There are a lot of strange things you don’t want to encounter in the woods, and one of them includes a fat, bald exploding bear. The Gumberoo comes out of lumberjack legends, hailing from the foggy region along the Pacific Coast. It bears a resemblance to black bears, except that it is completely hairless but for its bristly beard and big eyebrows.

KnoxvilleVoyager recently shared a Local Stories feature about a brand new local: Tony Merkel, host of The Confessionals podcast and Merkel Media CEO! Check out the story here or visit KnoxvilleVoyager to read their full interview with Tony as he discusses his journey into podcasting, launching Merkel Media, his networking advice, and more.

The following written confession was submitted via email: …as he walked through the neighborhood he heard someone yell his nickname he was given as a child in West Virginia, "hey hog, hey hog Ryder" … he sees a vaguely familiar face on a man that is sitting on his front porch, children running around and wife close by yelling at them, he approached the home and said "how did you know my nick name?"…

The following written confession was submitted via email: Long story short I had heard a local, old cemetery was guarded by a dogman. Me and my buddy went and snuck to the back where this dogman/cryptid was supposedly found. This cemetery has older gravesites at it from about the late 1800s in the back where we were. We had read it was found around the children's stones. On the walk there I'm looking in the tree line to my right and I see an odd silhouette…

The mystery surrounding what really happened to Andrew Dawson, the TikToker who alleged filmed a giant in British Columbia, has only grown since his tragic death in 2022. The Why Files takes a closer examination of Andrew’s videos, his strange story, and what may have befallen him after his giant sighting - plus gives a mention to The Confessionals Podcast and our own feature on Andrew, TikToker Who Posted Video of a Giant on Whistlers Peak Mountain and Said CIA Was Stalking Him Dies 3 Months Later.

The following written confession was submitted via email: …He and a friend were walking through a field in East Tennessee. They were finished with their hunt and it was near dark. As they were walking they noticed something walking toward them. As it got closer they could see it was what they described as a werewolf or dogman…

The following written confession was submitted via email: . . . Now every time something happened she’d make sure it wasn’t one of her kids and most of the time it wasn’t because if they weren’t with her talking to me they were playing in front of her as she was renovating at the time. So fast forward to 2021 and one night she rang me early completely puzzled. She was doing laundry and came back I think to the office and there was an old child’s tooth . . .

The following written confession was shared via My Haunted Life Too: . . . The morning after our first nights stay, our daughter came into our room, and I asked how she slept and she said ‘great’. She then went on to say ‘but mum, you know how when you stare at things long enough, you start to see funny things’ . . .

The following written confession was shared via Reddit: …About 23:00 at night, Lefty texted me, "Yumi are you okay? You sick?" I was so confused. Lefty continued, "I kept hearing someone sneezing and coughing, isn't that you?" I said, "No, I've been quiet this entire time, isn't it you who's be moving around and packing boxes?" Left said, "What? I haven't been packing anything at all today, I've been on my bed playing with my phone the entire time”…

The end is nigh: another year is coming to a close, so it’s time to begin the countdown with our TOP 10 episodes of 2022! This year we’ve shared strange skinwalker stories, interviewed notable personalities, chased down Dogman, considered Nephilim theories, and much more. Now, re-visit some of these hot topics featured in the top 10 list - did your favorite episode make the cut?!

Have you ever heard of the Tomten? It may be an important folklore figure to know since legend says every home has a Tomten. A Scandinavian version of a house elf, Tomten are gnome-like creatures that watch unseen over children and animals, protecting homes and farms from evil and misfortune… but don’t let the Tomten’s protective role or diminutive stature fool you…

The following written confession was shared via Reddit: …We were in the park as usual, and while we were walking there was a sewer hole from which were coming waves of steam, as it if was a furnace. We were heading towards it and I remember my dad saying: "Look, maybe here is where Santa prepares the gifts for the good children". I laughed a little because around that time I already knew Santa wasn't real. Then, as we passed by the hole I looked through the holes of the covering…

The following written confession was shared via Reddit: So this happened to me when I was around 10 years old. This little story haunts me to this day and I can still see it all happening in my head…I expected to see a lot of presents lying under the tree, but instead I saw a big shadow, like something big was lying infront of the tree. I stared at it for a little while, when it suddenly begins to move, it was definitely not human…

The following written confession was shared via Reddit by Kamasylv: …This buzzing went on and after 20 minutes or so, I suddenly noticed that I couldn't see as well anymore as I could. The moon was blocked by clouds, but these clouds didn't look like normal clouds. They looked like thick walls of fog just way higher up than fog should be…

We love living in the Appalachia region, an area full of history, legends, strange creatures! Explore one of these such legendary creatures with Donnie Laws, a native Appalachian, as he recounts the history and sightings of the Booger of Fonde Mountain, a strange and mysterious ape-like creature who may be hiding out in the mountains of southeast Kentucky.