Southern Gothic
346 episodes — Page 1 of 7
Kenworthy Hall's Heartbreaking Tale
The Banner Mine Explosion of 1911 | Encore Episode
The Pipe Smoking Sea Captain | Encore Episode
The Spring That Runs Red | Campfire Tales
Captain Pitcher's Curse | Campfire Tales
The Mill Creek Bridge Haunting | Campfire Tales
Daisy Bank's Glass Coffin | Campfire Tales
Elk River's Lost Cave of Gold | Campfire Tales
The Romantic Tale of Petit Jean | Campfire Tales
The Boyington Oak Tree | Encore Episode
Mystery of the Atlanta Blood House | Encore Episode
José Gaspar & Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla
Haunted Love Motels with Supernatural Japan
Listener Tales, Volume Six
The Ghost Aboard the James T. Staples
In January of 1913, the steamboat James T. Staples—one of the most elegant vessels to travel the Tombigbee River—was torn apart by a sudden boiler explosion near Powe’s Landing in Alabama, killing dozens and leaving the once-proud riverboat a smoldering wreck. Built by respected captain Norman Staples, the ship had only recently been taken from his control after a bitter financial collapse, marking the end of a career shaped by ambition, tragedy, and the fading era of Southern river travel. In the days surrounding the disaster, something deeper began to take hold in the communities along the river—stories of strange omens, fleeing rats, and sightings below deck that no one could quite explain. With no clear cause ever confirmed, the explosion gave rise to whispers that the destruction of the James T. Staples may not have been entirely accidental. More than a century later, the story lingers at the intersection of history and folklore, where loss, legacy, and something far less certain continue to drift along the waters of the Tombigbee. Want to Listen to Southern Gothic Ad-Free? Patreon: Ad-Free Episodes, Premium Releases, Bonus Content & More Southern Gothic Premium on Spotify Southern Gothic Premium on Apple Podcasts Into History: History Without Interruption Connect with Southern Gothic Media: Website: SouthernGothicMedia.com Merch Store: https://www.southerngothicmedia.com/merch Pinterest: @SouthernGothicMedia Facebook: @SouthernGothicMedia Instagram: @SouthernGothicMedia X: @SoGoPodcast Advertise on this podcast: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mamie Thurman's Lingering Spirit | Encore Episode
Head southwest out of Logan, West Virginia and you’ll end up on an isolated strip of road up in the Appalachian Mountains where folks claim the spirit of a lady in white has been hitchhiking with coal drivers for almost a century. The tale isn’t that much different than others seen in ghost stories all over the world, but here on 22 Mine Road, folks know exactly who the specter is– a woman named Mamie Thruman, who was murdered and left here in the mountains almost a century ago. Tragically, while a man was convicted of the crime, most believe her killer got away. Key Highlights The Life and Mysterious Death of Mamie Thurman: An introduction to Mamie, her life in Logan, and the unsolved aspects of her murder. The Trial and Its Aftermath: Examination of the sensational trial that captivated the nation and the figures involved. Legends and Sightings: Reports of paranormal activity and sightings of Mamie's spirit in Logan, contributing to the legend's longevity. Cultural Impact: How Mamie Thurman's story has influenced local folklore, literature, and ghost tours in Logan. Investigations and Theories: A look at modern investigations into her death and the various theories that have emerged over the years. Want to Listen to Southern Gothic Ad-Free? Patreon: Ad-Free Episodes, Premium Releases, Bonus Content & More Southern Gothic Premium on Spotify Southern Gothic Premium on Apple Podcasts Into History: History Without Interruption Connect with Southern Gothic Media: Website: SouthernGothicMedia.com Merch Store: https://www.southerngothicmedia.com/merch Pinterest: @SouthernGothicMedia Facebook: @SouthernGothicMedia Instagram: @SouthernGothicMedia X: @SoGoPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Infamous Pink Lady of Grove Park Inn
Perched high on Sunset Mountain above Asheville, North Carolina, the historic Grove Park Inn has welcomed presidents, celebrities, and travelers seeking the cool air of the Blue Ridge Mountains for more than a century. Built in 1913 by pharmaceutical magnate Edwin Wiley Grove, the massive stone resort quickly became one of the most famous luxury hotels in the American South. But alongside its reputation for mountain elegance and historic charm, the Grove Park Inn has long carried another, far more mysterious legacy—one centered on a ghostly figure said to wander the halls of the hotel’s original wing. For decades, guests and employees have reported encounters with an apparition known simply as the Pink Lady. Sightings describe a young woman in a flowing pink gown appearing along the corridors and balconies of the historic inn, sometimes only as a fleeting glimpse, other times in far more unsettling encounters. Strange laughter echoing through empty hallways, doors locking on their own, unseen hands touching passing guests, and whispers of a tragic fall from the upper floors have all become part of the legend. Yet despite generations of stories, one question still lingers inside the granite walls of Asheville’s most famous resort: who—or what—is the Pink Lady of the Grove Park Inn? Want to Listen to Southern Gothic Ad-Free? Patreon: Ad-Free Episodes, Premium Releases, Bonus Content & More Southern Gothic Premium on Spotify Southern Gothic Premium on Apple Podcasts Into History: History Without Interruption Connect with Southern Gothic Media: Website: SouthernGothicMedia.com Merch Store: https://www.southerngothicmedia.com/merch Pinterest: @SouthernGothicMedia Facebook: @SouthernGothicMedia Instagram: @SouthernGothicMedia X: @SoGoPodcast Advertise on this podcast: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Enduring Mystery of Theodosia Burr Alston | Encore Episode
