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November 11 Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary
Is the Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary Haunted?
This episode Ghostly heads about 40 miles northwest of Knoxville, to a narrow Tennessee valley walled in by steep ridgelines and the prison the state called the End of the Line. For 113 years, Brushy Mountain held the men Tennessee couldn’t hold anywhere else, and the mountains were supposed to be the guard that never slept. Then in 1977, seven men went over the wall, and one of them was James Earl Ray. Rebecca heads down into the Hole and up to Tier 3, while Pat sorts out which parts of Brushy’s history hold up and which are lore nobody ever fact-checked. You decide: genuine haunting, or entirely senseless talk?
The History
Brushy Mountain exists because Tennessee lost a labor war. In 1891, free coal miners at Coal Creek and Briceville, undercut by the state’s practice of leasing out convicts as near-free labor, burned the prison stockades and shipped the prisoners to Knoxville. The cost and public backlash pushed the state to end convict leasing, so it built its own prison mine instead. On January 1, 1896, about 210 prisoners became Brushy’s first inmates, living in a wooden prison they built themselves. In the 1930s, inmates replaced it with the castle-like stone building that stands today, quarried from rock on the property. For decades, Brushy was a prison and a working coal mine at the same time, until mining ended in the mid-to-late 1960s. In 1972, guards went on strike over dangerous conditions, and the state closed the prison until 1976. On June 10, 1977, James Earl Ray, serving 99 years for the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., went over the wall with six other men on a ladder made of pipe. He was caught about two and a half days later in the mountains nearby. In 1981, he was stabbed 22 times in the prison law library and later moved to Nashville. In February 1982, seven white inmates sawed out of their cells, took four guards hostage and shot Black inmates locked in their cells, killing two. The last inmates were bused out on June 4, 2009. Brushy reopened to the public in 2018 with tours, concerts, a distillery and the Warden’s Table restaurant, and paranormal tours run year-round.
The Hauntings
Cell 28 and the cell blocks: The tour points visitors to a cell it says was James Earl Ray’s, and it’s one of the most reported spots in the prison. On an overnight investigation, one visitor heard a loud bang near a cell, asked if anyone was there, and the device answered “I’m here.” Minutes later: “I got smacked on the backpack.” Pat has a question about whose cell it really was.
The Hole: Brushy’s original solitary block, where men were locked in total darkness for up to 30 days and some lost their sight. Guides have refused to let cameras inside because “the ghost is camera shy.” One visitor’s husband felt nausea and chest pains the moment he reached the bottom of the stairs. Tennessee Tourism’s own investigators could only stand in front of the cells for a few minutes.
The Auditorium and “The Creeper”: Two men had their throats cut there during movie nights. One of them is said to crawl across the floor on all fours. On a 2016 local news tour, a visitor watched a shadow pass through the light: “it was just like someone walked by, but there wasn’t nobody there.”
James and the cigarette: On Tier 3, where two Black inmates were shot to death in their cells in 1982, the legend says that if you rest a lit cigarette on the bars, James will take a drag. Watch the evidence: the cigarette investigation we called out in the episode is from Exploration Unknown on YouTube.
The man in the breezeway: Lead guide Jaime Brock followed a man through the breezeway into the office area, thinking he was on her tour. When she looked up, no one was there. That same night, a reporter heard clear whistling on the third-floor cell block, and nobody admitted to it.
Rebecca also has a first-person story from the Hole. Tune in for that one.
Music & Sound Credits
Music performed by Michael Rivers. “Pat Facts” and “Ghost Story” themes by Mondo. “Time for a Debate” theme by Gail Gallagher — gailgallaghermusic.com
Weigh In
Got a ghost story? Call or text us at the number mentioned in the episode Aftermath section. You might hear it on the show! To vote, text the episode title with YES (believer) or NO (skeptic), plus a haunting score from 1–10. This week, also tell us: would you spend a night on the Brushy Mountain paranormal tour?
Listener Mail
Email [email protected] or use the contact form at GhostlyPodcast.com. You can also write to us at PO Box #264, Geneva, IL 60134.
Support the Show
Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, or join us on Patreon at GhostlyPodcast.com (tiers from 1–10).
Next Time on Ghostly
We cross the Atlantic to Borley Rectory. The new episode airs 11/25/2026. Stay Ghostly.
