Southern Gothic

On Saturday, October 26th, Meade County, Kentucky, hosts its third annual Battletown Witch Festival, a family-friendly celebration inspired by one of the region’s most infamous local legends. This tale, passed down through generations of Battletown families, claims that a young woman buried in the old Elizabeth Daily Cemetery continues to haunt the hills and hollers after being unjustly killed for...

On July 26, 1911, Major Archibald Butt, the military aide to President William Howard Taft, wrote to his sister-in-law about something rather odd that had been happening inside the walls of the White House for months: “My dear Clara, It seems that the White House is haunted." The Major then continues on to describe some of the interesting and eerie claims made members of the White House staff, fol...

According to local legend, visitors to Savannah’s Historic Wright Square have been known to encounter a young woman dressed in 18th-century style clothing. Some are said to have been approached and begged for their assistance in finding the woman’s lost son. Yet when folks begin to search the area, the girl disappears. Many believe this is the ghost of Alice Riley, the first woman executed in the...

Y'all we're going live with a little good old-fashioned storytelling on Thursday, October 17th in Nashville, Tennessee! Prepare for an unforgettable night as Brandon Schexnayder, the voice behind the popular podcast Southern Gothic, takes the stage to weave eerie ghost stories from the haunted South. This is not just a show—it's an intimate, spine-tingling journey into the darkest corners of South...

On the morning of January 31, 1921, Surfman C.P. Brady of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Cape Hatteras Station No. 183 stood watch over the treacherous waters of the "Graveyard of the Atlantic." His early morning shift, had been uneventful until the mist began to lift around 6:30. What appeared before him was chilling: a massive, five-masted schooner, sails still raised, had run aground on the Outer Diamo...

Southern Gothic: Live in Nashville is happening on October 17, 2024... be sure to get your tickets now!! Built in 1881, Sloss Furnaces was the first of many blast furnaces in Birmingham, Alabama to manufacture pig iron. The furnaces aided in catalyzing an Industrial Revolution in the postwar south. It was in Alabama, that the iron industry took off, providing the rest of the country with the mater...

There's been some pretty big changes to a classic story! Join us as we explore a classic Alabama ghost story that claims an old dormitory on the campus of Huntingdon College is haunted by the spirit of a former student. ...but that ain't all! We also had a chance to chat with Dr. Anthony Leigh, the current president of Huntingdon College. Dr. Leigh discusses a little bit of the college's history,...

Serial killers. Gangsters. Gunslingers. Victorian-era murderers. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Each week, the Most Notorious podcast features true-life tales of crime, criminals, tragedies and disasters throughout history. Host Erik Rivenes interviews authors and historians who have studied their subjects for years. Their stories are offered with unique insight, detail, and historical ac...

For almost two centuries, the Pensacola lighthouse has stood overlooking the entrance to Pensacola Bay guiding generations of mariners safely through the treacherous waters of the Gulf of Mexico; but over the last few decades, this historic maritime landmark has become notorious for the purported spirits believed to call it home. Want to Listen to Southern Gothic Ad-Free? Patreon: Ad-Free Episodes...

This week we flip the script and present a handful of tales told to us by your fellow listerners. Want to Listen to Southern Gothic Ad-Free? Patreon: Ad-Free Episodes, Premium Releases, Bonus Content & More  Southern Gothic Premium on Spotify Southern Gothic Premium on Apple Podcasts Into History: History Without Interruption Connect with Southern Gothic Media: Website: SouthernGothicMedia.com Mer...

Just west of Chattanooga, Tennessee is the Nickajack Cave, a historic natural wonder flooded in 1967 due to the construction of the Nickajam Dam. Carved by the Tennessee River over millennia, the cave has a rich history filled with tales of the Chickamauga, Confederate soldiers, and even the notorious Man in Black, Johnny Cash. Today the cave is a wildlife refuge for a colony of endangered bats, b...

In our most recent episode, we explored the life and legend of Robert Johnsons; however, there is one mystery that we left out! For over fifty years after his death, no one knew exactly where Robert Johnson was buried, and as a result, there are now three cemeteries that feature memorials to the blues legend. Want to Listen to Southern Gothic Ad-Free? Patreon: Ad-Free Episodes, Premium Releases, B...

In 1931, Robert Johnson walked into a juke joint in Banks, Mississippi with a guitar strapped to his back. Only a little less than a year before he mysteriously disappeared from the Delta after being teased for his lack of musicianship. But now Robert Johnson was back and he was ready to take the stage and show everyone in that juke what he could do, displaying a musical mastery that left everyone...

