Mugshot Mysteries
Some stories are solved. Most aren’t.
The interesting ones refuse to stay buried.
Mugshot Mysteries is a deep-dive podcast hosted by Kathryn and Gabriel, exploring true crime, conspiracies, paranormal encounters, cults, historical disasters, government cover-ups, and the stories that keep people awake long after the episode ends.
Every episode blends immersive storytelling, psychological analysis, dark humor, and the kind of rabbit holes that make you question whether history is telling the full truth.
One week it’s serial killers. The next it’s MKUltra, haunted hospitals, vanished ships, UFO encounters, or deaths that still don’t make sense decades later.
Kathryn brings the research. Gabriel brings the questions, the theories, and occasionally a comment so out of pocket it completely derails the conversation.
Expect deep dives, unexpected tangents, and at least one moment where Kathryn has to stop and say, “Wow. Wow wow wow.”
If it’s disturbing, unexplained, historically strange, or impossible to forget… it belongs in the lineup.
New episodes every week.
Mugshot Mysteries
The Flatwoods Monster: West Virginia's 1952 UFO Encounter That Terrified a Nation
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September 12, 1952. Seven people climb a hill in Flatwoods, West Virginia after watching a red light streak across the sky. At the top, they encounter something ten feet tall with a spade-shaped head, glowing eyes, and a metallic body. They run in terror. Several begin vomiting.
To understand what happened, you need to understand 1952 America. The Soviets had the bomb. Boys were dying in Korea. UFOs appeared on radar over Washington DC.
Kathryn and Gabriel examine witness testimonies and Project Blue Book's barn owl conclusion. They investigate the unexplained chemical smell and what extreme fear does to visual processing.
Then the twist. Gray Barker, who spread the story and invented Men in Black mythology, didn't believe in UFOs. Four months later, the CIA's Robertson Panel recommended debunking UFO reports to prevent mass hysteria.
The Flatwoods Monster wasn't extraterrestrial. It was created from atomic age fears.
SOURCES:
Barker, Gray. "The Monster and the Saucer." Fate Magazine, January 1953.
Barker, Gray. They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers. New York: University Books, 1956.
Feschino Jr., Frank C. The Braxton County Monster: The Cover-Up of the Flatwoods Monster Revealed. Charleston, WV: Quarrier Press, 2004.
Nickell, Joe. "The Flatwoods UFO Monster." Skeptical Inquirer 24, no. 6 (November/December 2000).
Ruppelt, Edward J. The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1956.
Robertson Panel Report. "Report of Meetings of Scientific Advisory Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects." CIA, January 14-18, 1953.
Stewart, A. Lee Jr. "Visitors from Outer Space." Braxton Democrat, September 18, 1952.
United States Air Force. Project Blue Book Case Files, Case #2020, September 12, 1952.
LIFE Magazine. "Have We Visitors from Space?" April 7, 1952.
Charleston Gazette newspaper coverage, September 13-30, 1952.
Pittsburgh Press special report on Flatwoods incident, September 1952.
CBS Television interview transcripts with Kathleen May and Eugene Lemon, September 1952.
Korean War casualty records for Braxton County, West Virginia, 1950-1952.
Churchill, Winston. "Sinews of Peace (Iron Curtain Speech)." Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri, March 5, 1946. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QuSXZTo3Uo
"Duck and Cover." Federal Civil Defense Administration, 1951. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lg9scNl9h4Q
Samford, Maj. Gen. John A. "Statement on Flying Saucers." Press conference, Pentagon, Washington, DC, July 31, 1952. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-MbGYAv7Cg
DISCLAIMER:
This podcast discusses the Cold War including nuclear weapons, the Red Scare, Korean War casualties, and theories involving mass psychogenic illness and government coverups. We present both skeptical and believer perspectives while emphasizing genuine witness trauma and 1950s American anxiety. The views and interpretations expressed are those of the hosts and do not constitute professional historical, medical, or psychological adv
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