Thinking Sideways Podcast

A New Jersey pastor and his lover were brutally murdered, their bodies found posed in ritualistic fashion beneath a tree. The most shocking crime of early 20th century America culminated in a trial that ended with a fizzle, with several suspects and no obvious answers. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

February 14, 2000, Asha Degree's packed a bag and left the house, seemingly of her own free will, never to return home. Did Asha really leave on her own? Did she run away or was she compelled by someone? And what happened to her? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Each year those decorative wooden soldiers are put on display during the holiday season but never seem to get used. All they do is sit there looking dusty and creepy. In this special holiday episode Team Sideways discusses their individual theories about the origin of these rarely used decorations. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

According to legend a German immigrant named Jacob Waltz wandered out of the Superstition Mountains with a sack of high grade gold. Ever since his death in the 1890's people have been searching for his mine and the mother lode. So far nobody has found it. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 1976 British Prime Minister Harold Wilson abruptly announced that he was resigning his office... and he didn't say why. And to this day people are wondering why. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Now you see him, now you don't. A minor British diplomat named Benjamin Bathurst vanished literally into thin air while traveling under an assumed name with an attendant in 1809. Was it thieves, aliens, or an elaborate ploy? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On April 2, 1997 USAF Captain Craig Button broke formation during a training mission and flew his A-10 Thunderbolt II NE for almost 800 miles before crashing into the side of Gold Dust Peak. The four 500lb Mk-82 bombs that were on the plane when it took off were not found at the crash site. Did Captain Button commit suicide and where are the bombs? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 2006 journalist Alexander Litvenenko was murdered by poison, perpetrator unknown. His death was one of several mysterious killings--which appear to have been connected by one thing. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Tecaxic-Calixtlahuaca Head is a terracotta head which was likely part of a larger statue, discovered in 1933 near Mexico City. What makes this discovery so strange is that it was found with Pre-Colombian artifacts, but seems to be of Roman origin. Did the Romans have Pre-Columbian contact with America? Or is there a different explanation to be had? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On October 19th 1986 Mozambican president Samora Machel and his staff were flying to the capital city when their plane changed course and subsequently crashed in South Africa. The crash killed Machel and 33 others who were on-board. Was it an accident or was it an amazingly executed assassination plot straight out of a Die Hard movie? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the night of October 30, 1975, 15-year-old Martha Moxley was brutally bludgeoned to death in her yard in Greenwich, Connecticut. Despite years of police investigations, and one actual conviction, the identity of Martha's killer is still up for grabs in the minds of many people. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Registered on August 7th, 2011, a website that loaded a dark page with white text is at the heart of this mystery. Who ran it, what was is it for, and what was meant to happen on October 28th, 2011? A cult? A hoax? The cryptic clues on the site leave almost all to the imagination. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Australians have been seeing strange glowing lights in the Outback for decades. Some stories say they approach, others say that they keep a consistent distance, and yet others say they change color and make noise. What has been lighting up the Outback for at least the last 150 years? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In November 1997, 5-month-old Sabrina Aisenberg was taken from her crib in the dead of night and has not been seen since. Her parents believe that she's still alive somewhere, the police however are convinced that the parents were involved in her disappearance. What really happened to baby Sabrina? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In March 1982, a GEC-Marconi scientist who had worked on the project code-named Star Wars died in a fatal car accident. In the decade following, 25 other scientists employed by GEC-Marconi died or disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Was GEC-Marconi hiring a high volume of unstable people? Or did this group of scientist know too much? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 2010 the bodies of four prostitutes were found wrapped in burlap and buried in the brush on Oak Island NY. The next year 6 more sets of remains would be found, most of them believed to also have been prostitutes. Is a single serial killer using Oak Island as a dumping ground? Is it multiple serial killers? Or are they all unrelated? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On January 31, 1921 the schooner Carroll A Deering was sighted hard aground and under full sail on Diamond Shoals, near Cape Hatteras North Carolina. When the Coast Guard was finally able to board the ship several days later, they found that the entire crew had vanished, without leaving so much as a goodbye note. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The September 1969 edition of the Drake Times-Delphic contained an article titled "Is Beatle Paul McCartney Dead?" This article may have been the first documented exposure of a very large conspiracy cover-up: the 1966 death of the real Paul McCartney. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On July 1st, 1981, someone entered at 8763 Wonderland Ave and beat all five of the people inside with pipes, four of them to death. Since then a stories revolving around drugs and porn star John Holmes have been circulating. How much of the stories are true and how much is drug-fueled fantasy? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In May 2008, 19-year-old Brandon Swanson was driving home when he got his car stuck in a ditch. As he walked toward the lights of a nearby town, speaking with his father on his cell phone, he suddenly said "Oh, s**t" and the line went dead. That was the last anyone's heard of Brandon. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.