The Secret Society of Strangers Podcast

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This is the Secret Society of Strangers — the podcast where we explore history's strange and unexplained events. The dark, often misunderstood rituals, beliefs, and people behind them. From ancient occult practices to murders and disappearances that leave witnesses and officials baffled. Ever found yourself at 3am researching the Hex Hollow Murder? Wondered why the Dyatlov Pass evidence doesn't add up? Questioned what really happened at Flannan Isles Lighthouse? You've found your tribe. Join Lee, Josh, and Jen as we investigate documented cases where Dark Reality meets High Strangeness — real crimes with supernatural elements, disappearances that defy logic, and historical mysteries where every explanation fails. We focus on cases where something fundamentally wrong happened. Where the evidence suggests the impossible. Murder cases with occult connections. Vanishings where the physics don't work. Ancient rituals that left modern crime scenes. This isn't Hollywood horror or internet folklore. These are police reports that include the unexplained. Documented events from ancient times through the 1990s that resist rational explanation. With meticulous research, dark humor, and forensic curiosity, SSOS serves the professionally curious and academically strange. Got a high strangeness experience? Witnessed something that violated reality? We're listening. New episodes weekly. Side Quests for lighter paranormal fare. 🕯️ Come Curious. Stay Strange.

  1. 14H AGO

    The Axeman of New Orleans - The Night a City Played for Its Life - Axe file # 3

    In 1919, a killer sent a letter from "Hell" demanding an entire city play jazz — or die. New Orleans obeyed. Between 1918 and 1919, someone terrorized the Crescent City. They entered homes through impossibly small openings. They used the victims' own axes. They targeted Italian immigrant grocers almost exclusively. They never took money. And they never got caught. Six confirmed dead. Multiple survivors with stories that don't add up. A seven-month disappearance that perfectly overlaps with the Spanish Flu pandemic. And one of the most infamous letters in American criminal history — a message claiming to be from a "fell demon from hottest hell" who promised to spare anyone playing jazz on St. Joseph's Day. The entire city stayed up past midnight making music. No one died that night. Was the Axeman a Mafia enforcer? A lone predator exploiting pandemic chaos? A skilled burglar who understood exactly how to weaponize fear? Or something the early 20th century simply wasn't equipped to explain? Josh takes the lead on this one as the Strangers dig into court documents, witness testimony, forensic evidence, and over a century of theories — separating documented fact from folklore one swing at a time. 🕯️ Come Curious. Stay Strange. LINKS 🎧 Listen & Subscribe: Spotify Apple Podcasts YouTube: @SSOSPodcast Podbean ☕ Support the Show: Buy Me a Coffee 📱 Follow Us: Instagram TikTok 📧 Got a High Strangeness Story? Email us or DM on socials — we're listening. THE AXE FILES continues next week with FILE #4. 🪓🕯️ 🪓 Come Curious. Stay Strange. SOURCES & FURTHER READING: (Full source list available at secretsocietyofstrangers.com) 🎧 New episodes weekly 👉 Subscribe & join the Society 💬 Got a case we should investigate? Drop it in the comments. #TrueCrime #UnsolvedMysteries #AxemanOfNewOrleans #SecretSocietyOfStrangers #SSOS #HistoricalTrueCrime #NewOrleans #JazzHistory #ColdCase

