History Goes Bump: Ghost Tours For The Mind

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is a well known piece of fiction written by Washington Irving in 1819. Many of us first heard the story in our youth and the tale fueled our imagination with images of a headless horseman chasing a man through the forest, carrying a fiery pumpkin that represented his head. It was a terrifying tale. But is this just a piece of fiction? Is there some truth to the story? H...

Paris is the City of Lights, but deep in the darkness, beneath the streets, in the underground, lie hundreds of miles of tunnels that make up a vast ossuary for the dead. These tunnels are dangerous and largely unmapped, with pitfalls and areas filled with water and discarded remnants of the dead. One could easily become lost in the maze of stones and bones. These areas are restricted from public...

This episode is dropping on October 8th because this day in history marks the 145th anniversary of a day when terrible fires wiped out cities and took the the lives of thousands of people in 1871. One fire, the Great Chicago Fire, is well known, but there were other big fires, including one that not many people know about that actually claimed more lives and that was the Peshtigo Fire. The summer...

We start the show off with a recap of the second half of our Carolina Roadtrip and then comes the Tower of London! In London, located on the north bank of the River Thames, stands a tower that the mere mention of the name inspires feelings of dread and the macabre and that is because this structure's thousand-year-old history is full of imprisonment, torture and execution. Many famous names in his...

History Goes Bump is two today! Oh my, we are entering our third year of production and it's going to be the terrible twos! On this, our second anniversary special, we recap the last couple of years, talk about our growth, thank a ghost ship full of people - particularly our listeners - and reveal the winners of our 2016 Flash Fiction Contest! We read several runner-up pieces and our three winners...

Galveston Island is a beautiful setting on the Gulf side of the state of Texas, south of Houston. People flock here as a vacation destination. The island was originally settled by Native Americans and then explorers came who set down roots. The city of Galveston was chartered in 1839 and the rich came to build their mansions along Broadway. The city grew to be one of the largest in Texas in the la...

We give a little shout out from the road! We talk about our first 5 days on the Carolina Road Trip, places we've visited and things we have done, especially the ghost tours! No experiences so far, but good stories. Ever heard of the Boo Hag? This is a very popular legend in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. We share that and a bit of the Gullah culture. We also met Mike Brown of Pleasing Terrors -...

When one thinks of the Old West in America, cowboys and Native Americans, along with all varieties of gunslingers from sheriffs to outlaws come to mind. It was a time when a man could die in the streets with his boots on or at the poker table holding the Dead Man's Hand: a pair of aces and a pair of eights, all black. Cimarron, New Mexico was in the middle of all this and the St. James Hotel built...

There are desolate roads in America that inspire sweaty palms, goosebumps and fuel the imagination with images straight out of a horror flick. These are roads where no sane person would want to have a breakdown in a car occur. Some of these roads have inspired tales of ghost lights. These are lights that seem to move of their own accord, always staying just out of reach. Legends have spawned about...

Freedom, Pennsylvania has the Ohio River flowing next to it and on a hill above the river stands a mansion built by Captain William Vicary. The mansion was built in a unique style and has stood on this spot since 1826. The home remained in the family for nearly one hundred years and was saved from demolition by the Beaver County Historical Research and Landmarks Foundation. Today, it is a museum t...

Portland, Oregon was known in Victorian times as the "City of Roses" and it has retained that nickname for over a century. The Portland Underground is known more readily as the Shanghai Tunnels. These tunnels that snaked through what is today Old Town and Chinatown, were used for practical business purposes, but they also serviced the seedy side of things in the city. Some parts of these tunnels c...

At the corner of 4th and Main in Point Pleasant, West Virginia stands the historic Lowe Hotel. This hotel dates back to the early 1900s when it was built by two brothers. The hotel was needed to serve the heavy traffic and trade from the nearby Ohio and Kanawha rivers. Across the street from this grand structure is a peculiar statue. Rather ugly. It features a creature known as the Mothman. Point...

