History Goes Bump: Ghost Tours For The Mind

St. Albans Sanatorium, in Virginia, started out as a Lutheran Boys School before becoming a psychiatric infirmary. As was the case with so many hospitals for the mentally ill, this one started out with promising expectations that unraveled into crowded conditions and abusive treatments. There were deaths and suicides. There is so much paranormal activity at this location, that many refer to this a...

Helene Knabe was ahead of her time. She became a doctor in the early 1900s and her specialty was in treating sexually transmitted diseases. She lived in the Delaware Flats in Indianapolis, Indiana and this is where she would breathe her last. Helene was murdered and to this day, the identity of her killer is a mystery. And that may be why her spirit is at unrest. Join us as we share about the hist...

Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum was a place of immense sadness that was for many years home to the mentally ill and other unfortunate souls. The name would change later to Weston State Hospital. The hospital closed in 1994, but the building reopened as a historic site offering tours. And as is the case with so many of these places, one can investigate the paranormal here and there are so many stori...

Pandemics and plagues have been a part of our human history. No matter how developed the world becomes, a very microscopic bug can cause society to fall into collapse and kill millions of people. We are now living through an unprecedented moment in history with the Covid-19 Pandemic. There have been many of these pandemics in recent human history and one of the worst was the Spanish Flu Pandemic o...

Florida would become the final home for the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. John Ringling would be the final surviving brother of the five who built the circus. He would build his mansion in Sarasota and call it Ca'd'Zan. John would also build a museum for his art collection. This whole complex would eventually house the Circus Museum as well. Several buildings here and other locations...

Baraboo, Wisconsin was home for the Ringling family and it would become the winter quarters for the circus that the Ringling brothers would found. The Ringling Bros. Circus would start as a basic dog-and-pony show and grow into the most famous circus in the world. The eldest brother that lead the family down this path was Albert and he built his gorgeous mansion in Baraboo that is now a museum, be...

On this second episode in our series on the Haunted Circus, we are going to feature the circus family, the performers. We'll talk about the lives of some of the more popular circus performers and the different acts that became world famous. As you learned in episode 1, the traveling circus relied heavily on trains and there were two tragic train wrecks we will share. These were the Hallenbeck-Wall...

This is our first episode of a four episode mini-series on the Haunted Circus. The circus was loud and colorful, but most of all, it was magical. The circus was for everyone, regardless of class or race, whether it was as a performer, worker or guest. The circus was a beautiful show, full of energy, and some of that energy continues on in the afterlife. Join us on this first episode in the Haunted...

Greenwich Village is on the island of Manhattan in New York City. After European settlement, this area would become a place for carriage houses, black servant quarters and row homes. The area would industrialize and become home to slums. Eventually, the avant-garde would come and soon beatniks, hippies, artists and homosexuals called The Village home. Upscale stores moved in and New York Universit...

This episode is a haunted true crime! The desire to be thin and healthy has been with us since the dawn of human existence. The only sure thing for losing weight is starvation. And that is just what Dr. Linda Hazzard was offering the desperate people who came to see her. Imagine a serial killer who is paid to do their killing. Join us as we discuss the history and haunts of Starvation Heights. Mom...

Portland would start as a pioneer town in the state of Oregon and grow into an industrialized modern city. One of the early families to make a mark on the city were the Pittocks. They were one of the wealthiest families in Portland society and they would use some of that wealth to build their retirement in the form of a chateau up on a hill overlooking the city. Today, it is a museum and reputedly...

Victor is an old mining town founded during the Victorian era in the Pikes Peak area of Colorado. This was a town founded by a couple of brothers and home for miners working the nearly 500 gold fields located in the nearby mountains. This was a typical mining town full of saloons, brothels and streets paved with gold. Today, Victor is a historic mining district where one can still find a room in a...

