Across the world, there are pockets of land where the skies seem restless. Places where strange lights appear without warning and encounters with the unknown are whispered about for generations. Their locations are often fixed on maps by triangulating the nearest towns and cities, yet their reputations are defined not by geography, but by the stories told about them. One such place lies in the heart of Scotland, a swathe of countryside where sightings occur with unsettling frequency. Known as th...
Aug 13, 2025•35 min•Ep. 110
Each year, people around the world report having encounters with bizarre animals that seem not to be of this earth. It occurs so frequently that an entire scientific discipline, cryptozoology, was established to study the phenomenon. For a brief period during the early 1970s, one small town in rural Illinois would briefly play host to an entity so mysterious that neither the residents themselves nor anyone else has ever encountered it again. Just what exactly was the Enfield Horror? MUSIC Tracks...
Aug 06, 2025•30 min•Ep. 109
In most missing persons cases, time eventually provides answers. The individual is either found safe and well, or, sadly, they are located after passing. However, in a frustratingly small number of cases, neither the family nor the public ever receives true closure. When this lack of resolution is due to police failings, the consequences can be devastating. This was certainly the case in the investigation we’ll be exploring in this episode: that of the Missing Airman. MUSIC Tracks used by kind p...
Jul 30, 2025•33 min•Ep. 108
The Battle of Antietam during the American Civil War remains the bloodiest day in American history. That day, and the future of the United States, could have turned out very differently, if not for a single note and three cigars. From Ballen Studios, join us - for the most heart pounding podcast in history. Listen to A Twist of History wherever you get your podcasts! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Jul 23, 2025•44 min
During the Cold War, soldiers stationed on an army base in the German city of Celle began to report strange, unexplainable experiences. As time wore on, many of the men came to believe they were being terrorised by a sinister paranormal presence. These encounters proved so horrifying that some took their own lives rather than face another night on patrol. Whilst the incidents were largely dismissed, experts have uncovered long-hidden secrets that prove these men might have been telling the truth...
Jul 16, 2025•33 min•Ep. 107
Having an encounter with a UFO is one of the most bizarre and overwhelming events a person might experience. But in a large percentage of these cases, the sighting itself is just the beginning. Over the years, hundreds of witnesses have reported being visited by strange, unearthly men in the days and weeks following their sightings. Are they government agents of suppression, extraterrestrial visitors in disguise, or something else entirely? Who are the Men in Black? And what can we learn from th...
Jul 09, 2025•32 min•Ep. 106
In April 1991, the body of an otherwise healthy 35-year-old man was found inside his Seattle apartment. He was fully clothed, kneeling in an empty bathtub, with no signs of a struggle or forced entry. The death was quickly written off as the result of natural causes. But when his friends came forward, they told a different story. They claim he’d spent a week evading a supernatural force he swore had been sent to kill him. Did he literally scare himself to death? Or was the peculiar death of Chri...
Jul 02, 2025•33 min•Ep. 105
Each year, hundreds of thousands of people go missing across the United States. Most are eventually found, sometimes safe, sometimes not. But then there are the anomalies - the people who, for whatever reason, seem to completely disappear without a trace. These cases often linger for decades, fuelled by rumour, strange clues, and unanswered questions. This is one such story - a disappearance so bizarre that it left people around the world asking, “What happened to Jared Negrete?” MUSIC Tracks us...
Jun 25, 2025•30 min•Ep. 104
For those who believe in extraterrestrials, the military is commonly seen as the first line of defence. For over a century, radio dramas, films, and literature have asked: what would really happen if our military forces engaged an advanced interstellar species? At least two men claim to not only know the answer, but to have participated in just such a conflict, only to be abducted, and their minds mysteriously wiped. Their tales raise an important question: just what happened during the Fort Ben...
Jun 18, 2025•34 min•Ep. 103
Story One – What Killed Olivia Mabel? One afternoon in 1994, a series of silent 911 calls from a remote Texas property would result in several police officers descending upon the scene. What they found after breaking in through the front entrance, would shock them to their core and leave them questioning what killed Olivia Mabel. Story Two – The Strange Death of Gaurav Tiwari In July 2016, a young ghost hunter died in mysterious circumstances after visiting a supposedly haunted property. Authori...
Jun 11, 2025•34 min•Ep. 102
There have been multiple alleged interactions which are reported to have taken place between the US military and extraterrestrial visitors. These include the supposed crash of a UFO near to Roswell in New Mexico, and the craft that was encountered by US servicemen in Rendlesham Forest near RAF Woodbridge. In this episode we examine yet another such story, where an alien trespasser is believed to have been incapacitated by sentries who were stationed at another military site. An incident which ov...
