{"podcast":{"title":"Paranormia","slug":"paranormia-7042297","podcast_index_feed_id":7042297,"rss_url":"https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/6704e5211a3de581c6a143cd","website_url":"https://audioalways.lnk.to/ParanormiaPod","image_url":"https://assets.pippa.io/shows/6704e5211a3de581c6a143cd/1763990919190-2853c3a9-b9fd-45c3-9bc1-5cebe474cb24.jpeg","author":"Audio Always","episode_count":34,"summary":"Are you ever awake in the cruellest hours of the night, when the world is quiet, but your mind isn’t? That’s where Paranormia begins. Hosted by journalist and parapsychologist Elizabeth McCafferty, Paranormia is a weekly storytelling podcast where true crime collides with the supernatural, the psychological, and the macabre. Each episode explores real cases where belief in something unseen becomes dangerous, cursed objects drive people to violence, psychic visions predict tragedy, cults where worship turns deadly, and hauntings blur into guilt, obsession, or faith. Elizabeth blends rigorous research with cinematic storytelling to uncover what happens when reason falters and fear takes hold. Because these aren’t just ghost stories, they’re stories about us: about the human need to explain the inexplicable, to find meaning in the dark. Paranormia: where paranoia meets the paranormal. Subscribe, and stay awake with us. If you have a story where crime and the otherworldly intertwine, something strange, unexplained or just plain haunted, get in touch at paranormia@alwaystruecrime.com . For more true crime that you'll be obsessed with head to AlwaysTrueCrime.com . Hosted on Acast. See a…","last_synced_at":"2026-07-22T10:19:11.404372+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/paranormia-7042297"},"episode":{"title":"Cult: Heaven’s Gate","slug":"cult-heaven-s-gate","published_at":"2026-03-25T00:01:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/paranormia-7042297/cult-heaven-s-gate","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/paranormia-7042297","url":"https://shows.acast.com/paranormia/episodes/heavens-gate","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/6704e5211a3de581c6a143cd/e/69c27b09d832f1da931060ad/media.mp3","summary":"In March 1997, a mansion in Rancho Santa Fe, California became the site of one of the most unsettling mass deaths in modern history. 39 members of the Heaven’s Gate group were found arranged in identical clothing, their deaths carefully planned and documented. Led by Marshall Applewhite, the group had spent decades developing a belief system that blended religion, science fiction, and extraterrestrial salvation, teaching that Earth was temporary and that a spacecraft from the “Next Level” would come to take them home. As comet Hale-Bopp comet appeared in the 1990s, their beliefs crystallised into a final act they described not as suicide, but as “graduation.” This episode explores how the group formed and how belief created one of the most haunting cult cases in American history. *** If you have a story where crime and the otherworldly intertwine, something strange, unexplained or just plain haunted, get in touch at paranormia@alwaystruecrime.com . Paranormia is an Audio Always production. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","meta_description":"In March 1997, a mansion in Rancho Santa Fe, California became the site of one of the most unsettling mass deaths in modern history. 39 members of the Hea…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1706,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/paranormia-7042297/episodes/cult-heaven-s-gate/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/paranormia-7042297/cult-heaven-s-gate.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}