American Dread: The Dardeen Family Homicides
American Hauntings Podcast
Cody Beck and Troy Taylor
4.7 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 15 October 2025
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In 1987, the Dardeen family’s quiet life in rural Illinois ended in unimaginable horror.
A crime so savage, it left investigators speechless — and decades later, still haunted by questions that no one could answer.
Cults. Serial killers. Satanic panic. Lies and legends.
American Dread: The Dardeen Family Massacre — one of the most graphic and disturbing cases in Illinois history.
Brought to you by American Hauntings Network.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey American Hauntings listeners, it's Troy. I want to welcome all of you to a new episode of American Dread, but this isn't just a new episode of the new show. It's the episode that kicks off our new podcast network. American Dread will be the first of a slate of new shows from American Hauntings that, like our |
| 0:22.1 | main show, will bring you the history, hauntings, legends, lore, and dark stories that you've |
| 0:28.3 | come to count on from us. Every new show will be authentic, entertaining, and will hopefully |
| 0:34.4 | send a chill up your spine the way that American hauntings does. |
| 0:39.1 | As you know, we're kicking things off with my friend Adam White's creation, American Dread. |
| 0:44.9 | As you've discovered from the first few episodes, the show will feature the true stories of tragedy and terror that can be found in the shadows of the American Heartland. |
| 0:55.4 | It's a podcast for the murder and true crime obsessed. |
| 0:59.3 | Those who know the most chilling history is the kind that gets buried, covered up, and forgotten. |
| 1:06.4 | So that's where the show comes in, to uncover the truth and tell the stories that not everyone wants to see told. |
| 1:15.5 | I hope you enjoy the new show and the American Hauntings podcast network as things grow and expand. |
| 1:22.0 | And we hope you'll spread the word about our shows as we keep bringing you our brand of horrifying entertainment in the weeks, |
| 1:29.2 | months, and years to come. Thanks again for listening. |
| 1:35.5 | Evil doesn't always wear a mask. Sometimes it looks like a neighbor, a friendly face at a gas |
| 1:42.5 | station, a stranger you pass on a quiet country road, and sometimes |
| 1:48.1 | it walks right through your front door and destroys everything you love just because it can. |
| 1:56.7 | You're listening to American Dread. |
| 1:58.8 | True Story is a tragedy and tear from the dark side of American Heartland. |
| 2:02.5 | I'm your host, Adam White. |
| 2:05.0 | And this podcast is part of American Hauntings podcast network. |
| 2:09.7 | Even though there's been a lot of crimes that's taken place in southern Illinois over the years, |
| 2:15.2 | this story is probably one of the most horrifying crimes to ever take place. |
| 2:21.0 | Okay, so brutal, so senseless, that even seasoned detectives couldn't erase the image buried into their minds. |
... |
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