This week on Para(normal), Marie and Nicolina dive into two stories: the nuclear whistleblower who was killed before she could talk, and the Bavarian law office that baffled physicists from the Max Planck Institute.

Karen Silkwood knew about 40 pounds of missing plutonium at the Kerr-McGee plant. She was on her way to meet a New York Times reporter when her car left the road. The documents she was carrying were never found. Was it an accident, or was Karen silenced?

Then: one of the most rigorously documented paranormal cases in history. In 1967, a quiet law office in Rosenheim, Bavaria became the centre of unexplainable chaos, phones dialing on their own at speeds no human finger could match, fluorescent lamps swinging in empty corridors, paintings rotating 360 degrees on their hooks. When parapsychologist Hans Bender mapped the disturbances, they all pointed to one person: a stressed, unhappy 19-year-old secretary named Anne-Marie Schneider. 

If this episode got under your skin, follow Para(normal) so you never miss a story, and leave us a review. Got a story that keeps you up at night? True crime, conspiracy, paranormal, we want it. Email us at paranormalpod@gmail.com and you might hear it on the show.

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The Karen Silkwood Cover-Up & The Rosenheim Poltergeist

This week on Para(normal), Marie and Nicolina spiral into one of the strangest conspiracy theories yet: what if legendary cryptids like Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, and the Thunderbird weren’t just folklore… but cover stories?

The girls investigate the chilling theory that intelligence agencies may have allowed, or even encouraged, paranormal myths to distract from covert military operations during the Cold War. From the CIA’s infamous “Acoustic Kitty [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_Kitty]” experiment to military dolphin programs, UFO misinformation, and Loch Ness naval theories, this episode explores the uncomfortable line between conspiracy and documented history.

Then, the tone shifts into one of the darkest true stories ever covered on the podcast: the Radium Girls [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radium_Girls]. Young women hired during WWI to paint glowing watch dials were told radium was safe, even as companies knew otherwise. What followed was a horrifying corporate coverup involving radiation poisoning, collapsing bones, lawsuits, and women who changed labor laws forever. 

Follow, rate, and share Para(normal) wherever you listen to podcasts and send your spooky stories to paranormalpod@gmail.com.

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Was Bigfoot a Psyop? Cold War Cryptids & the Horrifying Truth of the Radium Girls

What if ghosts aren’t something you find… but something you create?

In this episode of Para(normal), we dive into one of the strangest real-life experiments ever conducted, the Philip Experiment [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_experiment], a 1970s Canadian study where researchers attempted to invent a ghost from scratch… and may have succeeded.

Through séances, collective belief, and sheer imagination, participants reported table movements, knocking responses, and even the emergence of a distinct “personality.” But was it proof of the paranormal, or something even more unsettling about the power of the human mind?

Then, we pivot into something far darker and very real.

We investigate Havana Syndrome [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Havana_syndrome], a mysterious condition affecting diplomats, intelligence officers, and now potentially scientists across the globe. Symptoms include vertigo, brain fog, memory loss, and unexplained neurological damage, with some experts pointing to directed energy weapons as a possible cause.

From Cold War microwave research to modern intelligence leaks and alleged Russian weapon development, this story blurs the line between conspiracy and reality in a way that’s impossible to ignore.

Are these incidents psychological… technological… or something we’re not meant to understand yet?

Because if belief alone can create something that feels real…how do we know what isn’t?

 

In This Episode:

 * The Philip Experiment: the ghost that never existed… until it did
 * The science of collective belief & the ideomotor effect
 * The rise of Havana Syndrome and global AHI cases
 * Government denial vs. emerging evidence of directed energy weapons
 * The overlap between psychology, physics, and the paranormal

Sources:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-military-tested-device-that-may-be-tied-to-havana-syndrome-60-minutes-transcript/

https://www.politico.eu/article/havana-syndrome-link-russia-military-intelligence-agency-gru-report/

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⭐️ Rate & review if you’re ready to question everything

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The Philip Experiment & Havana Syndrome

This week on Para(normal), we dive into two stories that challenge what we think we know—about history, science, and ourselves.

First: Baalbek, Lebanon.

