The Secret Society of Strangers Podcast

SSOSPod
  • 4.3 (4)
  • Documentary
  • Updated Weekly

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. 3d ago

    Phrogging, Part 2 — The Denver Spider Man (S2)

    In 1941, a quiet Denver neighborhood became convinced one house was haunted. Lights switched on in empty rooms. Footsteps echoed behind locked doors. A widow fled her own home; her housekeeper quit, certain the place was cursed. They were all closer to the truth than the police — because something WAS in that house. Not a ghost. A man. This week, Lee leads Josh and Jen through the case of Theodore Coneys, the “Denver Spider Man,” who murdered 73-year-old Philip Peters and then lived in the victim’s attic crawlspace for nine months — freezing, starving, three feet above the people hunting for a phantom. It’s the most famous case of “phrogging” in American history, and the realest ghost story Denver ever told. Stay Curious. Stay Strange. CTA + LINKS 🎧 Listen & Subscribe: Spotify  |  Apple Podcasts  |  YouTube: @SSOSPodcast  |  Podbean ☕ Support the Show: Buy Me a Coffee  |  Patreon (The Curious / The Strange tiers)  |  TeePublic (merch) 📱 Follow Us: Instagram: @secretsocietyofstrangerspod  |  TikTok: @ssospodcast  |  Discord (link in description) 📧 Got a High Strangeness Story? Email: ssospodcast@gmail.com  —  or DM us on socials. We're listening.   CREDITS A Strange Static Media Production. Lee — Writer, Researcher, Editor, Producer Josh & Jen — Co-Host, Assistant, Creative, Co-Producer SOURCES Primary / Archival Lowall, Gene. "1942: The Spider Man." In Denver Murders, edited by Lee Casey. Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1946. Sifakis, Carl. The Encyclopedia of American Crime. Facts on File, 1982. Denver Public Library Special Collections and Archives — "The Tale of the Denver Spider Man" (2019). Trial records, Denver County Court, October 1942. Detective James E. Childers interview, Denver Post Empire, February 7, 1960. Period News Coverage The Paducah Sun, July 4, 1954 — "Here's Spine Chilling Story of The Spider Murder and a Ghost." Contemporary Denver newspapers, 1941–1942 (Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News). Modern Coverage / Secondary 9News Denver — "Stranger than fiction: the 'Denver Spiderman' and his Moncrieff Place murder" (2019). Law Week Colorado — "Denver's Spider Man, 'The Ghost House of Denver'" (June 2022). Morbidology — "Theodore Edward Coneys, The Denver Spiderman" (Emily G. Thompson). Colorado Public Radio / Colorado Postcards — "Denver Spider-Man" (September 2023). HistoricalCrimeDetective.com — "Mug Shot Monday! Theodore Coneys, the Spiderman of Denver, 1941." Revisit Denver — "Denver Legends: The Spider-Man" (July 2025). Find A Grave Memorial #43200386 — Theodore Edward Coneys. Wikipedia — Theodore Edward Coneys (cross-referenced against primary sources above).

  2. Jul 14

    THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT — The Arne Johnson Possession Case (Season 2)

    In the summer of 1980, an eleven-year-old boy in Brookfield, Connecticut saw something in an empty bedroom — a withered figure with black eyes and cloven hooves. Over the next seven months, what started as a child's nightmare consumed an entire family, brought Ed and Lorraine Warren to their door, and ended with a nineteen-year-old stabbing his landlord to death outside a dog kennel. Arne Johnson's defense attorney attempted something unprecedented: a plea of not guilty by reason of demonic possession. But behind the trial that inspired The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It lies a darker story — celebrity demonologists who profited from a family's pain, a mother who may have been secretly drugging her own children, and a brother who spent decades trying to tell the truth. Join Lee, Josh, and Jen as they follow this case from the bedroom on Oak Grove Road to the courtroom in Danbury — and uncover what the Conjuring franchise doesn't want you to know. Stay Curious. Stay Strange. 🎧 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 ssospodcast@gmail.com or DM us on socials — we're listening. CREDITS Lee — Writer, Researcher, Editor, Producer Josh & Jen — Co-Host, Assistant, Creative, Co-Producer A Strange Static Media Production SOURCES - The Devil on Trial (2023) — Netflix documentary, dir. Chris Holt - The Devil in Connecticut by Gerald Brittle (1983, withdrawn from print) - People Magazine — "A Connecticut Teen Claims the Devil Made Him a Killer" (1981) - The Washington Post — Johnson trial coverage (1981) - Associated Press — trial and verdict reporting (1981) - Glatzel v. Warren — Superior Court of Connecticut, complaint filed September 2007 - The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021), Warner Bros. Pictures - William Weber — 1979 interview on the creation of the Amityville story - Judge Jack Weinstein — litigation statements on the Amityville case - Diocese of Rockville Centre — official statement on the Amityville haunting - Ray Garton — statements to Benjamin Radford on the Snedeker case - National Institute of Justice — 1995 report on satanic ritual abuse claims - Medical examiner testimony — Connecticut Superior Court, Danbury (1981) - Sominex formulation history — scopolamine to diphenhydramine reformulation, late 1980s

