The Index · Paranormal
Is Telekinesis Real? The Evidence for Psychokinesis
Can people move objects with their minds? Explore telekinesis, the history of psychokinesis experiments, and what controlled studies actually found.
Sep 27, 2026The index / Mysteries
Mysteries
Careful, contextual coverage of the darker and stranger side of history, crime, culture, and the unexplained.
The Index · Haunted Places
Borley Rectory: The Real History Behind England's 'Most Haunted House'
Borley Rectory became England's most famous haunting through reports, Harry Price's investigations and a lasting dispute over the evidence.
Sep 21, 2026
The Index · Unsolved Cases
The Villisca Axe Murders: The Unsolved 1912 Crime Behind Iowa's Haunted House
Eight people were killed in Villisca, Iowa in 1912. The historic crime remains unsolved; the house's later paranormal reputation is a separate story.
Sep 21, 2026
The Index · Unsolved Cases
The Sodder Children Disappearance: What Happened After the 1945 Fire?
Five Sodder children vanished after their West Virginia home burned in 1945. The evidence leaves real questions, but it does not establish either abduction or survival.
Sep 21, 2026
The Index · Unsolved Cases
The Hinterkaifeck Murders: What Happened at the German Farm in 1922?
Six people were killed at Hinterkaifeck in Bavaria in 1922. The surviving record establishes an unsolved crime, not the internet legend built around it.
Sep 21, 2026
The Index · Unsolved Cases
The Black Dahlia Murder: What Happened to Elizabeth Short?
Elizabeth Short's 1947 murder was never solved. Here is what the investigation established, what the press added, and why the leading suspect claims remain unproven.
Sep 21, 2026
The Index · Unsolved Cases
The Yuba County Five: What We Know About the 1978 Disappearance and Mountain Mystery
Five men vanished after a Chico basketball game in 1978. Four were found in the mountains, Gary Mathias was never found, and no theory explains every decision.
Sep 16, 2026
The Index · Haunted Places
Is the Queen Mary Haunted? The Real Deaths, Ghost Stories, and History of the Famous Ship
The Queen Mary's wartime service, collision with HMS Curacoa and Long Beach afterlife are documented. Its ghosts and Room B340 reputation belong to a different kind of history.
Sep 16, 2026
Lore & Explained · Modern Folklore
Men in Black Explained: How UFO Witness Stories Became a Modern Paranormal Legend
The Men in Black began as UFO-era stories about Albert Bender and Gray Barker, then became a modern paranormal legend. There is no proven organization behind the myth.
Sep 16, 2026
The Index · Paranormal
The Kelly-Hopkinsville Encounter: What Really Happened During Kentucky's 1955 'Goblin' Siege?
In 1955, families near Kelly, Kentucky reported small figures around a farmhouse. The police response is real; an alien siege is not established.
Sep 16, 2026
Lore & Explained · Folklore
The Beast of Gévaudan: The Real History Behind France's 18th-Century Monster Panic
Between 1764 and 1767, a series of deadly animal attacks terrified Gévaudan. Here is what the records say about the Beast, the hunts, Jean Chastel, wolves and later werewolf legend.
Sep 16, 2026
The Index · Unsolved Cases
D.B. Cooper Explained: The Hijacking, Ransom, Evidence, and Why the Case Is Still Unsolved
The real story of D.B. Cooper: the 1971 Northwest Orient hijacking, $200,000 ransom, parachute jump, FBI evidence, suspects, and the mystery that remains.
Sep 16, 2026
The Index · Dark History
The Lost Colony of Roanoke Explained: What 'CROATOAN' Really Means
John White returned to Roanoke in 1590 to find his colony gone and one word carved into a post: CROATOAN. That was the name of a real, allied Indigenous community and their island -- not a curse.
Sep 13, 2026
The Index · Unsolved Cases
Mary Celeste Explained: What Happened to the Famous Ghost Ship?
The Mary Celeste was found abandoned in the Atlantic in December 1872. A 2026 wood-and-ethanol experiment strengthened one old explosion theory, but it still does not prove why the crew left.
Sep 13, 2026
The Index · Cryptids & Legends
Mothman Explained: The 1966 Point Pleasant Sightings and the Silver Bridge Myth
Two couples reported a winged, red-eyed creature near Point Pleasant in November 1966. The claim that it predicted the Silver Bridge collapse came later -- the bridge failed from a corroded eyebar, not a curse.
