In this episode of From the Void, we examine one of the most famous — and most controversial — alien abduction accounts ever recorded: the experiences of Whitley Strieber.

Strieber wasn’t a fringe figure chasing attention. He was a successful horror novelist living in upstate New York when, in the mid-1980s, he began reporting a series of disturbing encounters that would ultimately lead to the publication of Communion — a book that changed the public conversation around alien abduction claims forever.

What makes Strieber’s story so enduring isn’t just what he claimed happened — it’s how seriously it was taken by many researchers, therapists, and readers, and how deeply it continues to unsettle even decades later.

In this episode, we explore:

• Who Whitley Strieber was before the abduction claims
• The events that led to the writing of Communion
• What Strieber reported experiencing — and how those memories emerged
• Whether there were corroborating sightings or reports in the area
• Why the emotional consistency of those involved complicates easy dismissal
• And how Strieber’s case sits at the crossroads of psychology, trauma, folklore, and the unknown

Rather than arguing for a single explanation, this episode asks a more difficult question:

What do we do with experiences that feel real to the people who lived them — even when they defy explanation?

Before Communion, Whitley Strieber was best known as a bestselling author of supernatural and horror fiction. His credibility, literary success, and reluctance to frame his experience as entertainment made his story uniquely disruptive.

Strieber never claimed certainty about what happened to him. Over time, his explanations evolved — ranging from extraterrestrial encounters to consciousness-based phenomena — but the emotional core of his account remained strikingly consistent.

Strieber’s story sits at the center of a much larger pattern:

• Thousands of reported abduction experiences worldwide
• Common themes across unrelated witnesses
• The role of memory, sleep paralysis, hypnosis, and trauma
• And the uneasy overlap between subjective experience and objective reality

Whether Communion represents contact, psychological phenomena, or something else entirely, it remains one of the most important primary texts in modern UFO and abduction lore.

Whitley Strieber

• Communion
• https://www.harpercollins.com/products/communion-whitley-strieber
• Transformation
• https://www.harpercollins.com/products/transformation-whitley-strieber
• Breakthrough
• https://www.harpercollins.com/products/breakthrough-whitley-strieber

Related Researchers & Context

• Budd Hopkins — abduction researcher and author of Intruders
• Dr. John E. Mack — Harvard psychiatrist and Pulitzer Prize winner who studied abduction experiences
• The broader wave of abduction reports in the U.S. during the 1980s–1990s

(Future episodes will explore Mack’s work and how researchers attempted — and struggled — to study these experiences scientifically.)

From the Void approaches stories like this with care.

We distinguish between:

• Verifiable facts
• Personal testimony
• Psychological explanations
• Cultural and historical context

We don’t rush to conclusions — because the most honest answer is sometimes uncertainty.

If this episode left you unsettled, curious, or conflicted — that’s the point.

Because some stories don’t ask us to believe.

They ask us to listen.

In August 1993, a group of hikers entered the remote Kahamar-Daban mountain range in southern Siberia. Only one would return alive.

What followed was a story that defies easy explanation: sudden illness, violent physical reactions, internal bleeding, and deaths that occurred rapidly—without clear warning and without a confirmed cause. For decades, the incident has existed in the shadows of another infamous Soviet-era mystery, the Dyatlov Pass incident. But the Kahamar-Daban case may be even more disturbing—because we know exactly who survived, and her testimony raises as many questions as it answers.

In this episode of From the Void, we walk carefully through what is known, what has been medically documented, and what remains unresolved.

• Who the hikers were and why they were in the Kahamar-Daban mountains
• The sudden onset of symptoms experienced by multiple group members
• Eyewitness testimony from the sole survivor
• Autopsy findings and confirmed medical details
• Why the deaths occurred so quickly—and so violently
• Competing explanations, including medical, environmental, and toxicological theories
• What makes this case different from (and in some ways more unsettling than) Dyatlov Pass
• Why no single explanation fully accounts for all known facts

Throughout the episode, we separate verifiable evidence from speculation and clearly distinguish between confirmed medical findings and later theories. No paranormal conclusions are drawn—but the mystery remains deeply unsettling.

This episode includes discussion of sudden illness, physical distress, and death. Listener discretion is advised.

The Kahamar-Daban Incident challenges our assumptions about wilderness safety, medical certainty, and how easily tragedies can vanish into obscurity—especially when they occur far from population centers, media attention, or political interest.

Whatever happened on that mountainside was localized, fast-moving, and devastating. And more than thirty years later, it remains officially unexplained.

🎙 From the Void is a long-form storytelling podcast exploring strange, unexplained, and unsettling true stories—always grounded in research, historical context, and respect for the facts.

