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Unexplained History delivers unexplained events analysis and deep dives into the history of the unexplained. Join host Tom McKenzie weekly as we uncover the secrets behind history’s greatest cold cases...
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Unexplained History delivers unexplained events analysis and deep dives into the history of the unexplained.
Join host Tom McKenzie weekly as we uncover the secrets behind history’s greatest cold cases and cover-ups. If you’re fascinated by true crime, ancient mysteries, paranormal activity, and government conspiracies, this podcast is for you.
Each episode creates a gripping audio landscape exploring events that defy explanation — from baffling disappearances and cryptid sightings to the dark realities of the Cold War and the occult.
The Team
New episodes drop every Tuesday. Listen in — and decide what you believe.
Visit us: https://www.unexplained.co
show less
Join host Tom McKenzie weekly as we uncover the secrets behind history’s greatest cold cases and cover-ups. If you’re fascinated by true crime, ancient mysteries, paranormal activity, and government conspiracies, this podcast is for you.
Each episode creates a gripping audio landscape exploring events that defy explanation — from baffling disappearances and cryptid sightings to the dark realities of the Cold War and the occult.
The Team
- Narrative & Direction: Rob Davenport
- Lead Researcher: Mike Sherwin
- Sound Design & Score: Smoking Man Studios
New episodes drop every Tuesday. Listen in — and decide what you believe.
Visit us: https://www.unexplained.co
Support the Podcast
Episodes & Posts
Episodes
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Transcribed
3 SEP 2026 · John Bell died on a Tennessee farm in eighteen twenty after months of illness. According to America's most famous haunting story, his family found a mysterious vial beside his medicine, tested its contents on a cat, and heard an invisible voice confess to poisoning him.
But the detailed accusation did not appear in a surviving full account until decades after Bell was buried. Earlier records describe a talking voice, crowds of visitors, and suspicions of ventriloquism, yet tell a very different story about what the spirit wanted.
This episode separates a real death from the murder legend built around it, tracing the case from an eyewitness journal and a forgotten newspaper report to a missing family manuscript, a speculative arsenic theory, and the limits of what the archives can honestly prove. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/unexplained-history--6429156/support.
🎧 Unexplained History explores the myths, mysteries, and misunderstood moments that shaped our world. Hosted by Tom Mackenzie and Don Masterson. New episodes every week.
Follow us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen — and uncover the stories history tried to forget.
https://www.unexplained.co
History, Mystery, True Crime, Conspiracy, Paranormal, CIA, Cold War, Ancient Aliens, Archaeology, Unsolved, Supernatural, Tom McKenzie, Audio Drama, Storytelling, Documentaries.
This episode includes AI-generated content.
AI-generated content
Transcribed
1 SEP 2026 · In nineteen thirty, archaeologists uncovered the lower half of a colossal statue of Ramesses II at Hermopolis Magna. The king's head and torso were gone. Ninety-four years later, an Egyptian-American team found them buried upside down only metres away, with traces of ancient blue and yellow paint still visible.
But finding the missing half was only the beginning. The monument had been repaired, altered, quarried, and possibly recut from an older pharaoh before it disappeared beneath the temple floor.
This episode follows Ramesses the Great, the lost city of Thoth, and the painstaking reconstruction that raised a forty-tonne king after more than three thousand years. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/unexplained-history--6429156/support.
🎧 Unexplained History explores the myths, mysteries, and misunderstood moments that shaped our world. Hosted by Tom Mackenzie and Don Masterson. New episodes every week.
Follow us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen — and uncover the stories history tried to forget.
https://www.unexplained.co
History, Mystery, True Crime, Conspiracy, Paranormal, CIA, Cold War, Ancient Aliens, Archaeology, Unsolved, Supernatural, Tom McKenzie, Audio Drama, Storytelling, Documentaries.
This episode includes AI-generated content.
AI-generated content
Transcribed
27 AUG 2026 · Unexplained History follows the evidence behind Black Triangles: Strange Reports From a Dark Sky. This episode separates witness accounts, documented history, official records, likely explanations, and the details still left unresolved.
Black Triangles: Strange Reports From a Dark Sky Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/unexplained-history--6429156/support.
🎧 Unexplained History explores the myths, mysteries, and misunderstood moments that shaped our world. Hosted by Tom Mackenzie and Don Masterson. New episodes every week.