Tags: #GhostlyPodcast #BrushyMountain #BrushyMountainStatePenitentiary #HauntedTennessee #HauntedPrison #EndOfTheLine #JamesEarlRay #ParanormalPodcast #TrueHauntings #HauntedHistory #GhostStories
Sources
Brushy Mountain Cigarette Investigation — Exploration Unknown, YouTube (featured in this episode)
Historic Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary — Official Site
Visit Brushy: Tours & Hours — Historic Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary
Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary — Wikipedia
Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary — Clio
Brushy Mountain Prison — TNGenWeb, Morgan County
Back to Brushy Mountain: The Historic Prison’s Past and Future — WBIR
Haunted Tennessee: What Happened at Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary — WATE
Brushy Mountain Moves Last Inmates — Tennessee Department of Correction (Jun 4, 2009)
Brushy Mountain Closing Ceremony — Tennessee Department of Correction (Jun 3, 2009)
Tenn. Prison That Housed MLK Assassin Closes Doors — Associated Press via Police1 (2009)
The Nation: Ray’s Breakout — TIME (1977)
Four Years Ago, James Earl Ray Was Trying to Elude… — UPI (Jun 9, 1981)
James Earl Ray: Timeline — CBS News
James Earl Ray and the Brushy Mountain Breakout — Knoxville News Sentinel via The Commercial Appeal (2018)
Day Tripping to Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary — Chattanooga Pulse
Barkley Marathons — Wikipedia
Tour of Tennessee Haunted Prison Not for Faint of Heart — WATE (Oct 31, 2016)
POV: Real Experiences at Local Haunted Places in Tennessee — TNVacation (2025)
Tennessee Tourism Team’s Brushy Mountain EVP Audio — Google Drive
Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary: Where Ghosts, Moonshine and History Collide — Haunt Jaunts (2019)
Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary — FrightFind
Paranormal Night Tour — Tripadvisor review (Oct 2019)
Episode 7: Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary — Tennessee Ghosts and Legends (2022)
The Ghosts of Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary — The Dreadful Truth (2026)
Nick Groff Investigates… Brushy Mountain Penitentiary — JoBlo (2019)
The Haunted Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary — Amy’s Crypt (2022)
Ghost Asylum S3E10: Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary — TheTVDB
50 min
October 28 195 Lizzie Borden House
Ghostly wraps up Haunted Murder Houses at the Lizzie Borden House in Fall River, Massachusetts. In 1892, Andrew and Abby Borden were killed with a hatchet, and Lizzie was tried and acquitted. Today, guests can sleep in the room where Abby died. Rebecca tracks the body-shaped impression on the bed and the mist that drifts to Andrew’s sofa, while Pat sticks to the record. You decide: genuine haunting, or entirely senseless talk?
1 hr 5 min
October 21 194 LaLaurie Mansion
Is the LaLaurie Mansion Haunted?
Content advisory: This episode discusses the torture and deaths of enslaved people in 1830s New Orleans. Some of the language is graphic, though never explicit. It may not be suitable for all listeners.
This episode of Ghostly visits the LaLaurie Mansion. Every night in the French Quarter, people gather on the corner of Royal and Governor Nicholls and tilt their phones up at a three-story gray house that nobody is allowed to enter. In 1834, a kitchen fire exposed what Delphine LaLaurie had been doing to the people she enslaved. A mob tore the house apart, and Madame escaped, never to face trial. This week, Haunted Murder Houses heads to New Orleans. Rebecca follows the little girl on the roof and the man in chains, while Pat separates what the 1834 record actually shows from almost two centuries of legend. You decide: genuine haunting, or entirely senseless talk?
The History
Delphine LaLaurie was a wealthy New Orleans socialite famous for her lavish parties at 1140 Royal Street. Rumors about how she treated the people she enslaved circulated for years. Then, on April 10, 1834, a kitchen fire broke out. Bystanders broke down the doors to the slave quarters and found seven people in restraints, and the cook, chained to the stove, said she set the fire herself. A mob wrecked the house, and Delphine fled to Paris, never to face trial. The house standing today was rebuilt after 1838, and the most gruesome versions of the story first appeared in books written more than a century later. Nicolas Cage bought the house in 2007 and lost it to foreclosure two years later.
The Hauntings
Leah, the little girl on the roof: According to the lore, an enslaved child fled Madame’s whip and fell from the roof. Since the 1800s, passersby have reported a ghost child on the rooftop. One guide’s dead streetlamps flickered on the moment she said the girl’s name.
The man in chains: The house’s most-reported ghost. Tenement tenants in the 1890s said he attacked them and then vanished. A housekeeper who didn’t know the house’s history saw “a tall dark man with chains around his neck” and never went back.
Madame never left: After the Civil War, when the house was a girls’ school, students showed up with scratched arms and blamed “that woman.” Visitors still report a woman watching from the upper windows.
Screams, moans, and the smell of smoke: The cook chained to the stove is said to remain. A stench of burnt, rotting meat comes and goes with no source.
