Mysteries and Backstories

Explore the terrifying Lake Bodom murders, a chilling horror story that remains one of Finland's most haunting unsolved mysteries. In this episode, we dive deep into the dangerous history of these brutal killings, uncovering the paranormal activity experiences and important discoveries that have baffled investigators for decades. From the eclectic cast of suspects, including a hostile local kiosk owner and a suspected KGB operative, to the forensic evidence and shifting theories, this case is filled with scary things that happened to people. We'll also examine other mysterious places and unsolved homicides in Finland that might be connected, painting a picture of how these tragic events unfolded. oin us as we uncover: • The details of the Lake Bodom murders and the night of terror in 1960. • The incredible survival story of Nils Gustafsson, the lone survivor. • Theories about a possible serial killer and the various suspects involved. • How famous people died from different countries and how these deaths remain a part of Finland's dark history. Stay tuned for an in-depth look at this chilling case, and let us know your thoughts and theories in the comments below!

This is the story of Tromelin Island. In 1761, the French ship Utile wrecked on a barren sandbank in the Indian Ocean. On board were nearly 150 Malagasy captives, chained in the hold, and over 140 French sailors. The wreck claimed dozens of lives, but what followed was even more haunting: betrayal, abandonment, and an unimaginable fight for survival. For fifteen years they endured storms, starvation, and silence. 🔔 Subscribe for more real survival stories and historical mysteries.This video includes paid stock, public domain, or Creative Commons content under fair dealing/fair use. For concerns, email us via the channel page.

Shipwrecked captain James Riley faced the unthinkable when the brig Commerce ran aground off the African coast in 1815. Captured by desert tribes and forced to march through the brutal Sahara, Riley’s survival came at the edge of death. From the shipwreck’s chaos to desperate negotiations for freedom, his true story inspired generations and influenced history itself. Discover the real events that shaped Sufferings in Africa, a memoir that became a survival classic.🎧 Prefer audio? Listen on Spotify and other podcast apps.💬 What would you have done in this situation? Comment below.🔔 Subscribe for more real survival stories and historical mysteries.This video includes paid stock, public domain, or Creative Commons content under fair dealing/fair use. For concerns, email us via the channel page.

In 1917, U.S. sailors arrived on Clipperton Island and discovered something horrifying: a skeletal woman and starving children stumbling from the wreckage of a forgotten colony. For three years, a group of women and children had survived isolation, starvation, and the tyrannical rule of one man—Victoriano Álvarez.This is the true story of Clipperton Island, a desolate atoll abandoned during the Mexican Revolution, where a military outpost descended into madness. As food ran out and men died, Álvarez declared himself king, wielding violence, fear, and control—until a group of women made a bold and bloody choice to end the nightmare.Join me as we explore this overlooked chapter in survival history: the women who endured it, the evil they faced, and the terrifying psychology of power and isolation.🎧 Prefer audio? Listen on Spotify and other podcast apps.💬 What would you have done in this situation? Comment below.🔔 Subscribe for more real survival stories and historical mysteries.This video includes paid stock, public domain, or Creative Commons content under fair dealing/fair use. For concerns, email us via the channel page.Photo Credits: State Library of New South WalesImage Credit: Douglas Mawson’s sledge – Wellcome Collection.Source: https://wellcomecollection.org/works/frasgvv4Licensed under CC BY 4.0

Fighting forest fires is a dangerous job. The Granite Mountain Hotshots were one of the most elite wildland firefighting crews in the United States. On June 30, 2013, nineteen members were trapped and overrun by flames during the Yarnell Hill Fire in Arizona.Led by Superintendent Eric Marsh, the crew fought to protect the town of Yarnell as unpredictable winds turned a manageable blaze into a deadly inferno. Cut off by shifting fire lines and choking smoke, they made one final stand—deploying emergency fire shelters in a last-ditch attempt to survive.Only one member made it out alive.This is the heartbreaking true story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, their final moments, and the legacy they left behind.Subscribe for more real-life survival stories, maritime disasters, and historical mysteries.

In 1871, Arctic explorer Charles Francis Hall died mysteriously on the ice — his final words: “He’s trying to kill me.” For over a century, no one knew the truth.What followed was chaos: a divided crew, a mutiny, and 19 people stranded on a drifting ice floe for months. The Polaris expedition collapsed into survival, suspicion, and silence.Was it illness, paranoia... or murder?Nearly 100 years later, Hall’s body was exhumed — and what forensic scientists discovered changed Arctic history forever.This is the true story of betrayal, endurance, and a cold case cracked by science.Subscribe for more real-life survival stories, Arctic disasters, and historical mysteries.

