Not too far south of Hattiesburg, Mississippi is an old bridge that many claims to be haunted by the apparition of a woman killed in a car accident decades ago.
This episode of Southern Gothic is part of our Campfire Tales, a series of daily podcasts released during Halloween 2022!
On the eastern edge of Florida is Amelia Island, a beautiful tourist destination that boasts exquisite beaches, luxurious golf courses, and quaint bed & breakfasts. But the island is also home to a unique urban legend that claims a coven of witches once lived here, and their leader was in control of a vicious demon named Wiccademus.
This episode of Southern Gothic is part of our Campfire Tales, a series of daily podcasts released during Halloween 2022!
According to legend, an American Revolutionary War hero continues to ride into battle near his final resting place at the Hopewell Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Huntersville, North Carolina.
This episode of Southern Gothic is part of our Campfire Tales, a series of daily podcasts released during Halloween 2022!
Up in the mountains of West Virginia, folks say you can hear the disembodied sound of a fiddle echoing through the air over a century after a horrific accident killed the man who played it.
This episode of Southern Gothic is part of our Campfire Tales, a series of daily podcasts released during Halloween 2022!
Clouston Hall was built in 1821 by Edward G. Clouston, but according to local lore his family experienced an awful tragedy there that continues to haunt the two century old building.
This episode of Southern Gothic is part of our Campfire Tales , a series of daily podcasts released during Halloween 2022!
“Off railroads, bus lines and main highways in Jefferson County West Virginia lies a charming little Village of about 300 inhabitants. This town has 3 names: Smithfield, Middleway and Clip— the last and best known being derived from the famous manifestations of the “Clipping Spook.””
The village of Middleway, West Virginia, is a community with a population of less than 500 people. Though the area was first settled back in the early 18th century, it has its place in history because as the home of legend that dates back to the late 1700s when a local farmer and his family became the victim of poltergeist-like activity.
A historic marker stands there in the community today, describing the infamous events as quote: “After the 1794 death of a stranger at Livingston Farm, Mysterious Noises and clippings of garments frightened Middleway Residents for years.” This is the mysterious, and highly documented legend of Wizard Clip.
Brownson, Sarah M. Life of Demetrius Augustine Gallitzin: Prince and Priest. New York: Fr. Pustet & Co., 1873. GoogleBooks.
Dallaire, Glenn. “The Wizard Clip - Adam Livingston’s Miraculous Conversion.” Miracles of the Church (blog). November 2011. https://www.miraclesofthechurch.com/2011/11/wizard-clip-adam-livingstons-miraculous.html.
Dallaire, Glenn. “The Wizard Clip & Mystic Voice - Newspaper Article from 1926.” Mystics of the Church (blog). February 2014. https://www.mysticsofthechurch.com/2014/02/the-wizard-clip-mystic-voice-newspaper.html.
Finotti, Joseph M. The Mystery of the Wizard Clip. Baltimore, MD: Kelly, Piet, and Company, 1879. Archive.org. https://archive.org/details/mysteryofwizardc00fino.
Grundhauser, Eric. “The Ghost Story Behind a Bucolic Catholic Retreat Center.” Atlas Obscura. November 7, 2017. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/wizard-clip-west-virginia-priest-field.
Guiley, Rosemary Ellen. The Big Book of West Virginia Ghost Stories. Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot, 2014.
Harvey, George, ed. “A Ghost that Advertised a Town.” Harper’s Weekly, 54 (January 1, 1910): 33. GoogleBooks.
Hauck, Dennis William. Haunted Places: The National Directory. New York: Penguin, 2002.
Helentjaris, Diane R. “A Look Back at the Catholic Ghost Of Wizard Clip.” Religion Unplugged. October 29, 2019. https://religionunplugged.com/news/2019/10/29/the-catholic-ghost-of-wizard-clip.
“The Historic Village of Middleway, West Virginia.” Middleway Conservancy Association. Accessed October 7, 2022. https://middlewayconservancy.org.
Huntington, Jedediah Vincent. Alban, Or a History of a Young Puritan, Vol. 2. New York: Redfield, 1853. GoogleBooks.
Musick, Ruth Ann. The Telltale Lilac Bush and Other West Virginia Ghost Tales. Lexington KY: The University Press of Kentucky, 1976.
Whitney, Annie Weston and Caroline Canfield Bullock. Folk-Lore from Maryland. New York: The American Folk-Lore Society, 1925. GoogleBooks.
Wilson, Patty. Haunted West Virginia: Ghosts and Strange Phenomena of the Mountain State. Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot, 2019.
“In any event, the story of what happened [...] is one of the most famous ghost stories in Alexandria, maybe because it has all the elements of a classic tale: love, loss, tragedy and redemption. Or then again, maybe it’s because the story remains alive today because strange things keep happening [...]””
At 107 North Fairfax St. in Alexandra, Virginia is a three-story building that became the location of one of Alexandria’s most enduring tales of love, loss, and hauntings: The Burning Bride.