    1h 3m

  2. FEB 10

    The Villisca Axe Murders | Eight Dead in a Locked House | The Axe Files: File #2

    On June 10, 1912, the small town of Villisca, Iowa woke up to its worst nightmare. Eight people—two entire families—were found brutally murdered in the Moore family home. Parents Josiah and Sarah Moore, their four children, and two young overnight guests were killed with an axe while they slept. But this wasn't a quick crime. The killer stayed for hours. He ate their food. He covered every mirror in the house. He took the time to ensure no one survived. Then he locked the doors, took the house keys, and vanished into the Midwest night. The investigation was doomed from the start when over 100 townspeople trampled through the crime scene before police could preserve evidence. Three suspects emerged: a powerful Iowa Senator with a vendetta, a disturbed traveling preacher who confessed then recanted, and a suspected serial killer riding the rails across the Midwest. No one was ever convicted. The killer was never identified. And the house at 508 East Second Street? It still stands—and according to paranormal investigators and visitors alike, something remains inside. Join Lee, Josh, and Jen as they examine the crime scene, dissect the suspects, and explore why this 112-year-old unsolved murder still haunts the American Midwest. Episode Content Warning: Graphic violence, crime scene descriptions, child victims Part of The Axe Files series exploring history's most brutal unsolved axe murders. 🕯️ Come Curious. Stay Strange. LINKS 🎧 Listen & Subscribe: Spotify Apple Podcasts YouTube: @SSOSPodcast Podbean ☕ Support the Show: Buy Me a Coffee 📱 Follow Us: Instagram TikTok 📧 Got a High Strangeness Story? Email us or DM on socials — we're listening. THE AXE FILES continues next week with FILE #3. 🪓🕯️

    1h 3m

  3. FEB 3

    Lizzie Borden: 30 Axe Blows & NOT A DROP OF BLOOD | The Axe File #1

    Welcome to THE AXE FILES — a month-long series tracking one of humanity's oldest tools through some of its most violent crimes. Four cases. One weapon. No romance. Lots of blood. 🪓 File #1 is open. Thirty hatchet blows. Two bodies. One spotless suspect. On August 4th, 1892, someone walked into a modest home in Fall River, Massachusetts and committed one of the most brutal double murders in American history. Andrew Borden's face was destroyed by eleven blows while he napped on his parlor sofa. His wife Abby lay upstairs — struck nineteen times — having died ninety minutes earlier. The killer would have been drenched head to toe in arterial spray. And yet, when police arrived, Lizzie Borden stood before them in a clean dress, with dry hair, spotless hands, and not a single drop of blood anywhere on her person. For 130 years, no one has been able to explain how that's possible. In File #1, Lee, Josh, and Jen break down the forensics that make this case impossible, the family powder keg that preceded the violence, and the trial that let a suspected killer walk free in ninety minutes. We'll cover: The 90-minute gap between murders — and why the killer stayed in a locked house The "blood math" that proves the killer should have been soaked The barn alibi that fell apart the moment police checked the dust The note that never existed The dress Lizzie burned three days later — in front of police The alternative theories — and why they ALL fail on the same question The hauntings that continue to this day at 92 Second Street Did Lizzie Borden kill her father and stepmother? If she did — how did she violate physics? If she didn't — who committed the perfect crime? The truth died in 1927. But the house still stands. And people say the footsteps never stopped. 🕯️ Come Curious. Stay Strange. CONTENT WARNING This episode contains graphic descriptions of violence, domestic murder, and detailed crime scene analysis. HOSTS Lee — Primary Narrator Josh — Forensics & Paranormal Jen — Historical Context & Theories PRODUCTION All Video & Audio Edited By Jeremy of Schroeder Audio SOURCES & CREDITS Primary Documents: Trial transcript, Commonwealth v. Lizzie A. Borden (1893) Inquest testimony (August 1892) Police reports, Fall River Police Department Autopsy reports, Dr. William Dolan Contemporary newspapers: Fall River Globe, Boston Globe, New York Times (August 1892–June 1893) Books: Robertson, Cara. The Trial of Lizzie Borden (2019) Lincoln, Victoria. A Private Disgrace: Lizzie Borden by Daylight (1967) Kent, David. Forty Whacks: New Evidence in the Life and Legend of Lizzie Borden (1992) Forensic Analysis: PBS History Detectives: "Lizzie Borden" (2012) Blood spatter analysis, Dr. Henry Lee (1992) Paranormal: Ghost Hunters, Season 3, Episode 5 (2007) Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast Museum documentation LINKS 🎧 Listen & Subscribe: Spotify Apple Podcasts YouTube: @SSOSPodcast Podbean ☕ Support the Show: Buy Me a Coffee 📱 Follow Us: Instagram TikTok 📧 Got a High Strangeness Story? Email us or DM on socials — we're listening. THE AXE FILES continues next week with FILE #2. 🪓🕯️

