History Goes Bump: Ghost Tours For The Mind

Spooktacular Crew Member Lynn Weingarden-Marston said, "I have traveled all over the world. The quickest way to find out about the history of a city or town for that matter is the Graveyard! You can see the whole history of a town or area on the tomb stones. From what was the main industry of the town to plagues and outbreaks of illness. Life expectancy to infant mortality." And that really says i...

Williamsburg, Kentucky is said to be the "Gateway to the Cumberlands." This area is nestled in the foothills of Daniel Boone Country. It's part of Whitley County with the Cumberland River running through it. Another city in this county is Corbin, which has stories of its own including Satanic activity. On this episode, Jamie Wolfe shares many legends and ghost stories from the Williamsburg and Cum...

Fort Mifflin stands on Mud Island as a reminder of a time when the original capital city of our new nation, Philadelphia, was in need of defense. The British commissioned the fort in 1771, but it would be the Americans who would finish the construction. The fort would witness the greatest sea battle of the Revolutionary War. Hundreds lost their lives here during that war. When the Civil War raged,...

Colonial Williamsburg is part of America's historic triangle. Today, it is a historic area that features a look back into the America of colonial times just as the struggle for independence was sparking. Visitors can watch artisans ply trades from the past and visit dozens of historic buildings that have been restored to their eighteenth century charm. This is a place where one can walk in the foo...

The island of Taiwan is located between the Philippines and Japan, about 100 miles off the coast of China. The small island is inhabited by many people who were escaping from the mainland of China, a country that claims to be sovereign over the island. Many nations have held control over Taiwan over the years, from the Dutch to the Spanish to the Japanese to the Chinese. This is a land of indigeno...

In honor of Pride Month, listener Melissa Edwards suggested featuring Asbury Park in New Jersey. This is a hot spot for the LGBTQ community and is one of the smaller cities located on the Jersey Shore. This beach is ranked the sixth best beach in New Jersey and began attracting the gay community in the 1950s. In 1999, a gay discotheque called the Paradise Nightclub, opened near the beach and The E...

The Roman Catholic Church purchased 90 acres of land in Canon City, Colorado, formerly known as Fruitmere Orchards, from Captain Benjamin F. Rockefeller for the Benedictine Society of Colorado. The Benedictines called the new religious foundation the Holy Cross Abbey. The main building was constructed in 1924 and rises to four stories and was designed by Joseph Dillon and L.A. Des Jardins with a C...

Charleston is one of my favorite cities. There is so much history here and building after building has a story. This road trip had a group of us touring several parts of the city from cemeteries to restaurants to forts to historic mansions to the Old City Jail. On this episode, I'm going to review the places we saw, tours we took and some of the ghost stories that permeate the very essence of this...

Whether one calls it the Crenshaw House, Hickory Hill or the Old Slave House, one thing is certain about this house that sits on a hill in Southern Illinois. The horrifying history of its past certainly lends itself to a negative energy that backs up the claim that this is one of the most haunted locations in Illinois. Not only were slaves brutalized here, but an operation known as the Reverse Und...

Based on its location, Maine has been a prime spot for explorers. There are 4600 islands off the coast of Maine and each of these islands has its own unique history. Some of that history is tragic and it is these grievous stories that seem to have led to some haunting experiences. Outer Heron Island reportedly has buried treasure, a haunted cave and apparitions on the beach. There is Jewell Island...

Melbourne is the capital of Victoria and home to close to 4 million people. This city is a center of diversity and for the history of Australia it is a symbol of the independent spirit. Victoria and Melbourne were established as autonomous colonies, working outside of government regulation and permissions. This attracted men with that same spirit. One of them would re-purpose an amphitheater as Th...

Skagway, Alaska is a popular destination for cruise ships hosting Alaskan cruises and it was one of the settings for Jack London's "Call of the Wild." And Skagway does have a wild history due to its location during the Klondike Gold Rush. The Red Onion Saloon not only provided a place for prospectors to get a drink, it also was a high class brothel. Today, the saloon is a restaurant and bar that s...

