We Would Be Dead

Happy Thanksgiving Fiends! We took a little break this week to enjoy family and get ready for the Christmas season but we didn't want to leave you hanging entirely! Next week we will be back with part 2 of the Mushroom Murders saga, but for today we are rebroadcasting our episode on Joel Michael Guy, Jr. One of our fiends posted about this becoming their unintentional yearly thanksgiving re-listen, so we thought we would all get onboard. 

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For most of us, our childhood home is a sacred place; it holds our memories, our daydreams, our s...

In late July 2023 Erin Patterson invited her former in-laws to lunch at her home in Leongatha, Australia. This gesture of hospitality was framed as a chance for them all to reconnect. Instead, it became the center of a case that shocked the world. Over night all 4 lunch guests became desperately ill. Rumors began to fly immediately, and investigators began piecing together a chain of events that no one in this small community could have imagined. 

In part one we'll examine the "who", "what" and "where" of this case, but you'll have to wait until part 2 f...

When the darkness reaches its Zenith

And the moon floats high and white

When the spirits scream

And knife blades gleam

It’s….

Shortly After Midnight

Hello fiends, and welcome to the darkest time of day. 

In this week's original story, we bring you, Engulfed, a dark, slow-burn story about a glance that turns into an obsession. What starts as a spark of connection becomes something dangerous, something that smolders beneath the surface until it can't be contained. Desire, loneliness, and fire. They all have one t...

Happy Halloween Fiends! Join us for a deep dive into the world of Victor Frankenstein, his monstrous creations, and all the tortured poets and mad scientists who inspired OG goth girl Mary Shelley to write this torrid tale.

Click to learn more (sources)

https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/history-quirky-science-science-science-everywhere/professor-aldinis-strange-antics

https://www.grahamhenderson.ca/percy-bysshe-shelley-blog/shelleys-mighty-heart

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Luigi-Galvani

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alessandro-Volta

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/things-to-do-gernsheim-frankenstein-castle

Buy you...

When the darkness reaches its Zenith

And the moon floats high and white

When the spirits scream

And knife blades gleam

It’s….

Shortly After Midnight

Hello fiends, and welcome to the darkest time of day. 

This week's original story, Polly Pocket, is a spellbinding blend of nostalgia and nightmares told through the eyes of the scariest creatures known to man, Middle school girls. Set In the not so distant past, this terrifying tale takes us on a trip to a charming little hideaway deep in th...

REPOST: Due to the sensational new season of the Netflix show "Monster", Ed Gein has been everywhere lately.  Monster: The Ed Gein Story promises an accurate retelling of the life this deeply troubled man, but instead delivers a considerable amount of inaccuracies and copious amounts of downright fabricated information. Ever the truth enthusiasts,  upon hearing this, we decided to share our coverage of what Holly considers to be the most interesting person we've ever explored. We would argue that the word "monster" is actually not appropriate in this case. Perhaps after listening, or re-listening you'll think so too! Either wa...

Lets get October started with re-listen to episode 130... We will be back next week with a Shortly After Midnight, followed by some terrifying tales perfect for this Halloween season!

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Thankfully not all horror movies are based on a true story, but if we look hard enough we can almost always find that if art isn't imitating life, life will imitate art. In the case of Michael Meyers, finding a real life equivalent wasn't easy, but I think we did it this year. (No it's not Stanley Stiers, that one is made up. Sorry guys). 

Let's get prepped for the spooky season! While we put the finishing touches on our second Shortly After Midnight episode, we wanted give you one of our scariest true crime episodes - wells scariest for Leslie. This is also the episode that we introduce our first, and possibly favorite, neighborhood fiend - Neighbor Pam! Head over to our Facebook group or on patron to discuss the episode! ------------ Halloween is right around the corner, and everyone is entitled to one good scare. This week we decided it was Leslie's turn, so Holly is bringing us all a tale of mysterious...

In late 2021, successful journalist and podcaster Chico Felitti relocated to a quiet, old money neighborhood of the mega city of Sáo Paulo Brazil called Higienópolis. One day while on a walk with his dogs he stumbled on an abandoned old manor house, a ghostly figure, and an unbelievable secret hidden right in plain sight. 

In part 2 we will learn more about Margarida Bonetti's terrible secret. We'll uncover the details of her strange life in America, examine the circumstances that would let her keep such a monumental secret, and ultimately tell the story of the woman she...

In late 2021, while the waves of deadly corona virus were still cresting and falling, Sao Paulo Brazil, one of the most densely populated cities in the world was a pretty stressful place to be. Desperate to escape the frighteningly close quarters, successful journalist and podcaster Chico Felitti relocated to a quiet, old money neighborhood called Higienópolis. One day while on a walk with his dogs he stumbled on an abandoned old manor house, a ghostly figure, and an unbelievable secret hidden right in plain sight. This story is so shocking an unpredictable that it took me several hours o...

