Podcasts · True Crime · Society & Culture
Nightmares
Sword and Scale
76 episodes
Welcome to Nightmares. True-Crime for Bedtime. Your nightmare begins now…
Episodes page 1 of 2
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Understood
A day of drinking for Aaron Vargas ends in a night of revelation for an entire California town. For twenty years, he kept another man’s secret. But on a cold February night in 2009, that secret comes out, and the…
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Trust
Kimberly Neptune spent her life helping others in the close-knit community of Sipayik. Then, one spring night, a trusted visitor came knocking. The investigation that followed would uncover hidden betrayals,…
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Grandeur
On August 4th, 2022, a quiet street in Laurel, Nebraska wakes to fire, smoke, and a woman dead inside her burning home. As the neighborhood becomes a crime scene, police begin unraveling the private world of paranoia,…
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Swindled
When friends of Jaime Feden called for a welfare check, they feared something terrible had happened to her. What police uncovered instead was a web of lies, manipulation, and a sinister plot that ended in the Nevada…
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Semper Fi
February 24, 2016, in Kingston, Laura Buckingham had built what seemed like a picture-perfect life, until a bitter custody battle began to unravel it. Behind the façade, a plan took shape, one that involved a disgraced…
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Closeted
A man named Jeffrey Freeman was found dead in his own home. The most disturbing aspect of this case isn't just the manner of his death; it's what was occurring inside the house before anyone was aware of it. There was…
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Slicer
On September 25, 2014, an ordinary shift at Vaughn Foods in Moore, Oklahoma exploded into chaos after a workplace dispute took a horrifying turn. As panic spread through the factory and terrified employees fled for…
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Choices
A fugitive on the run takes a woman hostage. Ashley Smith is not only fighting for her life, but also trying to take back control of it. To make it through, she must force a killer to face what he has done and finally…
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Gamer
On a quiet evening in Wichita, Kansas, flashing police lights suddenly flood a residential street. When 28-year-old Andrew Finch steps onto his front porch to see what’s happening, he’s shot by police responding to a…
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Visitor
On April 18, 2019, 57-year-old Wilfred Guzman was at home when a familiar visit turned into a savage fight for survival. By the time police forced their way inside Apartment 16, they found blood in every room and signs…
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Barren
A plot to find a million dollars in buried fortune ends in unthinkable violence. Mary was caught in the middle of it all. She shouldn’t have survived the desert, but when she did, she led the authorities to a scene of…
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Lovers
In November 2012, freshly divorced auto shop manager Dave Kroupa thought he was navigating the casual dating scene in Omaha, Nebraska until one short relationship ended and the stalking began. For the next three years,…
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Sanctuary
On a quiet January morning in rural Pennsylvania, Rhonda Smith went to work at her church and never came home. What started as a shocking act of violence inside a place of worship slowly unraveled into something far…
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Bad Friends
On March 12, 2000, in Spearfish, South Dakota, nineteen-year-old Chester Allan Poage agrees to a night that seems harmless… until it isn’t. In a secluded pocket of the Black Hills, it’s hard for a trusting kid like…
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Survival
In October 2013, fourteen-year-old Abby Hernandez vanished on her walk home from school in rural New Hampshire. Months passed, searches faded, and a letter arrived that changed how the public understood her…
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Echo Chamber
When an 83-year-old woman is found dead inside her quiet Old Greenwich home, investigators start piecing together the final months of her life, and the unraveling of her son, Erik Soelberg. What first appears to be a…
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Hollywood
It's March 2006 in Villa Park Illinois and nineteen-year-old Rose thinks she’s found an escape, until a woman vanishes and the search starts pointing somewhere darker. As detectives close in, Rose is forced to replay…
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Snap
Thirteen-year-old Thad Phillips fell asleep on his couch—and woke up in a nightmare. Trapped in a decaying house with a smiling teen and sinister intentions, he would spend two harrowing days fighting to survive when…
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Party
James Rackover looked like someone who had it all. He had style, status, and a last name that carried weight. But the truth behind the image was darker. When a man goes missing after a night in Manhattan, investigators…
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Trouble Ahead
A teenage girl’s discovery of a human skull on Iowa’s Greenbelt River Trail led investigators to the murder of missing 29-year-old Angela Nicole Bradbury. The case unraveled into a chilling confession by Nathan James…
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Consumed
When a devastating fire consumed the lives of an affluent British family, suspicions arose, pointing fingers at those who knew business tycoon Chris Foster and may have wanted him dead. As detectives sifted through the…
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One Percent
62-year-old Kathy Hughes Anderson spent her career tending to trees, preserving beauty and order across the towns she served. In retirement, she brought that same quiet dedication to her life at home - until one…
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Room Service
17-year-old Linda Bury’s home life was a mess, so she turned to social media to reinvent herself. There she met Joshua Mebane and this unassuming, wealthy monster would change her life forever. Get commercial free…
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Family Meal
The town of Chickasha, Oklahoma was shaken to its core when they heard the news that two were dead, one of which was a four year old child, and another was seriously maimed. Their outrage grew when they learned the…
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Mom
Kimberly Cargill was evil personified. She abused her children for years, circumventing the system to keep them in her clutches. Finally, the state caught on and what she did to keep from trouble was worse than the…