📌 Support the show: go to www.fromthevoidpod.com to follow us on the socials and stay on top of everything we're up to!

In the late 1960s, a small law office in the quiet Bavarian town of Rosenheim became the center of one of the most well-documented—and most controversial—poltergeist cases in modern history.

Lights exploded. Phones rang without being connected. Heavy filing cabinets moved on their own. Electrical meters spun wildly, recording surges no one could explain. And unlike many alleged hauntings, this one didn’t stay confined to whispers and rumors—it drew the attention of engineers, physicists, psychologists, police, and courts of law.

In this episode of From the Void, we examine what became known as The Rosenheim Haunting: a case investigated by professionals, witnessed by skeptics, and still debated decades later.

• What first began happening inside the Rosenheim law office
• The bizarre electrical disturbances recorded by utility companies
• Phone malfunctions documented by technicians
• Objects moving without visible cause in front of witnesses
• Why police and engineers ruled out fraud and faulty wiring
• The involvement of parapsychologist Hans Bender
• The theory of recurrent spontaneous psychokinesis (RSPK)
• The young employee at the center of the phenomenon—and why that mattered
• Skeptical explanations, unresolved contradictions, and lingering questions

Throughout the episode, we separate documented events from interpretation, clearly distinguishing what was observed, what was measured, and where speculation begins.

This episode discusses psychological stress, unexplained disturbances, and alleged paranormal activity. No graphic content is included.

Many haunting stories rely on personal testimony alone. Rosenheim stands apart because:

• Events were observed by multiple independent witnesses
• Electrical anomalies were physically recorded
• Authorities and technical experts were involved
• The disturbances ceased when a specific individual left the environment

Whether interpreted as a genuine paranormal event, a rare psychological phenomenon, or something still not fully understood, the Rosenheim Haunting remains one of the most compelling cases ever placed under professional scrutiny.

🎙 From the Void is a long-form storytelling podcast exploring strange, unexplained, and unsettling true stories—approached with skepticism, historical context, and respect for the facts. Check out www.fromthevoidpod.com for merch, our socials, and our entire back catalog of episodes.

What happens when you realize the world is more porous than you were ever taught to believe?

In Part Two of this two-part conversation, we sit down with psychic medium Jenson Smith for an open, thoughtful discussion about how she first discovered her abilities — and what it was like to recognize that her experiences weren’t shared by everyone around her.

Part Two explores what it’s like communicating with deceased loved ones, what Jenson believes the other side is like, and how these experiences have shaped her understanding of life, death, and continuity.

Jenson Smith is a psychic medium whose work centers on intuitive development, spirit communication, and helping others better understand their own intuitive capacities.

Her approach emphasizes grounding, discernment, and ethical responsibility — focusing not on fear or theatrics, but on connection, healing, and meaning. Jenson speaks openly about the challenges of discovering her abilities and the discipline required to work with them thoughtfully and safely.

https://www.jensonsmith.com/psychic-medium

IG: https://www.instagram.com/jensonperson/

➡️ Part Two of this conversation goes deeper into spirit communication, encounters with deceased loved ones, and reflections on what may exist beyond this life.

If you enjoy From The Void, please consider subscribing, sharing the episode, or leaving a review — it genuinely helps more curious minds find the show.

What happens when you realize the world is more porous than you were ever taught to believe?

In Part One of this two-part conversation, we sit down with psychic medium Jenson Smith for an open, thoughtful discussion about how she first discovered her abilities — and what it was like to recognize that her experiences weren’t shared by everyone around her.

Jenson shares her personal journey of awakening, including the early moments that made her question what she was sensing, the challenges of trusting those perceptions, and the long process of learning how to sharpen, understand, and responsibly live with her gift.

Rather than leaning into spectacle or sensational claims, this conversation focuses on lived experience: what it feels like to navigate a world where intuition runs deeper, how discernment is developed over time, and what it means to carry a gift that can be both illuminating and isolating.

This is a quiet, reflective entry point into a much larger conversation — one rooted in curiosity, humility, and a willingness to sit with mystery rather than explain it away.

Part Two will explore what it’s like communicating with deceased loved ones, what Jenson believes the other side is like, and how these experiences have shaped her understanding of life, death, and continuity.

Jenson Smith is a psychic medium whose work centers on intuitive development, spirit communication, and helping others better understand their own intuitive capacities.

