gottliebin-dittus/

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2111342.The_Awakening

https://www.stirlingthedeep.com/blumhardt-and-the-kingdom-of-god

https://www.reformation21.org/articles/the-blumhardts-exorcists-and-evangelists.php

https://www.logos.com/product/176655/the-awakening-a-classic-account-of-one-of-the-most-exhaustive-cases-of-demonic-possession-ever-recorded

Thanks so much for listening, and I'll catch up with you again next Thursday.

Sarah & Rog xx

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This episode contains discussion of graphic violence, mental illness, religious rituals including exorcism, and the murder of a family member. Listener discretion is strongly advised, especially for those sensitive to themes of domestic violence or spiritual trauma.

October 6th, 1974. In a quiet West Yorkshire town, a butcher named Michael Taylor is subjected to an all-night exorcism. Clergy claim to cast out more than 40 demons, but say three — violence, insanity, and murder — remain. Hours later, Taylor returns home and brutally kills his wife. What led to this horrifying act?

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Source Information:

https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/analysis/exorcism-that-went-horribly-wrong-1834455

https://www.truecrimeenthusiast.co.uk/michael-taylor/

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/weird-news/michael-taylor-real-life-exorcist-25147453

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/true-story-brits-bloody-exorcism-13708474

https://allthatsinteresting.com/michael-taylor

https://www.ranker.com/list/michael-taylor-exorcism-facts/laura-allan

https://www.historicmysteries.com/michael-taylor-ossett-murder/

https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/news/history/horrifying-tale-michael-taylor-possessed-9094606

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/uk-news/true-story-brits-bloody-exorcism-15405045

https://www.grunge.com/169109/the-disturbing-truth-behind-the-michael-taylor-exorcism/

https://www.vice.com/en/article/m7bxpb/a-history-of-exorcisms-in-the-uk

Thanks so much for listening, and I'll catch up with you again next Thursday.

Sarah & Rog xx

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