The innocence of the Summer of Love and the hippie counterculture movement came to an abrupt end in August 1969, when a string of brutal murders in the Los Angeles area rocked Hollywood, the country, and the world. The perpetrators? A strange hippie cult called "The Family", headed by a creepy, scrawny guy with an odd charisma by the name of Charles Manson. This August, we're diving in to the explosive story of the Manson Family Murders with a multi-part series investigating the who, what, where...
Aug 10, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 141
In the summer of 1974, a body was discovered among the dunes of Cape Cod by a young girl chasing her dog. Despite the efforts of local and state police, the so-named "Lady of the Dunes" would go unidentified for nearly 50 years - as would her killer. Join us as Sean lays out the facts of the discovery, the investigation, and decades worth of theories - along with stunning developments from just the past year. And, yes, were talking about Jaws again this week! ____________________________________...
Jul 27, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 140
We kept it fairly loose this week with a midsummer (midsommar??) catch-up featuring Sean & Carrie gathering round the spooky campfire and talking their recently-consumed horror content ( Bones and All , Diablo 4, True Blood , and more), favorite vampire lore, how Edward got Bella pregnant in the Twilight series (spoiler: you would never have guessed it), who in the Ain't it Scary? archives they would FMK (F*ck, Marry, Kill), and a semi-deep-dive news segment covering the recent arrest made i...
Jul 20, 2023•1 hr 6 min
In late July 1945, the heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis had just conducted a top-secret mission, delivering a sealed metal box to a small island in the Pacific. Unbeknownst to the crew aboard, that box held the final pieces of the atomic bomb that would be detonated over Hiroshima in the coming weeks - but that's not the story we're telling today. On the way back to base in the Philippines from that fateful delivery, the men aboard Indianapolis would undergo one of the most horrifying incidents in...
Jul 13, 2023•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 139
The American Revolutionary War spanned 8 bloody years of war, brutality, and conflict. When the America of today looks back on it now, we tend to look back with reverence and even idolization - but we don't think about the foul hygiene, wretched conditions, and ethical atrocities that occurred for even longer than the 8 years of war leading up to America's hard-fought freedom. This week, in honor of the July 4th holiday, Carrie takes us back in time to the stinking rooms in Independence Hall, fr...
Jul 07, 2023•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 138
In the 1920s and 30s, colonial Kenya was playground to a social clique of wealthy British expats called the "Happy Valley Set," famed for their excessive tastes and drug-fueled sex parties. One of the foremost members of the set, Josslyn Hay, Earl of Erroll, caused an international stir when he was found behind the wheel of his car with a bullet in his head. This week, it's hot summer nights and high society gossip with the ritzy free-love crowd, as Sean lays out the tale of pre-war politics, je...
Jun 29, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 137
In this episode, Carrie leads a deep dive into the secretive world of Bohemian Grove. Join us as we explore the enigmatic rituals and hidden history surrounding the elusive private Bohemian Club, whose encampment sits nestled deep within the towering redwoods of Northern California. From its origins as a haven for artists and intellectuals to its contemporary reputation as a meeting ground for the world's elite, we unravel the mysteries and conspiracy theories that shroud Bohemian Grove, includi...
Jun 22, 2023•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 136
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart had a penchant for achieving milestones early: he composed his first pieces by age 5, his first symphony by age 8, and tragically, even died young at the age of 35. Since immediately after the seminal musical genius's sharp health decline and painful demise, rumors have swirled about the medical - or murderous - culprit. After an overview of Mozart's life and times, we run down the list of suspects, from bad pork and kidney disease to poison plots by Freemasons and cabals...
Jun 15, 2023•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 135
This week, we're teaming up with the New York Mystery Machine podcast to bring you the best Bigfoots the Northeast has to offer! After Adam and Christina gave us the lowdown on the Sasquatches of New York over at their feed, we bring the NYMM crew into OUR house as Sean shares the best of New England's Bigfoot history, new and old. From the V-sculpted wildmen of Connecticut to the pizza-loving hairy hippies of New Hampshire, it's a celebration of Bigfoot diversity this week on Ain't It Scary! __...
Jun 08, 2023•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 134
We're back at it after a 2-week break to travel abroad and move house! And we're chatting another house...of worship, that is. Catholicism is a mysterious religion based in millennia of faith and worship, and of course in those hundred years, conspiracies have developed around the seat of Roman Catholic power: The Vatican. Inspired by our Patron Kate's request and a trip to Vatican City itself, Carrie takes us through some of the biggest conspiracy theories in Vatican history, from prophecies to...
