About Us

The world is more mysterious than most people are comfortable imagining. We cross paths with the mystical from time to time and may not even notice it. If we do, we quickly return to our usually mundane daily existence. But what if we not only acknowledged the unknown, we investigated it and spoke with those in the know? That's what co-hosts Scott Philbrook & Forrest Burgess, and co-executive producer Tess Pfeifle do at Astonishing Legends. Over 100 million downloads and hundreds of thousands of listeners have discovered the thrill of exploring the mysteries of our world, showing that the unknown can be both captivating and intriguing. Welcome to Astonishing Legends!

Our Team

Scott Philbrook

co-host

Scott was born near Death Valley, California, where his dad was a military engineer at China Lake Naval Base. He spent 17 years editing commercials and music videos, working in Los Angeles and New York City, In the six years since the show began, Scott and Forrest have published 300 episodes, garnering over 100 million downloads, and have barely scratched the surface of the unknown, for which they have an undying curiosity.

Forrest Burgess

co-host

Forrest Burgess grew up in the Pacific Northwest with a family that encouraged discussion of the metaphysical and mysterious. Following in his father's footsteps with a passion for art, photography, design, and motion pictures, this led to a degree in Cinema from USC. Upon graduating, he worked as a video editor and in corporate event production and training.

He has come to believe that nothing is impossible; it’s just that some things are less likely than others.

Tess Pfeifle

Research Department

Tess is a native Delawarean and current D.C transplant hell-bent on experiencing life, and all of its quirks, to the fullest. You can often find her in a library or local coffee shop with a book in her hand and, more importantly, a notebook. Research is her weapon of choice and she wields it against the masses of nay-sayers and non-believers with zeal. Even if the mysterious turns out to be the not-so-mysterious she still stands firmly behind her love of the chase; because getting there is half the fun. The more legends, myths, and cryptic mysteries she studies, the less she knows…and she’s oddly okay with that

Sarah Vorhees Wendel

Editor

Sarah Vorhees Wendel is an Emmy-nominated Sound Editor and has worked on everything from major motion pictures and animations to countless audiobooks and podcasts. She was drawn to the AL team by her interest in all things unusual and mysterious, as well as Scott’s promise of 45 minute long episodes. You can typically find her editing way on hours of dialogue in her studio, researching her next travel opportunity, or spending time with her growing family. Sarah is originally from southern Illinois (SIU!) and has lived in Nashville, TN, for the past 14 years with her husband, son, a zoo of fur kids, and another baby on the way.

Ryan McCullough

Sound design

Ryan McCullough did music and sound design for the first 8 years of Astonishing Legends. He has since moved on to greener pastures. He was born in Tennessee but has spent most of his adult life bouncing around to all four corners of the United States, playing music, and learning all about the local myths and legends that make up the surrounding areas. Armed with a keen ear and his trusty microphone, he was always up for the sonic challenges that Scott and Forrest gave him during his tenure with the show. No object in his house was safe. If it made a sound, he banged on it and recorded it.

FAQ

the answers you’ve been looking for

There are a whole lot of things that can stand between our show and your ears, and while we can’t know them all, we can tell you some of the most common issues.

Generally our feed, which is where all of our shows are hosted and distributed to various platforms, is ultra-reliable. It is hosted by AudioBoom, a well established podcast provider with whom we are under contract for assistance with sponsorship sales. This means the odds that something is wrong on that end of the spectrum are very, very low.

However, many other roadblocks can present themselves. iTunes and the newly minted Apple Podcasts app are quirky services in themselves. So if you’re using iTunes or Apple Podcasts to find, listen, or subscribe to us, keep in mind that it is a little shaky at times. Many times if you’re having download issues with your ‘Podcasts’ app on your mobile device, the quickest fix is often to unsubscribe to us, delete the old shows and resubscribe. Upon doing this, 90% of the time, you’ll get all of the shows you either couldn’t access, or wouldn’t download completely for some unknown reason.

Let’s not forget that iOS and other mobile OS’s have a tendency to be less than reliable themselves these days.

In a worst case scenario, you can almost always listen right here on our website where there’s more content to take in anyway, and our website is mobile friendly.

If you’ve tried all these things and are still having an issue, please contact us and we’ll do anything we can to help you get our content into your brainpan.

We are always looking for new stories. If you have one that you think might make good fodder for the show, simply contact us and we will excitedly check it out. We get a lot of submissions and have a folder full of our own content to get to ourselves so we can’t promise we’ll put you on the air until we hear the story, but make no mistake; we’d love to hear it! For those of you who would rather not use a contact submission form, you can always just email us at astonishingcontact@gmail.com.

How do I listen?

You can listen & subscribe to the show on your favorite listening platform.