It was on the evening of June 27, 1868, perhaps the night before the couple was set to marry when 26 year-old Laura Schafer, excited for her upcoming nuptials accidentally spilled burning fuel from a kerosene lamp onto her dress. Within moments she was alight. At 11 in the morning on Sunday June 28, 1868, on what should have been her wedding day, Laura Schafer died of her injuries; her beloved fiancé at her side.
Yet many believe that Laura Schafer remains trapped in the house, forever reliving the horror of her death and unfulfilled life.
Alexandria Gazette (Alexandria, Va.). “Fatal and Melancholy Affair.” June 29, 1868. Newspapers.com
Alexandria Gazette (Alexandria, Va.). “Obituary.” July 11, 1868. Newspapers.com
Anderson, Olivia. “The Legend of the Burning Bride.” Alexandria Times. October 21, 2021. https://alextimes.com/2021/10/the-legend-of-the-burning-bride/.
Caroline and Reilly. “Old Town Alexandria.” Phantastic Phantoms (blog). May 21, 2012. http://phantasticphantoms.blogspot.com/2012/05/old-town-alexandria.html.
Cooney, Ruthie. “The Phantoms of North Fairfax Street.” Boundary Stones (blog). WETA. October 22, 2018. https://boundarystones.weta.org/2018/10/22/phantoms-north-fairfax-street.
“Creepy Tales from Old Alexandria, VA.” DC Ghosts (blog). Accessed September 18, 2022. https://dcghosts.com/creepy-tales-from-old-alexandria-va/.
Pope, Michael Lee. Ghosts of Alexandria. Charleston, SC: Haunted America, 2010.
“The Schafer House Ghosts.” Alexandria Ghosts (blog). Accessed September 18, 2022. https://alexandriaghosts.com/the-schafer-house-ghosts/.
“The True Story of Alexandria's Burning Bride.” DC Ghosts (blog). Accessed September 18, 2022. https://dcghosts.com/the-true-story-of-alexandrias-burning-bride/.
“Suddenly the beat of the drums was drowned out by a roar louder than any noise Reelfoot had ever heard. The earth vibrated from the sound waves, and then it heaved in mighty spasms that splintered giant trees and sent them crashing down into newly formed crevices. Then came a rushing wall of water that swallowed up the village, covered the whole countryside, and formed a great lake.””
Along the northwestern edge of Tennessee sits Reelfoot Lake. The only natural lake in the state, it's a flooded cypress forest that has more in common with the bayous of the deep south than other more open and expansive lakes of the surrounding area.
Yet this lake dates back only two centuries and owes its creation to the massive New Madrid earthquakes that rocked the area in 1811-1812 and caused the Mississippi River to temporarily flow backward. Yet according to local legend the cause of those earthly upheavals was more than simply nature. Legend says that the origins of Reelfoot Lake can be traced back to the actions of a Chief of the Chickasaw people who once inhabited the now submerged land.
Center for Earthquake Research and Information. “New Madrid Compendium Eyewitness Accounts.” University of Memphis. Accessed September 9, 2022. https://www.memphis.edu/ceri/compendium/eyewitness.php.
Eastwood, Vera. “The Legend of Reelfoot Lake.” The Taylor-Trotwood Magazine, XII, no. 1 (November 1910): 155-159. GoogleBooks.
Jillson, Willard Rouse. “The Discovery of Kentucky.” Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, 20, no. 59 (May 1922): 117-129. GoogleBooks.
Nelson, Wilbur A. “Reelfoot - An Earthquake Lake.” The National Geographic Magazine, 43, no. 1 (January 1923): 94-114. Accessed September 9, 2022.
“Notes & Comments.” The Bulletin: A Monthly Journal Devoted to the Interests of Hoo-Hoo XV, no. 157 (November 1908): 3-6. GoogleBooks.
“The Legend of Chief Reelfoot.” Reelfoot Outdoors. Accessed September 9, 2022. https://www.reelfoot.com/legend_1.htm.
“The Murderous Night Riders.” Collier’s The National Weekly, November 14, 1908. GoogleBooks.
Vanderwood, Paul. Night Riders of Reelfoot Lake. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press, 2003.
Walker, Emma. “The Fascinating Story Behind Reelfoot Lake.” RootsRated. December 12, 2016. https://rootsrated.com/stories/the-fascinating-story-behind-reelfoot-lake.
Windham, Kathryn Tucker. Thirteen Tennessee Ghosts and Jeffrey. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press, 2016.
Wright, George C. Racial Violence in Kentucky, 1865-1940: Lynchings, Mob Rule, and “Legal Lynchings.” Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1990.
“This magnificent and storied square was also ominously known as ‘hanging square,’ the place where the condemned met their fate on the gallows in the eighteenth century. Knowing its past history, one cannot walk around it at night or on a bright sunny day without feeling, and perhaps faintly hearing, the cries, moans and groans of those who met their deaths dangling from the end of a sturdy rope.””
According to local legend, visitors to Savannah’s Historic Wright Square have been known to encounter a young woman dressed in 18th-century style clothing. Some are said to have been approached and begged for their assistance in finding the woman’s lost son. Yet when folks begin to search the area, the girl disappears. Many believe this is the ghost of Alice Riley, the first woman executed in the colony of Georgia.