Theodosia Burr Alston was a pioneer for early American women and was celebrated for her education and intellectual achievements, but to this day many remember her for her mysterious disappearance. On December 31, 1812, the daughter of notorious politician Aaron Burr, boarded a schooner headed for New York, but the ship never arrived. Key Highlights The political ambitions and rivalries that led Aaron Burr to exile. Educational achievements and intellect of Theodosia Burr. Theodosia’s marriage to Joseph Alston, the richest man and eventual governor of South Carolina. The circumstances surrounding the disappearance of the Patriot, the schooner believed to have been lost at sea. Speculation and theories surrounding the disappearance of Theodosia and the Patriot. Supernatural tales and local lore that suggest the spirit of Theodosia Burr Alston is still wandering locations she once did in life. Want to Listen to Southern Gothic Ad-Free? Patreon: Ad-Free Episodes, Premium Releases, Bonus Content & More Southern Gothic Premium on Spotify Southern Gothic Premium on Apple Podcasts Into History: History Without Interruption Additional Resources for This Episode: Theodosia Burr Alston: Portrait of a Prodigy by Richard N. Cote Dear Theodosia: Collected Letters of Aaron Burr With His Daughter by Aaron Burr & Matthew L. Davis The Life and Times of Aaron Burr by James Parton Connect with Southern Gothic Media: Website: SouthernGothicMedia.com Merch Store: https://www.southerngothicmedia.com/merch Pinterest: @SouthernGothicMedia Facebook: @SouthernGothicMedia Instagram: @SouthernGothicMedia X: @SoGoPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Resurrection Man of Augusta
In downtown Augusta, Georgia, construction crews renovating the former Medical College of Georgia made a discovery that should’ve been impossible to miss for more than a century: dozens of boxes of human bones buried beneath a dirt basement floor—men, women, and children, dating back to the 1800s. The explanation was as old as American medical education itself: before cadavers could be obtained legally, schools relied on grave robbing—and in Augusta, that work fell to one man whose name still carries a chill. Grandison Harris, an enslaved “porter” forced into the role of resurrection man, became the most notorious body-snatcher tied to Cedar Grove Cemetery, the city’s burial ground for Black and poor residents. Want to Listen to Southern Gothic Ad-Free? Patreon: Ad-Free Episodes, Premium Releases, Bonus Content & More Southern Gothic Premium on Spotify Southern Gothic Premium on Apple Podcasts Into History: History Without Interruption Connect with Southern Gothic Media: Website: SouthernGothicMedia.com Merch Store: https://www.southerngothicmedia.com/merch Pinterest: @SouthernGothicMedia Facebook: @SouthernGothicMedia Instagram: @SouthernGothicMedia X: @SoGoPodcast Advertise on this podcast: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Unraveling the Mystery of Pink Lizzie | Encore Episode
In 1871, Clara Robertson’s life was forever altered by an encounter with a ghost. The blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl witnessed a haunting vision of a transparent, emaciated young girl in a tattered pink dress while practicing piano upstairs at the Brinkley Female College in Memphis, Tennessee. The sensational series of events that followed was widely covered in the media of the day, causing a frenzy in town and making the tale of Pink Lizzie one of the most infamous hauntings in Memphis history. Key Highlights Brinkley Female College’s short history. The First Encounter of Pink Lizzie, the emaciated looking ghost of a young girl. The Ghost’s Wishes for Clara to take action that will help give her family justice. Séances and Revelations with Mrs. Nourse, the spiritualist attempting to assist the family. The Public Excavation of the spirit’s purported treasure. Fact vs. Fiction, and the legitimacy of the tales. This episode is sponsored by Hello Fresh, America’s #1 Meal Kit. Visit HelloFresh.com/GothicFree and use code “gothicfree” for FREE breakfast for life! One breakfast item per box while the subscription is active! Want to Listen to Southern Gothic Ad-Free? Patreon: Ad-Free Episodes, Premium Releases, Bonus Content & More Southern Gothic Premium on Spotify Southern Gothic Premium on Apple Podcasts Into History: History Without Interruption Additional Resources for This Episode: Haunted Memphis by Laura Cunningham Myths and Mysteries of Tennessee by Susan Sawyer Connect with Southern Gothic Media: Website: SouthernGothicMedia.com Merch Store: https://www.southerngothicmedia.com/merch Pinterest: @SouthernGothicMedia Facebook: @SouthernGothicMedia Instagram: @SouthernGothicMedia X: @SoGoPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Many Mysteries of Rocky Hill Castle | Encore Episode
Rocky Hill Castle, once a majestic plantation house in Alabama, now stands only as a memory, shrouded in tragic history and chilling tales of the paranormal. Built between 1858 and 1861 by Colonel James Edmonds Saunders, the mansion was a marvel of its time, showcasing a unique blend of Greek Revival and Italianate architectural styles, but today its legacy lives on through the folklore surrounding it. Help Southern Gothic grow by becoming a Patreon Supporter today! Connect with Southern Gothic Media: Join our New Facebook Group! Website: SouthernGothicMedia.com Merch Store: https://www.southerngothicmedia.com/merch Pinterest: @SouthernGothicMedia Facebook: @SouthernGothicMedia Instagram: @SouthernGothicMedia X: @SoGoPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Margaret Garner and the Impossible Choice
