The ChillX Zone

How a Real Abduction Became a Haunting Legend

December 5, 2025

In 1974, in the quiet suburb of Pocatello, Idaho, a girl named Jan Broberg was abducted by a trusted family acquaintance known as “B.” What began as a simple neighborhood friendship turned into a psychological nightmare involving grooming, manipulation, and a bizarre narrative of extraterrestrial destiny.

The first kidnapping began innocently enough. Jan was told she was being taken horseback riding. Instead, she woke up restrained in a motorhome with a strange mechanical “voice” telling her she had been chosen for a cosmic mission. She was young, disoriented, and deeply religious — the perfect target for the story that would follow. She was told she was part-alien and that she must “save her species” by having a child with her captor. To her, this wasn’t fiction. She believed it. Her mind was pulled into a narrative that felt supernatural in origin, and for years she didn’t question it.

A Kidnapping Wrapped in a Paranormal Narrative

The criminal act was terrifying, but the psychological terror was disguised as a supernatural calling. Her captor used a prerecorded “alien message” to control her, referencing cosmic ancestors and a dying extraterrestrial lineage. He built rules and rituals that must be followed “or the planet would die.” This was not a haunting in the traditional sense, but a psychological haunting. The secrecy, the chosen-one motif, the cosmic mission — these are the same elements pulled from UFO lore, ghost visitations, and cult instructions, except in this case the fear and belief were happening in real time to a real child.

The Second Abduction and Why the Story Stuck

Two years later, at age 14, Jan was kidnapped again. The belief system her captor built was still inside her. This time she was taken across state lines under the guise of “government protection.” To investigators, it was a clear true-crime situation involving kidnapping, coercion, and interstate transport of a minor. To Jan, it still felt like a mission and a destiny. Many kidnappings end physically. This one embedded itself mentally and emotionally, in a way that mimicked paranormal possession.

The Horror of Human Manipulation

People talk about “real ghosts” in terms of lingering memories and trauma. This case shows how a human being can create a haunting without a single supernatural presence. What happened to Jan created paranoia and confusion. It blurred reality and imagination. It used supernatural belief to justify real-world violence. The voice in the motorhome felt real to her. The mission felt non-negotiable. The supernatural wasn’t real, but the fear absolutely was.

When Crime Becomes Folklore

This case occupies a strange territory between categories: true crime, urban legend, UFO mythology, and psychological horror. It carries the same structure as a classic paranormal tale: a child selected by an outside intelligence, a hidden agenda delivered through a mysterious message, and an isolated environment where belief became reality. There were no spirits or aliens, only a manipulator who understood the power of imagination.

The Lesson Hidden in the Story

The scariest paranormal story may be the one where there is no paranormal element at all. This case shows how horror can be engineered, how belief can be exploited, and how the supernatural can be used as a disguise. Real danger often appears in ordinary faces and familiar voices. No ghost lights, no phantom footsteps, no unexplained recordings — just a story told the right way to the wrong person. And that is more chilling than any haunting.

Folklore of Pocatello

Despite everything, locals in Pocatello still talk about “The Chosen Girl.” They say the story gave birth to a town legend — a presence in the fields that whispers in static, especially to children. Whether it’s superstition, memory, or something else entirely, children should be kept indoors once the sun goes down.