The Devil Within

On a quiet winter afternoon in Bogota, New Jersey, Patricia “Patty” Viola stepped out of her home and vanished. No forced entry. No sign of struggle. Nothing left behind but silence — until years later, when the river returned part of her story. This isn’t a case about villains lurking in the shadows. It’s about the invisible weight people carry, the questions that haunt families, and the quiet breaking points we almost never see coming. Sometimes, the devil within isn’t outside the door. It’s inside us. In this episode, we revisit Patricia’s final known moments, the search that stretched on for years, the discovery that reopened old wounds, and the deeper truth hiding beneath the surface — grief, mental health, and the human need for answers that may never fully arrive. This is not sensational. It’s human — and that may be the hardest part. ❗ If you or someone you love is struggling Please reach out. In the U.S., dial or text 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. You’re not alone. LISTEN NEXT If you connected with this episode, you may also appreciate: • The Ley Lines of New Jersey • The Holiday Horror Series • The Legend of the Yeti 🎧 LISTEN & FOLLOW If you’re enjoying the show, make sure you’re following The Devil Within and the entire Evio Creative lineup wherever you get your podcasts—The Devil's Ledger, The Ides of April, Criminal Mischief, Taboo Treasures, and more—so you never miss a new episode. ⭐ RATE & REVIEW Ratings and reviews genuinely help independent shows grow. If you have a moment, leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify—it helps more than you think, and yes, we read them. 📺 WATCH & SUBSCRIBE ON YOUTUBE You can now watch full video episodes, clips, and exclusives from all Evio Creative shows on our YouTube channel. 👉 Subscribe to Evio Creative on YouTube and turn on notifications so you don’t miss new drops across the network. 📲 FOLLOW ON SOCIAL Follow us on Instagram for updates, visuals, and behind-the-scenes content:     •    @thedevilwithinpod     •    @idesofaprilpod     •    @eviocreative 🌐 VISIT THE NETWORK Explore all of our shows, projects, and upcoming releases at eviocreative.com ✉️ GET IN TOUCH Have a story, tip, correction, or something you think we should cover? Email us at [email protected] 🔁 SHARE THE SHOW If you know someone who loves true crime, history, horror, or stories that refuse to let go—share the episode. Word of mouth keeps this network alive. 💼 SPONSORS 🧥 QUINCE Luxury essentials at affordable prices. Free shipping + 365-day returns: www.QUINCE.com/MISCHIEF (http://www.quince.com/MISCHIEF) 📱 MINT MOBILE Premium wireless for just $15/month. Switch and get free shipping: http://www.mintmobil.com/DEVILWITHIN 🛰️ EXPRESSVPN Protect your data anywhere. Get up to 4 months free: www.ExpressVPN.com/DEVILWITHIN (http://www.expressvpn.com/DEVILWITHIN) 🌿 MOOD CBD and THC gummies shipped nationwide. 20% off: http://www.mood.com/DEVILWITHIN 🐶 OLLIE DOG FOOD Real, fresh, human-grade meals for your dog. 60% off your first box: http://www.ollie.com/IDES 🔥 MONARCH  The only finance app you’ll ever need. For 50% off your first year: http://www.monarch.com/IDES Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Devil Within The Woodchipper and the New Year: The Murder of Helle Crafts In the final days of 1986, while the world was preparing resolutions and fresh starts, one woman quietly vanished from her Connecticut home — and her disappearance would force American justice to confront an impossible question: Can you prove a murder when there is no body? This episode follows the chilling, meticulously documented case of Helle Crafts — a Danish flight attendant, mother of three, and woman who clearly saw danger coming… and tried to warn the people around her. What investigators would eventually uncover — a missing freezer, strange purchases, the shoreline of a frozen lake, and fragments almost too small to comprehend — changed forensic history, legal precedent, and the way investigators think about “no-body” homicides forever.  HELLE CRAFTS This isn’t a story about spectacle. It’s a story about erasure — and the relentless people who refused to let that erasure hold. ⭐ RATE & REVIEW Ratings and reviews genuinely help independent shows grow. If you have a moment, leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify—it helps more than you think, and yes, we read them. 📺 WATCH & SUBSCRIBE ON YOUTUBE You can now watch full video episodes, clips, and exclusives from all Evio Creative shows on our YouTube channel. 👉 Subscribe to Evio Creative on YouTube and turn on notifications so you don’t miss new drops across the network. 📲 FOLLOW ON SOCIAL Follow us on Instagram for updates, visuals, and behind-the-scenes content:     •    @thedevilwithinpod     •    @idesofaprilpod     •    @eviocreative 🌐 VISIT THE NETWORK Explore all of our shows, projects, and upcoming releases at eviocreative.com ✉️ GET IN TOUCH Have a story, tip, correction, or something you think we should cover? Email us at [email protected] 🔁 SHARE THE SHOW If you know someone who loves true crime, history, horror, or stories that refuse to let go—share the episode. Word of mouth keeps this network alive. 