We’re back this week with a rebroadcast of one of our favorites - Nightmare Fuel (Cursed Objects). Unfortunately, Holly’s been under the weather with Covid, so our brand-new episode is on pause. But with Annabelle making headlines again, we figured there’s no better time to revisit the creepy origins and lore behind her (and a few other famously cursed objects). This one’s a fun, spooky ride. Perfect for a re-listen, or a first dive if you missed it the first time around!

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This week the girls dig into the chilling world of...

 On Friday May 30th 2025 9 year old Paityn, 8 year old Evelyn, and 5 year old Olivia Decker left their home on what should have been a short outing and never returned. Three days later the girl's bodies were found just outside a local campground. What followed was one of the most chilling and emotionally charged manhunts in recent memory. In this episode, we unravel the tragic story of Paityn, Evelyn, and Olivia Decker—and the man the world is still searching for: their father, Travis Decker.

 If you see Travis Decker, or anyone matching his description—do not approach him, h...

When darkness has reached its Zenith

And the moon floats high and white

When the spirits scream

And knife blades gleam

It’s Shortly After Midnight.

Welcome Fiends, to the darkest time of day! 

Today's terrifying tale takes us to the sleepy little town of Marrow Hill. Nestled in cornfields of middle America, Marrow Hill was the kind of town that songs were written about. In fact, it was often said that Marrow Hill must have had the greenest grass in the country because no one ever wan...

They were called “The Lethal Lovers” — two nurse’s aides, Cathy Wood (25) and Gwendolyn Graham (34), whose twisted relationship would leave a trail of death behind the quiet walls of a Michigan nursing home. When Cathy’s ex-husband walked into a police station in 1988 with a chilling confession, investigators uncovered a string of suspicious deaths among Alpine Manor’s most vulnerable residents. What emerged was a story of obsession, manipulation, and murder — and one of the most disturbing cases of female serial killers in U.S. history. 

Medium Article

Forever and 5 days on Amazon, Also...

Happy Pride Month Fiends! This week we are going to rebroadcast some of our previous pride month episodes before releasing a brand new episode. If you are all caught up with WWBD, please take the time to relisten to this tragic episode on kitty Genovese and historical significance of her case. 

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On March 27th 1964, the headline: "37 Who Saw Murder Didn't Call the Police; Apathy at Stabbing of Queens Woman Shocks Inspector" was splashed across the cover of the New York times. The story behind it was the horrific rape and murder of a young w...

We've all heard the sinister stories of mental healthcare's terrifying past. The Snake Pits, the cages, the overmedication, but nothing is cloaked in more mystery and dread than the ice pick lobotomy. Whether it's that terrifying scene in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest or the heartbreaking story of Rosemary Kennedy, we all can conjure up a horrifying image of this barbaric procedure with little effort. The Man in the white lab coat and cap, his sunglasses gleaming, ice pick in hand. The patients with black eyes and blood mottled tears. That's gold standard nightmare fuel, and it...

In the summer of 1726, In the little Village of Godalming, a 25 year old servant woman claimed to give birth to rabbits. Surgeons, nobles, and even the King believed her at first, but the truth, or a version of it that the public can embrace, always has a way of coming out.

For years, history thought they had solved the mystery of "The Rabbit Breeder", but beneath the hoax lies a darker tale of pain, power, and control.This is the true story of monstrous birth — and the woman behind it. This is the story of Mary Toft.

She was smart, athletic, and full of life — until one summer night in 2015 when 18-year-old Tiffany Valiante vanished from her family’s New Jersey home. Just hours later, her body was found miles away on train tracks under suspicious circumstances. Was it suicide, as authorities claimed — or something far more sinister? In this, our second most requested episode, we dig into the tangled timeline, mysterious evidence, and the burning questions that still haunt this case. What really happened to Tiffany Valiante?

Click To Learn More

Tiffany's episode of Unsolved Mysteries

Casefile

I...

Hey fiends! This week we are rebroadcasting one of our fan favorite (and ours) episode on Elmer McCurdy. We will be back next week with an all new episode.

ENJOY!

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On December 8th, 1976, the crew of the hit televisions show The Six Million Dollar Man made a gruesome discovery. While shooting in a fun house in Long Beach, California, they accidentally broke the arm off an orange day glow dummy only to discover that is wasn't a dummy at all, it was the mummified remains of a human man. Through a fascinating forensic i...

