Dark City | History Hiding in the Shadows
There’s the glossy postcard version, and then there’s the unfiltered reality. These are the real, gritty, and often hidden stories behind the places we think we know. Host Leah Johnson is joined by insiders with rare perspectives, from Secret Service agents to New York Times bestselling authors, to pull back the curtain on the events that defined a place. From overlooked history to true crime to the occasional brush with the unexplained, these are the threads that linger in the shadows.
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Genres: Travel, History, True Crime, Paranormal, Culture
Episodes
24 episodes
Blackmail: Hollywood’s Shadow Economy with Gerald Petievich | Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles, CA | Hollywood doesn’t just sell stories, it monetizes secrets. From mob-run extortion rings targeting Liberace to fixer Anthony Pellicano stockpiling wiretaps on the powerful, and David Letterman flipping the script on his own bla...
Extremism: Where the Open Road Meets Evil on the Roof of the World | Pamir Mountains, Tajikistan
Two high-achieving twenty-somethings quit their dream jobs, strapped everything they owned to two bikes, and pedaled into the kind of freedom most of us only fantasize about during a bad Monday meeting. Lauren Geoghegan and Jay Austen weren’t r...
Hidden History: The True Events That Inspired Stranger Things | Montauk, NY
Montauk, NY | The premise for Stranger Things didn’t come from nowhere. We’re headed to Montauk, New York, where a real Cold War base, abandoned bunkers, and stubborn paper trails collide with a conspiracy theory that helped inspire Netflix’s b...
Ghost Town Minisode | The Quixotic Rise and Fall of Santa Claus, AZ
Santa Claus, AZ | In the 1930s, a holiday fantasy rose from the Arizona desert, promising Christmas every day of the year. This is the story of what happens when we try to make permanent what is seasonal by design.Follow for episode pho...
Case Note: Chasing Down the Zombie Hunter (Echoes) | Phoenix, AZ
Phoenix, Arizona | Case note on unexplained moments that surfaced during the Zombie Hunter investigation.I highly recommend Troy Hillman’s book Chasing Down the Zombie Hunter if you want to go even deeper into this case. You can find it...
Murder: Chasing Down the Zombie Hunter with Troy Hillman Pt 2 | Phoenix, AZ
Phoenix, AZ | The DNA match finally gave the canal murderer a name: Bryan Patrick Miller. But what followed raised more questions than answers. In Part 2, with retired Cold Case Sergeant Troy Hillman guiding the investigation, we trace how a ma...
Murder: Chasing Down the Zombie Hunter with Troy Hillman Pt 1 | Phoenix, AZ
Phoenix, AZ | Two brutal attacks along the city’s canal bike paths left residents terrified, investigators overwhelmed, and a serial predator hiding in plain sight. This episode unravels the cases of Angela Brosso and Melanie Bernas, two young ...
Hidden History Minisode: The Gourd That Almost Named Phoenix | Phoenix, AZ
Phoenix, Arizona | Phoenix is known for cactus and heat, not pumpkins. But in the 1860s, wild gourds grew in the valley, and an early settlement here actually went by Pumpkinville. This episode uncovers how an astonishing canal-building civiliz...
Organized Crime: The Assassination of Investigative Reporter Don Bolles Part 2 | Phoenix, AZ
Phoenix, AZ | Long before a car bomb ended his life, Don Bolles was already circling danger. For years, he’d been chasing a story about mob money and a greyhound dog racing empire whose ties ran far darker than anyone realized. As he dug deeper...
Organized Crime: The Assassination of Investigative Reporter Don Bolles Part 1 | Phoenix, AZ
Phoenix, AZ | On June 2, 1976, investigative reporter Don Bolles arrived at the Clarendon Hotel in downtown Phoenix expecting to meet a source about land fraud. The meeting never happened. Moments later, a bomb exploded beneath his car, leaving...
Behind the Story: Dark City on L.A. Not So Confidential Podcast
While you’re waiting for the next episode, check out Leah's conversation with forensic psychologists Dr. Shiloh and Dr. Scott on their podcast L.A. Not So Confidential. We talk about the origins of Dark City, the importance of research in histo...