💼 SPONSORS 🧥 QUINCE Luxury essentials at affordable prices. Free shipping + 365-day returns: www.QUINCE.com/MISCHIEF (http://www.quince.com/MISCHIEF) 📱 MINT MOBILE Premium wireless for just $15/month. Switch and get free shipping: http://www.mintmobil.com/DEVILWITHIN 🛰️ EXPRESSVPN Protect your data anywhere. Get up to 4 months free: www.ExpressVPN.com/DEVILWITHIN (http://www.expressvpn.com/DEVILWITHIN) 🌿 MOOD CBD and THC gummies shipped nationwide. 20% off: http://www.mood.com/DEVILWITHIN 🐶 OLLIE DOG FOOD Real, fresh, human-grade meals for your dog. 60% off your first box: http://www.ollie.com/IDES 🔥 MONARCH  The only finance app you’ll ever need. For 50% off your first year: http://www.monarch.com/IDES Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Devil’s Ledger — Year’s End Episode Standing at the doorway between what was… and whatever comes next. We close out the year with a New Year’s wish, a reflection on winter, and a few stories that feel colder the longer you sit with them. 🧊 The Creepiest Thing I Heard This Week The Michigan Dogman — Winter Screams In the deep Michigan winter, the snow stays, the forests go silent — and sometimes, the stories return. A family’s holiday trip turns unsettling when something steps into the edge of the porch light and reminds them that winter may not belong to us after all.  👿 The Devil Within Two cases tied to the season — separated by a decade — and forever changed by loss. • Helle Crafts — the case so shocking that prosecutors argued murder without a body, reshaping how courts understand circumstantial evidence. • Patricia Viola — a disappearance that left only silence, lingering questions, and a mystery that never quite settled.  One story defined by devastating certainty. The other — by what we still don’t know. 🗡 The Ides of April A quick visit into myth, murder, and the artifacts we insist on believing. We explore the legend of the Rasputin dagger — whether it ever existed… and why some objects take on more power in our imaginations than they ever had in reality. Full episodes return next week.  🏺 Taboo Treasures Still on hiatus. The vault remains locked — for now.  🤠 Criminal Mischief Part of our Best of 2025 — Carolyn revisits Billy the Kid: the real person behind the myth, and why we still romanticize the chaos he left behind.  🐍 This Week in Horror Take a breather from the terrifying, and lean into something gloriously absurd: ANACONDA — a monster movie, a giant snake, Paul Rudd, Jack Black… and the cinematic equivalent of popcorn you didn’t need, but absolutely ate anyway.  As we close the book on the year — stay safe, stay warm, and remember: whatever is standing outside your door is not invited in. 🎧 LISTEN & FOLLOW Make sure you’re following The Devil’s Ledger and the full Evio Creative lineup so you never miss an episode: The Devil Within • The Ides of April • Criminal Mischief • Taboo Treasures, and more.  ⭐ RATE & REVIEW If you can, drop a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify — it genuinely helps independent shows grow (and yes, we read them).  📺 WATCH & SUBSCRIBE ON YOUTUBE Watch full video episodes, clips, and exclusives. 👉 Subscribe to Evio Creative on YouTube and turn on notifications.  📲 FOLLOW US Instagram:     •    @thedevilwithinpod     •    @idesofaprilpod     •    @eviocreative 🌐 VISIT Explore everything at eviocreative.com  ✉ GET IN TOUCH Story tip? Correction? Something we should hear? Email: [email protected]  🔁 SHARE If you know someone who loves true crime, history, horror, or stories that refuse to let go — share the show. 💼 SPONSORS 🧥 QUINCE Luxury essentials at honest prices. Free shipping + 365-day returns: www.QUINCE.com/MISCHIEF (http://www.quince.com/MISCHIEF)  📱 MINT MOBILE Premium wireless for just $15/month. Free shipping: http://www.mintmobil.com/DEVILWITHIN  🛰 EXPRESSVPN Protect your data anywhere. Up to 4 months free: www.ExpressVPN.com/DEVILWITHIN (http://www.expressvpn.com/DEVILWITHIN)  🌿 MOOD CBD & THC gummies shipped nationwide. 20% off: http://www.mood.com/DEVILWITHIN  🐶 OLLIE DOG FOOD Real, fresh, human-grade meals for dogs. 60% off your first box: http://www.ollie.com/IDES  🔥 MONARCH The only finance app you’ll ever need. 50% off your first year: http://www.monarch.com/IDES  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

