Local Lore Diaries

THE BOO HAG

What if the thing sitting on your chest in the middle of the night wasn't just a nightmare?

Along the Carolina Lowcountry, an old legend tells of a night creature that slips into homes, rides sleeping victims, and steals their breath and strength. But the Boo Hag has a secret: she can remove her own skin. And according to the stories, there are ways to stop her before sunrise.

In this episode of Local Lore Diaries, we're taking the scenic route into Gullah Geechee folklore to uncover the legend of the Boo Hag, the traditions surrounding her, and the frightening experiences that may have helped keep stories like hers alive.

WE'LL EXPLORE:

• The Carolina Lowcountry and the living traditions of the Gullah Geechee people

• The Boo Hag's skin-shedding abilities and why she rides sleeping victims

• The chilling tale of the salt hidden inside a hag's skin

• The plat-eye and other supernatural warnings from the Lowcountry

• Root work, Dr. Buzzard, and traditional spiritual protection

• The legend of the broom that keeps a hag counting until sunrise

• Haint blue and the beliefs surrounding protective porch ceilings

• Historical accounts of night-riding hags in Drums and Shadows

• Similar night-visitor traditions around the world

FACT OR FOLKLORE

Sleep paralysis is a real experience that can leave someone temporarily unable to move, sometimes accompanied by chest pressure or the feeling that another presence is nearby. Could experiences like these help explain why so many cultures developed stories about night visitors? We'll separate what science can tell us from what belongs to the legend, while respecting the cultural traditions that preserved it.

CLOSING THOUGHT

The Boo Hag is more than a frightening creature in a bedtime story. She's part of a living folklore tradition, passed down through generations. Understanding the legend means looking beyond the monster to the people, history, and beliefs behind the tale.

So tonight, Lorekeepers, remember the old warning: Don't let the hag ride you.

REFERENCES & FURTHER READING

• Drums and Shadows: Survival Studies Among the Georgia Coastal Negroes — Georgia Writers' Project, 1940. A collection documenting folklore, spiritual beliefs, and traditions among coastal Georgia communities.
  https://www.sacred-texts.com/afr/das/

• Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor — Learn about the history and living culture of the Gullah Geechee people.
  https://gullahgeecheecorridor.org/

• Cleveland Clinic: Sleep Paralysis — Medical overview of sleep paralysis, its symptoms, and possible causes.
  https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/21974-sleep-paralysis

• University of Georgia Press: Drums and Shadows — Background on this important collection of coastal Georgia folklore.
  https://www.ugapress.org/9780820308517/drums-and-shadows/

HAVE A STORY?

Have a local legend, haunted encounter, strange experience, or unexplained story you'd like to share?

Send it to [email protected]

Or visit Local Lore Diaries:
https://locallorediaries.com

Your story could become part of a future episode of Local Lore Diaries.

Telling the stories every town whispers about.

The Great New England Vampire Panic

In the winter of 1892, a family in Exeter, Rhode Island, was running out of time. Consumption had already taken a mother and two daughters. Now the only son was dying, too.

The neighbors believed they knew why. One of the dead wasn't resting peacefully in her grave.

What happened next would turn nineteen-year-old Mercy Brown into one of America's most infamous alleged vampires.

But this isn't a story about Dracula or creatures creeping through the night. It's a true historical account of grief, fear, and the desperate things people did when they believed there was nothing left to try.

Join Becca D as we take the scenic route into the Great New England Vampire Panic, where real history and unsettling folklore meet in a quiet Rhode Island churchyard.

WE'LL EXPLORE:

• The Brown Family: How tuberculosis devastated a family and led their neighbors to suspect the dead.

• The Orchard Legend: The Exeter story of Stukeley Tillinghast and the dream that supposedly foretold his family's tragedy.

• Beyond Rhode Island: Other New England families who exhumed their dead in hopes of stopping consumption.

• The Grave Marked JB 55: The remarkable archaeological discovery that may reveal what people did to a suspected vampire.

