The world is more mysterious than most people are comfortable imagining. We cross paths with the mystical from time to time and may not even notice it. If we do, we quickly return to our usually mundane daily existence. But what if we not only acknowledged the unknown, we investigated it and spoke with those in the know? That's what co-hosts Scott Philbrook & Forrest Burgess, and co-executive producer Tess Pfeifle do at Astonishing Legends. Over 100 million downloads and hundreds of thousands of listeners have discovered the thrill of exploring the mysteries of our world, showing that the unknown can be both captivating and intriguing. Welcome to Astonishing Legends!
In tonight's dead letter, Keith takes us back to the spring of 1997, when he was a freshman at Rutgers living on the third floor of Clothier Hall, a brick dorm in downtown New Brunswick, New Jersey. Early one Saturday morning, with the first light coming in around the curtain, he opened his eyes and someone was sitting on the floor against his roommate's bed, six feet away, in a room he had locked the night before. Someone, or some…thing…that shouldn’t have been there.
Relevant Prior Episodes
Ep 26: Shadow People
Astonishing Legends (https://astonishinglegends.com/al-podcasts/2017/2/6/ep-026-shadow-people) · Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/episode/7wNUanfRFXoQ0QOhy5l58L) · Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shadow-people/id923527373?i=1000355594797)
Ep 338: Your True Halloween Stories IV, Part 3
Astonishing Legends (https://astonishinglegends.com/al-podcasts/2026/10/24/ep-338-your-true-halloween-stories-iv-part3) · Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/episode/0V4o0hd5ZWQw7t4pL7UN3z) · Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/your-true-halloween-stories-iv-part-3/id923527373?i=1000797975812)
Ep 87: Black Eyed Kids Part 1
Astonishing Legends (https://astonishinglegends.com/al-podcasts/2017/10/22/ep-87-black-eyed-kids-part-1) · Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/episode/1WeXzbjFl1azd7xjpEOc5o) · Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/astonishing-legends/id923527373?i=1000393874073)
Links and Further Reading
Clothier Hall (Rutgers Residence Life) (https://ruoncampus.rutgers.edu/node/230)
Weird NJ (https://weirdnj.com/)
Shadow person (Wikipedia) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_person)
Note: We call Benadryl's active ingredient pseudoephedrine in the episode. It's diphenhydramine.
Hypnagogia and the hypnopompic state (Wikipedia) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnagogia)
Hypnic jerk (Wikipedia) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnic_jerk)
Jim Harold's Campfire (https://jimharold.com/category/jim-harolds-campfire/)
Miyamoto Musashi (Wikipedia) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miyamoto_Musashi)
Wild Talents, by Charles Fort (1932), free to read at sacred-texts.com (https://sacred-texts.com/fort/wild/index.htm)
We're looking for more stories! Send your Dead Letter to deadletteroffice@astonishinglegends.com!
25 Oct 2026
Your True Halloween Stories IV Part 3
Our Halloween tradition continues with three more listeners sharing encounters they still can’t explain.And this time we’re lucky enough to have paranormal investigator, researcher and author Michelle Belanger join us to help answer the question connecting these stories: does this phenomenon have a name?At a Southern California shopping mall, Amy gets in line for food when two young women behind her suddenly fill her with an intense feeling of dread.In Los Angeles, Zee picks up two young women from an unlikely spot near a freeway overpass, and before long, an ordinary ride begins to feel anything but.Lastly, Mike takes us back to a Chicago suburb in 1988, where a routine walk near a cemetery leads to a passing encounter with two women he has never forgotten.Turn down the lights and join us for the final set of this year’s true Halloween mysteries.Visit our website (https://astonishinglegends.com/al-podcasts/2026/10/24/ep-338-your-true-halloween-stories-iv-part3) for a lot more information on this episode.
20 Oct 2026
S2 Ep39: Above the Top Floor
In tonight's dead letter, we're in Cluj-Napoca, Transylvania in the 1990s, a few years after the revolution, where our listener Nadina, six at the time, had the run of a Soviet-era apartment block with her older sister and their best friend while their nanny visited a friend upstairs. They climbed past the last floor of apartments to the metal door at the top, and before anyone could touch it, something huge, aggressive and feral sounding on the other side began attacking it so hard they fled. Nadina still doesn't know what was up there.
Relevant Prior Episodes
Ep 49: Monsters Among Us
Astonishing Legends (https://astonishinglegends.com/al-podcasts/2017/2/7/ep-049-monsters-among-us) · Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/episode/2il0qVGYdmvyV7MBLWtQ28) · Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/monsters-among-us/id923527373?i=1000376271976)
Ep 116: Small Town Monsters
Astonishing Legends (https://astonishinglegends.com/al-podcasts/2018/8/25/ep-116-small-town-monsters) · Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/episode/2R6U64cV98pANVHIzHDIOa) · Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/small-town-monsters/id923527373?i=1000418508545)
Ep 183: Sam the Sandown Clown
Astonishing Legends (https://astonishinglegends.com/al-podcasts/2020/7/25/ep-183-sam-the-sandown-clown) · Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/episode/4AYUfURRV0JnpEDwzFKrRi) · Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sam-the-sandown-clown/id923527373?i=1000486127116)
Ep 203: The Beast of Gévaudan
Astonishing Legends (https://astonishinglegends.com/al-podcasts/2021/02/28/ep-203-the-beast-of-gevaudan) · Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/episode/5mq9Gg4Xk3cEmZzyf4pRWV) · Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-beast-of-gevaudan/id923527373?i=1000511045159)
Links and Further Reading
Hoia Baciu Forest (Astonishing Legends) (https://astonishinglegends.com/astonishing-legends/2024/10/12/hoia-baciu-forest)
History of Cluj-Napoca (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cluj-Napoca)
Systematization in Romania (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systematization_(Romania))
Transylvanian Superstitions, Emily Gerard, 1885 (Project Gutenberg) (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/52165)
Pricolici (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pricolici)
Strigoi (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strigoi)
Tracing the Roots of Lycanthropy (Astonishing Legends) (https://astonishinglegends.com/astonishing-legends/2023/10/5/tracing-the-roots-of-lycanthropy)
The Beast of Bray Road (Astonishing Legends) (https://astonishinglegends.com/astonishing-legends/2022/10/6/z0qo7hqmykoet5qmtnjn5knceo0cod)
Blonde Venus (1932) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blonde_Venus)
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