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Dad
In the tiny, rural village of Emerson, Nebraska, where only about 800 people live nestled in the northern, rolling hills, a series of inexplicable events begins to unfold. What seems like an ordinary morning turns into…
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Evil Prevails
In San Fernando Valley, whispers of occult dealings and the lingering legacy of Charles Manson and Richard Ramirez still cast eerie shadows. This is where the chilling tale of Ron Baker's tragic demise beckons. Two…
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Lobotomized
Tammy thought she met the man of her dreams when she started dating Joseph Oberhansley. He was younger than her and she found him handsome. But when he slowly became controlling and she discovered the secret of his…
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Father Figure
The report of local businessman Tom Merriman’s death may have been overstated but when officers with the Solana Beach Police Department searched for Tom and couldn’t find him they were sent into high alert. The search…
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Assistance
In July 2020, 33-year-old tech entrepreneur Fahim Saleh was found dismembered down to his torso in his New York City apartment. Bank statements would reveal who had the motive to commit such a heinous murder. Get…
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Laborious
When a 46-year-old woman calls 9-11 for help after a sudden home birth, suspicions are raised when she shows no signs of labor. Police would soon discover the grisly truth behind the baby’s unexpected birth. Get…
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Cheers
Cameron Kirk was a sad, depressed middle-aged man who found himself living back at home with his mother, Paula Kirk. Things had never been good between the two, but as her drinking increased, so did his resentments and…
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Surgeon
A long-time dream turns into a nightmare for a Virginia man trapped in a cabin in the Oklahoma woods. Kia Aster had the highest hopes when he met a stranger at the airport. But what he thought would be a quick and…
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No Justice
In December of 2014, 19-year-old Jessica Chambers was set on fire in her car on an old country road in her rural Mississippi town. Jessica survived long enough to give a few clues as to who committed this unspeakable…
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The Gift
Colleen and Rob McKernan were set up by common friends and had a quick, whirlwind romance. But her controlling ways would turn fatal as she learned the hard way that you can’t change anyone, no matter how hard you try.…
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Act Your Age
When 15-year-old Joanna Dennehy first met 20-year-old John Treanor in her hometown of St. Albans, Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom, the romance was like something out of “Trainspotting”. It predictably descended…
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The Pact
A quaint township in Pennsylvania is shaken to its core when three dead bodies are discovered lying in a perfect line in their backyard. The police don’t immediately know what happened to Elizabeth Daub and her parents…
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The Tourist
When recent college graduates Kelsey Chang and Eva Liu decided to take a celebratory trip to Europe before starting their careers, neither young woman could have prevented the horrors that awaited them when they got to…
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Hell
88 elderly lives are in peril after the Quaker’s Hill Nursing Home goes up in flames. Who started the fire, and why? This is the story of one of Australia’s worst mass murderers. Get commercial free access to over a…
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Clown
Engulfed in the horrorcore scene, 20-year-old Richard McCroskey made a name for himself, singing about satanism, suicide, murder, and rape online. After releasing songs titled “Murderous Rage,” “Infamy,” and “I Kill…
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Cuck
Pastor David Evans and his wife, Kristie, were stars in their little town of Ada, Oklahoma. They were good Christians devoted to their church and their community, but once they became empty nesters, they started…
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God Bless America
In the idyllic town of Shakopee, where the Minnesota River winds its peaceful course, and a community finds solace, tranquility turns to terror when a horrifying crime rocks the neighborhood to its core. A young woman…
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Full House
It took over four years to identify the remains of Ryan Zimmerman. Understanding how and why he was killed would force authorities to untangle a twisted knot of love, sex, and gender transitioning. Get commercial free…
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Protector
On the bleak day following Thanksgiving in 2022, the tranquility of La Sierra South, a Riverside, California neighborhood, was shattered. Within the confines of a close-knit cul-de-sac, panic ensued. A series of…
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Nightmares Season 2
How to listent to Sword and Scale Nightmares Season 2... swordandscale.com Get commercial free access to over a decade of Sword and Scale's true crime podcasts at http://swordandscale.com
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What a Boar
In 2016, a notorious Polish librarian took flight to the island of Malta after brutally mutilating a beautiful language teacher named Katarzyna Jaroszyńska. Police were thrust onto a dark journey into the twisted mind…
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Such Drama
When a promising young actress is raped and murdered in her childhood bedroom, her family and the police department are stunned as to who could have done this. Two linking crimes eventually lead to the same unassuming…
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Sucker
During some of Romania’s toughest times under Communist control, a vampire stalked the streets after midnight seeking out prey to satisfy his urges for blood and death. While the crimes were initially ignored to spare…
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Sugar
18-year-old Aprina Paul was a nursing student following her dreams when she mysteriously went missing. Her mother Alice Larrue never gave up hope, even when Aprina’s killer continued to harass her. Get commercial free…
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No Good Deed
Mormons and entrepreneurs Tony and Katherine Butterfield were the kind of people who gave a leg up to anyone who needed it. They invited jobless citizens to work for their landscaping company and homeless ones into…
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