Often, case we cover continue to evolve long after we close the book on them. That's why periodically we check in and update them! This week we have updates on the Dephi Murders, Sheila Keen Warren (the clown killer), and the disappearance of Asha Degree. Special thanks to all our fiends who pass along articles so we can stay up to the minute on everything! Here's hoping 2025 gives us even more answers in its second half.

Click To Learn More

Updates on Asha Degree

https://www.wbtv.com/2025/02/18/new-asha-degree-warrants-text-messages-revealed-possible-admission-fault-more/

Updates on...

In the early morning hours of May 1st 1849 Ellen Poe Langley drew her last breath. Once a wealthy doctor's wife, she passed away alone, locked in a tiny room in a stifling attic. For years Her husband Dr. Charles Langley had gotten away with keeping her locked away, desperately ill and slowly starving, and now it seemed, he would get away with murder. Or would he?  

This year's St. Paddy's day episode shows the importance of one's truth and the miraculous way Ellen's has survived all these years. Oh, and don't forget: if mess with women, you un...

Ok fiends, it's almost St. Patrick's day so this month we're recapping the 1993 classic (and this one really is a classic) Leprechaun! This Episode is one that our patrons have had access to since 2021 and we are now very excited to make it available to everyone. We did record a new 30 Minute Horror Movie on Leprechaun 4: In Space and you can find it over on our Patreon! 

Back to this episode on the very first Leprechaun - The film features a very young Jennifer Anniston, the guy that played Francis in Pee Wee's Big Adventure, and Warwick D...

This is the story of Abraham Shakespeare, the man who won the lottery then disappeared. This case is a rags to riches story, a mysterious disappearance, an episode of Catfish and a murder mystery all rolled up into one. This case case has so many twists and turns that we cab't even summarize it, you just have to hear it to believe it.

Click To Learn More

Hulu Documentary: Web of Death, Jackpot Murder

ABC News article

Probable Cause Affidavit

Florida Woman Marries Ferris Wheel

F...

Hey fiends! This week's rebroadcast goes out to all our Yellowjackets fans! If you're knee deep in fan theories but you're unfamiliar with the Wendigo, you need to give this episode a listen! If you have no idea what I'm talking about...listen anyway, this episode is one of our best! Be prepared to sleep with the lights on for a while though, because this is a scary one!

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"The Wendigo lives in the most frightening of places, a place from which there is no escape. Once the Wendigo awakens, it tears through this place...

It's our 200th episode (part 2) , so today we will be covering our number one most requested case, The Disappearance of Mark Himebaugh. On November 25th 1991, Mark disappeared from the Sunray Beach neighborhood in Del Haven NJ. The only evidence search teams ever found was his left sneaker. He has been missing ever since.

Anyone with Information regarding the disappearance of Mark Himebaugh is urged to contact the Middle Township Police Department at 609-465-8700, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-843-5678, the Cape May County Crime Stoppers at 609-463-2800 or the...

It's our 200th episode, so today we will be covering our number one most requested case, The Disappearance of Mark Himebaugh. On November 25th 1991, Mark disappeared from the Sunray Beach neighborhood in Del Haven NJ. The only evidence search teams ever found was his left sneaker. He has been missing ever since.

"In chaos theory, the butterfly effect is the sensitive dependence on initial conditions in which a small change in one state of a deterministic nonlinear system can result in large differences in a later state."

In other words, one little thing can change...

 Tighten up your corsets and starch those high collars because this week we’re going old timey! The mystery of who killed Charlie Bravo has captured the minds of both armchair and career detectives, as well as numerous true crime authors for over a century. This case has it all, money, accents, love affairs, victorian pseudoscience and a murder most foul. 

On April 18th, 1876 Charles Bravo leapt from his bed in the middle of the night and cried out to his wife for hot water. Within minutes he was unconscious on the floor. 6 different physicians visited a deat...

This week we are rebroadcasting our episode on Count Dracula! The Nosferatu craze has gotten ahold of us too.  Enjoy!

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There is much about the myth of the vampire that science will never understand. They crawl from their graves, blood running from their mouths trailing mist in search of innocent victims to join them in monstrosity. They are alluring in their terror and terrifying in their allure, and human kind will never cease to wonder if they are simply a legend, or if there is much more.

This week we explore the ori...

On Christmas Eve 1945 in the quiet little town of Fayetteville West Virginia, Jennie Sodder awoke just after one in the morning to find her little farm house filled with smoke, flames licking the walls of her husband's office. She rushed to wake and alert her husband and 9 children. It was clear that they needed to escape quickly. Once out on the lawn Jennie saw her husband, two daughters and two son's, which left 5 children in the house, trapped, or so they thought. No trace of those five children has been found to this very day.

In the...

