In Almost True, we explore the mysterious space between fact and fiction — where truth blurs into rumor, and rumor becomes legend.
Each episode dives into a story that's 50% real, 50% speculation — historical anecdotes, eerie coincidences, unexplained events, or strange urban myths that make listeners wonder: "Did that really happen?"
With a tone that's mysterious yet grounded, every story invites the audience to question what they know, think critically, and enjoy the thrill of uncertainty.
In 1982, a locksmith named Daniel Mercer investigates a mysterious brass key discovered inside an old Georgian building in Bath, England. Alongside the key is an architectural drawing showing a corridor and numbered doorway that no longer exist. Modern measurements suggest the passage should be impossible, yet the old plans indicate it was once part of the building.
One evening, Mercer and office manager Eleanor Pike claim to witness the solid basement wall transform into a dark corridor ending at a green door. Mercer enters the passage and discovers that the mysterious key fits its lock perfectly. But before he can open the door, the corridor disappears, leaving only an ordinary brick wall.
Historical records reveal evidence of an old service passage and unexplained structural alterations, but later investigations uncover no hidden corridor. Possible explanations include architectural changes, optical illusions, psychological suggestion, and unreliable memory.
The mystery ultimately raises a haunting question: Did the key briefly unlock a forgotten part of the building, or did two people experience the same convincing illusion?
8 Oct 2026
The Story You're Hearing Right Now — That May Not Be Fiction
In 1986, an assistant at a small English radio archive discovers a mysterious reel labeled Program 50. The recording tells the story of someone finding an impossible tape, but as it plays, ordinary details and events begin matching the listener's surroundings with unsettling accuracy.
As archivists Martin Bell and Ruth Ellis investigate, they discover that the recording appears to describe Martin's own actions. Years later, supposed copies emerge containing new passages that seem tailored to whoever is investigating them. Yet missing originals, suspicious edits, and unreliable memories make it impossible to establish whether the phenomenon is genuine or an elaborate psychological experiment.
The episode explores how coincidence, suggestion, selective attention, and distorted memory can make an ordinary recording feel prophetic. Its final twist turns the mystery toward the audience: what if the story you're listening to seems to know something about your own surroundings?
Perhaps the recording never predicted anything. Perhaps it simply understood how easily a story can change what we notice—and make us feel as though we have become part of it.
1 Oct 2026
The Stranger Who Knew Your Secrets
In 1977, residents of the English town of Ashcombe begin encountering a mysterious man who seems to know their most private secrets. He mentions unopened letters, childhood lies, hidden family histories, and even personal habits that his targets believe they have never revealed to anyone.
Journalist Peter Lyle investigates and considers rational explanations such as cold reading, overheard conversations, forgotten disclosures, careful research, and distorted memory. The mystery becomes personal when Lyle receives an anonymous letter referring to an unpublished photograph from his own past.
As the sightings eventually disappear, later investigation reveals how easily information could have traveled through Ashcombe's overlapping social circles—and how the legend became increasingly exaggerated over time. Yet several original incidents remain difficult to explain.
Perhaps the stranger could not read minds at all. Perhaps he simply understood how much people unknowingly reveal. And that possibility may be more unsettling than anything supernatural: your secrets may not be as secret as you think.
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