Along a quiet stretch of US 301 in coastal Georgia stands a lonely white farmhouse, the last surviving remnant of a place that once claimed to be a thriving frontier town. Locals say it is all that remains of Jacksonboro, Georgia, a community that rose with promise and then collapsed into nothing, leaving only the Seaborn Goodall House behind. For nearly two hundred years, the reason for Jacksonboro’s disappearance has been the subject of whispered stories, old newspaper columns, and roadside folklore. Most roads lead back to one man: the fiery evangelist Lorenzo Dow, a preacher whose wild appearance and thunderous sermons drew enormous crowds across the early American South.

According to legend, Jacksonboro was already notorious for violence, whiskey, and frontier lawlessness when Dow arrived in 1820 to deliver a sermon that the town wanted no part of. What happened next became one of the most enduring supernatural tales in Georgia history, a story involving a mob, a dramatic act of defiance, and a curse said to have doomed the entire settlement. In the years that followed, fires, storms, economic collapse, and unexplained disasters seemed to swallow Jacksonboro whole until nothing remained but the Goodall home and a memory of what used to stand there.

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In the summer of 1833, the tiny mountain town of Morganton, North Carolina became the stage for one of the most shocking events in early Appalachian history: the execution of nineteen-year-old Frankie Stewart Silver, a young mother condemned for the brutal murder of her husband, Charlie Silver, in their remote cabin above the Toe River Valley. What happened inside that one-room home has fueled nearly two centuries of debate, folklore, and ghostly speculation — from whispered tales of domestic terror to the now-famous “ballad” said to be her final words on the gallows.

But behind the legend lies one of the most contested true crime cases in the North Carolina mountains, a story tangled with frontier justice, family loyalties, and a community that never agreed on whether Frankie was a cold-blooded killer or a desperate young woman trapped in a violent marriage. Court records, petitions, old newspaper accounts, and oral history all tell wildly different versions of what happened — and none of them line up neatly with the folklore that overshadowed the truth.

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The Arkansas Old State House Museum is the oldest standing state capitol building west of the Mississippi River. Since 1833, the building has witnessed many of the most important events in Arkansas history, but according to some who visit the property, echoes from that past remain in forms that visitors don’t quite expect. In fact, some even claim that the apparition of a man still wanders the Old State House of Representative Chambers almost two hundred years after he was expelled for violently murdering his colleague.

Join us as we explore the history of the Old State House, as well as the events that led up to the now-infamous Arkansas Knife Fight of 1836.

⁠Visit the Old State House Museum at 300 W. Markham Street, Little Rock, Arkansas, and explore some of the state’s rich history firsthand! ⁠ 

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Join us for another episode featuring listener-submitted stories!

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On May 5, 1993, three 8-year-old boys were brutally murdered in West Memphis, Arkansas. The tiny local police department launches an investigation but finds little physical evidence to lead them to a suspect. Eventually, outside pressure pushes them to charge someone with the killings, whether or not the evidence supports their conclusions.

American Scandal takes you deep into the heart of America’s dark side to look at what drives someone to break the rules and what happens when they’re caught. 

Listen to American Scandal: The West Memphis Three: https://Wondery.fm/AS_SG

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In December of 1946, Atlanta woke to a nightmare unfolding in the heart of downtown. The Winecoff Hotel—once celebrated as a modern marvel and boldly advertised as “absolutely fireproof”—was swallowed by flames before sunrise, trapping hundreds of guests inside a building that was never supposed to burn. By morning, it would become the deadliest hotel fire in American history.

For decades the Winecoff stood as one of the city’s premier destinations, a towering landmark on Peachtree Street with elegant interiors, high-rise views, and a reputation for safety that bordered on myth. But behind the glamour was a hidden truth: narrow corridors, combustible finishes, a single open staircase, and no exterior fire escapes. When the fire finally came, the entire structure became a vertical chimney.

The horror that followed spread across the country—people at windows with no way out, firefighters struggling to reach them, and a tragedy so severe it caught the attention of President Harry Truman himself. In the months that followed, the Winecoff fire would help drive a nationwide overhaul of building codes and modern fire safety standards.

Yet for all the reports, investigations, and reforms that came after, the question at the heart of this disaster still lingers: how did a hotel said to be “fireproof” ignite so fast, and what truly sparked the blaze that changed American fire safety forever?

This is the story of a luxury hotel built on confidence, undone by a predawn spark—and the legacy of a tragedy that reshaped the country.

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At the turn of the twentieth century, the American railroad was more than transportation — it was a symbol of speed, modernity, and danger, giving rise to some of the country’s most enduring folk legends. Among songs like “The Wreck of the Old 97” and “John Henry,” one ballad rose above the rest to become railroad folklore’s defining tale: “The Ballad of Casey Jones.”

In this episode of Southern Gothic, we trace the true story behind the song — from John Luther “Casey” Jones’ humble beginnings in Cayce, Kentucky, to his rise through the ranks of the Illinois Central Railroad as one of the most respected engineers on the line. Known for his punctuality, signature whistle, and devotion to the rails, Casey took on one of the fastest passenger runs in the South… a job that would place him in the path of disaster near Vaughan, Mississippi, in the early hours of April 30, 1900.

But the wreck itself is only part of the legend. This episode explores how Casey Jones’ final run turned into myth: the disputed investigations, the arguments over who was truly at fault, and how a shop worker’s tribute song — “The Ballad of Casey Jones” — spread up and down the line, into vaudeville, folk music, and eventually recordings by artists like Johnny Cash and the Grateful Dead.

A deadly collision on a rain-slick track. A stubborn engineer at the throttle. And a railroad ballad that turned one man’s final decision into American folklore.

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Along a sharp bend in the Tallapoosa River in eastern Alabama sits one of the most important — and most haunting — battlefields in American history. In 1814, this quiet stretch of water became the site of a brutal clash between Red Stick Muscogee warriors and the forces of Major General Andrew Jackson, a fight that would reshape the future of the Southeast and forever alter the Muscogee Nation.

But Horseshoe Bend is remembered for more than strategy and loss. For some who visit today, the battlefield carries a heaviness that’s hard to explain — strange sensations along the riverbank, voices carried on the wind, and a lingering presence near the site of the old barricade where the fighting was fiercest.

In this episode, we explore the history that led the Creek War to this decisive moment, the stand made by the Red Sticks inside the bend, and the legacy the battle left behind — both on the land and in the stories of those who say the past has never fully settled here.

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On August 23, 1912, four-year-old Bobby Dunbar went missing while his family was on a fishing trip at Swayze Lake in Louisiana. An eight-month search ensued, but the boy was eventually found in Mississippi– at least that’s what the Dunbars believed. Join us as we dive into one of the most well-known missing person cases in the history of the American South.

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The Cold War, Prohibition, the Gold Rush, the Space Race. Every part of your life - the words you speak, the ideas you share - can be traced to our history, but how well do you really know the stories that made America? We'll take you to the events, the times and the people that shaped our nation. And we'll show you how our history affected them, their families and affects you today. Hosted by Lindsay Graham (not the Senator).

Listen to American History Tellers: Wondery.fm/AHT_SG

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