• The Morning Mercy's Grave Was Opened: What happened on March 17, 1892, and why the ritual failed to save Edwin Brown.

• Mercy and Dracula: The intriguing, unproven connection between New England vampire accounts and Bram Stoker's famous novel.

• The Quilt and the Legend: The personal keepsake and local folklore that offer a different way to remember Mercy.

FACT OR FOLKLORE

Did Mercy Brown's hair and fingernails grow after death? Was there fresh blood in her heart? And did her story inspire Dracula?

We'll separate the documented accounts from the details added through retelling—and explore how a devastating disease helped create one of New England's most enduring legends.

REFERENCES & FURTHER READING

• Rhode Island Historical Society — “Have Mercy…”
  Historical background on Mercy Lena Brown, the exhumation, and the legend that followed.

• Smithsonian Magazine — “New England's ‘Vampire’ Was Likely a Farmer Named John”
  The discovery and identification of the remains known as JB 55.

• CDC — “History of World TB Day”
  The history of tuberculosis, Robert Koch's discovery, and the disease's connection to New England vampire panics.

• Michael E. Bell — Food for the Dead: On the Trail of New England's Vampires (2001). A deeper look at the historical cases and folklore behind the panic.

HAVE A STORY?

Have a local legend, ghost story, or mysterious place I should explore? I'd love to hear it.

Submit your story using [email protected] or on the website locallorediaries.com

Thanks for taking the scenic route with me today.

Local Lore Diaries — Telling the stories every town whispers about.

THE BEAST OF BRAY ROAD

Halloween night, 1991. A young woman is driving along a quiet road outside Elkhorn, Wisconsin, when she thinks she hits something.

She gets out to look.

There’s nothing there.

Then something comes running toward her out of the darkness — large, covered in dark hair, and moving on two legs.

For decades, people around Elkhorn have reported encounters with a strange creature known as the Beast of Bray Road. But the story is more complicated than a simple werewolf legend.

In this episode, we take the scenic route through the sightings, the witnesses, the reporter who helped bring the story into the national spotlight, and the evidence — or lack of it — behind one of Wisconsin’s most enduring mysteries.

We'll explore:

• The 1936 account that later became connected to the Beast legend
• The first modern sightings around Bray Road
• Doristine Gipson’s terrifying Halloween night encounter
• The mysterious animal-control folder labeled “Werewolf”
• Linda Godfrey’s investigation and the article that changed everything
• Why so many reports describe similar movements and appearances
• Theories ranging from misidentified wildlife to the broader Dogman phenomenon
• The difference between documented history and folklore
• What evidence actually exists — and what remains unexplained

FACT OR FOLKLORE

The Beast of Bray Road has never been scientifically confirmed. There is no verified specimen, authenticated DNA, or confirmed photograph establishing the creature’s existence.

What does exist is a documented history of eyewitness reports, newspaper coverage, interviews, and decades of folklore surrounding Bray Road.

The 1936 Mark Shackelman account is particularly intriguing, but it was passed down through his family and connected to the Beast story decades later. It should therefore be treated differently from contemporary reporting.

The mystery remains open.

REFERENCES & FURTHER READING

Linda Godfrey, The Beast of Bray Road: Tailing Wisconsin's Werewolf (2003)

Linda Godfrey, “Tracking Down ‘The Beast of Bray Road’” — The Week, December 29, 1991

Walworth County Community News, “The Mystery of ‘The Beast’” (2006)

Linda Godfrey’s research into the broader Dogman phenomenon

HAVE A STORY?

Have a local legend, haunted encounter, strange experience, or unexplained story you'd like to share?

Send it to [email protected]

Or Visit Local Lore Diaries:
https://locallorediaries.com/

Your story could become part of a future episode of Local Lore Diaries.

Telling the stories every town whispers about.

Episode 5: Bloody Mary

You know the rules.

Turn off the lights. Stand in front of the mirror. Say her name three times.

Bloody Mary. Bloody Mary. Bloody… Mary.

But where did this famous ritual actually come from?

