It’s finally happened; we’re going to jail.  No, we’re not in trouble—at least not yet—but we are going to visit two very haunted jails. The first is the Pottawatomie County Jail more famously known as The Squirrel Cage. Here, we’ll find shadows lurking on the fourth floor, hear the voices of children in the juvie wing, and maybe run into a ghost cat or two. After a thirteen hour prison bus ride from Iowa, you'll find yourself outside the gates of Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary, Tennessee’s first maximum security prison that housed the state’s worst offenders. Brushy was exceptionally brutal. If the prisoners didn’t kill you, the guards might. With over 10,000 deaths, there is no shortage of vengeful spirits. One part of the prison is so bad, even the property manager won’t go there.

YouTube: “The Ghost of the Squirrel Cage (Serial Killer Was Here) From the channel Paranormal Quest posted 2 years ago

YouTube: “A Scary Night inside the Axe Murder Jail – The Squirrel Cage Jail on the channel The Paranormal Files: Posted Jan 23, 2021

“Squirrel Cage Jail Ghost Video” from the channel Eric Salas Workshops Training Channel and posted 3 years ago

The Historical Society of Pottawattamie County, Iowa

TourBrushy - Paranormal Tours & Info

Wikipedia - Brushy Mountain State Penn.

GhostResearch - Brushy Mountain

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Toodles!

Welcome to another cryptid-tastic episode! This time we’ll take you back to 1952 when two brothers and a friend near the small town of Flatwoods, West Virginia were surprised by a bright light that landed near a local farm. Accompanied by a local National Guardsman, the group came face to face with something straight out of a sci-fi movie: the Flatwoods Monster. Twenty years later in the rural southeastern Illinois town of Enfield, Henry McDaniel and his children were terrorized by a three-legged creature with large pink eyes as big as flashlights that tried to gain access to their home. The Enfield Horror, as it would come to be known, left its mark on a town such that to this day, some refuse to talk about it.

Flatwoods Monster on Wikipedia
Braxton, VW  - Flatwoods page
Flatwoods Monster Museum Merch

Buy Troy Taylor book: Monsters of Illinois
“The Full Story of the Monster at Enfield” by Bob Gymlan
International Cryptid Museum

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Toodles!

On today’s Book Club Minisode we read Craig DiLouie’s much loved Episode Thirteen. The distinct storytelling makes this novel one of the most unique and interesting novels we’ve ever read. The novel depicts a group of paranormal investigators desperately trying to secure a second season for their paranormal television show Fade to Black. Throughout the novel, the reader experiences every second of the character’s lives via journal entries, text messages, and on-screen dialogue via transcript. We recommend you read this one. Everything that makes it quirky also makes it wonderfully strange.

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Toodles!

Once again, it’s time to pack up the Ope, A Ghost van and hit the road. We hope you have a taste for seafood and Tex-Mex because we’re headed to Galveston, Texas. Our first stop will be the Galveston Railroad Museum—also known as Jonathan’s Train Depot—where one traveler might have lost his head, but not his hat. Next, we’ll swing by the local Wal-Mart to pick up a few things and check in on the ghost children haunting the toy aisle. If we get sleepy, we can always stay at the famous Galvez Hotel and hope to catch a glimpse of Audra, the Lovelorn Lady. Or, we could check-in at The Tremont House hotel and visit with the ghosts of a nun and several children. Did we mention that The Tremont House was built atop a mass grave? Buckle up and enjoy the ride! P.S. Heaven is in charge of the radio so don’t ask. Hope you like Hamilton!

“Galveston’s Top 7 Haunts with Really Haunted Places” posted to YouTube by Really Haunted Places
Ghost City Tours
“Galveston Railroad Museum’s Headless Sailor Seems to Enjoy ‘Welcoming’ Visitors” from Chron on YouTube
Galveston Railroad Museum
“The Haunted Walmart of Galveston, Texas” from The Most Epic Adventurers with Robb Zipp on YouTube

Galveston History
Special Report on the Galveston Hurricane by: Isaac M Kline
Information on both hotels from Galveston Ghost
Reddit Story  & direct link to the user's video evidence

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Toodles!

Everyone is just dying to get in, or so the old joke goes, but these ghosts refuse to leave the cemetery. Join us as we stroll among the tombstones at two very haunted cemeteries. First, we’ll visit the burial place of Edgar Allan Poe at the Westminster Burying Ground where the ghosts range from Poe himself to the apparitions of grave robbers. Next, we’ll travel to Hollywood and visit the Hollywood Forever Cemetery where you can catch a concert and visit the grave of your favorite celebrity in the same visit. Among other ghosts you’ll find the silent film heartthrob Rudolf Valentino and a mysterious woman most often seen crying by the lake. Come along and play ghost in the graveyard for real!