In 1910, Danish explorer Ejnar Mikkelsen and engineer Iver Iversen set out on a desperate Arctic rescue mission—to recover the lost records of the ill-fated Denmark Expedition. But when their ship, the Alabama, was crushed by ice and the rest of the crew vanished, the two men were left stranded—alone, above the Arctic Circle.What followed was a 28-month fight for survival in one of the harshest places on Earth. Living in a half-buried hut made from wreckage, surviving on seal meat, foxes, and ingenuity, Mikkelsen and Iversen faced madness, starvation, and total isolation—all while clinging to the hope that someone might come.This is the true story of how they endured—forgotten and nearly consumed by the Arctic itself.

In 1823, frontiersman Hugh Glass was mauled by a grizzly bear and abandoned by his expedition team. With a shattered leg, deep wounds, and no weapons, Glass crawled and limped over 200 miles through the wilderness to survive driven by pain, rage, and sheer will. This is the true story behind the movie "The Revenant". Forget Hollywood the real tale is far more brutal.

In 1912, the Russian ship St. Anna became trapped over 1,000 km from land. For nearly two years, it drifted through the Arctic as the crew faced scurvy, starvation, and total isolation.One man made a desperate 500 km journey across the ice to find help. Only two men survived. The rest were never seen again.This is the haunting true story of the Brusilov Expedition—one of the Arctic’s greatest survival mysteries.🎥 Want more stories like this? Watch the latest episodes on YouTube: https://youtube.com/@MysteriesandBackstoriesThis video includes paid stock, public domain, or Creative Commons content used under fair dealing or fair use. If you have concerns please email us from the channel page.

In 1864, the Grafton and the Invercauld were wrecked on opposite ends of Auckland Island, a desolate patch of land in the sub-Antarctic. Stranded just miles apart, the two crews fought to survive the same brutal environment—but in total ignorance of each other’s presence.What followed was a stunning divergence in fate. One crew built shelter, rationed supplies, and held together. The other descended into disorder, starvation, and death.This is the true story of two parallel disasters—and the haunting question of what made the difference between survival and ruin.

Survival was his only option. Marooned in 1704, Alexander Selkirk endured four years alone on a Pacific island — a true story that would later inspire Robinson Crusoe.This is the harrowing tale of what it means to survive not just nature... but time, silence, and solitude. From chasing goats by hand to befriending feral cats for protection, Selkirk didn’t just endure the island — he was transformed by it.Watch as we uncover one of the most incredible real-life survival stories in history.🔔 Subscribe for more survival history and true shipwreck stories.

In 1741, HMS Wager wrecked off the remote coast of Patagonia. Stranded and starving, the crew faced not just the elements—but each other. When leadership collapsed, a mutiny split the survivors. Some followed Captain David Cheap. Others followed gunner John Bulkeley. What happened next would challenge the laws of command, loyalty, and survival.This episode unpacks one of the most brutal and overlooked naval disasters in British history—where the greatest threat came after the shipwreck.

In 1513, an Ottoman admiral drew a map that shouldn’t exist.The Piri Reis Map charts parts of South America, Africa—and possibly even Antarctica—centuries before they were officially discovered. Based on lost sources and ancient knowledge, the map has baffled historians, geographers, and conspiracy theorists alike. How could a 16th-century sailor map lands no one had explored? Was it guesswork, ancient science... or something deliberately erased from history?In this episode of Mysteries and Backstories, we unravel one of the strangest cartographic enigmas ever found. Dive into the story of a map that defies explanation—and the secrets that may have died with it.

When the USS Jeannette was crushed by Arctic ice, her crew didn’t just face shipwreck—they faced a frozen death sentence. Trapped in the polar sea for nearly two years, the men set out on foot across hundreds of miles of ice and Siberian wilderness, dragging their boats and dwindling supplies behind them. What began as a bold expedition ended in hunger, madness, and a desperate fight to survive.In this episode of Mysteries and Backstories, we follow the tragic voyage of the USS Jeannette—a tale of endurance, leadership, and loss in one of the most brutal environments on Earth. From the moment the ship was locked in ice to the final, fatal march across the tundra, every step was a battle against impossible odds.If you thought Shackleton had it bad… you haven’t heard this story.

In 1860, Robert O’Hara Burke and William John Wills set out to lead the first expedition across the Australian continent — from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria. Backed by public funding and national attention, their journey was supposed to be historic.Instead, it became a slow-motion disaster.This episode tells the true story of how miscommunication, bad decisions, and cruel timing turned a moment of promise into one of the most tragic chapters in exploration history. From missed rescue by just hours to buried journals no one found in time, this is the heartbreaking fate of the Burke and Wills expedition — and the one man who made it out alive.New episodes every week. Subscribe to hear more stories of survival, history, and mystery.

