The Curse on Barnsley Gardens
Southern Gothic
In 1837 Godfrey Barnsley purchased 3,645 acres of land that had recently been acquired from the Cherokee people in the coercive Treaty of New Echota and opened up for settlement by force. But Barnsley was not concerned and planned to build an extravagant mansion for his wife and family on what legend claims was the sacred ground for generations of Cherokee– a tragic mistake that led to a series of unfortunate events for the Barnsley family. Be sure to check out our all new podcast today! We are finalists in the 2021 Paranormal Podcast Awards! Please take a minute to Help Southern Gothic...
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Massacre at the Sultan's Palace
Southern Gothic
“Blood Seeped Under the Door, Down the Steps, and into the Street…” On the corner of Orleans Avenue and Dauphine Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans is a stately three and a half-story mansion that is said to be the site of a massacre so significant that blood flowed from the building and into the street. It is the tale of a mysterious Turkish gentleman, perhaps even the brother of a Sultan, who arrived in New Orleans, threw wild parties, and was then viciously murdered. But is this story true or is it like the city of New Orleans— the product of an ever changing cultural...
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The Spirits of Sloss Furnaces (Revisited)
Southern Gothic
Built in 1881, Sloss Furnaces was the first of many blast furnaces in Birmingham, Alabama to manufacture pig iron. The furnaces aided in catalyzing an Industrial Revolution in the postwar south. It was in Alabama, that the iron industry took off, providing the rest of the country with the material necessary to build everything from country bridges to the first skyscrapers. But this lucrative new economy came at a high cost to the men who toiled to keep the furnace fed. A majority of furnaces workers were formerly enslaved men, willing to take any work away from the fields they were once forced...
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The Ghost Town of Rodney, Mississippi
Southern Gothic
LOST TO TIME AND THE SHIFTING CURRENTS OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER… It was in 1828 that the town of Rodney, Mississippi was formally incorporated. Located near the Mississippi River, the town would grow to become an essential port for steamboats traveling up and down the river. Rodney became known as a bustling town and thriving entertainment center, even building the state’s first opera house. The city survived a devastating yellow fever epidemic and was occupied by Federal forces during the Civil War. Yet the death knell first sounded in 1869 when Rodney, Mississippi was almost entirely...
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The Premature Burial of Octavia Hatcher
Southern Gothic
In 1891 Octavia Hatcher was twenty years-old. She was married to the most successful businessmen in the state of Kentucky and was awaiting the birth of her first child. There should have been nothing but excitement and hope in a bright future for the family, but that was not to be. After the devastating loss of her child, Octavia became despondent, eventually becoming bedridden. She was pronounced dead on May 2, 1891. Yet just days later, an odd sleeping sickness struck the town, during which the afflicted seemed dead for a time before reviving. Octavia’s husband, James Hatcher, fear she too...
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The Surrency Family Poltergeist
Southern Gothic
Enter our April T-shirt Giveaway by signing up for our newsletter at In October 1872, a small Georgia community was bursting with visitors and curiosity seekers in an attempt to discover the truth behind mysterious happenings at the family home of Allen Powell Surrency. In what many consider to be one of the most documented ghost story in American history, the Surrency family home seemingly became the epicenter of a destructive entity. From the benign—doors slammed open and closed and objects floated above the ground, to the life threatening—a child thrown from bed and another beaten by...
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Hilton Head Island's Haunted Lighthouse
Southern Gothic
Enter our April T-shirt Giveaway by signing up for our newsletter at Hilton Head Island’s Leamington Lighthouse was erected in 1880 to help guide ships away from the island and safely into Port Royal Sound; but according to local lore, the now decommissioned structure is home to the apparition of a young women in a blue dress. Legends say that the woman is the daughter of a lighthouse keeper who tragically met his fate during a massive hurricane. As a result, she purportedly returns to warn of pending storms. Help Southern Gothic grow by becoming a today! Website: Merch Store: Pinterest...
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John Henry: Steel Driving Man
Southern Gothic
Help Southern Gothic grow by becoming a today! When the Civil War drew to a close, the United States’ railway networks, particularly those in the Southern states, were in shambles. During the Reconstruction era, the rehabilitation of the southern rails and expansion of transcontinental railroads became a major undertaking, and as the importance of the railroad rose. In the three decades after the Civil War over 170,000 miles of track were added to America’s railway system; it opened the western states for further settlement and reestablished the accessibility of the southern states. The...
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Refuge in the Great Dismal Swamp
Southern Gothic
Help Southern Gothic grow by becoming a today! Along the coastal plain region of Southeastern Virginia and Northeastern North Carolina lies the ominously named Great Dismal Swamp. While this unique habitat has served as home to a wide array of biological diversity for over ten thousand years, modern archaeologists are uncovering more and more evidence of a unique community of runaways slaves and their families who thrived there for over two centuries– the Great Dismal Swamp Maroons. Want more southern Gothic? Website: Merch Store: Pinterest Facebook: Instagram: Twitter:
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The Mysterious Death of Meriwether Lewis
Southern Gothic
Check out our special bonus video content for this episode by becoming a today! On May 14, 1804 Meriwether Lewis and William Clark set out on what would become a two year expedition across the western half of the United States. Yet for all the successes of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, there lies a shadow over the legacy of the famed Meriwether Lewis– for as this daring explorer was able to survive the treacherous journey into the vast wilderness of North America, his life came to an end not long after his return– a tragedy with mysterious circumstances that over two centuries later...
info_outlineOn Christmas Day in 1929, North Carolina farmer Charlie Lawson murdered his entire family before turning his gun onto himself. Almost a century has passed since this gruesome crime, but the question of motive has remained unanswered to this day.
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