Astonishing Legends

Astonishing Legends Productions

The world is more mysterious than most people are comfortable imagining. We cross paths with the mystical from time to time and may not even notice it. If we do, we quickly return to our usually mundane daily existence. But what if we not only acknowledged the unknown, we investigated it and spoke with those in the know? That's what co-hosts Scott Philbrook & Forrest Burgess, and co-executive producer Tess Pfeifle do at Astonishing Legends. Over 100 million downloads and hundreds of thousands of listeners have discovered the thrill of exploring the mysteries of our world, showing that the unknown can be both captivating and intriguing. Welcome to Astonishing Legends!

  1. 1 hr ago

    The Lady in the Rocking Chair

    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 Episodes Abduction at Devil's Den Devil's Den: The Reckoning Part 1 Chris McKinnell and the Warren Legacy Dan, Susan, Micah Hanks and Missing Time Links 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 & Behavior Childhood amnesia, Wikipedia Ghosts and Apparitions in Psi Research, the Society for Psychical Research's Psi Encyclopedia Phantasms of the Living (1886) by Gurney, Myers and Podmore, Internet Archive Strange Intruders by David Weatherly Devils 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, HISTORY Wall Street crash of 1929, Wikipedia The History of Bettys in Pop Culture, Refinery29 Natalie and Tara on YouTube We're looking for more stories! Send your Dead Letter to deadletteroffice@astonishinglegends.com!

    The Lady in the Rocking Chair

  2. 4 days ago ·  Bonus

    Special: Richard Hatem's Light in the Dark Tour 2026

    Hey folks! We're gearing up to go to the Wet Hot Bad Magic Summercamp next week but after that we're back on our regular schedule! In the meanwhile here's a chat Scott and Richard had just a week ago about his new tour which is also CLOSE ABOARD! >>>>>>>>>> A special episode from our friend Richard Hatem. Richard is the screenwriter behind The Mothman Prophecies and a longtime friend of the show, and he hosts Richard Hatem's Paranormal Bookshelf. He invited Scott onto his podcast to talk about his upcoming Light in the Dark Tour 2026, a 10-day, six-city run of live shows in September that wraps up at the Mothman Festival in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. We liked the conversation enough that we're sharing it here on the main feed. Along the way, Scott and Richard get to such never-before-asked questions as: What scares our dogs? Where will Scott and Forrest be appearing live in September? Did Abbott and Costello get along? Can anyone find Scott's legendary "lost" appearance on Portlandia? Did Richard schedule too many shows on this tour, and will Susan ever forgive him? Find out the answers to these and many more questions on this episode. If you can make it to one of the tour stops, go. Tickets and dates are at the link below. LinksGet tickets to Richard Hatem's Light in the Dark Tour 2026 LIVE: https://www.richardhatemsparanormalbookshelf.com/eventsListen to Richard Hatem's Paranormal Bookshelf: https://www.richardhatemsparanormalbookshelf.com/Support RHPB on Patreon: https://patreon.com/RichardHatemCelebrate 2026 with 26% off all RHPB merch with offer code RHPB26. The discount is pre-applied at this link: https://richardhatem-shop.fourthwall.com/promo/RHPB26Need help with your personal writing projects? Richard is here to help. Get 20% off when you mention RHPB: https://www.richardhatem.com/NotesGet the answer to ALL of your Abbott and Costello questions here: Abbott and Costello Meet the PodcastIs your dog afraid of hiccups, just like Luna? Learn about your dog's weird fears here: Understanding Your Dog's Fear

    Special: Richard Hatem's Light in the Dark Tour 2026

  3. 1 Sept

    The Inn at Folck's Mill

    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 Episodes Nightmarchers of Hawaii Links and Further Reading The Battle of Folck's Mill: Maryland Historical Trust Battlefield Documentation (PDF) Battle of Folck's Mill, Wikipedia Folck's Mill (National Register of Historic Places site), Wikipedia The Battle of Folck's Mill, Western Maryland's Historical Library The Invasion, Aug 1864: The Cumberland Alleganian's Original Account, Western Maryland's Historical Library Folck's Mill Marker, Historical Marker Database The History of Puccini Restaurant, Cumberland, Maryland The Phantom Battle of Edgehill, Historic UK The Spectral Army of Souther Fell, Mysterious Britain and Ireland The Dieppe Raid Case, Mysterious Britain and Ireland The Drummer of Tedworth, Wikipedia Phantom Armies of the Night by Claude Lecouteux The Rosenheim Poltergeist, by Tess Pfeifle at Astonishing Legends We're looking for more stories! Send your Dead Letter to deadletteroffice@astonishinglegends.com!

    The Inn at Folck's Mill

  4. 29 Aug ·  Bonus

    Richard Hatem's Light in the Dark Tour 2026!

    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 Podcasts Tour Dates and Tickets Sunday, September 13: Storm Crow Manor, Toronto, ON Monday, September 14: Padraigs Brewing, Minneapolis, MN Tuesday, September 15: The Red Lion Pub, Chicago, IL Wednesday, September 16: B Side Lounge, Cleveland Heights, OH Thursday, September 17: Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA (FREE SHOW!) Saturday, September 19: Trinity UMC Community Center, Point Pleasant, WV (The Mothman Festival) More from Richard All Tour Dates and Tickets Richard Hatem's Paranormal Bookshelf on Apple Podcasts Richard Hatem's Paranormal Bookshelf on Spotify Paranormal Bookshelf Merch The Mothman Festival Tickets 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!

    Richard Hatem's Light in the Dark Tour 2026!

  5. 25 Aug

    But We didn't Break the Glass

    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 deadletteroffice@astonishinglegends.com!

  6. 20 Aug

    DLO-231: The Kids in the Parking Lot

    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 deadletteroffice@astonishinglegends.com!

  7. 11 Aug

    DLO-230: A Finger Down the spine

    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 deadletteroffice@astonishinglegends.com!

  8. 9 Aug

    Amy Bruni’s Cuisine to Kill For

    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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About

The world is more mysterious than most people are comfortable imagining. We cross paths with the mystical from time to time and may not even notice it. If we do, we quickly return to our usually mundane daily existence. But what if we not only acknowledged the unknown, we investigated it and spoke with those in the know? That's what co-hosts Scott Philbrook & Forrest Burgess, and co-executive producer Tess Pfeifle do at Astonishing Legends. Over 100 million downloads and hundreds of thousands of listeners have discovered the thrill of exploring the mysteries of our world, showing that the unknown can be both captivating and intriguing. Welcome to Astonishing Legends!

Information

  • Creator
    Astonishing Legends Productions
  • Years Active
    2014 - 2026
  • Episodes
    467
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Astonishing Legends Productions, LLC
  • Show Website
    Astonishing Legends

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