True Crime Sleep Stories

Tonight’s extra-long Halloween special covers Edgar Allan Poe’s full life story, the crimes that influenced his writing, and the still-unsolved mystery of his death in Baltimore in 1849. This is the finale of 31 Nights of Frights! :-)
From his birth in Boston in 1809 and his mother’s death from tuberculosis, through his foster home, money struggles, army and West Point years, life with Maria Clemm and Virginia, magazine career, poverty, sudden fame with “The Raven,” and devastating losses. Then the five missing days, the election-day tavern, the clothes that weren’t his, the hospital, the name “Reynolds,” and the theories that still don’t add up.
Includes readings from Poe’s work plus personal stories: reading “The Tell-Tale Heart” in middle school, my animatronic raven candy dish that cawed “Nevermore,” a little easter egg in my fiction, and the Poe speakeasy I visited last fall. More personal than usual.
Last night of 31 Nights of Frights. Thank you for your support. Get comfortable. We’ll be back next week with all-new episodes of True Crime Sleep Stories. Stay safe, and lock your doors.
Patreon Exclusive: Ad-free version & bonus content available now for supporters.
Your support keeps the stories coming... thank you! 💤
Listen & Connect
• Watch on YouTube: youtube.com/@SleepyTimeCreepyTime
• Listen on Apple Podcasts | Spotify
Stay in Touch
Facebook
Instagram: @truecrimesleepstories | @kellibrink
TikTok: @truecrimesleepstories
Buy the True Crime Sleep Stories Books by Kelli Brink
Vol. 1: amzn.to/3Z8jx5L
Vol. 2: amzn.to/4kAthhj
Vol. 3: amzn.to/3H9xfPQ

Support the show on Patreon

True Crime Sleep Stories is hosted and created by Kelli Brink, produced with the support of our dedicated team. Subscribe, rate, and review us on your favorite podcast platform to help us keep telling these haunting tales. Visit patreon.com/kellibrink for exclusive content and to join our community. Thank you for listening, and we'll meet you in the shadows next time. Until then, stay safe out there, and lock your doors.
🌑 Goodnight.
#TrueCrimeSleepStories #EdgarAllanPoe #Halloween #TrueCrimeForSleep

A real Halloween true-crime-meets-ghost-story-crossover from West Virginia: In 1897, young Zona Shue was found dead and her death was ruled natural. Her mother, Mary Jane Heaster, claimed Zona’s spirit returned to reveal her husband had broken her neck. An autopsy confirmed the murder, and Edward Shue was convicted. This is the only known case in which a ghost’s testimony helped convict a killer.
Patreon Exclusive: Ad-free version & bonus content available now for supporters.
Your support keeps the stories coming... thank you! 💤
Listen & Connect
• Watch on YouTube: youtube.com/@SleepyTimeCreepyTime
• Listen on Apple Podcasts | Spotify
Stay in Touch
Facebook
Instagram: @truecrimesleepstories | @kellibrink
TikTok: @truecrimesleepstories
Buy the True Crime Sleep Stories Books by Kelli Brink
Vol. 1: amzn.to/3Z8jx5L
Vol. 2: amzn.to/4kAthhj
Vol. 3: amzn.to/3H9xfPQ

Support the show on Patreon

True Crime Sleep Stories is hosted and created by Kelli Brink, produced with the support of our dedicated team. Subscribe, rate, and review us on your favorite podcast platform to help us keep telling these haunting tales. Visit patreon.com/kellibrink for exclusive content and to join our community. Thank you for listening, and we'll meet you in the shadows next time. Until then, stay safe out there, and lock your doors.
🌑 Goodnight.
#TrueCrimeSleepStories #GreenbrierGhost #GhostStory #Halloween #TrueCrimeForSleep

Snow on the fields in Salem Village, Massachusetts. It’s January 1692, and 2 young girls in the village minister’s house begin having unexplained fits. Within months, more than 200 people are accused of witchcraft. 19 are hanged. One is pressed to death under heavy stones.
Tonight we follow the Salem Witch Trials month by month: the first accusations against Tituba, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborne… the use of spectral evidence… the trials of Rebecca Nurse, Bridget Bishop, Giles Corey, and others… and the long aftermath of clearing names that lasted for centuries.
It’s a heavy chapter of American history, but it’s also the story of ordinary people who refused to confess to witchcraft, even when telling the truth cost them everything.
Settle in for this uninterrupted Salem Witch Trials sleep story. Get comfortable, and come back with me to that winter in 1692.
Just 2 more sleeps until Halloween! Until then, sleep well.
Patreon Exclusive: Ad-free version & bonus content available now for supporters.
Your support keeps the stories coming... thank you! 💤
Listen & Connect
• Watch on YouTube: youtube.com/@SleepyTimeCreepyTime
• Listen on Apple Podcasts | Spotify
Stay in Touch
Facebook
Instagram: @truecrimesleepstories | @kellibrink
TikTok: @truecrimesleepstories
Buy the True Crime Sleep Stories Books by Kelli Brink
Vol. 1: amzn.to/3Z8jx5L
Vol. 2: amzn.to/4kAthhj
Vol. 3: amzn.to/3H9xfPQ