Follow us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen — and uncover the stories history tried to forget.
https://www.unexplained.co
History, Mystery, True Crime, Conspiracy, Paranormal, CIA, Cold War, Ancient Aliens, Archaeology, Unsolved, Supernatural, Tom McKenzie, Audio Drama, Storytelling, Documentaries.
This episode includes AI-generated content.
Transcribed
24 JUN 2026 · Before Roswell, before flying saucers, and even before the Wright brothers, Americans were already looking up at the night sky and reporting strange craft, glowing lights, secret pilots, impossible machines, and visitors from Mars.
In this episode of Unexplained History, we investigate the mysterious airship wave of 1896 and 1897 — a forgotten panic that swept from California to Texas through newspapers, rumors, eyewitness accounts, and small-town legend. From the glowing lights over Sacramento to the bizarre Aurora, Texas crash story of a dead “Martian” pilot buried in a local cemetery, this is the story of how America learned to turn strange lights in the sky into a mystery about technology, secrecy, and the future.
Was there really a hidden inventor flying across the country before powered flight officially existed? Was Aurora an early UFO crash case? Or was the entire panic powered by newspaper sensationalism, tall tales, and a country desperate to glimpse tomorrow? Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/unexplained-history--6429156/support.
🎧 Unexplained History explores the myths, mysteries, and misunderstood moments that shaped our world. Hosted by Tom Mackenzie and Don Masterson. New episodes every week.
Follow us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen — and uncover the stories history tried to forget.
https://www.unexplained.co
History, Mystery, True Crime, Conspiracy, Paranormal, CIA, Cold War, Ancient Aliens, Archaeology, Unsolved, Supernatural, Tom McKenzie, Audio Drama, Storytelling, Documentaries.
AI-generated content
Transcribed
9 JUN 2026 · For decades, one astonishing claim has haunted the world of ancient mysteries: the Dogon people of Mali supposedly knew about Sirius B — a tiny, dense companion star invisible to the naked eye — before modern astronomy could explain it.
Was this sacred knowledge preserved through ancient tradition? Evidence of visitors from the stars? Or did a complex Dogon cosmology become transformed through translation, colonial fieldwork, and the ancient-astronaut boom of the 1970s?
In this episode of Unexplained History, we follow the trail from the cliffs of Mali to nineteenth-century observatories, French anthropologists’ notebooks, Robert Temple’s The Sirius Mystery, and the deeper question behind the legend: what happens when a living tradition is turned into proof for someone else’s theory?
The Dogon Sirius story may not reveal alien contact — but it does reveal something just as strange about belief, wonder, and the mysteries we bring with us when we look up at the stars. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/unexplained-history--6429156/support.
🎧 Unexplained History explores the myths, mysteries, and misunderstood moments that shaped our world. Hosted by Tom Mackenzie and Don Masterson. New episodes every week.
Follow us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen — and uncover the stories history tried to forget.
https://www.unexplained.co
History, Mystery, True Crime, Conspiracy, Paranormal, CIA, Cold War, Ancient Aliens, Archaeology, Unsolved, Supernatural, Tom McKenzie, Audio Drama, Storytelling, Documentaries.
This episode includes AI-generated content.
AI-generated content
Transcribed
4 JUN 2026 · In 1974, a Florida family discovered a polished steel sphere in the burned grass near their Fort George Island home. It was heavy, seamless, strangely balanced, and according to the Betz family, it seemed to move on its own, respond to music, and behave as if something inside it was alive.
Soon, the mysterious object attracted newspaper attention, a U.S. Navy inspection, UFO researchers, and speculation that it might be alien technology, military hardware, or a device from somewhere far stranger. But as the claims were tested and the source trail widened, the Betz sphere began to look less like a message from another world — and more like an industrial object with one of the strangest accidental journeys in unexplained history.
In this episode of Unexplained History, we investigate the Betz mystery sphere, the UFO fever surrounding it, the Navy’s findings, the ball check valve explanation, and the bizarre Volkswagen bus story that may finally explain how a metal ball became one of America’s strangest artifact legends. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/unexplained-history--6429156/support.
🎧 Unexplained History explores the myths, mysteries, and misunderstood moments that shaped our world. Hosted by Tom Mackenzie and Don Masterson. New episodes every week.