    1h 11m

  4. JAN 27

    The Yuba County Five: America's Dyatlov Pass

    February 1978. Five men. A basketball game. A snack run. And then—a 70-mile drive in the wrong direction into a frozen mountain wilderness. It's been called "The American Dyatlov Pass." A case so baffling that nearly 50 years later, investigators still can't explain what happened. Ted Weiher. Jack Madruga. Bill Sterling. Jackie Huett. Gary Mathias. Five friends from Yuba City, California drove to Chico to watch a basketball game. They bought snacks. They got in the car. They never made it home. Their car was found days later—not on the highway home, but 4,400 feet up a remote mountain road in Plumas National Forest. The gas tank wasn't empty. The car wasn't stuck. Five healthy men could have pushed it free in minutes. So why did they walk 19 miles into a blizzard instead? Four months later, searchers found their bodies scattered across the mountain. One man survived for nearly three months in a Forest Service trailer—surrounded by enough food to last a year and a propane heater he never turned on. He starved to death in a pantry. He froze to death next to heat. Why didn't they eat? Why didn't they turn on the heater? Why did they hide from the only witness who could have saved them? And what happened to Gary Mathias—the Army veteran whose body was never found? In this episode, Jen takes the lead as we investigate one of America's most haunting unsolved disappearances. We examine every theory—from wrong turns and learned helplessness to schizophrenic episodes and foul play. Including the anonymous phone calls that came before any bodies were discovered, and the 2020 Sheriff's letter that officially declared Gary Mathias a victim of foul play. Some cases resist explanation. This one defies it. screaming while his body rotted from the inside. Edward VI became King of England at 9 years old. By 15, he was dead—leaving behind over 10,000 corpses and a religious reformation built on blood and fire. History remembers his sister Mary as "Bloody Mary." But Edward's six-year reign produced a body count that dwarfs hers. He watched heretics burn without flinching. He signed his own uncle's death warrant at age 11. He refused mercy for a woman begging for her life—because she disagreed with him about communion. He was a child. He was a monster. He was possibly murdered. And his ghost still haunts Greenwich Palace—coughing, gasping, reliving his agonizing death for 470 years. In this episode of the Bloody Royals series, Lee dives deep into the dark history of Tudor England's forgotten terror: the boy king whose Protestant vision for England was written in Catholic blood. We cover: The cursed birth that killed his mother Jane Seymour His isolated, indoctrinated childhood under Henry VIII's paranoid watch The Prayer Book Rebellion: 5,500+ dead Kett's Rebellion: 3,000+ massacred (Edward's journal entry: "Good.") The executions he personally ordered—including two of his own uncles His horrific death: hair falling out, nails detaching, body suppurating while still alive The mysterious unnamed woman who appeared in his final months with "healing drinks" Was Edward VI murdered? The conspiracy theories examined The hauntings, omens, and high strangeness surrounding his life and death Was he evil? Or a victim of isolation, indoctrination, and absolute power given to a child? The answer might be both. 🕯️ Come Curious. Stay Strange. CONNECT WITH US: 🌐 Website: https://ssospod.podbean.com/\ 🎧 Listen on: YouTube Spotify Apple Podcasts Podbean 👕 Merch: SSOS Shop ☕ Support the Show: buy me a coffee CREDITS: Host: Lee Co-Hosts: Josh & Jen Audio/Video Editor: Jeremy   SOURCES Primary News Sources (1978): The Sacramento Bee — Original coverage of disappearance and discovery (February-June 1978) Appeal-Democrat (Marysville-Yuba City) — Local reporting on search efforts and family interviews Chico Enterprise-Record — Coverage of initial search and Behr's Market witness statements San Francisco Chronicle — Regional reporting on the case Official Records: Yuba County Sheriff's Department — Case files, missing persons reports, and 2020 official letter regarding Gary Mathias Butte County Sheriff's Department — Initial investigation records Plumas County Sheriff's Department — Search and recovery documentation California Department of Justice — Missing persons database records Books & Long-Form Journalism: Mahood, Drew. "Off the Beaten Path: The Yuba County Five." California's Unsolved Mysteries (2019) Various true crime anthologies featuring the case Documentaries & Media: Buzzfeed Unsolved: Supernatural — "The Bizarre Disappearance of the Yuba County Five" (Season 5, 2018) Dark Waters Podcast — Extended coverage and family interviews The Trail Went Cold Podcast — Robin Warder's investigative coverage Academic & Psychological Sources: Seligman, Martin E.P. "Learned Helplessness" — Annual Review of Medicine (1972) — Referenced for psychological theory American Psychiatric Association — DSM criteria for paranoid schizophrenia (historical context for Gary Mathias's diagnosis) Family Statements & Interviews: Interviews with the Mathias family regarding Gary's mental health history and 2020 Sheriff's correspondence David Huett (Jackie Huett's brother) — Public statements regarding foul play theory Weiher family interviews regarding Ted's condition and behavior Witness Testimony: Joseph Schons — Documented statements to Yuba County Sheriff's Department regarding the night of February 24, 1978 Debbie Lynn Reese — Documented statements regarding anonymous phone calls (March 1978) Behr's Market clerk — Witness statement to investigators Geographic & Environmental Data: U.S. Forest Service — Plumas National Forest maps and ranger station records National Weather Service — Historical weather data for Butte/Plumas County (February-March 1978) Online Archives & Databases: Newspapers.com — Historical newspaper archives The Charley Project — Missing persons database (Gary Dale Mathias entry) NamUs (National Missing and Unidentified Persons System) — Case documentation Note: Some primary source materials referenced in this episode are derived from official police reports and family statements that have been made public through FOIA requests and media coverage over the past 47 years.