Alice Riley arrived in the American Colonies in January of 1734 as an indentured servant who would work for about five to seven years to pay back her debt and earn her freedom. To pay back the cost of the voyage she would be sent to work for William Wise, a man of questionable character. It would be a tragic assignment that led to Wise dead and Alice Riley convicted of a murder that some believe she may not have actually committed.
“Alice Riley.” Murderpedia. Accessed August 15, 2022. https://murderpedia.org/female.R/r/riley-alice.htm.
Brown, Alan. Haunted Georgia: Ghosts and Strange Phenomena of the Peach State. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2008.
Byrd, Georgia R. Haunted Savannah. Guilford, CT: Morris Book Publishing, 2011.
Caskey, James. Haunted Savannah: The Official Guide to Savannah Haunted History Tour, 2010. Savannah, GA: Bonaventure Books, 2005.
Freeman, Robert Michael. “Alice Riley: A Sad Savannah Story.” Freeman’s Rag (blog). April 28, 2018. https://www.freemansrag.com/historical-ruminations/alice-riley-a-sad-savannah-story
“The Ghost of Alice Riley: Savannah’s Most Famous Ghost Story.” Ghost City Tours. Accessed August 15, 2022. https://ghostcitytours.com/savannah/ghost-stories/alice-riley/.
“The ghost of Alice Riley and the legend spanish moss.” Random-Times. July 29, 2020. https://random-times.com/2020/07/29/the-ghost-of-alice-riley-and-the-legend-spanish-moss/
Harris, Michael & Linda Sickler. Historic Haunts of Savannah. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2014.
Harris, Michael. “Murder & lies: The ghost of Savannah’s Wright Square.” Savannah Now | Savannah Morning News. October 30, 2014. https://www.savannahnow.com/story/news/2014/10/31/murder-lies-ghost-savannahs-wright-square/13526612007/
“History of Savannah.” Visit Savannah. Accessed August 15, 2022. https://www.visitsavannah.com/article/history-savannah.
Michaels, Brenna & T.C. Michaels. Hidden History of Savannah. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2019.
Temple, Sarah Gober & Kenneth Coleman. Georgia Journeys: Being an Account of the Lives of Georgia’s Original Settlers and Many Other Early Settlers. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2010.
Legend says John Murrell’s father was a preacher and his mother took pride in teaching him how to steal, but that is just the first of many claims made about this infamous highwaymen who was once accused of being the mastermind of a criminal organization known as the Mystic Clan.
This minisode is a companion to the episode, McRaven House’s Haunted History.
Phillips, Betsy. “The Strange Story Behind the State’s Thumb.” Nashville Scene. October 28, 2015. https://www.nashvillescene.com/news/pithinthewind.
“A History of the Detection, Conviction, Life and Designs of John A. Murel, The Great Western Land Pirate.” Walker Library, Middle Tennessee State University. 2020. https://library.mtsu.edu/specialcollections/spotlight/2020murrell.
“John Andrews Murrell (1806-1844).” Encyclopedia of Arkansas. Updated September 29, 2021. https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/john-andrews-murrell-3566/.
Penick, James Lal. “John A. Murrell: A Legend of the Old Southwest.” Tennessee Historical Quarterly 48, no. 3 (1989): 174–83. http://www.jstor.org/stable/42626808.
“McRaven House is a time capsule crammed with the priceless heirlooms and mementos of every family who ever crossed its threshold…Time travel is possible here; follow in the footsteps of each of the prior inhabitants. If you get lost, they will find you.””
The McRaven House of Vicksburg, Mississippi has earned a national reputation for the amount of paranormal activity said to occur there.
The home was said to be first built in 1797 as the hideout for a notorious highwayman. Over the next 220+ years, McRaven was expanded twice, survived the brutal Siege of Vicksburg during the Civil War, served as a hospital during that same conflict, and been a home to numerous families.
Largely unchanged since the additions were constructed, each section of McRaven House: Pioneer, Empire, and Greek Revival, remain excellent examples of the architecture and lifestyle of the time that they were constructed. This feat is so unique that in 1963 National Geographic Magazine did a feature on the home, calling it a “Time Capsule of the South.” Today open to the public for tours, McRaven House serves as one of the most complete and well-preserved homes in Vicksburg from the antebellum era.
“African Americans and the campaign for Vicksburg.” National Park Service. Updated March 15, 2018. https://www.nps.gov/vick/learn/historyculture/african-americans-and-the-campaign.htm.
Brown, Alan. Ghosts Along the Mississippi River. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 2011.
Brown, Alan. Haunted Vicksburg. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2010.
Carter, Josh and Jacob Gallant. “We spent a night inside the most haunted house in Mississippi. Here’s what we saw.” WLBT. September 29, 2021. https://www.wlbt.com/.
Coleman, Christopher Kiernan. Ghosts and Haunts of the Civil War. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1999.
