The Strange and Unusual Podcast

Nymph of the Woods, The Vanishing of a Child Prodigy

The Strange and Unusual Podcast

Show Notes

Barbara Newhall Follett was considered a child prodigy when her first novel "The House Without Windows" was published at age 12 in 1927, and then she had vanished forever when she was 25 in 1939. What happened to Barbara? And what does her disappearance possibly have to do with another woman who vanished in New Hampshire in 1936, Elsie Whittemore?

More from The Strange and Unusual Podcast

Sep 30, 2026

For centuries, Britain's dead traveled ancient paths to reach their final resting places. In this episode, we follow the forgotten corpse roads and the eerie folklore they left behind.

Aug 31, 2026

For 300 years, Europeans ate human beings as medicine, with mummy powder, skull, the fat of the executed, and bought it over the counter from licensed apothecaries. During those same centuries, they were building an empire on the argument that the people they conquered were savages, because savages eat other people

Aug 1, 2026

This summer's woods tradition continues, in this episode we're heading into the Pacific Northwest. You'll learn about a mountain that grew a monster after it erupted, a lake that gave up its dead, a giant with a basket on her back, and the same rule they have three thousand miles away in Appalachia: if the woods call your name, don’t answer.

Jun 29, 2026

A companion to the Appalachian woods episode: ten strange, eerie, and true things lurking in the forests of New England.

May 31, 2026

There’s an old rule in the Appalachian Mountains, if you hear your name called from the woods, don’t answer. This week, we’re delving into the hills to find out why. We cover folklore from a 200-year-old Tennessee haunting that killed a man, to a 10-foot creature that emerged in West Virginia in 1952, to the thing in the trees that learns your voice.

See all episodes →