Jun 04, 2025•34 min•Ep. 101
Time, for most of us, feels like the one true constant - a steady progression from past to future. Yet throughout history, people have reported moments where time - and perhaps even reality - seems to falter. Some claim to have been pulled into the past or thrust briefly into the future. Others describe slipping into worlds that look almost like our own, but with subtle, unsettling differences. In most cases, these experiences are fleeting glimpses across eras. In others, they resemble accidenta...
May 28, 2025•33 min•Ep. 100
For decades, paranormal researchers have heard tales of a strange anomaly in the hills of central Washington - a hole so deep that it devours everything thrown into it, and which seems to possess supernatural powers. In the late 1990s, a man named Mel Waters came forward, claiming to own the land upon which the bottomless pit resides. But after going public, he found himself at the centre of a conspiracy involving top branches of the US government that ultimately led to his disappearance. Was it...
May 21, 2025•30 min•Ep. 99
In August 1993, a group of kayakers from Ukraine travelled to Irkutsk in Southern Siberia. Whilst enjoying the river and scenery south of Lake Baikal, they came across something haunting: a 17-year-old girl, covered in blood and mumbling incoherently about a tragedy that had befallen her and her friends. Her name was Valentina Utochenko, and the terror she survived still baffles experts, who refer to the event simply as the Khamar-Daban Mountain Deaths. MUSIC Tracks used by kind permission of Ke...
May 14, 2025•34 min•Ep. 98
Plenty of towns have disappeared over the years. In most cases, the explanations range from economic problems to government initiatives to resources drying up. But what about the towns that truly and quite literally vanished without a trace? It’s not as rare a phenomenon as some people might think. And for thousands of people in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, it’s a perplexing reality. Given the presence of so many vivid memories, how can we possibly explain the vanishing of Doveland? MUSIC Tracks...
May 07, 2025•31 min•Ep. 97
Story One – The Manchester Pusher Over the past decade, close to a hundred people have lost their lives in the canal network of one northern English city. In this chapter, we examine evidence, which suggests that a significant number of these deaths were the work of one person, the Manchester Pusher. Story Two – The Uniondale Hitchhiker The N9 is one of South Africa’s longest roads, running from the golden shores of the Southern Coast, right up into the heart of the Northern Cape Province. It is...
Apr 30, 2025•39 min•Ep. 96
During the closing stages of 2009, a family residing in Oklahoma vanished under suspicious circumstances, leaving little clue as to what had happened to them. When evidence of their tragic fate did eventually surface five years later, it only prompted further questions as to what exactly had transpired, rather than providing any useful answers. Join us as we attempt to unravel what really happened to the Jamison family. MUSIC Tracks used by kind permission of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Lice...
Apr 23, 2025•30 min•Ep. 95
Story One – Drawn by Conflict When the movie Predator released in 1987, audiences were captivated as they watched an unseen, extra-terrestrial interloper stalk and kill a highly trained team of US special forces. Little did we know that during the Vietnam war, the militaries on both sides had been attacked by something just as frightening and just as bizarre, a true to life enemy unknown which seemed to be drawn by conflict. Story Two – The Burning Man of Brazil The men and women who devote thei...
Apr 16, 2025•40 min•Ep. 94
Story One – There is Something in the Forest Abandoned towns can be found scattered across the globe and are usually the epilogue of natural disaster or ever-changing economic factors. But every so often, an established settlement can turn into a ghost town for much more sinister reasons. The one featured in this story was allegedly abandoned because of something in the forest. Story Two – There is Something in the Mountains For more than a century, a steady stream of treasure hunters and thrill...
Apr 09, 2025•40 min•Ep. 93
The ocean has always captured mankind's imagination. But where some saw endless potential for travel, trade, and exploration, others could only imagine what untold terrors might be lurking in its depths. Ask any sailor, modern or ancient, and they’ll tell you that the sea is not only a natural force but a supernatural one. As more people begin to confront the thousands of firsthand accounts of mysterious terror of the deep, it becomes clear that there are things above and below the waves that ma...
Apr 02, 2025•34 min•Ep. 92
Scotland’s Highlands are among the most beautiful and remote places in the world. But to many, this stunning landscape of mountains, lakes, and coastal villages also bears a notable air of mystery and foreboding. Even today, these ancient lands remain steeped in folklore and supernatural tales. Once one begins to dig into the stories of High Strangeness in the Scottish Highlands, it becomes clear why it is often considered one of the most haunted places on earth. MUSIC Tracks used by kind permis...
