Astonishing Legends

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  S2 Ep35: The Benevolent Warning 15.09.2026 40мин

  In tonight's dead letter, our listener named Mark is driving through western Michigan at two in the morning in 1978, working off a paper map and handwritten directions to a house he's never been to. He comes up a hill and into a curve on US 131, and there are four people standing in his lane. Two of them are waving him over to the right, and the other two have their arms raised above their heads in an X. Had they not been there he may have had a fatal collision, and when he went to find them shortly after, they had vanished.Relevant Prior EpisodesEp 102: Resurrection Mary Part 1Astonishing Legends · Spotify · Apple Podcasts Ep 116: Small Town MonstersAstonishing Legends · Spotify · Apple Podcasts Links and Further ReadingLydia: The Ghost of Jamestown Bridge, NCpediaA History of the Vanishing Hitchhiker, Beardsley and Hankey, 1943The Bray Road Beast, Small Town MonstersJim Harold's Campfire: True Ghost Stories, Books 1 through 6 Note: We call it the National Highway Transportation Safety Association in the episode. The ‘A’ is actually for Administration.  We're looking for more stories! Send your Dead Letter to [email protected]!
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  S2 Ep34: The Lady in the Rocking Chair 08.09.2026 46мин

  In tonight's dead letter, listener Mothmaiden remembers a time when she was four years old and an only child in a neighborhood with no other kids, and she had an imaginary friend named Cindy Cora who looked exactly like Betty Rubble from The Flintstones. Then on a sunny afternoon, in her own bedroom with the light coming through the window, she saw an elderly woman with white and gray hair piled high on her head, sitting in a rocking chair, calm and gentle and completely solid. Were these things connected?Relevant Prior EpisodesAbduction at Devil's DenDevil's Den: The Reckoning Part 1Chris McKinnell and the Warren LegacyDan, Susan, Micah Hanks and Missing TimeLinks and Further Reading Two-thirds of school-age children have an imaginary companion by age 7, University of WashingtonNote: We say about one in three for the invisible-only friends. In the study, about two thirds of kids have had an imaginary companion by age seven, and about one in three have one at the time they are asked. The psychological significance of play with imaginary companions in early childhood, Learning & BehaviorChildhood amnesia, WikipediaGhosts and Apparitions in Psi Research, the Society for Psychical Research's Psi EncyclopediaPhantasms of the Living (1886) by Gurney, Myers and Podmore, Internet ArchiveStrange Intruders by David WeatherlyDevils Den: The Reckoning by Terry Lovelace Contact (1997), WikipediaNote: We say David Morse was one of the doctors on ER. He played Dr. Jack Morrison on St. Elsewhere. Sesame Street debuts, November 10, 1969, HISTORYWall Street crash of 1929, WikipediaThe History of Bettys in Pop Culture, Refinery29Natalie and Tara on YouTubeWe're looking for more stories! Send your Dead Letter to [email protected]!
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  Special: Richard Hatem's Light in the Dark Tour 2026 04.09.2026 52мин

  Scott sits down with screenwriter and Paranormal Bookshelf host Richard Hatem to talk about his Light in the Dark Tour 2026, a six-city run of live shows September 13 through 19, ending at the Mothman Festival. A crossover from Richard Hatem's Paranormal Bookshelf.
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  S2 Ep33: The Inn at Folck's Mill 01.09.2026 53мин