Jun 01, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 133
This week we finish our quick tour through the purported adventures of the UFO prophet Raël, whose Raëlian Movement once claimed nearly a hundred thousand followers worldwide. While Raël was spreading his message here on Earth, his alien benefactors returned in 1975 to take him on a trip through the stars - and a tour of their paradise planet, where Raël and his followers hope to be cloned someday. We won't spoil anything, but the story gets preeeetty crazy from there... ________________________...
May 11, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 132
ETs are back on Ain't It Scary in a two-part primer on one of the most prominent UFO religions on Earth - the Raëlian Movement! In this first installment, Sean introduces Claude Vorilhon - the man who would be renamed Raël - as the erstwhile pop singer-turned-racing journalist meets an ancient alien master and learns the secret origins in the human race. Raël's received wisdom would be recorded in the simply-named The Book That Tells the Truth in 1974 - and inspire a movement that attracts follo...
May 04, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 131
This week, we explore how a crime story can inform pop culture with the true tale of Grace Brown's murder at the hands of Chester Gillette in 1906. In a collaboration with the You're Missing Out podcast, we took a (virtual) trip to Upstate New York to investigate the famous "Murder in the Adirondacks": the likely drowning death of Grace Brown caused by her sometime-boyfriend and factory superior, Chester Gillette. Brown had just discovered she was pregnant, and due to societal restrictions at th...
Apr 27, 2023•55 min•Ep. 130
In the second of a two-parter on the Roman Empire's most hated rulers, Sean illustrates the *colorful* life and times of Nero, Rome's fifth emperor, who got up to a lot more than just fireside fiddling. Join us for a twisted tale of matricide, fratricide, parricide, arson, plain ol' torture murders and more forced suicides than you can shake a centurion at. But above all the violence, Nero considered himself something much scarier than a mad emperor...he considered himself an artist . Come for t...
Apr 20, 2023•1 hr 42 min
We're going back to ancient Rome for a two-part look at the most notoriously evil emperors the empire ever had! This week, Sean gets us warmed up with Caligula, the man whose name has become a byword for madness and sexual depravity. Rome's third emperor ruled for less than four years, so what could this guy have done to get this kind of reputation? Was Caligula assassinated for being a violent madman, or was he just sleeping with the wrong guys' wives? And did he really try to make his horse a ...
Apr 13, 2023•1 hr 37 min•Ep. 128
Have you ever heard anything that you couldn't explain? The most mysterious sounds in the world vary from impossibly loud deep sea groans to possibly Biblical trumpets calling in the sky. And many, chillingly enough, still have no real scientific explanations. The stories of mysterious sounds we're exploring today include: ...The Bloop, the loudest undersea noise ever recorded, ...The Sky Trumpets and Well to Hell, two completely opposite sides of the maybe-Biblical coin, ...And assorted sound p...
Apr 06, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 127
Between 1911 and 1912, at least 11 Black families were murdered with an axe in their beds, in towns along the Southern Pacific railway line in Louisiana and Texas. The only person ever punished for any of these crimes was a teen girl named Clementine Barnabet. In this week's episode, Sean caps off Axe Murder March with a gruesome sidecar to last year's "Man From the Train" series, as families keep turning up dead in the Louisiana countryside and one Lafayette girl keeps confessing... And confess...
Mar 30, 2023•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 126
In this 4th and final part of the Lizzie Borden story, we round out the rest of the sensational Borden Murders trial, hear the final verdict, and learn what Lizzie Borden did with the rest of her life after her (spoiler alert) acquittal in June 1893. Meet the witnesses that added quite a bit of color to the case, including skull-boiling doctors, confusing and contradictory policemen, a lollygagging ice cream salesman, and more; see the defense's star witness Emma Borden take the stand against a ...
Mar 23, 2023•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 125
Screw it, we're doing 4 parts! The tea is too scorching and the drama too intense to not give Lizzie's case room to breathe, so we're dedicating all of Axe Murder March to Miss Borden herself. This week: Lizzie is charged, arrested, and brought to trial. The press continues their field day with Lizzie's story, hounding her at every turn, insulting her looks, and even falsely reporting a pregnancy. Multiple important witnesses take the stand, including housemaid Bridget Sullivan, Doctor Seabury B...
Mar 16, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 124
Axe Murder March plunges on, Part 2 is coming in hot, and we're making it a 3-parter for the story of the Borden Murders and the accusations levied against Lizzie Borden, she of "40 whacks" fame. This week, we explore the pre-forensic era investigation into who could have killed Andrew and Abby Borden, and the official inquest into the crime itself. Witness a cavalcade of Fall River locals, Borden family members, and frustrated District Attorneys go back and forth attempting to establish a factu...
