Buried Secrets Podcast

The Luxor Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas is one of the most iconic hotels on the strip—and supposedly one of the most haunted. Back in the 1990s, there were grand plans to make Vegas a new Disney-type destination, full of ornate themed resorts and fun activities for children. The Luxor Hotel and Casino, an Ancient Egyptian themed hotel that's shaped like a giant obsidian pyramid with a beam of ligh...

A look at the legendary Book of Thoth and the historical figure who inspired Ancient Egypt's most famous fictional sorcerer and is considered the first Egyptologist. Setne Khamwas, aka Prince Khaemweset, was the son of Ramesses the Great, as well as a high priest of Ptah, and a historian with a passion for preserving Ancient Egyptian history. He traveled around Egypt, restoring sites and monuments...

A look at the magic-filled legends of Se-Osiris, Ancient Egyptian Wizard, who, as a pre-teen, traveled to the underworld and later dueled with a reincarnated sorcerer. Setne II, an Ancient Egyptian story that's survived on papyrus, tells the tale of a Dante's inferno-like descent into the underworld, and a flurry of magical duels and reincarnation. Oh, and the person doing the magic is a 12-year-o...

A look at the magic-filled legends of Prince Setne, a character based on the son of Ramesses II, who goes on a tomb-raiding journey to acquire a magical book. And it's the prequel to the stories about his 12-year-old boy wizard son, Se-Osiris. Setne I , or Setne Khamwas and Naneferkaptah , is a tale that's survived on papyrus from Ptolemaic Egypt. It about a wizard who descends into a tomb to coll...

Dagger John, New York City's most influential and vicious archbishop, had a huge impact, whether he was consecrating Calvary Cemetery and founding Fordham University, or peppering the mayor with threats to burn down the city. "Are you afraid," asked the mayor, "that some of your churches will be burned?" "No, sir; but I am afraid that some of yours will be burned. We can protect our own. I come to...

More people are buried at Calvary Cemetery, in Queens, New York, than in any other cemetery in the United States.  This episode is focused on the history of the cemetery, what it's like to visit it nowadays, and some of the most interesting people buried there. Highlights include: • The Cemetery Belt, a collection of NYC cemeteries that can be seen from space • A rich man who died in a barn • A Bl...

A look at the forgotten cemeteries and potter's fields that lie beneath the most famous parks in NYC. Back in the 18th and 19th centuries, a number of potter's fields (cemeteries for paupers) were scattered around Manhattan. Some of NYC's most famous parks were built right on top of those forgotten cemeteries, including Madison Square Park, Washington Square Park, Union Square Park, Central Park,...

A look at some popular ghost stories from haunted Asheville, North Carolina, along with a strange F. Scott Fitzgerald conspiracy theory. Highlights include: • Haunted bridges • Gruesome disinterments at a potter's field • A haunted high school • Two dead women named Helen • A bookseller's memories of hanging out with F. Scott Fitzgerald • An old tombstone shop • The Brown Mountain Lights Note: Thi...

A look at the strange history of the haunted Grove Park Inn, and the famous people (and ghost) who've stayed there. Built by a quinine medicine mogul based on plans drawn up by his son-in-law (who was not an architect), the Grove Park Inn is has hosted many famous guests. F. Scott Fitzgerald lived there for two summer, 10 presidents have stayed there, as well as celebrities like Thomas Edison and...

A look at Santa Muerte, or Saint Death, a Mexican folk saint whose popularity has skyrocketed over the last 20 years. The Catholic Church has condemned Santa Muerte as "satanic," the Mexican military has destroyed shrines to her, the Mexican government refuses to acknowledge the veneration of Santa Muerte as a religion, and the media in the US and Mexico have conflated the cult of Santa Muerte wit...

A look at an apparatus to contact the spirit world that Thomas Edison claimed to be working on, but which never surfaced. In 1920, famed inventor Thomas Edison gave a series of interviews bragging about a device he was testing, a spirit telegraph, which spiritualists could use to give their seances a more scientific bent. Though he despised Ouija boards, table tipping, and other trappings of spiri...

A deep dive into the mysteries and history of a strange palace and garden built by an eccentric millionaire in Sintra, Portugal. Sometimes described as a playground for adults, Quinta da Regaleira is a mysterious estate built by a millionaire entomologist in the early 20th century, full of occult and masonic references. Chris talks about the history, symbolism, and some theories about the place. H...

