Episodes

In celebration of Practical Magic 2 coming out this week, we’re returning to an episode where we visit the bewitching Pacific Northwest seaside town where Practical Magic was filmed! The enchantment doesn't stop there—while chatting with Margaret from Friends of Lone Fir Cemetery, we delve into her passion for preserving historic sites and the engaging tours that breathe life into forgotten stories. Our conversations even traverse through enormous pumpkin growing competitions, tea leaf reading...

Besalynn Mary James was 62 years old when she disappeared from her home on the Lummi Nation reservation in January 2025. Her boyfriend told police she left at 2 AM to go for a walk in freezing temperatures. After she didn’t return, it took four days for him to report her missing. What her sister found when she went to check on Besalynn's dogs didn't match his story. The clothes he said Besalynn was wearing were still inside the trailer. In this episode, we walk through the timeline of Besalynn...

In Southern Oregon, the historic Wolf Creek Inn has welcomed travelers, celebrities, and curious guests since the 1800s. Originally built along the Applegate Trail, it became a popular stop for settlers, miners, stagecoach passengers, and later railroad and highway travelers. The inn has hosted famous guests including Jack London, John Wayne, Clark Gable, Carole Lombard, Orson Welles, and Sir Anthony Hopkins. Jack London especially loved the inn, spending a summer writing there, and his former r...

Picking up where we left off in Part 1, Earle Leonard Nelson — the man newspapers called the 'Dark Strangler,' the 'Gorilla Man,' and the 'Gorilla Killer' — unbeknownst to the public or authorities had left the Pacific Northwest and was heading east. Behind him: a trail of victims across California, Oregon, and Washington, including four in Portland alone. Ahead of him: a killing spree that would accelerate across the Midwest and Eastern United States before finally being brought to a halt in Wi...

From San Francisco to Winnipeg, he carried a worn Bible and a strange but seemingly polite smile. He answered ads about homes for sale and rooms for rent where he was invited in by unsuspecting, vulnerable women. Between February 1926 and June 1927, twenty-two women and one eight-month-old baby lost their lives to Earle Leonard Nelson – the man newspapers of the day called the 'Dark Strangler,' the 'Gorilla Man,' and the 'Gorilla Killer.' Four of those killings took place in Portland, with three...

Dive into the weird world of Pacific Northwest cryptids as we separate fact from fiction. This week, we're climbing into the forests of Washington to investigate the legendary Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus, one of the internet's most famous hoaxes that became a surprisingly convincing lesson in online misinformation. Then we head beneath the Tacoma Narrows Bridge to uncover the legend of the terrifying King Octopus, a cryptid inspired by real giant Pacific octopuses. Is there really a monster ...

In 1986 the North and West End neighborhoods of Tacoma trusted their parks. That was, until two girls disappeared from public parks in Tacoma, Washington within a few miles and a few months of each other, both stories ending in tragedy. Twelve-year-old Michella Welch disappeared from Puget Park on a bright Wednesday afternoon in March. Thirteen-year-old Jennifer Bastian vanished from Point Defiance Park while riding her brand-new Schwinn bike that same year in August. For nearly three decades, ...

On March 9, 2000, Leah Roberts left her home in Durham, North Carolina, on a Kerouac-inspired cross-country road trip in search of something she couldn’t quite name, telling no one exactly where she was going. At 23, in the wake of multiple personal tragedies she had recently dropped out of college just as graduation was nearly in sight. Days later, she reached Bellingham, Washington. Five days later her Jeep was found wrecked at the bottom of an embankment, where many important and prized poss...

In this episode, we dive into chilling Reddit true stories from across the Pacific Northwest, featuring creepy encounters, unexplained mysteries, and possible paranormal activity in Oregon and Washington. First, a couple hiking Hobbit Beach on the Oregon Coast discovers a disturbing forest altar made of candles, feathers, eggs, and animal bones before crossing paths with two suspicious strangers. Then, we explore a terrifying encounter on the Pacific Crest Trail near White Pass, Washington, wher...

On July 9, 1734, a Native woman named Patience Boston confessed to drowning an eight-year-old boy in a well — then walked two miles to turn herself in. Seventy-two years later, to the day, a respected Maine farmer spent an evening sharpening an axe and reading his Bible by candlelight before murdering nearly his entire family. Two tragedies. Same calendar date. Both set in colonial Maine, centuries ago. Two documents, centuries-old that survive only because someone who knew the people involved...

Deep in eastern Oregon, the historic town of Sumpter is home to one of the Pacific Northwest's most fascinating Gold Rush landmarks: the Sumpter Valley Dredge. Built to recover gold flakes from the Powder River, these massive gold dredges operated around the clock, reshaping the landscape and leaving behind towering tailings that are still visible today. Now preserved as the Sumpter Valley Dredge State Heritage Area, visitors can tour one of the largest surviving gold dredges in the United State...

In October 2023, Kristil Krug began receiving threatening messages she believed were coming from an ex-boyfriend she hadn't spoken to in years. She filed police reports, kept a detailed log, installed cameras, obtained a concealed carry permit, and ran home defense drills with her children. She told her father: "Someone's going to die. It's either me or him." She was right. She just didn't know the threat was already inside her house. On December 14, 2023, eleven days before Christmas, Kristil...

