In an effort to reinvigorate interest in the Space program, NASA launched the "Teacher in Space" program, in 1984. The beautiful, brilliant and charismatic high school social studies teacher, Christa McAuliffe, was selected out of 11,000 applicants and the country fell in love with the teacher and the space program once again. Tragically, a well-documented problem with the O-rings on the shuttle's solid rocket booster was compromised during the low temperature launch and one of NASA's biggest tr...
Jul 09, 2025•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 121
After separating from her husband of 15 years, Cindy James, a nurse in Vancouver, Canada, was brutally stalked and harassed. Despite nearly seven years of reported incidents of harassment, threatening calls, physical and sexual assaults, and other forms of abuse, police concluded that her claims were likely fabricated, possibly to gain attention or due to mental health issues. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) spent an estimated $1-1.5 million investigating Cindy's claims, making it one o...
Jul 02, 2025•1 hr 30 min•Ep. 120
Who killed Athalia Ponsell Lindsley? The logical suspect was a man who had previously threatened her life. A man, that, conveniently, borrowed a machete from the county and never returned it. A man that had been called out by name by the only eyewitness to the murder. A man who lived in the house with a blood trail leading from the crime scene to its front door. Was this simply circumstantial evidence? You tell us. Sources: Randall, E. (2016). Murder in St. Augustine: The mysterious death of Ath...
Jun 25, 2025•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 119
On May 14, 2008, 19-year-old Brandon Swanson vanished near Canby, Minnesota, after his car got stuck in a ditch on a rural field road. Earlier that night, he had been celebrating the end of his college semester, consuming alcohol at two parties but not appearing heavily intoxicated. Intending to drive home to Marshall, a familiar 30-mile route, Brandon inexplicably took backroads and ended up far from where he thought he was, mistakenly believing he was near Lynd. At 1:54 AM, he called his paren...
Jun 18, 2025•1 hr 45 min•Ep. 118
The Town Center at Boca Raton should conjure up images of luxury designers and expensive restaurants but unfortunately for those local to the high-end mall, it is a string of abductions and brutal murders that remains in the forefront of many minds. When women and their children began getting abducted from the mall in 2007, locals to Boca Raton and around the country began asking, is anyone safe? Chapters: 00:00 Welcome to the Dark Oak 7:54 The Boca Raton Mall Murders 56:33 The Ovarian Cancer Re...
Jun 11, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 117
Korrina Malinoski, 26, disappeared from South Carolina’s Mount Holly Plantation on November 21, 1987, after arguing with her abusive husband, Stephen. Her car was found locked on the property, but she was never located. On October 4, 1988, her daughter, Annette Sagers, 11, vanished from a nearby bus shelter, leaving a note claiming she left with her mother, though its authenticity is debated. Stephen, with a history of abuse and abandoning families, is the main suspect, but no evidence confirms ...
Jun 04, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 116
Shanti Devi’s reincarnation case, one of the most compelling and well-documented in modern studies, unfolded in 1920s and 1930s India, a period of cultural revival and anti-colonial resistance led by Mahatma Gandhi. Born in Delhi on December 11, 1926, Shanti began claiming at age four to be Lugdi Devi, a woman from Mathura who died in 1925 after childbirth, about a year before Shanti’s birth. She provided precise details about Mathura, her husband Kedar Nath Chaubey, their son, and her past life...
May 31, 2025•51 min•Ep. 115
30-year-old Ben McDaniel had been through a lot by the time he reached the age of 30; He had lost his brother, his business and his home. In 2010, Ben was in the middle of a year-long sabbatical when he went scuba diving in a dangerous underwater cave late one afternoon and was never heard from again. It was assumed that Ben had run into trouble and drowned in the cave, but despite numerous searches, Ben's body has never been found. Did Ben really drown in Vortex Spring? Did he stage his own dea...
May 28, 2025•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 114
On June 6, 1991, Penny Bell, a 43-year-old businesswoman and mother of two, was brutally stabbed over 50 times in her Jaguar in the busy Gurnell Leisure Center parking lot in Greenford, London, in a frenzied attack that left no witnesses despite the public setting. Penny, a happy and successful director at a recruitment agency, lived in an affluent Buckinghamshire neighborhood with her husband, Alistair, and their children, Matthew and Lauren. That morning, she left home for an unspecified 9:50 ...
May 24, 2025•56 min•Ep. 113
On June 10, 2011, 36-year-old Shane Fell vanished after a car accident in Marrero, Louisiana. After a night at a bar watching his brother Brett’s pool tournament, Shane, who had some beer but wasn’t visibly drunk, took a backroad home, possibly avoiding DUI checkpoints. He crashed his car on River Road, told Brett he was fine, and exited through the window. By the time Brett arrived, Shane was missing. Police found minor blood traces, a fastened seatbelt, and later one of Shane’s shoes nearby. E...