    1h 5m

  5. JAN 20

    Marie Laveau: New Orleans' Voodoo Queen | Curses, Healing & Immortality

    Marie Laveau. The Voodoo Queen of New Orleans. A name whispered in French Quarter alleys for nearly 150 years. Was she a compassionate healer who nursed yellow fever victims and prayed with condemned prisoners? Or a ruthless sorceress who cursed bloodlines into extinction and commanded spirits that bent reality? In this episode, we separate documented history from accumulated legend—exploring the REAL Marie Laveau: a free woman of color who built impossible power across brutal racial boundaries in 19th-century Louisiana. We cover: Her verified baptismal records and the lies newspapers told about her age The gris-gris bags, the snake named Li Grand Zombi, and the St. John's Eve ceremonies at Bayou St. John Her intelligence network that made her appear genuinely clairvoyant The troubling fact that she owned enslaved people The "Marie Laveau II" mystery—did her daughter secretly replace her? Post-death sightings and the X-marked tomb in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 Why her ghost is STILL reported walking through the Tremé From Congo Square to condemned cells. From Catholic Mass to Voodoo altars. This is New Orleans Voodoo history like you've never heard it. 🕯️ Come Curious. Stay Strange. CONNECT WITH US: 🌐 Website: https://ssospod.podbean.com/\ 🎧 Listen on: YouTube Spotify Apple Podcasts Podbean 👕 Merch: SSOS Shop ☕ Support the Show: buy me a coffee CREDITS: Hosts: Lee ,Jen, Josh  Sources: Carolyn Morrow Long's A New Orleans Voudou Priestess (2006), Zora Neale Hurston's Mules and Men (1935), Archives of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, Federal Writers' Project interviews, contemporary newspaper accounts (Daily Picayune, New Orleans Republican, Times-Picayune 1870s-1890s). #MarieLaveau #VoodooQueen #NewOrleansVoodoo #LouisianaHistory #Hoodoo #StLouisCemetery #HauntedNewOrleans #Paranormal #OccultHistory #TrueCrime #DarkHistory

