State of the Unknown | True Paranormal Stories, Haunted History, and American Folklore

Robert Barber

State of the Unknown State of the Unknown is a podcast exploring true paranormal stories from the United States, including documented hauntings, unexplained encounters, and real-life cases investigated by witnesses, law enforcement, and researchers. Each episode focuses on one paranormal story at a time, separating verified facts from reported experiences and examining what we know, what we don’t, and why these cases still matter. Hosted by Robert Barber, the show explores haunted places, eerie encounters, forgotten folklore, and the events that shaped America’s most enduring paranormal stories. No sensationalism. No filler. Just clear, immersive storytelling built on research, eyewitness testimony, and the historical record. If you’re drawn to haunted history, true paranormal accounts, and grounded, fact-based paranormal stories, you’ll feel right at home here. New episodes every week. 🔗 www.stateoftheunknown.com📸 @stateoftheunknownpodcast

  1. 600 Incidents: A Year-Long Paranormal Assault on a Washington Home — Ep. 35

    2D AGO

    600 Incidents: A Year-Long Paranormal Assault on a Washington Home — Ep. 35

    In a quiet suburban neighborhood in Bothell, Washington, a family began experiencing unexplained disturbances inside their home. What started as small, dismissible events slowly escalated into more than 600 reported paranormal incidents over the course of a year, witnessed by multiple people. Objects moved, sounds followed occupants through the house, and visitors noticed disturbances without being told what to expect. In this mini episode of State of the Unknown, Robert Barber tells the story of the Bothell Hell House exactly as it was reported by those who lived through it, before stepping back to examine what can be verified, what remains unclear, and why this case continues to be discussed decades later. This episode explores how prolonged, relentless activity can wear down a household without a single dramatic breaking point, and what happens when a home stops feeling neutral and begins to push back against the people living inside it. Further Reading & Research The Bothell Hell House: Poltergeist of Washington State A firsthand account from later occupants of the home, documenting repeated disturbances, physical activity, and multiple witnesses over an extended period of time. Haunted America A U.S.-focused overview of reported hauntings and long-running cases, offering historical and regional context for how stories like this one are recorded, shared, and debated. * As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Send us a text Support the show State of the Unknown is a documentary-style podcast tracing the haunted highways, forgotten folklore, and unexplained phenomena across America’s 50 states. 👁️‍🗨️ New episodes every Tuesday — with full-length stories every other week, and shorter mini tales in between. 📬 Reach out: contact@stateoftheunknown.com 📣 Follow the strange: @stateoftheunknownpodcast on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, & Threads 🔍 Want more? Visit stateoftheunknown.com to explore show notes and submit your own story. Join the Conversation Join the conversation! Head to our Facebook group at State of the Unknown Listeners to connect with other listeners, suggest topics, and get behind-the-scenes updates. Share Your Take Have a theory about this episode? Message me anytime on Instagram @stateoftheunknownpodcast - I read every DM. Some stories don’t stay buried. We go looking anyway.

    21 min
  2. The Tallman Bunk Beds: The Ordinary Object Linked to a Terrifying Haunting — Ep. 34

    DEC 16

    The Tallman Bunk Beds: The Ordinary Object Linked to a Terrifying Haunting — Ep. 34

