Haunted Hospitality

Most of the time, the Earth works as it should. Water can be counted upon to rise, mist, and fall again when heavy. We get variations of this, of course: fog, snow, and hail, for example. But for the most part, the cycle is quite normal — except when it really, really isn't. 

In this episode, we explore two specific cases of odd precipitation: North Carolina's blood rain in 1884 and Alabama's eel rain in 1892. One thing to note: instances of "blood rain" that have been investigated don't turn out to be blood. The case we discuss is likely an exception.

But first, Zoey's here with her Something Spooky: Haunts from the Workplace!

Sources: https://hauntedhospitality.wordpress.com/2023/06/27/ep-117-blood-eels-and-rain

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We've covered the Emily Morgan Hotel, the Alamo, and now, the Menger Hotel. This hotel is estimated by experts to be home to 32 to 45 ghosts including, but not limited to, Teddy Roosevelt, Sallie the Chambermaid, Captain Richard King the Cow Baron, a lady in white, and a few kids running around. 

It's to be expected, with a long history of renovations, civil war efforts, and deaths to go around, that a place would be haunted. But large places are haunted big time and the Menger Hotel is no different.

But first, Robin brings us a Something Southern and springs another Southern Geography quiz onto Zoey, and she actually doesn't do to bad.

Sources: https://hauntedhospitality.wordpress.com/2023/06/20/ep-116-completing-the-alamo-plaza-with-the-menger-hotel/

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Welcome to the first installment of a new ongoing series: Frights in the Backcountry. We hunt the interwebs for personal accounts of spooky encounters and eerie events in rural areas of the American South. Think: backroads, small towns, and abandoned buildings.

In this episode, we dive into four stories of encounters with the paranormal, including: 1) the slow realization that a house is haunted; 2) a road that doesn't exist in the daytime; 3) what happens when you hit a ghost with your car; and 4) entering an abandoned church.

But first, Zoey's here with her Something Southern: The Castle in Beaufort, South Carolina!

Sources: https://hauntedhospitality.wordpress.com/2023/06/13/ep-115-frights-in-the-backcountry 

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Every so often, we get a case where you just look at it and say, "That can't be true." Not because the murder is so gruesome, or the killer is so stupid, but because the police haven't seemed to do their job properly. This is one of those cases.

Holly Bobo, a sweet but shy young woman, was seen arguing with a man and then walking into the woods with him, and then her body wasn't found for 3 years. Even when she was found, her remains were skeletal with not much evidence on what happened other than a bullet wound to the back of her skull.

The police seemed determined to pin the case on 6 local men, despite the evidence being circumstantial at best, pointing to a whole other person at worst. The first testimony they received that blamed these men for the case went against the little evidence they did have, as did the second, completely different story.

But the worst part of it was the heinous trial full of alleged evidence tampering, police coercion, and data leaks overshadowed the very real tragedy of a woman taken too soon from this world, and potentially allowed her killer to walk free.

TW: SA and Suicide

Sources: https://hauntedhospitality.wordpress.com/2023/06/06/ep-114-the-holly-bobo-case-and-a-mistrial-of-justice/

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Vampires — they can't live with us, and they can't live without us. Because they're undead! Throughout history, different cultures have developed their own conceptions of vampires: how they originate and their potential to inflict pain upon the living. Whether sparkly, lurking down darkened alleyways, or menacingly chewing underground, vampires tend to take up a lot of our imagination.

In this episode, we take a broad look at vampire lore as a whole. Then, we dive into two stories of southern vampires: the Casket Girls and the Richmond Vampire. Expect many, many Twilight references.

But first, Zoey is here with her Something Southern/Spooky: a book review on The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher.

Sources: https://hauntedhospitality.wordpress.com/2023/05/30/ep-113-the-vampire-episode

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 Have you ever been to one of those "haunted" houses with the actors that jump out at you? How about one where they were allowed to touch you? Ever want to experience it for real?

Then head over to the Old Jail in St. Augustine, Florida. A project funded by none other then Henry Flagler to make the prison less scary looking to tourists, the Old Jail was built in 1891 and saw a lot of horrors. The men and women imprisoned here were forced to do heavy labor and/or sex work, while the payment went to the prison. The conditions were terrible, hygiene was unheard of, and violence and death were regular occurrences.

The jail became a museum almost the same instant it was shut down, and many people believe the prison is haunted. Zoey takes us on a trip through time as she shares the horrible history and the paranormal aura that surrounds the prison. 

One of the main ghosts is a shadow figure known as the Crawler, described as a shadow within shadow that moves and crawls along the floor, following any unlucky victim it sets it's sights on, sometimes catching up and grabbing their ankle.

Zoey had to walk Robin to her car after they recorded.

