Paranormia

Always True Crime
  • 4.0 (22)
  • TRUE CRIME
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

Are you ever awake in the cruellest hours of the night, when the world is quiet, but your mind isn’t? That’s where Paranormia begins. Hosted by journalist and parapsychologist Elizabeth McCafferty, Paranormia is a weekly storytelling podcast where true crime collides with the supernatural, the psychological, and the macabre. Each episode explores real cases where belief in something unseen becomes dangerous, cursed objects drive people to violence, psychic visions predict tragedy, cults where worship turns deadly, and hauntings blur into guilt, obsession, or faith. Elizabeth blends rigorous research with cinematic storytelling to uncover what happens when reason falters and fear takes hold. Because these aren’t just ghost stories, they’re stories about us: about the human need to explain the inexplicable, to find meaning in the dark. Paranormia: where paranoia meets the paranormal. Subscribe, and stay awake with us. If you have a story where crime and the otherworldly intertwine, something strange, unexplained or just plain haunted, get in touch at paranormia@alwaystruecrime.com. For more true crime that you'll be obsessed with head to AlwaysTrueCrime.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. Cult: Heaven’s Gate

    6D AGO

    Cult: Heaven’s Gate

    In March 1997, a mansion in Rancho Santa Fe, California became the site of one of the most unsettling mass deaths in modern history. 39 members of the Heaven’s Gate group were found arranged in identical clothing, their deaths carefully planned and documented. Led by Marshall Applewhite, the group had spent decades developing a belief system that blended religion, science fiction, and extraterrestrial salvation, teaching that Earth was temporary and that a spacecraft from the “Next Level” would come to take them home. As comet Hale-Bopp comet appeared in the 1990s, their beliefs crystallised into a final act they described not as suicide, but as “graduation.” This episode explores how the group formed and how belief created one of the most haunting cult cases in American history. *** If you have a story where crime and the otherworldly intertwine, something strange, unexplained or just plain haunted, get in touch at paranormia@alwaystruecrime.com. Paranormia is an Audio Always production. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    28 min
  2. Serial Killer: The Vampire of Sacramento

    MAR 18

    Serial Killer: The Vampire of Sacramento

    In the late 1970s, Sacramento was shaken by a series of brutal killings carried out by Richard Trenton Chase, a man later labelled the “Vampire Killer.” Convinced that his blood was being poisoned and that he needed to survive by taking blood from others, his behaviour escalated from harming animals to attacking people. In just one month, six lives were taken. This episode explores who Richard Chase was, how his beliefs developed, and how a suburban city became the backdrop for one of the most disturbing true crime cases in American history. *** If you have a story where crime and the otherworldly intertwine, something strange, unexplained or just plain haunted, get in touch at paranormia@alwaystruecrime.com. Paranormia is an Audio Always production. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    33 min
  3. Hoax: The Fairies of Cottingley

    MAR 11

    Hoax: The Fairies of Cottingley

    The Cottingley Fairies might not seem like the kind of story you’d expect on Paranormia. In 1917, Frances Griffiths and Elsie Wright produced photographs that appeared to show tiny winged figures, ‘fairies’, dancing beside Cottingley Beck. What could have stayed a family joke quickly spread far beyond the Yorkshire village. The images reached Theosophists who believed they were proof of hidden worlds, and eventually Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, who published them in The Strand magazine and argued they might change how people think about reality. This episode explores how a childhood hoax became an international story, and why so many people, in a world still recovering from war and loss, wanted to believe it. *** If you have a story where crime and the otherworldly intertwine, something strange, unexplained or just plain haunted, get in touch at paranormia@alwaystruecrime.com. Paranormia is an Audio Always production. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    29 min
  4. Cult: Final Fantasy House

    MAR 4

    Cult: Final Fantasy House

    In the early 2000s, a small group of teens and young adults found each other online through Final Fantasy VII fandom, where they felt understood. But survivor accounts describe a household in State College, Pennsylvania, where a leader turned fantasy and roleplay into a system of control. This episode traces how a fandom became a closed world, and why its aftermath became an internet legend. Some names are pseudonyms from reporting in Vice, while others are composite characters based on survivor accounts. *** If you have a story where crime and the otherworldly intertwine, something strange, unexplained or just plain haunted, get in touch at paranormia@alwaystruecrime.com. Paranormia is an Audio Always production. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    34 min
  5. Missing: The Foundling of Nuremberg