    In the late 1980s, a family in Wisconsin brought home a simple set of bunk beds for their children. Nothing about them seemed unusual. There was no known history tied to them, no warning signs, and no reason to think they would change anything at all. But soon after the beds were assembled, the house began to feel different. Footsteps were heard moving through empty rooms. Objects shifted on their own. The children reported seeing a figure standing in their bedroom. A babysitter experienced something so unsettling that she refused to return. And eventually, the father came face-to-face with something in the hallway that convinced the family to leave their home in the middle of the night and never come back. In this episode, Robert Barber tells the story of the Tallman Bunk Beds, a case later featured on Unsolved Mysteries, exactly as it has been passed down over the years. Once the story is complete, the episode steps back to examine what can be verified, what remains unconfirmed, and why this case continues to resist a single explanation. Was this a genuine haunting, a buildup of fear, or something in between? Send us a text Support the show State of the Unknown is a documentary-style podcast tracing the haunted highways, forgotten folklore, and unexplained phenomena across America’s 50 states. 👁️‍🗨️ New episodes every Tuesday — with full-length stories every other week, and shorter mini tales in between. 📬 Reach out: contact@stateoftheunknown.com 📣 Follow the strange: @stateoftheunknownpodcast on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, & Threads 🔍 Want more? Visit stateoftheunknown.com to explore show notes and submit your own story. Join the Conversation Join the conversation! Head to our Facebook group at State of the Unknown Listeners to connect with other listeners, suggest topics, and get behind-the-scenes updates. Share Your Take Have a theory about this episode? Message me anytime on Instagram @stateoftheunknownpodcast - I read every DM. Some stories don’t stay buried. We go looking anyway.

    19 min

  3. DEC 9

    The Dybbuk Box: The True Story Behind America’s Most Haunted Object — Ep. 33

    The Dybbuk Box is one of the most infamous haunted objects in modern paranormal history. But behind the viral stories, the museum footage, and the online legends, there was something real: a chain of people who claimed that nightmares, shadows, sickness, and fear followed the small wooden cabinet wherever it went. In this episode, join Robert Barber as he breaks down the original estate sale in Portland, Oregon, the early owners who tried to live with it, the curator who believed it carried a presence, and the moment the story exploded into the public imagination. Some of it is verified. Some of it is personal testimony. Some of it is exaggerated. But all of it adds up to one of the strangest modern hauntings ever recorded. Is the Dybbuk Box a genuine haunting, the power of suggestion, or something in between? Let’s look at what really happened. 🎧 State of the Unknown — new episodes every Tuesday. Send us a text Support the show State of the Unknown is a documentary-style podcast tracing the haunted highways, forgotten folklore, and unexplained phenomena across America’s 50 states. 👁️‍🗨️ New episodes every Tuesday — with full-length stories every other week, and shorter mini tales in between. 📬 Reach out: contact@stateoftheunknown.com 📣 Follow the strange: @stateoftheunknownpodcast on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, & Threads 🔍 Want more? Visit stateoftheunknown.com to explore show notes and submit your own story. Join the Conversation Join the conversation! Head to our Facebook group at State of the Unknown Listeners to connect with other listeners, suggest topics, and get behind-the-scenes updates. Share Your Take Have a theory about this episode? Message me anytime on Instagram @stateoftheunknownpodcast - I read every DM. Some stories don’t stay buried. We go looking anyway.

    35 min

  4. DEC 2

    The Sallie House: The Terrifying True Haunting That Drove a Kansas Family Out of Their Home — Ep. 32

    A quiet home in Atchison, Kansas. A nursery that never felt empty. Scratches that appeared on skin — fresh, burning, and witnessed in real time. This is the true paranormal story of the Sallie House haunting, one of the most disturbing and well-documented cases in America’s haunted history. In this episode of State of the Unknown, we walk through the chilling events exactly as the family reported them: the footsteps, the cold spots, the toys that moved on their own, and the violent attacks that finally drove them out. Then we step back and examine what investigators actually documented, what witnesses claimed, and what remains part of Midwestern urban folklore. If you enjoy paranormal encounters, real hauntings, demonic cases, or unsolved supernatural mysteries, this is an episode you won’t want to miss. Listen now and decide for yourself what really happened inside the Sallie House. Send us a text Support the show State of the Unknown is a documentary-style podcast tracing the haunted highways, forgotten folklore, and unexplained phenomena across America’s 50 states. 👁️‍🗨️ New episodes every Tuesday — with full-length stories every other week, and shorter mini tales in between. 📬 Reach out: contact@stateoftheunknown.com 📣 Follow the strange: @stateoftheunknownpodcast on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, & Threads 🔍 Want more? Visit stateoftheunknown.com to explore show notes and submit your own story. Join the Conversation Join the conversation! Head to our Facebook group at State of the Unknown Listeners to connect with other listeners, suggest topics, and get behind-the-scenes updates. Share Your Take Have a theory about this episode? Message me anytime on Instagram @stateoftheunknownpodcast - I read every DM. Some stories don’t stay buried. We go looking anyway.