Sep 13, 2026
The Index · Dark History
The Voynich Manuscript Explained: What We Know About the World's Most Famous Unreadable Book
Radiocarbon dating places the Voynich Manuscript's vellum in the early 1400s. Its script has never been deciphered, and every proposed solution, including recent viral claims, has been rejected by scholars.
Sep 11, 2026
The Index · Unsolved Cases
Area 51 Explained: The Secret Base, UFO Legends, Bob Lazar, and What Is Actually Known
The CIA confirmed Area 51's existence in 2013 as a Cold War aircraft-testing site. Bob Lazar's alien-technology claims are a separate story with serious credibility problems.
Sep 10, 2026
The Index · Unsolved Cases
The Cecil Hotel and Elisa Lam: What the Evidence Says About the Death Behind the Internet Mystery
The LA County Coroner ruled Elisa Lam's death an accidental drowning connected to her bipolar disorder. Here's what the official record actually established.
Sep 10, 2026
The Index · Paranormal
Island of the Dolls: The Real Story Behind Mexico's Isla de las Muñecas
Don Julián Santana Barrera really did spend decades hanging dolls on a Xochimilco chinampa. The drowned girl he said he was honoring has never been documented.
Sep 10, 2026
The Index · Paranormal
The Stanley Hotel and The Shining: The Real History Behind Stephen King's Haunted-Hotel Inspiration
Stephen King really did stay in Room 217 in 1974 and have a nightmare that became The Shining. Kubrick's film wasn't shot there at all — Timberline Lodge was.
Sep 10, 2026
The Index · Paranormal
The Bell Witch Explained: The Tennessee Haunting, Betsy Bell, and What the Records Actually Say
The Bell Witch story wasn't written down until 1894, seventy-plus years after it supposedly happened. Here's what the earliest sources actually support.
Sep 9, 2026
The Index · Unsolved Cases
The Bermuda Triangle Explained: Disappearances, Myths, and What Really Happened
Flight 19, the USS Cyclops, and the rest of the Bermuda Triangle's famous cases have documented, largely mundane explanations. The 'mystery' was built by two writers, not the evidence.
Sep 9, 2026
The Index · Cryptids & Legends
Bigfoot Explained: The History, Evidence, Hoaxes, and Why Sasquatch Endures
The word 'Bigfoot' traces to a 1958 California logging site and, per the finder's own family, carved wooden feet. Here's the documented history behind America's most famous cryptid.
Sep 9, 2026
The Index · Paranormal
Black-Eyed Children Explained: How a 1990s Encounter Became an Internet Urban Legend
Brian Bethel's 1996 Abilene encounter became the template for the Black-Eyed Children legend. Here's what the earliest record says and what later retellings added.
Sep 9, 2026
The Index · Cryptids & Legends
Chupacabra Explained: How Puerto Rico's Goat-Sucker Became a Global Monster
The Chupacabra began in Puerto Rico in 1995 as a spiny, bipedal creature. Later U.S. reports often involved hairless canids. Here's what contemporary reporting, animal testing and folklore research actually show.
Sep 9, 2026
The Index · Paranormal
The Conjuring House True Story: What Really Happened to the Perron Family?
The Perron family really did live in a haunted-feeling Rhode Island farmhouse for nine years. Bathsheba Sherman, the film's villain, likely never set foot there.
Sep 9, 2026
The Index · Paranormal
The Dybbuk Box True Story: How an eBay Listing Became a Haunted-Object Legend
The man who created the Dybbuk Box has admitted he made up the story. Here's the real 2003 eBay origin, and what a dybbuk actually is in Jewish folklore.
Sep 9, 2026
The Index · Paranormal
The Exorcist True Story: The 1949 Case Behind the Novel and Film
William Peter Blatty based The Exorcist on a real 1949 case involving a boy known for decades only as Roland Doe. Here's what's documented, and what the film invented.
Sep 9, 2026
The Index · Cryptids & Legends
Jersey Devil Explained: The Pine Barrens Legend, the Leeds Family, and the 1909 Panic
The Jersey Devil legend traces to a real colonial-era Quaker printer, not a cursed 13th child. Here's the documented history behind New Jersey's most famous cryptid.
Sep 9, 2026
The Index · Paranormal
Kuchisake-onna Explained: Japan's Slit-Mouthed Woman Legend and the 1979 Panic
Kuchisake-onna, the masked woman who asks 'Am I beautiful?', is a real 1978-1979 rumor panic documented in Japanese newspapers, not an ancient yokai tradition.
