Podcast

Nightmares

Documentary, Society & Culture, True Crime

Welcome to Nightmares. True-Crime for Bedtime. Your nightmare begins now…

True Crime chart
#110
Episodes
77
Releases
Twice a week
Typical length
26 min
On air since
2023
Latest episode
4 days ago

Episodes

77 episodes, newest first

  1. Wrong Turn

    Season 3, Episode 75

    Show notes

    On a dark April night in rural Hebron, New York, 20-year-old Kaylin Gillis and her friends are searching for a party when they turn down the wrong driveway. At first, it seems like an awkward mistake, the kind anyone could make on rural roads with no streetlights and no clear signs. But within minutes, the night turns violent, leaving investigators to piece together what happened in the darkness.

    Get commercial free access to over a decade of Sword and Scale's true crime podcasts at http://swordandscale.com

    24 min
  2. Understood

    Season 3, Episode 74

    Show notes

    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 reaction isn’t what anyone would expect.

    Get commercial free access to over a decade of Sword and Scale's true crime podcasts at http://swordandscale.com

    22 min
  3. Trust

    Season 3, Episode 73

    Show notes

    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, conflicting stories, and a truth that remains frustratingly out of reach.

    Get commercial free access to over a decade of Sword and Scale's true crime podcasts at http://swordandscale.com

    28 min
  4. Grandeur

    Season 3, Episode 72

    Show notes

    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, obsession, and loyalty that turned Elm Street into a funeral pyre.

    Get commercial free access to over a decade of Sword and Scale's true crime podcasts at http://swordandscale.com

    25 min
  5. Swindled

    Season 3, Episode 71

    Show notes

    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 desert.

    Get commercial free access to over a decade of Sword and Scale's true crime podcasts at http://swordandscale.com

    32 min
  6. Semper Fi

    Season 3, Episode 70

    Show notes

    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 sniper, a hired killer, and a price tag on a father’s life. But as the plot moved forward, not everyone was who they seemed, and one decision changed everything. In the end, the most dangerous person in the room wasn’t the one anyone expected.

    Get commercial free access to over a decade of Sword and Scale's true crime podcasts at http://swordandscale.com

    21 min
  7. Closeted

    Season 3, Episode 69

    Show notes

    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 a hidden life, a secret relationship, and nearly 18 hours passed before anyone called for help.

    Get commercial free access to over a decade of Sword and Scale's true crime podcasts at http://swordandscale.com

    28 min
  8. Slicer

    Season 3, Episode 68

    Show notes

    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 their lives, the violence unfolding inside pointed to something personal, deliberate, and far from over. By the time the work day ended, those who survived would be left trying to understand how one man’s grievance became one of the most gruesome attacks the town had ever seen.

    Get commercial free access to over a decade of Sword and Scale's true crime podcasts at http://swordandscale.com

    27 min
  9. Choices

    Season 3, Episode 67

    Show notes

    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 face the past she has been avoiding.

    Get commercial free access to over a decade of Sword and Scale's true crime podcasts at http://swordandscale.com

    24 min
  10. Gamer

    Season 3, Episode 66

    Show notes

    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 reported emergency. In the days that follow, investigators start uncovering a strange chain of events that stretches far beyond that neighborhood and raises troubling questions about how a single moment can spiral into tragedy.

    Get commercial free access to over a decade of Sword and Scale's true crime podcasts at http://swordandscale.com

    24 min
  11. Visitor

    Season 3, Episode 65

    Show notes

    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 that the attack had unfolded with whatever was within reach: kitchen knives, forks, spoons, even a small television. Detectives quickly pieced together what happened. What they couldn’t understand was how an ordinary late-night visit had turned so vicious.

    Get commercial free access to over a decade of Sword and Scale's true crime podcasts at http://swordandscale.com

    27 min
  12. Barren

    Season 3, Episode 64

    Show notes

    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 deliberate mayhem. At the center of it all is Adam Nayeri, and a plan built on a belief that was never real.

    Get commercial free access to over a decade of Sword and Scale's true crime podcasts at http://swordandscale.com

    25 min
  13. Lovers

    Season 3, Episode 63

    Show notes

    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, the messages grew more violent, more personal, and more terrifying, all coming from a woman who refused to let him go. But as detectives dug into the case, they uncovered a truth that forced Dave to confront a chilling possibility: the nightmare stalking him had been much closer than he ever imagined.

    Get commercial free access to over a decade of Sword and Scale's true crime podcasts at http://swordandscale.com

    31 min
  14. Sanctuary

    Season 3, Episode 62

    Show notes

    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 more personal. As investigators dug deeper, they uncovered whispered jealousies, blurred boundaries, and a devotion that may have crossed a dangerous line.

    Get commercial free access to over a decade of Sword and Scale's true crime podcasts at http://swordandscale.com

    30 min
  15. Bad Friends

    Season 3, Episode 61

    Show notes

    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 Chester to tell the difference between friends and predators.

    Get commercial free access to over a decade of Sword and Scale's true crime podcasts at http://swordandscale.com

    26 min
  16. Survival

    Season 3, Episode 60

    Show notes

    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 disappearance. When Abby finally came home, the truth forced a reckoning with certainty, judgment, and what survival actually looks like when escape is not possible.

    Get commercial free access to over a decade of Sword and Scale's true crime podcasts at http://swordandscale.com

    23 min
  17. Echo Chamber

    Season 3, Episode 59

    Show notes

    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 private family tragedy reveals a disturbing descent shaped by isolation, certainty, and a voice that never challenged his fears. This episode examines how belief hardens, reality fractures, and how one ordinary house became the setting for an irreversible outcome.

    Get commercial free access to over a decade of Sword and Scale's true crime podcasts at http://swordandscale.com

    25 min
  18. Hollywood

    Season 3, Episode 58

    Show notes

    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 every late-night call, every story, every “coincidence,” realizing the truth was being rehearsed right in front of her. By the time the case breaks, Rose understands she was never just a witness…

    Get commercial free access to over a decade of Sword and Scale's true crime podcasts at http://swordandscale.com

    29 min
  19. Snap

    Season 3, Episode 57

    Show notes

    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 all hope seemed lost.

    Get commercial free access to over a decade of Sword and Scale's true crime podcasts at http://swordandscale.com

    29 min
  20. Party

    Season 3, Episode 56

    Show notes

    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 start to uncover the kind of past James hoped no one would find. He wasn’t who he said he was. And he wasn’t done breaking the rules.

    Get commercial free access to over a decade of Sword and Scale's true crime podcasts at http://swordandscale.com

    30 min

On these lists

Nightmares is one of the shows picked out on this list

All Society & Culture lists