The Night Visitors Vampire Research Society

James Cheney
  • 0.0 (0)
  • Documentary

They come uninvited. This is The Night Visitors, a paranormal podcast with James Cheney. The Night Visitors explores encounters with vampires, supernatural folklore, and purportedly true stories of the creatures that visit in the night. Each episode presents a single account drawn from firsthand testimony, family histories, and witness reports collected from around the world. James’s lifelong fascination with vampires and the supernatural led him through decades of research into vampire lore, psychic vampirism, and folkloric traditions spanning continents: the strigoii of Romania, the jiang shi of China, the soucouyant of Trinidad, the duppy spirits of Jamaica, the list goes on. That same fascination turned passion eventually pulled him from New England - a region with its own dark folklore - to Transylvania, where the locals still know what to do when the dead don't stay buried. Especially drawn to vampires and all things vampiric, James looks to fill in the gap that formed following the death of Dr Stephen Kaplan, who during the 1970s and 80s ran the Vampire Research Center, conducting serious inquiry into vampirism. His work has since fallen into obscurity. Despite today's explosion of interest in the paranormal, nobody is doing what he did - until now. The Night Visitors Vampire Research Society is a space where people can share their experiences and be taken seriously. Episodes draw on global vampire folklore and true supernatural accounts -Why did a rice farmer in the 1890s Guangdong survive a night trapped in a temple with a jiang shi? What protected a young woman in 1923 Honolulu from a curse sent across the Pacific? How does a guest in a Depression-era Québec boarding house never age and never eat? What do you do when a dishevelled stranger visits your night shift - and sleeps on a stone slab in the cemetery next door? Firsthand accounts from around the world that examine vampires, ghosts, curses, spiritual attacks, and entities that exist at the edges of belief. Our Sound The Night Visitors theme music is "Haunted Haus" by composer Tim Kulig. We're grateful to Tim for allowing us to use his work to set the tone for each episode. https://timkulig.com/ Join the Community The Night Visitors is part of a worldwide community exploring vampire culture, folklore, and the paranormal. James also publishes a weekly newsletter featuring articles on vampire lore, history, and how genuine folklore shows up in film and literature. 🌙 Website: thenightvisitors.com 🌙 Newsletter: jamesnightvisitors.substack.com 🌙 Facebook Group: bit.ly/night-visitors-fb-group 🌙 Instagram: @nightvisitorsvrs 🌙 YouTube: youtube.com/@VampireResearchSociety Share Your Story Have you encountered something you believe was a vampire—psychic, folkloric, or otherwise? Email thenightvisitorsvrs@gmail.com. With your permission, your account may be featured on a future episode. Names and identifying details can be changed to protect your privacy.

  1. 4d ago

    The Other Worldly Roommate in Upstate New York: A True Vampire Encounter

    Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note. Upstate New York, fall 1976. A twenty-year-old music student answers a handwritten index card on the campus bookstore corkboard and moves into an old Victorian house owned by Calum, a young man with silver-grey eyes who doesn't move quite like other people. Quickly dismissing it as mere oddness would have been the easy choice, but Valerie could not look away. In fall 1976, she moved in. What followed those weeks was something she never fully explained to herself or anyone else. Because when Halloween arrived, Calum's cryptic reaction to vampire celebrations carried a weight that was hard to shake. Then came November, and a confession: bringing Valerie into his home had been a mistake. Prolonged exposure to him, he warned, would transform her into something unimaginable. What does it mean to share a home with something that passes through closed doors? By the end, Valerie fled after watching Calum move through solid matter without walking (a detail that still raises the hair on your neck just reading it). Her later investigation turned up no records of his existence, none at all, leaving only the certainty of what she witnessed. This story is unsettling, quiet, and deeply compelling. Listen to the full episode of "The Night Visitors" now. Finding a Room Away from Campus The Victorian House on the Hillside A Room in the Inherited House The Mysterious Tenant in the Basement Vampire Movies and an Unspoken Understanding His Supernatural Nature The Mysterious Disappearance and Search What happens when we encounter something that defies our understanding of reality? There's a fascinating psychology at play here. Valerie's experience raises questions we rarely discuss, even with family and friends, such as: How do we process information that contradicts our framework of reality? When faced with the inexplicable, do we rationalize it away or trust our direct observation? What does it take to convince ourselves or others of something extraordinary? The real insight isn't about the supernatural. It's about human perception, trust, and the courage required to believe our own experiences when they fall outside conventional explanation. If you enjoy historical vampire lore, forgotten folklore, and true accounts of the supernatural, don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share your thoughts when you join the Facebook group or subscribe to my Substack Vampire Research Society or my YouTube Channel VampireResearchSociety. Our Podcast Theme Music Music Title: “Haunted Haus”, Artist: Tim Kulig (timkulig.com) Lic CC 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Call for Listener’s Stories: Share Your Story Have you experienced something unexplainable? There are two ways to share. Write your story in an email, or tell your story in a simple voice recording from your phone and send it as an attachment via email audio length limit of 3 minutes. Click here to submit! Email thenightvisitorsvrs@gmail.com.

