Step right up fiends, we're taking a trip to the sideshow! Join us as we explore the fascinating history of this uniquely American art form. Holly explores the roots of the side show and some of it's most famous human exhibits, Leslie recounts the haunting story of the Lobster Boy murders, and we have our first guest! Join WWBD as we explore the world of the modern sideshow from the perspective someone who lives it. Show organizer and performer Jason Lutz, AKA Mister E The Clown Prince of darkne...
Dec 15, 2020•2 hr 18 min•Ep. 44
It was Christmas Eve 2008, and the Ortega family of West Covina, California, were enjoying the tail end of their annual Christmas Eve bash. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. It appeared that Santa Clause had come to town, only this time he didn't bring presents, he brought a small arsenal. As you may have guessed, the Santa in question hadn't come down from the North Pole. No, Bruce Pardo, the man behind the beard, had driven a rental car from his Montrose home to the Ortega's house with ...
Dec 08, 2020•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 43
Every year on Thanksgiving eve, they descend from the heavens to delight children and frustrate parents the world over. Elves. Whether on shelves, at the north pole, on Santa's sleigh, or at Macy's snapping a keepsake photo, elves are usually distinctly bonded to Christmas. Surprisingly enough, though, our diminutive misfit friends only made their way into the big man's employment in the late 1800s; their dark and mysterious history, however, goes back so much further. Join WWBD as we explore a ...
Dec 01, 2020•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 42
On August 13th, 2018, Shanann Watts and her two daughters. Bella and Celeste went missing from their Fredrick, Colorado, home. When young, healthy, and well-liked people go missing, we never want to assume the unthinkable has happened, but in this case, it had. The truth that unfurled over the next three days would shock the entire country and create a new landmark in this history of American crime. In this heavily requested and sometimes difficult to process episode, WWBD explores the unthinkab...
Nov 25, 2020•1 hr 44 min•Ep. 41
On February 8th, 1983, the residents of number 23 Cranley Gardens, located in a small North London suburb eagerly awaited the arrival of drain cleaning company Dyno-rod. The clogged drains had been a nuisance for a while and resolving this situation would surely be a huge relief; when the drain cleaner arrived, however, he would discover one of the most horrifying scenes in British true crime history. This discovery would launch investigators down the bizarre and sadistic trail of narcissist and...
Nov 17, 2020•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 40
On February 8th, 1983, the residents of number 23 Cranley Gardens, located in a small North London suburb eagerly awaited the arrival of drain cleaning company Dyno-rod. The clogged drains had been a nuisance for a while and resolving this situation would surely be a huge relief; when the drain cleaner arrived, however, he would discover one of the most horrifying scenes in British true crime history. This discovery would launch investigators down the bizarre and sadistic trail of narcissist and...
Nov 10, 2020•1 hr 41 min•Ep. 39
Surprise! You didn't think we'd leave you hanging on Halloween did you? NEVER! Only the best for our Hallofiends! As our gift to you, please enjoy another free 30 minute horror movie to celebrate the end of an excellent spooky season, though, it's always spooky season for us. We hope you enjoy 30 minute Halloween!
Oct 31, 2020•37 min
10 years and 4,500 miles apart, two entire families had their lives tragically cut short with the blunt side of an axe. Though the families had nothing in common, the crimes were shockingly the same. This week, WWBD closes out "Axetober" with the stories of the Moore family murders in Villisca Iowa in 1912, and The Gruber family murders in Hinterkaifeck, Germany, in 1922. Both family murders were never solved. Click to Learn More Villisca axe murder house website WWBD Merch Buy your WWBD swag he...
Oct 27, 2020•1 hr 36 min•Ep. 38
On October 25th 1829 Eastern State Penitentiary opened it's imposing Gothic doors. Touted as "the first Penitentiary" Eastern State claimed to revolutionize incarceration by doing away with physical punishment and keeping every prisoner in solitary confinement, but as we all know "the road to hell is paved with good intentions". Join WWBD for a deep dive into Eastern's State's incredibly dark history from it's strict religious beginnings to it's current life as a museum and haunted attraction. T...
Oct 20, 2020•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 37
Holly and Leslie are recapping horror movies in just thirty minutes. With a ticking timer the girls pass the story back and forth and see if they can cram in all the spooky, hilarious, goodness before time runs out! This new mini podcast (soon to be available monthly to our patrons) is a high energy, raucous, good rime. It's a lot like combining a roller coaster and a haunted house. Please enjoy our first installment, the iconic and insane 1983 horror fever dream, Sleepaway Camp! WWBD Merch Buy ...
