Episode 57: Phrogging Nightmares: Real-Life Cases of Hidden Intruders

Some fears creep up on you slowly — the kind you can’t quite name, but you feel them. A misplaced item. A strange sound. A sense that something is off. In our latest episode of Super SUS, we step into the deeply unsettling world of frogging — the rare but very real phenomenon where someone secretly lives inside another person’s home.

It sounds like the plot of a horror movie, but the truth behind these cases is far more unnerving. And once you hear them, you’ll never look at your attic, basement, or spare closet the same way again.

Most people first hear the term “frogging” and assume it’s folklore — another urban legend meant to make us jump at shadows. But real families have returned home to signs that someone else has been there. Strange noises become patterns. Missing items turn up in the wrong places. Locked doors suddenly aren’t locked anymore.

One of the cases we talk about this week involves a Navy officer and his wife returning home from vacation to find their Honolulu house disturbed in ways that didn’t make sense — until they realized someone had been inside their home while they were away. What they discovered next was even more chilling. It’s a stark example of how quickly safety can feel like an illusion.

And frogging doesn’t discriminate. Even celebrities have found themselves face-to-face with hidden intruders. Pamela Anderson lived the nightmare most of us only joke about — food disappearing, personal items vanishing, and ultimately discovering that a stranger had been inside her home without her knowledge. It’s the kind of story that makes you rethink how well you really know your own space.

Then there are the cases that sit uncomfortably close to urban legend territory — the “boy in the walls” stories we grow up hearing, except real. Daniel LaPlante’s case is one of the most infamous, not for its supernatural elements but for the psychological torment involved. The idea of someone quietly living behind the walls is one of the most primal fears imaginable, and this story shows exactly why.

Frogging isn’t uniquely American, either. We touch on cases from around the world — including the famous “Denver Spider-Man” case and unsettling incidents out of Japan — all of them connected by one theme: people hiding in the unlikeliest corners, sometimes for shelter, sometimes for reasons much darker.

Most of these intruders aren’t discovered right away. Some spend days, others weeks. In the rarest and most extreme cases, they live undetected for far longer. By the time the truth comes out, the emotional and psychological impact on the people living there is enormous.

In this episode of Super SUS, we explore the strange, frightening, and sometimes tragic world of frogging — the hidden residents, the terrifying discoveries, and the cases that stick with you long after the story is over.

We don’t want to spoil the twists here; this is one you’ll want to hear in full.