In 1913, the Karluk set sail on a bold Arctic expedition. Within months, the ship was locked in ice and abandoned — left to drift helplessly across the Chukchi Sea. This is the true story of survival, leadership, and betrayal in one of the coldest and most brutal environments on Earth.Led by Captain Robert Bartlett, the crew fought to survive frostbite, starvation, and the madness of isolation, while their expedition leader, Vilhjalmur Stefansson, walked away — not once, but twice.From the freezing deck of a ship crushed by ice to the desolate shore of Wrangel Island, this is a survival story few have heard… and one history nearly forgot.

This special compilation brings together four of the darkest and most intense shipwreck stories we’ve ever covered — curated and remastered for our podcast audience.From the eerie disappearance of the Mary Celeste, to the mutiny and murder aboard the Batavia, to the whale attack that inspired Moby-Dick, and finally the horror of the Méduse raft — each story reveals what happens when survival pushes people beyond the limits of humanity.These aren’t just shipwrecks. They’re what happens when help never comes.🎧 Follow for more gripping true stories.

In 1993, seven experienced hikers set off into the remote Khamar-Daban mountains. Days later, six of them were found dead—collapsed in agony, eyes bleeding, foam at their mouths.Only one survivor, Valentina Utochenko, made it out alive. But even decades later, she refuses to talk about what really happened.🔹 What caused this horrifying disaster?🔹 Did nature turn against them, or was something else lurking in the wilderness?🔹 And why does this case remain unsolved even after years of investigation?Join us as we unravel the chilling mystery of the Korovina Group Incident—a case often compared to the infamous Dyatlov Pass tragedy.Follow for more eerie, true survival stories and unexplained mysteries.Chapters :00:00 Introduction 01:42 The Korovina Group 03:15 Entering the Khamar-Daban Mountains 05:02 A Routine Hike Turns Deadly 07:34 The Sole Survivor’s Escape 10:21 The Investigation Begins 12:45 Strange Autopsy Findings 14:28 Theories on What Happened 15:01 Poison or Contaminated Water? 16:14 Chemical Exposure or Nerve Agents? 17:09 Infrasound

Survival challenges are fun… unless you’re on an island where the prize for losing is never being seen again. This isn’t MrBeast’s Last to Leave—this is real history, and it gets much darker.In 1629, the Batavia, a Dutch East India Company ship, wrecked off the coast of Australia. Hundreds of survivors reached a barren island, believing their greatest challenge was the open sea. They were wrong. The real danger was one of their own.Stranded without food or water, the survivors fell under the rule of Jeronimus Cornelisz, a man whose hunger for power led to one of the most terrifying mutinies in history. Those who refused to obey didn’t just vanish—they were executed in cold blood.What happened next became one of the darkest stories of shipwreck survival, betrayal, and justice ever recorded.🚢 Listen now to uncover the chilling true story of the Batavia.Chapters: (00:00) A Chilling Discovery Beneath the Waves(00:22) The Batavia’s Doomed Voyage Begins(01:00) The Shipwreck That Changed Everything(03:06) Stranded in the Middle of Nowhere(05:16) A Ruthless Leader Takes Control(07:46) The Survivors' Nightmare Begins(09:45) The Island Becomes a Battleground(11:30) The Fight for Survival(13:26) Rescue… But at What Cost?(15:10) The Legacy of the Batavia Shipwreck

In 1872, the Mary Celeste was found adrift in the Atlantic Ocean—completely intact, fully stocked, but without a single soul aboard. The crew had vanished without a trace. No signs of struggle. No distress calls. Just an empty ship sailing on.Was it a sudden disaster? A mutiny? A terrifying mistake? Or something far stranger?In this episode, we unravel one of the greatest maritime mysteries of all time, diving into the Mary Celeste’s troubled history, eerie discoveries, and the most compelling theories—including the possibility of a supernatural curse.Chapters:[00:00:00] Introduction: The Mystery of the Mary Celeste[00:01:30] The Discovery: A Ghost Ship Adrift[00:04:00] The Investigation: A Case with No Answers[00:06:30] Theories: Alcohol Explosion, Rogue Waves & More[00:09:45] Mutiny or Foul Play?[00:11:00] Supernatural Explanations & The Ship’s Cursed Past[00:12:30] Closing Thoughts: The Mystery That Endures