    The Other Worldly Roommate in Upstate New York: A True Vampire Encounter

  2. Sep 18

    The Curse of the Wax Doll: Dark Magic on Esplanade Avenue in New Orleans

    Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note. What does it take for a desperate mother to finally trust the supernatural over science? Madame Delphine Fontenot of Esplanade Avenue noticed something deeply wrong when her son Édouard, a bookish twenty-six-year-old, began suffering strange nightmares, crushing fatigue, and a sudden aversion to sunlight. Doctors offered nothing.Frantically seeking answers, Madame Fontenot turned to a Creole woman in Tremé. Listen to this episode to hear the full story unfold. A Widow's Household in 1898 New Orleans The New Maid's Unsettling Attention Édouard's Mysterious Illness Begins Bertha's Gumbo Reveals Hidden Illness Apolline Offers Island Remedies A Dangerous Bargain and Dark Secrets African Magic and Curses The Gris-Gris Reveals the Truth The Maid's Departure at Sunrise If you enjoy historical vampire lore, forgotten folklore, and true accounts of the supernatural, don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share your thoughts when you join the facebook group or subscribe to substack or my YouTube channel. Our Podcast Theme Music Music Title: “Haunted Haus”, Artist: Tim Kulig (timkulig.com) Lic CC 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Call for Listener’s Stories: Share Your Story Have you experienced something unexplainable? I would like to put out a call to all of our listeners to share your story. I want to share them in a special listener’s episode. You can request to remain anonymous, or we’ll share your name if you give us permission. Email me directly at thenightvisitorsvrs@gmail.com. There are two ways to share. You can write your story in an email, or tell your story in a simple voice recording from your phone and send it as an attachment via email audio length limit of 3 minutes. Click here to submit! You are also welcome to suggestions as to which aspects of vampirism you’d like to see explored in our posts or our YouTube videos, please email us at thenightvisitorsvrs@gmail.com. Join the Facebook Group The Night Visitors Vampire Research Society is a worldwide community sharing firsthand vampire encounters and exploring the folklore, history, and pop culture of the undead. Join our Facebook group to connect with fellow Night Visitors from around the world. YouTube To watch the Night Visitor’s Vampire Research Society’s true stories on YouTube, subscribe to the YouTube channel @VampireResearchSociety or subscribe to this Substack and receive new true story epsiodes every Friday. - Vampire Research Society

    The Curse of the Wax Doll: Dark Magic on Esplanade Avenue in New Orleans

  3. Sep 11

    An Undead Compilation: Three Cultures, Three True Vampire Encounters

    Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note. Vampires aren't universal—they adapt to the fears of the society that tells their stories. In this special compilation episode, we travel across three eras and continents to examine three distinct legends of the undead: Cold War Romania: The Strigoi 00:14:12 How ancient peasant beliefs in the Strigoi survived under strict communist state oppression.Qing-Dynasty China: The Jiangshi 09:52:14 The ritual mechanics, Taoist magic, and funeral traditions behind the Jiangshi (the hopping vampire).Modern America: Vietnamese Undead in America 17:52:15 A Vietnamese diaspora horror story exploring how ancient ancestral fears cross oceans into modern settings.Trace the evolution of the global undead and see how folklore adapts to survive history, geography, and political upheaval. PART I: THE COMMUNIST ERA STRIGOI Romania, Cold War paranoia, and the restless dead that state power couldn’t suppress. PART II: THE HOPPING VAMPIRE China’s stiff corpses bound by taoist magic, burial rituals, and centuries-old folklore. PART III: ANCIENT HORROR, NEW SHORES When ancestral folklore travels across oceans—a Vietnamese vampire story set in modern America. Music Credits: Twin Lynches by Destiny & Time and In the Void by The Amulets Call for Listener’s Stories: Share Your Story Have you experienced something unexplainable? I would like to put out a call to all of our listeners to share your story. I want to share them in a special listener’s episode. You can request to remain anonymous, or we’ll share your name if you give us permission. Email me directly at thenightvisitorsvrs@gmail.com. There are two ways to share. You can write your story in an email, or tell your story in a simple voice recording from your phone and send it as an attachment via email audio length limit of 3 minutes. Click here to submit! You are also welcome to suggestions as to which aspects of vampirism you’d like to see explored in our posts or our YouTube videos, please email us at thenightvisitorsvrs@gmail.com. Join the Facebook Group The Night Visitors Vampire Research Society is a worldwide community sharing firsthand vampire encounters and exploring the folklore, history, and pop culture of the undead. Join our Facebook group to connect with fellow Night Visitors from around the world. YouTube To watch the Night Visitor’s Vampire Research Society’s true stories on YouTube, subscribe to the YouTube channel @VampireResearchSociety or subscribe to this Substack and receive new true story epsiodes every Friday. - Vampire Research Society