Wikipedia - Westminster Burying Ground
Morbidly Beautiful - Westminster Burying Ground History
Fright Find - Westminster Burying Ground

Wikipedia - list of celebrities interred in Hollywood Forever Cemetery
LA Ghost Tours
The Fatty Arbuckle Trial: The Injustice of the Century
Clifton Webb’s Ghost
“The Cursed Ring” by Dellantonio Caterina
Reddit post by Lemzmango

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Toodles!

Sometimes, two things go together so well they’ve come to epitomize togetherness. Peanut butter and jelly or Bonnie and Clyde come to mind, but this isn’t one of those times. In this episode, we look at two completely unrelated locations. The only thing they have in common is they are both haunted. First, we’ll visit Union Station in Kansas City. Missouri. Union Station was the site of a mob rescue gone wrong—or was it a hit job? Then we’ll head out west to the scenic Denver Botanic Gardens which were built on land that was once a cemetery. Of course they moved all the bodies; why wouldn’t they move all the bodies. They did move all the bodies, right?

American Hauntings “The Kansas City Massacre: Gangsters, Guns, and Ghosts at Kansas City’s Union Station”

WSHB Kansas City

Unionstation.org

Ghost Adventures “Union Station” S8 Ep10

The Dead Below: The Haunting of Denver Botanic Gardens by Richard Estep

Wikipedia : Denver Botanic Gardens

Denver Republican Article: The Work of Ghouls

Hauntedrooms.com - Cheesman Park

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Toodles!

I hope you have your water bottle for this one because we’re going on a hike. But not just any old hike, we’re going on a haunted hike! Strap on your hiking boots and let’s hit the trails of one of the most haunted forests in Northern Ireland: The Ballyboley Forest. From there, we’ll travel thirty minutes north to Slieveanorra Forest, home of the mysterious gruagach. Next, dust off your trekking poles because we’re headed to northern Illinois and hitting the Des Plains River Trail and hiking through the haunted, if not cursed, Robinson Woods where hikers report strange smells, the sound of drums, and ghost lights.

Haunted Antrim by Madeline McCully

Gruagach - Cryptid Wiki

Cryptid Wiki Blog post from AuroraBoreasis1972 (contains their link to the audio they captured)

Illinois Haunted Houses - Robinson Woods

Ghostresearch.org - Robinson Woods

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Toodles!

Welcome to another Ope, A Ghost Book Club Minisode. Today we look at one of our favorites. Richard Estep is an author, paranormal investigator, and television personality. You may have seen him on Haunted Hospitals, Paranormal 911, or Destination Fear. Estep has written more than thirty books, but today we want to look at The Great American Ghost Trip (2021). In this whirlwind expedition from Colorado to Gettysburg and back, Estep investigates more than seven locations in only 12 days. The first stop is in Iowa at the mysterious Melvern Manor and runs through paranormal hotspots that includes the Monroe House in Indiana, the Farnsworth House
in Gettysburg, The Bellaire House in Ohio, and ends in Atchinson, Kansas at the notorious Sallie House. We had a great time reading this one, and we’re sure you will too. Easily 5 Stars from us!

Richard Estep - Books

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Toodles!

The Conjuring Movie vs. Reality

In 2013, moviegoers were engrossed with The Conjuring. The film would become the first of three in the Conjuring series—so far. Based on the true story of the Perron family, the story is pulled from the case files of famed paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. According to Andrea Parron, parts of the real story were left on the cutting room floor because it was too terrifying for audiences. So, what did Hollywood get right? Join us as we compare what happened in the film with what one of the real Parron children says happened. It’s both fascinating and terrifying.

Two Girls, One Ghost podcast  - October 31, 2023

“The Real-life Story Behind The Conjuring – New 4 (WOAI_ San Antonio

Van’s World Podcast – Ep. 7

Virtual Tour of the Conjuring House

Andrea Perron’s Book House of Darkness, House of Light

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Toodles!

The Devil seems to come in two shades: the biblical antagonist and the one we see in films, hellbent (if you’ll pardon the pun) on possessing mankind. In this episode we investigate demonic possession and the rite of exorcism. Join us as we travel to Northern Ireland to explore the case of a women who suffered fifteen years of torment until Canon Rev. William H. Lendrum exorcised her home. Then, we’ll travel to Iowa to discuss one of the most well-documented exorcisms of the 20th century when Emma Schmidt began exhibiting symptoms of possession at the age of fourteen.

Don’t forget to like this episode and leave a review!

Jason Hawes’s video, discussed in our intro.

The Dark Sacrament: True Stories of Modern-Day Demon Possession and Exorcism by David M Kiely and Christina McKenna - On Amazon

Wikipedia - Anna Ecklund

Hushed Up History - The Evil and Exorcism of Emma Schmidt

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If you have an experience, story, or anything else you'd like to share with us, you can email us at [email protected]   You can also follow us on Instagram,  Join our Facebook group :  Ope, A Ghost, or Follow us on Youtube

Toodles!