State of the Unknown | True Paranormal Stories, Haunted History, and American Folklore
State of the Unknown
State of the Unknown is a podcast exploring true paranormal stories from the United States, including documented hauntings, unexplained encounters, and real-life cases investigated by witnesses, law enforcement, and researchers.
Each episode focuses on one paranormal story at a time, separating verified facts from reported experiences and examining what we know, what we don’t, and why these cases still matter.
Hosted by Robert Barber, the show explores haunted places, eerie encounters, forgotten folklore, and the events that shaped America’s most enduring paranormal stories. No sensationalism. No filler. Just clear, immersive storytelling built on research, eyewitness testimony, and the historical record.
If you’re drawn to haunted history, true paranormal accounts, and grounded, fact-based paranormal stories, you’ll feel right at home here.
New episodes every week.
🔗 www.stateoftheunknown.com
📸 @stateoftheunknownpodcast
Episodes
43 episodes
The Tallman Bunk Beds: The Ordinary Object Linked to a Terrifying Haunting — Ep. 34
In the late 1980s, a family in Wisconsin brought home a simple set of bunk beds for their children. Nothing about them seemed unusual. There was no known history tied to them, no warning signs, and no reason to think they would change anything ...
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Season 1
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Episode 34
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18:31
The Dybbuk Box: The True Story Behind America’s Most Haunted Object — Ep. 33
The Dybbuk Box is one of the most infamous haunted objects in modern paranormal history.But behind the viral stories, the museum footage, and the online legends, there was something real: a chain of people who claimed that nightmares, sh...
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Season 1
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Episode 33
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35:03
The Sallie House: The Terrifying True Haunting That Drove a Kansas Family Out of Their Home — Ep. 32
A quiet home in Atchison, Kansas. A nursery that never felt empty. Scratches that appeared on skin — fresh, burning, and witnessed in real time.This is the true paranormal story of the Sallie House haunting, one of the most disturbing an...
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Season 1
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Episode 32
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38:38
What Happened in Room 428? Ohio University’s Haunting Mystery — Ep. 31
On the fourth floor of Wilson Hall at Ohio University sits a sealed dorm room no one has lived in for decades, Room 428. Students have whispered about it for years: pacing footsteps behind a locked door, lights flicking on in the middle of the ...
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Season 1
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Episode 31
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19:31
The Bell Witch: The Terrifying True Story Behind America’s Oldest Haunting — Ep. 30
In the early 1800s, a quiet Tennessee farmhouse became the center of one of the most chilling and well-documented hauntings in American history. For more than two years, the Bell family claimed they were tormented by an unseen voice, one that s...
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Season 1
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Episode 30
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39:01
The Black Hope Cemetery: The Real Events That Mirror Poltergeist — Ep. 29
In the early 1980s, new homeowners outside Houston started finding coffins buried beneath their freshly built yards.Lights flickered, water ran on its own, and fear spread through the neighborhood—until they learned the truth.Thei...
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Season 1
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Episode 29
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15:35
Ghosts of Flight 401: The Haunting That Changed Aviation — Ep. 28
In 1972, Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 crashed into the Florida Everglades—killing 101 people.Months later, flight crews across the country began reporting something impossible: the faces of Captain Robert Loft and Flight Engineer Donald ...
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Season 1
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Episode 28
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27:48
The Haunting of Madison Seminary: The Investigation That Spoke Back — Ep. 27
In the quiet town of Madison, Ohio sits a building with nearly two centuries of history and more than a few secrets.Once a school, a Civil War widows’ home, and later a state-run institution, Madison Seminary has become one of the most h...
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Season 1
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Episode 27
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28:28
The Enfield Poltergeist: The True Haunted History Behind The Conjuring 2 — Ep. 26
Before The Conjuring 2 terrified moviegoers, there was a real family living through something no one could explain.In 1977, the Hodgson family of Enfield, London reported furniture moving on its own, voices echoing from the walls, and vi...
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Season 1
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Episode 26
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32:41
The Devil Made Me Do It: The True Story Behind America’s Most Shocking Possession Case — Ep. 25
In 1981, a quiet Connecticut town became the center of one of the strangest murder cases in American history.When nineteen-year-old Arne Johnson stabbed his landlord, he claimed something no U.S. court had ever heard before, that he was ...
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Season 1
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Episode 25
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32:35
Annabelle: The True Story Behind America’s Most Haunted Doll — Ep. 24
In the world of paranormal encounters and urban folklore, few stories are more chilling than this one.Before The Conjuring turned her into a horror icon, Annabelle was real — a simple Raggedy Ann doll at the center of one of the...
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Season 1
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Episode 24
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27:13
The Smurl Haunting: The True Paranormal Case Behind The Conjuring: Last Rites — Ep. 23
Before Hollywood gave it a name, there was the real story.Between 1974 and 1989, Jack and Janet Smurl claimed their quiet Pennsylvania duplex had become a battleground of good and evil — a haunting so violent it drew the attention of famed ...