    An Undead Compilation: Three Cultures, Three True Vampire Encounters

  4. Sep 3

    A Strange Encounter with the Labor Day Vampire

    Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note. A strange encounter. An isolated house. A mysterious figure who may not be quite what he seems. This episode of The Night Visitors explores an unsettling account from northern Vermont that sits somewhere between ghost story, vampire folklore, and an unexplained encounter. With its eerie atmosphere, strange clues, and lingering questions, it's a story that refuses to offer an easy explanation. What was really happening at that house? Listen to the full episode and decide for yourself. If you enjoy ghost stories, paranormal encounters, vampire folklore, unexplained phenomena, and unsettling tales from the past, subscribe to The Night Visitors for more strange stories from the shadows. Please rate and comment and help us connect with more vampire enthusiasts. Our Podcast Theme Music Music Title: “Haunted Haus”, Artist: Tim Kulig (timkulig.com) Lic CC 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Other Music in this Episode "Frightmare" by Jimena Contreras and "Mysterious Strange Things" by Yung Logos Call for Listener’s Stories: Share Your Story Have you experienced something unexplainable? I would like to put out a call to all of our listeners to share your story. I want to share them in a special listener’s episode. You can request to remain anonymous, or we’ll share your name if you give us permission. Email me directly at thenightvisitorsvrs@gmail.com. There are two ways to share. You can write your story in an email, or tell your story in a simple voice recording from your phone and send it as an attachment via email audio length limit of 3 minutes. Click here to submit! You are also welcome to suggestions as to which aspects of vampirism you’d like to see explored in our posts or our YouTube videos, please email us at thenightvisitorsvrs@gmail.com. Join the Facebook Group The Night Visitors Vampire Research Society is a worldwide community sharing firsthand vampire encounters and exploring the folklore, history, and pop culture of the undead. Join our Facebook group to connect with fellow Night Visitors from around the world. YouTube To watch the Night Visitor’s Vampire Research Society’s true stories on YouTube, subscribe to the YouTube channel @VampireResearchSociety or subscribe to this Substack and receive new true story epsiodes every Friday. - Vampire Research Society

    A Strange Encounter with the Labor Day Vampire

  5. Aug 28

    When Reason Meets the Supernatural: A Teacher Meets A Vampire

    Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note. What happens when a devoted rationalist comes face to face with a vampire? Sava, a researcher, collected Milena's firsthand account, and the details are genuinely unsettling. Her isolated home sat near a cemetery (because of course it did), and the nocturnal visitations that began there shook her modern communist ideology to its core. A village healer named Biljana advised her to bury a blessed silver box containing protective herbs and garlic on the vampire's grave. Slowly, reluctantly, Milena accepted this deeply unconventional remedy. Because some experiences genuinely transcend ideological frameworks. Tune in to hear Milena's haunting story unfold in full. Serbian Folklore and Communist Idealism Collide The Mysterious Face at the Window The Sign of the Cross The Healer's Revelation Burying the Silver Box The Vampire's Grave If you enjoy historical vampire lore, forgotten folklore, and true accounts of the supernatural, don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share your thoughts when you join the facebook group or subscribe to substack or my YouTube channel. Our Podcast Theme Music Music Title: “Haunted Haus”, Artist: Tim Kulig (timkulig.com) Lic CC 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Call for Listener’s Stories: Share Your Story Have you experienced something unexplainable? I would like to put out a call to all of our listeners to share your story. I want to share them in a special listener’s episode. You can request to remain anonymous, or we’ll share your name if you give us permission. Email me directly at thenightvisitorsvrs@gmail.com. There are two ways to share. You can write your story in an email, or tell your story in a simple voice recording from your phone and send it as an attachment via email audio length limit of 3 minutes. Click here to submit! You are also welcome to suggestions as to which aspects of vampirism you’d like to see explored in our posts or our YouTube videos, please email us at thenightvisitorsvrs@gmail.com. Join the Facebook Group The Night Visitors Vampire Research Society is a worldwide community sharing firsthand vampire encounters and exploring the folklore, history, and pop culture of the undead. Join our Facebook group to connect with fellow Night Visitors from around the world. YouTube To watch the Night Visitor’s Vampire Research Society’s true stories on YouTube, subscribe to the YouTube channel @VampireResearchSociety or subscribe to this Substack and receive new true story epsiodes every Friday. - Vampire Research Society

