Astonishing Legends

Believe it or not, we've always viewed this podcast as a journey.  Initially, we wanted the feel of the show to embody the spirit of why we wanted to start a podcast in the first place – because we enjoyed discussing the strange and mysterious stories of this weird and wonderful world of ours with good friends.  We hope that spirit of camaraderie, curiosity, and discovery remains.  We're still unsure where this adventure into the unknown will take us, perhaps to some enlightenment or just more questions, but we couldn't be more grateful and honored that you've decided to travel with us.  Along the way, many listeners have had questions for us or wanted to share an anecdote about their own experiences.  As we've said many times before, one of our few regrets is that we haven't had the time to answer or respond to all of them directly, but perhaps these next two episodes will help a bit with that.  We felt it was a good time to take a moment, well, two very long moments spread out over two episodes to address s

Bonus show on the Hellfire Club of Dublin, originally posted to Patreon, now being shared on our main feed during this dark week. No associated webpage for this episode, but here is a link to Part 1 of the original Loftus Hall Series.

We are sharing 2h45m uninterrupted audio file of heavy surf at high tide from February 14th, 2020 late evening at Carolina Beach. Recorded with a Zoom H4N at a high sample rate. Use it for sleep, meditation, ambience or don't use it at all. Share with anyone you'd like, but not for profit. All rights reserved by Astonishing Legends Productions, LLC

It seems Lady Wonder was much more than a "One-trick Pony."  But even if you consider her one trick to be an abnormal aptitude for intuitiveness and the ability to express it, that's quite a trick for an animal.  Her impressive skills were at least intriguing enough to garner a scientific study of her phenomenon by a couple of leading researchers of the day.  Joseph Banks Rhine or "J.B." as he was known, and his wife Louisa E. Rhine were the founders of the branch of psychology known as parapsychology, with J.B. credited with coining the term Extrasensory Perception, or E.S.P.  In a week, they conducted around 500 experiments on Lady Wonder's powers.  While there was no conclusive proof that the horse had an individual and infallible psychic perception, the data collected was enough to astound the Rhines since no human trickery was detected.  In the following years, J.B. Rhine would come to doubt his initial conclusions, although he never expounded on his later thinking.  Still, he wondered if there wasn't in

Many folks simply don't believe in psychic abilities.  But those that have had a total stranger tell them something about themselves that the person couldn't possibly know have often had a change of heart.  But what if that impossible information came from a horse!  There have been quite a few trained animals over the years that have displayed an uncanny ability to perform human-like mental feats.  From counting numbers and communicating to predicting the outcomes of sporting events, these clever animals have delighted and entertained us with their tricks.  But none have come close to the prodigious prognostication of a horse named "Lady Wonder."  Lady Wonder was a mare raised by Claudia and Clarence Fonda on their farm in Richmond, Virginia.  From her beginnings as a weeks-old foal, it was clear to Claudia that Lady was special, as she demonstrated an almost supernatural ability for intuitiveness.  Claudia soon trained Lady to recognize the alphabet with the use of toy blocks.  As she grew, Clarence fabricat

Many of us have seen all those ghost hunting shows on Cable Television and elsewhere. They usually feature an intrepid team of Paranormal Researchers trying to capture supernatural activity using electronic equipment like Night-vision cameras, audio recorders, and specially modified gear to aid in Instrumental Trans-Communication, or “ITC.” The evidence gathered is often compelling and entertaining, but usually frustratingly lacking in details. What we want to know is, who or what is this thing making its presence known, and most chillingly, what does it want? For those answers, some shows employ a psychic or a medium, and yes, there’s a difference. What these gifted individuals can tell us is what they can supposedly see that the cameras cannot, messages the recorders cannot hear, and sensations no device can detect. We’re fascinated by the insight because the answers lead to the more significant question, and that is, what happens to us after we die and what’s it like “beyond the veil?” And whether we belie

For nearly a month, the boys who originally discovered the "Kera Object" continued to search for and experiment with it, almost like a wild animal they hoped to tame.  The tale of their exploits with the bizarre item would be more comfortable to pass off as a childish prank if not for the corroboration of its existence by at least a couple of adults.  One of the boys, Yasuo, brought home the device to be examined by his father, Matsuo Fujimoto, who was then the director of the Center for Science Education in Kōchi City.  The boy's father, someone with scientific training, gave the object a cursory examination.  He determined that it appeared similar to an antique cast iron ashtray, but too light for the real thing.  Peering through the holes in the bottom, Mr. Fujimori noticed that the internal components were similar to a radio's.  However, he was unable to look any closer since it could not be opened and lost interest in the find.  He would later express regret for not having studied the object more closely

Some of the most extraordinary and interactive encounters with UFOs or anomalous objects are surprisingly the least well-known.  And yet elements of the tale once heard could seem to be quite familiar. Tonight’s subject appears to be just one of those cases.  Although there are variations in the details of the incident, the general narrative goes as follows.  In the afternoon or early evening of August 25, 1972, 13-year-old student Michio Seo was passing by a rice paddy in his neighborhood of Kera near Kochi City on Shikoku Island in southern Japan when something caught his eye.  A small, strange hat-shaped device was flying erratically several feet above the field.  With a dull silver metallic finish, and a wide brim sloping upward to a bell-shaped flat top, Michio would describe its flight pattern as like a bat zig-zagging to catch insects.  Mustering his courage, Michio cautiously approached the tiny UFO until it seemed to sense his proximity and shot a bright beam of light in his direction, chasing him aw