Follow us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen — and uncover the stories history tried to forget.
https://www.unexplained.co
History, Mystery, True Crime, Conspiracy, Paranormal, CIA, Cold War, Ancient Aliens, Archaeology, Unsolved, Supernatural, Tom McKenzie, Audio Drama, Storytelling, Documentaries.
This episode includes AI-generated content.
AI-generated content
Transcribed
2 JUN 2026 · Before D-Day, the Allies built an army that was never meant to fight — only to be seen, heard, intercepted, and believed.
Known as the Ghost Army, the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops used inflatable tanks, fake radio traffic, sound trucks, borrowed insignia, and carefully staged rumors to make German intelligence believe American forces were massing where they were not.
Their mission was not to destroy the enemy directly, but to distort what the enemy thought was real. For decades, their work remained classified.
Now their strange story reveals one of World War Two’s most unsettling truths: in modern war, a fake army can cast a real shadow. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/unexplained-history--6429156/support.
🎧 Unexplained History explores the myths, mysteries, and misunderstood moments that shaped our world. Hosted by Tom Mackenzie and Don Masterson. New episodes every week.
Follow us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen — and uncover the stories history tried to forget.
https://www.unexplained.co
History, Mystery, True Crime, Conspiracy, Paranormal, CIA, Cold War, Ancient Aliens, Archaeology, Unsolved, Supernatural, Tom McKenzie, Audio Drama, Storytelling, Documentaries.
This episode includes AI-generated content.
AI-generated content
Transcribed
29 MAY 2026 · In 1864, a French newspaper published a stunning report from the American frontier: oil prospectors had drilled into a gigantic meteorite and found a tiny humanoid body sealed inside a stone sarcophagus. Its face was knife-like. Its arms were too long. Its tomb was carved with the planets — and Mars was drawn larger than all the rest.
The story spread across Europe and America, blurring the line between science, journalism, satire, and belief. But was the Colorado Martian a genuine mystery, a forgotten alien encounter, or one of the strangest media hoaxes of the nineteenth century?
In this episode of Unexplained History, we uncover the strange case of Henri de Parville’s Martian mummy, the petrified-man craze, the Great Moon Hoax, and the era that taught readers to trust stories simply because they looked like news. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/unexplained-history--6429156/support.
🎧 Unexplained History explores the myths, mysteries, and misunderstood moments that shaped our world. Hosted by Tom Mackenzie and Don Masterson. New episodes every week.
Follow us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen — and uncover the stories history tried to forget.
https://www.unexplained.co
History, Mystery, True Crime, Conspiracy, Paranormal, CIA, Cold War, Ancient Aliens, Archaeology, Unsolved, Supernatural, Tom McKenzie, Audio Drama, Storytelling, Documentaries.
This episode includes AI-generated content.
AI-generated content
Transcribed
26 MAY 2026 · In 1990, Italy admitted the existence of Operation Gladio: a secret Cold War stay-behind network built to resist a Soviet invasion that never came. But when hidden weapons caches, intelligence links, and decades of political violence came into view, Europe was forced to ask a darker question: had secret armies created to defend democracy become a threat inside democracy itself?
This episode of Unexplained History investigates the documented reality of Gladio, the European Parliament’s alarm over clandestine networks outside democratic control, and the unresolved allegations connecting Cold War security structures to Italy’s Years of Lead, the Piazza Fontana bombing, and the chilling idea of a “strategy of tension.” The truth is not as simple as conspiracy or coincidence — and that is what makes Gladio so disturbing. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/unexplained-history--6429156/support.
🎧 Unexplained History explores the myths, mysteries, and misunderstood moments that shaped our world. Hosted by Tom Mackenzie and Don Masterson. New episodes every week.
Follow us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen — and uncover the stories history tried to forget.
https://www.unexplained.co
History, Mystery, True Crime, Conspiracy, Paranormal, CIA, Cold War, Ancient Aliens, Archaeology, Unsolved, Supernatural, Tom McKenzie, Audio Drama, Storytelling, Documentaries.
This episode includes AI-generated content.
AI-generated content
Transcribed
22 MAY 2026 · In July 1952, radar operators at Washington National Airport saw something impossible: unidentified targets moving through the skies near the White House, the Capitol, and the Pentagon. Pilots reported strange lights. Air Force jets were scrambled. Newspapers exploded with headlines about “saucers over Washington.” But were these objects alien craft, secret military technology, radar ghosts caused by strange weather, or something even more unsettling — a Cold War panic powerful enough to make the government manage public belief? This episode of Unexplained History investigates the 1952 Washington UFO flap, the radar contacts, fighter interceptions, Project Blue Book, the Pentagon press conference, and the CIA-backed Robertson Panel that helped shape decades of official UFO skepticism. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/unexplained-history--6429156/support.