  In tonight's dead letter, listener Chris takes us back to the early 2000s, when he was the head brewer at a restaurant on the east side of Cumberland, Maryland, in a building so old it served as a Civil War field hospital. One night after close, he and three coworkers were having a beer in the basement bar when the loudest sound he'd ever heard slammed into the floorboards right above their heads, shaking dust from the ceiling and rattling every bottle behind the bar.Relevant Prior EpisodesNightmarchers of HawaiiLinks and Further ReadingThe Battle of Folck's Mill: Maryland Historical Trust Battlefield Documentation (PDF)Battle of Folck's Mill, WikipediaFolck's Mill (National Register of Historic Places site), WikipediaThe Battle of Folck's Mill, Western Maryland's Historical LibraryThe Invasion, Aug 1864: The Cumberland Alleganian's Original Account, Western Maryland's Historical LibraryFolck's Mill Marker, Historical Marker DatabaseThe History of Puccini Restaurant, Cumberland, MarylandThe Phantom Battle of Edgehill, Historic UKThe Spectral Army of Souther Fell, Mysterious Britain and IrelandThe Dieppe Raid Case, Mysterious Britain and IrelandThe Drummer of Tedworth, WikipediaPhantom Armies of the Night by Claude LecouteuxThe Rosenheim Poltergeist, by Tess Pfeifle at Astonishing LegendsWe're looking for more stories! Send your Dead Letter to [email protected]!
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  Richard Hatem's Light in the Dark Tour 2026! 29.08.2026 2мин

  Our friend Richard Hatem is taking his Paranormal Bookshelf on the road! The Light in the Dark Tour 2026 is an all new live show playing six cities in seven days, September 13th through 19th, and it winds up at the Mothman Festival in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. Richard and Susan Lambert will be at the festival both days selling Mothman and podcast merch, and on Saturday night, September 19th, he's performing an episode of the podcast picked especially for Point Pleasant.Hear Scott and Rich talk about the tour in his most recent post on the RHPB feed:SpotifyApple PodcastsTour Dates and TicketsSunday, September 13: Storm Crow Manor, Toronto, ONMonday, September 14: Padraigs Brewing, Minneapolis, MNTuesday, September 15: The Red Lion Pub, Chicago, ILWednesday, September 16: B Side Lounge, Cleveland Heights, OHThursday, September 17: Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA (FREE SHOW!)Saturday, September 19: Trinity UMC Community Center, Point Pleasant, WV (The Mothman Festival)More from RichardAll Tour Dates and TicketsRichard Hatem's Paranormal Bookshelf on Apple PodcastsRichard Hatem's Paranormal Bookshelf on SpotifyParanormal Bookshelf MerchThe Mothman FestivalTickets for every show but Carnegie Mellon (which MAY not require them, TBD)  are at richardhatemsparanormalbookshelf.com/events, or search Richard Hatem on Eventbrite. Come out and see Richard do his thing!
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  S2 Ep32: But We didn't Break the Glass 25.08.2026 52мин

  In tonight's dead letter, a teenager in rural Arkansas in the late 2000s goes poking around an abandoned schoolhouse and comes home with a mirror she likes the look of. Years later it's hanging in her first Los Angeles apartment, and one evening while she's in the bath she catches the towel on the back of the door swinging wildly but the moment she turns to look, it stops dead. But that’s only part of the story. Relevant Prior EpisodesThe Bell Witch Part 1The Scrying GameMel's Hole Part 1Abduction at Devil's DenNightmarchers of HawaiiThe Ghosts of Flight 401 Links and Further ReadingAmerican Hauntings — Troy Taylor's books, podcast, and live eventsReunions: Visionary Encounters with Departed Loved Ones by Raymond MoodyNote: We say 1933 in the episode — Reunions was published in 1993.Oculus (2013), dir. Mike FlanaganWhat is a "dybbuk" in the prologue of the Coen brothers' A Serious Man?Ghosts On A Plane? The Story Of Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 We're looking for more stories! Send your Dead Letter to [email protected]!
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  S2 Ep31: DLO-231: The Kids in the Parking Lot 20.08.2026 59мин

  In tonight's dead letter, in the summer of 1996, two college kids from New Jersey were road-tripping to Gen Con when they got off I-80 near Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, looking for food and a place to stay. Around 11:30 PM, at a gas station that turned out to be closed for the night, three blonde kids in bathing suits were standing under a light, saying something to them that neither of them could make out. Relevant Prior EpisodesBlack Eyed Kids Part 1Strange Intruders with David Weatherly Part 1Sam the Sandown ClownDan, Susan, Micah Hanks and Missing TimeAbduction at Devil's DenSkinwalker Ranch Part 1 Links and Further ReadingStrange Intruders by David WeatherlyThe Gift of Fear by Gavin de BeckerDeath as a Child: The Modern Legend of the Black-Eyed Children (Atlas Obscura)8 local spots you didn't know were haunted (northcentralpa.com — the "Otzinachson"/Demon's Den lore) We're looking for more stories! Send your Dead Letter to [email protected]!
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  S2 Ep30: DLO-230: A Finger Down the spine 11.08.2026 50мин

