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Beyond the Ferns

Beyond the Ferns

Written by: Susie Winn
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 True crime podcast by Susie Winn© 2025 Beyond the Ferns Art
Episodes
  • 58. The Mysterious Disappearance of Maura Murray - Part II

    58. The Mysterious Disappearance of Maura Murray - Part II
    Feb 14 2026
    In this week's episode, we are headed back to New Hampshire in Part II (final part) of the Mysterious Disappearance of Maura Murray. We will be diving into details concerning the 22 year long investigation, the many person of interest leads that have been chased throughout the years, and the circulating theories of what could have happened on that fateful day in February 2004. PLEASE NOTE: If you have any information on this cold case, please speak up. A case is never fully cold and it could be just what is needed to crack the case open and lead to answers. These are the best channels for submitting any potentially useful information: New Hampshire State Police – Cold Case Unit:Call the Cold Case Unit at (603) 271-2663 Email Cold Case Unit:coldcaseunit@dos.nh.gov — often used for tips and detailed information! Gloucester, Massachusetts Police Department: 978-283-1212 The Murray family maintains an official site about Maura’s disappearance. If you believe your information might help and want to reach out directly to the family or share your tip, there’s a contact form and press email: mauramurraypress@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr
  • 57. The Mysterious Disappearance of Maura Murray

    57. The Mysterious Disappearance of Maura Murray
    Feb 7 2026
    In early February 2004, 21-year-old Maura Murray was a nursing student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Smart, athletic, and known for her quiet determination, Maura had once attended United States Military Academy at West Point before transferring to UMass to pursue nursing. On the surface, she looked like someone building a future — clinical rotations, classes, a tight circle of family. But in the days leading up to February 9th, there were fractures forming beneath that surface. A few days earlier, Maura had been involved in a minor car accident while driving her father’s vehicle after a late night out. No one was seriously hurt, but it was another stressor layered onto an already heavy week. There were academic pressures. There were questions about her personal life. There were small, seemingly isolated events that, in hindsight, feel like pieces of a larger puzzle. Then came Monday, February 9, 2004. That afternoon, Maura emailed her professors and supervisor, saying there had been a death in her family and she would be gone for a few days. There had been no death. She withdrew nearly all the money from her bank account — just under $300. She purchased alcohol. She packed some belongings. She printed directions to northern New Hampshire — specifically to the White Mountains area, near Bartlett. And then she left campus. What’s haunting is how ordinary it all seemed at the time. College students take breaks. They drive to clear their heads. They don’t always tell everyone where they’re going. As evening fell, Maura drove north in her black Saturn sedan. The further she traveled from Massachusetts, the darker and more rural the roads became. Snowbanks lined stretches of highway. Temperatures hovered below freezing. By nightfall, she would be hundreds of miles from campus, on a quiet stretch of road in Haverhill, New Hampshire. And within minutes, everything would change. But up until that moment — she was just a young woman driving into the winter night, with a destination in mind and questions she may or may not have planned to answer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    59 mins
  • 56. The Unexplained Phenomenon of Cattle Mutilation

    56. The Unexplained Phenomenon of Cattle Mutilation
    Feb 1 2026
    For decades, ranchers across the United States have walked out to their fields expecting an ordinary morning — only to find one of their cattle dead under circumstances that make no sense. No signs of struggle. No tracks in or out. Although troubling, the state that they are in gives the most cause of concern. The animal is often found with certain tissues and organs missing with what witnesses describe as precise, almost surgical cuts. There’s frequently an unusual lack of blood at the scene. Scavengers — which normally descend quickly in rural environments — sometimes avoid the carcass for days. To the people who discover them, it doesn’t look like a normal predator kill. It doesn’t look like disease. And it doesn’t look random. Reports like this surged in the 1970s, drawing enough public concern that even the Federal Bureau of Investigation reviewed cases. Explanations have ranged from natural decomposition and scavenger activity to secret government testing, cult activity, and — of course — extraterrestrial involvement. But no single answer has ever fully accounted for every reported detail: the precision, the timing, the repeated patterns across states, and the strange environmental clues some ranchers claim to notice. What keeps the mystery alive is consistency. Different states. Different decades. Different ranchers telling nearly the same story — healthy livestock, no warning, and a scene that feels staged rather than natural. Whether the cause is misunderstood science, human involvement, or something we don’t yet have a framework to explain, cattle mutilation remains one of those rural phenomena that lives in the uneasy space between folklore, forensic debate, and genuine unanswered questions. And maybe that’s why it lingers. Not because we have no theories — but because none of them fully close the case. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    31 mins
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