Frazier, Terri Cowart. “Haunted History: Several Spirits Supposedly Reside in Vicksburg Home.” The Vicksburg Post. November 19, 2018.https://www.vicksburgpost.com/.
“McRaven.” McRaven Tour Home. Copyright 2021. https://www.mcraventourhome.com/.
“McRaven House: Vicksburg’s Most Haunted Mansion.” Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau. Accessed July 30, 2022. https://visitvicksburg.com/.
Newman, Rich. Ghosts of the Civil War: Exploring the Paranormal History of America’s Deadliest War. Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn Worldwide, 2017.
Parker, Seth. “The Haunted McRaven / Bobb House | Vicksburg, Mississippi.” Parker Studios (blog). July 28, 2019. https://sethparker.net/haunted-mcraven-house-vicksburg-mississippi/.
Roberts, Nancy. Civil War Ghost Stories & Legends. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1992.
Shoemaker, Mary McCahon. “Bobb House.” National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Jackson, November 6, 1978. https://www.apps.mdah.ms.gov/nom/prop/27689.pdf.
Sillery, Barbara. The Haunting of Mississippi. Gretna, LA: Pelican Publishing, 2011.
The Vicksburg Herald. “Are There Ghosts in Vicksburg. A Haunted House.” July 22, 1864. Newspapers.com.
One of the most well-known graves at the Old Burying Grounds in Beaufort, North Carolina is that of a young girl who purportedly died at sea and was buried there in a keg of rum. Who the girl is we will never know, but her legend lives on and her spirit purportedly haunts the three-century-old cemetery to this very day.
This minisode is a companion to the episode, The Hammock House.
Brown, Nic. “North Carolina’s Old Burying Ground.” Garden & Gun. April/May 2015. https://gardenandgun.com/articles/our-kind-of-place-north-carolinas-old-burying-ground/.
“Old Burying Ground.” Beaufort Historic Site. Accessed July 29, 2022. https://beauforthistoricsite.org/old-burying-ground/.
WNCT-TV 9 On Your Side. “People and Places with Pierce: The Rum Keg Girl.” YouTube Video, 2:39. November 3, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMfHjC-QC1w.
“This animal, homely as a steamroller, is the embodiment of salvation. Peace, plenty and contentment lie before us, and a new life with new experiences, new opportunities, new [vigour], new romance, folded in that golden future, when the meadows and the bayous of our southern lands shall swarm with herds of hippopotami.””
Now, this particular tale starts with an aquatic plant known as the water hyacinth. It’s native of the Amazon Basin, and if you’ve ever been down to the bayou you’ve seen these things floating across flat water on thick mats of dark green leaves with beautiful blue and purple petals. The hyacinth was introduced to American waterways in the late 19th century, and can now be found all over the warmer regions of the south, from Texas to Florida and beyond, but that is not a good thing, this plant is an invasive species that will dominate and destroy habitats where it resides.
Over the years there have been a number of different ways that water management and environmental organizations have attempted to control this invasive plant, but back in the early twentieth century there was one that today just seems crazy, and it involved the hippopotamus.
“The 1884 Cotton Expo and New Orleans’ first case of World’s Fair fever.” NOLA.com. May 17, 2017. https://www.nola.com/300/.
“December 16, 1884 American Hippo.” Today In History (blog.) December 16, 2017. https://todayinhistory.blog/tag/american-hippo/.
Howard, Clifford. “When the Cow Jumps Over the Moon.” Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine, 86. (July-December 1910): 253-255. GoogleBooks.
Miller, Greg. “The Crazy, Ingenious Plan to Bring Hippopotamus Ranching to America.” Wired. December 20, 2013. https://www.wired.com/2013/12/hippopotamus-ranching/.
Mooallem, Jon. “American Hippopotamus: A bracing and eccentric of espionage and hippos.” Atavast, 32. Accessed July 15, 2022. https://magazine.atavist.com/american-hippopotamus/.
The St. Landry Clarion (Opelousas, La.) “To Stock Louisiana With African Animals.” April 2, 1910. Newspapers.com
The Lafourche Comet (Thibodaux, La.) “Congressman Broussard has introduced a resolution.” April 7, 1910. Newspapers.com
The Times-Democrat (New Orleans, La.) “Hippos for the State.” March 31,1910. Newspapers.com
The Times-Democrat (New Orleans, La.) “Bill to Protect Dik Dik.” April 2,1910. Newspapers.com
The Town Talk (Alexandria, La.) “Broussard’s Unique Bill.” March 25, 1910. Newspapers.com
The Town Talk (Alexandria, La.) “New York Sun Don’t Agree.” April 1, 1910. Newspapers.com
The Weekly Caucasion (Shreveport, La.) “Could You Eat a Hippo?” September 8, 1910. Newspapers.com
“Many of those who are most familiar with the phenomena of life and death, [... have] left precise instructions in their wills for various preventives which experience has shown to be necessary, and in some instances a combination of these, so as to make doubly sure that they shall not be subjected, like thousands of human beings, to the unspeakable horrors of being buried alive.””