🎧 Unexplained History explores the myths, mysteries, and misunderstood moments that shaped our world. Hosted by Tom Mackenzie and Don Masterson. New episodes every week.
Follow us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen — and uncover the stories history tried to forget.
https://www.unexplained.co
History, Mystery, True Crime, Conspiracy, Paranormal, CIA, Cold War, Ancient Aliens, Archaeology, Unsolved, Supernatural, Tom McKenzie, Audio Drama, Storytelling, Documentaries.
This episode includes AI-generated content.
Supporters Club
Transcribed
18 APR 2026 · What lies beneath the surface of a small, windswept island off the coast of Nova Scotia? For over two centuries, the Oak Island Money Pit has captivated the world, swallowing fortunes and reputations in a relentless pursuit of hidden treasure.
In this episode of Unexplained History, Tom McKenzie takes us back to the summer of 1795 to follow the journey of Daniel McGinnis and the discovery that started it all. From hand-shovels and oil lamps to the high-tech sonar and industrial drilling of the Lagina brothers, we explore how a simple depression in the ground evolved into a global obsession.In this episode, we explore:
- The Origin Story: The early accounts of Daniel McGinnis, John Smith, and Anthony Vaughn.
- The Engineering Mystery: The legendary flood tunnels of Smith’s Cove and the enigmatic stone tablet.
- The Evolution of the Hunt: How the 20th-century efforts of Gilbert Hedden paved the way for modern reality TV investigations.
- The Evidence vs. The Legend: A look at the official records from the Nova Scotia Archives versus the folklore that keeps the mystery alive.
Is Oak Island a masterpiece of ancient engineering, a natural geological anomaly, or a site forever changed by the very act of searching? Join us as we weigh the evidence in the search for the truth. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/unexplained-history--6429156/support.
🎧 Unexplained History explores the myths, mysteries, and misunderstood moments that shaped our world. Hosted by Tom Mackenzie and Don Masterson. New episodes every week.
Follow us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen — and uncover the stories history tried to forget.
https://www.unexplained.co
History, Mystery, True Crime, Conspiracy, Paranormal, CIA, Cold War, Ancient Aliens, Archaeology, Unsolved, Supernatural, Tom McKenzie, Audio Drama, Storytelling, Documentaries.
Supporters Club
AI-generated content
Transcribed
11 APR 2026 · In the early 1980s, the residents of a remote Norwegian valley began witnessing something impossible: luminous objects that hovered, darted, and split apart in the polar night. Unlike typical ghost stories, the Hessdalen Lights became one of the most rigorously documented anomalies in history.
In this episode of Unexplained History, Tom McKenzie traces the journey from local folklore to high-tech scientific investigation. We explore the tireless work of Erling Strand, the deployment of the "Blue Box" automatic measurement station, and the compelling—yet contested—data from magnetometers and spectrometers. Is it a rare atmospheric plasma, a geological fluke, or something truly unconventional?
Discover how a small community and a dedicated team of international researchers turned a quiet valley into a living laboratory for the unknown. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/unexplained-history--6429156/support.
🎧 Unexplained History explores the myths, mysteries, and misunderstood moments that shaped our world. Hosted by Tom Mackenzie and Don Masterson. New episodes every week.
Follow us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen — and uncover the stories history tried to forget.
https://www.unexplained.co
History, Mystery, True Crime, Conspiracy, Paranormal, CIA, Cold War, Ancient Aliens, Archaeology, Unsolved, Supernatural, Tom McKenzie, Audio Drama, Storytelling, Documentaries.
This episode includes AI-generated content.
Supporters Club
AI-generated content
Transcribed
4 APR 2026 · In 1961, three friends hunting for geodes in California's Coso Mountains cracked open a rock to find something that seemingly defied time: a mechanical object encased in ancient stone. Was the Coso Artifact a relic of a lost civilization, or is there a more grounded explanation hidden in the geological crust?
