Life and Death in St. Louis

A short for Halloween.

A belated part 2 of our interview with Dave Tognoni - an expert on all things spirited at the Missouri Botanical Garden. On this portion of the interview, Dave recounts ghost stories he remembers, as well as reads some from the amazing record book he compiled and was nice enough to share with us. We've got some more photo evidence for you on our Instagram page, and need your help finding out if one of our more famous Presidents ever visited MOBOT!

In our first interview, Dave Tognoni joins us to discuss the spirits residing in the Missouri Botanical Gardens in St. Louis - and the many encounters he has documented. While they won't officially call it haunted, it seems everyone working at the garden has a ghost story to tell, and Dave is familiar with most of them. Like many St. Louisans, Henry Shaw and some of those closest to him can't seem to get enough of the garden's beauty - even after they've passed on...

A short, special April Fool's Day Episode featuring 3 very real stories pulled from the historical headlines of local St. Louis papers. No ghosts or haunted places here - just some odd tales to help you survive one of our most treacherous holidays! Hope you enjoy these weird accounts of life and death, and near death and the death of a friendship on April Fool's Day in STL.

In our first episode, we briefly explore the history, folklore and interesting residents of Bellefontaine and Calvary Cemeteries in St. Louis, MO.
The most notable ghost story tied to these cemeteries is Hitchhike Annie, and I break down my theory on where she came from. Additionally, I share the stories of some of the cemetery residents who may still have some reason to be restless... including Thomas Hart Benton and one of the founders of the Veiled Prophet Organization, St. Louis’s own mysterious secret society.

For more information on the ghost of Resurrection Mary in Chicago, I recommend checking out her episodes on the Astonishing Legends podcast. I found the book "Movers and Shakers Scalawags and Suffragettes: Tales from the Bellefontaine Cemetery" and articles from the St. Louis Post Dispatch and Globe Democrat to be particularly helpful in my research for this episode.

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