In this episode of Local Lore Diaries, we take a closer look at one of the most recognizable pieces of childhood folklore — the legend of Bloody Mary.

We'll explore:

The Bloody Mary Ritual — How a simple mirror ritual became one of the most enduring childhood dares in American folklore.

Mirrors & Divination — Why mirrors have long been associated with reflection, fortune-telling, death, and the supernatural.

Mary I of England — The real history of the Tudor queen remembered as "Bloody Mary" and why her connection to the mirror legend isn't as straightforward as popular stories suggest.

Mary I & the Lost Children — How later folklore connected Mary's failed pregnancies to stories about children appearing in the mirror.

Mary Worth — The American variations of Bloody Mary and why there isn't one universally agreed-upon story of who she was.

The Face in the Mirror — Why Bloody Mary can look completely different depending on the version of the legend.

FACT OR FOLKLORE

Can staring into a mirror in a dark room actually make you see a face that isn't there?

We'll explore the strange-face-in-the-mirror illusion and research showing how prolonged mirror gazing in low light can produce distorted or unfamiliar faces — offering a possible explanation for why the Bloody Mary ritual can feel so real.

We'll also look at why the ritual so often involves three repetitions, why some versions use thirteen, how folklore changes as it's passed from person to person, and a fascinating Lake Erie variant that connects Bloody Mary to older mirror-divination traditions.

Because maybe Bloody Mary was never one story.

Maybe she's a collection of stories that generations of people have continued to reshape.

And maybe the most unsettling part isn't what might be standing behind you.

It's what happens when your own reflection starts looking back like a stranger.

REFERENCES & FURTHER READING

Giovanni B. Caputo — Research on the strange-face-in-the-mirror illusion, Perception, 2010
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.2466/pms.110.C.1125-1138

Alan Dundes — "Bloody Mary in the Mirror: A Ritual Reflection of Pre-Pubescent Anxiety," Western Folklore

Janet Langlois — "Mary Whales, I Believe in You: Myth and Ritual Subdued," Indiana Folklore

Indiana State University Folklore Archives — "Bloody Mary, Marshall County, Iowa"
https://indstate.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/folklore/id/2723/

Folklore of Lake Erie — "Bloody Mary in the Mirror: A Lake Erie Variant"
https://www.jstor.org/stable/jj.12865317

USC Digital Folklore Archives — Bloody Mary ritual accounts
https://folklore.usc.edu/

HAVE A STORY?

Have a local legend, haunted encounter, strange experience, or unexplained story you'd like to share?

Send it to [email protected]

Or

Visit Local Lore Diaries: https://locallorediaries.com/

Your story could become part of a future episode of Local Lore Diaries.

Telling the stories every town whispers about.

Episode 4: Haunted Mirrors & Cursed Objects

What if the reflection staring back at you… isn’t entirely yours?

From mirrors and dolls to diamonds, photographs, paintings, chairs, and mysterious boxes, some objects have become surrounded by stories of curses, ghosts, and unexplained events.

In this episode of Local Lore Diaries, we take a closer look at some of the world's most famous haunted and cursed objects — and the folklore behind them.

We'll explore:

Haunted Mirrors & Bloody Mary — Why mirrors have long been connected to death and the supernatural.

The Myrtles Plantation Mirror — The history behind one of America's best-known haunted-mirror legends.

The Hope Diamond — The documented history of the famous gemstone and the curse that became part of its legend.

Robert the Doll — The Key West doll with a reputation that has lasted for generations.

The Brown Lady Photograph — One of Britain's most famous alleged ghost photographs.

The Crying Boy — The paintings blamed for a series of house fires in 1980s Britain.

The Busby Stoop Chair — A chair supposedly cursed by a condemned man.

The Dybbuk Box — A modern paranormal legend with a surprisingly complicated origin story.

FACT OR FOLKLORE

Throughout this episode, we'll separate documented history from folklore, paranormal claims, and stories that grew over time.

Because sometimes the most fascinating part of a haunted object isn't whether it's actually haunted.

It's the story we chose to give it.

