STATE OF THE UNKNOWN
Exploring Paranormal Stories and Dark American Folklore
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.
Poltergeist Case: The Seaford Incident | The Long Island Disturbance That Drew National Attention — Ep. 54
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...
Creature Encounter: The Enfield Horror | The Case That Turned a Small Illinois Town Upside Down — Ep. 53
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...
Haunted Object: Robert the Doll | Why Visitors Apologize After Taking His Photo — Ep. 52
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 | The Place Where the Dead Don’t Stay Buried — Ep. 51
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...
Bonus Episode | Beyond the St. Louis Exorcism: What Do Real Exorcisms Actually Look Like?
The St. Louis exorcism shaped what many people think possession is supposed to look like, but what do real cases actually report? In this bonus episode of State of the Unknown, Robert Barber steps back from a single case to look at the broader question of possession and exorcism. Drawing on document...
The St. Louis Exorcism: The Case That Inspired The Exorcist—and Shaped What People Think Possession Looks Like (Episode 50)
In 1949, a teenage boy in St. Louis became the center of one of the most documented exorcism cases in American history. What followed involved multiple priests, medical observation, and handwritten records describing events that have never been fully explained. Decades later, the case would inspire ...
The Snedeker Haunting | The Case Inside a Funeral Home That Investigators Couldn’t Explain — Ep. 49
In the 1980s, the Snedeker family moved into a house in Southington, Connecticut, looking for space and stability while their son Philip underwent cancer treatment. What they didn’t fully understand at the time was what the house had been before they moved in. It wasn’t just an older home. It had on...
The Lindley Street Poltergeist | The Girl Said It Was a Hoax… So What Did Police Witness? — Ep. 48
A young girl said the haunting was a hoax. But police were inside the house when objects reportedly moved…. In 1974, police were called to a small home on Lindley Street in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Inside, they reported objects moving on their own. Furniture shifting. Activity that continued while p...
The Cash–Landrum Incident | The Night the Sky Burned Over Texas — And What It Did to Them — Ep. 47
On December 29, 1980, three witnesses driving along a rural road outside Dayton, Texas reported one of the most unusual UFO encounters ever documented in the United States. Betty Cash, Vickie Landrum, and Vickie’s seven-year-old grandson Colby Landrum were returning home after a night of bingo when ...
Bonus Episode: The Black Forest Haunting | The Colorado Poltergeist Case That Was Never Explained
In the late 1960s, a quiet home in the Black Forest area near Colorado Springs became the center of a disturbing series of events. The family living there claimed objects moved on their own, household items were thrown across rooms, and unexplained disturbances seemed to occur while people were stan...