In 1933, a teenage girl shot her father on the orders of a Ouija board. Or was it her former-beauty-queen mother who encouraged the violence? When playing with a Ouija board with her mother, 14-year-old Mattie Turley receives the message that she must kill her father so her mother can be free to marry a handsome cowboy. Her mother, Dorothea, who had won a beauty contest in 1916 and had attended th...

We're back talking Ouijamania in 1920! We take a look at more Ouija board stories, including communication with the ghost of Marie Antoinette and the tale of a doomed treasure hunter. Highlights include: • A supposedly Ouija-crazed cop who hijacked a car at gunpoint and proceeded to disrobe • Queerness in 1920s San Francisco • The ghosts who haunted European aristocrats • Hyperinflation in Weimar...

"Ouijamania" is the phenomenon where people, usually women, supposedly went crazy because of their Ouija board use, usually resulting in their institutionalization. We take a look at Ouijamania in 1920 and see how the panic over Ouija boards was influenced by big movements at the time, including womens suffrage, prohibition, and, unfortunately, eugenics. Highlights include: • Occult rituals • 1920...

We take a look at the sudden popularity of Ouija after World War I. We tried talking about 1920s Ouijamania and just barely make it outta the 19teens. Highlights include: • Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini playing with a Ouija board in an Atlantic City hotel room • The pope hiring a former psychical researcher to denounce Ouija • Possible connections between remote viewing and successful O...

We take a detour in our look at the Ouija board and dive into Victorian Egyptomania. In the Victorian Era, people were really into death and the supernatural. Americans and Europeans also started traveling to Egypt and bringing back mummies and other pieces of Egyptian culture. We talk about some of the weird stuff that Victorians did with Egyptian artifacts, some now-destroyed Egyptian Revival bu...

Chris digs up some early stories of people getting waaay too obsessed with their Ouija boards. Highlights include: • a rare story of a 19th century black woman's experience with Ouija • a couple destroying their home to (supposedly) convert the world to Masonic principles • Presidential talking boards • petty society columns • Ouija wrecking havoc on a wealthy Brooklyn family • a man finding spiri...

In the 20th century, William Fuld's name became synonymous with Ouija boards. We look at how he got into the Ouija game, the feud with his brother that split the family for nearly a century, his mysterious death that resulted from some advice that the board gave him, and more. We also talk about how the official Ouija board evolved throughout the 20th century, look at some of his competitors, and...

We take a look at the board's invention, in particular two women behind it, Helen Peters and Ouida: a highly-educated, unconventional medium who later ended up denouncing Ouija, and the eccentric, dog-obsessed English writer whose name may have inspired the board's. In 1886, homemade talking boards became a new "Ohio craze" that newspapers reported widely around the country. Five years later, a ma...

We begin a series about Ouija boards, digging into the strange history of the much admired and maligned method of communicating with spirits and/or having fun at parties. Before Ouija, there was planchette. Invented in Paris in the 1850s, planchette was a method of automatic writing. Much like the planchette we recognize from today's Ouija boards, it was a heart-shaped plank of wood. But it was mu...

Continuing our look at Salem's most haunted hotel, we unearth a strange synchronicity in the history of the land that the Hawthorne Hotel stands on and take a look at the mysterious Salem Marine Society. Following up on a lead that Chris found last time, we dive into what happened at the site of Salem's famously haunted Hawthorne Hotel. We find a really strange set of circumstances that we can't b...

We deep dive into the stories of other guests in the hotel, as well as the hotel's history. After sifting through all of the haunting-related reviews of the Hawthorne Hotel on Trip Advisor, we talk about the most interesting ones (including reviews from some guests who don't believe the hotel is haunted.) Highlights include: ghostly cats, Ouija boards, the ghost of a sailor, glitchy phone calls, d...

We share our strange encounters at Salem's famously haunted Hawthorne Hotel, including audio from an Estes session where we spoke to some of the hotel's spirits. In part 1 of our look at the Hawthorne Hotel, we look at some of our experiences at the Hawthorne, and share audio from our (we believe successful) attempt to speak to some of the hotel's entities.   Highlights include: a possible sleep p...

Did you know that in late 19th century Australia, ordinary people would dip sheets in toxic glowing paint and run around at night pretending to be ghosts? Neither did we, but Chris dug up this oddball story from Jen's home state of Victoria and was excited to tell Jen all about it! The story involves a angry mob chasing a preacher; a protective mom siccing her dog on a creepy dude; calls for vigil...