    When Reason Meets the Supernatural: A Teacher Meets A Vampire

  6. Aug 21

    When the Dead Return for Love: The Vampire of Hong Kong

    Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note. Some loves refuse to end, even after death itself. In 1988 Hong Kong, a wealthy woman named Pearl encounters a tenant whose devotion to a lost love stretches far beyond anything she can rationally explain, and the mystery of Mr. Lee will stay with you long after the story ends. What does it mean to love someone across the boundary between life and death? The story leaves his true nature beautifully ambiguous, hovering between the supernatural and the inexplicable. It is unsettling and deeply moving at the same time. Listen to this episode for a haunting tale about love, loss, and what refuses to stay buried. The Vampire of Hong Kong Pearl Discovers Lee's Secret at the Temple Pearl Discovers Mysterious Blood Jars Pearl's Dangerous Suspicions About Mr. Li If you enjoy historical vampire lore, forgotten folklore, and true accounts of the supernatural, don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share your thoughts when you join the facebook group or subscribe to substack or my YouTube channel. Our Podcast Theme Music Music Title: “Haunted Haus”, Artist: Tim Kulig (timkulig.com) Lic CC 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Other Music We also used “Dark Toys” by SYBS CC no attribution required Call for Listener’s Stories: Share Your Story Have you experienced something unexplainable? I would like to put out a call to all of our listeners to share your story. I want to share them in a special listener’s episode. You can request to remain anonymous, or we’ll share your name if you give us permission. Email me directly at thenightvisitorsvrs@gmail.com. There are two ways to share. You can write your story in an email, or tell your story in a simple voice recording from your phone and send it as an attachment via email audio length limit of 3 minutes. Click here to submit! You are also welcome to suggestions as to which aspects of vampirism you’d like to see explored in our posts or our YouTube videos, please email us at thenightvisitorsvrs@gmail.com. Join the Facebook Group The Night Visitors Vampire Research Society is a worldwide community sharing firsthand vampire encounters and exploring the folklore, history, and pop culture of the undead. Join our Facebook group to connect with fellow Night Visitors from around the world. YouTube To watch the Night Visitor’s Vampire Research Society’s true stories on YouTube, subscribe to the YouTube channel @VampireResearchSociety or subscribe to this Substack and receive new true story epsiodes every Friday. - Vampire Research Society

    When the Dead Return for Love: The Vampire of Hong Kong

  7. Aug 14

    Takuto and the Hone-Onna of Obon: Japanese energy vampires in in 1953 Hokkaido

    Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note. This week, we’re going to Hokkaido, Japan to investigate a supernatural story with a very frightening twist, where the question isn’t whether the dead can return, but what might return wearing their face Obon is the time of year when the dead are welcomed home. But what if something else came back with them? Takuto has returned to his family home for the festival, still grieving his fiancée who died months earlier. Then, on the first night of Obon, something strange happens. At first, it looks like a miracle. By the third night, it is clear that something is very wrong. Listen to find out what happens next. If you enjoy historical vampire lore, forgotten folklore, and true accounts of the supernatural, don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share your thoughts when you join the facebook group or subscribe to substack or my YouTube channel. Our Podcast Theme Music Music Title: “Haunted Haus”, Artist: Tim Kulig (timkulig.com) Lic CC 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Other Music We also used “Oasis Dreams” by Patrick Patrikios CC no attribution required Call for Listener’s Stories: Share Your Story Have you experienced something unexplainable? I would like to put out a call to all of our listeners to share your story. I want to share them in a special listener’s episode. You can request to remain anonymous, or we’ll share your name if you give us permission. Email me directly at thenightvisitorsvrs@gmail.com. There are two ways to share. You can write your story in an email, or tell your story in a simple voice recording from your phone and send it as an attachment via email audio length limit of 3 minutes. Click here to submit! You are also welcome to suggestions as to which aspects of vampirism you’d like to see explored in our posts or our YouTube videos, please email us at thenightvisitorsvrs@gmail.com. Join the Facebook Group The Night Visitors Vampire Research Society is a worldwide community sharing firsthand vampire encounters and exploring the folklore, history, and pop culture of the undead. Join our Facebook group to connect with fellow Night Visitors from around the world. YouTube To watch the Night Visitor’s Vampire Research Society’s true stories on YouTube, subscribe to the YouTube channel @VampireResearchSociety or subscribe to this Substack and receive new true story epsiodes every Friday. - Vampire Research Society