  3. Jun 30

    The Winchester Mystery House (Season 2)

    She inherited a fortune built on a rifle. The story goes that a medium told her every soul ever killed by that gun was coming for her — and the only way to stay alive was to keep building. Never let the hammers stop. Never let the house be finished. Sarah Winchester built. For thirty-six years, in a house in San Jose, California, the construction never stopped — until the day she died. 160 rooms. Staircases that climb into ceilings. Doors that open onto open air. The most famous haunted house in America — and the widow who, by some accounts, is still inside it. But the story they sell at the gate is not the story of who actually lived there. This week on Secret Society of Strangers, we walk the legend in full. And then we tell you who Sarah Winchester really was. Because they buried her twice — and the second burial is the one we should be angry about.   Hosts: Lee, Josh, Jen Edited by: William Bertschinger     Primary historical source Ignoffo, Mary Jo. Captive of the Labyrinth: Sarah L. Winchester, Heiress to the Rifle Fortune. University of Missouri Press, 2010 (rev. 2022). First full-length archival biography. Twenty years of research in Sarah’s personal letters, Winchester financial records, building records, contemporary news coverage. 🕯️  Stay Curious. Stay Strange.

  4. Jun 23

    Guest Episode | Born Awakened — Samantha Leifker (Season 2)

    Some people have one strange experience in a lifetime. Samantha Leifker has spent thirty years collecting them. This week the Strangers sit down with Samantha Leifker, author of Born Awakened: An Otherworldly True Story — a memoir that refuses to stay in any single category. It starts in a childhood home where the dead didn't stay quiet, and it spans decades of UFO contact, out-of-body travel, missing time, interdimensional beings, and a pull toward East Tennessee she still can't fully explain. We get into all of it: the poltergeist house she grew up in, the cube-shaped craft, the entities she says have been guiding her since before she could understand them, and what it actually feels like to live a life where the paranormal isn't a story you tell — it's a Tuesday. This is the kind of conversation SSOS was built for. The hauntings, the UFOs, the consciousness work — Samantha doesn't treat them as separate mysteries. She treats them as one. And after this, you might too. And this is only round one — we're already setting up a second sit-down to go even deeper with Samantha, so consider this your way in. Stay Curious. Stay Strange. 📖 GUEST — SAMANTHA LEIFKER / BORN AWAKENED Book — Born Awakened: An Otherworldly True Story (Amazon): https://a.co/d/03y6m5Y0 Instagram: @bornawakened — https://www.instagram.com/bornawakened Facebook: Born Awakened — https://www.facebook.com/share/18E8i8HKWC/ TikTok: @bornawakened — https://www.tiktok.com/@bornawakened Free Newsletter (Substack): https://bornawakened.substack.com/ 🎧 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. 🕯️ Stay Curious. Stay Strange.

  5. May 3

    Gregor MacGregor & the Poyais Scheme .(April Fools series )

    He called himself a prince. He created a flag, a constitution, a currency. He published a 355-page guidebook to a capital city with an opera house and a cathedral. And none of it existed. In the finale of our April Fools series, we tell the story of Gregor MacGregor — the Scottish soldier who invented an entire nation called Poyais, convinced hundreds to invest their life savings, and sent 250 settlers to die in an empty jungle. Nearly 180 people never came home. And MacGregor? He was never convicted. He died a general, buried with full military honors in a cathedral in Caracas. The deadliest con in modern history. The man who sold a country. 🕯️ Stay Curious. Stay Strange. YouTube THE MAN WHO INVENTED A FAKE COUNTRY AND KILLED 180 PEOPLE | Gregor MacGregor & The Poyais Scheme | SSOS In this episode, we cover the incredible true story of Gregor MacGregor — the Scottish con artist who invented an entire nation called Poyais in the 1820s, printed fake currency, sold government bonds for a country that didn't exist, and convinced 250 settlers to sail across the Atlantic to a "paradise" that was actually empty jungle. Nearly 180 of them died. MacGregor was never convicted. He died a hero in Venezuela. This is the finale of our April Fools con artist series, covering: Frank Abagnale Jr., Anna Delvey, Ann Odelia Diss Debar, and now the deadliest fraud in history.   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 📩 ssospodcast@gmail.com or DM on socials — we're listening.            The Secret Society Of Strangers Podcast is a Strange Static MediaTM  production

  6. Apr 22

    Ann O'Delia Diss Debar -The Spook Priestess (APRIL FOOLS SERIES)

