In March 1989, Spring Break in South Texas was alive with crowds and music, until 21-year-old Mark Kilroy vanished somewhere between the bars of Matamoros and the quiet roads beyond the border. What began as a missing-person search soon led investigators to Santa Elena Ranch, a remote compound tied to a group calling themselves a religious society, a place where superstition, ritual, and violence appeared to intersect. As the investigation unfolded, rumours of black magic, sacrifice and folk-religious practices spread rapidly, blurring the line between fact and folklore. This episode explores how fear, belief, and cartel mythmaking shaped one of the strangest cases of its era, and why, in the borderlands, the truth often shifts with the shadows.

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.

Presented by Elizabeth McCafferty.

Written and produced by Mansi Vithlani.

Executive produced by Ailsa Rochester.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In May 2014, the quiet suburb of Waukesha, Wisconsin, became the setting for one of the strangest and most unsettling crimes in modern history. Two twelve-year-old girls lured their best friend into the woods and stabbed her nineteen times, leaving her for dead. When police found them hours later, walking calmly down a highway, they said they’d done it for Slender Man, a faceless figure born from an internet forum, a digital myth that somehow took root in their minds. Journalist Elizabeth McCafferty explores how an online story turned into shared delusion, how imagination became belief, and how belief became violence. Was it mental illness, manipulation, or something more elusive? Because in a world where fiction spreads faster than fact, Slender Man isn’t just a monster made online. He’s what happens when fear finds Wi-Fi.

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.

Presented by Elizabeth McCafferty.

Written and produced by Mansi Vithlani.

Executive produced by Ailsa Rochester.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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, a weekly podcast where true crime collides with the supernatural. Journalist and parapsychologist Elizabeth McCafferty uncovers real cases where belief turns deadly and fear becomes evidence. In this opening episode, she traces her fascination with the unexplained and reveals the idea behind the series: stories from the thin space between psychology and the paranormal, where reason falters, fear takes hold, and belief turns dangerous.

Because sometimes the haunting isn’t out there… it’s in here. 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.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the final episode of Inside McKamey Manor we explore what it’s like to try and leave the McKamey Manor community, why this content is allowed online, and the after effect of a traumatic experience. We try to find someone to defend the manor, and get in touch with Russ McKamey.

Listen to episodes of Inside McKamey Manor wherever you get your podcasts.

Presenter: Elizabeth McCafferty

Producers: Mansi Vithlani, Ailsa Rochester

Executive Producer: Jo Meek

Sound Design: Craig Edmondson

Legal Advice: Angie Mell, Reviewed and Cleared

Inside McKamey Manor is an Audio Always production

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

McKamey Manor trades on its reputation, both good and bad. In this episode we unpack the legal difficulties Russ, and the manor has faced. A journey that takes us through financial woes, failed safety checks, and ends in 2024 with a charge of attempted murder. And we explore the interview which nearly ended the podcast before it began.

Listen to episodes of Inside McKamey Manor wherever you get your podcasts.

Presenter: Elizabeth McCafferty

Producers: Mansi Vithlani, Ailsa Rochester

Executive Producer: Jo Meek

Sound Design: Craig Edmondson

Legal Advice: Angie Mell, Reviewed and Cleared

Inside McKamey Manor is an Audio Always production

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Scare acting is more than performance — it’s about understanding fear and bringing it to life. At McKamey Manor, where actors are volunteers who’ve endured the experience themselves, the line between entertainer and participant fades. We hear from a McKamey Manor actor whose experiences ended in a police investigation and we uncover what it takes to turn fear into reality. What does it really mean to bring terror to life?

Listen to episodes of Inside McKamey Manor wherever you get your podcasts.

Presenter: Elizabeth McCafferty

Producers: Mansi Vithlani, Ailsa Rochester

Executive Producer: Jo Meek

Sound Design: Craig Edmondson

Legal Advice: Angie Mell, Reviewed and Cleared

Inside McKamey Manor is an Audio Always production

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How can we decipher between what’s real and what’s fake inside McKamey Manor? In episode 5 we explore Russ’s world of “smoke and mirrors” — is the torture that appears to happen on video fake? Or the only real thing about a manor tour? Elizabeth speaks to a creator of scary smells of horror experiences, and watches journalists undergo hostile environment training to learn how you turn an illusion into something real.

Listen to episodes of Inside McKamey Manor wherever you get your podcasts.

Presenter: Elizabeth McCafferty

Producers: Mansi Vithlani, Ailsa Rochester

Executive Producer: Jo Meek

Sound Design: Craig Edmondson

Legal Advice: Angie Mell, Reviewed and Cleared

Inside McKamey Manor is an Audio Always production

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.