In 1856, an enslaved woman named Margaret Garner fled Kentucky with her family, crossing a frozen Ohio River into Cincinnati in a desperate bid for freedom. But when slave catchers and federal deputies closed in under the Fugitive Slave Act, Margaret was forced into a moment of terror so absolute it still stops people cold: rather than watch her children be dragged back into bondage, she made a choice that turned the nation’s stomach—and exposed exactly what slavery demanded of mothers. Her case exploded into one of the most controversial fugitive slave proceedings in American history, pulling in abolitionists, newspapers, and the courts as Ohio wrestled with a brutal question: would Margaret be tried for murder on free soil, or treated as property to be returned to slavery? Decades later, her story would echo again through Toni Morrison’s Beloved, a “ghost story” rooted in real history—because some horrors don’t end when the chains come off. Want to Listen to Southern Gothic Ad-Free? Patreon: Ad-Free Episodes, Premium Releases, Bonus Content & More Southern Gothic Premium on Spotify Southern Gothic Premium on Apple Podcasts Into History: History Without Interruption Connect with Southern Gothic Media: Website: SouthernGothicMedia.com Merch Store: https://www.southerngothicmedia.com/merch Pinterest: @SouthernGothicMedia Facebook: @SouthernGothicMedia Instagram: @SouthernGothicMedia X: @SoGoPodcast Advertise on this podcast: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Horrors of Andersonville Prison | Encore Episode
Andersonville Prison, officially known as Camp Sumter, was a Confederate prisoner-of-war camp during the American Civil War, operating from February 1864 to April 1865 near Andersonville, Georgia. Notorious for its horrific conditions and high mortality rate, it was designed for 10,000 prisoners but held over 32,000 at its peak, leading to severe overcrowding. The prisoners endured appalling conditions with inadequate shelter, contaminated water, insufficient food, and rampant disease. As a result, nearly 13,000 of the 45,000 Union soldiers imprisoned there died, making it one of the most dangerous locations in the United States during the American Civil War. Join us as we explore the history of this notorious prison camp. Want to Listen to Southern Gothic Ad-Free? Patreon: Ad-Free Episodes, Premium Releases, Bonus Content & More Southern Gothic Premium on Spotify Southern Gothic Premium on Apple Podcasts Into History: History Without Interruption Connect with Southern Gothic Media: Website: SouthernGothicMedia.com Merch Store: https://www.southerngothicmedia.com/merch Pinterest: @SouthernGothicMedia Facebook: @SouthernGothicMedia Instagram: @SouthernGothicMedia X: @SoGoPodcast Advertise on this podcast: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Introducing: Haunted American History
Haunted American History is a daily campfire-style podcast blending American history, folklore, and original ghost stories. What scares you? Let’s find out! Listen now on your favorite podcasting app! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Mysterious Disappearance of David Lang
In the fall of 1880, a Tennessee farmer named David Lang was said to have vanished in broad daylight, in the middle of his own pasture, with his wife, children, and two visiting men watching from only yards away. No trees. No brush. No place to hide. One moment he was standing there, waving, and the next he was simply gone. The story has become one of the most infamous disappearances in American folklore, tied to phantom voices calling from the field, a strange circle where grass refused to grow, and a family left behind with no explanation and no body. Over the years, the disappearance of David Lang has been retold in newspapers, paranormal magazines, and books on unexplained phenomena, securing its place among America’s most unsettling unsolved mysteries. The legend has been linked to nineteenth-century Tennessee, early investigations into the supernatural, and even the work of American gothic writer Ambrose Bierce, whose fiction explored eerily similar themes of sudden erasure and fractured reality. Whether rooted in history, folklore, or something far stranger, the story endures because it asks an impossible question: how can a man vanish in the open air, in front of witnesses, and leave nothing behind? Want to Listen to Southern Gothic Ad-Free? Patreon: Ad-Free Episodes, Premium Releases, Bonus Content & More Southern Gothic Premium on Spotify Southern Gothic Premium on Apple Podcasts Into History: History Without Interruption Connect with Southern Gothic Media: Website: SouthernGothicMedia.com Merch Store: https://www.southerngothicmedia.com/merch Pinterest: @SouthernGothicMedia Facebook: @SouthernGothicMedia Instagram: @SouthernGothicMedia X: @SoGoPodcast Advertise on this podcast: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Shadows of the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum | Encore Episode
Rising above the hills of Weston, West Virginia, the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum stands as one of the most infamous psychiatric hospitals in American history. Originally opened in the mid-19th century as part of a nationwide mental health reform movement inspired by Dorothea Dix and the Kirkbride Plan, the asylum was meant to represent progress and compassion in the treatment of mental illness. Instead, it became a symbol of systemic failure—marked by extreme overcrowding, neglect, experimental treatments like lobotomies and electroshock therapy, and the quiet disappearance of thousands of patients whose stories were never fully recorded. What began as a hopeful institution slowly transformed into a place of suffering, secrecy, and irreversible trauma. Today, the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum is widely regarded as one of the most haunted locations in the United States, drawing paranormal investigators, historians, and dark tourism enthusiasts from around the world. Visitors report shadow figures in abandoned wards, disembodied voices echoing through miles of empty hallways, and an overwhelming sense of dread tied to the building’s violent past. Beneath the gothic architecture and decaying stone lies a chilling legacy of 19th- and 20th-century psychiatric care, unmarked graves, and unanswered questions—making this asylum not just a haunted place, but a grim monument to how society once treated its most vulnerable people. Want to Listen to Southern Gothic Ad-Free? Patreon: Ad-Free Episodes, Premium Releases, Bonus Content & More Southern Gothic Premium on Spotify Southern Gothic Premium on Apple Podcasts Into History: History Without Interruption Connect with Southern Gothic Media: Website: SouthernGothicMedia.com Merch Store: https://www.southerngothicmedia.com/merch Pinterest: @SouthernGothicMedia Facebook: @SouthernGothicMedia Instagram: @SouthernGothicMedia X: @SoGoPodcast Advertise on this podcast: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Gaines Tavern's History of Horror
Just north of downtown Walton, Kentucky, along an old turnpike that once carried stagecoaches between Lexington and Cincinnati, stands a two-hundred-year-old brick building with a reputation that has never quite faded. Known today as Gaines Tavern, the structure has been called many things over the years: a frontier inn, a family home, a community gathering place—and, for more than a century, the Kentucky Horror House. From the outside, it looks like a well-preserved piece of early American history. But beneath that calm, symmetrical façade lies a past marked by suicide, murder, racial violence, and sudden death, events so numerous and so tightly clustered that locals began to wonder whether the house itself was somehow cursed. For generations, stories have followed Gaines Tavern: travelers who never made it out alive, a room long whispered about for its connection to self-inflicted death, a brutal killing that ended a grand social ball in an instant, and acts of mob violence carried out in the shadow of the house during Reconstruction. Add to that decades of reported hauntings—apparitions in upstairs windows, unexplained footsteps, voices, lights, and the persistent figure of a headless man—and the line between documented history and lingering legend becomes dangerously thin. In this episode of Southern Gothic, we trace the full, unsettling history of Gaines Tavern in Walton, Kentucky, exploring how a vital stop along a nineteenth-century road became one of the most infamous haunted locations in the state—and why, even today, those who know its story say the house may not be finished with us yet. Want to Listen to Southern Gothic Ad-Free? Patreon: Ad-Free Episodes, Premium Releases, Bonus Content & More Southern Gothic Premium on Spotify Southern Gothic Premium on Apple Podcasts Into History: History Without Interruption Connect with Southern Gothic Media: Website: SouthernGothicMedia.com Merch Store: https://www.southerngothicmedia.com/merch Pinterest: @SouthernGothicMedia Facebook: @SouthernGothicMedia Instagram: @SouthernGothicMedia X: @SoGoPodcast Advertise on this podcast: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Longfellow House of Pascagoula
The Longfellow House in Pascagoula, Mississippi is an elegant antebellum mansion overlooking the Gulf of Mexico—symmetrical, refined, and seemingly untouched by time. But beneath its pristine façade lies a reputation shaped by violence, exploitation, and stories that refuse to fade. For generations, locals have whispered that the house was built on suffering tied to the domestic slave trade, and that whatever happened inside its walls left more than just historical scars behind. Over the years, people who lived, worked, or passed through the Longfellow House have reported unsettling encounters: unexplained sounds in empty rooms, figures appearing on staircases, objects moving without cause, and the persistent feeling of being watched. These experiences have followed the house through every phase of its long life—from private residence to school, museum, hotel, and beyond—suggesting that some histories don’t stay buried, no matter how carefully a place is restored. Want to Listen to Southern Gothic Ad-Free? Patreon: Ad-Free Episodes, Premium Releases, Bonus Content & More Southern Gothic Premium on Spotify Southern Gothic Premium on Apple Podcasts Into History: History Without Interruption Connect with Southern Gothic Media: Website: SouthernGothicMedia.com Merch Store: https://www.southerngothicmedia.com/merch Pinterest: @SouthernGothicMedia Facebook: @SouthernGothicMedia Instagram: @SouthernGothicMedia X: @SoGoPodcast Advertise on this podcast: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Introducing: Weird in the Wade
Do you like your spooky stories with some historical context? Do you like your history with a pinch of the paranormal? Then Weird in the Wade is the podcast for you. Weird in the Wade is about all that’s weird, wonderful and a little off kilter in a small English town called Biggleswade and its surrounding area. Each episode we explore a story that will make you pause and ponder, whether its a haunting, flying saucers, witches, poisoners or body snatchers. Social history meets the unexplained in Weird in the Wade. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Disaster at Camp Creek
On a storm-soaked night in June of 1900, just outside McDonough, Georgia, a Southern Railway passenger train plunged into the flooded waters of Camp Creek, triggering one of the deadliest train disasters in Georgia history. Weeks of relentless rain, a washed-out trestle, and a fateful decision made under impossible conditions combined to turn a routine run toward Atlanta into a mass casualty event that would forever alter a small Southern town. In the hours that followed, Camp Creek became a scene of fire, flood, and unimaginable loss—while the courthouse square in downtown McDonough was transformed into a place of mourning, identification, and reckoning. More than a century later, the wreck still casts a long shadow. The tragedy left behind unmarked graves, unresolved questions, and a legacy of local lore that continues to cling to the courthouse square and the historic buildings surrounding it. From contemporary newspaper accounts to the quiet persistence of ghost stories, this episode of Southern Gothic explores how a single night of disaster reshaped a community—and why some places never quite let go of the past. Want to Listen to Southern Gothic Ad-Free? Patreon: Ad-Free Episodes, Premium Releases, Bonus Content & More Southern Gothic Premium on Spotify Southern Gothic Premium on Apple Podcasts Into History: History Without Interruption Connect with Southern Gothic Media: Website: SouthernGothicMedia.com Merch Store: https://www.southerngothicmedia.com/merch Pinterest: @SouthernGothicMedia Facebook: @SouthernGothicMedia Instagram: @SouthernGothicMedia X: @SoGoPodcast Advertise on this podcast: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Devil's Mansion | Encore Episode