But first, Robin brings us a hilarious tale from a small town near Boone, NC where a herd of cows lead police to a suspect from a high-speed chase as her Something Southern.

Sources: https://hauntedhospitality.wordpress.com/2023/05/23/ep-112-the-crawler-at-the-old-jail/

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We're going full haunted house in this episode! The McRaven House in Vicksburg, Mississippi is old — very, very old. Its first two rooms were built over 200 years ago in 1797, with the rest of the house to follow in the years 1836 and 1849. Today, you can find it just off the end of a residential road, surrounded by trees and foliage that once loomed so close to the property that vines broke into two upstairs windows.

Domineering former owners and playful ghost boys are said to roam the halls. But no spirit is more present than Mary Elizabeth Howard, the mischievous yet melancholic teenager who died in child birth. At the end of every haunted episode, we both rate how haunted we personally think the location is. And if you're a frequent listener, you know we aren't afraid to give a low rating and be honest with our thoughts. We both rated this one very, very highly.

But first, Zoey is here with her Something Southern: snack goodies from the Charleston City Market! Yum.

Sources: https://hauntedhospitality.wordpress.com/2023/05/16/ep-111-the-mcraven-house-in-vicksburg-mississippi

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In this week's episode, Zoey shares the case of Pamela Shelley, a woman from Ashdown, Arkansas. Pamela was found, shot, in her boyfriend's Texas home in 2001 after getting in an argument with her boyfriend, Ronnie. Pam and her two kids were set to move back to Arkansas with her first husband and the father of her children that same day due to friction in the household between Ronnie and Pam's daughter. 

While Pam survived the ride to the hospital, she died the next day. Ronnie's family told police that Pam had been suicidal because she loved Ronnie and wanted to stay with him, but she was afraid of her children being taken away from her. They claimed that Pam had taken her own life because she felt torn between two worlds. And the Medical Examiner agreed, and the case was ruled a suicide.

However, in 2008 and again in 2012 the case was looked into, and due to the work of the TV Show "Cold Justice", the case was open once more. 

But before we get into that, Robin's Something Southern this week is teaching us about the prominent river type of the south, the Blackwater River.

Also, Zoey was laid off in May and she shares that information with us. If you'd like to support her on her socials, you can click this link: https://linktr.ee/freakwithglasses or this one https://www.tiktok.com/@i.zerge. Also, you can support her husband by visiting his shop at https://afkthreads.com.

CW: Suicide

Sources: https://hauntedhospitality.wordpress.com/2023/05/09/ep-110-the-case-that-was-solved-by-tv/

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By all accounts, July 4, 1965 was a fairly normal  night for Madison and Marrs Cawein. They went out with their friends for Independence Day, and after some drinking and revelry, Marrs decided to turn in while Madison decided to stay out longer. She got back home around midnight, greeted the babysitter, and had a nightcap with the friend who drove her back before going to bed. No one — aside from her killer — saw her alive again. Because sometime between 2 and 6 in the morning, Marrs Cawein was injected with an unknown substance and poisoned with carbolic acid.

In this episode, we explore what happened the night Marrs Cawein died and what the subsequent investigation uncovered in this still-unsolved case.

But first, Zoey's Something Something is a spelling bee of southern and spooky words.

Sources: https://hauntedhospitality.wordpress.com/2023/05/02/ep-109-the-poisoning-on-independence-day

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On Tuesday, August 19, 1952 around 11 pm Scoutmaster Sonny DesVergers was taking three Boy Scouts home after an event. They were driving on a road near West Palm Beach, Florida when they saw a bright light flash on a road called Military Trail. 

Being the proper Scoutmaster he was, Sonny decided to pull over and head towards the light, thinking that it could have been a downed plane or a car accident despite the boys’ protests. He brought a machete and a flashlight with him, telling the boys to stay in the car and to knock on the door of a nearby house if he didn’t return in 15 minutes.

After four minutes of hacking through the bushes, he entered a small clearing. He immediately noticed a nauseating smell that was incomparable to anything he’d ever smelled before but best described as burning metal, and then realized it felt like he was being watched.

Then, he felt an oppressive heat bearing down on him from above. So he looked up and he could not believe his eyes.

There was a circular, dull black object with no seams, 30 feet in diameter and 10 feet tall, domed on top with a bottom edge that glowed hovering right above him. It was giving off a “rapid exhaust” which he assumed was the source of the bad smell.

That’s right. It was a UFO.

This week Zoey shares the story of what Captain Edward J. Ruppelt, the chief UFO investigator for the US Air Force labeled as “the best hoax in UFO history”. And strap in for this one kids, it's a wild, goofy ride. 

But before we get to that, Robin talks about the North Carolina Mystery Hill for her Something Southern!

Sources: https://hauntedhospitality.wordpress.com/2023/04/25/ep-108-the-best-hoax-in-ufo-history/

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