In 1946, 18 year old Paula Jean Welden decided to go on a Sunday afternoon hike in the Glastonbury mountain in Vermont. And then she just vanished into thin air, no sign of her has been since. But the strangest thing is, she wasn't the only person in the 1940s to disappear under those circumstances...

In 1988, 17 year old Mark Haines went for a night out with his friends, ending with his body being found on the train tracks the next morning. Police quickly brushed it off as suicide, then misadventure, leaving Mark's family to investigate on their own. Finally in 2024, it looks like justice may be around the corner. 

Today we've got a four-in-one episode, with a number of cases of mass hysteria throughout history: the meowing nuns, the june bug epidemic, the shrinking penis epidemic and the jell-o factory hysteria. 

In 1976, a corn farmer in Benton County, Indiana came across a heavy box in his field - and soon found a human body inside. Despite immediate investigation, police still have no answers as to her identity or killer 47 years later. Who was the box lady of Benton County?

In 2002, John Darwin got in his kayak and went off for a paddle in the North Sea... and then never returned, assumed dead. 5 years later, he turns up at a London police station claiming amnesia. But of course, that's not what happened. 

In 1936, a teacher decides to take 20 schoolboys on a trip to Germany on his own... what could go wrong? Everything it turns out, after deciding to take them on a hike to the highest peak in the Black Forest.

It's been over 40 years since the body of an woman was found on the strip in Las Vegas and finally in 2023 she was identified as Gwenn Marie Story, but her identification sadly hasn't shed any light on who was responsible for her death - who killed Gwenn?

Since 2007, 23 feet have been found on the shores of the Salish Sea in Canada and the United States, most found inside trainers/sneakers and hiking boots. What's going on? 

This is a huge part of British and Canadian history which is rarely spoken about now, but a piece of history which has undeniably had a massive butterfy effect on both nations today. Thousands of children were taken off the streets of London and sent to homes in Canada for labour... and as you can imagine, there wasn't much love. 

Julie Hogg disappeared in 1989 after a pizza delivery shift, her mother calling to wake her up the next morning for a court date to find there was no answer. Despite her family's insistence that Julie would not have run away, police fail to investigate properly... and three months later, mother Ann finds her daughter's remains behind the bath panel. From that moment on, she embarks on a mission to see her daughter's killer behind bars, but it's not going to be an easy journey.

In the early hours of August 23rd 1994, Beth-Ellen Vinson was on her way to work when she disappeared, her car being found abandoned on the side of the road. A week later, her body was discovered nearby but to this day, there are no answers. Who killed Beth-Ellen? What was the motive?

In Franklin County, Maryland in 1982, two mushroom hunters came across a steamer trunk in woodland. Curious, they go to open it and find the decomposed body of a woman who remains unidentified 41 years on. Who was the Cheerleader in the Trunk?

Releasing over a million balloons at once sounds like a pretty spectacle right? What could go wrong? Well in 1986, the residents of Cleveland would find out. 

Today I've got some updates for you in some massive cases from over the last few months. This is what we hope for in the world of true crime, new information bringing us one step closer to solving a case or identifying a person.

For a whole decade between 1984 and 1994, elderly couple Bill and Dorothy Wacker were harassed by an unknown assailant, with Dorothy even being physically attacked on two occasions, sending her to hospital. But there was never any sign of the perpetrator and police eventually decided Bill himself was responsible. But was he? 

On Christmas Day 1929, residents of Germanton, North Carolina were disturbed by multiple gunshots over at the Lawson residence - and when they arrived to investigate, they found a scene that no-one ever wants to witness: an entire family killed by their own father. We've always known who's responsible for the Lawson family murders, but the big question is: why? Why did Charlie Lawson do it?

From 2010 to 2018, rumours were flying around Toronto's gay village that there was a serial killer on the loose, targeting muslim men in the area. Despite these cries, no-one seemed all that interested in investigating... until in 2018 something undeniable happened. Here is the story of the victims of Bruce McArthur.

Sarah Ottens was murdered in her university dorm in 1973 and after an investigation, James Hall was arrested and charged with the crime. But then a decade later, Hall was exonerated for the crime. Was he truly responsible? If not, who did kill Sarah?

When in 1984 751 people in The Dalles, Oregon, suddenly contracted salmonella after eating at a number of salad bars, the authorities put it down to poor hygiene of the food handlers, despite local residents suspecting the involvement of the Rajneeshees, a cult of 7000 people who had overtaken a nearby ranch. This is the tale of everything that happened before and after.

In May 1968, a man came across the remains of a girl who would go on to become known as Tent Girl. 2 decades later this man would be telling his future son-in-law, Todd, the story who found himself unable to get it off his mind. Todd goes on to dedicate his life to reuniting Tent Girl with her name and her family, becoming one of the founders of DoeNetwork and changing the face of true crime forever. 

In 1991, 18 year old Nicola Payne set off on the 6 minute walk from her boyfriend's house to her parent's house, a walk she had done countless times before... and then she disappeared. Over three decades on, numerous arrests and a failed trial later, Nicola's case still remains unsolved. Where is she?

In 1988, the body of a woman was found in the Green Swamp area of Clermont, Florida. Investigators went out in search of her identity, but were never successful - and then in the early noughties, a wave of funding meant that were able to take another look at the case. At this point it was found that investigators may have been looking in the wrong places, as Julie seemed to in fact be a transgender woman, adding a whole other layer of considerations to the investigation.

Lesley Herring was known to be a solid, reliable person who always showed up - so when one day in February 2009 she failed to turn up for work, her family knew that something was seriously wrong. What followed was a hunt, not only for Lesley but also for her husband Lyle, investigators following a trail of red herrings he'd left in his wake.

A few years ago Thomas Chan consumed magic mushrooms and went on to attack his father, arguing the defence of automatism in court: he wasn't responsible for his actions whilst under the influence. This, and the case of Sullivan, opened up a can of worms in Canadian law. 

This week we're going to be looking at some updates in cases that I've covered in the past, including Alicia Navarro, Lady of the Dunes, Nude in the Nettles, Paige Johnson and more.