Her approach emphasizes grounding, discernment, and ethical responsibility — focusing not on fear or theatrics, but on connection, healing, and meaning. Jenson speaks openly about the challenges of discovering her abilities and the discipline required to work with them thoughtfully and safely.

https://www.jensonsmith.com/psychic-medium

IG: https://www.instagram.com/jensonperson/

➡️ Part Two of this conversation goes deeper into spirit communication, encounters with deceased loved ones, and reflections on what may exist beyond this life.

If you enjoy From The Void, please consider subscribing, sharing the episode, or leaving a review — it genuinely helps more curious minds find the show.

In this episode, we travel back to London’s Whitehall district—a place infamous for political intrigue, shadowy alleyways, and, in the autumn of 1888, a mystery so disturbing it was almost forgotten beneath the thunder of the Jack the Ripper murders happening at the same time.

This is the story of The Whitehall Women—a case involving multiple unidentified female remains discovered in and around Whitehall. Long before modern forensic science, police were left piecing together bodies found in separate locations, months apart, with no clear suspect, no confirmed victim identity, and a timeline that overlaps with another unsolved murder series just streets away.

Overshadowed by the Ripper mythology, this case has become one of Victorian London’s darkest cold cases. And in many ways, it’s even stranger.

• The grisly discovery of a woman’s torso during construction of the new Metropolitan Police headquarters
• The earlier and later discoveries of additional body parts in the Thames and in vaults beneath Whitehall
• Why investigators believed the remains belonged to a single unidentified woman
• How this murder fits into the broader pattern of the so-called “Thames Torso Murders”
• Comparisons between the Torso Murderer and the Ripper — and why many historians believe they were not the same person
• The forensic limitations of 1888 and how they shaped the investigation
• The haunting question that lingers:
• Who were the Whitehall Women, and why did nobody report them missing?

Unlike the Ripper victims, the Whitehall Women had no names, no occupations, no known family — at least, none that history recorded. Their anonymity is part of what makes this case so chilling.

The killer showed anatomical precision, access to private spaces, and enough confidence to deposit remains in highly trafficked areas — including right under the noses of the authorities building Scotland Yard.

This case forces us to consider the women Victorian society ignored, the victims whose stories weren’t sensational enough for newspapers, and the mysteries still sitting in archival corners waiting to be fully understood.

If you’re enjoying From The Void, please consider:

• Leaving a 5-star review
• Sharing the episode with a friend
• Subscribing so you don’t miss future mysteries
• Supporting the show through Patreon

Your support keeps the fireside burning — and the stories coming.

On April 1st, 2006, Ohio State medical student Brian Shaffer went out for drinks with friends at the Ugly Tuna Saloona in Columbus, Ohio. Surveillance cameras captured him entering the bar… and then, somehow, not leaving.

Despite being surrounded by cameras, witnesses, and the heartbeat of a busy college nightlife district, Brian Shaffer simply vanished.

Tonight, we walk through the full timeline of Brian’s final known hours, break down the surveillance footage frame-by-frame, explore the strange architectural quirks of the bar and surrounding construction that may hold clues, and sift through the theories that have kept this case alive for nearly two decades.

It remains one of the most haunting unsolved disappearances in modern American history — a true locked-room mystery without the room.

👉 Brian’s final night out — the bar crawl, the conversations, and the last confirmed sighting

👉 Surveillance footage and why investigators are so puzzled by its gaps

👉 Who Brian was: his personality, relationships, grief, and aspirations

👉 The Ugly Tuna’s layout and how construction zones fueled hidden-exit theories

👉 Why many investigators believe Brian never left the building alive

👉 The 2020 phone “ping” rumor and why experts remain skeptical

👉 Theories including:

• Accident or misadventure

• Voluntary disappearance

• Foul play

• Misidentification on the footage

👉 Why the lack of evidence may be the most telling clue of all

Brian’s disappearance sits at the crossroads of tragedy and impossibility.

A crowded bar, multiple cameras, friends yards away, and a young man who loved music, medicine, and the people in his life — gone without a single confirmed trace.

The case remains open.

And Brian’s family continues to live in hope of answers.

Any piece of information, no matter how small, may help solve this case.

If you know anything related to the disappearance of Brian Shaffer, please contact:

📞 (614) 645-4545

(Ask for the detective assigned to the Brian Shaffer case.)

📞 1-800-634-4097

📞 (614) 461-8477 (TIPS)

You may remain anonymous and could be eligible for a reward.

If you enjoyed this episode of From The Void, you can support the show by:

🔥 Leaving a 5-star review

🔥 Subscribing wherever you listen

🔥 Sharing with a friend

🔥 Supporting us on Patreon

🔥 Following on social media for upcoming fireside stories

Your support keeps the fire burning and helps new listeners find the show.