{"podcast":{"title":"The Veil","slug":"the-veil-7494973","podcast_index_feed_id":7494973,"rss_url":"https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/68d0b2ea88c516d26e3c7b48","website_url":"https://shows.acast.com/theveil","image_url":"https://assets.pippa.io/shows/68d0b2ea88c516d26e3c7b48/1776992132724-a0679c89-2759-4d9d-983b-0621ea274548.jpeg","author":"Ryan Wolf","episode_count":44,"summary":"The Veil is a chilling true crime podcast that pulls listeners deep into the world’s darkest and most haunting cases. Hosted by Ryan Wolf , each episode is crafted like an immersive thriller - a story told not just through facts, but through atmosphere, tension, and detail that makes you feel as though you’re standing inside the crime scene itself. These are not urban legends or ghost stories; every case is real, every victim and every clue drawn from documented fact. From unsolved murders to bizarre disappearances, infamous trials to cold cases that still whisper through history, The Veil strips back the layers of time and rumor to confront the unsettling truths hidden beneath. With an eye for detail and a voice that guides you through the shadows, Ryan brings both journalistic rigor and cinematic storytelling to each 30-minute episode. What emerges is an experience that is at once gripping and unnerving, reminding us that the scariest stories are not fiction at all. Pull back The Veil - but beware. Because sometimes, when we lift it, we don’t like what we find. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-28T00:18:01.803081+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-veil-7494973"},"episode":{"title":"E40 | Mona Blades","slug":"e40-mona-blades","published_at":"2026-06-28T12:01:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-veil-7494973/e40-mona-blades","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-veil-7494973","url":"https://shows.acast.com/theveil/episodes/e40-mona-blades","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68d0b2ea88c516d26e3c7b48/e/6a349241db494ef85c701cee/media.mp3","summary":"On Queen's Birthday weekend, 1975, eighteen-year-old Mona Blades set out hitchhiking from Hamilton to Hastings, carrying a birthday gift of plastic cups for her baby nephew. She reached Taupō — and vanished. A truck driver's sighting of her in an orange Datsun launched one of New Zealand's largest manhunts: more than 500 cars, thousands of hours, not a single trace found. Fifty years on, her body has never surfaced and no one has been charged. But a cold-case review revealed something unsettling: the famous orange Datsun may have been a wrong turn from the very start, sending an entire country chasing a mirage. Sources used Wikipedia — \"Disappearance of Mona Blades\" : backbone for timeline, sightings table, the 500+ orange Datsun owners, John Freeman (rental + St Cuthbert's shooting/suicide), Hinton allegation and 2012 Kawerau dig, 2003 Huntly garage-floor false alarm, 2018 Cold Case documentary findings, gang-link theory, family detail. NZ History (nzhistory.govt.nz) — \"Mona Blades vanishes\" : family context (sister Lillian, brother-in-law Tom, niece Angela), the surprise trip and nephew's 1st birthday, plastic tumblers, dropped on Cambridge Rd/SH1, ~10am orange-Datsun sighting, fencing contractor on Matea Rd. NZ Herald / The Listener (Greg Bruce, \"On the wrong trail\" / \"No DNA, no CCTV, no chance,\" May–June 2025) : the central reassessment — the short/spiky hair vs the long-haired bridesmaid photo; the truck driver interviewed four times with escalating certainty and the \"half-pie smile\"; the memory-as-fresh-snow interviewing material; the alternative sightings (blue/green wagon, red Toyota, Spa Hotel); detectives Ron Cooper, John Hope, Mark Loper and the on-camera conclusions; 145km road; \"solved in a week today\" (Henwood/Beard); Scott Bainbridge \"deathbed confessio…","meta_description":"On Queen's Birthday weekend, 1975, eighteen-year-old Mona Blades set out hitchhiking from Hamilton to Hastings, carrying a birthday gift of plastic cups f…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1760,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-veil-7494973/episodes/e40-mona-blades/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-veil-7494973/e40-mona-blades.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}