Haunted Legacy: The Borden Murders Pt 2 | Fall River, MA
Fall River, MA | Andrew and Abby Borden were murdered in their own home. The weapon was never found, no one saw it happen, and suspicion quickly centered on Andrew’s daughter, Lizzie. Here, the threads of resentment, money, a burned dress, and ...
Haunted: The Orpheum Theatre | Phoenix, AZ
Phoenix, AZ | The Orpheum Theatre has endured every challenge history put in its path, and so have the spirits of those who once filled its halls. From vaudeville spectacles and Hollywood premieres to decades of neglect and a $14.5 million rest...
Haunted Legacy: The Borden Murders Pt 1 | Fall River, MA
Fall River, MA | We stayed overnight in the Lizzie Borden House to see for ourselves if the many accounts of paranormal activity were real. We’ll just say it wasn’t exactly uneventful. In this haunted detour from Phoenix, we dive into the...
Infamous: The Trunk Murders Pt 2 | Phoenix, AZ
Phoenix, AZ | We dive into conflicting confessions, courtroom chaos, and the question that won’t die: Did Winnie Ruth Judd act alone? Or was “Happy Jack” Halloran neck-deep in the horror?From drainpipe letters to marionette films, this ...
Infamous: The Trunk Murders Pt 1 | Phoenix, AZ
Phoenix, AZ | Three bold, trailblazing women share a quiet Phoenix duplex, until one boards a train to Los Angeles with the other two dead and hidden in her luggage. In 1931, Phoenix was a little-known desert town of 50,000, but this brutal, ba...
Haunted: The Island that Terrifies J.D. Barker - and Inspired His Novel | Wood Island, ME
Wood Island, Maine | Wood Island is so haunted, even bestselling horror writer J.D. Barker won’t stay the night - and he’s here to share how its chilling history inspired his upcoming book, Something I Keep Upstairs. Just as the Stanley H...
Unsolved: A Tragic Murder and A Missing Diary - The Christa Helm Story with Jamey DuVall | Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles, CA | What did Christa Helm know that got her killed? Or was she the victim of a jealous rage? On February 12, 1977, Christa was brutally stabbed to death in a quiet West Hollywood neighborhood. The night she was murdered, she carri...
Corruption: You Can Fight City Hall – Clifford Clinton’s Complex Legacy with Robert Petersen | Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles, CA | How does a cafeteria owner in 1930s Los Angeles, dedicated to providing affordable meals for all, become the driving force behind exposing and dismantling corruption? Today we are joined by Robert Petersen, host of the podcast...
Fire: Everyone in LA Knows Someone Who Lost Everything | Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles, CA | Los Angeles is burning, and the impact is personal. We delve into the current status of the devastating fires, discuss the factors that made them so catastrophic, and explore what they mean for the city's future.
Unsolved: The Black Dahlia Beyond the Headlines Pt 3 with Steve Hodel | Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles, CA | Former LAPD homicide detective Steve Hodel once asked himself the unthinkable: Could his own father have killed Elizabeth Short? In this episode, we conclude the tragic story of Short’s 1947 murder with Steve Hodel, now a New ...
True Crime & Hauntings: Touring LA's Iconic Locations with James T. Bartlett | Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles, CA | Join us for an audio tour of Hollywood and downtown Los Angeles’ most haunted locations and infamous crime scenes with James T. Bartlett, journalist and author of Gourmet Ghosts Volumes 1 & 2. From the lingering s...
Unsolved: The Black Dahlia Beyond the Headlines Pt 2 | Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles, CA | Elizabeth Short’s 1947 murder (also known as the Black Dahlia) still haunts Los Angeles. We press closer to the truth, tearing into the most gripping theories about who claimed Elizabeth Short’s life. *Note: Since the ...
Unsolved: The Black Dahlia Beyond the Headlines Pt 1 | Los Angeles, CA
Los, Angeles, CA | In the shadowy landscape of 1940s Los Angeles, one murder would captivate and horrify a nation. Elizabeth Short—forever immortalized as the Black Dahlia—represents more than just a gruesome crime. She was a young woman whose ...