Haunted American History

The water moves. The woods breathe. Arkansas remembers its monsters.   hauntedamericanhistory.com Barnes and Noble -   https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-forgotten-borough-christopher-feinstein/1148274794?ean=9798319693334 AMAZON:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FQPQD68S Ebook GOOGLE:  https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=S5WCEQAAQBAJ&pli=1 KOBO:  https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-forg...

In the Ozark hills, a hotel was built on healing...and fed on heartbreak. Long after the lights dimmed, the echoes remained. Some say the Crescent never stopped checking in its guests. www.hauntedamericanhistory.com Barnes and Noble -   https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-forgotten-borough-christopher-feinstein/1148274794?ean=9798319693334 AMAZON:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FQPQD68S Ebook GOOGL...

She flies in a mortar, sweeps away her tracks with a broom, and decides your fate with a single glance. In this international episode, we explore the mystery and menace of Baba Yaga.   hauntedamericanhistory.com Barnes and Noble -   https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-forgotten-borough-christopher-feinstein/1148274794?ean=9798319693334 AMAZON:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FQPQD68S Ebook GOOGLE: ...

In 1960s Tucson, a five-foot-three man named Charles Schmid built himself out of tin cans, axle grease, and lies. He called himself “Smitty,” the Pied Piper of Speedway Boulevard—part Elvis, part devil, and all performance. But when the mask slipped, the city discovered what he’d really built: a cult of personality, a trail of bodies, and one of the strangest intersections of true crime and Americ...

In the shadow of Arizona’s Mogollon Rim, the legend smells before it shows itself. A rancid stench, a woman’s scream in the dark, and a century of sightings that turned a “wild man” into Arizona’s Bigfoot. In this episode, we trace the Mogollon Monster from 1903 newspaper terror to Scout-camp lore, sift the science from the stories, and ask what the grizzly’s ghost left behind. Plus: a brief origi...

East of Phoenix, the desert rises in a wall of jagged stone—hostile, ancient, and hungry for stories. The Superstition Mountains have long been treated with reverence and fear: a place of portals and judgment in Apache and Pima tradition, a trap for prospectors, and the beating heart of America’s most enduring treasure legend. In this episode, we trace the Superstitions from sacred ground to curse...

In the heart of downtown Tucson stands the Hotel Congress, a place where history and hauntings walk the same halls. From the fire that nearly destroyed it in 1934 to the capture of John Dillinger’s gang, the Congress has always attracted stories that refuse to die. But not all of them are in the history books. In this episode, we explore the hotel’s lingering spirits, including the ghostly gentlem...

Beneath the Arctic ice, something hums — soft, low, and beckoning. They call it the Qalupalik : a sea creature with green skin, long claws, and a taste for children who stray too close to the water’s edge. Some say it’s a myth to keep kids safe. Others swear they’ve heard the song. When the ice whispers your name… don’t answer.   LINKS FOR MY DEBUT NOVEL, THE FORGOTTEN BOROUGH www.hauntedamericanh...

At the end of a dirt road in Alaska sits a silent resort where the steam still rises and the halls aren’t empty. Once an oasis, Circle Hot Springs now hosts footsteps with no source, swinging chandeliers, and a watchful “manager” said to be Emma Leach, still on duty. Add decades of strange lights and a modern tragedy, and the dead-end becomes a threshold. Some places cool with time. This one refus...

Guests in Room 23 of the Golden North Hotel report the same terrifying experience, waking in the dead of night, unable to move… unable to breathe… as something icy and unseen presses down on their chest. Locals say it’s Mary , a bride who died waiting for her fiancé during the Klondike Gold Rush. Some say she died of pneumonia. Some say she died of heartbreak. Others swear she’s still waiting. Col...

High heels on empty floors. The scent of lilac in a locked room. A saloon that never sleeps—even when it’s closed. The Red Onion Saloon in Skagway, Alaska was once the most famous brothel of the Gold Rush. Today, it’s a bar…and one of the most haunted places in the state. Employees hear footsteps upstairs, see figures in the hallway, and blame it all on one name whispered for over a century: Lydia...

The Alabama White Thang is one of the strangest creatures in American folklore. Some say it’s a giant white beast. Others swear it’s a screaming phantom. It walks like a man… or crawls like an animal… or flies like nothing human at all. For over a century, people have seen it lurking in the woods, climbing trees, and shrieking in the night. Is it a cryptid? A spirit? Or something even older?   LIN...