May 21, 2025•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 112
Described as "America's Dyatlov Pass Incident," the disappearance of five young men has baffled the world for decades. When their vehicle is found abandoned on a rough mountain road, authorities are suddenly filled with more questions than answers. Why did the group of men drive the wrong direction from home and end up on the side of a mountain? Why did they leave the safety of the vehicle to head out, presumably on foot, completely unprepared and underdressed, into the snow? Where did they go? ...
May 16, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 111
When 15-year-old Emanuela Orlandi failed to come home after her music lesson on a hot summer day in Rome, her family immediately knew something was wrong. Fear grew to absolute dread when a man known only as "The American" claimed to have abducted Emanuela and threatened to kill her unless a captive terrorist was released in exchange for the girl. When the deadline for release came and went and Emanuela's body was not found, investigators had a renewed sense of hope that perhaps the teenager was...
May 14, 2025•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 110
Ellen Sadler, born in 1859 in Turville, England, became known as the "Sleeping Girl" after falling into a mysterious nine-year sleep starting March 17, 1871, at age 11. Living in poverty with her mother Ann and stepfather Thomas Frewen, Ellen exhibited a melancholic, dreamy demeanor and had health issues, including headaches and glandular swellings. After a brief stint as a nursemaid, terminated due to inattention and drowsiness, she was diagnosed with possible spinal disease and an abscess. Dis...
May 10, 2025•59 min•Ep. 109
Amber Hagerman is a 9-year-old little girl whose legacy has helped change the lives of thousands of people in the last three decades. Unfortunately, Amber Hagerman’s story has a tragic ending, but out of the tragedy a new system was born that would ultimately help save the lives of thousands of children all over the world. Every January 13 is AMBER Alert Awareness Day where the nation remembers the little girl who was abducted and murdered in in January of 1996. Her story inspired the creation o...
May 07, 2025•49 min•Ep. 108
Mitrice Richardson, a 24-year-old psychology graduate, disappeared on September 17, 2009, after being released from the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station in Los Angeles, following her arrest for failing to pay an $89 restaurant bill and possessing a small amount of marijuana. Exhibiting erratic behavior suggestive of a mental health crisis, possibly undiagnosed bipolar disorder, Mitrice was released at 12:28 a.m. without her phone, wallet, or car, despite her mother’s plea to hold her until mo...
May 04, 2025•1 hr 37 min•Ep. 107
The Redhead Murders, spanning 1978 to 1992, involve a series of unsolved homicides of white women found along highways in Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, with victim counts ranging from 5 to 14. While some cases may be linked to a serial killer dubbed the "Bible Belt Strangler," inconsistencies in victim profiles—such as hair color, cause of death (strangulation or blunt force trauma), and state of dress—leave uncertainty about whether all are connect...
Apr 30, 2025•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 106
When 12-year-old Sherry Lynn Marler and her stepfather Raymond went to town on June 6. 1984, they had no way of knowing the tragedy that would be awaiting them. While Raymond handled some business at the bank, Sherry walked to a gas station to buy a sod and was never seen again. With little clues, the case went cold rather quickly but in recent years has garnered new attention with the help of an unlikely team. In today's bonus episode, we will tell you the facts of Sherry's case and then share ...
Apr 25, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 105
In August 2004, American student David Sneddon disappeared while hiking in China's Tiger Leaping Gorge. Despite official claims that he fell into the Jinsha River, his family’s investigation uncovered multiple witness accounts suggesting he survived and reached Shangri-La. A guide, Keith Chu Chung, reported hiking with David, who spoke fluent Mandarin, Korean, and English, to Tina’s Guesthouse, and 12 other witnesses, including the owner of the Yak Bar in Shangri-La, confirmed seeing him as late...
Apr 23, 2025•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 104
Part 1 of 2 - David Sneddon, a 24-year-old Brigham Young University student from Logan, Utah, disappeared on August 14, 2004, while hiking Tiger Leaping Gorge in Yunnan, China, after completing Mandarin language classes in Beijing. A devout Mormon, Eagle Scout, and experienced hiker fluent in Korean and Mandarin, David was described as smart, outgoing, and adventurous, with plans to attend law school. He had spent two years in South Korea on a Mormon mission and was studying in Beijing with frie...
Apr 20, 2025•45 min•Ep. 103
Joshua Maddux, an 18-year-old from Woodland Park, Colorado, vanished on May 8, 2008, after going for a walk. A bright, creative teen who loved nature, he seemed happy despite the 2006 suicide of his brother. After five days, his family reported him missing, but searches yielded nothing. In August 2015, his body was found in the chimney of an abandoned cabin near his home, upside down in a fetal position, wearing only a shirt, with his clothes folded inside the cabin. The coroner ruled his death ...