    She called herself a Princess of Bavaria. The newspapers called her "The Empress of Swindle." In 1888, Ann O'Delia Diss Debar convinced one of New York's most powerful attorneys that she could summon oil paintings from thin air—works created by Raphael and Rembrandt from beyond the grave. She took his fortune, his mansion, and his sanity. But that was just the beginning. From the Gilded Age parlors of Madison Avenue to the courtrooms of London's Old Bailey, the Spook Priestess left a trail of broken lives, impossible escapes, and crimes so dark the courtroom had to be cleared. And when the final curtain fell? She simply... vanished. Stay Curious. Stay Strange.   SOURCES "Duped By A Spook Priestess" — The New York Times, April 1888 "The Horos Trial" — Old Bailey Proceedings, December 1901 Occult America by Mitch Horowitz (Bantam, 2009) The Darkened Room: Women, Power, and Spiritualism in Late Victorian England by Alex Owen Women of the Golden Dawn by Mary K. Greer (Park Street Press, 1995) The Cincinnati Enquirer archives, 1909   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 📩 ssospodcast@gmail.com or DM on socials — we're listening.            The Secret Society Of Strangers Podcast is a Strange Static MediaTM  production

  7. Apr 14

    ANNA DELVEY: THE CON ARTIST WHO INVENTED AN HEIRESS (APRIL FOOLS SERIES)

    She had no money. No trust fund. No Swiss bank account. What Anna Delvey had was a fake name, a designer wardrobe, and the nerve to walk into New York's most exclusive rooms and act like she owned them. For four years, she fooled banks, hotels, and Manhattan's social elite — using Microsoft Word and an AOL email address. In this episode, Josh walks us through the full story: from a working-class suburb of Moscow to a $135 million Park Avenue building, from Rikers Island to Dancing with the Stars. Lee breaks down the Netflix empire built on the con. And Josh asks the uncomfortable question: did she exploit a flaw in the system — or did she exploit the system as designed? 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 📩 ssospodcast@gmail.com or DM on socials — we're listening.            The Secret Society Of Strangers Podcast is a Strange Static MediaTM  production  SOURCES Jessica Pressler, "Maybe She Had So Much Money She Just Lost Track of It," New York Magazine / The Cut, May 2018 Rachel DeLoache Williams, My Friend Anna: The True Story of a Fake Heiress (Simon & Schuster, 2019) Manhattan District Attorney's Office, People v. Anna Sorokin, trial transcripts and evidence exhibits, 2019 Netflix, Inventing Anna (Shondaland, 2022) 60 Minutes Australia, Anna Sorokin interview, 2022 Netflix Tudum, Julia Garner accent interview, February 2022 Newsweek, "Julia Garner on How She Mastered Anna Delvey's 'Wild' Accent," February 2022 Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, and various court reporting from 2017-2025

  8. Apr 7

    INMATE #25367 — The True Story of Frank Abagnale Jr. (April Fools Series)

    INMATE #25367 — The True Story of Frank Abagnale Jr. You know the legend. The teenage con artist who impersonated a Pan Am pilot, a doctor, a lawyer. Who cashed $2.5 million in fraudulent checks. Who escaped from prison twice. Who became so famous that Steven Spielberg made a movie about him. There's just one problem. While Frank Abagnale claimed he was crisscrossing the globe as a teenage super-criminal — the records show he was somewhere else entirely. Inmate #25367. Great Meadow Correctional Facility. Comstock, New York. The greatest con he ever pulled wasn't the pilot, the doctor, or the lawyer. It was his own story. This week on Secret Society of Strangers — we pull the receipts on America's most famous fraudster. And ask the question: what's the difference between a con artist and a storyteller? 🕯️ Come Curious. Stay Strange. YOUTUBE VERSION The REAL Story of Catch Me If You Can | Frank Abagnale EXPOSED | SSOS Podcast Frank Abagnale Jr. told the world he was a teenage criminal mastermind — Pan Am pilot, doctor, lawyer, professor. Steven Spielberg made a movie about him. Leonardo DiCaprio played him. He charged $25,000/night to lecture about fraud. But prison records tell a different story. In this episode, we break down: ⚡ The claims vs. the court documents ⚡ Why nobody fact-checked him for 50 years ⚡ The BANDIT car (yes, really) ⚡ Who Frank Abagnale actually was ⚡ Why we WANTED to believe the lie Welcome to April Fools Month on SSOS — four weeks, four con artists, one question: who's really getting played?   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 📩 ssospodcast@gmail.com or DM on socials — we're listening.            The Secret Society Of Strangers Podcast is a Strange Static MediaTM  production  📚 SOURCES Logan, Alan C. The Greatest Hoax on Earth: Catching Truth, While We Can. 2020. Wikipedia: Frank Abagnale — citing New York State Archives, federal court records, prison documents. Britannica: Frank Abagnale Jr. Hall, Stephen S. "Johnny is conned. A convict who makes up crimes." San Francisco Chronicle, October 6, 1978. Perry, Ira D. Four-part investigative series. Daily Oklahoman. Leiva, Javier. "Pretend – The Real Catch Me If You Can." Podcast series, 2022–2023. All That's Interesting: "Inside The True Story Behind Catch Me If You Can." The Irish World: Alan C. Logan interview, August 2021. Louisiana Voice: Reporting by Tom Aswell on Abagnale claims. New York State Archives: Inmate records, Great Meadow Correctional Facility, Comstock, NY. Federal court records: Pan Am check forgery conviction totaling less than $1,500. Decoding the Unknown: "Frank Abagnale: The Real Story Behind Catch Me If You Can." October 2025.

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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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