Left of Skeptic

Happy Spooky Wednesday, friends! This week, Kala is telling us all about the Pennhurst State School and Hospital in Spring City, Pennsylvania. This property is infamous for its controversial history and the ghostly tales that linger long after it closed. When it opened, Pennhurst was considered a model facility. When it closed, it was because Pennhurst violated the human rights of the people livin...

Happy Spooky Wednesday, friends! This week, Brittany tells us all about CHEESE MAN PARK! Wait, that can’t be right. Oh… yeah. Chessman Park! In Denver, Colorado! Long ago, this beautiful public park was a cemetery, and it is said to be haunted by the spirits of those who were either poorly exhumed and relocated or left behind during the cemetery's conversion to a picnic spot. When you take you...

Happy Spooky Wednesday, friends! We’re covering one of Kala’s favorite subjects this week: a spooky road! Kala is talking all about Zombie Road. This path in Wildwood, Missouri is renowned for its alleged paranormal activity and associated ghost stories. The trail, which was originally a road named Lawler Ford Road, is said to be haunted by various spectral figures, including Confederate soldiers,...

Happy Spooky Wednesday, dear listeners! If our subject this week sounds ominous, that’s because it is! Brittany tells us all about the Black Monk of Pontefract. The bulk of this haunting occurred in England during the 1970s and 1980s. This ordinary-looking home was plagued by extraordinary events brought on by an entity known as “Fred.” While the haunting seemed standard enough, it eventually esca...

Happy Spooky Wednesday, everyone! This week we're diving into the controversy of Ed and Lorraine Warren. We've covered some of their most famous cases here on Left of Skeptic, but each time they seem to be tinged with a bit of disbelief. We'd love to believe that everything we're told is true, but when the Warren name is attached, we have to have our doubts. Ed and Lorraine's l...

Happy Spooky Wednesday, folks! We're bringing you yet another Ed and Lorraine Warren haunting this week as Kala tells us all about the Smurl Family Haunting. This is considered the Warrens' final investigation, and it is the inspiration for the upcoming movie The Conjuring: Last Rites. For over a decade, the Smurl Family experienced haunting activity that started out harmlessly enough, but it even...

Happy Spooky Wednesday, dear listeners! This week is a classic style haunting as Brittany tells us all about the West Virginia Penitentiary AKA the Moundsville Penitentiary. With just under 1,000 documented deaths in the prison's history, it is no surprise that some spirits still lurk here long after operations have stopped. It's now a tourist attraction, museum, training facility, and filming loc...

Happy Spooky Wednesday, friends! This week we have a subject request from Kala's mama! Annapolis, Maryland, was founded in 1649. This makes it over 375 years old. An old town has a lot of history, and that history can include ghost stories and local legends. Kala talks about three different locations in this Maryland city that are known by the locals to be a little spooky!  The Middleton Taver...

Happy Spooky Wednesday, folks! Have you heard the latest controversy rocking the paranormal world? SOMEONE LOST ANNABELLE! Well, allegedly. TikTok and other social media platforms are buzzing with claims that the infamous haunted doll has mysteriously vanished while on her U.S. tour. And wherever she’s been, chaos seems to follow—fires, escaped convicts, and some seriously bad luck. Meanwhile, the...

Happy Spooky Wednesday! Are you involved in a family business? So is the famous actor Dan Aykroyd! But his family business has nothing to do with Hollywood, and everything to do with the supernatural. It turns out all that ghost hunting jargon used in the Ghostbusters movies comes from a place of experience. Beginning with his great-grandfather, members of the Aykroyd family have been communicatin...

Happy Spooky Wednesday, everyone! We're still coming down from the Homegrown Music Festival high, so let's keep things rolling with some haunted music venues. This week Kala's got 5 haunted venues from around the United States: House of Blues (Chicago, Illinois)  Ryman Auditorium (Nashville, Tennessee)  The Rave/Eagles Club (Milwaukee, Wisconsin)  The Rapids Theater (Niagara Falls, New York)  Rose...

Happy Spooky Wednesday, you beautiful people. You’ve heard of the Bermuda Triangle and the Alaska Triangle, but did you know there’s a Bennington Triangle? In Southwestern Vermont, a string of mysterious disappearances happened between 1945 and 1950. With very few pieces of evidence, these disappearances remain unsolved. Could it be a portal, a Sasquatch-like creature, or Aliens? The disappearance...

