Just off the old Natchez Trace, in the quiet woods of Tennessee, stands a broken marble column marking the grave of Meriwether Lewis. The monument was meant to honor one of America’s greatest explorers, but its shattered form also reflects a life cut short under circumstances that remain unsolved more than two centuries later.

In 1804, Lewis and Clark led the Corps of Discovery across thousands of miles of uncharted wilderness. They mapped rivers, documented new species, and forged fragile relationships with Native Nations, returning home as national heroes. Yet only a few years later, while traveling east on government business, Lewis stopped at a frontier inn called Grinder’s Stand. Before dawn, gunfire rang out. By morning, the celebrated explorer was dead.

From the start, the explanation was contested. Some, including Thomas Jefferson and William Clark, believed Lewis had taken his own life after years of depression, financial trouble, and lingering illness. Others pointed to inconsistencies in the testimonies, the absence of eyewitnesses, and the violence of the scene to argue that he was murdered. Over the years, theories have ranged from robbery on a lawless road to political assassination, while modern scholars have even suggested his death may have been linked to malaria or another untreated disease.

In this episode, we retrace Lewis’s final journey along the Natchez Trace and examine the testimonies left behind. We look at the evidence for suicide, the motives for murder, and the generations of speculation that have kept this mystery alive. We also consider the more recent efforts by Lewis’s descendants to exhume his body, hoping that modern science might finally answer the question that has haunted his legacy: how did Meriwether Lewis really die?

This episode of Southern Gothic originally aired on January 29, 2021.

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Just a stone’s throw from the quaint downtown square of Harrodsburg, Kentucky—the oldest town in the state—sits a small city park. Families gather there for picnics, children play on the swings, and joggers circle the open green. But tucked at the edge of it all, surrounded by a white picket fence, is something far more unusual: a single grave. Its headstone bears no name, only the word “UNKNOWN.”

Nearly two centuries ago, this was the site of Graham Springs, a luxurious resort built around the region’s famed mineral waters. Guests came from across the South to drink, to dance, and to be seen. And one summer evening in the 1840s, among them was a beautiful young woman whose arrival would leave a mark on Harrodsburg forever.

Locals call her the Dancing Lady. Some say she was a stranger who waltzed the night away at Graham Springs before collapsing on the ballroom floor, never to rise again. Others whisper her death was not from joy at all, but from something darker—disease, scandal, even murder. With no family to claim her and no true name to inscribe, she was buried where she fell.

Over the years, her story has only grown stranger. From ghostly encounters in the park to modern-day efforts to solve her identity, the Dancing Lady of Harrodsburg remains one of Kentucky’s oldest and most haunting mysteries.

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Just a stone’s throw from the quaint downtown square of Monticello, Arkansas, stands a sprawling Queen Anne mansion framed by towering trees and ornate stained glass. Known for its turrets, grand columns, and intricate woodwork, the Allen House is the kind of place that stops you in your tracks.

But behind that beauty is a story steeped in tragedy. For decades, one upstairs room was locked tight, its contents left untouched. Over the years, whispers grew—of strange sounds in the night, of figures glimpsed in windows, of an unseen presence lingering in the halls.

Today, the Allen House is regarded as one of the most haunted homes in the country. In this episode, we explore its layered past, the family who called it home, and the enduring mystery that has kept Monticello talking for more than seventy years.

Special thanks to the Grave Talks podcast for allowing us to you segments from their interview with Mark Spencer.

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Tell Me Your Ghost Story is a podcast where real people share their real-life encounters with the paranormal. Host Kassie Askin invites guests to share their unexplainable encounters in their own words. Some stories are terrifying, some are heart-warming, and some just might change the way you see the world. Kassie isn’t looking for answers or theories, just stories that are sure to haunt you.

Listen to more episodes of Tell Me Your Ghost Story now on your favorite podcasting app!

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The Arlington National Cemetery is the final resting place for over 400,000 United States service members and their eligible family members, and the most well-known and highly esteemed national cemetery in the country. Yet few know of how this esteemed burial ground came to be; a result of overcrowding cemeteries during the Civil War, in a place that was seemingly chosen out of spite-- the home of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

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On a lonely gravel road in Mississippi, 12 miles southwest of Meridian, is a dilapidated old truss bridge, no longer open to cars or traffic. It spans 112 feet, giving travelers access across the Chunky River, a short tributary of the Chicksasawhy River. This bridge, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988, had been built to replace one erected by early settlers of the region in 1850 which give carriages and horseback travelers a Southwestern route in and out of Meridian. But legend says the bridge is also haunted by the spirit of a man named Stuckey.

This encore episode of Southern Gothic originally aired on June 7, 2023.

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Just outside of Bath, North Carolina is a unique landmark that has puzzled folks for over two centuries-- a series of small depressions in the ground, known as the Hoofprints of Bath. According to legend, not only have these depressions been around for over two centuries but they are also the product of a legendary horse race with the devil.

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St. Catherine's Island sits off the coast of Georgia, just fifty miles south of Savannah. This beautiful barrier island has served as a wildlife refuge for several decades, but its history is far darker than what anyone who has visited the island's serene forests and peaceful beaches could ever imagine. In 1597, it was the site of a violent rebellion that left several Spanish friars dead. According to legend, some believe that the echoes of those friars can still be heard chanting in the night, even over four centuries since their demise.

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Fear Daily takes you into the shadows of the past, unearthing the 1990's most terrifying tales of monsters, madness, and life after death. Join us as we explore the ghost stories and supernatural encounters left on an old online bulletin board that continues to operate somewhere in an unknown part of the Pennsylvania Rust Belt - a time capsule of society's greatest fears.

Written by Brennan Storr, creator of The Ghost Story Guys, and hosted by Brandon Schexnayder, creator of Southern Gothic... Fear Daily is guaranteed to be the stuff of nightmares.

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It was a hot summer night in 1868 when Laura Schafer lit a kerosene lamp and stepped into the darkened hall of her family’s Alexandria home. The flame cracked. Her dress caught. And by the time her screams reached the street below, it was already too late.

What should have been Laura’s wedding day became the date carved into her gravestone. And hours later, the man she was meant to marry—Charles Tennesson—met his own tragic fate.

Today, the building at 107 North Fairfax Street is an ice cream parlor. But those who’ve worked there over the years tell a different story. A faint smell of smoke. Screams echoing down the staircase. A lamp that seems to move on its own. Some believe Laura Schafer never left the house where she died—and that she’s not alone.

In this episode, we unravel one of Alexandria’s most enduring ghost stories, tracing the true events behind the legend of the Burning Bride. We’ll examine the historical record, explore how folklore reshaped Laura’s memory, and hear chilling reports from those who still feel something lingering behind the old brick walls.

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