We promised we aren't becoming a rebroadcast podcast haha. We will be back soon with a brand new episode! Until then, enjoy our holiday spooky cheer with another best of Christmas WWBD episode!
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There is no phrase one can utter that draws a more visceral christmas response, than Bah, Humbug. And so it is with great joy and depth of feeling that this holiday season we bring you an exploration into this the most famous and meaningful of ghost stories. It may be decked with Holly and frosted with snow, but at it’s heart a Ch...

Hello Fiends! With the new Netflix documentary, "Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey", we thought we should rebroadcast our coverage of the case! We will be back next week with an all new episode! 
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"People ask me all the time how I think of such dark stories every week. Well, I say, I just take any scenario and think of the worst possible outcome. It’s there if you want it, but you have to want it."

This week we take a look at a crime that captured a nation. The murder of 6-yea...

To start off the holiday season we are sharing one of our favorite episodes from a few years ago, in which we ruin Santa for you. ENJOY!
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We’re back once again to ruin Christmas! This year we’ll explore the dark and fascinating origins of everyone favorite jolly gift giver, Santa Claus. We’ll explore where our modern Santa came from and meet his merry gang of elves, reindeer, monsters and ham babies. So mind your manners and be sure to watch out, Santa Claus is coming to town!

Helpfu...

Gainesville Florida is the biggest college town in the sunshine state, but in August of 1990 a dark cloud descended over it. Five people were brutally mutilated and murdered in four short days. All the crime scenes bore the same graphic hallmarks, and local police quickly realized they had a serial killer on their hands. As the media descended on Gainesville, the police were racing the clock to uncover the identity of the so called Gainesville Ripper. 

This week we bring you part two of the horrific crimes of a man named Donny Rolling, crimes that served as t...

Gainesville Florida is the biggest college town in the sunshine state, but in August of 1990 a dark cloud descended over it. Five people were brutally mutilated and murdered in four short days. All the crime scenes bore the same graphic hallmarks, and local police quickly realized they had a serial killer on their hands. As the media descended on Gainesville, the police were racing the clock to uncover the identity of the so called Gainesville Ripper. 

This week we bring you part one of the horrific crimes of a man named Donny Rolling, crimes that served as t...

Poison artisans Giulia Tofana and Gironima Spana took all the power held hostage in their time by men and placed it in the hands of women. Join us as we go deep into the rise and fall of the world’s most infamous poison and sought after skin care line: Aqua Tofana.

Last week we told Guilia's story and this week we tell Gironima's.  Gironima Spana was a savvy business woman who took the recipe for Aqua Tofana and created an empire run by women for women. Empires however, have a tendency to fall. In its own tim...

We wanted to end women’s history month with a bang, so we decided to deliver this much requested case in a way you’ve probably never heard it before, the way it actually happened. What was once thought to be the story of one woman, is actually that of a mother daughter dynasty. Poison artisans Giulia Tofana and Gironima Spana took all the power held hostage in their time by men and placed it in the hands of women. Join us as we go deep into the rise and fall of the world’s most infamous poison and sought...

In a quiet rural village in China, a respected local doctor, Su Hong, harbors secrets darker than anyone could imagine. When two brothers suddenly vanish, a police investigation reveals twisted layers of deceit, desperation, and revenge buried in the doctor’s root cellar. What starts as a missing person’s case unravels into a chilling tale of betrayal, hidden violence, and a woman pushed to the edge by the very people she trusted. As the truth comes to light, the village—and the nation—must reckon with the haunting story of Su Hong and the lengths she went to escape h...

Dear Fiends, We cordially invite you to spend some time with the terrifying spirits of Thrill house. We hope you enjoy this original gothic horror story! Consider it a treat from us to you. Happy Halloween!

Holly Knapp, Co-Host 

Leslie Weidel, Co-Host

Jon Katity, Composer & Audio Engineer

Buy your WWBD swag here! 

On a sunny day in November of 1990 three young boys decide to sneak off and play in the gravel pits at a local landscaping store for the afternoon. Little did they know that they were about to open a doorway into the world of colonial American vampires. 

This week we plunge head first into the strange and mysterious practice of vampire exhumations. Along the way we'll uncover the stories of a serial killer hiding in a sleepy Connecticut town, an ancient family graveyard that seemed to appear from out of nowhere, and finally we'll share the tale o...

We're starting off spooky season with one of the most haunting cases in true crime history. This case, referred to internationally as “The Burari Deaths” walks the thin line between devotion and madness, faith and delusion, mortal and paranormal. 

At 7:15 AM on July 1st, 2018  Gurcharan Singh went outside to meet his neighbor, Lalit Chundawat, for their morning walk. That morning however, Lalit was not waiting for him. The normally bustling Chundawat household and general store stood dark and quiet. Realizing that something must be terribly wrong Gurcharan entered the Chundawat's house to see if they needed help, and wh...