Happy Spooky Wednesday! This week we have two locations with very similar names. Inspired by her recent trip to the UK, Kala talks about The Golden Fleece in York. This old building is one of the most haunted inns in York, and the ghosts like to move furniture in the middle of the night. How annoying. And that brought her to The Golden Lamb in Ohio, where a man accidentally died after trying to sh...

Happy Spooky Wednesday, dear listeners! When people think of ghost stories, they usually think of specific time periods. For example, the mid to late 19th century, when spiritualism was at its peak. Or the 70s and 80s, when Satanic Panic was spreading. But what if we told you that ghost stories go back much further than that? Brittany is about to tell you all some ancient ghost stories, and these...

Happy Spooky Wednesday, folks! We're talking about two of Kala's favorite subjects this week: witches and beer. For thousands of years, the process of creating beer and other fermented beverages was a household task, and so it was mostly done by women. By the Middle Ages, these women (called brewsters or alewives) were taking that excess foamy, golden liquid and selling it in the local mar...

Happy Spooky Wednesday! Our story this week is a drama nerd's dream! 🎭 Brittany is diving headfirst into the world of theater superstitions. Thespians have always been dramatic (pun intended), and what brings more drama than whispered rumors of potential tragedy? So if you're going to be working on a stage production, be ready to hear all about what you can (and more importantly, CAN'...

Happy Spooky Wednesday, dear listeners! We’re heading in a new direction this week and exploring conspiracy theories! Let’s start with the “mother of all conspiracy theories” and have Kala tell you all about the JFK assassination. Well, not all about it. This goes so deep that it would take too long. So instead she’s gonna tell you a lot about the JFK assassination. The 35th U.S. President, John F...

Happy Spooky Wednesday, folks! This week Brittany is going to tell you all about the Dauphine Orleans Hotel in the New Orleans French Quarter. Considered one of the most haunted places to stay in the state, this hotel has been crafted from a number of historical buildings. As a result, a wide variety of ghosts haunt the location. Will you encounter the ghostly bride? The long-gone soldier? Will yo...

Happy Spooky Wednesday! This week Kala's going to tell us all about the Magnolia Hotel in Seguin, Texas. Built in the mid-1800s as a two-room log cabin. It quickly became a hotel, stagecoach stop, and social hub of the area. The building had been in poor repair for a number of years, but in the last decade, new owners have started to fix it up as a nice Bed & Breakfast AND a haunted tour s...

Happy Spooky Wednesday, friends! This week Brittany is bringing you the story of the Vardøger - a kind of spirit or paranormal experience (depending on who you ask). Often confused with things like déjà vu, it makes you feel like you experienced something before it happens! It’s described as a precursor spirit. It imitates an individual’s actions, characteristics, and even physical appearance befo...

Happy Spooky Wednesday, everyone! Have you ever heard a local legend that grows so wildly over time that no one knows its origins? That's what we're talking about this week with the legend of Char Man in the Ojai Valley in California. While most of the origin stories seem to be born from the horrific 1948 wildfire, the story of  why  Char Man exists varies from tale to tale. The one thing they can...

Happy Spooky Wednesday, folks! We’re discussing The Olde Pink House in Savannah, GA this week. This extremely popular restaurant exists in a building that has been around for over 250 years. And it’s collected some ghosts along the way, most of which seem to be the family that lived there even before the American Revolution. Who will you encounter if you decide to pop in for an evening of enjoymen...

Happy Spooky Wednesday, everybody! Thank you very much to Kortenie for the listener request this week! Kala's going to tell you all about Devil's Island in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Some say that Casper Henneberry, a resident of Devils Island, saw the Devil in the form of a halibut. Yup. You read that right... Devil Fish. The next day, he was found drowned. There have also been reports of ghos...

Happy Spooky Wednesday, folks! Are you ready for a story that’s sure to shiver your timbers? We hope so! Because Brittany is about to tell you all about the Battersea Poltergeist. In the 1950s, a family in Battersea, London began experiencing strange noises, flying objects, and unexplained fires. Yeah. That’s right. More fires. This ghost (who the family named Donald) became BIG NEWS in the UK and...

Happy Spooky Wednesday! Thank you for celebrating our 4-year pod-iversary with us!  This is our first episode with our new format, and Kala is talking all about haunted roads in Wisconsin. One of the most famous legends is that of The Phantom Hitchhiker of Hwy 12 in Baraboo. He's been seen many times by drivers late at night. No one knows who he is or why he's there. And if you see him onc...