Oct 18, 2020•45 min
Lizzie Borden took an axe, gave her mother 40 whacks, when she saw what she had done, she gave her father 41.... Or did she? Join WWBD for a deep dive into on of the most famous cases in American true crime history. Perhaps we'll change your mind about Lizzie and the grizzly murders that happened in Fall River so long ago. WWBD Merch Buy your WWBD swag here! Join the Conversation...
Oct 13, 2020•1 hr 52 min•Ep. 36
On the morning of November 16th, 1957, Waushara County Wisconsin police officers responded to the report of missing local hardware store owner, Bernice Worden. Berince lived and worked in the nearby village of Plainfield. The investigation that followed lead authorities to an old farm on the outskirts of town. They were in search of a local man who had been the last reported customer Bernice served before the hardware store went mysteriously dark for the rest of the day. What the police would so...
Oct 06, 2020•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 35
Hey fiends! We have a special treat for you! This track is designed as a viewing companion to the movie Tusk! Instructions will be provided at the beginning of the track with a moment for you to pause and start the movie, then a specific landmark wherein you unpause, and BAM! We're with you. Happy viewing! Included is a link to Kevin Smith's inspiration Tusk origin story animation Rent or Buy Tusk the Movie on Amazon...
Oct 02, 2020•1 hr 47 min
4:00 in the evening, on November 10th 2010 came and went and Tina Herrmann never showed up for her shift at the Mt. Vernon, Ohio Dairy Queen. After their shifts had ended, her coworkers set out to find what had held Tina up. Little did they know that they would uncover one of the strangest and most terrifying events in recent history, an event that would lead the police to the strange, leaf filled home of one Matthew Hoffman. Pull up a rake fiends, and join us for this dark and twisted journey. ...
Sep 29, 2020•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 34
Barbara Daly Baekland had it all. Money, power, timeless beauty, a handsome husband and a loving son. This gorgeous socialite was American royalty who lived an untouchable life. How then, did she wind up dead on her kitchen floor at just 51 years old? A single knife wound and a horrifying secret would come to reveal that Barbara Daly Baekeland's life was not all that it appeared to be. Join WWBD for this sordid tale of love, sex, betrayal, manipulation and old Hollywood glamour that's sure to le...
Sep 22, 2020•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 33
WWBD is heating up this week! Leslie takes the reins and tells a story about America’s most prolific serial arsonist. In 2005, arson investigators arrested Thomas Sweatt, a 50 year old KFC Fry Cook, for a slew of arsons in and around the Washington, DC area. They were arresting him for only a handful of recent arsons, but he would go on to confess to 353 fires dating back almost 30 years and killing at least 4 people. Click to Learn More Read the book my research was based on: Thomas Sweat: Insi...
Sep 16, 2020•1 hr 34 min•Ep. 32
Nothing is more mysterious and poetic than poison. But, have you ever stopped to consider why? There is poetry in poison and this week we explore the ins and outs of how it works, who uses it and why. Join us for a deep dive into poisons and poisoners from the historic and infamous, to the modern and obscure. Click to Learn More A Psychological Profile of a Poisoner WWBD Merch Buy your WWBD swag here! Join the Conversation UbdcU8af1yz48qu7adXI...
Sep 08, 2020•1 hr 30 min•Ep. 31
On the morning of September 7, 2012, Karena Rosario found her roommate Faith Hedgepeth, a 19-year-old third-year student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), bludgeoned to death in her off-campus apartment. Despite finding DNA evidence and a note possibly left by her killer among other compelling pieces of evidence, not a single person has been charged with her murder. The police are still trying to figure out who killed her and why. This is a frustrating one, fiends. While ...
Sep 01, 2020•1 hr 33 min•Ep. 30
On February 1, 1959, nine experienced hiker/skiers trekked up the remote Ural mountains, the made camp after a day of journeying, by morning all nine were dead. What happened to this intrepid group has puzzled sleuths both amateur and professional since. In this episode WWBD explores many of the wild theories surrounding this unfortunate incident, and dives into why, after so may years, we still don't know for sure which one is correct. Strap in fiends, because this one is a wild ride! Click to ...
Aug 25, 2020•1 hr 36 min•Ep. 29
Welcome back for part 2 of Jeffrey Dahmer, WWBD's examination of one of the world's most notorious serial killers ! This week we dive into Jeff's crimes and confessions, it's the all murder and courtroom edition. Hang on to your hats fiends because this is a graphic one. Last week we brought you the man inside the monster, and this week we truly see the monster in the man. *All sound clips are taken from Stone Phillips' 1994 interview with Jeffrey Dahmer, which originally aired on NBC, and can b...