In Detroit, Michigan sits a grand home with a gabled roof, arched windows and a beautiful rose hue emanates from the facade. This upscale dining establishment was once the David Whitney House and is known today simply as The Whitney.  David Whitney, Jr. was such a successful lumber baron that people would remark that he was "the man who could out-lumber Paul Bunyan." He was one of the wealthiest m...

Guinness World Records has named Pluckley Village as the most haunted village in England. Pluckley dates back to the 11th century and was owned by the Archbishop of Canterbury. It is located on a hill in Kent and through the decades, it had expanded down the hill until the Black Death decimated the population in the 14th century and sent survivors back up the hill. One of the more well known areas...

The town of Salem, Massachusetts carries a mystique that can be traced back to what has made this location infamous and that are the witch trials that began in 1692. One of the prominent figures in those trials was a man named Jonathan Corwin. When another judge was reluctant to continue forward with the trials, Jonathan stepped in, signing arrest warrants and taking part in hearings. The result o...

Birmingham, Alabama is one of the more well known southern cities. Sloss Furnaces is a popular spot for music and art in Birmingham today. Many may not realize that this imposing historic landmark has a key role in the founding and growth of this famous southern city. For 90 years, Sloss Furnaces produced iron. It is the only blast furnace in America to have been preserved and restored. Something...

Waitomo is a beautiful natural location on the North Island of New Zealand that is known for its lush bush area and sea caves. The original people of this land, the Maori, have developed a culture rich in legend. A main draw for people from around the world are the Waitomo Glowworm Caves. The caves are not only known for their natural beauty, but for the creature for whom they are named: the gloww...

Virginia City is an Old West mining town complete with a history of gun fights, explosions, brothels and mine cave-ins. The Comstock Lode was found in the Virginia Range near the future Virginia City and prospectors came looking for an alternative to the Gold Rush. Samuel Clemens was one of them. And when his luck at finding precious ore proved lacking, he took a job at the local paper and adopted...

At the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay sits the home of the United State Naval Academy, the city of Annapolis, which claims to have more original structures dating back to the 18th century than any other city in America. One of those structures is The Brice House. A house that exudes a malevolent energy that might be carrying over from the corrupt family that once inhabited the residence. Tales of ske...

The Battle of the Somme began on July 1st 1916, one hundred years ago this month, and it lasted until the 18th of November. This was the defining battle of the first world war and the very first day of this clash was the bloodiest in the history of the British Army. Hundreds of thousands would lose their lives in the four months of fighting. This was a campaign fought between the German and Britis...

The Stickney House is one of the most unique houses in America and in the world because it was built with nearly no right angles. This was no accident and served a very specific purpose. The owners who built the home wanted to maximize the movement of spirits because they enjoyed interacting with spirits, but also wanted to prevent evil spirits from getting stuck in the corners. The same superstit...

Along the most scenic route to Yosemite National Park is the city of Coulterville, which is home to the historic Hotel Jeffery. The Magnolia Saloon that is part of the hotel is one of the only saloons in America that still has the traditional bat-wing doors and it is the oldest working saloon in California. The hotel has hosted the famous, but it also hosts some unique guests. The hotel is rumored...

A tiny, uninhabitable, rocky island sits off the coast of Pointe du Raz, in western Brittany, France in Raz de Sein. This island is home to Tevennec Lighthouse. Lighthouses are meant to prevent deaths by guiding ships through dangerous waters. But Tevennec has been the scene of death many times and even before the lighthouse was built, local folklore tells of a history of death and haunting on the...

In one of their longer episodes to date, Diane and Denise bring you their experiences from the Haunted America Conference 2016 held in haunted Alton, Illinois. Hear sound bites from lectures by Dr. Alan Brown featuring haunted B & Bs and Sherri Brake featuring Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum! Join them for snippets from the Haunted Alton Ghost Walk and hear about experiences felt by Spooktacular Cr...

The island of Corregidor in the Phillipines is a battle-scarred stretch of land known by some as "The Rock." Debris reminds the visitor that this once was a part of the war theater during World War II. The island has played host to fishermen, pirates, the Spanish, American military and the Japanese. Today, it is a vacation destination for people around the world who can enjoy a stay at either a ho...