The legend of Julia Legare has been passed down for generations, likely due to the fact that it brings into focus a far-reaching human anxiety, the fear of being buried alive.
In 1852, while visiting her relatives at their home in Ediso Island, 22-year-old Julia Legare fell ill. Her diagnosis was not good, Julia had been struck with diphtheria and there was little that they could do for her. Eventually, Julia just slipped further away deep into a coma, and after many days and nights passed their worst fear was realized, Julia succumbed to her fate.
After the doctor declared her deceased the family moved quickly to say their goodbyes and ready their beloved’s remains for burial. It is said that in the week following Julia’s burial, the faint sound of weeping and screaming could be heard emanating from the church cemetery, yet no one walked the grounds to see if they could find the source.
The mausoleum was not re-opened for over a decade following Julia’s death, but when it was, a horrific. Julia’s remains were not where they had been left. It seems that Julia Legare had been buried alive.
Brown, Alan. Haunted South Carolina: Ghosts and Strange Phenomena of the Palmetto State. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2010.
“Buried Alive: The creepy true legend of Julia Legare.” Random Times, September 28, 2020. https://random-times.com/.
Coffey, Brandon. “Tomb of Julia Legare.” SC Scripture Project (blog.), November 2014. https://www.scpictureproject.org/charleston-county/tomb-of-julia-legare.html .
Harra, Todd. Last Rites: The Evolution of the American Funeral. Louisville, CO: Sounds True, 2022.
“Inside the Julia Legare Tomb.” Stories in the Cemetery (blog.) January 10, 2020. https://storiesinthecemetery.com/.
Jones, J. Nicole. Low Country: A Memoir. New York: Catapult Books, 2021.
“Julia Georgiana Seabrook Legare.” Find A Grave. Accessed July 1, 2022. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/65651815/julia-georgiana-legare.
“Julia Legare.” Creepypasta (blog.) Accessed. July 1, 2022. https://creepypasta.fandom.com/wiki/Julia_Legare.
“The Legend of Julia Legare.” Edisto Beach (blog.) Accessed July 1, 2022. https://www.edistobeach.com/the-legend-of-julia-legare/.
Meier, Allison C. “The Fear of Being Buried Alive and How to Prevent It.” JSTOR Daily, October 31, 2019. https://daily.jstor.org/the-fear-of-being-buried-alive-and-how-to-prevent-it/.
Rubio, J’aime. “The True Legend of Julia Legare - Fact vs. Fiction.” Dreaming Casually (blog.), August 7, 2014. https://dreamingcasuallypoetry.blogspot.com/.
Rubio, J’aime. Stories of the Forgotten: Infamous, Famous, and Unremembered. Self-published: CreateSpace, 2016.
“The Story of the Haunted Mausoleum of J.B. Legare on Edisto Island.” Tales of Southern Haints, September 18, 2020. https://haints.org/.
Tebb, William and Col. Edward Perry Vollum. Premature Burial and How It May Be Prevented. 1896. Project Gutenberg, November 15, 2015. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/50460/50460-h/50460-h.htm.
“The house today is as solid as it was then, though there are no inhabitants living in it - at least no human inhabitants. The children of the area are strictly cautioned to give a wide berth to the house because, to this day, some very strange things happen there.””
For many of the early mariners traveling to Beaufort, North Carolina they were reliant upon physical landmarks to help guide them safely through the shoals and into the harbor entrance. Some of the early maps and charts of Port Beaufort indicate that one such landmark was the “White House.”
Little remains that offers insight into the origin of Beaufort’s White House, but tradition maintains that what was once the White House is now the historic Hammock House. Identified as one of, if not, the oldest home in North Carolina, the Hammock House is full of history and tragedy from visitors both law-abiding and nefarious in the reputations.
As a result, the Hammock House has acquired more than its fair share of legends over the years, and according to local lore, the spirits of some of these guests still remain to this very day, everything from the echoes of ghostly screams to the clashing sounds of unseen sword fights.
Hear Brandon on The Unseen Paranormal Podcast.
Ambrose, Kala. Ghosthunting North Carolina. Cincinnati, OH: Clerisy Press, 2011.
“The Bloody Story Behind the Haunted Blackbeard Hammock House.” Anomalien. August 8, 2020. https://anomalien.com.
Crosswell, Jack. “Beaufort House is Older Than Nation.” The News and Observer (Raleigh, NC), March 6, 1949. Newspapers.com
Diehl, Daniel and Mark Donnelly. Haunted Houses: Guide to Spooky, Creepy, and Strange Places Across the USA. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2010.
“The Duel at Hammock House.” North Carolina Ghosts. Accessed June 1, 2022. https://northcarolinaghosts.com/coast/hammock-house-duel/.
Gray, Deran. Haunted Plantations of the South. Self-published, 2019.
“The Hauntings of the Hammock House.” True Hauntings of America (blog.) December 2007. http://hauntsofamerica.blogspot.com/2007/12/haunting-of-hammock-house.html.
Hudson, Jane. “Blackbeard among historic home’s former guests.” Rocky Mount Telegram (Rocky Mount, NC), June 27, 2004. Newspapers.com.
