Category: Podcasts

Dozens of unrelated children said shining, winged figures stood over them as an EF5 tornado destroyed Joplin. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli weigh cryptids, trauma, folklore, and guardian angels behind the butterfly people.

https://youtu.be/k_6kqDpNXIQ

Help us continue to offer Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious World. Won’t you make a pledge at SQPN.com/give today?

Links for this episode:

• Butterflies at the Window: A Story of Butterfly People and Miracles in the Storm by Sandi McReynolds
• 5:41: Stories from the Joplin Tornado by Randy Turner and John Hacker
• “The Butterfly People” (2023 documentary), directed by Greg Fish
• “The Butterfly People of Joplin,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch
• The Butterfly People (Trailer)
• 2011 Joplin EF5 Tornado – Unedited broadcast beginning 9 minutes before historic disaster
• First Person video of Joplin MO tornado 5-22-11
• Joplin 2011 EF5 Tornado – Weather Channel On Air Coverage
• NWS Service Assessment, Joplin, Missouri, Tornado, May 22, 2011
• Butterfly Garden and Overlook (Nature Sacred)
• Catechism of the Catholic Church §§328–336
• Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, I, q. 113
• “Inside the Mysterious ‘Butterfly People’” (All That’s Interesting)

• Please spread the word about the podcast. Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts!
• Purchase the books and other material from this and other episodes at the Mysterious World Bookstore.
• Join the conversation at the Starquest Facebook page and the Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious World Facebook page.
• Be part of the StarQuest Discord community at SQPN.com/discord
• Send your feedback or comments to feedback@mysterious.fm or send a tweet to @mys_world
• You can also leave a voice message on the Mysterious Feedback Line at (619) 738-4515

Chapters:

• 0:00:00 – MYS427
• 0:00:12 – Intro
• 0:00:47 – Cold open: The butterfly people of Joplin
• 0:01:39 – Joplin, Missouri — close to home for Jimmy
• 0:03:04 – The Enhanced Fujita scale
• 0:04:25 – The day of the storm
• 0:08:06 – The funnel touches down
• 0:09:06 – On the ground: six minutes across the city
• 0:12:35 – St. John’s Regional Medical Center
• 0:14:14 – The next morning and the death toll
• 0:16:16 – A wave of survival stories
• 0:17:09 – The children’s accounts
• 0:18:57 – Todd Frankel’s St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporting
• 0:21:52 – Firsthand accounts: the documentary and the trauma center
• 0:25:37 – Emily Huddleston
• 0:27:38 – The city responds: mural, memorial, and the soul as butterfly
• 0:29:43 – The stories keep circulating
• 0:30:35 – Where the account stands today: the documentary and the books
• 0:32:43 – Thank you to Patrons
• 0:33:15 – Sponsor: The Grady Group
• 0:33:36 – Sponsor Mysterious World
• 0:34:38 – The five theories
• 0:35:44 – Reason Perspective — Theory 1: A cryptid species
• 0:36:40 – Theory 2: The natural explanation
• 0:40:09 – Theory 3: Folklore
• 0:44:09 – Child witnesses and suggestibility
• 0:45:32 – Historical parallels and the third man factor
• 0:46:06 – Theory 4: Near-death experience
• 0:48:05 – Where reason lands
• 0:49:29 – Faith Perspective — Theory 5: Guardian angels
• 0:51:13 – Wings, light, and color: what angels look like
• 0:52:59 – The Catholic tradition and child witnesses
• 0:53:42 – The 2024 Vatican norms
• 0:55:02 – Were the butterfly people guardian angels?
• 0:56:36 – Bottom Line
• 0:58:24 – Further Resources
• 0:59:13 – Mysterious Feedback: #416 Jesus’ Most Misunderstood Prophecy
• 1:04:24 – Your mysterious feedback
• 1:05:00 – Thank you to Oasis Studio 7
• 1:05:04 – Jimmy’s YouTube channel
• 1:05:56 – Thank you to Melanie for voiceover work
• 1:05:59 – Next Time: Fifth Friday Weird Questions
• 1:07:08 – Follow the show
• 1:07:21 – Get your Mysterious merch
• 1:07:30 – Show notes
• 1:07:37 – Become a Patron
• 1:07:45 – Sponsor: Rosary Army and School of Mary
• 1:08:11 – Outro

This Episode is Brought to You By:

Rosary Army. Featuring award-winning Catholic podcasts, Rosary resources, videos, and the School of Mary online community, prayer, and learning platform. Learn how to make them, pray them, and give them away while growing in your faith at RosaryArmy.com and SchoolOfMary.com

The Grady Group, a Catholic company bringing financial clarity to their clients across the United States. Using safe money options to produce reasonable rates of return for their clients. Learn more by visiting GradyGroupInc.com.

