Southern Ghost Stories

In this episode of Southern Ghost Stories, we dive into the bizarre true story of Professor Whiz, one of America’s most famous hypnotists during the twentieth century. From stage shows and radio broadcasts to fears of mind control and brainwashing, hypnosis became a national obsession during a time when Americans were fascinated—and terrified—by the hidden power of the subconscious mind. We explor...

Deep in the mist-covered valleys and dark hollows of the Appalachian Mountains, ancient Cherokee folklore still lingers like smoke through the trees. In this episode of Southern Ghost Stories , American Hauntstorian Allen Sircy strips away the campfire entertainment to explore the terrifying and fascinating entities that the Cherokee viewed as a reality of the natural world. From the deceptive, li...

In this episode of Southern Ghost Stories: Tennessee Tales Tuesday , host Allen Sircy heads into the rugged hills of East Tennessee to uncover the state's only documented witch trial. Long before paved roads reached the Cumberland Plateau, the isolated 1835 frontier community of Jamestown became consumed by superstition and fear, culminating in the arrest of an elderly recluse named Joseph "Old Ma...

In this episode of Southern Ghost Stories , host Allen Sircy heads north to uncover the haunted history of the 1876 Brooklyn Theatre fire, one of the deadliest disasters in American theater history and a cornerstone of New York true crime and folklore. Long before a tragic stage fire claimed nearly 300 lives, the grand venue was built directly over the forgotten St. John’s Burying Ground—sparking...

In this episode of Southern Ghost Stories, Allen Sircy explores the disturbing history of grieving grave robbers—individuals whose overwhelming heartbreak pushed them across the line from sorrow into madness. The episode details the notorious Florida case of Carl Tanzler, an eccentric radiologic technologist who stole the decomposing body of Maria Elena Milagro de Hoyos in 1933 and lived with her...

In this first Tennessee Tales Tuesday episode of Southern Ghost Stories, Allen Sircy dives into one of the strangest forgotten stories in Franklin, Tennessee history — the legend of Dr. Ferdinand Stith, a physician who reportedly tried to bring a dead man back to life using electricity in the 1840s. Inspired by the real science behind Frankenstein and the eerie experiments of galvanism, this episo...

In this episode of Southern Ghost Stories, Allen Sircy heads to Louisville, Kentucky to dig into the history of the Seelbach Hotel. The grand building started as a dream for two Bavarian brothers, eventually becoming a world-class destination that hosted everyone from presidents to Al Capone. However, the hotel’s glamorous reputation has always been shadowed by violence, secret mob tunnels, and st...

The Galt House in Louisville, Kenutcky was built to be the pinnacle of Southern luxury, but its halls have always been more acquainted with blood than beauty. From a brutal 1838 barroom double-homicide that saw the killers walk free after a three-minute deliberation to the shocking Civil War-era assassination of a Union General in the hotel lobby, this landmark's history is defined by violence and...

Tdoay on Southern Ghost Stories, Allen Sircy heads to 1870s Chicago to tell the story of Andrew Perteet—a man whose life unraveled through injury, alcoholism, and violence before ending in one of the city’s most disturbing murders. After Perteet killed his wife Martha in a brutal attack, the case led to a public execution, strange sightings around Polk Street, and rumors of a ghostly woman known a...

In this episode of Southern Ghost Stories, I dive into one of the wildest true stories in American history—the duel between Andrew Jackson and Charles Dickinson. This isn’t just about two men with pistols; it’s a chain reaction of insults, pride, bad decisions, and pure Southern grit that spiraled completely out of control. I break down what really happened, the people involved, and how something...

Step into the dark history of one of America’s most haunted locations in this episode, where we peel back the layers of Waverly Hills Sanatorium. Long before it was a destination for paranormal investigators, it was a quiet Kentucky hillside that transformed into a sprawling medical complex to combat the "White Plague" of tuberculosis. We explore the transition from Major Thomas Hays' peaceful fam...

We are digging into the mailbag this episode talking about how exactly I got started in the paranormal from my humble upbringing in Nashville to the crazy adventures I've been on ever since. Talking Cragfont, the Oaklands Mansion and several other haunted locations in Middle Tennessee.  Be sure to like, subscribe and leave a review! Check out Allen's books on Amazon! https://amzn.to/3HEf2u9 Got a...

In the South, the humidity isn't the only thing that lingers; sometimes, the dead don't stay buried. We’re digging into Chattanooga’s past, from the "Resurrection Men" who turned local cemeteries into a business to the seven-foot giant who survived a train strike only to vanish from his own grave. This is Southern Gothic stripped of the fluff—a direct, atmospheric look at the real-life tragedies,...