Apr 16, 2025•53 min•Ep. 102
Poon Lim, born in 1918 on Hainan Island, China, grew up in a fishing village before moving to Malaysia at age ten. As Japan invaded China in the 1930s, sparking the Second Sino-Japanese War, Lim’s father sent him away to avoid conscription, possibly fearing atrocities like the Nanjing Massacre. Lim joined the British Merchant Navy as a cabin boy, but faced discrimination and abuse, leading him to leave in 1937 for Hong Kong, where he became a mechanic. In 1939, with Britain at war with Germany, ...
Apr 11, 2025•41 min•Ep. 101
In May 2014, the murders of Russell and Shirley Dermond, a couple in their late eighties, shook the residents of Putnam County, Georgia. The decapitated body of Russell Dermond was found on May 6, 2014, in the garage of the house he owned on Lake Oconee. Neither his head nor his wife, Shirley, could be located in the house. As the investigation unfolded, the murder was revealed to be a double homicide when Shirley's body was found in Lake Oconee and the brutal attacks remain unsolved more than 1...
Apr 09, 2025•57 min•Ep. 100
In 2018 a soccer team made up of 12 boys and their coach was trapped inside a flooded cave in Northern Thailand. All hope seemed lost when the boys had been lost for 10 days with their exact location inside the cave unknown and no sign of life. This episode chronicles a miraculous survival story and the incredible team of volunteers that worked together while risking their own lives., to save the team. Chapters: 00:00 Welcome to The Dark Oak 01:40 100th Episode Celebration and Giveaway 04:40 The...
Apr 04, 2025•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 99
Chapters: 00:00 Welcome to The Dark Oak 01:40 100th Episode Celebration and Giveaway 07:10 What Happened to Mary Day? 01:00:30 The Branch of Hope Mary Louise Day, born in 1968 in Little Falls, New York, grew up in a turbulent household with her sisters Kathy and Sherrie, marked by instability, foster care, and abuse. After her parents’ divorce, her mother Charlotte married William Houle, a military man whose relocations added to the family’s isolation. By 1980, living in Seaside, California, 13-...
Apr 02, 2025•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 98
Hannah Upp, a 32-year-old teacher, disappeared from St. Thomas on September 14, 2017, after a swim, amidst Hurricanes Irma and Maria. She had dissociative fugue, a condition causing identity loss, and had vanished twice before—once in 2008 in New York, found in the Hudson River after three weeks, and in 2012 in Maryland, found in a creek after two days—both times with no memory. Her 2017 disappearance left her clothes and car at Sapphire Beach, but despite extensive searches, she wasn’t found. T...
Mar 26, 2025•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 97
When Ellen Greenberg, a first-grade teacher at Juniata Park Academy, was found dead in her locked (from the inside) Manayunk apartment in 2011 with more than 20 stab wounds, authorities initially ruled her death a suicide. During her autopsy, the medical examiner discovered that one of Ellen's stab wounds could have potentially cut through her spinal cord, rendering her unable to continue stabbing herself. Could this really have been a suicide? During her autopsy it was also discovered that Elle...
Mar 19, 2025•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 96
When Ellen Greenberg, a first-grade teacher at Juniata Park Academy, was found dead in her locked (from the inside) Manayunk apartment in 2011 with more than 20 stab wounds, authorities initially ruled her death a suicide. During her autopsy, the medical examiner discovered that one of Ellen's stab wounds could have potentially cut through her spinal cord, rendering her unable to continue stabbing herself. Could this really have been a suicide? During her autopsy it was also discovered that Elle...
Mar 12, 2025•44 min•Ep. 95
Logan Schiendelman, a popular and charismatic high school football player, vanished without a trace in May 2016 at the age of 19. Born in 1996 in Tumwater, Washington, Logan was raised by his white grandmother, Ginnie Gebo, after his mixed-race mother, Hannah, pursued art school. Logan never knew his Saudi Arabian father, which later contributed to an identity crisis as he faced racism from peers in his predominantly white hometown during his senior year of high school. After graduating in 2015,...
Mar 05, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 94
In the late-night hours of December 5, 2003, Jonathan Luna, an Assistant United States Attorney, left the Baltimore courthouse and drove northeast on Interstate 95. After spending the next several hours on a seemingly impromptu multi-state road trip, Jonathan was found dead, having been stabbed thirty-six times with his own pocketknife before he drowned in a creek next to his partially submerged car. With Jonathan's strange behavior leading up to his death and no appearance of foul play, investi...
Feb 26, 2025•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 93
On March 26, 1991, a public holiday in South Korea, five boys from Daegu—aged 9 to 13—went missing while searching for salamander eggs near Mount Waryong. After missing their taekwondo lesson, their parents initially searched for them but eventually reported them missing. Unfortunately, police initially dismissed the boys as runaways. Media attention about the lost boys grew, dubbing them the "Frog Boys," and despite a massive search ordered by the president, no trace was found. Hoax calls and i...
Feb 19, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 92