    FEB 25

    Missing: The Foundling of Nuremberg

    In May 1828, a teenage boy named Kaspar Hauser appeared in Nuremberg with letters claiming he’d been raised in total isolation, sparking fascination and doubt. As officials, doctors, and crowds tried to understand him, rumours grew…was he a victim, a fraud, or something more? Reports of attacks and injuries deepened the mystery, dividing opinion. In 1833, he died from a stab wound. Was he murdered, or did he write his own ending?  *** If you have a story where crime and the otherworldly intertwine, something strange, unexplained or just plain haunted, get in touch at paranormia@alwaystruecrime.com. Paranormia is an Audio Always production. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    31 min
  6. Ghost Story: The Ghost Who Pulled the Trigger

    FEB 18

    Ghost Story: The Ghost Who Pulled the Trigger

    In January 1804, a man was shot dead on a dark lane in West London after residents of Hammersmith became convinced a ghost was haunting their streets. When Francis Smith fired at what he thought was the figure, he killed Thomas Millwood, a bricklayer walking home in his white work clothes. This episode retraces how fear spread through the community, leading to that moment, and follows the case into court, where it raised a bigger question… can belief ever excuse taking a life? *** If you have a story where crime and the otherworldly intertwine, something strange, unexplained or just plain haunted, get in touch at paranormia@alwaystruecrime.com. Paranormia is an Audio Always production. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    40 min
  7. Cult: The Long Way to Jonestown

    FEB 11

    Cult: The Long Way to Jonestown

    In November 1978, more than 900 people died in Jonestown, Guyana, an event often reduced to a warning about blind obedience. This episode looks at what led up to it, from the early days of the Peoples Temple offering support and community, to the slow loss of choice and control that made leaving feel impossible. It also explores daily life in Jonestown and the final days, showing how a place meant to protect people became one that trapped them. Content warning: This episode contains discussion of mass death, psychological coercion, and harm involving children. Listener discretion is advised. *** If you have a story where crime and the otherworldly intertwine, something strange, unexplained or just plain haunted, get in touch at paranormia@alwaystruecrime.com. Paranormia is an Audio Always production. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    44 min
  8. Urban Legend: Cropsey, The Boogeyman of Staten Island

    FEB 4

    Urban Legend: Cropsey, The Boogeyman of Staten Island

    For decades, children on Staten Island grew up hearing the same warning. Don’t go near the abandoned buildings. Don’t cut through the woods. Because Cropsey was waiting. Cropsey was a boogeyman said to have escaped from the ruins of the Willowbrook State School, a story parents used to keep children away from a place they didn’t know how to explain. For years, it was just folklore, a cautionary tale meant to turn geography into safety. Then children began to disappear for real. In the 1970s and 1980s, several young people vanished during ordinary routines, sent on short errands, leaving apartment buildings, walking home. When one child’s body was later found on the grounds of Willowbrook, attention turned to a former employee who had slept in camps nearby and would later be convicted of kidnapping. As fear spread, the boundary between myth and reality collapsed. Cropsey stopped being just a story told to children and became a way a community tried to make sense of loss and danger. This episode examines the real cases behind the legend, the history of Willowbrook, and what happens when folklore collides with true crime. revealing how easily fear can turn tragedy into myth. *** If you have a story where crime and the otherworldly intertwine, something strange, unexplained or just plain haunted, get in touch at paranormia@alwaystruecrime.com. Paranormia is an Audio Always production. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    43 min
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Trailer

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out of 5
22 Ratings

About

Are you ever awake in the cruellest hours of the night, when the world is quiet, but your mind isn’t? That’s where Paranormia begins. Hosted by journalist and parapsychologist Elizabeth McCafferty, Paranormia is a weekly storytelling podcast where true crime collides with the supernatural, the psychological, and the macabre. Each episode explores real cases where belief in something unseen becomes dangerous, cursed objects drive people to violence, psychic visions predict tragedy, cults where worship turns deadly, and hauntings blur into guilt, obsession, or faith. Elizabeth blends rigorous research with cinematic storytelling to uncover what happens when reason falters and fear takes hold. Because these aren’t just ghost stories, they’re stories about us: about the human need to explain the inexplicable, to find meaning in the dark. Paranormia: where paranoia meets the paranormal. Subscribe, and stay awake with us. If you have a story where crime and the otherworldly intertwine, something strange, unexplained or just plain haunted, get in touch at paranormia@alwaystruecrime.com. For more true crime that you'll be obsessed with head to AlwaysTrueCrime.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Information

  • Channel
    Always True Crime
  • Creator
    Always True Crime
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    20
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Audio Always
  • Show Website
    Paranormia
  • Provider
    Audio Always

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