Mount Shasta has a reputation that stretches far beyond its trails. People come here for the scenery, but the stories that surround this mountain go in every direction. In this episode, we look at the documented disappearances, the search efforts that followed, and the conditions that made those cases so difficult to resolve. We also explore the stranger accounts tied to the area: the claims of hidden cities beneath the mountain, the Bigfoot reports, and the well‑known “robot grandma” encounter that has circulated for years.

In this episode:

• Documented missing‑person cases on Mount Shasta
• Search and rescue details and environmental conditions
• Claims of hidden or ancient civilizations beneath the mountain
• Bigfoot reports connected to the region
• The “robot grandma” encounter and how it entered local lore
• How these stories have shaped the mountain’s reputation

Sorry this episode was delayed. I was unwell this week.

A corner of the internet once promised something unthinkable: a place where anyone could hire a killer with a few clicks. It called itself Besa Mafia, and for a brief, chaotic moment, it became one of the most infamous “hitman‑for‑hire” sites on the dark web. But behind the ominous branding and whispered rumors was something far stranger and far more human than a criminal empire.

We explore:

• How Besa Mafia rose to notoriety as the “dark web’s most dangerous hitman site”
• Why so many people fell for a service that never actually existed
• The real‑world investigations and arrests that followed

In 1897, Zona Heaster Shue was found dead at the bottom of a staircase in Greenbrier County, West Virginia. Her death was ruled natural. Her husband insisted on a quick burial. And the case should have ended there. But it didn’t. Because Zona’s mother, Mary Jane, claimed her daughter came back from beyond the grave to tell her she’d been murdered.

This episode breaks down what really happened inside that house, what Mary Jane knew that she shouldn’t have known, and the ghost story printed on the front page of The Greenbrier Independent that may have shaped everything that came next. We explore the miscarriage theory, Trout Shue’s history, the bloody sheet, and the possibility that the wrong person could have been blamed. And we look at how Trout’s own testimony — not the ghost — ultimately sealed his fate.

This episode includes discussion of:

• Death
• Domestic violence
• Pregnancy loss
• Racial bias in 19th‑century Appalachia

Percy Fawcett: The Explorer Who Walked Into the Amazon and Never Returned

In 1925, legendary explorer Percy Fawcett set out with his son and his son’s best friend to find a lost city he called “Z.” They walked into one of the most unforgiving regions of the Amazon rainforest and vanished without leaving a single confirmed trace behind.

This episode breaks down the theories that have followed the case for nearly a century. You will hear about the belief that Fawcett reached a hidden community he had written about for years. You will also hear the idea that he crossed into something stranger, such as a portal or a shift in time. We look at the possibility of conflict with an isolated tribe, along with the very real dangers of the Amazon itself, including starvation, sickness, predators, and exposure.

We also explore the quieter theory that Fawcett and his team may not have died at all. Some believe they could have joined a remote community and lived out their lives far from the world they left behind.

In this episode, we walk through one of the most haunting unsolved cases in American history: the 1912 Villisca Axe Murders. We explore the suspects, the theories that divided a town, the strange clues left behind, and the chilling possibility that the killer returned to the Stillinger girls’ room after the murders.

If you enjoy the episode, follow along for more folklore, true crime, and the uncanny:

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Step back onto the crooked path… if you dare.

Season 2 opens the door to a deeper, stranger, more intimate exploration of the stories that cling to the edges of our communities; the hauntings we inherit, the mysteries we can’t shake, and the histories that refuse to stay buried.

This season, we’re venturing into some of the most unsettling and compelling stories ever told, including:

• The Villisca Axe Murders and the eerie echoes inside that still Iowa home
• The strange, magnetic pull of Mount Shasta and the legends that refuse to die
• The doomed Franklin Expedition and the spectral trail it left across the Arctic
• The Mothman sightings that spiraled into prophecy, panic, and folklore
• The Vatican Secret Archives and the shadows cast by centuries of hidden history
• UFO encounters, unexplained disappearances, and the patterns no one wants to acknowledge
• Cryptids, conspiracies, and the stories that thrive in the dark corners of belief

Season 2 is more atmospheric, more personal, and more unsettling; a descent into the shadows with intention, curiosity, and respect.

Follow, subscribe, and stay close. The path is darker this time… but you’re not walking it alone.

As the holiday season settles in and the year winds toward its close, Down the Crooked Path is shifting its weekly rhythm. For the next few weeks, our Thursday episodes are taking a brief winter rest. In their place, we’re bringing you a special run of Canadian Creepies every Tuesday—bite‑sized explorations of the strange, the spectral, and the wonderfully weird corners of Canadian folklore.

Regular full-length episodes return in the New Year, but until then, consider these eerie little detours our gift to you.

Tonight, we travel to the windswept prairies of Alberta, where the tracks cut through open land and the past refuses to stay quiet. Locals have whispered for generations about a phantom locomotive that barrels through the night near Medicine Hat—headlight blazing, wheels screaming, and yet… no train ever arrives.

During the holiday season Down the crooked path is taking a Canadian Detour. We are revisiting our Tuesday Segments over on our sister podcast Canadian Creepies.

Don't worry! Regular episodes will resume soon!

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Project Magnet — a little‑known program launched in the 1950s to investigate UFOs, magnetic anomalies, and unexplained aerial phenomena.

Listeners will discover:

• ✦ The origins of Project Magnet and its ties to Canada’s Department of Transport
• ✦ The role of Wilbert B. Smith, the engineer who spearheaded the study
• ✦ The legacy of Project Magnet in Canadian UFO lore and why it still fascinates researchers today