  In tonight's dead letter, listener John is nineteen, home from his freshman year and a few shifts into a summer dishwashing job at a grand old house on Michigan's Old Mission Peninsula that has been a restaurant since the 1950s. The staff there blame anything strange in the building on a ghost they call Genevieve, and John doesn't believe in any of that. One warm night he goes upstairs to change out of his kitchen clothes, and the bulb pops the second he flips the switch. Strange enough on its own, but what happens next is why this particular night stuck with him.Note: The room referenced at Waverly in the Episode is 503. It should have been 502.Relevant Prior EpisodesGreyfriar's Kirkyard Halloween SpecialThe Sallie House – Ghost in the Machine Part 1Lockdown at Waverly SanatoriumThe True Story behind the Conjuring Part 1A Live Reading with Jim Hunt - Psychic MediumLinks and Further ReadingThe Mission Table Restaurant of Bowers Harbor: A Splendid Building, But Not a Residence for a Ghost — Julie Schopieray, Grand Traverse JournalWould the Real Mrs. Stickney Please Stand Up? Setting the Old Mission Ghost Story Straight — Northern ExpressThe Haunting of Bowers Harbor Inn – Is It Genevieve Stickney's Ghost? — Old Mission GazetteBowers Harbor Inn — Wikipedia, on the 1927 fire and the house built around the old farmhouseMission Point Lighthouse — History, the light at the tip of Old Mission Peninsula near the 45th parallelOccupational Folklife — American Folklife Center, Library of CongressMeet the Mackenzie Poltergeist of Greyfriars Kirkyard — Icy Sedgwick, on the grabs and marks reported on the toursWaverly Hills Sanatorium — American Hauntings, on Room 502 and the nurse storyThe Buxton Inn — Wikipedia, the Granville, Ohio inn Forrest visitedWe're looking for more stories! Send your Dead Letter to [email protected]!
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  Amy Bruni’s Cuisine to Kill For 09.08.2026 1ч 27мин

  In 1673, Rebecca Cornell was found dead beside the hearth in her Rhode Island home. Afterward, her ghost allegedly appeared to accuse someone of murder and her son was tried and hanged. Her story is just one of nearly sixty strange intersections of true crime, hauntings, history, and food collected in Cuisine to Kill For, the new cookbook from veteran paranormal investigator and television personality Amy Bruni. This week, Amy joins us to talk about the haunted restaurants, infamous deaths, cocktails, dinners, desserts, and recipes that reveal just how naturally the paranormal and the culinary can share a table.Visit our website for a lot more information on this episode.
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  S2 Ep29: The Boy Who Wanted her Hand 04.08.2026 48мин

  In tonight's dead letter, listener Mary is on a ghost tour in Key West when the guide stands her group under an old, unmarked movie marquee and asks them what happened there. Before he says another word, Mary smells smoke. The story he tells the group involves a church fire, and more strange events unfold from there.Relevant Prior EpisodesConjuring Philip Part 1The True Story behind the Conjuring Part 1Resurrection Mary Part 1The Count of St Germain Part 1Links and Further ReadingGreat Fire of Key West (1886) — WikipediaOur History — St. Paul's Episcopal Church of Key WestStrand Theater, 527 Duval Street — Cinema TreasuresSan Carlos Institute — WikipediaChicago Hauntings: The Horrors of the Iroquois Theater Fire That Killed 602 People Downtown in 1903 — CBS ChicagoAmerican Ghost Walks — the ghost tour company the hosts recommendDowsing — BritannicaThe Philip Experiment — WikipediaWe're looking for more stories! Send your Dead Letter to [email protected]!
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  S2 Ep28: Milo 28.07.2026 43мин