Want to Sponsor A Show?
Support StarQuest’s mission to explore the intersection of faith and pop culture by becoming a named sponsor of the show of your choice on the StarQuest network. Click to get started or find out more.

Direct Link to the Episode.

Subscribe on iTunes. | Other Ways to Subscribe.

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He spent his career debunking fake mesmerists and mediums — then dreamed his brother’s funeral weeks before it happened. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli trace Mark Twain’s strange turn toward telepathy and ask what the Catholic has to say about it.

https://youtu.be/FCpm1H55MNw

Help us continue to offer Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious World. Won’t you make a pledge at SQPN.com/give today?

Links for this episode:

• Albert Bigelow Paine, Mark Twain: A Biography
• Mark Twain, Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 1 (Univ. of California Press, 2010)
• Clara Clemens, My Father, Mark Twain
• Mark Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
• Mark Twain, The Mysterious Stranger Manuscripts (Univ. of California Press, 1969)
• Upton Sinclair, Mental Radio
• Psi Encyclopedia, “Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens)”
• Mark Twain, “Mental Telegraphy: A Manuscript with a History,” Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, December 1891
• Mark Twain, “Mental Telegraphy Again,” Harper’s Monthly Magazine, September 1895
• Mark Twain, “My Platonic Sweetheart,” Harper’s Monthly Magazine, December 1912
• Chantel Tattoli, “Mark Twain’s Mind Waves,” Paris Review, August 25, 2020
• Troy Taylor, “Mark Twain and the Supernatural,” American Hauntings

• Please spread the word about the podcast. Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts!
• Purchase the books and other material from this and other episodes at the Mysterious World Bookstore.
• Join the conversation at the Starquest Facebook page and the Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious World Facebook page.
• Be part of the StarQuest Discord community at SQPN.com/discord
• Send your feedback or comments to feedback@mysterious.fm or send a tweet to @mys_world
• You can also leave a voice message on the Mysterious Feedback Line at (619) 738-4515

Chapters:

• 0:00 – Intro
• 1:32 – Twain’s Early Life, the Civil War, and His Journalism Career
• 6:01 – Fame, Marriage, and the Move Into Fiction
• 9:30 – The Moral Climax of *The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn*
• 16:27 – Later Novels, Bankruptcy, and Family Tragedy
• 17:55 – Twain’s Formative Skeptical Experiences (Mesmerism, Phrenology, Spiritualism)
• 22:37 – Coining "Mental Telegraphy"
• 25:35 – The Harper’s Essays and Joining the SPR and ASPR
• 28:09 – The 1858 Precognitive Dream of Brother Henry’s Death
• 33:54 – Recurring Dreams and "My Platonic Sweetheart"
• 37:29 – Ghost Reports at the Hartford House
• 38:08 – The William Wright "Nevada Silver Bonanza" Letter Case
• 42:33 – Thank you to Patrons
• 43:05 – Sponsor: The Grady Group
• 44:27 – More Mental Telegraphy Cases: Frank Millet, Henry Morton Stanley, and the Lotos Club
• 48:37 – The Simultaneous Invention Argument
• 54:51 – An Apparition of a Living Friend in Montreal
• 57:34 – Livy’s Turn to Spiritualism and Twain’s Felt Presence After Jean’s Death
• 59:33 – The George Bernard Shaw Mental Telegraphy Case
• 1:00:28 – The Halley’s Comet Coincidence
• 1:02:34 – Reason Perspective
• 1:04:51 – Faith Perspective
• 1:06:37 – Bottom Line
• 1:07:36 – Further Resources
• 1:08:21 – Mysterious Feedback: #415 The Mattress Store Conspiracy
• 1:14:37 – Your mysterious feedback
• 1:15:15 – Thank you to Oasis Studio 7
• 1:15:22 – Jimmy’s YouTube channel
• 1:16:03 – Next Time: The Butterfly People of Joplin
• 1:16:17 – ★ – Get your Mysterious merch
• 1:16:33 – ★ – Show notes
• 1:16:41 – ★ – Become a Patron
• 1:16:49 – ★ – Sponsor: Rosary Army and School of Mary
• 1:17:15 – ★ – Outro

This Episode is Brought to You By:

Rosary Army. Featuring award-winning Catholic podcasts, Rosary resources, videos, and the School of Mary online community, prayer, and learning platform. Learn how to make them, pray them, and give them away while growing in your faith at RosaryArmy.com and SchoolOfMary.com

The Grady Group, a Catholic company bringing financial clarity to their clients across the United States. Using safe money options to produce reasonable rates of return for their clients. Learn more by visiting GradyGroupInc.com.

Want to Sponsor A Show?
Support StarQuest’s mission to explore the intersection of faith and pop culture by becoming a named sponsor of the show of your choice on the StarQuest network. Click to get started or find out more.

Direct Link to the Episode.

Subscribe on iTunes. | Other Ways to Subscribe.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

A Liverpool merchant spent 30 years tunneling beneath his own neighborhood and never said why. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli weigh seven theories about Joseph Williamson and his mysterious underground labyrinth.

https://youtu.be/GuEb4R5XLRg

Help us continue to offer Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious World. Won’t you make a pledge at SQPN.com/give today?

Links for this episode:

• Jim Moore, Underground Liverpool: Joseph Williamson—The King of Edge Hill (Bluecoat Press, 1998)
• Richard Whittington-Egan, Liverpool Characters and Eccentrics (The Gallery Press, 1985)
• David Clensy, The Mole of Edge Hill (2006)
• James Stonehouse, Recollections of Old Liverpool by a Nonagenarian (1863)—full text at Project Gutenberg
• Charles R. Hand, “Joseph Williamson, the ‘King of Edge Hill,’ II,” Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, vol. 79 (1928), pp. 86–111
• Friends of Williamson’s Tunnels (FoWT)—excavation, tours, primary research
• Williamson Tunnels Heritage Centre / Joseph Williamson Society
• Williamson Tunnels—Wikipedia overview with references

• Please spread the word about the podcast. Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts!
• Purchase the books and other material from this and other episodes at the Mysterious World Bookstore.
• Join the conversation at the Starquest Facebook page and the Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious World Facebook page.
• Be part of the StarQuest Discord community at SQPN.com/discord
• Send your feedback or comments to feedback@mysterious.fm or send a tweet to @mys_world
• You can also leave a voice message on the Mysterious Feedback Line at (619) 738-4515

Chapters:

• 0:00 – MYS424
• 0:12 – Intro
• 0:44 – The mystery: thirty years of tunneling, no explanation
• 1:37 – Who was Joseph Williamson?
• 3:46 – The Liverpool Mercury obituary (1840)
• 5:26 – Edge Hill and the geology: New Red Sandstone
• 8:06 – The eccentric houses above ground
• 9:51 – What Charles Hand found underground
• 12:03 – Boys exploring the tunnels: Hand’s childhood expeditions
• 14:43 – Hand’s adult revisit (1926): the descent
• 17:19 – James Stonehouse’s 1845 tour
• 19:34 – The two underground four-room houses
• 20:02 – Williamson’s character and eccentric dress
• 21:53 – The window tax story
• 23:04 – The beans and bacon test dinner
• 24:56 – His religious life: St. Thomas’s Church
• 27:23 – The Rambler’s 1837 appreciation
• 29:10 – Death, burial, and the suppressed Stonehouse manuscript
• 31:30 – Modern excavations: Friends of Williamson’s Tunnels
• 33:16 – Thank you to Patrons
• 33:50 – Sponsor: Peter’s Barque presented by The Grady Group
• 35:36 – Theories overview: seven proposed explanations
• 37:49 – Analysis: Freemasonry theory
• 38:32 – Analysis: Smuggling theory
• 39:06 – Analysis: Apocalyptic refuge theory
• 42:12 – Analysis: Storage / wine cellars theory
• 43:19 – Analysis: Personal eccentricity theory
• 44:48 – Analysis: Quarrying theory
• 48:24 – Analysis: Charity theory
• 53:07 – Reason Perspective
• 54:01 – Faith Perspective
• 55:03 – Bottom Line
• 56:02 – Further Resources
• 56:47 – Mysterious Feedback: #413 The Shocking Secret Manuscript of the Anna Eklund Exorcism
• 1:00:11 – Your mysterious feedback
• 1:00:48 – Thank you to Oasis Studio 7
• 1:00:55 – Jimmy’s YouTube channel
• 1:01:51 – Next Time: Voice-to-skull technology
• 1:02:34 – Share and follow the show
• 1:02:47 – Get your Mysterious merch
• 1:02:56 – Show notes
• 1:03:03 – Become a Patron
• 1:03:11 – Sponsor: Rosary Army and School of Mary
• 1:03:37 – Outro

This Episode is Brought to You By:

Rosary Army. Featuring award-winning Catholic podcasts, Rosary resources, videos, and the School of Mary online community, prayer, and learning platform. Learn how to make them, pray them, and give them away while growing in your faith at RosaryArmy.com and SchoolOfMary.com

The Grady Group, a Catholic company bringing financial clarity to their clients across the United States. Using safe money options to produce reasonable rates of return for their clients. Learn more by visiting GradyGroupInc.com.

Want to Sponsor A Show?
Support StarQuest’s mission to explore the intersection of faith and pop culture by becoming a named sponsor of the show of your choice on the StarQuest network. Click to get started or find out more.

Direct Link to the Episode.

Subscribe on iTunes. | Other Ways to Subscribe.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

A bottomless pit in central Washington, 80,000 feet deep and impossible to fill. In 1997, one phone call to Art Bell turned a piece of local folklore into a national mystery. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli investigate Mel’s Hole.

https://youtu.be/MPfOoCjG6EQ

Help us continue to offer Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious World. Won’t you make a pledge at SQPN.com/give today?

Links for this episode:

• “Mel’s Hole” (Wikipedia)
• “Mel’s Hole” (Grokipedia)
• Mike Johnston, “Getting to the bottom of Mel’s Hole” (Ellensburg Daily Record, March 31, 2012)
• John Zebrowski, “Expedition seeks paranormal pit” (The Seattle Times, April 14, 2002)
• Brian Dunning, “Falling into Mel’s Hole” (Skeptoid #156, June 2, 2009)
• Audio archive of original Mel Waters Coast to Coast AM appearances
• “Mel Waters” guest page, Coast to Coast AM

• Please spread the word about the podcast. Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts!
• Purchase the books and other material from this and other episodes at the Mysterious World Bookstore.
• Join the conversation at the Starquest Facebook page and the Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious World Facebook page.
• Be part of the StarQuest Discord community at SQPN.com/discord
• Send your feedback or comments to feedback@mysterious.fm or send a tweet to @mys_world
• You can also leave a voice message on the Mysterious Feedback Line at (619) 738-4515

Chapters:

• 0:00 – MYS423
• 0:13 – Intro
• 2:42 – Mel’s first call (Feb. 21, 1997)
• 5:01 – Neighborhood dump
• 6:50 – Measuring with fishing line
• 9:14 – Stone retaining wall
• 10:48 – No echo and spooked dogs
• 11:50 – The dead dog that came back
• 13:06 – Native American connection
• 14:00 – Second call (Feb. 24, 1997)
• 17:04 – Government arrives
• 19:26 – The black beam of llight
• 20:27 – Third call (April 2000)
• 22:00 – Australia relocation
• 23:38 – Twelve days missing
• 27:02 – 1943 Roosevelt dime
• 32:37 – Final call (January 2002)
• 32:51 – Nevada hole
• 35:06 – Ice experiment
• 38:36 – Lowering the sheep
• 40:12 – Seal-like creature
• 44:08 – Basque elder and second dime
• 45:23 – Mel goes off-grid
• 49:44 – After Mel
• 51:21 – Thank you to Patrons
• 51:54 – Sponsor: Transformed – The Legend of Rising Eagle
• 52:35 – Sponsor: Rosary Army and School of Mary
• 52:58 – Theories
• 53:20 – Reason Perspective
• 1:04:27 – Faith Perspective
• 1:07:42 – Bottom Line
• 1:08:58 – Further Resources
• 1:09:37 – Mysterious Feedback: #412 The Earling Exorcism
• 1:15:10 – Your mysterious feedback
• 1:15:48 – Thank you to Oasis Studio 7
• 1:15:53 – Jimmy’s YouTube channel
• 1:16:31 – Next Time: Joseph Williamson’s Tunnels
• 1:16:57 – Mysterious World store
• 1:17:05 – Get your Mysterious merch
• 1:17:13 – Show notes
• 1:17:21 – Become a Patron
• 1:17:29 – Sponsor: The Grady Group
• 1:17:49 – Outro

This Episode is Brought to You By:

Rosary Army. Featuring award-winning Catholic podcasts, Rosary resources, videos, and the School of Mary online community, prayer, and learning platform. Learn how to make them, pray them, and give them away while growing in your faith at RosaryArmy.com and SchoolOfMary.com

The Grady Group, a Catholic company bringing financial clarity to their clients across the United States. Using safe money options to produce reasonable rates of return for their clients. Learn more by visiting GradyGroupInc.com.

Available now on Amazon in ebook and paperback.

Want to Sponsor A Show?
Support StarQuest’s mission to explore the intersection of faith and pop culture by becoming a named sponsor of the show of your choice on the StarQuest network. Click to get started or find out more.

Direct Link to the Episode.

Subscribe on iTunes. | Other Ways to Subscribe.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

The most famous lost object in history — the Ark of the Covenant — vanished from Scripture before 586 BC and was never seen again. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli examine what it was, trace its history, and weigh nine theories for where it went.

https://youtu.be/OiAOWcLk454

Help us continue to offer Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious World. Won’t you make a pledge at SQPN.com/give today?

Links for this episode:

• David Falk, The Ark of the Covenant in Its Egyptian Context
• Graham Hancock, The Sign and the Seal: The Quest for the Lost Ark of the Covenant
• Tudor Parfitt, The Lost Ark of the Covenant: Solving the 2,500-Year-Old Mystery of the Fabled Biblical Ark
• Randall Price, Searching for the Ark of the Covenant
• Paul Raffaele, “Keepers of the Lost Ark?” Smithsonian, December 2007
• Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews (Whiston translation)
• Mishnah, Yoma 5:2/21b, 53b–54a (Sefaria)
• E. A. Wallis Budge, trans., The Queen of Sheba and Her Only Son Menyelek (Kebra Nagast)

• Please spread the word about the podcast. Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts!
• Purchase the books and other material from this and other episodes at the Mysterious World Bookstore.
• Join the conversation at the Starquest Facebook page and the Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious World Facebook page.
• Be part of the StarQuest Discord community at SQPN.com/discord
• Send your feedback or comments to feedback@mysterious.fm or send a tweet to @mys_world
• You can also leave a voice message on the Mysterious Feedback Line at (619) 738-4515

Chapters:

• 0:00 – MYS422
• 0:11 – Intro
• 1:43 – What Is the Ark of the Covenant?
• 8:50 – Physical Construction
• 13:43 – Contents of the Ark
• 18:08 – History: Conquest and Judges
• 21:26 – David and Uzzah
• 23:50 – Solomon’s Temple
• 24:50 – Silence
• 27:09 – The Babylonian Destruction
• 32:36 – Ancient traditions about its fate
• 36:06 – The Ark in the New Testament
• 37:30 – Thank you to Patrons
• 37:59 – Sponsor: Transformed – The Legend of Rising Eagle
• 38:41 – Sponsor: Rosary Army and School of Mary
• 39:03 – Theories
• 40:45 – Reason Perspective: Alien/ET removal?
• 43:29 – Knights Templar?
• 46:26 – Translated to heaven?
• 58:59 – Samaritans?
• 1:00:41 – Jeremiah hid it?
• 1:06:18 – Under the Temple Mount?
• 1:09:27 – Aksum in Ethiopia?
• 1:21:12 – Pharoah Shishak?
• 1:24:08 – Destroyed by Babylon?
• 1:33:26 – Faith Perspective
• 1:36:44 – Bottom Line
• 1:37:56 – Top. Men.
• 1:38:47 – Further Resources
• 1:40:01 – Mysterious Feedback: #411 George Adamski, Alien Contactee
• 1:42:51 – Your mysterious feedback
• 1:43:26 – Thank you to Oasis Studio 7
• 1:43:31 – Jimmy’s YouTube channel
• 1:44:17 – Next Time: Mel’s Hole
• 1:44:39 – Share the show
• 1:44:51 – Get your Mysterious merch
• 1:44:58 – Show notes
• 1:45:06 – Become a Patron
• 1:45:13 – Sponsor: The Grady Group
• 1:45:33 – Outro

This Episode is Brought to You By:

Rosary Army. Featuring award-winning Catholic podcasts, Rosary resources, videos, and the School of Mary online community, prayer, and learning platform. Learn how to make them, pray them, and give them away while growing in your faith at RosaryArmy.com and SchoolOfMary.com

The Grady Group, a Catholic company bringing financial clarity to their clients across the United States. Using safe money options to produce reasonable rates of return for their clients. Learn more by visiting GradyGroupInc.com.

Available now on Amazon in ebook and paperback.

Want to Sponsor A Show?
Support StarQuest’s mission to explore the intersection of faith and pop culture by becoming a named sponsor of the show of your choice on the StarQuest network. Click to get started or find out more.

Direct Link to the Episode.

Subscribe on iTunes. | Other Ways to Subscribe.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download