On Saturday, October 21, 1899 the New Orleans Times-Democrat ran an article under the headline: “Real Ghost Story. The Old Carrollton Jail Said to be Haunted.” Through the use of the exact words of police officers, the article chronicled eerie occurrences at the local jail. But while many of the police officers who served at the Carrollton Jail stated that they didn’t believe in ghosts, most agree...

On History Daily, we do history, daily. Every weekday, host Lindsay Graham (American Scandal, American History Tellers) takes you back in time to explore a momentous event that happened ‘on this day’ in history. Whether it’s to remember the tragedy of December 7th, 1941, the day “that will live in infamy,” or to celebrate that 20th day in July, 1969, when mankind reached the moon, History Daily is...

It was a chilly evening in April of 1810 when Alexander Hostler sat alone in his room with a single candle flickering in the darkness. Only days before, Hostler’s lifelong friend Samuel Jocelyn, Jr. had been found dead, leaving the young man absolutely devastated. But on this particular night, his suffering was interrupted by the sound of a voice calling to him from the stillness– a voice all too...

On November 6, 1936 Verna Garr Taylor was found in a ditch on a rural road in Kentucky with a bullet hole through her chest. Suspicion immediately fell on her purported fiancé Henry Denhardt. The former Kentucky politician claimed Verna had committed suicide, but the evidence suggested otherwise, leading to one of the most sensational court cases in the history of the state. Want to Listen to Sou...

Since its grand opening on May 1, 1905, the Seelbach Hotel has stood as one of Louisville, Kentucky's most lavish and luxurious establishments. It has hosted an array of notable figures, from U.S. Presidents and legendary actors to notorious bootleggers and mobsters. As a result, the hotel is steeped in lore, with some claiming it was here that F. Scott Fitzgerald first encountered the inspiration...

"The Witch of Pungo" Originally Aired in June 2022 On Wednesday, July 10, 1706, scores of people arrived at what is now known as Witch Duck Point on the Lynnhaven River in Virginia. They were there to witness a unique but brutal legal proceeding that would never again be carried out in the colony of Virginia– the trial of forty-six-year-old Grace Sherwood by ducking. It is unknown exactly what hap...

Detective Louis N. Scarcella was a legendary figure in New York City during the '90s. In a city overrun with violent crime, he cracked the toughest cases and put away the worst criminals. But the story changed when a group of convicted murderers-turned-jailhouse lawyers made a startling discovery that linked all their cases: Scarcella was the cop who helped put many of them away. They made a vow:...

On March 28, 1869, Knox Martin was hanged for murdering John and Elizabeth Wittenmeier in their Nashville home. Curiously, only several days prior, Martin had made a deal with local physicians to sell his body to them for experimenting following the execution-- experimentation that looked an awful lot like something out Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Want to Listen to Southern Gothic Ad-Free? Patre...

In 1891, miners in the Coal Creek Valley, the most lucrative mining region in the state of Tennessee, decided they were tired of being replaced by convict labor and were going to do something about it. So on the night of July 14th, 300 men, armed to the teeth, descended upon the stockade in Briceville where the convicts were housed, took control, and proceeded to send the prisoners back east to Kn...

The Banner Mine explosion of April 8, 1911, in Alabama claimed the lives of 128 men, predominantly African American prisoners leased to the Pratt Consolidated Coal Company by the state. This devastating event underscored the dire conditions of convict-lease labor, a system exploiting carefully tailored laws to target black men for profit-driven incarceration. Despite the tragedy, reforms to addres...

In September 1962, Mr. and Mrs. Daughtery, an elderly couple residing in Portsmouth, Virginia, along with their great-great-grandson Cleveland Harmon, found themselves at the center of inexplicable occurrences. Within their home, objects began moving on their own, and furniture inexplicably flew about, leaving no rational explanation for the chaos. As news of the bizarre happenings spread, curious...

At 1:20 pm on Saturday, July 19, 1970, a fire broke out in an abandoned home in Hadsboro, Mississippi, that was well known throughout the community as haunted. But what made the incident so unbelievable wasn't necessarily the claim of spirits there, but rather the fact a psychic had foretold of the Cahill House's fiery demise less than a year prior. Want to Listen to Southern Gothic Ad-Free? Patr...