The house that won’t keep an owner: The 1837 buyer lasted three months. A boarding house opened in 1884 and closed soon after. Jules Vignie was found dead in the attic in 1892. A tenant who complained of “sprites” was murdered in 1894. Nicolas Cage reportedly never spent a single night there.
Rebecca also has a first-person story from the sidewalk on Royal Street. Tune in for that one.
Music & Sound Credits
Music performed by Michael Rivers. “Pat Facts” and “Ghost Story” themes by Mondo. “Time for a Debate” theme by Gail Gallagher — gailgallaghermusic.com
Weigh In
Got a ghost story? Call or text us (hear the number in the episode). You might hear it on the show! To vote, text the episode title with YES (believer) or NO (skeptic), plus a haunting score from 1–10.
Listener Mail
Email [email protected] or use the contact form at GhostlyPodcast.com. You can also write to us at PO Box #264, Geneva, IL 60134.
Support the Show
Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, or join us on Patreon at GhostlyPodcast.com (tiers from $1–$10).
Next Time on Ghostly
Haunted Murder Houses wraps up with the Lizzie Borden House. The new episode airs 10/28/2026. Stay Ghostly.
Tags: #GhostlyPodcast #LaLaurieMansion #MadameLaLaurie #HauntedNewOrleans #FrenchQuarter #HauntedLouisiana #HauntedMurderHouses #ParanormalPodcast #TrueHauntings #HauntedHistory #GhostStories
Sources
Delphine LaLaurie — Wikipedia
Delphine LaLaurie — 64 Parishes (Carolyn Morrow Long)
Mistress of the Haunted House — 64 Parishes
What Really Happened at the LaLaurie House? — Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans
1889: Lalaurie Mansion — New Orleans Magazine
The LaLaurie Mansion 1832 — BlackPast
Delphine LaLaurie and Her Haunted Mansion — Legends of America
LaLaurie Mansion — Atlas Obscura
Madame Delphine LaLaurie: The True Story — Ghost City Tours
Can I Go Inside the LaLaurie Mansion? — Ghost City Tours
Nicolas Cage: Movie Star, Foreclosure Victim — CNN Money
Haunted New Orleans Mansion That Nicolas Cage Lost to Foreclosure Lists for $10.25M — New York Post (via AOL)
Haunted French Quarter Mansion Once Owned by Nicolas Cage for Sale — WWL-TV
The Ghosts of the Haunted LaLaurie Mansion — Ghost City Tours
Working at the LaLaurie House — Reddit r/Paranormal
The Most Haunted Places in Each State — Ranker
MARDI-GRAve: The LaLaurie House — Dread Central
The Ghosts of LaLaurie Mansion — Marlene Pardo Pellicer
Haunted Crime Scenes: The City That Loves the Dead — Crime Library
The Most Haunted Place in Louisiana: The LaLaurie Mansion — The Advocate
Goth Chick News: Mad Madame LaLaurie — Black Gate
Beyond Depraved: LaLaurie Mansion’s Death Attic — Vocal Media
Inside Madame LaLaurie’s House of Horrors — Urban Legends, Mystery & Myth
50 Most Haunted Places in America — Best Life
https://ghostlypodcast.com/episode/194-lalaurie-mansion
1 hr 3 min
October 14193 Lemp Mansion
Content advisory: This episode discusses several deaths by suicide in the Lemp family. If you or someone you love is struggling, call or text 988, the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline (U.S.), any time.
Is the Lemp Mansion Haunted?
In this episode, Ghostly heads to the Lemp Mansion, and we have a special guest. Kyle Maiden spent the night at the Lemp while driving Route 66 across the country, and he tells us what happened after the last staff member went home. Pat tells us the sad history of the Lemp family.
Special Guest: Kyle Maiden
Kyle Maiden is the founder of Picard, Projiq, and HUMAN Project Delivery, an innovator in project management delivery, and the host of Project Management After Dark. On a cross-country trip down Route 66, which once ran right through St. Louis, he booked a night at the Lemp Mansion. He came back with stories, and he shares them with us on this episode.
Follow Kyle on Instagram: @kyle.maiden
The History
German immigrant Johann Adam Lemp arrived in St. Louis in 1838 and is credited with bringing lager beer to the city. His son William built the Lemp Brewery into the largest in St. Louis and bought the mansion at 3322 DeMenil Place, connected by tunnel to the family’s lagering caves. Then tragedy took over. Favorite son Frederick died at 28 in 1901, and William Sr. shot himself in his bedroom in 1904. Daughter Elsa died by suicide in 1920. Prohibition shut the brewery, which sold at auction in 1922 for a fraction of its worth, and that December William Jr. shot himself in his office, in the same house where his father died. Charles Lemp, the last of the family to live there, followed in 1949. The mansion became a run-down boarding house until the Pointer family bought it in 1975 and turned it into a restaurant and inn. In 1980, Life magazine named it one of the most haunted houses in America. In September 2026, the Pointers put it up for sale. It stays open through December 2027.
