Heart Starts Pounding: Horrors, Hauntings and Mysteries
byHeart Starts Pounding
FictionDramaHistoryTrue Crime
Horrors, hauntings and mysteries! A collection of scary stories that will have you on the edge of your seat. If you’re a fan of all things spooky, creepy, and thrilling, this is the podcast for you. Want more darkly curious content? Join the Rogue Detecting Society on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/heartstartspounding) for ad-free listening, exclusive bonus content and more! Follow @heartstartspounding on: YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@heartstartspounding/) // TikTok (https://www.tiktok.com/@heartstartspounding) // Instagram (https://instagram.com/heartstartspounding) // Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/people/Heart-Starts-Pounding/100087903971907/) Have a horrifying tale, paranormal encounter, or unsolved mystery that you’d like t...
Episodes(40 episodes)
E161 - The Mysterious Murder of An Aspen Socialite
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In February 2014, Aspen socialite Nancy Pfister was discovered murdered in the closet of her mountainside home, sending shockwaves through one of America's most exclusive communities. This is a case of wealth, betrayal, a shocking confession, and lingering questions that remain unanswered to this day. Three people were arrested, but were any of them telling the truth about what happened that night?
TW: SuicideIf you are in crisis, pl...
Published: Jan 29, 2026Duration: 41:21
E160 - Lost Media: Tapes Too Dark For The Public
Today, I want to look at two pieces of “lost media” with you all. One piece is lost because it was deemed too dark for the public to ever hear, and the other was lost when it was intentionally destroyed by the US government. That’s right, we’re going over the case of Timothy Treadwell aka Grizzly Man, and the Cavalese Tapes. So roll up your sleeves and let’s dive into the darkness together.
TW: Animal Mistreatment
Show Notes: https://www.heartstartspounding.com/episodes/grizzlyman
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Published: Jan 22, 2026Duration: 38:46
E159 - The Mystery of The Setagaya Family Murders
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One of my most terrifying fears is the idea that someone is watching me without me knowing about it. Or worse, that someone is inside my home watching me without me knowing about it. If that freaks you out as well, this might be a tough episode for you. Because today we are going to tell you about one of Japan’s most horrifying mysteries, but at its core was a fami...
Published: Jan 14, 2026Duration: 44:22
E158 - Inside the World's Most Haunted Castles | True Ghost Stories
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This week, we're exploring three of the world's most haunted castles—and the dark histories that made them that way. At Windsor Castle in England, we'll encounter the ghost of a beheaded king who appears whole. In Austria's Moosham Castle, we explore the only male dominated witch trials. And finally, we visit Himeji Castle in Japan to meet Okiku, the servant girl whose ghost inspired one of the most iconic images in...
Published: Dec 30, 2025Duration: 43:50
E157 - "Something Is Mimicking My Sister" and Other Terrifying True Stories From Listeners
Can listening to Heart Starts Pounding attract paranormal activity to your home? Today I'm reading the spooky stories YOU sent me, and they're absolutely terrifying. From haunted houses with dark figures and hidden tunnels, to roads that exist outside of time, to something that can perfectly mimic the people you love...these listener tales will make you question every shadow in your hallway.
Music provided by: YouTube @copyrightfreehorrormusic
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Published: Dec 23, 2025Duration: 39:29
E156 - Lost Media Vol. 2: Missing Holiday Media
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What happens when beloved holiday entertainment crosses the line? From Disney's The Santa Clause hiding adult Easter eggs that horrified parents, to the 1997 Macy's Day Parade disaster NBC tried to erase, to Vincent Price's final grief-stricken performance that Disney deemed "unusable". These aren't just missing tapes; they're pieces of holiday history someone decided we shouldn't remember.
TW: Graphic Description of injury
Show Notes: https://www.heartstartspounding.com/episodes/lostmediaholidays
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Published: Dec 16, 2025Duration: 37:26
E155 - Vanished At Christmas: Two Mysteries That Will Make You Question Everything
Today, I want to tell you about two winter mysteries that have haunted New York for over a century. The first is about Dorothy Arnold, who disappeared on a cold December day in 1910 after leaving a bookstore in Manhattan. And the second is about a devastating Christmas night fire in Staten Island in 1843, and the legend of the witch who started it.
