History Goes Bump: Ghost Tours For The Mind

William S. Culbertson was once one of the wealthiest men in the state of Indiana. He made much of his fortune in the dry goods business and he became a very important part of the development of the city of New Albany. In was in this city that he built his dream home, the Culbertson Mansion. The mansion is beautiful and picturesque with the inside even more stunning than the outside. Artists turned...

The city of Jerome in Arizona sits perched above the beautiful Verde Valley on Cleopatra Hill. Today, it is considered an artist community, but it once was considered the "Wickedest City in the West." Like so many Arizona towns, Jerome began as a mining town with a focus on copper. In its heyday, it was one of the richest mines in the world and was dubbed the Billion Dollar Copper Camp. Thousands...

The Kentucky State Penitentiary is known as the "Castle on the Cumberland." The prison is perched along the Cumberland River and is Kentucky's oldest prison facility. Construction on the facility began in October of 1884, headed by Governor Luke Blackburn after the Kentucky legislature passed a bill authorizing the construction. The prison officially opened in 1889. The worst of the worst have fou...

Just outside of Philadelphia, in a town called Glenside, sits a small private university that is home to a castle. This is the second campus that we have featured with a castle-like structure and this one is also haunted. Grey Towers was once home to the William Harrison Family and many of them seem to still be here after death. The university that now sits on that former property is Arcadia Unive...

When one hears the city of Niagara mentioned, one immediately thinks of the stunning natural wonder Niagara Falls. There is much more to this western New York area and it is truly a haunted spot. One location that is rich in history and haunts is Old Fort Niagara. The Fort's history stretches back over three centuries and it initially was a key point of defense, especially during the colonial wars...

We love to visit cemeteries. They are so peaceful and many of the older ones are like parks. We will be talking about a couple of these park-like cemeteries today. We'll be in New York to check out a graveyard that inspired Central Park, Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery. Then there is Spring Hill Cemetery in West Virginia that is home to victims of epidemics and a plane crash. Indiana's Clark County...

Montana is known as Big Sky Country and one tends to think of wide open spaces when picturing the state. The state was formerly part of the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark Expedition left their mark here, literally, with Clark inscribing his name and the date on a pillar northeast of modern day Billings. Explorers, frontiersmen, miners and businessmen all flocked to Montana. One of thos...

Derby has been described as the "Ghost Capitol of England." The city claims to have 159 known ghosts. The center of the city lies on a series of rolling hills and claims a history that goes back to Roman occupation and forts. While it was once a place of strife and fortification, it became a center for the Industrial Revolution. The vast number of pubs still located in Derby serve as a testament t...

The Balkans historically has been a place of violence and for this reason, its borders are very fluid. The main countries that generally are accepted as a part of the Balkans are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Serbia, Kosovo, Romania, Macedonia and parts of Greece, Turkey, Italy and Hungary. This Peninsula of land is named for the Balkan Mountains, which...

Manhattanville College is a small liberal arts college in New York. The college began as a Catholic women's school, but through the years it not only moved from its original location, but moved to co-education. The land where it sits today in Purchase has European settlers arriving as far back as the 1600s. The main point of interest on the campus is the original castle-like mansion known as Reid...

Perched on a hill above the town of Ione in California is a menacing and haunting castle-like structure that once was a reform school. The Preston Castle was an ambitious plan to get juvenile delinquents to become contributing members of the community. But as was the case with so many of these types of places that were built in the late 1800s and run through the early 1900s, abuse, overcrowding an...

There is one absolute for all human beings and that is that we all will die. Throughout history, humans have disposed of and honored their dead in various ways. Burying the dead and marking their resting place has been the most popular and it has carried over to our modern era. Cemeteries have become a record of history for towns. Who lived here? When did they die? Why did they die? Was there a pl...