REFERENCES & FURTHER READING

Smithsonian Institution — History of the Hope Diamond
https://naturalhistory.si.edu/explore/collections/hope-diamond-history

Key West Art & Historical Society — Robert the Doll
https://www.kwahs.org/exhibit/robert-the-doll/

The Myrtles — History & Culture
https://themyrtles.com/pages/history-culture

My Jewish Learning — How to Sit Shiva
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/shiva-customs/

Skeptical Inquirer — The Dibbuk Box
https://skepticalinquirer.org/exclusive/the-dibbuk-box/

Atlas Obscura — The Crying Boy
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/crying-boy-painting-fires

HAVE A STORY?

Have a local legend, haunted encounter, strange experience, or unexplained story you'd like to share?

Send it to [email protected]

Or

Visit Local Lore Diaries:
https://locallorediaries.com

Your story could become part of a future episode of Local Lore Diaries.

Telling the stories every town whispers about.

The Boogeyman. 

It’s a name almost every child has heard—but where did the story come from? And why does this shadowy figure appear in folklore across generations and cultures?

In this episode of Local Lore Diaries, we explore the history, folklore, and enduring legend of the Boogeyman—and the stories that have kept this mysterious figure alive for generations.

Have you ever experienced something strange? A haunting, a cryptid encounter, a UFO sighting, or an unexplained experience? 

I want to hear your story.

Submit your experience to the Lorekeeper Files at:
[email protected]

Your story could become part of a future Local Lore Diaries episode.

🎙️ Local Lore Diaries
Telling the stories every town whispers about.

Find more stories, legends, and ways to connect at locallorediaries.com

In 1937, a mysterious figure began appearing inside Evansville, Indiana’s Willard Library. 

Employees and visitors reported seeing a woman dressed in gray — sometimes in the stacks, sometimes near the stairs, and sometimes disappearing before anyone could reach her. 

But who was the Grey Lady? And why does she still seem to haunt the library nearly a century later? 

In Episode 2 of Local Lore Diaries, we step inside one of Indiana’s most famous haunted libraries and uncover the story behind the Grey Lady of Willard Library.

Have a Story to Tell?

Have you experienced something strange?
A haunting, cryptid encounter, UFO sighting, unexplained experience, or a local legend your town whispers about?

Submit your story to the Lorekeeper Files:
locallorediaries.com

On a hot August night in 1955, a family in rural Kentucky ran to the police claiming something small, strange, and decidedly not human had been surrounding their farmhouse for hours.

They had fired at it.

More than once.

And it kept coming back.

In the first episode of Local Lore Diaries, we take the scenic route to Kelly, Kentucky, and the infamous encounter that would become known as the Hopkinsville Goblins.

What began with a strange light in the sky turned into hours of fear, gunfire, terrified children, police officers surrounding a farmhouse, and a mystery that still hasn't been completely explained.

But the story we know today isn't quite the story witnesses originally told.

Were they really confronted by something unknown? Were they seeing great horned owls in the darkness? Could fear, adrenaline, and a long night have transformed something ordinary into something extraordinary?

Or did something truly unexplained visit that Kentucky farmhouse?

We'll look at the original accounts, the police response, the UFO theories, the skeptical explanations, and the way one terrifying night eventually became part of Kentucky folklore.

Because sometimes the most fascinating part of a legend isn't deciding whether it's true.

It's understanding how the story survived.

Have a local legend, ghost story, or mysterious place I should explore? Submit your story at locallorediaries.com, you just might hear it featured in a future episode.

Follow Local Lore Diaries wherever you listen, and come take the scenic route with me.

Until next time, Lorekeepers… stay curious. Because every town has a story… and some stories are still being whispered.

There are stories every town keeps tucked away.

Welcome to Local Lore Diaries, hosted by Midwest storyteller Becca D. Join me each week as we explore haunted history, local legends, folklore, unexplained mysteries, strange creatures, and the stories hiding in small towns and backroads across America, with a special focus on the Midwest.

The podcast premieres Sunday, September 6.