A Touch from the Past

We talked to the very funny comedian, talented storyteller and musician James Bradford about his experience renting a room in a beautiful mansion in Philadelphia and learning that the catch was a ghost. Plagued by strange events, the home owner decided to hire a ghost hunting crew to investigate. Listen now to hear about the findings! 

You can find James on Instagram @jamesbradfordmusic and all of his latest projects on jamesbradfordmusic.net!

Brought to you by A Touch from the Past Podcast via Google Voice, The Frightline will feature a new story written and produced by Jen Curcio and based on a SoCal urban legend each week.

Bela Lugosi was an actor from Hungary who immigrated to America in 1920. He was greatly known for his portrayal of Dracula based on the Bram Stoker novel. His unique and incredible depiction of the monster still informs the way we imagine vampires today. Despite the wild success he from the film in 1931, he was often typecast which led to a rollercoaster of a career and financial strain in his personal life. In August of 1955, he moved to a small apartment at 5620 Harold Way in Hollywood, CA, and one year later, almost to the day, he died suddenly in his bedroom from a heart attack. Lugosi had a horse-drawn funeral procession that started at his home in Hollywood and ending at his burial plot at Holy Cross Mortuary in Ladera Heights, CA. The thing is, the horses didn’t take Bela directly to his final resting place. When the driver tried turning the horses to the right to go to the cemetery, but the horse violently veered to the left, charging through a busy intersection to get onto Hollywood Boulevard. Terrified, the driver did what he could to make the horses stop. But they wouldn’t until they reached a cigar shop at 6423 Hollywood Blvd. It was the very same cigar shop that Bela had walked to every day before his sudden death for his morning paper and cigars. After a few minutes, the horses continued on to the Holy Cross Mortuary where Bela was buried in his signature Dracula cape. Seems like the driver wasn’t really the one taking Bela to his final resting place. 

We hope you enjoy and have a spooky Halloween! Call 323-744-4879 for a scare.

Greetings Ghoulies! Join us as Rachel Chapman tells tales about the Disney parks. She gives us the rundown on which ghosts are shutting down which rides. Also did you know there was an abandoned Disney water park? Did you know there is a ride where they used real skeletons? Listen to what else we uncover in this episode.

If you were around in the '80s or '90s and you're seeing this, you probably wanted to call one of those horror hotlines, but never did because they were like $3.99 per minute. They were often advertised during reruns of Tales from the Crypt on PHL17 in my hometown of Philadelphia and every time I saw one, I would beg my parents for their credit card to call.

Time went by and I forgot all about them. Until about a year ago when I happened to see an old commercial for one while watching a recording of Tales from The Crypt in the '90s that was recorded on someone's camcorder. Immediately I was brought back to simpler times, crisp leaves, and consuming Pepsi and Doritos in front of the TV without a care in the world about whether my insurance would cover diabetes medication. 

Right then, I knew I had to make a horror hotline of my own. And THAT is exactly what I did. 

Brought to you by A Touch from the Past Podcast and Google Voice, The Frightline will feature a new story written and produced by Jen Curcio and based on a SoCal urban legend each week. The best part, it's FREE! This bonus episode is a sample of the Frightline, and we hope it gives you a chill. We know this year Halloween is different, so we wanted to do what we could to bring a little extra fright to the season. We hope you enjoy and have a spooky Halloween! Call 323-744-4879 for a scare.

Clark and Jen talk to comedian extraordinaire, Theo Manhattan! They are the host of the upcoming game show “Dollared” on YouTube and apparently they are a magnet for the paranormal and extraterrestrial. We talk about close encounters of the third kind and lost of ghosts laughing. 

We also talk about how terrifying attics and basements are. 

Hey Ghoulie! Grab your knickers and head on down to The Hollywood Knickerbocker Hotel. This 1929 hotel has an intense and spooky past. From heartbreak to honeymoons, it has it all. It was home to a magician conference that performed seances to contact Harry Houdini. It was also the site of the the deaths of 2 of Hollywood's biggest jerks. There is even the ghost of the films first heart throbs, Rudolph Valentino. Even though he had died 4 years before it opened.

We also have an exciting giveaway from our good friends at Neon Altar, so make sure to follow us for details that are coming soon.

Twitter at @TouchPast

Instagram 

And do us a favor...Have a spooky weekend!

Greeting Groovy Ghoulies! Actor, Author and co-host of Ghost Town podcast Jason Horton joins Jen and Clark on the first October episode of the year. He tells us stories of exploring abandon places, a harrowing encounter with a troubled rock star ghost and much more. Pick up his new book "Abandoned and Historic Los Angeles: Neon and Beyond" out now at your local book shop.

Follow him on Twitter: @Jason_Horton and Insta:@TheJasonHorton

If you have a paranormal story you’d like to share, please email us at [email protected] and tell us all about it. Please rate and review us on Apple Podcast, follow us on social media at the links below, and have a spooky weekend!

Where to find us:

Twitter at @TouchPast

Instagram

Actor, writer, comedian, and host of The Flagrant Ones podcast Carl Tart joins us this week to tell us a tale of a mysterious man walking around his hometown named Booker T and how he possibly saved Carl’s life and then vanished. We also talk about childhood Halloween costumes and trick-or-treating in malls. Join us as Carl takes us to his hometown of Pascagoula, Mississippi via his incredible storytelling skills.

Check your compass and be extra careful while driving or flying because this week we went to the Beverly Hills Bermuda Triangle aka The Golden Triangle. The area is known for the bizarre tragedies that happened within it.

Starting in 1946 with aviator legend Howard Hughes crash landing his XF-11 plane into a home, the triangle saw lots of horrific accidents and crimes. One year later, notorious gangster Bugsy Seigel was shot five times across the street from the crash site in his girlfriend’s home. Then things stay quiet for 19 years until Jan Berry of Jan and Dean is driving at high speeds in his brand new 1966 Corvette Stingray and hits a parked truck head-on, resulting in a two-month-long coma and long-lasting health problems. 

The most bizarre of the tragedies was in November 2010, when publicist to the stars Ronni Chasen is driving home after the premiere of Burlesque and is shot two times at a stoplight by an unknown assailant. The Beverly Hills police department closed the case in 2013, claiming it was a case of road rage gone tragically wrong. But her loved ones are convinced otherwise still to this day.

Ghost rating: Clark - 4 Jen - 3

Mega-talented storyteller, Raymond Abel, joins us today to tell us all about his experience at W.B. Ray High School in Corpus Christi, Texas, and a haunted apartment in Los Angeles, CA. Every ghostly interaction he’s had is musical in nature. From a piano-playing ghost to an operatic spirit, Raymond is assembling a paranormal jam band. Speaking of which, at 37 minutes and 46 seconds, moments after making a joke about a ghost playing the recorder, you can hear a couple of notes on what sounds like… a recorder. We did not add that in, nor is this a joke! Please listen and let us know what you think it is. We give this haunting an 8 out of 10 ghosts!

You can follow Raymond on Instagram at @rayrayshonuff

If you have a paranormal story you’d like to share, please email us at [email protected] and tell us all about it. Please rate and review us on Apple Podcast, follow us on social media at the links below, and have a spooky weekend!

Where to find us:

Twitter at @TouchPast

Instagram

A Touch from the Past podcast is hosted, produced, and edited by Clark Canez and Jen Curcio.