For nearly three centuries, New Orleans has carried a reputation as a city where sin, superstition, and the supernatural collide. Long before ghost tours and vampire legends, early residents were already whispering that the Devil himself had claimed a foothold in the Crescent City. By the early 1800s, those whispers centered on a single mansion along St. Charles Avenue—a grand, unsettling house that seemed to appear without explanation and refused to behave like any normal home. Locals claimed the Devil lived there, watched the street from its upper gable, and vanished into its walls at dusk. Families who tried to live inside the mansion rarely lasted long. Night after night, something played out in its dining room—something violent, ritualistic, and impossible to ignore. Yet despite the fear it inspired, the address was real, its residents traceable, and its existence documented in period newspapers, even as photographs, building records, and architectural details remain strangely elusive. In this episode, Southern Gothic traces the legend of the Devil’s Mansion through New Orleans folklore, historical records, and firsthand accounts to explore why this vanished house still lingers in the city’s memory—and why some stories refuse to stay buried. Want to Listen to Southern Gothic Ad-Free? Patreon: Ad-Free Episodes, Premium Releases, Bonus Content & More Southern Gothic Premium on Spotify Southern Gothic Premium on Apple Podcasts Into History: History Without Interruption Connect with Southern Gothic Media: Website: SouthernGothicMedia.com Merch Store: https://www.southerngothicmedia.com/merch Pinterest: @SouthernGothicMedia Facebook: @SouthernGothicMedia Instagram: @SouthernGothicMedia X: @SoGoPodcast Advertise on this podcast: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Curse of Lorenzo Dow | Encore Episode
Along a quiet stretch of US 301 in coastal Georgia stands a lonely white farmhouse, the last surviving remnant of a place that once claimed to be a thriving frontier town. Locals say it is all that remains of Jacksonboro, Georgia, a community that rose with promise and then collapsed into nothing, leaving only the Seaborn Goodall House behind. For nearly two hundred years, the reason for Jacksonboro’s disappearance has been the subject of whispered stories, old newspaper columns, and roadside folklore. Most roads lead back to one man: the fiery evangelist Lorenzo Dow, a preacher whose wild appearance and thunderous sermons drew enormous crowds across the early American South. According to legend, Jacksonboro was already notorious for violence, whiskey, and frontier lawlessness when Dow arrived in 1820 to deliver a sermon that the town wanted no part of. What happened next became one of the most enduring supernatural tales in Georgia history, a story involving a mob, a dramatic act of defiance, and a curse said to have doomed the entire settlement. In the years that followed, fires, storms, economic collapse, and unexplained disasters seemed to swallow Jacksonboro whole until nothing remained but the Goodall home and a memory of what used to stand there. Want to Listen to Southern Gothic Ad-Free? Patreon: Ad-Free Episodes, Premium Releases, Bonus Content & More Southern Gothic Premium on Spotify Southern Gothic Premium on Apple Podcasts Into History: History Without Interruption Connect with Southern Gothic Media: Website: SouthernGothicMedia.com Merch Store: https://www.southerngothicmedia.com/merch Pinterest: @SouthernGothicMedia Facebook: @SouthernGothicMedia Instagram: @SouthernGothicMedia X: @SoGoPodcast Advertise on this podcast: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Frankie Silver's Final Song
In the summer of 1833, the tiny mountain town of Morganton, North Carolina became the stage for one of the most shocking events in early Appalachian history: the execution of nineteen-year-old Frankie Stewart Silver, a young mother condemned for the brutal murder of her husband, Charlie Silver, in their remote cabin above the Toe River Valley. What happened inside that one-room home has fueled nearly two centuries of debate, folklore, and ghostly speculation — from whispered tales of domestic terror to the now-famous “ballad” said to be her final words on the gallows. But behind the legend lies one of the most contested true crime cases in the North Carolina mountains, a story tangled with frontier justice, family loyalties, and a community that never agreed on whether Frankie was a cold-blooded killer or a desperate young woman trapped in a violent marriage. Court records, petitions, old newspaper accounts, and oral history all tell wildly different versions of what happened — and none of them line up neatly with the folklore that overshadowed the truth. Want to Listen to Southern Gothic Ad-Free? Patreon: Ad-Free Episodes, Premium Releases, Bonus Content & More Southern Gothic Premium on Spotify Southern Gothic Premium on Apple Podcasts Into History: History Without Interruption Connect with Southern Gothic Media: Website: SouthernGothicMedia.com Merch Store: https://www.southerngothicmedia.com/merch Pinterest: @SouthernGothicMedia Facebook: @SouthernGothicMedia Instagram: @SouthernGothicMedia X: @SoGoPodcast Advertise on this podcast: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Haunts of Arkansas's Old State House | Encore Episode
The Arkansas Old State House Museum is the oldest standing state capitol building west of the Mississippi River. Since 1833, the building has witnessed many of the most important events in Arkansas history, but according to some who visit the property, echoes from that past remain in forms that visitors don’t quite expect. In fact, some even claim that the apparition of a man still wanders the Old State House of Representative Chambers almost two hundred years after he was expelled for violently murdering his colleague. Join us as we explore the history of the Old State House, as well as the events that led up to the now-infamous Arkansas Knife Fight of 1836. Visit the Old State House Museum at 300 W. Markham Street, Little Rock, Arkansas, and explore some of the state’s rich history firsthand! Thanks, HelloFresh! Go to HelloFresh.com/50gothic and use code 50gothic for 50% off plus free shipping! Help Southern Gothic grow by becoming a Patreon Supporter today! Connect with Southern Gothic Media: Join our New Facebook Group! Website: SouthernGothicMedia.com Merch Store: https://www.southerngothicmedia.com/merch Pinterest: @SouthernGothicMedia Facebook: @SouthernGothicMedia Instagram: @SouthernGothicMedia Twitter: @SoGoPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Listener Tales, Volume Five
