Episode Details

What really happened to the children of Hamelin on June 26, 1284? This June on Monthly Spooky, Henrique and Michelle follow the real history behind the Pied Piper of Hamelin—from the medieval town chronicle and the legend of 130 missing children to theories involving plague, the Children’s Crusade, dancing mania, mass migration, and a brightly dressed recruiter known as a “locator.” Then the show takes its usual turn into the month’s funniest, creepiest, and most bewildering paranormal news, bizarre archaeology, weird science, unexplained mysteries, strange animals, haunted houses, and new horror movies.Inside this episode:

• The Pied Piper of Hamelin, June 26, 1284, and the earliest surviving evidence behind one of history’s darkest fairy tales
• Why plague, the Children’s Crusade, medieval dancing mania, German migration, and supernatural forces have all been proposed as explanations
• A 7,000-year-old mass grave at Vráble, Slovakia, containing 78 bodies—and 77 headless skeletons
• Reported ghostly child footprints, handprints, and unexplained noises inside an appliance shop in Mendoza, Argentina
• United Airlines Flight 236 turning back toward Newark after a Bluetooth device appeared under the alarming name “BOMB”
• The still-unfolding search for Gracie, the giraffe who escaped Cedar Hollow Ranch and disappeared into the rugged Texas Hill Country
• Scientists baking sourdough bread with yeast recovered from Ötzi the Iceman’s 5,300-year-old mummy
• The Ocean Census announcing 1,121 strange marine species—including a ghost shark and a mysterious worm living inside a deep-sea “glass castle”
• A live frog named Greg discovered inside a sealed Woolworths bag of lettuce in Esperance, Western Australia
• Australia’s record seizure of 100,000 illegal Madagascar hissing and Dubia cockroaches
• Virginia’s allegedly haunted Octagon Mansion, a Civil War-era paranormal landmark listed for only $295,000
• Henrique’s spoiler-light theater reactions to Scary Movie (2026), Passenger, and The Death of Robin Hood
• A terrifying Reddit “glitch in reality” story about a finished basement that suddenly ceased to exist—and the disturbing gas-leak explanation behind it
• Henrique’s growing Dayton folklore TikTok audience, local urban legends, and the viewers determined to correct every detail

New here? Monthly Spooky is the paranormal comedy and weird-news companion to Weekly Spooky, hosted by filmmaker Henrique Couto and Michelle. Every episode mixes haunted history, creepy folklore, unexplained mysteries, bizarre science, strange but true news, horror movie reviews, and the kind of late-night conversation that makes frightening stories even more fun.Follow or subscribe so you never miss the last Monday of the month. Which mystery gets under your skin most: Hamelin’s missing children, Slovakia’s headless dead, Mendoza’s phantom footprints—or the house whose basement seemingly vanished? And seriously—how do you lose a giraffe?

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🎵 Music by Ray Mattis 👉 Check out Ray’s incredible work here !
👨‍💼 Executive Producers: Rob Fields, Bobbletopia.com
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