Yellowstone National Park has some real bragging rights. This was the first ever American National Park. The park stretches over three states and two million acres. There are geothermal wonders, wild animals that can readily be seen, rustic architecture and hundreds of ghost stories. Yellowstone is probably the most haunted national park in America. Join us as we share the history and haunts of Ye...

The country of India is a place with beautiful structures and gorgeous mountain settings, but also caste systems and abject poverty. India is an ancient city that has been ruled and controlled by many other countries and still finds some of its areas in political upheaval and struggles with its neighbors, Pakistan and China, continue today. This is a place of mystique and enlightened religious bel...

In October of 2019, we met up with some listeners in the town of Roswell, Georgia and took a ghost tour. This is a charming Southern town where one can carry a Roadie as they traverse the graves in Founder's Cemetery or walk past the beautiful Antebellum mansions or roam through the ruins of mills. This town was Teddy Roosevelt's mother's hometown and played witness to some of the horrors of the C...

Hammond Castle is a medieval-style castle found in Gloucester, Massachusetts. This elaborate and whimsical structure was built by its eccentric namesake, John Hays Hammond, Jr. This was not just a home, but a laboratory because Hammond was an inventor who held over 800 patents. The interesting decor reflects the eclectic spirit of the man who lived here, but it may also still be holding on to that...

Kelly and I have watched, along with the rest of the world, as fire has devastated the entire country of Australia in 2019 and 2020. Fire renews, but it destroys everything in its wake before that renewal and the tragic statistics have been devastating. The fires have raged for over six months, thousands of homes have been destroyed, dozens of people are dead, millions of acres are scorched and th...

Storyville was about two things: women and music. This area was a famous red-light district in New Orleans that would give birth to jazz. Today, it no longer exists, but its legacy does and the place it holds in New Orleans' history is significant. Brothels were plentiful in this city of vice and some of these structures still stand today. The lady bosses of these establishments are some of the mo...

Malvern is located in Southwest Iowa. This is a really small town similar to most of the small towns we visited in Iowa. Agriculture is the main economy here, but for Malvern, they have a claim to fame that gives them a tourism angle. Malvern Manor is here and is reputedly one of the most haunted buildings in America. This was a former hotel that became a place for the discarded people of society....

We visited and investigated several haunted locations while in Iowa and the General Dodge House is one of them. The man who built the home has a fascinating history, as does his wife, and the house he had constructed is one of the most beautiful Victorians I have ever seen. The inside is incredible and the historical society has done a beautiful renovation and upkeep of the structure. And while pe...

We mentioned Yule briefly in the History Goes Bump Christmas Special in 2015, but we've never just focused on this set of beliefs, practices and traditions. On this episode we are going to peer into the darkness to find the light that will lead us into Spring. Because that is really what Yule is about for most people that observe it. This is an opportunity to take the time during the darkest part...

Richmond, Virginia had been the capital of the Confederacy, so one can imagine that the towns around it would be strategic locations for gathering supplies and protection. Ashland is one of these towns and the railroad was a major part of the city. The railroad company established the town with a spa hotel that hosted visitors to the curative powers of a natural spring. This location would go on t...

Our lives are touched nearly everyday by the four elements. We breathe air, drink water, eat things fed by the Earth and cook or warm ourselves with fire. There are stories of ancient creatures that are one with these elements and we have come to know them as Elementals. Elementals show up in a variety of places from books to comics to legends of old. Is there any possibility that these mythic bei...

The St. Augustine Lighthouse is a location full of history, but it also has many stories of tragedy. The tower that stands there today is not the original lighthouse. There have been several towers through the centuries. The one built just prior to the current tower was closer to the sea and eventually fell into it, but not before tragedy hit. The tower that exists today was started in 1871 and wa...

San Antonio is one of my favorite cities not only for its amazing history, but it is full of haunts. One of those haunted places is right next to the Alamo and boasts over thirty ghosts. A young man came to this city with big dreams and started the first brewery in Texas, which makes him a top entrepreneur in my book! This man would turn the boarding house where he stayed upon arriving in town int...