THE DEVIL WITHIN — CHRISTMAS SPECIAL Episode Two: Merry Christmas, You’re Barely Holding It Together Christmas movies aren’t comforting because they’re gentle. They’re comforting because they tell the truth—quietly, sideways, and usually with jokes. 🎄 CHAPTERS & THEMES Chapter One — National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation Clark Griswold isn’t chasing joy—he’s chasing proof. This chapter explores financial insecurity, masculine identity, estranged family dynamics, and why a Christmas comedy casually escalates into corporate kidnapping, a SWAT raid, and what amounts to accidental domestic terrorism. Beneath the slapstick is a portrait of the American father under siege, holding everything together until he can’t. Chapter Two — Home Alone A childhood fantasy built on abandonment. We look at how Home Alone feeds into fears children rarely get to articulate: being forgotten, being bullied, being left to survive on their own. Beneath the laughs are violent home invasions, unreliable adults, and the terrifying premise that busy working parents can forget one of their children—and not realize it until it’s almost too late. Chapter Three — Die Hard Yes. It’s a Christmas movie. Case closed. This chapter puts the debate to rest and examines Die Hard as a story about estrangement, marriage, career versus identity, corporate espionage, terrorism, and reunion under existential threat. We also confront uncomfortable moments the movie doesn’t hide—including the use of deportation threats as leverage—and why Christmas is the only frame that makes reconciliation possible. Bonus Chapter — Love Actually A holiday classic made of red flags. A rapid-fire breakdown of why Love Actually sends several terrible messages at once: workplace affairs, emotional coercion, infidelity, shame for choosing family over romance, power imbalances, fat jokes, and the normalization of harmful behavior—all wrapped in music, mistletoe, and sentimentality. 🎧 THE USUAL EVIO CREATIVE CTAs LISTEN & FOLLOW Follow The Devil Within and the entire Evio Creative lineup wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode. RATE & REVIEW If you’re enjoying the show, leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It helps more than you think—and we read every one. WATCH & SUBSCRIBE ON YOUTUBE Watch full episodes, clips, and exclusives from all Evio Creative shows. 👉 Subscribe to Evio Creative on YouTube and turn on notifications. VISIT THE NETWORK Explore all shows and upcoming projects at eviocreative.com GET IN TOUCH Have a story, tip, or something you think we should cover? Email [email protected] 💼 SPONSORS 🧥 QUINCE Luxury essentials at affordable prices. Free shipping + 365-day returns: www.QUINCE.com/MISCHIEF (http://www.quince.com/MISCHIEF) 📱 MINT MOBILE Premium wireless for just $15/month. Switch and get free shipping: http://www.mintmobil.com/DEVILWITHIN 🛰️ EXPRESSVPN Protect your data anywhere. Get up to 4 months free: www.ExpressVPN.com/DEVILWITHIN (http://www.expressvpn.com/DEVILWITHIN) 🌿 MOOD CBD and THC gummies shipped nationwide. 20% off: http://www.mood.com/DEVILWITHIN 🐶 OLLIE DOG FOOD Real, fresh, human-grade meals for your dog. 60% off your first box: http://www.ollie.com/IDES 🔥 MONARCH  The only finance app you’ll ever need. For 50% off your first year: http://www.monarch.com/IDES Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

🎄 THE DEVIL WITHIN — CHRISTMAS SPECIAL EPISODE 1 — “THE CHRISTMAS NIGHTMARES” Chapters 1–3 This holiday season, we unwrap something darker than tinsel — the films from our childhood that should never have been shown to children. These weren’t cozy specials. They were cinematic trauma disguised in red bows and VHS plastic. In Part One of our Christmas special, we descend into the uncanny valley of 1980s holiday movies and their psychologically disturbing plotlines, the ones that slipped into our living rooms and shaped our nightmares. 🎬 CHAPTERS Chapter 1 — “When Christmas Movies Wanted to Hurt Us” We revisit the VHS aisles of the 80s — where “family movies” secretly harbored dead Santas, abandoned kids, demonic puppets, and trauma disguised as jolly cheer. A cultural excavation of how innocence collided with horror in the most festive decade. Chapter 2 — “The Gremlins Monologue” Perhaps the most disturbing speech ever delivered in a PG Christmas film: Phoebe Cates’ haunted reveal of her father’s death in the chimney while playing Santa. The silence it produced in theaters — and why it still hits us like grief disguised as comedy. Chapter 3 — “Silent Nights and Slasher Clauses” From Silent Night, Deadly Night to Christmas Evil, we unpack Santa-suited killers, vigilante elves, and the thin line between folklore reverence and full-tilt cinematic violence. ⭐ CALLS TO ACTION • Follow us on Instagram: @thedevilwithinpod • Visit eviocreative.com• Rate, review & share • Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen • Tell a friend who loves dark holidays & childhood trauma disguised in wrapping paper 💼 SPONSORS 🧥 QUINCE Luxury essentials at affordable prices. Free shipping + 365-day returns: www.QUINCE.com/MISCHIEF 📱 MINT MOBILE Premium wireless for just $15/month. Switch and get free shipping: www.mintmobil.com/DEVILWITHIN 🛰 EXPRESSVPN Protect your data anywhere. Get up to 4 months free: www.ExpressVPN.com/DEVILWITHIN 🌿 MOOD CBD & THC gummies shipped nationwide. 20% off: www.mood.com/DEVILWITHIN 🐶 OLLIE DOG FOOD Real, fresh, human-grade meals for your dog. 60% off your first box: www.ollie.com/IDES 🔥 MONARCH The only finance app you’ll ever need. 50% off your first year: www.monarch.com/IDES Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices