Epitaph

In May of 1916, detectives in Czinkota, Hungary, made a gruesome discovery: two dozen people, drained of blood, and preserved in metal barrels full of wood alcohol. Their murderer was Bela Kiss, a man who'd been recently killed in World War I.

Except that, even after his supposed death, Bela Kiss continued to be seen and continued to remain one step ahead of capture for the next three decades.

On this episode, we explore the gruesome crimes of serial killer Bela Kiss, the Vampire of Czinkota.

The most common place to encounter a vampire today is in the Young Adult Fiction section of your local bookstore, or in the movies and television shows that are inspired by these novels. But, to the peoples of southeastern Europe, where the dead have long been believed to have the ability to harm living, the vampire is something far more serious.

In this episode, we will explore the stories -- well-documented by historians, priests and surgeons -- of three men from the 17th and 18th centuries who lives, and whose continued appearances after death, were the inspiration for much of what we believe about vampires today.

Resurrection Mary is one of Chicago's most famous ghosts.

For decades, people fascinated with the story have been trying to answer the question: Who was she?

Over the years, a number of "candidates" have been put forth. And, in researching this episode, we found one of our own.

On this episode, we present the story of Mary Kovac who, we believe, may have been the young woman whose ghost Jerry Palus met at the Liberty Grove and Hall in 1939: The original Resurrection Mary.

Resurrection Mary is one of Chicago's most famous ghosts and, over the years, a number of "candidates" have been put to answer the question: Who was she?

Mary Bregovy, like the girl in the Resurrection Mary legend, had lived on Damen Avenue and had died in an automobile accident in the 1930s. But, despite people who knew her while she was alive having reported seeing her on Archer Avenue after her death, Mary Bregovy didn't look like the girl who is normally described in Resurrection Mary sightings.

On this episode, we discuss how she fits into the Resurrection Mary legend.

The most famous Vanishing Hitchhiker in Chicago is, no doubt, Archer Avenue's Resurrection Mary.

And, we'll come back to that.

On this episode, we go the Des Plaines Avenue to tell the story of Chicago's *other* hitchhiking ghost: The Waldheim Flapper.

Between the towns of Uniondale and Willowmore, witnesses have reported encounters with Maria Roux, perhaps better known one of South Africa’s most famous ghosts: the Uniondale Hitchhiker.

The story is unbelievable, like something out of a bad horror film: A girl walking home along Wilfred Barrett Drive on the Central Coast of Australia is brutally assaulted and left for dead on Jenny Dixon Beach. After dying of the injuries they'd inflicted, her ghost seeks vengeance on the men who had attacked her, ending their lives one by one.

While the lore that surrounds it may have been embellished to the point of unbelievability, at its core, the story is true.

And what's more, her murder may have had ties to one of Australia's most famous unsolved crimes.

A girl walking quietly beside the road before disappearing. An old woman in a black tartan shawl carrying a bundle of sticks or heather, A girl who steps into traffic, disappearing after being struck. And a pari of Vanishing Hitchhikers.

Join us on this episode as we discuss the Many Ghosts of Blue Bell Hill.

On the anniversary of the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, we remember its victims through stories told by taxi drivers of the phantom fares of Ishinomaki.

Since the late 1930s, reports have surfaced of people seeing the spectral apparition of a young woman who'd drowned beneath the waves of White Rock Lake.

And, she isn't content to just ask strangers to drive her home.