Paranormal Encounter: Black Eyed Children | The Witnesses Who Refused To Open The Door — Ep. 56
Brian Bethel’s Abilene, Texas encounter sits at the center of the modern Black-Eyed Children urban legend, partly because it starts so munda...

Join host Robert Barber on this haunting journey through America’s darkest legends.
State of the Unknown is a haunted places podcast that explores urban legends, paranormal stories, and eerie folklore rooted in real locations and forgotten history. From ghost-filled hotels to cursed trails and unsolved mysteries, each episode pulls you into the shadows—where the truth is stranger than fiction… and not everything stays buried.
OUR PODCAST
Join host Robert Barber as he examines one of the most unsettling modern paranormal phenomena: reports of Black Eyed Children. The story begins with a reported encounter in Abilene, Texas, where journalist Brian Bethel claimed two mysterious boys approached his car late at night and repeatedly asked...
In November of 1957, drivers on the rural roads around Levelland, Texas began reporting something strange. Their engines sputtered. Their headlights went out. Their vehicles stopped working near strange lights or glowing objects on or above the road. And when those lights disappeared, the cars and t...
In 1958, an ordinary family home in Seaford, Long Island became the center of one of America’s strangest poltergeist cases. Join host Robert Barber as he investigates the Seaford incident, the famous Long Island haunting remembered as Popper the Poltergeist, where bottles reportedly opened by themse...
Join host Robert Barber as he examines the Enfield Horror, also known as the Enfield Monster or Enfield Creature, one of Illinois’ strangest reported cryptid encounters. In April 1973, Henry McDaniel reported hearing scratching at the front door of his home in Enfield, Illinois. When he went to inve...
Robert the Doll is one of the most famous haunted objects in the United States. For decades, the doll has been connected to stories of movement, strange sounds, changing expressions, camera malfunctions, visitor misfortune, and apology letters sent by people who believe they disrespected him. But be...
Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery has a reputation, and it didn’t come from stories alone. Visitors have reported seeing figures moving between the headstones, unexplained lights in the trees, and one photograph that captured something no one could explain. Join host Robert Barber as State of the Unknown ex...
FROM THE BLOG
Brian Bethel’s Abilene, Texas encounter sits at the center of the modern Black-Eyed Children urban legend, partly because it starts so munda...
On November 2, 1957, the Levelland Incident turned ordinary West Texas highways into a string of small emergencies. Drivers outside Levellan...
The Seaford incident is one of the most documented American poltergeist cases, not because it comes with perfect proof, but because it colli...

I got my start in broadcasting while still in high school, working on-air at a local radio station where I introduced big band music and learned the fundamentals of audio production. That experience sparked a lasting interest in narration, recording, and the power of sound to create atmosphere. I'm also a guitarist, and over time, those creative threads have stayed central to my work.
By day, I lead training projects in the corporate world. But outside of that, I’ve always been drawn to the strange and unexplained—haunted places, forgotten history, and the kinds of stories that linger in the background. State of the Unknown brings all of that together. It’s where I explore what’s just out of sight—usually with my yellow lab Rosie close by.
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Just found you. Only listened to 1 episode so far. Very good ! I’ll be catching up . They all sound interesting. Thank you.
Fantastic, absolutely riveting podcast about the unknown that actually...keeps it real! Love the storytelling, the subtle effects, the delivery and the questioning at the end...Robert Barber does an excellent job of reflecting on each episode by questioning the validity, the possibility, the reasoning and the parallels...
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