Heart Starts Pounding: Horrors, Hauntings and Mysteries

Episode 165: Terrifying True Urban Legends: A Haunted Forest, The Elevator Game, Britain’s Hannibal Lecter
Host: Kaylin Moore
Date: February 26, 2026

Episode Overview

In this episode, Kaylin Moore takes listeners on a chilling journey through terrifying urban legends and the real events that inspired—or were inspired by—them. From haunted forests in Thailand to mysterious disappearances linked to the infamous “Elevator Game” to the ominous tale of Britain’s “Hannibal Lecter,” Moore explores the line between myth and reality, highlighting true stories that give these legends their power.

Main Discussion Points & Insights

1. Haunted Forest: The Ghostly Screams of Thailand

[00:45 – 9:50]

• Main Theme:
  The episode kicks off with a story from Thailand where local legends about malevolent spirits (pops, particularly Phi Pop) seem to manifest in real life.

• Story Summary:

  • In November 2024, villagers on the Thailand-Myanmar border heard screams echoing from the forest every hour through the night—unnerving everyone and stirring up old tales of forest spirits.
  • Phi Pop is described as a cannibalistic spirit that can infect people and consume their life force.
  • The haunting pattern continues for three days, escalating local fear until police intervene.
  • Police discover the source: a 22-year-old Chinese tourist, Liu Xuanyi, trapped in an old well, shouting hourly to conserve strength for rescue.
  • The man’s survival demystifies the "haunting," but Moore uses it as a springboard: “This story is actually the happiest one we’re going to discuss today. From here on out, things will only get darker.” (Kaylin Moore, [09:45])

2. The Elevator Game & Paranormal Disappearances

[09:50 – 25:50]

• Internet Origins:

  • A 2008 post on Japan’s 2chan introduces elaborate rituals for traveling through time, culminating in detailed instructions for “the Elevator Game”—an occult internet urban legend.
  • The game involves a precise sequence of elevator buttons; if executed correctly, you may arrive in a deserted, alternate dimension. Critical warnings abound: “Do not speak or look at the woman who enters on the 5th floor. She is not a person.” (Moore reading from the legend, [11:53])

• Disappearance of Liu Huizhen (“the Woman Who Played the Elevator Game for Real”)

  • In January 2008, in Yuanlin, Taiwan, Liu Huizhen and her young daughter vanish in an 11-story building after she’s seen on CCTV entering the elevator, removing coats and shoes, and moving towards the roof.
  • No trace of them is found despite exhaustive searches: “But once again, there was nothing. Her body had not fallen onto the streets below.” (Kaylin Moore, [15:30])
  • The legend merges with the mysterious elevator disappearance—Moore details lore about leaving shoes before suicide (to “not track dirt to the afterlife”), fueling paranormal speculation.

• Modern Myth & Viral Spread:

  • The elevator ritual myth grows, soon inundating forums and inspiring real-life dares and videos across the world.
  • Renewed interest arises in 2013 after the infamous Elisa Lam incident at LA’s Cecil Hotel. Lam’s bizarre behavior (caught on elevator surveillance) and her unsolved death in the hotel’s water tank echo core elements of the elevator game tale.
  • Taiwanese police even reopen Liu’s case in 2013, searching water tanks for her body—again, without results.

• Moore’s Reflection:

  • “That’s the real horror underneath the Elevator Game, isn’t it? Not that a ritual might open a door into another dimension, but that sometimes people disappear from the most ordinary places in the world. And no amount of button pressing will ever bring them back.” (Kaylin Moore, [25:43])

3. Britain’s “Hannibal the Cannibal” – The Solitary Legend of Robert Maudsley

[27:53 – 37:52]

• Origins of the Legend:

  • Moore introduces the myth of a man in Wakefield Prison, held in solitary for over forty years and infamously dubbed “Hannibal the Cannibal” and “the Brain Eater.”
  • She explains how press exaggerations added to his legend, but the real story is both grim and tragic.

• Robert Maudsley’s History:

  • Maudsley, a troubled runaway, killed a suspected child predator in 1974 and surrendered, seeking psychiatric help.
  • At Broadmoor Hospital, he and another patient killed a child predator, using a sharpened spoon—a detail which viral media mutated into tales of cannibalism.

• Wakefield Prison and the Glass Box:

  • After two more murders of inmates (one not a predator, others were), Maudsley is sent to an isolated fiber-glass cell, effectively a “prison within a prison”: “It was described at the time as a cement coffin. And that is where he sat alone for over four decades.” (Moore, [34:00])
  • Moore reviews the infamous conditions of solitary, the psychological toll, and Maudsley’s denied requests for companionship—even a bird.

• Reflection on Myth vs. Reality:

  • The legend persists: “A legend of a cannibal killer who eats the brains of child predators and has been confined to a glass box for almost 45 years.” (Moore, [36:50])
  • Maudsley is recently moved to another prison, circumstances unclear, perhaps due to age or a hunger strike.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the power of legends:
  "What happens when a terrifying legend you’ve grown up with ends up being true? ... Today we’re dissecting some of those legends and the dark stories that inspired them.” (Kaylin Moore, [00:45])

• Thai villagers’ dread:
  “The villagers became so frightened that word reached the local police. There was only one thing for them to do. Someone had to go into the woods and find this specter, whatever it was.” (Moore, [06:11])

• On the elevator game’s unsettling logic:
  “Do not speak to her. Don’t look at her. She is, to quote a translation of the original post, ‘not a person.’” (Moore quoting the original post, [11:53])

• Moore’s reflective horror:
  “Sometimes people disappear from the most ordinary places in the world and no amount of button pressing will ever bring them back.” (Moore, [25:43])

• On Maudsley’s legend:
  “How do you punish a man who has already been locked up in the worst prison in the country? The answer became, you build a prison inside a prison.” (Moore, [34:08])

Key Timestamps

• [00:45] – Introduction to haunted legends becoming real; beginning of the Thailand ghost story
• [06:11] – Villagers call police over hourly screams in the woods
• [09:45] – Revelation of the true source of the screams
• [10:50] – Introduction to the Elevator Game legend and its internet origins
• [14:30] – Detail of Liu Huizhen’s disappearance and CCTV footage in Yuanlin, Taiwan
• [20:00] – Theories about what happened to Liu and her daughter
• [22:15] – Elisa Lam’s elevator video and its viral effect
• [25:43] – Moore’s reflection on the true horror behind disappearances
• [27:53] – Introduction to Wakefield Prison and Robert Maudsley’s legend
• [34:08] – Creation of Maudsley’s special solitary “glass box” cell
• [36:50] – The lingering legend despite Maudsley’s recent move

Tone & Presentation

Kaylin Moore maintains her signature chilling-yet-curious tone: morbid, analytical, sometimes darkly humorous, and always empathetic—especially when separating internet embellishment from harrowing reality. She intersperses factual recountings with myth-busting, pausing for thoughtful reflections that resonate with the everyday anxieties that urban legends evoke.

Final Thoughts

This episode of Heart Starts Pounding exemplifies how urban legends and true crime intersect, shaping each other in our collective imagination. Moore’s storytelling is both evocative and investigative, drawing out the unsettling truth that sometimes, reality is as haunting—and unresolvable—as any legend.

For listener participation:
“What were the legends that you grew up with? And have you ever been able to find out the truth behind any of them?” (Moore, [37:52])
Listeners are invited to share their stories at heartstartspounding.com.