Astonishing Legends

In 1933, a Scottish botanist watched a seemingly abandoned steamship drift past the Alaskan coast on an ice floe. It appeared upside down in a strange mirage, with no crew and no one at the wheel. This ship was the Baychimo, which was abandoned two years earlier, but refused to disappear. Having repeatedly resurfaced across the Arctic, it earning a reputation as one of history’s great ghost ships.
In this episode, we explore the strange history of ghost ships from the the Baychimo, to the frozen Octavius, and the Ourang Medan, whose crew was reportedly found mysteriously dead shortly before the ship itself exploded and sank. Three ships, three enduring legends, and at least one vessel whose final resting place remains unknown.
Visit our website for a lot more information on this episode.

In tonight's dead letter, our listener Ed and his wife are newlyweds, sharing the apartment he's lived in for about two years in Clay Center, Nebraska. One morning in early 2020, he hits snooze on his alarm and sees a figure walking out of their bedroom, silhouetted by the living room lights he'd set on a timer, and it looks just like his wife, but it’s not.

Relevant Prior Episodes

Ep 26: Shadow People
Astonishing Legends · Spotify · Apple Podcasts

Ep 64: Electronic Fog
Astonishing Legends · Spotify · Apple Podcasts

Ep 226: Boundless Remote Viewing with Lori Williams Part 1
Astonishing Legends · Spotify · Apple Podcasts

Links and Further Reading

Ed's Floor Plan of the Apartment

Clay Center, Nebraska, Wikipedia

World's Largest Ball of Twine, Kansas Tourism
Note: We call it the world's biggest ball of yarn in the episode. It's actually a ball of sisal twine. I always mess that up! (Scott)

Doppelganger, Britannica

Hypnagogic Hallucinations, Cleveland Clinic

A-Yokai-A-Day: Ikiryo, Matthew Meyer

Alexander Cannon (psychiatrist), Wikipedia

STAR GATE [Controlled Remote Viewing], Federation of American Scientists

Astral Projection Hypnosis by Dr. Steve G. Jones

Journeys Out of the Body by Robert A. Monroe

Richard Hatem's Paranormal Bookshelf

Beyond the Bermuda Triangle by Bruce Gernon and Rob MacGregor

We're looking for more stories! Send your Dead Letter to deadletteroffice@astonishinglegends.com!

In tonight's dead letter, our listener named Mark is driving through western Michigan at two in the morning in 1978, working off a paper map and handwritten directions to a house he's never been to. He comes up a hill and into a curve on US 131, and there are four people standing in his lane. Two of them are waving him over to the right, and the other two have their arms raised above their heads in an X. Had they not been there he may have had a fatal collision, and when he went to find them shortly after, they had vanished.

Relevant Prior Episodes

Ep 102: Resurrection Mary Part 1
Astonishing Legends · Spotify · Apple Podcasts

Ep 116: Small Town Monsters
Astonishing Legends · Spotify · Apple Podcasts

Links and Further Reading

Lydia: The Ghost of Jamestown Bridge, NCpedia

A History of the Vanishing Hitchhiker, Beardsley and Hankey, 1943

The Bray Road Beast, Small Town Monsters

Jim Harold's Campfire: True Ghost Stories, Books 1 through 6

Note: We call it the National Highway Transportation Safety Association in the episode. The ‘A’ is actually for Administration.
  
We're looking for more stories! Send your Dead Letter to deadletteroffice@astonishinglegends.com!

In tonight's dead letter, listener Mothmaiden remembers a time when she was four years old and an only child in a neighborhood with no other kids, and she had an imaginary friend named Cindy Cora who looked exactly like Betty Rubble from The Flintstones. Then on a sunny afternoon, in her own bedroom with the light coming through the window, she saw an elderly woman with white and gray hair piled high on her head, sitting in a rocking chair, calm and gentle and completely solid. Were these things connected?

Relevant Prior Episodes

Abduction at Devil's Den

Devil's Den: The Reckoning Part 1

Chris McKinnell and the Warren Legacy

Dan, Susan, Micah Hanks and Missing Time

Links and Further Reading

Two-thirds of school-age children have an imaginary companion by age 7, University of Washington
Note: We say about one in three for the invisible-only friends. In the study, about two thirds of kids have had an imaginary companion by age seven, and about one in three have one at the time they are asked.

The psychological significance of play with imaginary companions in early childhood, Learning & Behavior

Childhood amnesia, Wikipedia

Ghosts and Apparitions in Psi Research, the Society for Psychical Research's Psi Encyclopedia

Phantasms of the Living (1886) by Gurney, Myers and Podmore, Internet Archive

Strange Intruders by David Weatherly

Devils Den: The Reckoning by Terry Lovelace

Contact (1997), Wikipedia
Note: We say David Morse was one of the doctors on ER. He played Dr. Jack Morrison on St. Elsewhere.

Sesame Street debuts, November 10, 1969, HISTORY

Wall Street crash of 1929, Wikipedia

The History of Bettys in Pop Culture, Refinery29

Natalie and Tara on YouTube

We're looking for more stories! Send your Dead Letter to deadletteroffice@astonishinglegends.com!

Hey folks! We're gearing up to go to the Wet Hot Bad Magic Summercamp next week but after that we're back on our regular schedule! In the meanwhile here's a chat Scott and Richard had just a week ago about his new tour which is also CLOSE ABOARD!
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A special episode from our friend Richard Hatem. Richard is the screenwriter behind The Mothman Prophecies and a longtime friend of the show, and he hosts Richard Hatem's Paranormal Bookshelf. He invited Scott onto his podcast to talk about his upcoming Light in the Dark Tour 2026, a 10-day, six-city run of live shows in September that wraps up at the Mothman Festival in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. We liked the conversation enough that we're sharing it here on the main feed.
Along the way, Scott and Richard get to such never-before-asked questions as: What scares our dogs? Where will Scott and Forrest be appearing live in September? Did Abbott and Costello get along? Can anyone find Scott's legendary "lost" appearance on Portlandia? Did Richard schedule too many shows on this tour, and will Susan ever forgive him? Find out the answers to these and many more questions on this episode.
If you can make it to one of the tour stops, go. Tickets and dates are at the link below.
Links

Get tickets to Richard Hatem's Light in the Dark Tour 2026 LIVE: https://www.richardhatemsparanormalbookshelf.com/events
Listen to Richard Hatem's Paranormal Bookshelf: https://www.richardhatemsparanormalbookshelf.com/
Support RHPB on Patreon: https://patreon.com/RichardHatem
Celebrate 2026 with 26% off all RHPB merch with offer code RHPB26. The discount is pre-applied at this link: https://richardhatem-shop.fourthwall.com/promo/RHPB26
Need help with your personal writing projects? Richard is here to help. Get 20% off when you mention RHPB: https://www.richardhatem.com/

Notes

Get the answer to ALL of your Abbott and Costello questions here: Abbott and Costello Meet the Podcast
Is your dog afraid of hiccups, just like Luna? Learn about your dog's weird fears here: Understanding Your Dog's Fear