Join us for another episode featuring listener-submitted stories! Want to Listen to Southern Gothic Ad-Free? Patreon: Ad-Free Episodes, Premium Releases, Bonus Content & More Southern Gothic Premium on Spotify Southern Gothic Premium on Apple Podcasts Into History: History Without Interruption Connect with Southern Gothic Media: Website: SouthernGothicMedia.com Merch Store: https://www.southerngothicmedia.com/merch Pinterest: @SouthernGothicMedia Facebook: @SouthernGothicMedia Instagram: @SouthernGothicMedia X: @SoGoPodcast Advertise on this podcast: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Listen Now: American Scandal | The West Memphis Three
On May 5, 1993, three 8-year-old boys were brutally murdered in West Memphis, Arkansas. The tiny local police department launches an investigation but finds little physical evidence to lead them to a suspect. Eventually, outside pressure pushes them to charge someone with the killings, whether or not the evidence supports their conclusions. American Scandal takes you deep into the heart of America’s dark side to look at what drives someone to break the rules and what happens when they’re caught. Listen to American Scandal: The West Memphis Three: https://Wondery.fm/AS_SG Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Tragic Fire at the Winecoff Hotel | Encore Episode
In December of 1946, Atlanta woke to a nightmare unfolding in the heart of downtown. The Winecoff Hotel—once celebrated as a modern marvel and boldly advertised as “absolutely fireproof”—was swallowed by flames before sunrise, trapping hundreds of guests inside a building that was never supposed to burn. By morning, it would become the deadliest hotel fire in American history. For decades the Winecoff stood as one of the city’s premier destinations, a towering landmark on Peachtree Street with elegant interiors, high-rise views, and a reputation for safety that bordered on myth. But behind the glamour was a hidden truth: narrow corridors, combustible finishes, a single open staircase, and no exterior fire escapes. When the fire finally came, the entire structure became a vertical chimney. The horror that followed spread across the country—people at windows with no way out, firefighters struggling to reach them, and a tragedy so severe it caught the attention of President Harry Truman himself. In the months that followed, the Winecoff fire would help drive a nationwide overhaul of building codes and modern fire safety standards. Yet for all the reports, investigations, and reforms that came after, the question at the heart of this disaster still lingers: how did a hotel said to be “fireproof” ignite so fast, and what truly sparked the blaze that changed American fire safety forever? This is the story of a luxury hotel built on confidence, undone by a predawn spark—and the legacy of a tragedy that reshaped the country. Want to Listen to Southern Gothic Ad-Free? Patreon: Ad-Free Episodes, Premium Releases, Bonus Content & More Southern Gothic Premium on Spotify Southern Gothic Premium on Apple Podcasts Into History: History Without Interruption Connect with Southern Gothic Media: Website: SouthernGothicMedia.com Merch Store: https://www.southerngothicmedia.com/merch Pinterest: @SouthernGothicMedia Facebook: @SouthernGothicMedia Instagram: @SouthernGothicMedia X: @SoGoPodcast Advertise on this podcast: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Ballad of Casey Jones | Encore Episode
At the turn of the twentieth century, the American railroad was more than transportation — it was a symbol of speed, modernity, and danger, giving rise to some of the country’s most enduring folk legends. Among songs like “The Wreck of the Old 97” and “John Henry,” one ballad rose above the rest to become railroad folklore’s defining tale: “The Ballad of Casey Jones.” In this episode of Southern Gothic, we trace the true story behind the song — from John Luther “Casey” Jones’ humble beginnings in Cayce, Kentucky, to his rise through the ranks of the Illinois Central Railroad as one of the most respected engineers on the line. Known for his punctuality, signature whistle, and devotion to the rails, Casey took on one of the fastest passenger runs in the South… a job that would place him in the path of disaster near Vaughan, Mississippi, in the early hours of April 30, 1900. But the wreck itself is only part of the legend. This episode explores how Casey Jones’ final run turned into myth: the disputed investigations, the arguments over who was truly at fault, and how a shop worker’s tribute song — “The Ballad of Casey Jones” — spread up and down the line, into vaudeville, folk music, and eventually recordings by artists like Johnny Cash and the Grateful Dead. A deadly collision on a rain-slick track. A stubborn engineer at the throttle. And a railroad ballad that turned one man’s final decision into American folklore. Want to Listen to Southern Gothic Ad-Free? Patreon: Ad-Free Episodes, Premium Releases, Bonus Content & More Southern Gothic Premium on Spotify Southern Gothic Premium on Apple Podcasts Into History: History Without Interruption Connect with Southern Gothic Media: Website: SouthernGothicMedia.com Merch Store: https://www.southerngothicmedia.com/merch Pinterest: @SouthernGothicMedia Facebook: @SouthernGothicMedia Instagram: @SouthernGothicMedia X: @SoGoPodcast Advertise on this podcast: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Battle of Horseshoe Bend and the River of Blood