Tuberculosis was a horrible disease in which people had to watch their loved ones literally waste away before their eyes. For this reason, it was commonly referred to as Consumption and there were points in history when people actually believed that people suffering from TB were being attacked by vampires. One of the nicer locations built to help people with TB was Waverly Hills Sanatorium in Loui...

Most cemeteries in the world do not see many tourists or visitors. Usually there is only the occasional family visit to lay some flowers at a grave site. Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris is different. Nearly 3.5 million people visit the graveyard every single year. Another cemetery that has a tendency to draw tourists is the Howard Street Cemetery in Salem, which has a connection to the Salem Witch...

At the confluence of three rivers, sits the East Sussex town of Rye. This is an ancient medieval town that became an important harbor along the English Channel. In the town of Rye, one will find the historic Mermaid Inn. The original building no longer stands, but the current building dates back more than 600 years with the original old cellars still in place. There are several secret passages tha...

Old Town Spring is just outside Houston in Texas and started as a railroad boomtown in the mid-1800s. It then became a farming community that grew cotton and sugar cane, followed by a saloon town and finally today, it is a quaint shopping district full of historic buildings brought in from other towns. This is home to the Texas Heritage Festival and Texas Crawfish Festival. It is also home to a pl...

This year, 2018, the Jewish community observes Yom HaShoah starting at sundown on April 11th. Yom HaShoah is Holocaust Remembrance Day, a day that the country of Israel observes to commemorate the extermination of approximately six million Jews and five million others who perished in the Holocaust. Concentration camps were built in several areas of Europe to accomplish what the Nazis referred to a...

Santa Cruz has come up several times on the podcast. The city is a redwood forested wonderland, but it is also a mystical and supernatural dreamland. One of the most well-known locations in Santa Cruz is the Brookdale Lodge, an establishment that has been around for over a hundred years. This was a place for the wealthy and famous to relax and later became a family getaway. Today, it is striving t...

Fort Leavenworth is the oldest permanent settlement in Kansas and is the oldest active United States Army post west of Washington, D.C. The fort not only has a history as a place of protection for settlers traveling along Santa Fe Trail, but it also is where the Buffalo Soldiers came together during the Civil War. Today, Leavenworth is known as a maximum security prison for the Department of Defen...

The country of Japan does not usually cross the mind when castles are mentioned. But Japan does have castles and Himeji Castle is the largest castle in Japan. The magnificent structure sits at the top of Himeyama, which is a point 150 feet above sea level. The castle is made up of 83 buildings and referred to as White Heron Castle because of its coloring, which is a brilliant white and the curved...

The city of Lakewood is a suburb of Denver, Colorado. There was never a traditional downtown in the city, but there was a central business area along Colfax Avenue and it became home to the Jewish Consumptives' Relief Society, which treated patients suffering from tuberculosis. When TB was no longer a threat, the property was opened as the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design. The college offe...

Venice is considered one of the most romantic cities in the world and it really is an extraordinary and unusual city. The city gives the illusion as though it is floating on water as most of its streets are canals. The centerpiece of Venice is its Grand Canal that is lined with buildings whose origins date back centuries. Venice itself was founded centuries ago and any city that old is sure to hav...

Western Carolina University is located in Cullowhee, North Carolina. The small town is named for a legendary Cherokee warrior and the area has a strong connection to this tribe. The university is the fifth oldest in the UNC system and was established in 1889. What started off as a high school, grew to become a teaching school and then the university that it is today. As is the case with so many un...

Franklin was a small town in Tennessee when the Civil War erupted. The war would bring the deadly Battle of Franklin to the city, leaving behind scars that would forever change the landscape of Franklin in various ways. Nearly forty years before the war, a plantation named Carnton would be built that would soon become the premier farm in the county. The plantation would play witness not only to th...

Much of a town's history can be found in its cemeteries. The granite and marble slabs carry the names of the people who founded and built the town and those who have called it home throughout the years. Some of the memorials are simple and some are very grand. But each one represents a person who was important to someone. Cemeteries are beautiful and peaceful, but sometimes that quiet is broken by...