The Hauntings
The Lavender Lady — William Jr.’s ex-wife Lillian, who wore nothing but lavender. Guests report a purple apparition, the scent of lavender by her portrait, and a smoky silhouette of a woman caught on film in the bar doorway.
Charles and his dog — the last Lemp, still said to walk the halls with his Doberman. Investigators asked, “Is there anyone here with us?” and caught a dog barking on the recording.
The man with the key — a 2004 tour group found a guest room standing open with a key in the lock, then remembered passing a pale older man with a key in the hallway. No one like him was working or staying there that night.
The peeping ghost in the ladies’ room — William Jr.’s old private bathroom, where women still report a man looking over the top of the stall.
The house that wouldn’t let anyone stay — boarders hearing knocks and footsteps, renovation workers who walked off the job, and staff who watch glasses fly off the bar and hear the piano play by itself.
Rebecca also has a first-person story from the attic, and Kyle tells us about his own night in the mansion. Tune in for both.
Music & Sound Credits
Music performed by Michael Rivers. “Pat Facts” and “Ghost Story” themes by Mondo. “Time for a Debate” theme by Gail Gallagher — gailgallaghermusic.com
Listener Mail
Email [email protected] or the contact form at GhostlyPodcast.com, or write us at PO Box #264, Geneva, IL 60134.
Support the Show
Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, or join us on Patreon at GhostlyPodcast.com (tiers from $1–$10).
Next Time on Ghostly
Haunted Murder Houses continues with the LaLaurie Mansion — new episode airs 10/21/2026. Stay Ghostly.
Tags: #GhostlyPodcast #LempMansion #HauntedStLouis #HauntedMissouri #Route66 #HauntedMurderHouses #ParanormalPodcast #TrueHauntings #HauntedHistory #GhostStories
Sources
History
History of the Lemp Mansion — Lemp Mansion (Official Site)
The Haunted Lemp Mansion in St. Louis — Legends of America
St. Louis’ Haunted and Historic Lemp Mansion Is for Sale — St. Louis Public Radio
St. Louis’ Haunted Lemp Mansion Is for Sale, but Stays Open Through 2027 — Haunted Attraction Network
Hauntings & Paranormal Reports
The Lemp Mansion — Prairie Ghosts (Troy Taylor)
Lemp Mansion Haunted History — KSDK 5 On Your Side
This Is What It’s Like to Take a Ghost Tour of the Lemp Mansion with a Psychic — St. Louis Magazine
Lemp Mansion Investigation — Aislinn Marshall
Lemp Mansion EVPs — Aislinn Marshall (SoundCloud)
The Lemp Mansion — Dread Central
Local Haunted House Offers Real Thrills and Chills — Lancer Feed
Ghost Photographed at Notoriously Haunted Mansion in St. Louis? — Coast to Coast AM
America’s Most Haunted Bathrooms — Roadtrippers
Syfy — Ghost Hunters Season 6 Episode Recap, “Lemp Mansion”
1 hr 19 min
October 07192 Villisca Axe Murder House
Is the Villisca Axe House Haunted?
Content advisory: This episode discusses a real mass murder in which six children were killed, plus violence, death, and a 2014 self-harm incident. If you or someone you love is struggling, call or text 988, the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline (U.S.), any time.
On a Sunday night in June 1912, eight people went to sleep in a modest two-story house in Villisca, Iowa, and none of them woke up. More than a century later, the case is still unsolved, the house is still standing, and you can still book a night inside. Kicking off our October series, Haunted Murder Houses, Rebecca follows the children who never stopped playing, while Pat lays out the suspect list: a confession that got taken back, a state senator with a grudge, and a hired man with a payroll alibi. You decide: genuine haunting, or entirely senseless talk?
The History
In 1912, Villisca was a small railroad town of about 2,000 people with nearly 30 trains stopping every day. On June 9, Josiah and Sarah Moore, their four children (Herman, Katherine, Boyd, and Paul), and two young overnight guests, sisters Lena and Ina Stillinger, came home from the Children’s Day program at the Presbyterian church. Sometime after midnight, someone entered the house with Joe Moore’s own axe and killed all eight. Mirrors and windows were draped, faces were covered, and the killer slipped out before dawn. Townspeople trampled the crime scene, and the suspects followed: state senator Frank Jones, the hired man William “Blackie” Mansfield, and the traveling preacher Rev. George Kelly, who confessed, recanted, and was acquitted in 1917. No one was ever convicted. Restored to its 1912 appearance in the 1990s and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997, the house is now open for tours and overnight stays.
The Hauntings
The children who never stopped playing — balls that roll across the kids’ room on their own, and doors that bang shut, according to former owner Darwin Linn. When WHO Radio’s Van and Bonnie spent the night, three balls “just took off all in different directions.”
The man with the axe — in 1930, newlywed Bonnie Ritner said she saw a man holding an axe at the foot of her bed. Visitors have reported the same “shadow man” ever since.
Lena’s closet — a closet door that banged behind Darwin Linn as he carried guests’ coins downstairs, and a 1999 investigator who called the house “borderline demonic.”
Footsteps on the stairs — ordinary overnight guests hearing someone climb the stairs and walk overhead when nobody else was in the house. “But we knew what we heard.”
The night things got real — a 2014 overnight that ended in an emergency, and the longtime caretaker who stopped staying the night afterward.
Music Credits
Music performed by Michael Rivers.
“Pat Facts” and “Ghost Story” themes by Mondo.
“Time for a Debate” theme by Gail Gallagher — gailgallaghermusic.com
Weigh In
Got a ghost story? Call or text us. Hear the phone number on the episode. You might hear it on the show. Vote by texting the episode title with YES (believer) or NO (skeptic), plus a haunting score from 1–10.
Listener Mail
Email [email protected] or the contact form at GhostlyPodcast.com, or write us at PO Box #264, Geneva, IL 60134.
Support the Show
Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, or join us on Patreon at GhostlyPodcast.com (tiers from $1–$10).
Sources
History
The Ax Murderer Who Got Away — Smithsonian Magazine
Villisca axe murders — Wikipedia
Josiah B. and Sara Moore House — Wikipedia
The Villisca Axe Murders — Iowa Cold Cases
Henry Lee Moore — Wikipedia
The Man from the Train — Wikipedia
Hauntings & Paranormal Reports
Villisca Axe Murder House — US Ghost Adventures (official site)
Ax Murder House — Sioux City Journal
Van and Bonnie Spend the Night at the Villisca Ax Murder House — WHO 13
Team of Ghost Hunters Investigate Infamous Villisca Axe Murder House — KETV
My Experience at the Villisca Ax Murder House — JHS Black & White
Strange Occurrences Abound at the Villisca Ax Murder House — Roadtrippers
Why Did a Ghost Hunter Stab Himself Inside a Famous Axe-Murder House? — VICE
The Time a Ghost Hunter Stabbed Himself at My Axe Murder Museum — VICE
1 hr 3 min
September 30 191 Buffalo Central Terminal
It's one of the most impressive train stations ever built in America, and for most of its life, it's been standing completely empty. This episode, Rebecca tracks down the spirits who never left Buffalo's Central Terminal, while Pat digs into how a building this grand ended up abandoned for over forty years. You decide: genuine haunting, or entirely senseless talk?
54 min
September 16190 Mary King’s Close in Edinburgh, Scotland
Is Mary King’s Close Edinburgh’s Most Haunted Street?
Beneath a grand 18th-century stone building on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile — one that gives no hint of what’s underneath — sits an entire street frozen in time. Rooms, staircases, even fireplaces, sealed beneath the foundations when the Royal Exchange went up in 1753. Mary King’s Close was home to merchants, tradespeople, and, in 1645, some of the city’s worst plague victims. Today it’s one of the most investigated haunted sites in the UK, and almost every tour still ends in the same small stone room, in front of a pile of children’s toys.
This week, Rebecca walks through Wee Annie, the EVP session at Andrew Chesney’s house, the Coltheart family’s disembodied limbs, a namesake ghost caught on infrared, and a real University of Edinburgh study that found something genuinely hard to explain — while Pat digs into who Mary King actually was, what Edinburgh’s Old Town was really like, and why the close’s most famous “true story” doesn’t hold up to the historical record. Is Mary King’s Close genuinely haunted, or is four centuries of plague, poverty, and marketing doing a very convincing impression of one? You decide.
What We Cover in This Episode
The History (with Pat):
Who Mary King really was — a 1630s textile merchant and one of the few women in 17th-century Scotland to hold full burgess rights
What Edinburgh’s Old Town actually looked like: 8-to-12-story tenements, no sanitation, and a city crammed onto one narrow ridge
The 1645 plague outbreak that devastated the close — and why the popular “300 people sealed in with a named plague doctor” story doesn’t hold up against the historical record
How the Royal Exchange was built directly on top of the close in 1753, sealing it underground for 250 years
Andrew Chesney, the close’s last documented resident, forced out between 1897 and 1902
The Real Mary King’s Close opening to the public in 2003 after years of restoration
The Hauntings (with Rebecca):
Evidence #1 — Wee Annie: Japanese psychic Aiko Gibo’s 1990s encounter that turned one small room into the close’s signature haunting — and its ever-growing pile of donated dolls
Evidence #2 — Andrew Chesney’s House: an EVP session that allegedly caught his voice telling investigators to “just get out”
Evidence #3 — The Coltheart Family: a 17th-century lawyer’s household terrorized by a disembodied arm, a phantom child, and a vanishing dog
Evidence #4 — Mary King Herself: an infrared photograph said to show the close’s own namesake still walking her old street
Evidence #5 — The University of Edinburgh’s Haunting Experiment: a real 2001 academic study that found a statistically significant gap between “haunted” and “ordinary” sections of the close
Weigh the Evidence
As always, it’s not up to us, it’s up to YOU. After listening, text us the episode title, add YES if you’re a believer or NO if you’re a skeptic, and give it a haunting score from 1 to 10.
(312) 869-9929
Or head to our social pages and tell us which piece of evidence convinced you — and which one Pat managed to talk you out of.
Music Credits
Music for this episode was performed by Michael Rivers.
“Pat Facts” and “Ghost Story” themes by Mondo.
“Time for a Debate” theme by Gail Gallagher — gailgallaghermusic.com
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Sources for This Week’s Episode
Mary King (merchant) — Wikipedia
Mary King’s Close — Wikipedia
Edinburgh City Chambers — Wikipedia
Edinburgh: The Old Town — Britannica
The Eerily Abandoned 17th-Century Streets of Edinburgh — History Skills
Lost Edinburgh: The Great Plague of 1645 — The Scotsman
Eerily Fascinating Mary King’s Close in Line for Tourism Award — Edinburgh News
The Plague in Scotland — National Library of Scotland
The Real Mary King’s Close — Official Site
Who Was Mary King? — Real Mary King’s Close Blog
Edinburgh’s Plague Doctor: The True Story — Real Mary King’s Close Blog
Mary King’s Close — Atlas Obscura
400 Years of History, Previously Buried — Traveling Boy
Mary King’s Close — Exploring GB
Mary King’s Close — Introducing Edinburgh
Haunted Edinburgh: The Ghostly Spectres That Still Walk Mary King’s Close Today — Edinburgh News
The Ghosts of Mary King’s Close — Spooky Isles
The Ghosts of Mary King’s Close, Edinburgh — Haunted Rooms
Ghost Finders Scotland Investigation — Ghost Club
The Ghosts of Mary King’s Close — The Scotsman
The Haunting Experiment of Edinburgh Castle (Wiseman/Watt study) — Association of Paranormal Study
Mary King’s Close — Ghostwatch
1 hr 20 min
September 02189 Preston Castle
Is Preston Castle Haunted?
In this episode of Ghostly, we head to the tiny Gold Rush town of Ione, California, to explore Preston Castle — a red-brick, Romanesque Revival reform school with a dark past and a reputation as one of the West Coast’s most active haunted locations. Built to correct troubled boys, the castle instead became the site of beatings, escapes, and at least one unsolved murder. Decades after it closed, staff, tour guides, and paranormal investigators all say the same thing: it never really emptied out.
History of Preston Castle
Established in 1890 by the California State Legislature as a progressive reform school for juvenile offenders; the cornerstone was laid December 23, 1890, in front of roughly 2,500 spectators
Built in the Romanesque Revival style — considered the finest example of that style in the Mother Lode — using bricks manufactured at San Quentin and Folsom prisons from locally quarried sandstone
The first wards were accepted June 13, 1894, and the school officially opened July 1, 1894; electricity arrived the following year via a water-wheel-powered Pelton dynamo
At its peak, the school held around 800 wards, employed 200 staff, and worked roughly 1,000 acres of surrounding farmland across some 50 buildings
Discipline behind the scenes was harsh: public lashings, isolation, military-style drills, and “dunking baths” meant to treat lice were all part of daily life for the boys sent here
The school closed in 1960 when the state opened newer facilities, and the castle sat vacant and deteriorating for more than 40 years
Local preservationists fought off demolition; the nonprofit Preston Castle Foundation leased the property in 2001 and took full ownership in 2014
Today it’s a California Historical Landmark (#867) and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, with the Foundation running public tours and events on-site
Reported Paranormal Activity
Visitors, staff, and investigators have reported disembodied footsteps and voices, sudden temperature drops, physical touches ranging from a light brush to a hard poke, and cameras or recorders draining batteries or glitching with no explanation. It’s earned Preston Castle a spot on nearly every “most haunted place in California” list out there.
The Ghost of Anna Corbin
The castle’s most well-known haunting centers on Anna Corbin, the head housekeeper who was like a mother figure to the boys at Preston. In February 1950, she was beaten and strangled in a basement storeroom. Three separate trials followed — and nobody was ever convicted. Locals believe her spirit still can’t leave, and that she’s the one still walking the basement, and the halls, checking on “her boys.”
The Infirmary
Widely considered the most consistently active room in the building. The infirmary treated wards who fell ill, and some — including 8-year-old Grant Walker and 20-year-old Nicholas Hamilton — never left. Visitors report figures standing at the infirmary windows that vanish the moment they’re noticed, along with faint voices and movement in a room that should be empty.
The Basement
Beyond Anna’s room, the basement as a whole has a reputation as the heaviest, most unsettling part of the castle — cold spots with no source, shadow figures along the walls, and a dread so strong some investigators refuse to go down at all.
On Camera: The Ghost Adventures Investigation
When the Ghost Adventures crew investigated Preston Castle, they captured EVPs including “I don’t know,” “talk,” and “get out of here,” along with mist and orbs moving near their own heads on camera. More than one crew member came out of the basement with fresh, unexplained scratches — and Zak Bagans reportedly behaved so differently down there that the rest of the crew wondered if he’d been influenced by Anna herself.
Spirits of the Wards
Some of the castle’s activity is tied to the boys who lived — and in some cases died — here. Reports include child-like laughter with no children around, faint crying, and small shadow figures darting through the halls. Two names recur often in the lore: Sam Goins and Herman Huber, both shot by guards during separate escape attempts in the early 1900s.
Listen now: GhostlyPodcast.com or wherever you get your podcasts.
Vote on the Evidence: Do you think Preston Castle is truly haunted? Cast your vote at GhostlyPodcast.com/polls
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And tell us – do you believe?
#GhostlyPodcast #PrestonCastle #IoneCalifornia #CaliforniaGhosts #Paranormal #HauntedHistory #HauntedReformSchool #SpookyTravel
Patreon and GhostlyX
Join our Patreon for all sorts of great extra Ghostly, including early, commercial-free episodes. Join today: ghostlypodcast.com/support/
We want to hear from you with your ghost stories! Email us at [email protected]. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at GhostlyPodcast.
Music for this episode was performed by Michael Rivers
“Pat Facts” and “Ghost Story” themes by Mondo
“Time for a Debate” theme by Gail Gallagher gailgallaghermusic.com
Sources for this week’s episode
Preston Castle Foundation — History
Preston Castle Foundation — Tours
The Harsh, Eerie History of Preston Castle — Merced County Times
The Preston Castle: A Tragic Blend of Mystery, History, and Horror — Calexplornia
Historic Haunt — San Joaquin Magazine
Preston Castle — Haunted US
Preston Castle Ghost Stories and History — BeyondHaunted.com
The History of Preston Castle — Paranormal Legacy
Preston Castle (episode) — Ghost Adventures Wiki
Preston Castle: A Paranormal Investigator’s Paradise — 209 Magazine
Preston Castle — Haunted Reform School — Hauntpedia
Ghost Hunt: Preston Castle in Ione, California — Ghostly Activities
1 hr 2 min
August 19Summer Rewind - Wrigley Field
Is Wrigley Field Haunted?
Welcome to the final episode of the Ghostly Summer Rewind! We’re closing out our summer trip through the vault with a hometown favorite – and our milestone 100th episode.
This one originally aired in the summer of 2022. We saved it for last on purpose: it’s dropping during Cubs–White Sox Crosstown weekend at Wrigley, which felt like the perfect note to end the summer on. Thanks for riding out the Rewind with us! New episodes return this fall!
It’s Ghostly’s 100th episode! Wrigley Field is an iconic building in Chicago and the home of the Cubs baseball team. But it’s also filled with ghost stories of past managers, announcers, and fans. Is it haunted? Listen and vote!
Questions Explored in this Episode
Where is Wrigley Field located in Chicago? What was the neighborhood like before and now? Who built it and why? How did the Cubs end up playing there? Who named it Wrigley? How has it changed over the years? What was the curse of the Billy Goat? Who are Charles Grimm, Steve Goodman, and Harry Caray and do they haunt the park?
Listener Mail
This week’s listener mail is about a helpful ghost. Have a spooky story or question of your own (or someone you know)? Send your story or question to [email protected] and we might read it on the podcast. You could be on a future episode of Ghostly!