Johnson, Scott A. “Hammock House.” Dread Central (blog). October 13, 2017. https://www.dreadcentral.com/cold-spots/5018/hammock-house/.
Rogers, Dennis. “Dark legends of Beaufort house yield to restoration.” The News and Observer (Raleigh, NC), May 7, 1981. Newspapers.com.
Warshaw, Mary. “The Hammock House.” Beaufort North Carolina History (blog). July 2015. http://beaufortartist.blogspot.com/2015/07/hammock-house-was-built-in-1800.html.
______. North Carolina: A Unique Coastal Village Preserved. Atlantic Beach, NC: Eastern Offset Printing, 2015.
______. “White House and Hammock House.” Beaufort North Carolina History (blog). November 2006. http://beaufortartist.blogspot.com/2006/11/house-that-guided-early-mariners.html.
“Weenie Roast.” The Beaufort News (Beaufort, NC), August 3, 1922. Newspapers.com.
Welch, Jane A. “Townsfolk overcome by fear (and fun.)” The News and Observer (Raleigh, NC), June 29, 1979. Newspapers.com.
Whedbee, Charles Harry. The Flaming Ship of Ocracoke & Other Tales of the Outer Banks. Winston-Salem, NC: John F. Blair, 1971.
Young, Norwood. “Visit Beaufort On Your Vacation This Summer.” The News and Observer (Raleigh, NC), June 1, 1952. Newspapers.com.
Zepke, Terrance. Ghosts and Legends of the Carolina Coasts. Sarasota, FL: Pineapple Press, 2005.
“Perhaps the most startling of all the inexplicable tales told about the ghosts of this old city is that series of recitals by members of the police force concerning the manifestations which occurred in 1898 or so in the Ninth Precinct Jail.””
On Saturday, October 21, 1899 the New Orleans Times-Democrat ran an article under the headline: “Real Ghost Story. The Old Carrollton Jail Said to be Haunted.” Through the use of the exact words of the police officers, the article chronicles the eerie occurrences at the local jail.
Built when the town of Carrollton took over as the new seat of Jefferson Parish in 1852. It was a bland brick and stucco building, two-stories tall with large doorways and heavily barred windows. Quite simply, it was bleak and hideous. Within a year of its completion it was already begining to resemble an “old ruin” with “evident signs of decay.”
While many of the police officers who served at the Carrollton Jail stated that they didn’t believe in ghosts, most agreed that the strange things happening there seemed to defy rational explanation. And over time everyone stationed there experienced something unusual in some way shape or form; from footsteps and noises, furniture moving on its own, lights turning on and off, and objects moving without cause.
It is unsurprising that the haunting of the Carrollton Jail has become a part of the deep folklore of New Orleans — a ghost story that can pinpoint its origin to a exceedingly specific event, an October 21, 1899 article in the New Orleans newspaper, The Times-Democrat.
deLavigne, Jeanne. Ghost Stories of Old New Orleans. New York: Rinehart & Company, 1946.
Democker, Michael. “Haunted NOLA: The Old Carrollton Jail & The Ghostly Prisoners That Can’t Escape.” Very Local. April 21, 2020. https://www.verylocal.com/haunted-nola-the-old-carrollton-jail-the-ghostly-prisoners-that-cant-escape/9056/.
“The Haunted Old Carrollton Jail.” Ghost City Tours. Accessed June 6, 2022. https://ghostcitytours.com/new-orleans/haunted-places/old-carrollton-jail/.
Horning, Katrina. “Favorite Building Friday - Carrollton Courthouse.” New Orleans Architecture Tours (blog). November 17, 2017. https://nolatours.com/carrollton-courthouse/.
The New Orleans Crescent. “The Killing in Carrollton.” October 24, 1868. Newspapers.com.
New Orleans Republican. “Paragraphs.” October 30, 1868. Newspapers.com
Powell, Lewis, IV. “‘A theatre of mental travail’ - New Orleans.” Southern Spirit Guide (blog). Accessed June 6, 2022. https://www.southernspiritguide.org/a-theatre-of-mental-travail-new-orleans/.
Saxon, Lyle, et al. Gumbo Ya-Ya: Folk Tales of Louisiana. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana Library Commission, 1945.
Stuart, Bonnye E. Haunted New Orleans: Southern Spirits, Garden District Ghosts, and Vampire Venues. Guilford, CT: Morris Book Publishing, 2012.
Taylor, Troy. Haunted New Orleans: History & Hauntings of the Crescent City. Mount Pleasant, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2010.
The Times-Democrat (New Orleans, La.) “By The By!.” October 23, 1899. Newspapers.com.
The Times-Democrat (New Orleans, La.) “Lynch Law in Carrollton.” October 24, 1868. Newspapers.com
The Times-Democrat (New Orleans, La.) “Real Ghost Story.” October 21, 1899. Newspapers.com.