    1h 11m

  6. JAN 18

    SIDE QUEST SPECIAL: "Sales From the Crypt" Update + Area 51 Briefing

    🚨 NEW CASE ALERT: We're introducing a story we'll be following as it develops—and this one's already horrific. Jonathan Gerlach, 34, of Ephrata, Pennsylvania now faces 500+ criminal charges after authorities discovered over 100 human skulls, mummified hands and feet, decomposing torsos, and EIGHT full human corpses stored in his basement and storage unit. It started with a tip on December 23rd: "There's a partially decomposed corpse hanging in his basement." What investigators found was a one-man grave-robbing operation spanning Philadelphia-area cemeteries and mausoleums—complete with a Facebook group called "Human Bones and Skull selling group" where users thanked him for items including a "human skin bag." His CashApp profile photo? Him holding a human skull. We're calling this one "Sales From the Crypt" and we'll keep you updated as this disturbing case unfolds. THEN: CASS delivers your foundational briefing on America's most classified address—Area 51. Before we dive into Bob Lazar, the Victor Tape, and Range 4 Harry in upcoming episodes, you need to understand HOW a dried-up Nevada lakebed became the epicenter of UFO conspiracy. Spoiler: The government ADMITTED in 2013 that they intentionally let UFO reports cover their secret aircraft testing. That's not conspiracy—that's declassified fact. From "Paradise Ranch" to the Cammo Dudes, unmarked Janet Airlines flights to claims of nine flying saucers in mountain hangars—we're mapping the labyrinth so you can navigate what comes next. Content Warning: Graphic discussion of stolen human remains, disturbing crime scene details. 🕯️ Come Curious. Stay Strange.

    1h 3m

  7. JAN 13

    Edward VI -The Boy Tyrant (The Bloody Royals Series)

    A child signed death warrants. A teenager ordered executions. A 15-year-old died screaming while his body rotted from the inside. Edward VI became King of England at 9 years old. By 15, he was dead—leaving behind over 10,000 corpses and a religious reformation built on blood and fire. History remembers his sister Mary as "Bloody Mary." But Edward's six-year reign produced a body count that dwarfs hers. He watched heretics burn without flinching. He signed his own uncle's death warrant at age 11. He refused mercy for a woman begging for her life—because she disagreed with him about communion. He was a child. He was a monster. He was possibly murdered. And his ghost still haunts Greenwich Palace—coughing, gasping, reliving his agonizing death for 470 years. In this episode of the Bloody Royals series, Lee dives deep into the dark history of Tudor England's forgotten terror: the boy king whose Protestant vision for England was written in Catholic blood. We cover: The cursed birth that killed his mother Jane Seymour His isolated, indoctrinated childhood under Henry VIII's paranoid watch The Prayer Book Rebellion: 5,500+ dead Kett's Rebellion: 3,000+ massacred (Edward's journal entry: "Good.") The executions he personally ordered—including two of his own uncles His horrific death: hair falling out, nails detaching, body suppurating while still alive The mysterious unnamed woman who appeared in his final months with "healing drinks" Was Edward VI murdered? The conspiracy theories examined The hauntings, omens, and high strangeness surrounding his life and death Was he evil? Or a victim of isolation, indoctrination, and absolute power given to a child? The answer might be both. 🕯️ Come Curious. Stay Strange. CONNECT WITH US: 🌐 Website: https://ssospod.podbean.com/\ 🎧 Listen on: YouTube Spotify Apple Podcasts Podbean 👕 Merch: SSOS Shop ☕ Support the Show: buy me a coffee CREDITS: Host: Lee Co-Hosts: Josh & Jen Audio/Video Editor: Jeremy SOURCES: Primary Sources: The Chronicle and Political Papers of King Edward VI (W.K. Jordan, ed., 1966) Literary Remains of King Edward the Sixth (J.G. Nichols, ed., 1857) State Papers, Domestic Series, Edward VI (The National Archives, Kew) Secondary Sources: Skidmore, Chris. Edward VI: The Lost King of England (2007) Loades, David. John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland (1996) MacCulloch, Diarmaid. Tudor Church Militant: Edward VI and the Protestant Reformation (1999) Alford, Stephen. Kingship and Politics in the Reign of Edward VI (2002) Beer, Barrett L. Rebellion and Riot: Popular Disorder in England during the Reign of Edward VI (1982) Medical & Death Analysis: Loach, Jennifer. Edward VI (Yale English Monarchs, 1999) Holmes, Frederick. "The Death of Young King Edward VI" in The New England Journal of Medicine (2001) Paranormal & Folklore: Hallam, Elizabeth. Royal Ghosts (1987) Westwood, Jennifer & Simpson, Jacqueline. The Lore of the Land: A Guide to England's Legends (2005) Brooks, J.A. Ghosts of London (1991)   #EdwardVI #TudorHistory #BloodyRoyals #DarkHistory #TrueCrime #HistoricalMystery #RoyalGhosts #HauntedHistory #TudorEngland #ChildKing #MedievalMurder #ProtestantReformation #HenryVIII #JaneSeymour #HistoryPodcast #TrueCrimePodcast #ParanormalHistory #SSOSPodcast #SecretSocietyOfStrangers #ComeCuriousStayStrange

    1h 13m

  8. JAN 6

    The Dyatlov Pass Incident: What Killed Nine Hikers on Dead Mountain?

