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Heart Starts Pounding: Horrors, Hauntings and Mysteries

171. Three Real Imposter Nightmares: Fake Uber Drivers, The Tourist From Hell, and more

Heart Starts Pounding: Horrors, Hauntings and Mysteries

Heart Starts Pounding: Horrors, Hauntings and Mysteries

History, Fiction, True Crime, Drama

4.84.7K Ratings

🗓️ 9 April 2026

⏱️ 41 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Go to https://kachava.com and use code HSP for 15% off your first order. A college student gets into what she thinks is her rideshare. A speech therapist spends years pretending to be someone's mother. And a backpacker in Singapore accepts a stranger's offer to split a hotel room…then never calls home. Three stories about the people who slipped through the cracks. By the time anyone realized something was wrong, it was already too late. TW: Descriptions of Dismemberment, Mention of Self Harm Show Notes: https://www.heartstartspounding.com/episodes/imposters Subscribe on⁠ Patreon⁠ to become a member of our Rogue Detecting Society and enjoy ad-free listening, monthly bonus content, merch discounts and more. Members of our High Council on Patreon also have access to our weekly after-show, Footnotes, where I share my case file with our producer, Matt. You can also enjoy many of these same perks, including ad-free listening and bonus content when you subscribe on Apple Podcasts. Follow on⁠ Tik Tok⁠ and⁠ Instagram⁠ for a daily dose of horror.  To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

This episode is brought to you by Merritt Beauty. You guys have heard me talk about Merit Beauty now for a few months, and I have to say they've become an essential part of my routine. And some days, they're basically my entire routine, especially if I have to go super minimalist because of time, which has been happening quite a bit recently. But I know in five minutes, I can still go out looking put together and feeling ready to start my day. So I start with their great skin serum, which helps hydrate and kind of wake my skin up. Then I use the minimalist, which is both a foundation and a concealer to cover up any splotchiness. And finally, it's mascara and the super, super popular flush balm. And boom, I'm ready to film some social videos, take a phone call,

0:39.1

or, you know, FaceTime the grandparents with the baby. I'm ready for whatever, basically.

0:42.8

Right now, Merit Beauty is offering our listeners their signature makeup bag with your first order.

0:48.0

And all of this can be found at Meritbeautcom. That's M-E-R-I-T-Beautcom to get your free signature makeup bag with your first order.

0:56.8

And once again, that is meritbeautom.

1:00.8

Welcome back to Heart Starts Pounding.

1:03.1

I'm your host, Kayla Moore, and today we are talking about the imposter.

1:08.1

Now, normally I consider myself a pretty good judge of character, but I think that's why

1:12.4

the stories that I want to share with you today scare me so much, because there are about times

1:17.2

someone snuck into someone else's life so quickly or so subtly that by the time they were figured

1:23.7

out, it was too late. And that usually has deadly consequences. But before we dive in,

1:30.3

I wanted to remind everyone that if you are interested in joining our book club this time around,

1:34.8

we are reading Slewfoot, a tale of bewitchery by Brom. It's a dark fantasy novel set in colonial

1:40.7

New England, focusing on the conflict between paganism and Puritanism through

1:44.8

the story of a young widow, Abatha, and an ancient forest spirit known as Slewfoot.

1:50.3

I'm loving it so far so you can grab a copy and join us over on Patreon to participate.

1:55.2

And even the free tier is welcome.

1:57.5

We'll be discussing the book Mid-May.

1:59.3

A specific date is going to be determined. So join us

2:01.7

over there so you have all the information. All right. Let's get into it. One of the most common

2:08.6

themes in urban legends is the idea of the imposter, a person infiltrating your life under the

2:14.0

guise of someone else, usually having sinister intentions. I think back to this

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