“The seventeenth century was an age when witches and demons, alchemists and sorcerers, sea monsters and fanciful creatures were accepted by Englishmen, regardless of social or intellectual station in life. [...] Virginia, with its dark forests and strange native inhabitants, must have seemed quite frightening indeed. King James I himself had written that the devil’s handiwork was ‘thought to be common in such wilde parts of the world.’ It was there that ‘the Devill findes greatest ignorance and barbaritie.’ For at least the next hundred years, Virginians would be on the lookout for Satan and his followers.””
The practice of witchcraft has a complicated history in North America. When the first colonists arrived, they did so with an already existing concept and superstition about the practice. While the most well-remembered trials in American history were in Salem, MA, when nineteen people were executed between 1692 and 1663, it is far from the only instance of witch trials during the colonial era.
On Wednesday, July 10, 1706, scores of people arrived at what is now known as Witch Duck Point on the Lynnhaven River in Virginia. They were there to witness a unique but brutal legal proceeding that would never again be carried out in the colony of Virginia– the trial of forty-six-year-old Grace Sherwood by ducking.
It is unknown exactly what happened when she hit the water, but what was clear to the folks who came that day was that Grace Sherwood survived and therefore she was must be a witch.
Burr, George Lincoln, ed. Narratives of the Witchcraft Cases, 1648-1706. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1914.
Chewning, Alpheus J. Haunted Virginia Beach. Charleston, SC: History Press, 2006.
Davis, Richard Beale. “The Devil in Virginia in the Seventeenth Century.” The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 65, no. 2 (April 1957): 131-149. JSTOR. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4246295.
Gahan, Mary Beth. “Witch of Pungo’s church dedicates marker to her.” July 11, 2014. The Virginian-Pilot. https://www.pilotonline.com/news/article_8168fea0-b37f-5680-954a-74f67a286300.html.
“Grace Sherwood (ca. 1660-1740.)” Copyright 2020. Encyclopedia Virginia. https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/sherwood-grace-ca-1660-1740/.
“Grace Sherwood: The One Virginia Witch.” Harper’s Magazine, Vol. 69. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1884. Google Books. https://books.google.com.
“Grace Sherwood, The Witch of Pungo.” February 1, 2021. Colonial Ghosts. https://colonialghosts.com/grace-sherwood-the-witch-of-pungo/.
“Grace Sherwood - the Witch of Pungo (1660-1740.) Copyright 2010. Old Donation Episcopal Church. Accessed May 1, 2022. Internet Archive. https://web.archive.org/web/20120412035254/http://www.olddonation.org/index.php?page=grace-sherwood---a-unique-story.
“The Haunting of Witchduck Road.” Updated June 7, 2021. VirginiaBeach.com. https://www.virginiabeach.com/article/haunting-witchduck-road.
Hines, Emilee. Virginia Myths and Legends: The True Stories Behind History’s Mysteries. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2016.
Hudson, Carson O., Jr. Witchcraft in Colonial Virginia. Charleston, SC: History Press, 2019.
Hume, Ivor Noël. Something from the Cellar: More of This & That. Williamsburg, VA: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 2005.
Misra, Sulagna. “A Brief History of Witches in America.” October 28, 2017. Mental Floss. https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/87525/brief-history-witches-america.
Ruegsegger, Bob. “Virginia’s ‘Witch of Pungo:’ Accused remembered as Colony’s Joan of Arc.” (Fredericksburg, Va.). The Free Lance-Star. October 30, 1999. https://news.google.com/newspapers.
“Va. Woman Seeks to Clear Witch of Pungo.” Posted July 7, 2006. USAToday. https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-07-09-witch-pungo_x.htm.
Virginia Historical Society. “Grace Sherwood: The ‘Witch of Pungo.’ Copyright 2022. Virginia Museum of History & Culture. https://virginiahistory.org/learn/grace-sherwood-witch-pungo.
“Witchcraft in Colonial Virginia.” Copyright 2020. Encyclopedia Virginia. https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/witchcraft-in-colonial-virginia/
“Certain natural phenomena [...] are described by nonscientists as mystery lights. Folklore however has assigned special meanings to these eerie lights. When the light is seen in graveyards, they are called corpse lights. They also are said to appear wherever a tragedy is to occur.””
Travel about 85 miles south of Little Rock, Arkansas along Interstate 30 and you come to the town of Gurdon. In a remote area, several miles outside Gurdon sit railroad tracks for the Missouri Pacific Railroad. It is along a four mile stretch of track that sightings of a floating, glowing orb have been reported for the last ninety years, now known as the Gurdon Light.
While there are of course scientific theories which attempt to explain the origin of the Gurdon Light, many instead believe the phenomena is linked to a single event in history, the murder of a railroad foreman in 1931.
Perhaps not everything seen along the railroad tracks is scientifically explainable, and if not, how long has the area been that way? Is the light something that only dates to the 1930s, or is it something that has been there much longer? Perhaps the Gurdon Light has always been there, it just took people to give it a name…
Brown, Alan. Haunted Places in the American South. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 2002.
Carroll, Cynthia McRoy. Arkansas Ozarks Legends and Lore. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2020.