A site built with stones weighing up to 1,000 tons, placed with impossible precision. No machinery. No explanation. And no clear answer on who actually built it. Was it Roman engineering… a lost civilization… or something else entirely?

Then, we shift to one of the most disturbing experiments ever conducted.

In the 1960s, researcher John C. Lilly attempted to teach a dolphin named Peter to speak English. The experiment escalated into isolation, blurred boundaries, and deeply unethical decisions, including a controversial relationship between human and animal.

Two completely different stories.

One shared question: Are we more advanced than we think… or less in control than we believe?

Follow Para(normal) for more stories that sit right on the edge of science, history and something darker.

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Ancient Secrets and a Disturbing Experiment

This week on Para(normal), we start with a story that isn’t paranormal…but might be even more disturbing.

In the quiet desert town of Hinkley, California, families began getting sick: cancer, miscarriages, unexplained illnesses. What seemed random turned out to be anything but. When a file clerk named Erin Brockovich [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erin_Brockovich] started connecting the dots, she uncovered a corporate cover-up involving Pacific Gas and Electric Company, toxic groundwater, and a chemical no one was supposed to question.

This is the real story behind one of the largest environmental lawsuits in U.S. history and the invisible danger that lived in something as ordinary as drinking water.

Then, we shift into the chaos of 2026.

A viral story spreads online: a Florida man claims he was kidnapped by dolphins and forced to build an underwater city. Led by a telepathic dolphin named Gerald [https://www.reddit.com/r/creepypasta/comments/1rvif18/the_florida_man_who_was_kidnapped_by_gerald_the/], the story had everything; science, conspiracy, and just enough detail to feel real. Except…none of it was.

We break down how the internet turned satire into “fact,” why people believed it, and what it says about the way misinformation spreads in real time. Because sometimes the scariest stories aren’t the ones that are true…They’re the ones we want to believe.

In this episode:

 * The real Hinkley water contamination case
 * How Erin Brockovich uncovered a corporate conspiracy
 * The 2026 “dolphin kidnapping” hoax explained
 * How viral misinformation spreads (and why it works)

If you’re loving Para(normal), follow, rate, and share this episode with someone who absolutely would’ve believed the dolphin story.

Got a story we should investigate next? 📩 paranormalpod@gmail.com

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Erin Brockovich & Gerald the Dolphin

This week on Para(normal), we start in rural Japan with the legend of Ochobamba, a mysterious healer said to cure the sick during devastating cholera outbreaks but at a cost no one fully understood. Patients claimed they could feel something being pulled from their bodies. And after her death? Her grave became something no one dares touch. Is this a case of folklore shaped by fear? Or did Ochobamba take something with her that never truly left?

Then, we shift to small-town Ohio, where the infamous Circleville Letters turned an entire community into suspects. Anonymous messages exposing deeply personal secrets. A husband dead under suspicious circumstances. A woman publicly targeted. And even after someone is arrested… the letters keep coming.

Someone was watching. Someone knew everything.

If you’re loving Para(normal), don’t forget to follow, rate, and share this episode with someone who definitely would’ve touched that grave.

Got a story we should tell? Send it our way at paranormalpod@gmail.com.

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The Curse of Ochobamba & The Circleville Letters

This week on Para(normal), we start with a Canadian study showing low belief in ghosts, psychics, and astrology, then dive into a case that refuses to make sense.

In 1906, 16-year-old Clara Germana Selle claimed she made a pact with the devil. Witnesses reported violent reactions to religious objects, unexplained language comprehension, and levitation during exorcisms. Then it all stopped. Completely. No relapse. No clear explanation.

Next, we head closer to home; the former Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital in Ontario. Once home to over 1,300 patients and more than 1,000 lobotomies, it now sits quietly as part of Humber College. But visitors still report footsteps, apparitions, and a feeling that something hasn’t settled. So we ask: is this paranormal…or just history we haven’t fully faced?

Sources

UBC Paranormal Belief Study

https://news.ubc.ca/2025/10/belief-in-paranormal-canada-ubc-study/

Follow Paranormal and leave a review — it helps more people find the show. Send this episode to someone who “doesn’t believe”… and see if that changes. Stay curious.