  In tonight's dead letter, a truck-riding barn cat named Milo becomes the witness our listener Amy needs to affirm that she’s not seeing and hearing things. The old stone house they occupy seems to have some very strange and unusual visitors. One defying any conventional explanation or even paranormal categorization. Related Astonishing Legends EpisodesDyatlov Pass Part 1Monsters Among Us Background & Further ReadingInfrasound and the Paranormal — Vic Tandy's "fear frequency" researchThat Ghostly Presence May Just Be Bad Plumbing — Popular Science, on infrasound and haunted-house perceptionBeast of Bray Road — Wikipedia background on the Linda Godfrey dog-man case Forrest referencesGhosts of the Kent Stage — KentStater, on the haunted Kent, Ohio venue Scott We're looking for more stories! Send your Dead Letter to [email protected]!
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  S2 Ep27: The Light Beneath the Boats 21.07.2026 50мин

  In tonight's dead letter, Eric, a longtime listener on active duty in the Navy, pulls into Juneau, Alaska for a port call in the summer of 2009 and hikes up the Mount Roberts trail for the view over the harbor. Around eleven in the morning, in full daylight, he watches a perfectly round patch of light — a little bigger than a manhole cover, a shade lighter than the water — glide from boat to boat, slip under the cruise-ship dock, and circle a small float out in the middle of the channel. It never changes shape, never touches anything but the water, and as best he can tell, he's the only one who sees it. Then he hikes all the way down to that dock to find out what it was.REFERENCE LINKSRelated Astonishing Legends EpisodesThe Edgar Cayce Story Part 1The Sallie House – Ghost in the Machine Part 1The Sludge Entity Part 1Background & TopicsUnidentified Submerged Objects (USOs) — WikipediaInvestigation Alien (George Knapp) — NetflixThe "Plasmoids" Paper — Journal of Modern Physics (2024)Foo Fighters (WWII) — WikipediaNikola Tesla's Wardenclyffe Tower — WikipediaLake Pend Oreille Acoustic Research Detachment (U.S. Navy)Mount Roberts Trail, Juneau — Alaska.orgAmerican Ghost Walks: Ketchikan Ghost TourWe're looking for more stories! Send your Dead Letter to [email protected]!
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  S2 Ep26: The Ghost with No Nose 14.07.2026 31мин

  In tonight's dead letter, our listener Kayla takes her two-and-a-half-year-old son to a private family viewing for his great-grandmother and keeps him in a back room so his last memory won't be the casket. All night, unprompted, he pulls relatives into that room to show them a ghost sitting in the corner with an unusual facial feature…or lack of one. As they leave, his mother — who'll tell you straight out she's a skeptic — stops at the chair and quietly tells whatever's there it's not welcome to follow them home. What happens over the next few weeks is why she finally wrote to us.REFERENCE LINKSRelated Astonishing Legends EpisodesEp 85: The Bell Witch Part 1 Background & Further ReadingThe Bell Witch — WikipediaAdams, Tennessee (the Bell Witch's Red River community) — WikipediaShadow Person — WikipediaDiscussing Death With Young Children — ZERO TO THREEWe're looking for more stories! Send your Dead Letter to [email protected]!
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  Chris McKinnell and the Warren Legacy 12.07.2026 2ч 35мин

  Chris McKinnell grew up as the grandson of Ed and Lorraine Warren, surrounded by haunted objects and terrifying investigations that left him afraid of the dark until one unforgettable night changed everything. In this special interview, he shares firsthand stories from inside the Warren family, including the infamous Lee, Massachusetts haunting, and why, after a lifetime chasing the paranormal, he's convinced the answers are far stranger than demons.Visit our website for a lot more information on this episode.
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  S2 Ep25: Old Man Dayton 07.07.2026 37мин

