Creepy Kentucky

After our palate-cleansing origin story episodes, we’re finally back to our old stomping grounds, Kentucky mysteries and murders. In this episode, Quinn sets the stage for the horrific “Bitter Blood murders” of the mid-1980’s by discussing the family situation of Charles and Delores Lynch. Chuck was a workaholic and Delores was…a character.

In this episode, we finish the tale of one of the strangest and most complicated ghost stories of all time, that of Borley Rectory. As we begin, the house is already known as the “most haunted house in England,” and things are about to get even worse.

As with last week’s episode, we have chosen to take a little time to focus on the stories which have mystified us for years. Laura first read about Borley Rectory in 1973, and this tale of a haunted house and its many occupants has beguiled her since then. Of course the story is more complicated than the one presented in an elementary-level book, and skeptics contend that the haunting is nothing m...

In order to shake things up for us (i.e., keep our sanity), we have decided to talk about some mysteries which we cannot forget—things we learned about as kids, or things we just found out about, but which, one way or another, have never left us. In this episode, Quinn talks about the Yuba County 5, aka “America’s Dyatlov Pass Incident.” Five men in California went to a basketball game and never r...

At long last we’re at our final episode (for awhile, anyway) about Bigfoot in Kentucky. This week’s episode features reports culled from hundreds of sightings from the years 2000-2020, as well as dramatic readings from Quinn. (PS: the other food the lady left was a banana and some garlic.)

In this episode, we discuss Bigfoot sightings in the Bluegrass State from the mid-1979’s through the year 1999. I’m accompanied by dramatic readings from Quinn as we examine eyewitness testimony from people from across the state.

Apologies for the sound quality in this one, guys. Anyway, in this episode, Quinn makes a plea to save Prodigal Son, I misremember my favorite Harry Potter movie, and we spend time talking about some of the hundreds of reported Bigfoot sightings across our great commonwealth.

In this episode, we discuss the ultimate Kentucky spooky place: Waverly Hills Sanatorium in Louisville. Quinn talks about its history, from its beginning as a private home and school, to its current existence as one of the world’s most haunted attractions. Then we discuss two TV shows which visited Waverly Hills: Paranormal Lockdown and Ghost Adventures (because of course).

After a lot of true crime stories, in this episode we discuss more ghosts from the Old Louisville neighborhood, looking specifically at The JB Speed Art Museum, The JB Speed Mansion, the First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Fountain Court. Also, we have guest commentary from Specter the Cat.

In this week’s episode, Quinn tells us the history of Transylvania University in Lexington as well as that of Constantine Rafinesque, a professor there whose legend and legacy continues to this day. Also, we watch the Ghost Adventures episode “Curse of Ranch Island” so you don’t have to!

We return after a work-related delay (namely, my store had inventory last weekend and I’m lucky to have survived it) to finish our discussion of the mysterious 1965 murder of Mary Marrs Cawein. There are several odd facts about this death that frustrate and puzzle us—not least of which is the reaction of her friends and family to Marrs’ death. Also we look at the official “response” to the death,...

Well, we apologize but the sound quality is not great, since we have to record partially over the phone. Anyway, we’re back after a week away with the deep dive I promised during the last episode on the 1965 death of Kentucky socialite Mary Marrs Cawein. In this episode we discuss her background, her difficult relationships with her husband and his many mistresses, and what happened on the night o...

This year will mark 25 years since Rod Ferrell and his vampire clan committed a double homicide, and this episode of Creepy Kentucky discusses what led to these horrific killings. (Trigger warnings for animal abuse at about 11:55-12:15 and 13:25-13:45.)

Welcome to a bit of a train wreck because we do go off track somewhat in this episode. Mostly, though, we talk about Jesse James, his parents, his upbringing, his career as a robber, and the loose network of friends and relatives who kept him safe from his pursuers. (This episode is made possible by Rhinegeist and their wonderful Bubbles rosé ale—not in any monetary sense, only in the sense of “th...

On today’s episode, we discuss the Gates-Heaton House on 34th Street in Louisville, otherwise known as the Louisville Torture House. (Get ready because we spend the whole time urging long-dead people to call the police in this one.). Also, we discuss the Mary Cawein murder of 1965, also known as the Carbolic Acid Cocktail Murder. (Get ready because we spend the whole time urging long-dead people t...

In this episode of Tangentville, we discuss the death of French horse bloodstock expert Jean Michel Gambet. His burning BMW was found on the side of a lonely road near Lexington in December 1982. But was his death a suicide—or could he have been murdered? And how does a famous kidnapping factor into it?

In this week’s episode we discuss the 1994 Prostitution Murders of Oak Grove, Kentucky. Two massage parlor employees were killed in a case with ties to local government, the police and the nearby Ft Campbell army base. Twenty seven years later, the murders remain unsolved.

This episode discusses the Shakers and the beautiful community they established over 200 years ago at Pleasant Hill in Mercer County. Unfortunately it goes off the rails pretty quickly as we devolve into discussing how the Shakers would have made a certain “personal care” item. However, there are also lots of ghostly anecdotes to savor and ponder over, so it’s not a total embarrassment for us!

Welcome to our new podcast, Tangentville! Or our old podcast, Creepy Kentucky—same difference. Today we talk about some incredible ghost stories from the Castle on the Cumberland, the Kentucky State Penitentiary, in between all the other things we talk about. Don’t forget—if you have a better nickname for the electric chair than “Old Sparky, “ email us at creepykentucky@gmail.com!

In this week’s episode, we take a look at how people in the Appalachian region approached and handled death, especially before the advent of funeral homes put distance between the living and the dead. Also, we discuss Quinn’s recent viewing of the movie American Animals, which was a dramatization of the Transylvania Book Heist and was based on the book written by Eric Borsuk, one of the four peopl...

This week’s episode is a continuation into our analysis of the mysterious death of Verna Garr Taylor. We discuss the trial of the man accused of her murder, its tragic aftermath, and the odd evidence surrounding this case that just doesn’t quite add up.

We’re back after some logistical issues with an episode featuring cursed, haunted and possessed objects in or from Kentucky. First we talk about the “conjured chest,” made famous by none other than Zak Bagans! Next we discuss several scary items from the Traveling Museum of the Paranormal and Occult, owned by the amazing Greg and Dana Newkirk.

The state of Kentucky has had its fair share of criminals, but perhaps none so shocking as James “Honest Dick” Tate, who, when he fled the state in 1888, left behind a trail of embezzlements totaling at least $7 million (and probably considerably more). Our history consultant Ron Duncan presents this episode about a Kentucky scandal that resonated for decades in the commonwealth.

Verna Garr Taylor was known as “the most beautiful woman in two counties.” She was also a single mother, a successful business woman, a devoted churchgoer, and a highly respected citizen of the town of Lagrange, Kentucky. When she met former Lieutenant Governor General Henry Denhardt, she couldn’t have known that her life would end by the side of a country road on a snowy November night. In this e...

In this episode we talk about the notorious, vicious and altogether God-awful Harpe Brothers, who are generally regarded as America’s first documented serial killers. They were...not nice, obviously, so this episode has trigger warnings aplenty.