Believing the Bizarre: Paranormal Conspiracies & Myths

Here is our interview with the awesome and super talented Kaydra Brannan of the Perplexity: A Mystery Podcast.Kedra created Perplexity: A Mystery Podcast as a creative outlet during pandemic burnout from her healthcare career, drawing inspiration from her childhood love of mysteries and true crime. When covering true crime cases, she emphasizes victim-first storytelling and thorough research, while her most compelling personal paranormal experience involves a mysterious woman who appeared to help her sister during a dangerous rope swing accident, with multiple witnesses describing the woman differently.As her podcast approaches its 100th episode, she discusses her evolution as a host, including improved audio quality, added video content, and increased networking with other podcasters, while maintaining her methodical approach of scripting episodes through Gmail drafts. Beyond her love for dark history and psychological thrillers, Kedra expresses particular fondness for video games with cinematic storytelling like The Last of Us and plays/musicals that evoke strong emotions.Make sure to give Perplexity: A Mystery Podcast a listen, we know you will love it!Patreon: Support Believing the Bizarre and get tons of extra content by joining our Patreon.For updates, news, and extra content, follow Believing the Bizarre on social media:InstagramFacebookTwitterDiscordShop Merch: You can rep Believing the Bizarre and buy some unique merch

It is listener submission time again and we can a couple of wild stories for you!Over several years, Yasmin experienced a series of inexplicable encounters that began in 2011 when she and her family witnessed a triangular UFO near their grandmother's house, followed by sensing an invisible presence in her bed, feeling supernatural forces under a mattress, and observing strange lights and streetlamp phenomena. Her most terrifying experience occurred when she and her boyfriend encountered a tall, slender, hair-covered creature emitting a sulfuric smell near their car, an encounter that continues to haunt her to this day.From childhood through adulthood, Devin - a self-described eclectic pagan sensitive to the paranormal - experienced numerous supernatural encounters, including an imaginary friend she called "Cinderella," mysterious music that followed her between homes, and shadow creatures, culminating in her most terrifying experiences with a malevolent entity in her brother's house that physically attacked her and may have influenced her brother's descent into drug addiction. During her teen years and after her father's death, she began actively pursuing communication with spirits and helping others deal with paranormal activity, leading her to encounters with various entities from playful fae in England to a demon-like creature that tormented her mother.Patreon: Support Believing the Bizarre and get tons of extra content by joining our Patreon.For updates, news, and extra content, follow Believing the Bizarre on social media:InstagramFacebookTwitterDiscordShop Merch: You can rep Believing the Bizarre and buy some unique merch

This week, we explore the Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos), a Mexican holiday celebrated on November 1st and 2nd when the gates of heaven are believed to open, allowing children's spirits to return on the first day and adults' spirits on the second day.We discuss how the holiday originated from a combination of Mesoamerican rituals, European religion, and Spanish culture, including an ancient Aztec belief system where the dead had to overcome nine challenging levels to reach the city of the dead. Families create ofrendas (altars) with photos, favorite foods, personal items, and traditional elements like candles, salt, and bread to welcome back their deceased loved ones.Then, we dive into several personal encounters, including stories of a woman hearing mysterious singing near her ofrenda, a man being walked home by his deceased father's friend, and a widow's husband experiencing a powerful connection with his late father through an ofrenda.Patreon: Support Believing the Bizarre and get tons of extra content by joining our Patreon.For updates, news, and extra content, follow Believing the Bizarre on social media:InstagramFacebookTwitterDiscordShop Merch: You can rep Believing the Bizarre and buy some unique merch

Here is our live Halloween special from Weston, West Virginia where we visited the very haunted Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum.The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, North America's largest hand-cut stone masonry building, stands as a Gothic monument to both healing and horror in West Virginia.Built in 1858 following Thomas Kirkbride's revolutionary design principles, which emphasized therapeutic sunlight and fresh air through its 900 windows, the asylum initially provided excellent care, complete with its own farm and dairy to ensure quality food for patients.The early period was so positive that one patient described it as "heaven," not a "nut house." However, the Civil War marked a dramatic turning point, as the asylum was converted into Camp Tyler and its construction funds were seized by Union soldiers.What followed was a descent into overcrowding and controversy, with the facility housing 2,500 patients despite being designed for just 250. The situation worsened with Dr. Walter Freeman's infamous $25 lobotomies, performed as theatrical presentations, along with other controversial treatments like electroshock therapy.By 1994, the asylum closed its doors, but its legacy lives on through reported paranormal activity, including famous spirits like Lily, a young girl who died of pneumonia, Ruth, a man-hating female patient, and various Civil War soldiers who still supposedly roam its halls.Patreon: Support Believing the Bizarre and get tons of extra content by joining our Patreon.For updates, news, and extra content, follow Believing the Bizarre on social media:InstagramFacebookTwitterDiscordShop Merch: You can rep Believing the Bizarre and buy some unique merch