Show Notes: https://www.heartstartspounding.com/episodes/witchofstatenisland
Subscribe on Patreon to become a member of our Rogue Detecting Society and enjoy ad-free listening, monthly bonus content, merch discounts and more. Members of our...
Published: Dec 9, 2025Duration: 42:47
Presenting: Otherworld | Zaza
Otherworld tells real stories of people who have experienced something paranormal or unexplainable. Host Jack Wagner takes an open minded and journalistic approach to the subject matter and aims to uncover some of the biggest mysteries of the world and how people react to it. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Published: Dec 4, 2025Duration: 9:26
E154 - Christmas Horror Folklore: Krampus, Frau Perchta & The Other St. Nick
Today I want to tell you about the dark origins of Christmas, before Santa Claus ever existed. We're diving into Frau Perchta, a Christmas witch who visited homes with iron scissors and a taste for porridge...whether she had to cut it out of you or not. We'll also cover the real Saint Nicholas and his disturbing miracles, and the demonic Krampuses who worked alongside him to drag sinners straight to hell. This beloved holiday is actually as dark as a Brother Grimms fairytale….
Show Notes: https://www.heartstartspounding.com/episodes/krampus
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Published: Dec 2, 2025Duration: 36:13
E153 - Cold Cases Solved This Year
Cold cases can sit on shelves for years without answers, but this year we’ve seen some amazing advancements in cases that police thought would never get solved. I want to tell you about three of them today, with twists that no one saw coming. We'll cover the Yogurt Shop Murders, and the shocking discoveries that led to arrests in the murders of Aliza Sherman and Doris Worrell.
Show Notes: https://www.heartstartspounding.com/episodes/yogurtshopmurders
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Published: Nov 25, 2025Duration: 46:48
E152 - Reddit Scary Stories: Terrifying Cult Encounters With Amanda Montell
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Today, we're discussing real terrifying encounters that people had with alleged cults. We’re talking Scientology, people from a “church” showing up at your door to maybe kidnap you, and more. Joined by Amanda Montell, author of the book Cultish, and the host of the Sounds Like A Cult podcast.
Where to Find...
Published: Nov 20, 2025Duration: 1:10:45
E151 - Mount Everest Horror: The Lost Climbers of the Death Zone
Last year, a group of adventurers with National Geographic were hiking Mount Everest when they saw a human foot sticking out of the ice. Now, it is not rare to see dead bodies on the mountain, there are at least 200 of them scattered around Everest, and many of them act as markers for trails, frozen forever in time where they fell
But this human foot in particular, had been on the mountain for 100 years and solved a century old mystery…
Show Notes: https://www.heartstartspounding.com/episodes/mounteverestbodies
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Published: Nov 13, 2025Duration: 38:10
E150 - Terrifying True Urban Legends: Cropsey and The Missing Children
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Today, I want to tell you about a horrifying urban legend that haunted a community nearby the ruins of the abandoned Willowbrook State School in Staten Island for decades. Eventually, children started really disappearing from this community, so let's explore the real story behind the urban legend....
TW: Child Abuse, Child Death
Show Notes: https://www.heartstartspounding.com/episodes/willowbrookstateschool
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Published: Nov 6, 2025Duration: 37:42
E149 - Skinwalkers, Stalked In The Backwoods, And Other Terrifying True Stories From Listeners (feat. Morgan Absher)
A strange whistling in the desert. A suspicious man lurking for young hikers. A timeslip. A house whose inhabitant might not be living. And More. The spooky tales we received from listeners like you, with special guest Morgan Absher from Two Hot Takes!
Listen to our other spooky collab!
In Our Spooky Era.. || Two Hot Takes Podcast || Scary Reddit Stories https://youtu.be/3qKr1ms2FuM?si=lrh3tbYYKklk5_OY
Find Morgan Here!
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TwoHotTakes
Subscribe on Patreon to beco...
Published: Oct 30, 2025Duration: 1:12:54
E148 - HSP Presents: The Timekeeper Ep. 4 "Win Or Die."