    Takuto and the Hone-Onna of Obon: Japanese energy vampires in in 1953 Hokkaido

  8. Aug 7

    The Borrowed Vampire: The Talamaur of Gaua Island

    Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note. Tonight’s story of supernatural vengeance, set in 1925 in a remote Vanuatu village was passed down through four generations. It follows Ellen, a widow who begins to suspect that her late husband’s spirit is visiting her children at night. But as illness spreads through the village and misfortune follows in its wake, she uncovers an ancient belief almost unknown outside the South Pacific: the talamaur. Tune in to hear the full story unfold. Theme Music Music Title: “Haunted Haus”, Artist: Tim Kulig (timkulig.com) Lic CC 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Other Music We also used "Oasis Dreams" by Patrick Patrikios CC no attribution required Call for Listener’s Stories: Share Your Story Have you experienced something unexplainable? Email me directly with your story at thenightvisitorsvrs@gmail.com. There are two ways to share. You can write your story in an email, or tell your story in a simple voice recording from your phone and send it as an attachment via email audio length limit of 3 minutes.Click here to submit! You are also welcome to suggestions as to which aspects of vampirism you’d like to see explored in our posts or our YouTube videos, please email us at thenightvisitorsvrs@gmail.com. Facebook, YouTube & Substack The Night Visitors Vampire Research Society is a worldwide community sharing firsthand vampire encounters and exploring the folklore, history, and pop culture of the undead. Join our Facebook group. You can subscribe to the Night Visitor’s Vampire Research Society on YouTube, @VampireResearchSociety or subscribe to Substack https://jamesnightvisitors.substack.com

See All (34)

Trailer

About

They come uninvited. This is The Night Visitors, a paranormal podcast with James Cheney. The Night Visitors explores encounters with vampires, supernatural folklore, and purportedly true stories of the creatures that visit in the night. Each episode presents a single account drawn from firsthand testimony, family histories, and witness reports collected from around the world. James’s lifelong fascination with vampires and the supernatural led him through decades of research into vampire lore, psychic vampirism, and folkloric traditions spanning continents: the strigoii of Romania, the jiang shi of China, the soucouyant of Trinidad, the duppy spirits of Jamaica, the list goes on. That same fascination turned passion eventually pulled him from New England - a region with its own dark folklore - to Transylvania, where the locals still know what to do when the dead don't stay buried. Especially drawn to vampires and all things vampiric, James looks to fill in the gap that formed following the death of Dr Stephen Kaplan, who during the 1970s and 80s ran the Vampire Research Center, conducting serious inquiry into vampirism. His work has since fallen into obscurity. Despite today's explosion of interest in the paranormal, nobody is doing what he did - until now. The Night Visitors Vampire Research Society is a space where people can share their experiences and be taken seriously. Episodes draw on global vampire folklore and true supernatural accounts -Why did a rice farmer in the 1890s Guangdong survive a night trapped in a temple with a jiang shi? What protected a young woman in 1923 Honolulu from a curse sent across the Pacific? How does a guest in a Depression-era Québec boarding house never age and never eat? What do you do when a dishevelled stranger visits your night shift - and sleeps on a stone slab in the cemetery next door? Firsthand accounts from around the world that examine vampires, ghosts, curses, spiritual attacks, and entities that exist at the edges of belief. Our Sound The Night Visitors theme music is "Haunted Haus" by composer Tim Kulig. We're grateful to Tim for allowing us to use his work to set the tone for each episode. https://timkulig.com/ Join the Community The Night Visitors is part of a worldwide community exploring vampire culture, folklore, and the paranormal. James also publishes a weekly newsletter featuring articles on vampire lore, history, and how genuine folklore shows up in film and literature. 🌙 Website: thenightvisitors.com 🌙 Newsletter: jamesnightvisitors.substack.com 🌙 Facebook Group: bit.ly/night-visitors-fb-group 🌙 Instagram: @nightvisitorsvrs 🌙 YouTube: youtube.com/@VampireResearchSociety Share Your Story Have you encountered something you believe was a vampire—psychic, folkloric, or otherwise? Email thenightvisitorsvrs@gmail.com. With your permission, your account may be featured on a future episode. Names and identifying details can be changed to protect your privacy.

Information