Mar 09, 2023•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 123
Axe Murder March is back, and this time, the ladies are doing it for themselves! That's right, after our fan-favorite series last year covering the Axeman of New Orleans, the Villisca Axe Murders, and the Man from the Train, we're heading back to the chopping block with stories of women who, well...took matters into their own hands. First up is one of the biggies in American history: the story of Lizzie Borden, who may or may not have taken an axe, given her mother 40 whacks, and when she saw wh...
Mar 02, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 122
On October 13, 1972, a chartered Uruguayan Air Force plane carrying 40 passengers, including a local amateur rugby team on its way to an exhibition match in Chile, collided with a mountain and crashed into a glacier, losing both wings and its whole flight crew in the process. For the mostly young, inexperienced travelers who survived the crash, it was only the beginning of a 10 week fight for survival in the most inhospitable conditions imaginable. This week, Sean apologizes for his Spanish lang...
Feb 23, 2023•1 hr 38 min•Ep. 121
On February 19th, 1994, 31-year-old Gloria Ramirez was rushed to Riverside General Hospital after suffering severe heart palpitations, possibly caused by her advanced cervical cancer. In the ER, hospital staff began to work to try and save Gloria's life - and that's where the strangeness started. Nurses, residents, and technicians alike began to complain of severe symptoms after Gloria's blood was taken, noting a strange chemical-like smell coming from her body. Then, these very same seasoned me...
Feb 16, 2023•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 120
On November 1, 1909, in the small UK mill town of Staleybridge, construction magnate George Harry Storrs was stabbed to death in his kitchen. Four eyewitnesses, including George Harry's wife, saw the attack and got a good luck at the murderer - yet over a century later and despite several trials, the crime remains unsolved. In the thrilling conclusion to our two-parter on the case, we meet Cornelius "Cornie" Howard and Mark Wilde, the two unfortunate ne'er-do-wells who were tried in Storrs' deat...
Feb 09, 2023•1 hr 33 min•Ep. 119
On November 1, 1909, in the small UK mill town of Staleybridge, construction magnate George Harry Storrs was stabbed to death in his kitchen. Four eyewitnesses, including George Harry's wife, saw the attack and got a good luck at the murderer - yet over a century later and despite several trials, the crime remains unsolved. This week, in the first of two episodes on the crime and investigation, Sean introduces us to George Harry Storrs and the town of Stalybridge, and catches us up with the esca...
Feb 02, 2023•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 118
At the end of our series exploring the Titanic tragedy, we "dive" into the immediate aftermath of the sinking - including legal inquiries and lawsuits - the search for the wreck on the bottom of the ocean, and the remaining theories and mysteries still surrounding the Titanic to this day. Take a seat at the US Senate hearings on the disaster, which ended in changes to maritime regulations and one thoroughly mocked senator; on the deep-sea vehicle Argo, developed by Dr. Robert Ballard to try and ...
Jan 26, 2023•1 hr 24 min
We've made it to April 14th, 1912, and the RMS Titanic is midway through its maiden voyage from England to New York. All is calm, all is normal. Until - "Iceberg, right ahead!" But the warning would come too late. The Titanic would scrape across an iceberg far from its destination in America, and within 3 hours, she would be at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. By dawn the morning of April 15th, over 1,500 souls on the Titanic would perish in the frigid sea, with the ship being lost forever to t...
Jan 19, 2023•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 116
In 1907, English businessman J Bruce Ismay sat down with his partners at the shipping company White Star Line to dream up the newest three ships in the White Star Line's fleet, destined to be bigger, more luxurious, and possibly even faster than anything White Star Line or any of their competitors had managed to build to that time. By 1912, two of the ships had been constructed: the Olympic, and the bigger, heavier Titanic. The latter especially would draw fascination from the world over, with t...
Jan 12, 2023•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 115
Hey Scary Squad! We're still wrapping up important family obligations this week, so in lieu of a full episode - but still wanting to get some new 'tent out to ya - we wanted to include a sample Patreon minisode here to be accessible by all (and hopefully get more of you beautiful people over to our Patreon page)! The CURSE OF THE BAMBINO is the alleged baseball curse that befell the Red Sox after they sold "Sultan of Swat" Babe Ruth away to the Yankees to fund a Broadway flop. Was there really a...
Jan 05, 2023•31 min
Hello Scary Squad! We apologize for not getting a new episode out this week - due to a death in our family, we've been tied up, understandably, with quite important matters. Sean wanted to hop on and give this little update, so you wouldn't think we'd left you in the dust of Christmas past! We hope you've had a lovely holiday, and can't wait to get back to it next week (don't worry - this isn't an extended hiatus!). Til then, deck those halls, ring in the New Year, and keep it Scary! ___________...
Dec 29, 2022•3 min