Charlie and Zoe race against the clock as they confront the true horror of Shady Pines and learn the truth behind Fairchild’s death.
The Timekeeper, features Judah Lewis as Charlie, Chandler Kinney as Zoe, and Arjun Athalye as Gama.
The Timekeeper was created, written, and directed by Matthew A Brown.
Sound Design, Scoring and Mix by Jeff Schmidt
Original Score composed by Joshua Zimmerman
Additional dialog editing by Marika Perlmutter
Executive Produced by Matthew A Brown, Kaelyn Moore, and Judah Lewis
The Timekeeper is a production from Heart Starts Pounding.
Fo...
Published: Oct 24, 2025Duration: 37:49
E147 - The Werewolf: H.H Holmes and His Murder Castle // MONSTERS SERIES
Step inside the legend of H.H. Holmes and the chilling labyrinth he built during the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. We'll follow a string of disappearances through the “Murder Castle” he built: a three story building with the sole purpose of killing as many people as discreetly as possible. Was Holmes a criminal mastermind, or has time twisted the tale?
Show Notes: https://www.heartstartspounding.com/episodes/murdercastle
Subscribe on Patreon to become a member of our Rogue Detecting Society and enjoy ad-free listening, monthly bonus content, merch discounts and more. Members of our Hig...
Published: Oct 23, 2025Duration: 52:56
E146 - HSP Presents: The Timekeeper Ep. 3 "Shady Pines. "
Charlie, Zoe and Gama head toward the coordinates Tim wrote down while he was playing the game, hoping to find him alive. Charlie keeps playing and finding more keys, but he can feel the Timekeeper closing in as his clock ticks down.
The Timekeeper, features Judah Lewis as Charlie, Chandler Kinney as Zoe, and Arjun Athalye as Gama.
The Timekeeper was created, written, and directed by Matthew A Brown.
Sound Design, Scoring and Mix by Jeff Schmidt
Original Score composed by Joshua Zimmerman
Additional dialog editing by Marika Perlmutter
Executive Produced by Matthew A Brown, Kaelyn Moore, and Judah...
Published: Oct 17, 2025Duration: 32:47
E145 - The Boogeyman: Hinterkaifek, The German Family Slaughtered By A Stranger // MONSTERS SERIES
Imagine you hear a strange sound coming from your attic one evening. What is scarier? That it’s paranormal? Maybe a ghost haunting your space? Or that it’s a person, an unknown intruder watching you from inside your own home? That is a question that a family in the German countryside had to ask themselves a hundred years ago. But we would never know their answer, because after hearing strange sounds coming from their attic, the entire family and their chambermaid were found brutally slain inside of their barn. What was tormenting the Gruber family?
TW: Child...
Published: Oct 16, 2025Duration: 50:09
E144 - Spooky Listen! Jack the Ripper | CLUES Podcast
**There is no ad-free version of this episode since it's not part of Heart Starts Pounding **
Today I’m sharing a special bonus episode from Clues, where Morgan Absher and I dig into the chilling mystery of Jack the Ripper.
In 1888, a brutal killer stalked London’s Whitechapel district, leaving behind mutilated victims, taunting letters, and a mystery that still grips the world. Jack the Ripper claimed at least five lives, and more than a century later, the clues he left continue to baffle experts and fuel debate.
We’re diving into the eviden...
Published: Oct 13, 2025Duration: 1:54:44
E143 - HSP Presents: The Timekeeper Ep. 2 "He's Always Watching."
Episode 2 of 4
After the video game behaves weirdly, Charlie and Gama pay a visit to Zoe (Chandler Kinney) to try and figure out how it works. Charlie storms out when Zoe’s boyfriend arrives, but calls on them for help once he comes to believe The Timekeeper is somehow watching him play.
The Timekeeper, Episode 2 features Judah Lewis as Charlie, Chandler Kinney as Zoe, and Arjun Athalye as Gama.
The Timekeeper was created, written, and directed by Matthew A Brown.
Sound Design, Scoring and Mix by Jeff Schmidt
Original Score composed by Joshua Zimmerman
Additional dialog editing by...
Published: Oct 10, 2025Duration: 34:27