Mar 26, 2025•30 min•Ep. 91
Story One – Our Lady of Fatima In the Autumn of 1917, as the brutality and savagery of the First World War threatened to finally overwhelm Portugal’s borders, seventy thousand people gathered near a rural township to witness an appearance by the Virgin Mary. What exactly happened during The Fatima Event? Story Two – The Legend of the Bell Witch Whether tales of cryptids or ghostly apparitions, every community has its own folklore. Here, we pay a visit to a small town in Tennessee, which was plag...
Mar 19, 2025•37 min•Ep. 90
The forests of North America are dense, tall, and foreboding. So it may come as little surprise that as long as people have lived on the continent, there have been sightings of all manner of beasts and cryptids. Some, like the Canadian Wood Bison, were later discovered to be real. Others, like Bigfoot and the Thunderbird, remain in the grey area where myth, fact, and misidentification meet. But there is one creature so elusive and so bizarre in its appearance that those who’ve seen it claim it c...
Mar 12, 2025•31 min•Ep. 89
Story One – The Charterhouse Guest The English county of Somerset possesses a rich and colourful history which is steeped in tales of myth and legend. It has been the scene of many a mysterious and unexplained occurrence, one of which is known as The Charterhouse Guest. Story Two – Spirits of Devil’s Pool After a string of deaths at a remote beauty spot in Queensland, Australia, many people began to wonder if the area was cursed. Legend told of a woman’s ghostly face appearing just below the sur...
Mar 05, 2025•35 min•Ep. 88
Story One – The San Pedro Haunting During the summer of 1988, a young mother residing in an unassuming Los Angeles neighbourhood reported having been subjected to a horrifying and relentless series of attacks within her home. She claimed that these assaults had been carried out by a mysterious supernatural entity, but just how much truth is there behind the San Pedro Haunting? Story Two – Doppelgängers and the Strange Case of Emilie Sagée In 1845, a school in Latvia became the scene of some dist...
Feb 26, 2025•36 min•Ep. 87
Story One – The Skies Over Kecksburg On the afternoon of 9th December 1965, the residents of a small village in rural Pennsylvania became the unwitting recipients of their very own legend. A mysterious event which captured the imaginations of an entire generation. What exactly happened in the skies over Kecksburg? Story Two – The Trucker’s Wife Whilst attending a conference in Las Vegas, noted UFO researcher, Stan Hernandez, was approached by a forlorn looking individual who had a tragic and har...
Feb 19, 2025•38 min•Ep. 86
Story One – Footprints in the Snow The Antarctic region is notorious for being as unforgiving as it is beguiling. For those who work there, the psychological dangers associated with their posting can often be more dangerous than any physical hazard. In this chapter, we will examine the fate befalling one such soul. A man who disappeared in May 1965, leaving nothing but a set of footprints in the snow. Story Two – The Boys from Yuba City On a cold evening in February, five young men inexplicably ...
Feb 12, 2025•47 min•Ep. 85
Story One – The CrossWade Interlopers In the Spring of 2013, what seemed to be a straightforward emergency call out for two police officers would turn out to be anything but. Not only would this experience chill them to the core, but it would have them questioning their own sanity for years afterwards as they tried to solve the riddle that was the CrossWade interlopers. Story Two – The Belfast Crossover In October 2016, a nurse working a day shift at a busy hospital in Northern Ireland was invol...
Feb 05, 2025•33 min•Ep. 84
Story One – The Lead Masks of Vintém Hill During August of 1966, the dead bodies of two men were found on a hillside in Brazil. Much of what was discovered at the scene would leave authorities baffled and has never been fully understood. What we are left with is a fifty-year-old mystery known as the Lead Masks of Vintém Hill. Story Two – The Watervale Runner Somewhere in South Australia, a small town holds a mystery in the palm of its hand. The disappearance of a young woman in October 2016 woul...
Jan 29, 2025•43 min•Ep. 83
Smartphones and texting have caused many of us to forget that until the early 2000s, complete strangers could call you at any time, for any reason. And if they said the right things to keep you from hanging up, you could find yourself subjected to all manner of psychological manipulation. This tale is one in which several calls are featured, but – in reality – they are just one part of a much larger story. And try as they might, nobody has ever found a suitable explanation for the bizarre events...
Jan 22, 2025•48 min•Ep. 82