Sep 9, 2026
The Index · Cryptids & Legends
Loch Ness Monster Explained: Nessie, the Famous Photos, and What the Evidence Shows
The 1934 'Surgeon's Photograph' was admitted as a hoax in 1994. A 2019 eDNA survey found no evidence of an unknown reptile in the loch, but plenty of eel DNA.
Sep 9, 2026
The Index · Paranormal
Ouija Board Explained: History, Rules, and Why People Think It Works
Who invented the Ouija board, how it got its name, and why the planchette really moves. The documented history behind America's best-selling talking board.
Sep 9, 2026
The Index · Paranormal
What Is a Poltergeist? Meaning, History, and Possible Explanations
Poltergeist means noisy ghost in German. Here's the real history of the term, why teenagers keep showing up in these cases, and what investigators actually found.
Sep 9, 2026
The Index · Paranormal
Robert the Doll: The True History Behind Key West's Famous Haunted Doll
Robert the Doll is a real Steiff toy that belonged to Key West painter Robert Eugene Otto. The Bahamian-servant curse story has never been historically confirmed.
Sep 9, 2026
The Index · Unsolved Cases
The Roswell Incident Explained: What Crashed in New Mexico in 1947?
A rancher found debris, the Army briefly called it a 'flying disc,' then reversed course within a day. The Air Force's later Project Mogul explanation accounts for the physical evidence.
Sep 9, 2026
The Index · Paranormal
Shadow People Explained: Folklore, Sleep Paralysis, and the Figures People Say They See
"Shadow people" is a modern umbrella term that spread through paranormal radio and internet culture in the early 2000s. Here is what the 2001 record shows, what sleep-paralysis research can explain, and what remains unverified.
Sep 9, 2026
The Index · Paranormal
Sleep Paralysis Demon Explained: Why People See the Night Hag, Intruders, and Shadow Figures
Sleep paralysis happens when REM muscle paralysis persists into waking consciousness. Here's the science behind the sensed presence, chest pressure, and threatening figures people report.
Sep 9, 2026
The Index · Paranormal
The 1952 UFO Wave Explained: Why America Was Already Watching the Sky
1952 produced more UFO reports than any other year of Project Blue Book, including radar and visual sightings over Washington, D.C. Here's the documented history.
Sep 2, 2026
The Index
Ed and Lorraine Warren at Amityville: What Did They Actually Investigate?
The Conjuring 2 makes the Warrens central to Amityville from day one. The real chronology is narrower: they arrived after the Lutz family had already left.
Sep 2, 2026
The Index · Paranormal
Could the Flatwoods Monster Have Been a Barn Owl?
A barn owl is the leading natural explanation for the 1952 Flatwoods Monster. Here's how well it actually fits the witness descriptions, and where it doesn't.
Sep 2, 2026
The Index · Paranormal
Flatwoods Monster Explained: What Really Happened in West Virginia in 1952?
On September 12, 1952, a group in Flatwoods, West Virginia said they saw a towering figure after a light fell from the sky. Here's what's documented and what isn't.
Sep 2, 2026
The Index · Paranormal
Project Blue Book and the Flatwoods Monster: What Did the Air Force Actually Investigate?
The Flatwoods Monster case reached the Air Force's UFO program within months of its creation. Here's what the surviving National Archives record actually shows.
Sep 2, 2026
The Index · Paranormal
Was the Amityville Horror a Hoax? The Evidence Behind the Lutz Family Story
William Weber said the Lutz family invented their haunting story. The Lutzes passed a polygraph. Here's what the actual evidence supports, and what it doesn't.
Sep 2, 2026The Index · Paranormal
The Amityville Horror: What Really Happened in the Real House?
The DeFeo murders at 112 Ocean Avenue are documented fact. The Lutz family's haunting claims are a separate, disputed story. Here's what the record actually supports.
Aug 30, 2026
The Index · Paranormal
Annabelle: The Real Story Behind the Haunted Doll
The real Annabelle doll was a Raggedy Ann, not a porcelain monster. What the early reports, Warren claims and Conjuring films actually say about the alleged haunting.
Aug 29, 2026
The Index · Dark History
Dyatlov Pass Incident Explained: What Really Happened?
What happened at Dyatlov Pass in 1959? Examine the evidence, the modern snow-slab avalanche explanation, and what remains unresolved in the hikers' deaths.
Aug 24, 2026
The Index · Paranormal
The Enfield Poltergeist Explained: What Really Happened?
What really happened in the Enfield Poltergeist case? A careful look at the witnesses, hoax evidence, famous voice, photos and Warren claims.
Aug 24, 2026