History of Wrigley Field
Pat explores the history of Wrigley and how it came to be built where the Chicago Lutheran Theological Seminary was located. He tells us about the Federal League, the Chi-Feds (Chicago Whales), and Charles Weeghman. Learn how the field came to be the home of the Chicago Cubs and also how the Chicago Bears once played there.
The Debate
Pat and Rebecca debate if the field is haunted. The three famous ghosts are Charles Grimm, Steve Goodman, and Harry Caray. All have been seen around the park and Grimm is said to call the bullpen phones in the middle of the night.
Visit our website, www.ghostlypodcast.com, to learn more about Ghostly, and, of course, give us your opinion on our polls.
Support Ghostly
How can you help support Ghostly?
Leave us a rating and a review.
Support us on Patreon! Check out all the rewards of becoming a Patreon supporter of Ghostly, including our new show, GhostlyX!
Ghostly Gear right on our website at ghostlypodcast.com/store! T-shirts, Hoodies, Masks and more.
Sources for this Week’s Episode
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrigley_Field and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_of_the_Billy_Goat
MLB.com– https://www.mlb.com/cubs/ballpark
Ballparks.com: https://ballparks.com/baseball/national/wrigle.htm
Last Word On Sports: https://lastwordonsports.com/baseball/2020/10/14/haunted-wrigley-field-a-tale-of-its-haunts/
America’s Haunted Road Trip: http://americashauntedroadtrip.com/wrigley-field-is-the-ballpark-haunted/
Windy City Ghosts: https://windycityghosts.com/wrigley-field/
Waymarking: https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMTX7T_Wrigley_Field_Chicago_Illinois
Mysterious Universe: https://mysteriousuniverse.org/2019/04/haunted-wrigley-field-and-the-curse-of-the-billy-goat/
Huff Post: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-ghost-of-wrigley-fiel_b_12692296
Music for this episode was performed by Michael Rivers
Intro: “III. Allegro moderato from Gargoyles”by Lowell Liebermann
Outro: “Dream Images (Love-Death Music)” by George Crumb
Bumper: “Ghost Waltz” by Lowell Liebermann
“Pat Facts” and “Ghost Story” themes by Mondo
“Time for a Debate” theme by Gail Gallagher gailgallaghermusic.com
1 hr 24 min
August 05 Summer Rewind - Terrace Inn
Is the Terrace Inn in Petosky, MI haunted?
Welcome to the Ghostly Summer Rewind! While we take a short break from new episodes this summer, we’re reaching back into the vault to re-release five of our favorite episodes.
This one originally aired in spring 2023. There’s no more fitting Rewind for a warm August night than a haunted summer inn on the shores of Lake Michigan. Whether you’re hearing it for the first time or revisiting an old favorite, thanks for spending part of your summer with us. New episodes return this fall!
In this episode Pat and Rebecca discuss and debate the history and paranormal stories at one of Michigan’s most haunted hotels. Or is it?
Patreon and GhostlyX
Join our Patreon for all sorts of great extra Ghostly, including our bonus show, GhostlyX, which comes out on the opposite weeks of Ghostly. We talk about listener comments, share paranormal news, and talk to interesting guests, and cover extra ghostly stories. You can also get early access to Ghostly episodes, and a monthly AMA with Pat and Rebecca! Join today: ghostlypodcast.com/support/
Visit our website, www.ghostlypodcast.com, to learn more about Ghostly, and, of course, give us your opinion on our polls.
We want to hear from you! We want your ghost stories! Email us at [email protected]. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at GhostlyPodcast.
Sources for this Week’s Episode
Terrace Inn Is Haunted Hotel In Petoskey, Michigan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petoskey,_Michigan
Wonderfully charming and haunted – Review of Terrace Inn and 1911 Restaurant, Petoskey, MI – Tripadvisor
HAUNTED MICHIGAN: Are You Brave Enough to Spend the Night at the Terrace Inn in Petoskey?
About Us – Petoskey, Michigan | The Terrace Inn and 1911 Restaurant
Inside the Haunted Terrace Inn in Petoskey – 9&10 News
Haunted History – Petoskey, Michigan | The Terrace Inn and 1911 Restaurant
Things That Go Bump in the Night | Features | Northern Express
(283) HAUNTED PLACES IN MICHIGAN, SEE THE DOOR CLOSE! The Terrace Inn Petoskey MI,Tyler Selph Oct 2020 – YouTube
Terrace Inn and 1911 Restaurant | Haunted Places | Petoskey, MI 49770
Ghosts of Northern Michigan’s Past | 106 KHQ
A Taste of the Past – Issuu
Music for this episode was performed by Michael Rivers
“Pat Facts” and “Ghost Story” themes by Mondo
“Time for a Debate” theme by Gail Gallagher gailgallaghermusic.com
1 hr 13 min