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Season 1
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Episode 23
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28:15
Promo: The Real Conjuring Stories Are Coming This October
This October, State of the Unknown presents a special haunted series: the true stories behind The Conjuring movies.Join host Robert Barber as we dive into the real cases Ed and Lorraine Warren investigated — the ones th...
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Season 1
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0:56
The Haunted Lemp Mansion: One of America’s Most Haunted Houses — Ep. 22
St. Louis, Missouri. Once a mansion of chandeliers, marble, and fortune — now one of the most haunted houses in America.The Lemp family built their empire on beer, but inside their 33-room mansion, sorrow took root. Five suicides. A lega...
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Season 1
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Episode 22
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17:39
The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Abduction: America’s First Alien Encounter — Ep. 21
In September 1961, Betty and Barney Hill were driving through New Hampshire’s White Mountains when a strange light in the sky began to follow them. Hours later, they pulled into their driveway with two hours of missing time — and a story that w...
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Season 1
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Episode 21
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30:50
Poveglia Island: The True Paranormal Story Behind the World’s Most Haunted Island — Ep. 20
Just off the coast of Venice lies a place so feared that even locals refuse to go near it.Poveglia Island has been called the world’s most haunted island — a former quarantine zone and plague hospital where tens of thousands perish...
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Season 1
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Episode 20
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21:46
Atlantis: The Myth, the Mystery, and the Search for a Lost Civilization — Ep. 19
For centuries, the legend of Atlantis has captured our imagination — a powerful civilization said to have vanished beneath the sea. Was it a cautionary tale, a historical reality, or something else entirely?In this episode of State o...
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Season 1
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Episode 19
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29:20
Leap Castle: Inside Ireland’s Most Violent and Haunted Fortress — Ep. 18
Deep in the heart of Ireland stands Leap Castle — a centuries-old fortress known for bloodshed, betrayal, and the restless spirits said to haunt its halls. From secret dungeons and family murders to a malevolent presence known only as the E...
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Season 1
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Episode 18
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16:50
The Nuckelavee: Scotland’s Skinless Horror From the Sea — Ep. 17
Across the windswept Orkney Islands of Scotland comes one of the darkest legends in Celtic folklore — a creature born of sea mist and nightmare. Known as the Nuckelavee, this skinless, horse-like demon was said to spread plague, famine, and ter...
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Season 1
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Episode 17
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16:38
La Llorona: The Cry That Follows You Through the Night — Ep. 16
A river at night.A woman’s cry that chills the blood.La Llorona — the Weeping Woman — is Mexico’s most famous ghost.For centuries, she has haunted riversides and canals, searching for the children she drowned and lost. S...
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Season 1
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Episode 16
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13:58
The White Lady of Aokigahara: The Ghost Who Wanders Japan’s Suicide Forest — Ep. 15
In this inaugural episode of Out of State — a companion to State of the Unknown — join host Robert Barber as we step beyond America’s borders to one of the most haunted places in the world. We explore haunted history and paran...
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Season 1
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Episode 15
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14:21
Devil’s Bargain: The Bluesman Who Met Something at the Crossroads — Ep. 14
n the Mississippi Delta, they say a young man made a deal with the Devil at the crossroads — and changed music forever. Robert Johnson’s eerie legend has haunted American folklore for nearly a century, blurring the line between myth and reality...
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Season 1
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Episode 14
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33:51
Bigfoot, Black Goo, and the Monster We Keep Chasing (Part 2: Folklore, Fact & America’s Paranormal Obsession) — Ep. 13
What happens when mystery collides with science?In this episode, Robert Barber and returning guest Dr. Brian Parsons dig deeper into America’s strangest cryptid cases—like the Murfreesboro Mud Monster, black goo evidence, and unexplained...
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Season 1
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Episode 13
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27:17
Monsters in the Mist: Bigfoot, Mothman & America’s Cryptid Lore (Part 1 with Cryptozoologist Dr. Brian Parsons) — Ep. 12
What if the monsters we tell stories about… are still out there?In Part 1 of this special interview, Robert Barber talks with cryptozoologist Dr. Brian D. Parsons about the eastern U.S.'s most persistent legends—Bigfoot, Mothman, the Bea...
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Season 1
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Episode 12
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42:12
Teaser | Eastern Cryptids and Urban Legends: Myths & Monsters of Appalachia with Dr. Brian D. Parsons
In the next episode of State of the Unknown, host Robert Barber sits down with cryptozoologist and paranormal researcher Dr. Brian D. Parsons to discuss the strange creatures explored in his book, Eastern Cryptids. From the Beast of Bl...
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Season 1
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1:41