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The Exorcism That Worked and the Hospital That Didn’t

This week on Para(normal), Nicolina and Marie explore two chilling stories where the real horror isn’t supernatural; it’s human.

First, Nicolina dives into the Tuskegee Syphilis Study [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_Syphilis_Study], one of the most disturbing medical abuses in U.S. history. For 40 years, hundreds of Black men were deceived and denied treatment while government doctors secretly observed the progression of syphilis, even after a cure existed. The fallout from this betrayal still shapes public trust in medicine today.

Then, the conversation shifts to the shadowy world of Operation Mockingbird [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mockingbird], the Cold War era web of CIA relationships with journalists, media organizations, and cultural institutions. What happens when the institutions meant to inform the public become entangled with those trying to shape the narrative?

From propaganda and psychological warfare to the long-term consequences of institutional deception, this episode explores the stories that still haunt society today.

Because sometimes the most paranormal thing in the room…is the truth.

If you love dark history, conspiracies, and the strange stories hiding just beneath the surface, follow Para(normal), leave a review, and stay spooky.

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Tuskegee, Mockingbird & the Machinery of Mistrust

This week on Para(normal), chaos meets mystery as Marie, Nicolina, and returning guest Cody Crain spiral through two wildly different — and equally unforgettable — stories.

First, we dive into one of Canada’s strangest forgotten true-crime cases: the bizarre disappearance of a beloved CBC children’s television puppet. In 1954, Uncle Chichimus vanished from a parked car in downtown Toronto, triggering national headlines, public appeals, and even a reward for his safe return. The media called it a kidnapping. Kids offered up their own toys as replacements. And then…the trail went cold. Was it a publicity stunt? A collector’s secret prize? Or just a thief expecting something more valuable inside the case?

Then the tone shifts from quirky to chilling.

We head into open waters off the Pacific Coast, where multiple U.S. Navy warships reported being surrounded by unidentified aerial objects during training exercises in 2019. Radar tracked them. Thermal cameras recorded them. Official deck logs described them. The Pentagon confirmed the footage was real. So what were they?

Advanced drones? Foreign surveillance tech? Classified military programs? Or something far stranger — objects moving seamlessly between sky and sea?

From vintage television mysteries to modern military encounters, this episode explores how the unexplained can surface in the most unexpected places… and why the questions often linger longer than the answers.

Also inside this episode:

• Cody’s dramatic return (and lawn-lurking entrance)

• Unfiltered horoscope chaos

• The accidental birth of the “Drone Bros”

• Why some mysteries feel bigger than the evidence

If you enjoyed this episode, follow the show, leave a rating, and share it with your favourite mystery lover.

Sources & Further Reading:

CBC Archives: https://www.cbc.ca/archives

Canadian Encyclopedia (Broadcast History): https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca [https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/]

U.S. Department of Defense Releases: https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases

Investigative Coverage — NYT: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/28/us/pentagon-ufo-videos.html

The War Zone Analysis & Timeline: https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone

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Uncle Chichimus & The Drone Bros

A collapsing staircase dream kicks off this episode and somehow it only gets darker from there.

First, we examine Divine Madness Running Club and its leader “Yo” (Marc Tizer): ultra-endurance meets alleged coercive control, sexual hierarchy, and a spiritual community that appears to have quietly migrated from Boulder to rural New Mexico under The Retreat. We also unpack the bizarre letter found in the Epstein files and what can (and can’t) be verified.

Then we dive into the disturbing case of Lamb Funeral Home in Pasadena: families paying for private cremations, bodies allegedly burned in batches, remains commingled, unauthorized tissue harvesting, and a scandal exposed after neighbors reported a smell they couldn’t ignore.

No ghosts this week, just corruption, control, and the systems that let it happen.

If this episode hit you, please follow, rate, and leave us a review, it helps Para(normal) reach more listeners. Share this episode with a friend who loves cult deep-dives and true crime, and tag us with your thoughts.

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Cults, Crematories & Control

Para(normal) is a weekly entertainment, comedy, and non-investigative paranormal podcast where hosts, Marie Adoranti & Nicolina Savelli share tales of ghostly experiences – from famous hauntings to listener submitted hometown haunts, and special guest encounters – it’s like listening to spooky stories at a slumber party with your best friends.