    In 1959, nine experienced Soviet hikers died in the Ural Mountains under circumstances so bizarre that even the official cause of death was listed as "an unknown compelling force." They cut through their tent from the inside. Fled barefoot into -25°F temperatures. Some had massive internal injuries with no external wounds. Others were missing eyes and tongues. The case was immediately classified. The area was closed for three years. 65 years later, Russia has reopened this case twice—and still can't explain what happened on Dead Mountain. Join Lee, Jen, and Josh as we break down the complete timeline, examine every body, and walk through every theory—from avalanche to military weapons testing to infrasound to... stranger explanations. 🔍 In this episode: The full expedition timeline and what went wrong Detailed autopsy findings that defy explanation The witness who saw lights in the sky that night Why the Soviet government classified the case immediately Every major theory examined: Avalanche, military accident, infrasound, and more What modern science says about the injuries ⚠️ Content Warning: This episode contains detailed descriptions of death, autopsy findings, and graphic injuries. Listener discretion advised. SUPPORT THE SHOW: ☕ Buy Us a Coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/ssospod CONNECT WITH US: 🌐 Website: https://ssospodcast.com 📸 Instagram: @SSOSPodcast 🎬 YouTube: @SSOSPodcast 📧 Got a high strangeness experience? DM us or leave a comment—we want to hear it. SOURCES: Dyatlov Foundation Official Archive (dyatlovpass.com) Eichar, Donnie. "Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident" (2013) Soviet Criminal Case Files No. 1-58 (1959) Puzrin, A.M., Gaume, J. & Puzrin, S. "Mechanisms of slab avalanche release and impact in the Dyatlov Pass incident in 1959" - Communications Earth & Environment (2021) Oss, Svetlana. "1079: The Overwhelming Force of the Dyatlov Pass" (2015) Russian Prosecutor General's Office Report (2019) Yuri Yudin Interviews (1959-2013) CREDITS: Hosts: Lee, Jen, Josh Edited by: Jeremy #DyatlovPass #UnsolvedMysteries #TrueCrime #Paranormal #SovietHistory #UralMountains #DeadMountain #HighStrangeness #DarkHistory #ColdCaseMystery #TrueCrimePodcast #ParanormalPodcast #HistoryMystery #UnexplainedEvents #SSOS 🕯️ Come Curious. Stay Strange.

    1h 9m
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Ratings & Reviews

3.5
out of 5
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About

This is the Secret Society of Strangers — the podcast where we explore history's strange and unexplained events. The dark, often misunderstood rituals, beliefs, and people behind them. From ancient occult practices to murders and disappearances that leave witnesses and officials baffled. Ever found yourself at 3am researching the Hex Hollow Murder? Wondered why the Dyatlov Pass evidence doesn't add up? Questioned what really happened at Flannan Isles Lighthouse? You've found your tribe. Join Lee, Josh, and Jen as we investigate documented cases where Dark Reality meets High Strangeness — real crimes with supernatural elements, disappearances that defy logic, and historical mysteries where every explanation fails. We focus on cases where something fundamentally wrong happened. Where the evidence suggests the impossible. Murder cases with occult connections. Vanishings where the physics don't work. Ancient rituals that left modern crime scenes. This isn't Hollywood horror or internet folklore. These are police reports that include the unexplained. Documented events from ancient times through the 1990s that resist rational explanation. With meticulous research, dark humor, and forensic curiosity, SSOS serves the professionally curious and academically strange. Got a high strangeness experience? Witnessed something that violated reality? We're listening. New episodes weekly. Side Quests for lighter paranormal fare. 🕯️ Come Curious. Stay Strange.

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