In this episode of Unexplained History, host Tom McKenzie dives into the world of Out-of-Place Artifacts (OOPArts). We explore the friction between sensationalist media claims and the rigorous methods of professional archaeology. From the spark plug-like interior of the Coso find to the complex gears of the Antikythera Mechanism, we examine how context, provenance, and modern imaging like CT scans separate genuine historical wonders from long-standing myths.
Join us as we investigate the figures who shaped these narratives—from antiquity dealers like Eugene Boban to dedicated researchers like Tony Freeth—and discover why some "mysteries" persist long after the evidence has spoken. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/unexplained-history--6429156/support.
🎧 Unexplained History explores the myths, mysteries, and misunderstood moments that shaped our world. Hosted by Tom Mackenzie and Don Masterson. New episodes every week.
Follow us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen — and uncover the stories history tried to forget.
https://www.unexplained.co
History, Mystery, True Crime, Conspiracy, Paranormal, CIA, Cold War, Ancient Aliens, Archaeology, Unsolved, Supernatural, Tom McKenzie, Audio Drama, Storytelling, Documentaries.
This episode includes AI-generated content.
Supporters Club
AI-generated content
21 MAR 2026 · In the season premiere of Unexplained History, host Tom McKenzie takes you back to November 24, 1971—the night an ordinary Thanksgiving Eve flight became the center of the world's most famous unsolved hijacking. We trace the meticulous planning and daring escape of the man known as Dan Cooper (popularly known as D.B. Cooper).
This episode dives into the official FBI investigation, code-named NORJAK, and the decades of forensic work that followed. We examine the critical role of flight attendant Florence Schaffner, the discovery of the ransom money by Brian Ingram at Tina Bar, and the scientific realities of a 30,000-foot jump into the pitch-black Pacific Northwest wilderness.Key highlights include:
- The Heist: A minute-by-minute breakdown of the hijacking and the demand for $200,000 and four parachutes.
- The Science of Survival: Expert analysis on the physics of the jump, the weather conditions, and the survival odds of the 727 aft-stair exit.
- Forensic Evidence: The latest on the DNA testing of the black clip-on tie and the challenges of environmental contamination.
- The Legacy: Why the FBI officially redirected resources in 2016 and what it would actually take to reopen the case today. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/unexplained-history--6429156/support.
🎧 Unexplained History explores the myths, mysteries, and misunderstood moments that shaped our world. Hosted by Tom Mackenzie and Don Masterson. New episodes every week.
Follow us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen — and uncover the stories history tried to forget.
https://www.unexplained.co
History, Mystery, True Crime, Conspiracy, Paranormal, CIA, Cold War, Ancient Aliens, Archaeology, Unsolved, Supernatural, Tom McKenzie, Audio Drama, Storytelling, Documentaries.
This episode includes AI-generated content.
Unexplained History delivers unexplained events analysis and deep dives into the history of the unexplained. Join host Tom McKenzie weekly as we uncover the secrets behind history’s greatest cold cases...
show more
Unexplained History delivers unexplained events analysis and deep dives into the history of the unexplained.
Join host Tom McKenzie weekly as we uncover the secrets behind history’s greatest cold cases and cover-ups. If you’re fascinated by true crime, ancient mysteries, paranormal activity, and government conspiracies, this podcast is for you.
Each episode creates a gripping audio landscape exploring events that defy explanation — from baffling disappearances and cryptid sightings to the dark realities of the Cold War and the occult.
The Team
New episodes drop every Tuesday. Listen in — and decide what you believe.
Visit us: https://www.unexplained.co
show less
Join host Tom McKenzie weekly as we uncover the secrets behind history’s greatest cold cases and cover-ups. If you’re fascinated by true crime, ancient mysteries, paranormal activity, and government conspiracies, this podcast is for you.
Each episode creates a gripping audio landscape exploring events that defy explanation — from baffling disappearances and cryptid sightings to the dark realities of the Cold War and the occult.
The Team
- Narrative & Direction: Rob Davenport
- Lead Researcher: Mike Sherwin
- Sound Design & Score: Smoking Man Studios
New episodes drop every Tuesday. Listen in — and decide what you believe.
Visit us: https://www.unexplained.co
Information
| Author | The Unexplained Company |
| Organization | The Unexplained Company |
| Categories | History , Documentary , True Crime |
| Website | www.unexplained.co |
| unexplained-history@unexplained.co |
Copyright 2026 - Spreaker Inc. an iHeartMedia Company