Along a sharp bend in the Tallapoosa River in eastern Alabama sits one of the most important — and most haunting — battlefields in American history. In 1814, this quiet stretch of water became the site of a brutal clash between Red Stick Muscogee warriors and the forces of Major General Andrew Jackson, a fight that would reshape the future of the Southeast and forever alter the Muscogee Nation. But Horseshoe Bend is remembered for more than strategy and loss. For some who visit today, the battlefield carries a heaviness that’s hard to explain — strange sensations along the riverbank, voices carried on the wind, and a lingering presence near the site of the old barricade where the fighting was fiercest. In this episode, we explore the history that led the Creek War to this decisive moment, the stand made by the Red Sticks inside the bend, and the legacy the battle left behind — both on the land and in the stories of those who say the past has never fully settled here. Want to Listen to Southern Gothic Ad-Free? Patreon: Ad-Free Episodes, Premium Releases, Bonus Content & More Southern Gothic Premium on Spotify Southern Gothic Premium on Apple Podcasts Into History: History Without Interruption Connect with Southern Gothic Media: Website: SouthernGothicMedia.com Merch Store: https://www.southerngothicmedia.com/merch Pinterest: @SouthernGothicMedia Facebook: @SouthernGothicMedia Instagram: @SouthernGothicMedia X: @SoGoPodcast Advertise on this podcast: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Boy Named Bobby Dunbar | Encore Episode
On August 23, 1912, four-year-old Bobby Dunbar went missing while his family was on a fishing trip at Swayze Lake in Louisiana. An eight-month search ensued, but the boy was eventually found in Mississippi– at least that’s what the Dunbars believed. Join us as we dive into one of the most well-known missing person cases in the history of the American South. Want to Listen to Southern Gothic Ad-Free? Patreon: Ad-Free Episodes, Premium Releases, Bonus Content & More Southern Gothic Premium on Spotify Southern Gothic Premium on Apple Podcasts Into History: History Without Interruption Connect with Southern Gothic Media: Website: SouthernGothicMedia.com Merch Store: https://www.southerngothicmedia.com/merch Pinterest: @SouthernGothicMedia Facebook: @SouthernGothicMedia Instagram: @SouthernGothicMedia X: @SoGoPodcast Advertise on this podcast: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Listen Now: American History Tellers | The Mayflower
The Cold War, Prohibition, the Gold Rush, the Space Race. Every part of your life - the words you speak, the ideas you share - can be traced to our history, but how well do you really know the stories that made America? We'll take you to the events, the times and the people that shaped our nation. And we'll show you how our history affected them, their families and affects you today. Hosted by Lindsay Graham (not the Senator). Listen to American History Tellers: Wondery.fm/AHT_SG Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Ep 188The Dagger in the Walls of King's Tavern
In a city famed for its grand antebellum mansions, Natchez’s oldest building feels like it belongs to another world entirely. Rough-hewn timbers, crooked shutters, and centuries of whispers cling to the walls of King’s Tavern, where legend says a young woman named Madeline met a grim fate at the hands of jealousy—and where, decades later, workers unearthed something chilling behind a fireplace: bones and a jeweled dagger. Whether the story is truth or just another layer of Natchez folklore, one thing’s certain—something in those walls refuses to rest. Want to Listen to Southern Gothic Ad-Free? Patreon: Ad-Free Episodes, Premium Releases, Bonus Content & More Southern Gothic Premium on Spotify Southern Gothic Premium on Apple Podcasts Into History: History Without Interruption Connect with Southern Gothic Media: Website: SouthernGothicMedia.com Merch Store: https://www.southerngothicmedia.com/merch Pinterest: @SouthernGothicMedia Facebook: @SouthernGothicMedia Instagram: @SouthernGothicMedia X: @SoGoPodcast Advertise on this podcast: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Crazy George's Bridge | Campfire Tales
Tucked deep in the hills between Cookeville and Monterey, Tennessee, there’s a narrow, graffiti-covered bridge locals say you shouldn’t cross after dark. It’s called Crazy George’s Bridge, and according to legend, the spirit of an old railroad worker still wanders there—lantern swinging, searching for his missing head. They say if you whisper his name three times, you might just see him. Some claim their cars won’t start when parked on the bridge at midnight. Others say it isn’t George haunting the place at all, but a young man named Narmon—killed on the tracks below after a night gone wrong back in 1931. Want to Listen to Southern Gothic Ad-Free? Patreon: Ad-Free Episodes, Premium Releases, Bonus Content & More Southern Gothic Premium on Spotify Southern Gothic Premium on Apple Podcasts Into History: History Without Interruption Connect with Southern Gothic Media: Website: SouthernGothicMedia.com Merch Store: https://www.southerngothicmedia.com/merch Pinterest: @SouthernGothicMedia Facebook: @SouthernGothicMedia Instagram: @SouthernGothicMedia X: @SoGoPodcast Advertise on this podcast: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Captain Simons’ Unusual Burial | Campfire Tales
Head east out of Washington, Georgia, and you’ll find a lonely little grave surrounded by a moss-covered stone wall — the final resting place of Captain Abram Simons, a Revolutionary War veteran, tavern keeper, and horseman known for living life on his own terms. Local legend says that when the Captain died in 1824, he was buried standing upright, musket at his side, so he could “meet the Devil face to face.” Some say that’s just how a man like Simons would’ve wanted it — proud, defiant, and ready for a fight. Want to Listen to Southern Gothic Ad-Free? Patreon: Ad-Free Episodes, Premium Releases, Bonus Content & More Southern Gothic Premium on Spotify Southern Gothic Premium on Apple Podcasts Into History: History Without Interruption Connect with Southern Gothic Media: Website: SouthernGothicMedia.com Merch Store: https://www.southerngothicmedia.com/merch Pinterest: @SouthernGothicMedia Facebook: @SouthernGothicMedia Instagram: @SouthernGothicMedia X: @SoGoPodcast Advertise on this podcast: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Arkansas’s Ghost Hollow | Campfire Tales