In the 1920s, Birmingham was known as “The Magic City.” Steel, smoke, opportunity—and something much darker. It began in a small corner store. Then another. And another. Grocers were attacked in the dead of night. Families were slaughtered in their beds. The weapon was simple. Primitive. Personal. An axe. For four years, fear ruled the streets. Doors were barricaded. Neighborhoods formed militias....

In Pickens County, Alabama, there’s a courthouse window that refuses to stay clean. No matter how many times it’s replaced… No matter how often it’s scrubbed… A face always comes back. Locals say it belongs to Henry Wells , a man accused of a crime he may not have committed, who shouted a final curse as lightning split the sky—and seared his image into the glass forever. For over a century, people...

In Demopolis, Alabama stands one of the most beautiful homes in the South: Gaineswood . A masterpiece of marble, music, and architectural perfection. But beauty can hide the darkest stories. According to legend, a young woman died far from home—and extracted one final promise. A promise that was delayed. A promise that should have brought her peace… Instead, something returned. In this episode, we...

Before Sloss Furnace or Dead Children’s Playground… Alabama had Jeffrey . Not a tragic spirit. Not a vengeful phantom. Just a mischievous ghost who moved furniture, stomped through hallways, and launched one of the most famous folklore books in the South. In this episode, we explore how journalist and storyteller Kathryn Tucker Windham turned a strange presence in her Selma home into a cultural ic...

In the small town of Buffalo, Wyoming, stands one of the West’s most legendary hotels. The Occidental Hotel has welcomed outlaws, cowboys, and even U.S. presidents through its doors since the late 1800s. But behind the polished wood bar and restored Victorian décor, whispers tell of something else... something that never checked out. Guests report ghostly footsteps pacing the halls, disembodied vo...

On the lonely roads of Ridgeway, Wisconsin, drivers have reported chilling encounters for more than 150 years. A phantom figure—sometimes a man, sometimes a shapeless mist—appears without warning, only to vanish as quickly as it came. Known simply as the Ridgeway Ghost, its legend is steeped in 19th-century murders, frontier justice, and a community terrorized by what they believed was a restless...

In 1897, a young woman named Zona Heaster Shue was found dead in her West Virginia home. Her death was quickly dismissed as natural, but her mother knew better. She claimed that Zona’s ghost appeared to her, revealing that her husband had murdered her. What followed was one of the strangest trials in American history, the only time a ghost’s “testimony” helped convict a killer.   LINKS FOR MY DEBU...

Seattle’s Hotel Sorrento has long been called one of the most haunted hotels in America. Guests whisper about phantom piano music, drinks that slide across tables, and a playful spirit said to be none other than Alice B. Toklas—famed partner of Gertrude Stein and counterculture icon. But did Toklas ever even set foot in the hotel? And if not, who really haunts these historic halls? In this episode...

From a Virginia river where a woman was tried as a witch to a Southern inn where the sound of violin music still lingers in the night, legends live on. This week, we tell the story of Grace Sherwood — the Witch of Pungo — and the restless spirits of the Martha Washington Inn.   LINKS FOR MY DEBUT NOVEL, THE FORGOTTEN BOROUGH www.hauntedamericanhistory.com Barnes and Noble -   https://www.barnesand...

In the picturesque town of Stowe, Vermont, there’s a covered bridge with a story as dark as its timbers. Locals call it Emily’s Bridge —a place where heartbreak turned to haunting, and folklore grew into one of New England’s most famous ghost stories. Was Emily a jilted lover, a tragic bride, or just a name whispered into a Ouija board in the 1970s? Tonight, we unravel the tangled web of legend, h...

On a frozen February night in 1992, a blast of dynamite shattered a strange stone monument hidden in the woods outside Kaysville, Utah. Kay’s Cross had stood for decades as a local curiosity, a place whispered about in late-night dares and folklore filled with ghosts, polygamist murders, and Satanic rituals. Its destruction only deepened the mystery. Who built it? Who destroyed it? And why has it...

Hastings College in Nebraska is more than a quiet campus on the prairie; it’s a place where history still lingers in the halls. From the guardian angel of Altman Hall to the phantom professor of the Music Hall, to the mysterious legend of ‘Walking Mary,’ the college’s folklore reveals what it values most: care, tradition, and memory. On this episode, we explore how ghost stories don’t just haunt a...

La Chasse-Galerie, the flying canoe, is one of French Canada’s most enduring pieces of folklore. It’s the story of lonely lumberjacks who make a dangerous bargain for one magical night of freedom, only to discover that a deal with the Devil always comes with a price. Join me for a bonus tale of folklore, temptation, and the dark wings of legend.   EBOOK PREORDER FOR MY DEBUT NOVEL, THE FORGOTTEN B...