    38 min
  5. What Happened in Room 428? Ohio University’s Haunting Mystery — Ep. 31

    NOV 25

    What Happened in Room 428? Ohio University’s Haunting Mystery — Ep. 31

    On the fourth floor of Wilson Hall at Ohio University sits a sealed dorm room no one has lived in for decades, Room 428. Students have whispered about it for years: pacing footsteps behind a locked door, lights flicking on in the middle of the night, and the story of a student whose experience inside the room changed everything. In this mini-episode, we explore the legend as it’s been told for generations — the strange behavior, the escalating disturbances, and the night of the scream, before stepping back to see what can actually be confirmed. Is Room 428 truly haunted, or did a series of unsettling events evolve into one of the most enduring pieces of campus folklore in the Midwest? This is the story of the room Ohio University quietly locked and never reopened. Send us a text Support the show State of the Unknown is a documentary-style podcast tracing the haunted highways, forgotten folklore, and unexplained phenomena across America’s 50 states. 👁️‍🗨️ New episodes every Tuesday — with full-length stories every other week, and shorter mini tales in between. 📬 Reach out: contact@stateoftheunknown.com 📣 Follow the strange: @stateoftheunknownpodcast on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, & Threads 🔍 Want more? Visit stateoftheunknown.com to explore show notes and submit your own story. Join the Conversation Join the conversation! Head to our Facebook group at State of the Unknown Listeners to connect with other listeners, suggest topics, and get behind-the-scenes updates. Share Your Take Have a theory about this episode? Message me anytime on Instagram @stateoftheunknownpodcast - I read every DM. Some stories don’t stay buried. We go looking anyway.

    20 min

  6. NOV 18

    The Bell Witch: The Terrifying True Story Behind America’s Oldest Haunting — Ep. 30

    In the early 1800s, a quiet Tennessee farmhouse became the center of one of the most chilling and well-documented hauntings in American history. For more than two years, the Bell family claimed they were tormented by an unseen voice, one that spoke clearly, answered questions, revealed secrets… and eventually promised to kill the family’s patriarch, John Bell. Join host Robert B. as he dives deep into the true story of the Bell Witch, exploring the noises, the whispers, the violent attacks on young Betsy Bell, and the community that gathered to hear a disembodied voice speak from the shadows. We walk through the events leading up to John Bell’s mysterious decline, the infamous poison vial, the witch’s final prediction, and the strange return that followed years later. We also look at how the legend grew, what’s documented, what came from later retellings, and how the story transformed into one of America’s most famous ghost tales. And yes, we explore the later connection to the Bell Witch Cave, a site that has become synonymous with the haunting even though it never appeared in the earliest accounts. Whether you believe this was a genuine supernatural encounter, a community-wide panic, or the birth of a uniquely American legend, the Bell Witch remains one of the most debated and enduring hauntings ever recorded. Send us a text Support the show State of the Unknown is a documentary-style podcast tracing the haunted highways, forgotten folklore, and unexplained phenomena across America’s 50 states. 👁️‍🗨️ New episodes every Tuesday — with full-length stories every other week, and shorter mini tales in between. 📬 Reach out: contact@stateoftheunknown.com 📣 Follow the strange: @stateoftheunknownpodcast on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, & Threads 🔍 Want more? Visit stateoftheunknown.com to explore show notes and submit your own story. Join the Conversation Join the conversation! Head to our Facebook group at State of the Unknown Listeners to connect with other listeners, suggest topics, and get behind-the-scenes updates. Share Your Take Have a theory about this episode? Message me anytime on Instagram @stateoftheunknownpodcast - I read every DM. Some stories don’t stay buried. We go looking anyway.