Just outside Fayetteville, Arkansas, there’s a dip in the land the locals call Ghost Hollow — a quiet patch of woods where fog clings low and the wind carries a sound you’ll never forget. They say a young bride died here long ago, her wedding gown catching fire before she could reach the creek below. On still nights, her screams are said to echo through the hollow — a cry for help that never comes. Want to Listen to Southern Gothic Ad-Free? Patreon: Ad-Free Episodes, Premium Releases, Bonus Content & More Southern Gothic Premium on Spotify Southern Gothic Premium on Apple Podcasts Into History: History Without Interruption Connect with Southern Gothic Media: Website: SouthernGothicMedia.com Merch Store: https://www.southerngothicmedia.com/merch Pinterest: @SouthernGothicMedia Facebook: @SouthernGothicMedia Instagram: @SouthernGothicMedia X: @SoGoPodcast Advertise on this podcast: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Witches’ Tree of Louisville | Campfire Tales
On the corner of Sixth and Park in Old Louisville stands a tree like no other — its gnarled trunk twisting back over itself, its branches draped with beads, ribbons, and charms left by visitors who whisper their wishes into the wind. Locals call it the Witches’ Tree, and legend says it grew from a curse. More than a century ago, the city cut down a sacred maple that once stood on that same spot — and when a storm leveled Louisville soon after, folks swore it was revenge. Want to Listen to Southern Gothic Ad-Free? Patreon: Ad-Free Episodes, Premium Releases, Bonus Content & More Southern Gothic Premium on Spotify Southern Gothic Premium on Apple Podcasts Into History: History Without Interruption Connect with Southern Gothic Media: Website: SouthernGothicMedia.com Merch Store: https://www.southerngothicmedia.com/merch Pinterest: @SouthernGothicMedia Facebook: @SouthernGothicMedia Instagram: @SouthernGothicMedia X: @SoGoPodcast Advertise on this podcast: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Crying Spirit at the Purifoy House | Campfire Tales
In the quiet community of Furman, Alabama, an old house still stands — its white siding fading beneath the moss-draped oaks, its brick chimneys watching over more than a century of secrets. But what chills folks most isn’t inside the Purifoy-Lipscomb House. It’s what lies just behind it. There, in a ring of earth where nothing grows, locals say you can still hear it — a man’s desperate voice rising from the ground, pleading to be freed. Want to Listen to Southern Gothic Ad-Free? Patreon: Ad-Free Episodes, Premium Releases, Bonus Content & More Southern Gothic Premium on Spotify Southern Gothic Premium on Apple Podcasts Into History: History Without Interruption Connect with Southern Gothic Media: Website: SouthernGothicMedia.com Merch Store: https://www.southerngothicmedia.com/merch Pinterest: @SouthernGothicMedia Facebook: @SouthernGothicMedia Instagram: @SouthernGothicMedia X: @SoGoPodcast Advertise on this podcast: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Legend of Drunken Jack Island | Campfire Tales
Just off the coast of Murrells Inlet, South Carolina, lies a tiny strip of sand and scrub known as Drunken Jack Island — a place born from rum, revelry, and one very unlucky pirate. Local legend says Jack was part of Blackbeard’s crew, left behind after a night of heavy drinking when the tide rolled out and the ship set sail without him. Stranded with nothing but barrels of rum and the company of seabirds, Jack’s final days became the kind of story coastal towns never forget. Want to Listen to Southern Gothic Ad-Free? Patreon: Ad-Free Episodes, Premium Releases, Bonus Content & More Southern Gothic Premium on Spotify Southern Gothic Premium on Apple Podcasts Into History: History Without Interruption Connect with Southern Gothic Media: Website: SouthernGothicMedia.com Merch Store: https://www.southerngothicmedia.com/merch Pinterest: @SouthernGothicMedia Facebook: @SouthernGothicMedia Instagram: @SouthernGothicMedia X: @SoGoPodcast Advertise on this podcast: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sister Isabella of Northwestern State University | Campfire Tales
On a hill above the Cane River in Natchitoches, Louisiana, three white columns stand where a grand antebellum mansion once rose — the only trace of a building that’s been gone for more than a century. For the students of Northwestern State University, they’re more than a landmark. They’re the heart of one of Louisiana’s most enduring ghost stories. They say a young woman once lived — and died — within those walls, her sorrow echoing long after the fire that destroyed them. Some call her Sister Isabella, and her spirit is said to wander the campus still, from the old dormitories to the columns on Normal Hill, forever bound to the place where her story began. Want to Listen to Southern Gothic Ad-Free? Patreon: Ad-Free Episodes, Premium Releases, Bonus Content & More Southern Gothic Premium on Spotify Southern Gothic Premium on Apple Podcasts Into History: History Without Interruption Connect with Southern Gothic Media: Website: SouthernGothicMedia.com Merch Store: https://www.southerngothicmedia.com/merch Pinterest: @SouthernGothicMedia Facebook: @SouthernGothicMedia Instagram: @SouthernGothicMedia X: @SoGoPodcast Advertise on this podcast: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
West Virginia’s Angel of Death | Campfire Tales
In the quiet mountain town of Lewisburg, West Virginia, stands a small limestone church that has watched over its congregation for more than two centuries. But among the old graves behind its walls, one monument draws more visitors — and more whispers — than any other: a white marble angel said to bring death to anyone who dares to kiss her cheek. Want to Listen to Southern Gothic Ad-Free? Patreon: Ad-Free Episodes, Premium Releases, Bonus Content & More Southern Gothic Premium on Spotify Southern Gothic Premium on Apple Podcasts Into History: History Without Interruption Connect with Southern Gothic Media: Website: SouthernGothicMedia.com Merch Store: https://www.southerngothicmedia.com/merch Pinterest: @SouthernGothicMedia Facebook: @SouthernGothicMedia Instagram: @SouthernGothicMedia X: @SoGoPodcast Advertise on this podcast: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices