Heart Starts Pounding: Horrors, Hauntings and Mysteries

In the middle of the night, strangers ripped Zara from her bed and told her she was going to a troubled teen wilderness therapy program. Little did she know, the troubled teen industry would prevent her from going home for over three years.   The Troubled Teen Industry is a multi-billion dollar industry that holds kids prisoner and may do more harm than good in their attempt to rehabilitate teens. Wilderness therapies expose teens to extreme physical conditions for months on end...

Writer Jeff Topolski (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) joins us this week to answer the question: Was Natalia Grace Barnett a murderous woman parading as a child, or a victim of terrible adoptive parents? In 2010, a 6-year-old girl named Natalia Grace was adopted by Michael and Kristine Barnett. The Barnetts, as well as national headlines, would go on to portray Natalia as a disturbed con artist pretending to be a child...

This episode is about the supernatural things that happen around the time of someone's death, either leading up to it or right after. We read stories from people who experienced the unexplainable right when their loved one died and hear from two healthcare workers about a supernatural phenomenon that is common when someone is dying.  You can follow Hospice Nurse Julie on tiktok @hospicenursejulie Follow the podcast on instagram @heartstartspounding Read more from u/spinyfever here: https://www...

Pack a bag, today we're going to a spooky campground. In this episode, we hear two terrifying campground tales. The first one is The Tale of The Solo Traveler- a tale of a girl who learns something may have been watching her while she camped. And then we hear a tale from a listener of a time when their husband's intuition while camping may have saved them both...

On Christmas Eve, 1924, a devastating fire broke out at a schoolhouse in Babbs Switch. 36 people died in total, and every person who was at the schoolhouse that night was accounted for. Except for one person- 3-year-old Mary Edens. Her aunt remembered passing her out of a window to someone, but no one knew what happened to her afterward.   Until 30 years later, when a woman shows up at the Edens home claiming to be Mary...

On Christmas Eve, 1945, a fire broke out in the Sodder family home destroying the entire house and taking five of the nine children with it. Shortly after the fire, and due to some VERY strange evidence, the father of the family started to believe that maybe the children were actually....kidnapped In this episode, we'll deep dive into the night of the fire as well as the bizarre events that took place afterward to try and figure out just what happened to those children that fateful night...

What if I told you there were a bunch of people in the Navy in Groton, Connecticut who believe their military homes are haunted? And that some of those people believe it's a result of the ancient and mysterious land they live on? In this episode, we hear from Jack, a behavioral health tech in the Navy who feels something strange coming from the swamp by his house, called Gungywamp. Jack believes the ghost stories told on his base are maybe because of it...

Have you ever wondered if the sound outside your door at night was really a ghost? In this Episode- Kaelyn hears from two listeners with chilling haunted house tales, and Leo gives a little bit of their take on it.   Have a heart pounding story you'd like to share on the podcast? email heartstartspounding@gmail.com. And follow the podcast on instagram @heartstartspounding.    This episode will also be available on youtube! 

Amy Archer-Gilligan was one of America's first female serial killers, killing up to 60 of her patients with her "special" lemonade...   Make sure you're following the podcast on instagram @heartstartspounding. Have a heart-pounding story you'd like to share on the pod? Email heartstartspounding@gmail.com

Welcome to season 2!!! In this episode, Kaelyn and Leo hear a creepy story from someone whose family has a history of alien encounters. They also dig into other abduction stories and what makes them all so similar.   Make sure you're following the po...