Charlie Smith claimed to be 137 years old, a former enslaved man from Liberia, a Civil War vet, and the oldest man in America. For a time, people believed him. But after his death in Bartow, Florida, the records told a different story.

In this Strange Files episode, we look at the strange, charming, and very human tale of Charlie Sm…

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Filmmaker Adam Stilwell shares his experience seeing the Marfa Lights, and his attempt to find their source while accidentally driving to Mexico. His experience raises the same question that has kept this mystery alive for generations: what are people really seeing outside Marfa?

For decades, people have reported strange lights appe…

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In 1922, on a farm in the Bavarian countryside, six people were killed in one of the most strange unsolved murders in history. Whoever the killer was, he might have been hiding inside the house for a day or more before the attack. Afterwards, he might have stayed. And while there are many terrifying aspects of this case, one that …

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In 1987, an elderly couple in Atlanta called police after finding red droplets in multiple rooms of their home. The substance appeared on the floors, low on the walls, and under furniture in the basement. Lab tests confirmed the strangest detail: it was human blood, and it did not match either person living in the house.

This episod…

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A woman washes ashore in a mysterious hollow ship, carrying a box no one is allowed to open. A Spanish soldier instantaneously transports to Mexico City from Manila. And a Missouri inventor claims he built a time machine, then vanishes.

In this episode of A Study of Strange, we investigate three eerie tales of alleged time travel, t…

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The death of Gareth Williams in 2010 has become one of the most unusual cryptic mysteries after his nude body was discovered padlocked inside a duffel bag. Williams was a “codebreaker” who worked for MI6. A lot of theories are still debated, including an accident during a sexual activity, or an elaborat…

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For the last few weeks there have been rumors about a group of high level scientists that have gone missing or been killed under strange and unusual circumstances. When the White House commented on the story, it legitimized what had been just a topic on forums and Youtube videos.

What’s the truth. W…

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After years of investigation, inquest testimony, forensic reviews, and dueling official conclusions, the simplest question remains the hardest one. How did Gareth Williams end up in this locked bag?

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The chilling strange crime said to have inspired the original horror film Candyman is the 1987 murder of Ruthie Mae McCoy in Chicago. McCoy called 911 and said someone was coming through her bathroom mirror. But this is more than the story behind a horror movie. It’s a deeper look at the terrifying idea that the…

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Jack the Ripper is history’s most infamous unidentified killer, but the Whitechapel murder files included 11 brutal and still-debated killings. Beyond the names most people know are other women whose strange deaths have raised troubling questions. In this episode, host Michael May and guest Rebecca Stevens explore three lesser-know…

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Was Tighe pretending or tapping into a fascinating imagination while under hypnosis? What’s interesting is that there were details like names, dates, streets, and local Irish songs that Tighe shared. Information she did not possess before her hypnosis sessions.

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The legend goes something like this: a beautiful innkeeper, Lavinia Fisher, just outside Charleston, South Carolina, spent years luring wealthy travelers into her roadside inn, charming them over dinner before poisoning their tea. The tea would either kill them as they slept or simply put them to sleep, at which point Lavinia would hit a switch, activating a trapdoor beneath the bed, making the body of the traveler fall into a pit, where Lavinia’s husband was waiting to finish the job. It’s like an American twist on Sweeney Todd.

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In the early 1980s, a serial killer terrorized the Twin Cities, and after every attack, he called 911. Sobbing. Confessing. Begging police to find him before he killed again. His name was Paul Michael Stephani. The recordings of his calls are still haunting, but Stephani was caught because one of his victims fought bac…

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We tend to measure destruction in body counts and blast radii. But some of the most catastrophic forces ever unleashed on humanity came from words on paper. We’re counting down five documents that changed the course of history including the Malleus Maleficarum, Cigarette Papers, General Order #11, and more.

Turns out th…

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On 10 January 2013, neighbors went to check on 71 year‑old David “Donny” Pichosky and his 66 year old wife Rochelle Wise, a pair of Canadian retirees who spent their winters in sunny Florida. Neighbors discovered a horrific scene. The couple were bound and asphyxiated in their townhouse. Beyond a missing ring, there were almost no signs of struggle or robbery. Who would murder two beloved grandparents in cold blood, and why?

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On February 20, 1948, detectives in Copenhagen are called to Peter Bangs Vej 74 after a couple had been brutally murdered in their home. The crime scene contained strange clues, details that never solved the case, but sparked decades of conspiracy theories. The notorious case of Vilhelm and Inger Jacobsen is still unsolved.

Support…

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On January 12, 1983, hitchhikers Michael Bear Carson and his wife Suzan murdered their driver, John Hellyar, in view of other motorists. After a high speed chase and their arrest, the couple would admit during a five hour press conference that they were on a mission from a higher power to kill witches. However, this str…

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Parapsychologists were beginning to ask whether some hauntings were caused not by spirits but by psychokinesis, the ability of the living mind to affect physical objects.

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