 In this episode of Southern Ghost Stories, we tear down the drywall of 2122 Carolina Street in Gary, Indiana—a nondescript rental cottage that became a documented portal to the profound. What began with a winter plague of flies escalated into a nightmare verified by the official records of skeptical police captains and Department of Child Services workers, including the chilling report of a child...

 In this episode of Southern Ghost Stories, "American Hauntotorian" Allen Sircy journeys into the heart of Mississippi to investigate two chilling legends where history and folklore collide. We first visit Yazoo City to explore the infamous 1904 fire and the vengeful witch whose chained grave at Glenwood Cemetery allegedly burst open to fulfill a twenty-year curse. Then, we head north to the ancie...

 Beneath the neon lights and boardwalk glitz of the Garden State lies a history stained by blood, madness, and the unexplained. In this episode of Southern Ghost Stories, we journey north to explore three chilling tales from New Jersey’s past: the reign of the Duck Island Shotgun Stalker, a predator who turned a swampy peninsula into a private hunting ground in the late 1930s; the industrial-scale...

 In March 1988, a riverside hangout in St. Cloud, Minnesota, transformed from a typical teenage party into a scene of ritualistic horror that would grip the nation. Fueled by a relentless obsession with the film The Lost Boys and a steady stream of cheap beer, 18-year-old Timothy Erickson convinced his inner circle that immortality was just one kill away. What followed was the savage murder of Don...

Today we’re stepping outside our usual territory to haunt the Pacific Northwest for a tale of 1950s brutality and a lingering, botched justice. We’re digging into the case of Raymond Snowden, a drifter whose alcohol-fueled rage turned a Boise night out into a scene so savage the newspapers branded him "Idaho’s Jack the Ripper." From the frantic, 30-plus stabs that ended the life of widow Cora Lucy...

 From the high-society betrayal of a 3,000-mile "murder by mail" plot in 1898 to the microscopic forensic breakthrough that caught the notorious Route 40 serial killer, Small State, Big Crimes proves that Delaware’s history is written in more than just legislation. Allen take you from the agonizing Victorian-era "Chocolate Box Murders" of Cordelia Botkin to the chilling mobile dungeon of Steven Br...

In this special Q&A episode, we’re clearing out the inbox to tackle your most haunting questions, starting with a deep dive into Indiana’s most chilling lore—from the "sentient" balloons of the Culbertson Mansion to the ghostly footsteps of "The Gipper" at Notre Dame. I open up about the single creepiest place I’ve ever visited (the infamous "death chute" at Waverly Hills), why I’ve chosen the...

 Beyond the majestic skyline of modern Atlanta, Georgia lies a 48-acre "Marble City of Silence" that refuses to stay quiet. This episode of the podcast tears down the red-brick Victorian walls of Oakland Cemetery to reveal a gritty, soil-stained history where the dead were often just in the way of progress. We’re moving past the polished tour brochures to explore the "Social Hierarchy of the Soil,...

Step into the humid, neon-lit nights of the Rio Grande Valley, where the line between urban legend and true crime is as thin as the coastal fog. We uncovers the grit and ghosts of South Texas, from the chilling 1993 contract killing of Joey Fischer fueled by curanderismo to the rhythmic clink-drag of Abram Ortiz’s shackles echoing through the Old Hidalgo County Jail. We’re diving deep into the "Ha...

Forget the postcard version of the "loveliest village on the plains"; we’re digging into the red clay to find the bodies Auburn forgot to mention in the brochure. From a Confederate soldier in the theater basement who demands M&Ms to ensure a standing ovation, to the phantom watchman still pacing the Samford clock tower 160 years after his shift ended, this season uncovers the grit beneath the...

 Most hauntings are just shadows and creaks, but the basement of the Calcasieu Parish Courthouse offers something far more visceral: the cloying scent of 1940s dime-store perfume and the sharp ozone of an electric chair. This is the story of Toni Jo Henry, a heroin-addicted "insurgent" who executed a stranger in a cold-blooded bid to break her boxer husband out of prison. From the violent "Sportin...

If you drive through Birmingham at night, the skyline is dominated by a rusted, steel ribcage that looks more like a skeletal remains than a landmark: Sloss Furnaces. From 1882 to 1971, this wasn't just the "Magic City's" industrial heart; it was a high-heat purgatory where the "Big Three"—ore, coal, and limestone—were forged alongside a brutalized workforce of convict laborers and desperate men....