  In tonight's dead letter… three families lived in the same old house across the years, none of them knowing each other, and each one wound up sharing the place with the same two ghostly visitors. As kids, our listener Heather and her sister kept seeing a little boy who was never actually there when they looked closer. The adults saw someone different — an old man, solid enough that Heather's stepmother screamed for her father, certain a stranger had walked in. The corroboration of everything shows up in the form of a psychic.REFERENCE LINKSRelated Astonishing Legends EpisodesAstonishing Legends — The Sallie House: Ghost in the Machine, Part 1 (Spotify)Astonishing Legends — The True Story Behind the Conjuring, Part 1 (Spotify)Astonishing Legends — Sam the Sandown Clown, Ep 183 (Spotify)Astonishing Legends — The Fermi Paradox, Ep 022 (Spotify)Astonishing Legends — Battle at Cisco Grove, Ep 246 (Spotify)Astonishing Legends — Mantis Men, Ep 258 (episode page)Topic & Background ReferencesPareidolia: why we see faces and figures in random shapes (Britannica)The doppelgänger, the living double of folklore (Britannica)Vic Tandy and the 19 Hz "haunted" frequency of infrasound (Wikipedia)The Sallie House of Atchison, Kansas (Wikipedia)The Perron family haunting, the true story behind "The Conjuring" (All That's Interesting)Sam the Sandown Clown: the 1973 Isle of Wight encounter (OnTheWight)The Cisco Grove alien encounter of 1964 (UFO Casebook)John Keel and the "ultraterrestrials" (Wikipedia)The Fermi paradox: "Where is everybody?" (Britannica)Wormholes and the Einstein–Rosen bridge (Wikipedia)Natalie and Tara, "doers of things" on YouTube (Natalie and Tara)We're looking for more stories! Send your Dead Letter to [email protected]!This week's episode is sponsored by Mint Mobile — get premium wireless for $15 a month at mintmobile.com/dlo.
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  S2 Ep24: Pitched in Blue 30.06.2026 42мин

  In tonight's dead letter… our listener Daniel moves into a freshly built ranch house in the Salt Lake Valley back in 2011 — a house barely five years old, no tragic past, nothing "old and storied" about it. The first odd thing he notices is that every doorknob in the basement is on backwards, rigged to lock someone in from the outside. He's sixteen, he's got the whole basement to himself, and from the very first night down there he can't shake the feeling that he's being watched. Then one night around eleven, three sharp knocks land on the wall right behind his head — and that's only the start. REFERENCE LINKSLake Bonneville – WikipediaKanashibari (Japanese sleep paralysis) – Yokai.comSleep Paralysis and the Hag Phenomenon – NeurolaunchSudden Unexpected Nocturnal Death Syndrome – The Order of the Good DeathBell Witch – WikipediaSkinwalker Ranch – WikipediaSkinwalker Ranch of Uintah County, Utah (the locks the Shermans found) – Legends of AmericaBaba Yaga – WikipediaAstonishing Legends: Skinwalker Ranch Part 1We're looking for more stories! Send your Dead Letter to [email protected]!
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  S2 Ep23: Pop's Cat 23.06.2026 33мин

  In tonight's dead letter, we head about as far from the Office as you can get — the Hutt Valley near Wellington, New Zealand — for a story from Billy, a working artist who'd call himself a cautious skeptic. His wife was deep into a spiritualist church and her own psychic abilities, and he mostly kept his distance from all of it. Then something started visiting their bed at night, something that felt exactly like a cat walking up the covers, even though their actual cat was nowhere near the room. Weeks later, a message about it came back to the family through his wife that no one was expecting.Windy Wellington — Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand: https://teara.govt.nz/en/diagram/13182/windy-wellingtonCook Strait — Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand: https://www.linz.govt.nz/our-work/new-zealand-geographic-board/place-name-stories/place-names-cooks-voyages/cook-straitKupe — Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand: https://teara.govt.nz/en/first-peoples-in-maori-tradition/page-6Hutt Valley — Wellington places — Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand: https://teara.govt.nz/en/wellington-places/page-8Capital city: Wellington since 1865 — Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand: https://teara.govt.nz/en/capital-cityCan Our Dead Pets Come Back to Visit Us? — Rupert Sheldrake: https://www.sheldrake.org/essays/can-our-dead-pets-come-back-to-visit-usKaitiaki — guardians — Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand: https://teara.govt.nz/en/kaitiakitanga-guardianship-and-conservation/page-4Sleep Paralysis, the "Bedroom Intruder," and the Sensed Presence — NIH / NCBI: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5329044/Wellington Paranormal — Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellington_ParanormalWe're looking for more stories! Send your Dead Letter to [email protected]!Thanks to Mint Mobile for sponsoring tonight's episode. Ditch the overpriced wireless bill, bring your own phone and number, and get premium coverage on the nation's largest 5G network for $15 a month — three months at that price at mintmobile.com/dlo.
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  S2 Ep22: The Mechanic and Mr. Machine 19.06.2026 51мин

