In 1897, Zona Heaster Shue was found dead at the bottom of a staircase in Greenbrier County, West Virginia. Her death was ruled natural. Her husband insisted on a quick burial. And the case should have ended there. But it didn’t. Because Zona’s mother, Mary Jane, claimed her daughter came back from beyond the grave to tell her she’d been murdered.

This episode breaks down what really happened inside that house, what Mary Jane knew that she shouldn’t have known, and the ghost story printed on the front page of The Greenbrier Independent that may have shaped everything that came next. We explore the miscarriage theory, Trout Shue’s history, the bloody sheet, and the possibility that the wrong person could have been blamed. And we look at how Trout’s own testimony — not the ghost — ultimately sealed his fate.

This episode includes discussion of:

• Death
• Domestic violence
• Pregnancy loss
• Racial bias in 19th‑century Appalachia

Percy Fawcett: The Explorer Who Walked Into the Amazon and Never Returned

In 1925, legendary explorer Percy Fawcett set out with his son and his son’s best friend to find a lost city he called “Z.” They walked into one of the most unforgiving regions of the Amazon rainforest and vanished without leaving a single confirmed trace behind.

This episode breaks down the theories that have followed the case for nearly a century. You will hear about the belief that Fawcett reached a hidden community he had written about for years. You will also hear the idea that he crossed into something stranger, such as a portal or a shift in time. We look at the possibility of conflict with an isolated tribe, along with the very real dangers of the Amazon itself, including starvation, sickness, predators, and exposure.

We also explore the quieter theory that Fawcett and his team may not have died at all. Some believe they could have joined a remote community and lived out their lives far from the world they left behind.

In this episode, we walk through one of the most haunting unsolved cases in American history: the 1912 Villisca Axe Murders. We explore the suspects, the theories that divided a town, the strange clues left behind, and the chilling possibility that the killer returned to the Stillinger girls’ room after the murders.

If you enjoy the episode, follow along for more folklore, true crime, and the uncanny:

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