    38 min
  7. The Black Hope Cemetery: The Real Events That Mirror Poltergeist — Ep. 29

    NOV 11

    The Black Hope Cemetery: The Real Events That Mirror Poltergeist — Ep. 29

    In the early 1980s, new homeowners outside Houston started finding coffins buried beneath their freshly built yards. Lights flickered, water ran on its own, and fear spread through the neighborhood—until they learned the truth. Their subdivision had been built over a forgotten cemetery known as Black Hope. The story of what followed—graves unearthed, strange activity, and a family tragedy—sounds eerily similar to the plot of Poltergeist, which hit theaters around the same time. But this wasn’t a movie set. It was real life. This is the story of the Black Hope Cemetery: a Texas haunting rooted in history, a fight for recognition, and a reminder that some places never truly rest. 🎙️ State of the Unknown tells true stories of hauntings, legends, and the unexplained from across America—where history and mystery blur. Send us a text Support the show State of the Unknown is a documentary-style podcast tracing the haunted highways, forgotten folklore, and unexplained phenomena across America’s 50 states. 👁️‍🗨️ New episodes every Tuesday — with full-length stories every other week, and shorter mini tales in between. 📬 Reach out: contact@stateoftheunknown.com 📣 Follow the strange: @stateoftheunknownpodcast on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, & Threads 🔍 Want more? Visit stateoftheunknown.com to explore show notes and submit your own story. Join the Conversation Join the conversation! Head to our Facebook group at State of the Unknown Listeners to connect with other listeners, suggest topics, and get behind-the-scenes updates. Share Your Take Have a theory about this episode? Message me anytime on Instagram @stateoftheunknownpodcast - I read every DM. Some stories don’t stay buried. We go looking anyway.

    16 min

  8. NOV 4

    Ghosts of Flight 401: The Haunting That Changed Aviation — Ep. 28

    In 1972, Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 crashed into the Florida Everglades—killing 101 people. Months later, flight crews across the country began reporting something impossible: the faces of Captain Robert Loft and Flight Engineer Donald Repo appearing aboard other jets built from the wreckage. What followed became one of the best-documented modern hauntings and a mystery that changed aviation forever. In this episode of State of the Unknown, host Robert Barber revisits the verified history of the crash, the first-hand reports that followed, and the lasting question they left behind: Were these sightings trauma… or proof that some flights never really end? Send us a text Support the show State of the Unknown is a documentary-style podcast tracing the haunted highways, forgotten folklore, and unexplained phenomena across America’s 50 states. 👁️‍🗨️ New episodes every Tuesday — with full-length stories every other week, and shorter mini tales in between. 📬 Reach out: contact@stateoftheunknown.com 📣 Follow the strange: @stateoftheunknownpodcast on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, & Threads 🔍 Want more? Visit stateoftheunknown.com to explore show notes and submit your own story. Join the Conversation Join the conversation! Head to our Facebook group at State of the Unknown Listeners to connect with other listeners, suggest topics, and get behind-the-scenes updates. Share Your Take Have a theory about this episode? Message me anytime on Instagram @stateoftheunknownpodcast - I read every DM. Some stories don’t stay buried. We go looking anyway.

    27 min
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5
out of 5
14 Ratings

About

State of the Unknown State of the Unknown is a podcast exploring true paranormal stories from the United States, including documented hauntings, unexplained encounters, and real-life cases investigated by witnesses, law enforcement, and researchers. Each episode focuses on one paranormal story at a time, separating verified facts from reported experiences and examining what we know, what we don’t, and why these cases still matter. Hosted by Robert Barber, the show explores haunted places, eerie encounters, forgotten folklore, and the events that shaped America’s most enduring paranormal stories. No sensationalism. No filler. Just clear, immersive storytelling built on research, eyewitness testimony, and the historical record. If you’re drawn to haunted history, true paranormal accounts, and grounded, fact-based paranormal stories, you’ll feel right at home here. New episodes every week. 🔗 www.stateoftheunknown.com📸 @stateoftheunknownpodcast

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