In honor of Pride Month, we're resharing this very important unsolved murder. 🌈 We'll see you next Thursday! Loni Kai was a vibrant, friendly, well-liked young woman. She has also graced the 5 of Hearts in a cold case deck of cards. Loni was born Lorenzo Okoruru in the Mariana islands, but by 2001 she was living in the Hillsboro/Aloha area of Oregon with some of her extended family that lovingly supported her whole heartedly. This one hits close to home, quite literally. On August 26th as she t...

In November 1988, Deborah "Debe" Atrops left a hair appointment in Tigard, Oregon and never came home. When she was found — what investigators discovered would haunt Washington County for decades. Debe was 30 years old. She was a mother to an eight-month-old daughter. She had told a friend: "If anything happens to me, Bob did it." It would take decades, a new cold case unit, and a trial that raised as many questions as it answered to bring this case into a courtroom. But the Washington County...

Step into haunted Port Gamble, Washington, a historic mill town founded in 1851 and home to the infamous Walker-Ames House, known as the most haunted house in Washington. From ghostly women in the windows and children's voices in the attic to mysterious EVPs, shadow figures, and unexplained apparitions, this abandoned home has become a legendary paranormal hotspot. In this episode, we explore the haunted history of Port Gamble, chilling ghost tour encounters, paranormal investigations, and firs...

On May 20, 2016, multiple 911 calls reported a black Chrysler Sebring drifting across multiple lanes of Interstate 5 south of Tumwater, Washington — with no one at the wheel. When authorities searched the car, they found a wallet, phone, keys, cash, and curiously a bag of snacks still sitting upright in the center console. What they didn't find was 19-year-old Logan Schiendelman. Ten years later, no one knows what happened to him. The week he disappeared, Logan sent a text to a young woman he'd...

Explore the haunted history of the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse on the Oregon coast. Yaquina Bay Lighthouse was abandoned after only three years and nearly demolished before locals fought to save it. Today, it’s famous for chilling ghost stories, including the legend of Muriel, a teenage girl who mysteriously vanished inside the lighthouse in the tale The Haunted Lighthouse. Along with eerie legends of a phantom lighthouse keeper and unexplained hauntings at Yaquina Head Lighthouse. We also uncover s...

On the evening of March 6, 2009, Nancy Moyer stopped at a grocery store in Tenino, Washington, paid by check, and drove home. After that night, she was never seen again. She left behind her purse, her keys, her car, and two wine glasses on the coffee table. When Bill, her husband from whom she had separated, brought their daughters back two days later, he found the front door ajar, the lights still on – and no Nancy. Her purse was inside. Her keys were inside. Her car was in the driveway. She w...

On the evening of June 26, 2009, ten-year-old Lindsey Baum left a friend's house in McCleary, Washington for the short walk home, but she never arrived. McCleary is the kind of town where everyone knows each other - fewer than 2,000 residents, two dozen streets, one major employer. It was exactly the kind of place Melissa Baum thought was perfect for a fresh start with her two kids after relocating post-divorce from Tennessee. It felt safe. It felt quiet. And then it didn't. What followed was ...

This episode dives into the immersive Titanic Artifact Exhibit at OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry), blending haunting history, real-life tragedy, and eerie modern-day coincidences. The exhibit’s emotional weight builds through authentic artifacts, heartbreaking survivor and victim stories. The episode also explores Pacific Northwest connections, including Herman Klaber and the Warrens of Portland, alongside modern tragedy with Paul-Henri Nargeolet and the Titan submersible implosion...

What happens when a city decides kindness is better than cruelty? In this special crossover episode of Rainy Day Rabbit Holes, we’re joined by the incredible gals from PNW Haunts & Homicides to explore one of the strangest—and most unexpectedly...

George Cecil David’s journey from Neah Bay to Port Angeles along Washington’s rugged coastline should have ended in a somber gathering just days later—family and friends coming together in remembrance. Instead, it became the beginning of a mystery that would remain unsolved for years. In March of 2016, renowned Indigenous artist and master carver George Cecil David was on his way to Vancouver Island to attend a funeral, stopping in Port Angeles along the way—but he never made it to his final de...

This episode features stories of real-life paranormal encounters, blending eerie roadside sightings with deeply personal ghost experiences that blur the line between reality and perception. One listener recounts a terrifying shadow figure sighting on a dark, snowy country road. Describing a human-like silhouette illuminated briefly in oncoming headlights before vanishing without a trace. The unexplained encounter leaves lingering questions about shadow people and other supernatural phenomena, es...

A hidden treasure. A cryptic 24-line poem. The hunt that followed blurred the line between adventure and obsession—and in some cases, turned deadly. In this collaborative episode with the Rainy Day Rabbit Holes podcast, we dig into the story of Forrest Fenn and the decade-long mystery that sent thousands into the Rocky Mountains searching for gold. What begins as a story about curiosity and exploration quickly turns darker—with dangerous terrain, mounting controversy, and lives lost along the ...