A mysterious surveillance video of Canadian college student, Elisa Lam, in the Cecil Hotel’s elevator shows that she may have suffered a mental breakdown before drowning herself in one of the hotel’s water tanks. Due to her strange behavior in the elevator, others think Elisa was running from an attacker—or worse—a demon of some kind. What really happened to Elisa Lam? Was it suicide? Murder? Something supernatural? Join us for this week’s episode to hear some of the strange circumstances and theories surrounding the enigma of Elisa Lam.

Resources

• How Did Elisa Lam End Up Dead in a Hotel Water Tank?
• The Strange Death of Elisa Lam

Music Copyright

• Anguish by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1400047. Artist: http://incompetech.com/

Early on Christmas morning, 1945, a fire destroyed the home of George and Jennie Sodder, leaving five of the couple’s 10 children dead. Or were they? The many mysteries surrounding the fire have made the Sodder children the center of one of America’s most infamous unsolved cases. Listen in as we discuss the enigma of the vanished Sodder children.

Resources

• Lost in the Ashes: The Mystery of the Vanished Sodder Children
• How Hot Is a Cremation Oven?

Music Copyright

• Anguish by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1400047. Artist: http://incompetech.com/
• Little Hands – Endless Melancholy
• Quarantine Isle – Edmond Aggabao

Sleep paralysis is a feeling of being conscious but unable to move or speak. One of the more frightening elements of sleep paralysis is seeing dark, shadowy figures floating toward you or hulking in the corner of your bedroom. Science has found a way to explain away the appearance of shadow people during sleep paralysis episodes, but what does it have to say about those who have seen shadow people during their waking hours?

This episode is available by following the links at the bottom of the web page.

References

• Sleep Paralysis
• The Official Shadow People Archives
• Why people with sleep paralysis have supernatural visions

The Fermi Paradox centers around the question: Why haven’t we had any contact with any aliens yet? Given that our star and Earth are part of a young planetary system compared to the rest of the universe — and that interstellar travel might be fairly easy to achieve — the theory says that Earth should have been visited by aliens already. According to NASA, scientist Adam Frank stated, For humans to be alone in the universe would be a one in 10 billion trillion chance. If there are theoretically 10 quadrillion intelligent civilizations out there, and if the chances of us being alone are 1 in 10 billion trillion, then where are all the aliens?

Join me this week as we discuss the Fermi Paradox, one of the universe’s greatest enigmas!

References

• Fermi Paradox: Where Are the Aliens?
• The Fermi Paradox
• What is the ‘Fermi Paradox’—and how long do we have until we find aliens?

Copyright Information

• Beginning by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
  Artist: http://audionautix.com.
• Lost Frontier by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
  Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1300039
  Artist: http://incompetech.com/
• Sunrise On Mars by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
  Artist: http://audionautix.com/

Every once in a while, a true crime case comes along that is truly baffling—one that requires a much more in-depth look. The killing of Julia Wallace is seen as the impossible murder; it’s a story that’s stumped even the brightest of super sleuths. What is it about the case that makes it so enigmatic? Join me this week as we take our most detailed dive into the champion of all murder mysteries: The Impossible Murder of Julia Wallace.

Resources

• The Killing of Julia Wallace: An Impossible Murder

Copyright Information

• Pictures from www.theunredacted.com
• Anguish by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
  Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1400047
  Artist: http://incompetech.com/
• Comfortable Mystery 1 – Film Noire by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
  Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100287
  Artist: http://incompetech.com/

It could be a travel diary written by aliens or a witch’s spellbook. It could just be an elaborate hoax or a strangely encoded book of botany. IT is the Voynich manuscript, and it’s one of the most puzzling mysteries in the history of the world.

References

• How the Voynich Manuscript Works
• Voynich Manuscript

Copyright Information

On the night of December 1, 1946, Paula Jean Welden told her roommate she was going for a “long walk,” but she was never heard from again. Was she murdered? Suicidal? Devoured by wild animals? Did she get lost on Vermont’s Long Trail and freeze to death? Tune into this week’s episode to hear the details of the mysterious and chaotic investigation that followed Paula’s disappearance.

References

• 10 Mysterious Disappearances in National Parks
• Paula Jean Welden
• The Disappearance of Paula Jean Welden

Copyright Information

• Dreams Become Real by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
  Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1500027
  Artist: http://incompetech.com/

An old friend, Haley, describes the mysterious events that took place in the remodeled church that acted as her childhood home. On tonight’s special Halloween episode, you’ll also hear the story of Haley’s other haunted house she moved into in Salt Lake City, Utah. Join the discussion in this week’s episode of Straight-Up Enigmas.

References

• Stone Tape Theory
• There are 7 basic types of haunting or Ghost: intelligent, residual, demonic, demonic possessed Intelligent human entitiy, poltergeist, shadow people, and elementals
• The Halloween Dawn by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
  Source: http://www.twinmusicom.org/song/248/the-halloween-dawn
  Artist: http://www.twinmusicom.org

In 1976, the peaceful town of Circleville, Ohio was interrupted by a mysterious letter writer leaving thousands of violent, vulgar letters in its residents’ mailboxes. Who was this enigmatic author? Was he or she responsible for the death of one Circleville resident? Listen in to this week’s episode on the Podbean app to find out.

References

• Circleville Letters Mystery Still Unsolved
• Paul Freshour’s 164-page PDF on his WordPress account
• Circleville Writer

Ogden City Cemetery in Utah is full of urban legends and hauntings from its many ghosts. One legend says that if you shine your headlights on Florence (Flo) Grange’s headstone three times, she will appear and walk toward your car. Is the legend true? Can Flo really be summoned just by shining lights on her grave? Join me this week as I discuss my very own supernatural encounter at Flo’s grave.

References

• 5 more ‘haunted’ places in Utah
• Flo’s Grave – Ogden City Cemetery
• Ghost of the Week: Haunted Ogden!
• Mysteries of the Green Light Cemeteries

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