Welcome to Interesting If True, the podcast that scares you with haunting facts, mostly.

I'm your host this week, Shea, and with me are:

I'm Aaron, and this week I learned that the downside of flipping houses is that nearly all hauntings take place in cheap, run-down, fixer-uppers… you’re probably gonna get slimed...

I'm Steve, and I’m not funny or prepared.  But he did bring breakfast and beer so...

I'm Jenn and learned that Nightmare on Elm Street saved Newline Cinema allowing a plucky New Zealand director to bring us Lord of the Rings.

This Week’s Beer

This week’s beer is from the back of Steve’s fridge. Though the back of his fridge is a magical land of stuff he won’t drink and I will.

Mountain Toucan - Horse & Dragon Brewing Company

Style:Sour - Berliner Weisse

ABV:5.3%

Rating- Not enough data

* Aaron- 7* Steve- 6* Shea- 8* Jenn- Is dying

Haunting Haunts

As it gets closer and closer to Halloween you can feel it get spookier and spookier, or maybe it's just because people are decorating. Either way, I love this time of year and I have been coming up with ideas for my Halloween costume this year, thinking of gluing a bunch of nickels to the back of an old shirt and going as nickel back, but I digress. This week as I was wading through the scarier side of the internet I found some lovely horrible stories on Haunted places that I thought I could bring to you today.

Because we normally start the show with a beer, I found it apt to start this story with a brewery. Savannah, Georgia is one of the most gorgeous cities in America. The Spanish moss drips off the live oaks and makes the whole city feel old and full of history, and probably ghosts. Even the streets and buildings seem like they have a story behind them, or ghosts hiding behind them. You see, Savannah is also one of the most haunted cities in America. Among the many ghost stories that fill the old buildings of Savannah, there are the ones that surround The Moon River Brewing Company.

The Moon River Brewery started pouring pints in 1999. Originally built in 1821 by Charleston native Elazer Early, the City Hotel was the town's first hotel and post office; it even housed a branch of the Bank of the United States. The City Hotel was an upscale establishment, however, the affluent clientele occasionally resorted to violence defending their Southern honor. Drawing in customers from the Yankee North, locals weren't always friendly to City Hotel customers. In 1851 a man named Peter Wiltberger would buy this property. He would renovate it and even had a lion and lioness on display. Keep in mind that this was a live lion for attraction. The City Hotel guests would check out for the last time in 1864. This was just before the City Hotel would close down.

By the time Gen. Sherman reached Savannah during the Civil war, the city was mostly deserted and buildings were spared typical Union destruction. The City Hotel survived the Civil War and sat largely unused until the 1990s when it was renovated into the Moon River Brewing Company.

During its tenure, many fun events took place like during the spring of 1832, a feud broke out between an undesirable local, James Stark, and the city physician, Dr. Phillip Minis. Things escalated that August at the City Hotel. Stark was drinking heavily and spewing disparaging remarks against the doctor. Dr. Minus walked into the bar, saw Stark, and shot him. Later, Dr. Minus said he saw Stark reach for his gun first,...