  In tonight's dead letter, listener Dean takes us to his grandmother's old Victorian house in a region of Scott’s home state of North Carolina known as the Sandhills. His family has traded strange stories about the family home for generations, from slamming doors in an empty house to a lady in white under the apple tree. He spent years as the family skeptic, right up until he started helping his aunt sort through the massive Americana collection left behind by her late husband we’ll simply call  ‘D’, a mechanic with a passion for old gas pumps, slot cars, and vintage toys. A series of events that were too strange to chalk up to coincidence finally convinced Dean that something unexplained was going on, and frankly…we agree.Reference LinksMr. Machine from Ideal (1960) — Toy TalesMr. Machine — WikipediaHorikawa Robots and the Space Explorer "TV Robot" — Fab Tin ToysHouse in the Horseshoe — NC Historic SitesThe Coastal Plain and Sandhills — NCpedia"Haint Blue" — Historic New EnglandBlack Shuck — WikipediaThe Beast of Bladenboro — North Carolina GhostsWhat a Hospice Physician Can Tell Us About End-of-Life Visions — Discover MagazineEp 209: The Phantom Horse of Greensboro — Astonishing LegendsWe're looking for more stories! Send your Dead Letter to [email protected]!This episode is sponsored by Firstleaf. Take a quick quiz, and Firstleaf matches premium, award-winning wines to your taste and delivers them right to your door — with tasting notes and pairing tips in every box. You control the schedule, skip shipments anytime, and every bottle is backed by a 100% satisfaction guarantee. Go to TryFirstleaf.com/dlo for 50% off your first box PLUS free shipping for a whole year.
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  The Uninvited: The Ripperston Farm Invasion 14.06.2026 2ч 23мин

  In 1977, a remote dairy farm on the cliffs of southwest Wales became the center of one of the strangest and most enduring UFO cases in British history. What began with a glowing object hovering over Ripperston Farm escalated into months of unexplained phenomena: failing electronics, mysterious figures at the windows, silent visitors in a silver car, missing cattle that appeared miles away, and an encounter Pauline Coombs believed took place aboard an otherworldly craft. As sightings spread across the region — including the famous Broad Haven school incident witnessed by fourteen children — the area became known as the Welsh Triangle. With declassified government investigations, admitted hoaxes, and a mystery that remains unresolved nearly fifty years later, we ask: what really happened over St Brides Bay?Visit our website for a lot more information on this episode.
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  S2 Ep21: The Emerald Valley 09.06.2026 45мин

  In tonight's dead letter, Daniel, a self-described skeptic writes in about the one thing he's never been able to explain away. He was a third-grader in northeast Washington in 1985, riding home one evening, when an intense green light blinded him and his mom in their car. For years he figured he'd made it up, or pulled it from some movie. Then it came up years later over lunch with his sister, and he found out he wasn't the only one in the car who never forgot it.REFERENCE LINKSWhen Mysterious Green Fireballs Worried the U.S. Government — HISTORYProject Twinkle and the Green Fireball InvestigationThe Green Flash: What Causes the Rare Sunset Phenomenon — EarthSkyFairchild Air Force Base History — HistoryLink.orgFaded Giant by Robert Salas and James KlotzThe 1967 Malmstrom Missile Shutdown — CUFON ArchiveRobert Hastings — UFOs and NukesAstonishing Legends Ep. 155: Abduction at Devil's Den (Terry Lovelace)We're looking for more stories! Send your Dead Letter to [email protected]!