The Daily Journal (Franklin, IN). “Eerie ‘Gurdon Light’ is 50-year mystery.” October 30, 1981. Newspapers.com
Granato, Sherri. Haunted Rail Trails & Train Tracks: Forgotten Pathways. Self-published, 2018.
Hope Star (Hope, AR). “Slayer of Section Foreman Convicted.” February 3, 1932. Newspapers.com.
Hope Star (Hope, AR). “Eight Jurors Seated for Trial of McBride.” February 18, 1932. Newspapers.com
Hope Star (Hope, AR). “Negro Appeals in Gurdon Slaying.” March 31, 1932. Newspapers.com.
Hope Star (Hope, AR). “Death Sentence of Negro Upheld.” May 23, 1932. Newspapers.com.
“The Gurdon Light.” The Dead History (blog). Accessed April 19, 2022. https://www.thedeadhistory.com/blog/the-gurdon-light.
Morrow, Staci Nicole. “Gurdon Light.” Updated December 23, 2014. CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas. https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/gurdon-light-1198/.
Rayborn, Tim. The Big Book of Paranormal: 300 Mystical & Freighting Tales from Around the World. Kennebunkport, ME: Appleseed Press, 2021.
Sherman, Josepha, ed. Storytelling: An Encyclopedia of Mythology and Folklore. New York: Routledge, 2015.
Swayne, Matthew L. Haunted Rails: Tales of Ghost Trains, Phantom Conductors, and Other Railroad Spirits. Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn Worldwide, 2019.
Unsolved Mysteries. Season 7, episode 9. “Episode 207.” Directed by John Cosgrove, featuring Robert Stack, Diane Barton, and Wanda Barton. Aired December 9, 1994, in broadcast syndication. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Drzj1Ij46X4.
According to Cherokee folklore, a deadly creature lives at the confluence of Valley and Hiwasee Rivers in Murphy, North Carolina. It is known simply as the Great Leech of Tlanusi’yĭ.
This minisode is a companion to The Legend of the Moon-Eyed People.
Bluewaters. “Cherokee Legend of the Moon-Eyed People.” October 5, 2018. Blue Waters Mountain Lodge. https://bluewatersmtnl.com/cherokee-legend-of-the-moon-eyed-people/.
Cherokee Videos. “Cherokee History & Stories - What Happened Here: The Leech Place.” YouTube video, 5:03. June 14, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WODyfMglc8.
Mooney, Jame. Myths of the Cherokee. Washington, D.C.:Government Printing Office, 1900. Reprint, New York: Dover Publications, 2012.
“There is a dim but persistent tradition of a strange white race preceding the Cherokee, some of the stories even going so far as to locate their former settlements and to identify them as the authors of the ancient works found in the county.””
Atop Fort Mountain, in the northwestern corner of Georgia, is an 885-foot-long rock wall that zigzags its way through the curves of the mountain. Though the ruins were constructed with stone from the surrounding region, the story behind it, when it was built, and by whom, remains a mystery. Theories arose to explain the structure’s origin, today most agree it was likely completed by Native people who lived in the area. But who were they?
Legend says that a unique, ancient race of people once inhabited the highlands of lower Appalachia– a group known simply as the Moon-Eyed People. Often, described as light-skinned, with blonde hair and blue eyes; they were uniquely handicapped by their inability to see during the day
The legend exists most prominently from the oral tradition of the Cherokee people, who purportedly encountered the ancient race upon their arrival to the region; however, the mystery as to who they were and where they went is far more complex.
Barton, Benjamin Smith. New Views on the origins of the Tribes and Nations of America. Philadelphia: John Bioren, 1797. Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/newviewsoforigin00bartarch.
Greenwood, Isaac J. The Reverend Morgan Jones and the Welsh Indians. Boston: David Clapp & Son, 1898. Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/revmorganjoneswe00gree.
Haywood, John. The Natural and Aboriginal History of Tennessee: Up To The First Settlements Therein By The White People In The Year 1768. Nashville, TN: George Wilson, 1823. Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/naturalaborigina00hayw.
Johnsen, Bruce E. and Barry M. Pritzker, eds. “Ohio Valley Mound Culture.” Encyclopedia of American Indian History. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO Ltd., 2008.
Koster, John. “Caitlin Was Not the First but Perhaps the Last to Believe the Mandans Wew Welsh Indians.” Wild West, February 2012. https://www.historynet.com/catlin-not-first-perhaps-last-believe-mandans-welsh-indians.htm.
Mooney, Jame. Myths of the Cherokee. Washington, D.C.:Government Printing Office, 1900. Reprint, New York: Dover Publications, 2012.
“Mystery Shrouds Fort Mountain.” Last modified October 21, 2020. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=46359.
Rome News-Tribune (Rome, Ga.). “Whites built myth of Fort Mountain - but not stone wall.” August 28, 1994. https://news.google.com/newspapers.
Wafer, Lionel. Edited by George Parker Winship. A New Voyage and Description of the Isthmus of America. London: The Crown in St. Paul’s Churchyard, 1699. Reprint, Cleveland, OH: Burrows Brothers Company, 1903. Google Books. https://books.google.com.