Aug 18, 2020•1 hr 32 min•Ep. 28
On July 22, 1991, two Milwaukee police officers entered the apartment of a tall blond man they thought had gotten a little overzealous with a lover. The house of horrors they would go on to discover would forever change the landscape of crime in American, and ensure that the name Jeffrey Dahmer would live forever in infamy the world over. In this the first of two episodes covering the infamous Milwaukee cannibal, we take a deep diver into Jeffrey Dahmer's childhood and adolescence. We here at WW...
Aug 11, 2020•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 27
When it comes to the people we love, we truly see what we want to see. After all, it's hard to accept that we may love someone and not truly know them. The human brain is designed to fill in the blanks in the most efficient way, so we assume that if a person seems happy, well, then, they are. Sooner or later however, if there are cracks in the connections we have made, they begin to show, and then we have to make a choice: do we want to see the truth, or not? On the morning of December 2nd, 2011...
Aug 04, 2020•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 26
It's hard to wrap our head around a complete stranger wanting to invade our safe space and do us bodily harm for no reason. Violent home invasions that occur completely at random are among everyone's worst fear. They seem terrifyingly possible, and yet impossible at the same time. This week, WWBD takes a look into one of the most horrific home invasions the United States has ever seen. On July 23, 2007, Joshua Komisarjevsky and Steven Hayes invaded the home of the Petit family in idyllic Cheshir...
Jul 28, 2020•1 hr 30 min•Ep. 25
This week the girls dig into the chilling world of cursed objects. Holly exploits everyone's inexplainable (well kind of explainable) fear of creepy dolls with the tales of Annabelle, the doll that launched a thousand nightmares with her series of films, and Robert the Doll. Leslie dips into the weirder side of cursed object with the Dibbuk Box and the painting that haunted Ebay "The hands Resist Him". This is a fun one, fiends; we hope you enjoy! Special guest appearance by Post Malone! (Well, ...
Jul 21, 2020•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 24
On April 22 2020, PFC Vanessa Guillen disappeared. She was last seen in the parking lot of her unit, The Regimental Engineer Squadron headquarters of the 3rd Cavalry Regiment, Fort Hood, Killeen Texas. The investigation, or lack there of, that followed would expose the seedy underbelly of military sexual harassment, sexual abuse, rape and murder. Vanessa Guillen's disappearance and ultimately, her murder, raise the questions "How much do we really know?" and "who can we trust". In the wake of Va...
Jul 14, 2020•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 23
This week WWBD revisits Urban Legends with a full length deep dive into two bizarre legendary stories that hve surprising roots in true events. Holly tells us about "Cropsey" the child snatching asylum escapee who snatches children in the Staten Island woods. Leslie ventures a little farther out into the woods with the story of the Melon Heads, large headed, diminutive, clan of people, who dwell deeply off the grid and are known to terrorize anyone they encounter. *We have included a link to Ger...
Jul 07, 2020•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 22
Society spends a lot of time talking about the mind of a killer, about the ways their brains are different, about the mental illness that can manifest in a violent explosion if left unchecked, but that's not the only factor driving people to kill. Sometimes the killing is just a means to a different end. This week WWBD examines internet killer Luka Magnotta and how an obsession with fame can evolve into desperation more quickly than any of us would like to admit. If you haven't seen the groundbr...
Jun 30, 2020•2 hr 6 min•Ep. 21
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Jun 23, 2020•57 min•Ep. 20
On August 28th, 2008, at 11:50 am, Kanika Powell was shot to death in a hail of bullets, right outside her own front door. Kanika's killer remains at large to this day. This episodes explores the bizarre events that lead up to this completely senseless tragedy, and how it is that a person can do everything right, and still end up dead. Are we ever truly safe? It's hard to say. Click to Learn More Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory - for those who would like to further explore. Join the Con...
Jun 16, 2020•46 min•Ep. 19
Dr. Henry Howard Holmes was one of America's most prolific serial killers. Amidst the festivities of The Chicago World's Fair, he erected a three story hotel, that was perfectly designed for undetectable murder. This week WWBD explores the life and crimes of the infamous H.H. Holmes. and it is a wild ride. This is a story so sensational, that discerning fact from fiction became a bigger task than simply telling the story. "I was born with the devil in me. I could not help the fact that I was a m...
Jun 09, 2020•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 18