Support the show on Patreon

True Crime Sleep Stories is hosted and created by Kelli Brink, produced with the support of our dedicated team. Subscribe, rate, and review us on your favorite podcast platform to help us keep telling these haunting tales. Visit patreon.com/kellibrink for exclusive content and to join our community. Thank you for listening, and we'll meet you in the shadows next time. Until then, stay safe out there, and lock your doors.
🌑 Goodnight.
#TrueCrimeSleepStories #SalemWitchTrials #Salem #Halloween #TrueCrimeForSleep

On August 21, 1955, a family near Kelly, Kentucky reported small glowing creatures (the so-called Kelly Green Men or little green men) attacking their farmhouse. Billy Ray Taylor saw a bright light, then a silvery figure with a large head and clawed arms. The men opened fire. All 11 people fled to police. Local police and Fort Campbell military police searched the property. Some claim it was just a great horned owl. The family disagreed. Hoax, prank, or real UFO encounter? What do you think?
Patreon Exclusive: Ad-free version & bonus content available now for supporters.
Your support keeps the stories coming... thank you! 💤
Listen & Connect
• Watch on YouTube: youtube.com/@SleepyTimeCreepyTime
• Listen on Apple Podcasts | Spotify
Stay in Touch
Facebook
Instagram: @truecrimesleepstories | @kellibrink
TikTok: @truecrimesleepstories
Buy the True Crime Sleep Stories Books by Kelli Brink
Vol. 1: amzn.to/3Z8jx5L
Vol. 2: amzn.to/4kAthhj
Vol. 3: amzn.to/3H9xfPQ

Support the show on Patreon

True Crime Sleep Stories is hosted and created by Kelli Brink, produced with the support of our dedicated team. Subscribe, rate, and review us on your favorite podcast platform to help us keep telling these haunting tales. Visit patreon.com/kellibrink for exclusive content and to join our community. Thank you for listening, and we'll meet you in the shadows next time. Until then, stay safe out there, and lock your doors.
🌑 Goodnight.
#HopkinsvilleGoblins #KellyHopkinsvilleEncounter #UFO #Kentucky #TrueCrimeSleepStories

You've heard the Winchester Mystery House legends: staircases to nowhere, doors that open onto nothing, and a widow haunted by the ghosts of everyone killed by a Winchester rifle. The true story of Sarah Winchester is far more interesting.
Sarah "Sallie" Winchester lost her baby daughter, her parents, and her husband William Wirt Winchester, heir to the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, all within a few years. Grieving, she moved to San Jose, California, and built a life on her own terms. She was a sharp businesswoman, a generous employer who kept her carpenters and staff working for decades, and she supported her family for the rest of her life.
She designed her Victorian mansion herself, one room at a time, out of a love of architecture she had shared with Will. She lived with rheumatoid arthritis and was a happy homebody, not someone hiding from a curse. The ghost stories came after her death, invented to sell tickets and draw tourists.
Sallie wasn't a haunted, cursed widow. She was a role model.
Tonight on 31 Nights of Frights, I'm separating fact from fiction in a true story that isn't scary at all. It's inspiring, fascinating, and a little sad. 🖤
#WinchesterMysteryHouse #SarahWinchester #TrueCrimeSleepStories #HauntedHouse #HauntedHistory #GhostStories #SanJose #Halloween
Patreon Exclusive: Ad-free version & bonus content available now for supporters.
Your support keeps the stories coming... thank you! 💤
Listen & Connect
• Watch on YouTube: youtube.com/@SleepyTimeCreepyTime
• Listen on Apple Podcasts | Spotify
Stay in Touch
Facebook
Instagram: @truecrimesleepstories | @kellibrink
TikTok: @truecrimesleepstories
Buy the True Crime Sleep Stories Books by Kelli Brink
Vol. 1: amzn.to/3Z8jx5L
Vol. 2: amzn.to/4kAthhj
Vol. 3: amzn.to/3H9xfPQ

Support the show on Patreon

True Crime Sleep Stories is hosted and created by Kelli Brink, produced with the support of our dedicated team. Subscribe, rate, and review us on your favorite podcast platform to help us keep telling these haunting tales. Visit patreon.com/kellibrink for exclusive content and to join our community. Thank you for listening, and we'll meet you in the shadows next time. Until then, stay safe out there, and lock your doors.
🌑 Goodnight.