After a long and successful piratical career in the Gulf of Mexico, the United States government finally, and firmly, requested the Laffite brothers leave Galveston Island forever.  On May 7, 1821, Jean Laffite left without protest, but not before he had his men torch his Maison Rouge headquarters and all buildings within the settlement of his Campeche compound.  It’s also likely he took with him his massive hoard of ill-gotten booty, possibly loaded onto four ships, one of which was his vessel, the Pride.  But the corsair life was in their blood, and Laffite could not leave it nor the Gulf.  He and his men would continue to take prizes there and in the waters off Cuba and Central America until his debated end sometime between 1823 and 1826.  The mysteries of his legend would continue to live on, as the search for his millions never ceased.  Although no one has publicly claimed to find his treasure, our interview guest, Cody Hix, may have found tantalizing clues leading to Laffite’s lost ship.  Cody, his brot

Some lost treasures are legendary because of what is hidden. Some are legendary because of who did the hiding. Both types of captivating tales are found in the book Coronado’s Children. Published in 1930 and written by Texas folklorist and author J. Frank Dobie, Coronado’s Children is an enthralling collection of stories about buried treasure, Old West capers, and the often dangerous quest for a fleeting fortune by adventurous characters. Usually a blend of documented events and dubious oral history, these stories are not merely Tall Tales but testaments of a pioneering spirit that furthered the exploration of the American southwest and was foundational to the United States as a country. One such account that stood out to us was the legend of Jean Laffite and his brother Pierre. Spelled “Laffite” by the brothers themselves, but recorded in contemporary official US documents as “Lafitte,” theirs is a chronicle that begins and ends in mystery and everything in-between became firmly entrenched in the early histo

We’re all sequestered in our respective locations these Strange Days, with many of us using teleconferencing applications to connect with co-workers, friends, and family. It’s a tool we use in our regular production of the podcast since we’ve been separated by a continent. But now we thought it was time to put it to even better use to check in with our good friends Rich Hatem and Rob Kristoffersen. We first met Rob in 2016 when he graciously helped us research UFO subjects. He has since gone on to produce his own podcast, Our Strange Skies, a captivating and in-depth program on the phenomenon. Rich was introduced to us through a mutual friend when an uncanny discovery occurred. He was not only the screenwriter of The Mothman Prophecies, a film we often discussed, but he also had a vast knowledge of, and a shared passion for the paranormal. We’ve had both fine gentlemen on past episodes separately, but never with all of us on together. Tonight’s show will be a free-wheeling, casual conversation covering such t

Astonishing Legends presents the premiere of Season 2 of our additional show, The Midnight Library. The remaining 12 episodes can be found, dropping weekly on Sundays, on The Midnight Library's own feed. Please find and subscribe to it wherever you get your podcasts! Welcome back, Dear Guests! - Goddess Tree, Witch Tree, Bearer of a Gift Tree; Tonight we gather to learn what ancient magical powers can be found in a Rowan tree. Infused with myths, imbued with luck, and sacred to this day, the Rowan tree may be just the thing to bring joy to your garden, or it may even save your life! For more information on this episode visit our website!

Valid hypotheses about the Lost Colony of 1587 on Roanoke Island have existed since the settlers' disappearance.   In 1603, Bartholomew Gilbert attempted the last contemporary expedition to locate the colonists, but his search ended with the death of himself and four crewmen at the hands of Algonquian natives.  John Smith, an influential leader of the Jamestown Colony of 1607, had heard stories from Native American chiefs about villages where some of the men wore European-style clothing.  His search efforts would come up empty-handed, except for producing a map showing the locations of the suspected communities with walled housing.  It wasn't until 1701 with John Lawson's expedition to the then Province of Carolina that a European exploration would again check the Roanoke site along with the Croatoan area, which became Hatteras Island.  Lawson's examination of Roanoke yielded few clues except for the ruins of a fort and some English items.  His meeting with the Hatteras natives, however, provided a curious re

Few realize or remember that the very beginnings of English colonization in North America were fraught with tremendous hardship, peril, and connected to an enduring mystery.  A charter was granted to Sir Walter Raleigh by Queen Elizabeth I of England in 1584 to explore and colonize lands unclaimed by Christian kingdoms, south of Newfoundland, and north of Spanish Florida.  With hopes of finding vast riches as the Spanish Empire had done in Central and South America and a possible Northwest Passage to the Pacific Ocean, Raleigh had initiated two attempts at establishing an English settlement along the coast of present-day North Carolina.  The first colony was set up by Governor Ralph Lane in 1585 on Roanoke Island, located in the Outer Banks.  This enterprise would end in failure and evacuation from scare resources and hostile relations with the local Native American tribes.  A second attempt at a colony came in 1587 with Governor John White and around 115 men, women, and children who had agreed to settle in t

On November 29, 1925, the tramp steamer SS Cotopaxi left port at Charleston, South Carolina, under the command of Captain William Meyer loaded with her usual cargo of coal, and headed for Havana, Cuba. The voyage was routine until the ship ran into a fierce tropical storm off the eastern coast of Florida near Jacksonville. On December 1, the Cotopaxi sent out a distress call saying it was taking on water and listing badly. A thorough search of the area found no trace of the vessel or its thirty-two crew members, and the Cotopaxi would become another entry in the long record of seafaring mysteries, with many believing it had also become a victim of the infamous Bermuda Triangle. Although a notable tragedy in its day, the story of the Cotopaxi would fade from the public's memory, that is until it made a surprising cameo in Steven Spielberg's 1977 motion picture, Close Encounters of the Third Kind. What would later become even more surprising was the discovery of a shipwreck matching the Cotopaxi's description s

As with any mysterious event, it’s often said that we should look to the simplest solution as being most likely the right one.  The idea that when presented with competing hypotheses that make the same predictions, the solution with the fewest assumptions should be chosen is usually attributed to the principle of “Occam’s razor.”  But what happens if we try to apply this cure-all of an axiom to explain a medieval legend that has few clues associated with it?  In Part Two of our series on The Pied Piper of Hamelin, we’ll explore several of the leading hypotheses on this bizarre event such as the plague and Murine Typhus, forced emigration, the “Dancing Madness” and ergotism, slavery, the Crusades and even alien abduction.  And if we return to applying “Occam’s razor” to this mystery from the Middle Ages and accept the contemporary accounts?  Then what remains is the disturbing thought that somehow, a nefarious charmer simply used a flute to tragically persuade a large group of children to follow him into obliv

In the year 1284 CE, a remarkable and colorfully dressed young man came to the town of Hamelin in Lower Saxony, Germany.  There are two documentations of this wanderer’s visit, the originals of which have since been lost.  According to the contemporary Hamelin chronicle and a depiction in a stained glass window in a local church, this handsome stranger began to play his flute through the streets.  Enchanted by the notes, 130 children from the town followed him into the woods, never to be seen again.  In the hundreds of years since the supposedly real event occurred, the most significant addition to the story would be the reason for the mass kidnapping.  After successfully ridding the town of a plague of rats using his musical pipe, the payment the piper was promised was withheld by the mayor and the town leaders.  Furious at his being cheated, the magical visitor took their children as his payment.  This later variation of the narrative we have all come to know as “The Pied Piper of Hamelin.” Today, we may th

In this episode, we revisit the Sallie House in Atchison, Kansas – by way of The Dave Glover Show, as Scott's not quite ready to return in person. ; ) Being an Astonishing Legends listener himself, Dave has graciously invited Scott and Forrest to appear on his show several times.  Now it was time to repay the favor, especially since Dave and his crew had a chilling and emotional experience there themselves.  The Dave Glover Show has been driving St. Louis home for 20 years.  Airing regularly from 3 pm to 7 pm Monday through Friday on 97.1 Talk Radio, Dave and his co-hosts Rachel and Tony, along with their producer Ryan, get to discuss their curiosities during the "Paranormal Wednesday" segments.  For their Halloween Specials, the team will investigate a regional haunt, such as the famous Lemp Mansion or the "Exorcist House."  This past October 2019, had the DGS crew investigating the Sallie House, motivated partly because of the house's notoriety and our series on it.  It would be safe to say that many who vi

Most people today believe that the legendary lost continent of Atlantis is just that, an ancient legend buried by time and not the ocean. The first known mention of the fable comes from two of Plato's dialogues,  Timaeus and Critias, where mighty princes ruled the massive and prosperous island. However, Atlantis' glory faded as they were conquered and eventually became undone by their evil and impious ways until earthquakes destroyed this once utopian land, submerging it under the waves. But what if the legend of Atlantis is real, and the account of an advanced civilization thriving in the expanse of the Atlantic ocean is more fantastic, bizarre, and unbelievable than one could imagine? In approximately 2500 "life readings" given by Edgar Cayce for roughly 1600 different people between 1923 and 1945, just such a narrative began to emerge. Of around 700 of the reading's recipients, nearly 50%, had been told that their past-life incarnations in Atlantis had left characteristics that were influencing their prese

The second half of Edgar Cayce's story would see more extraordinary experiences layered over an ordinary and humble man's life.  Even more unimaginable for his tastes was the non-medical information that would later come through him.  Though mostly remaining uncertain about the medical advice he'd been dispensing while in his sleep-like state, his answers to metaphysical questions distressed him, as they conflicted with his traditional Christian beliefs.  While suffering personal hardship and tragedy, Cayce was now also troubled by concepts his mediumship had introduced to him and would continue seeking philosophical reconciliation into his later years, which he would finally achieve.  But what remained constant throughout was Cayce's passion for helping others, and combined with the ever-increasing requests for treatment, it ironically wore down his health and shortened his life.  If we examine the Cayce phenomenon logically, there are several considerations.  If you believe it's impossible for a transcenden