Savannah, Georgia is a city shaped by unique people and compelling events. There have been battles, devastating fires, murders and so much more that has led this quaint city to be deemed one of the most haunted in America. Ghosts stories and legends thrive beneath the canopy of spanish moss draped live oak trees. Stately historical mansions carry histories dating back centuries and each seems to h...

The village of Tilty is in the county of Essex in England. The county is known for its Medieval Gothic architecture using various stones, wood and bricks in the construction of buildings that have thus endured for centuries. Some of these structures have not fared well though and one of these is Tilty Abbey. All that really remains of the abbey are some crumbling stone walls in the field and a cha...

Fort Henry was built during the War of 1812 in Ontario, Canada. The fort was constructed to protect the nearby Point Henry because of its proximity to the Royal Naval Dockyards. The fort that stands today is not the original. It was fortified later on to protect the waterways even more thoroughly.  Today, it is an UNESCO World Heritage Site and a living museum. There are more than just the living ...

Henry Ford was more than just an inventor. He was a collector and by the 1920s, he had amassed one of the largest collections of Americana in the world. He decided to display his collection at a museum in Dearborn, Michigan and the plan he laid out featured two separate facilities, one indoor and one outdoor. The indoor facility would tell the story of man's innovation and the outdoor museum would...

Cemeteries are the final resting places for most of us in this journey called life. While some fear cemeteries because these places remind them of their own impending end, for others, they are a place of respite and peace. The birds sing among the branches of trees growing freely in the safety of an area that will not be built upon. In the South, massive oaks covered in Spanish moss, thrust upward...

The Old South Pittsburg Hospital was built in 1959 and is located near South Pittsburg Mountain, in South Pittsburg, Tennessee. This was a hospital for the care of the sick, but there are rumors of mistreatment. It was shut down after it was deemed unworthy of providing the quality and amount of care needed in the region. The dilapidated building has stood abandoned ever since. There is a dark his...

Memphis, Tennessee is home to the Blues and it is only fitting that it is full of bars and juke joints where one can hear live music or spin a record on a jukebox. Earnestine & Hazel's Juke Joint is one such establishment. It is said to be the best dive in Memphis and maybe even in Tennessee. The bar was once a place to buy dry goods before transitioning to a cafe and then the current bar. For par...

There is a retired fleet of ships now docked at the Baltimore Maritime Museum, each with its own history of battle and death and now with a legacy of hauntings. The USS Torsk is a Tench Class submarine emblazoned with the fierce grin of a shark that became the Galloping Ghost of the Japanese during World War II. The USCGC Taney is a Coast Guard Cutter that is the last ship floating that fought at...

This is the final episode of Roadtrip 2017. Diane and Denise wrap-up talking about their last tours in New Orleans, which includes a ghost tour, and sharing a bit about the Acadian culture.

Boone, North Carolina is nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, in an area of the state locals refer to as the "High Country". Known for it's beautiful climate, easily accessible outdoor activities, and easy-going attitude, Boone is a major vacation destination for those in NC and from all throughout the southeast United States. While many know it for its autumn views and its deep...

Diane and Denise continue on their 2017 road trip through Texas and into New Orleans. Hear about the ghost tour in San Antonio and sites seen in Texas and then on to New Orleans for a Vampire Tour. They share some of the lore from the area and funerary and burial practices in New Orleans as well.

The Shilo Inn in Salt Lake City has been through a series of name changes. It started as the International Dunes Hotel, then became the Shilo Inn and is today a part of the Holiday Inn Express chain. From the outside, the building appears to be a non-distinct hotel, but it carries the heavy burden of a horrible family tragedy. And that tragedy seems to have led to hauntings. Kaz Linza created the...

Diane and Denise are on the road for the HGB Roadtrip 2017. So far, they have visited Pensacola, Florida with its haunted lighthouse and forts and Natchez, Mississippi, home of some of the most beautiful Antebellum mansions. Natchez was home to the second largest slave market at one time. This is a city of timeless charm and long legends. A ghost tour led them into two haunted locations and weird...