American Horror Nights

Halfway across the wilds of Bodmin Moor stands Jamaica Inn, a coaching inn since 1750 that became the headquarters of Cornwall's smugglers — and, in Daphne du Maurier's novel, of its wreckers. This episode tells the story of the inn's smugglers, its ghosts, and the phantom horses still heard in its yard at night.

At the tip of Maryland, where the Potomac meets the Chesapeake Bay, stands a small white lighthouse said to be the most haunted in America. This episode tells the story of keeper Ann Davis, who never left her light, and of the Civil War prison camp where thousands of men died on the marshy ground around it.

The Theatre Royal Drury Lane has entertained London audiences for more than three hundred and fifty years — and, according to everyone who works there, it is the most haunted theatre in the city. This episode tells the story of the Man in Grey, the ghosts of its actors and fires, and why seeing a ghost there is considered good luck.

In Scotland, parents warned their children never to accept a ride from a beautiful horse standing alone by the water — because it might be a kelpie, a shape-shifting water spirit that drags its riders beneath the surface. This episode tells the legends of the drowning horse, the bridle that could control it, and the warnings hidden inside the tales.

On April 16, 1746, more than a thousand Jacobite soldiers died on Culloden Moor in less than an hour — and were buried in mass graves marked only by clan stones. This episode tells the story of Scotland's bloodiest battlefield, the ghosts said to march there still, and the woman who searches among the stones.

In the folklore of Ireland, the most feared creature of all rides a black horse through the night, carrying his own severed head under his arm — and wherever he stops, someone dies. This episode tells the story of the Dullahan, Ireland's headless rider, from his ancient pagan roots to his silence that still frightens today.

Winding through the hills of Warren County, New Jersey is a seven-mile road with a name that sounds like a horror film — and a lake beside it where a pale lady is said to wait. This episode tells the story of Shades of Death Road, Ghost Lake, and the legends that grew up along New Jersey's most haunted highway.

On Magazine Street in Charleston, South Carolina stands a grim fortress that held pirates, prisoners of war, and the infamous Lavinia Fisher — and that locals call the most haunted place in America. This episode tells the story of the Old Charleston Jail, its prisoners, and the spirits said to remain inside.

For more than three hundred years, a human skull has been kept in a farmhouse in Bettiscombe, Dorset — and legend says it cannot be removed without the house filling with screams. This episode tells the story of the Screaming Skull, the dying wish that was denied, and the history that will not stay buried.

In an old stone house in Cumberland, a brother and his two sisters spent their first nights at Croglin Grange — until a pale face appeared at the bedroom window, scratching at the glass. This episode tells the story of England's oldest vampire legend, the creature in the churchyard vault, and why the tale refuses to die.