Episode Descriptions & Sources Fall 2025

Oct 17. 2025

Fatal Fun HHN 1986: Every fall, Universal Studios transforms into a world of fear, thrills, and spine-tingling fun—welcome to Halloween Horror Nights. Known as one of the most intense Halloween events in the country, HHN brings together haunted houses, scare zones, and live shows that push the limits of imagination and fright. From the moment you step through the gates, the sights, sounds, and screams pull you into a night where horror comes alive and every corner hides a new surprise.

Sources: https://themeparknostalgia.blogspot.com/2013/09/halloween-horror-nights-xiii-2003.html#:~:text=All%20Nite%20Die-In%2C%20where%20guests%20entered%20through%20an,and%20Leatherface%27s%20kitchen%20from%20The%20Texas%20Chainsaw%20Massacre. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-11-02-me-15522-story.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com. https://halloweenhorrornights.fandom.com/wiki/Halloween_Horror_Nights_1986?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Oct. 24. 2025

The Full Ride: The Wildest Ride in the Wilderness: They call it the wildest ride in the wilderness… and for most guests, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is exactly that—three minutes of sharp turns, speeding trains, and Disney magic in the desert. But beneath the echoes of the dynamite blasts and the rickety wooden tracks, lies a history that’s not so family-friendly. —this runaway mine train has seen its share of darkness. Today, we’re diving deep into the ride’s history, the myths, and the accidents that Disney doesn’t tell you about. So buckle up… because this episode might just be the wildest ride you’ve ever taken.

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_incidents_at_Disneyland_Resort?utm_source=chatgpt.com https://groups.google.com/g/rec.arts.disney/c/N5m6pc0Byzk/m/GOLmnSIBK0IJ?utm_source=chatgpt.com&pli=1 https://ridesdatabase.org/accident_reports/CA_911333.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com https://theshadowlands.net/famous/disneylandHM.htm Los Angeles Times

Oct. 31. 2025

Halloween Special: The Vampire Circus: Listen to one of Marissa's favorite stories. The Vampire Circus. A unique and chilling story that is the perfect Halloween episode.

Nov. 7. 2025

Shadowed Archives: The Incubator Babies of Coney Island: While other exhibits came and went, Couney’s incubator babies became one of Dreamland’s most beloved attractions. Visitors returned year after year, some tracking the progress of the children they’d seen in those glass boxes. Reporters wrote glowing stories. And slowly, the world began to see that these “weaklings” were not doomed — they were simply in need of care.

Sources: “How a Coney Island sideshow advanced medicine for premature babies” – PBS article. PBS“Baby Incubators: From Boardwalk Sideshow to Medical Marvel” – History.com article. history.com“Coney Island’s Incubator Babies” – JSTOR Daily article. JSTOR Daily “Martin Couney and Incubator Exhibits, 1896–1943” – Arizona State University (Embryo Project) web article. Embryo Project Encyclopedia
“Dr. Martin A. Couney” – Neonatology on the Web biography. neonatology.net
“Martin Couney” – American Heritage Magazine profile. americanheritage.com
“The Incubator Babies of Coney Island: How an Early 1900s Boardwalk Attraction Saved Thousands of Premature Babies Lives” – Open Culture article. Open Culture
“Dr. Couney’s exhibit at Coney Island” – Coney Island History Project article. Coney Island Histo

Nov. 15. 2025

After Dark: The Outlaw that Never Died: Under the bright lights of a California amusement park, a film crew prepares a scene. They’re surrounded by fake skeletons, wax monsters, and plastic mummies. But when a prop man tries to move one of the ‘dummies,’ something breaks — and it isn’t plastic. It’s bone. What they’ve found isn’t a movie prop… it’s a man. A man who’s been dead for more than half a century.

Sources: “Elmer McCurdy: Traveling Corpse” — article from the U.S. Library of Congress blog. The Library of Congress “The Dead Outlaw Whose Mummy Became a Traveling Show Prop” — from HISTORY. HISTORY
“The Mummy Everyone Forgot Was Real” — from Atlas Obscura. Atlas Obscura
“The True Story of the Mummified Outlaw: Elmer McCurdy’s Wild Journey” — from KANSAS! Magazine. Travel Kansas
“This Mainer went from train robber to carnival sideshow mummy” — from the Bangor Daily News. Bangor Daily News

Nov. 21. 2025

Fatal Fun: The Darkest Ride on the Midway: For most people, the Sizzler is harmless — a dizzy blur of lights and motion. But for others, it’s become the stuff of nightmares. Ejections. Crushed bodies. Hair pulled into gears that should’ve never been exposed. Skin… torn from scalp. The kind of horror no ghost could dream up — because this terror is man-made. Steel. Bolts. Machinery that doesn’t care who climbs into its seat.
This is the Sizzler.

Sources: CBS News+1 Diocese of Alexandria KVIA+2Insurance Journal+2 KVIA+1 (crimeonline.com)

Nov. 28. 2025

Shadowed Archives: The Disney Experiment: Most people think Disney parks were built for magic…
Castles. Fireworks. Parades. Dreams. But what if all that magic… was the misdirection? What if the happiest place on Earth… was never meant to be a theme park at all? What if it was a government experiment—
hidden in plain sight?

Sources: