Pleasing Terrors

Chicago’s West 63rd Street Post Office was built in 1938 over the site of what its creator referred to as “The Castle”, and in 1902 an Ohio Daily News article called it Chicago’s Ghost Castle. Whatever you want to call it, this site was once or possibly still is the home to a notorious killer. A figure who built a home that included a 2nd floor full of secret passages, trap doors, and hidden staircases. The basement so notorious that a crowd would lay on the sidewalk and try to peer through the cracks as it was excavated. The creator of “The Castle” claimed to be under an evil influence. An influence that seemed to continue to claim victims after his death. An influence that is still felt today Moyamensing Prison was finished in 1835 Chicago Police Detective Frank Geyer interviews his nemesis in 1895 A crowd gathers for the excavation of “The Castle” basement excavation Another crowd gathers outside “The Castle” to see if the owner returns after his execution In 2012 a tunnel that leads to “The Castle” basem

The Heriot House in Georgetown, South Carolina was built in 1765. It is now the Harbor House Inn and there are many stories by visitors and Georgetown residents alike of seeing an image of a woman that looks like she doesn’t belong there. Is this woman the ghost of a forlorn lover or does she represent something more sinister?  Something that ties in with the four circles of Dante’s Inferno and stretches all the way from the old Heriot House to a Greenwich Village neighborhood located on Jane Street. A story that crosses the founding of America and the early days of New York, featuring such notable founders as Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, and even George Washington. Episode Highlights: Dante Alighieri’s Inferno The Divine Comedy Are ghosts fragments of energy left behind A lantern in the window of The Heriot House Jane Street hauntings and ghost sightings The ghost of Alexander Hamilton The home of Eliza Jumel The story of Gulielma Sands and the Well of Malebolgia The Ambition of Aaron B

In Austin, Texas in 1884 a female servant was killed in a gruesome ax murder. Feeble attempts were made to find the murderer, but to no avail. Soon a series of gruesome ax murders and attacks followed. Each one more horrific than the other, and the murders spread beyond the black servant population to the white community. What originally was considered a black problem in the South twenty years after the Civil War became society's problem. This was a birth. The birth of legions of Demons cast out by Jesus. The birth referred to in the occult addicted mind of William Butler Yeats in his poem The Second Coming. The birth of something much more sinister. Episode Highlights: The Second Coming by William Butler Yeats Yeats obsession with the occult and marriage to medium Georgie Hyde-Lees The murder of Molly Smith Many believed a demon had come to Austin The Gospel of Mark and Jesus casting out demons in the Gerasenes The legend of the boogeyman can be found in all cultures The attack of Susan Hancock and murder o

In Native American folklore, there was a dark creature that possessed the mind and body of men, instilling within them a great hunger for human flesh. The Wendigo was feared by tribes throughout what is now North America and Canada as stories of bloodshed and terror spread across the continent. Picture it: Your best friend, your husband, your sister -- crouched down and feasting upon the flesh of someone you love. It’s been many, many years since a Wendigo was rumoured to be wreaking havoc, but are they truly gone for good?  Episode Highlights: Origins of the Wendigo Fear and blood at the Hungry Hall outpost Tales from Native American folklore Swift Runner: A man possessed What lurks beneath the surface of the lake Hunting a monster Psychosis or a wendigo?  Resources:  Dangerous Spirits: The Wendigo in Myth and History by Shawn Smallman   Enjoyed this episode? Please support the show by rating, reviewing, and subscribing on iTunes. Please visit Pleasing Terrors, the podcast behind Old Charleston’s best gh

The Salisbury Plain is the name for the 300 miles of grasslands located in Wiltshire, England. Home to Stonehenge, a rich history, and a wide variety of plants and animals, the Salisbury Plain is one of the most famous locations in England. For the residents of Wiltshire, however, the area is notorious for more than its archaeological features and mystical energy. The great grassy plains of Salisbury border the mansions of Wiltshire, whose walls are painted in blood and sorrow.  In these great houses, the dead refuse to rest. Episode Highlights: The Monuments of Wiltshire County The beautiful maiden in Avebury Manor and the Grey Lady: Ghosts searching for lost loves Midwife of death Spiders, cats, and the Spanish Lady Goody Orchard’s curse The legend of the Salisbury hare Murder in the Road Hill House Resources: Haunted Wiltshire by Sonia Smith   @2PodsADay    If you are looking for podcasts that are similar to Pleasing Terrors, check out: The Strange and Unusual Podcast The Not Alone Podcast Quid Pro Quo

The White House: In all it’s glory, from the immaculately-kept gardens to the walls hung with priceless art, is an icon of American history and power. Home to every President since 1800, the White House is seen as a safe haven for the President and their family. Not even the heavy iron fence that borders the grounds of the White House can keep dark magic from harming its inhabitants. A curse muttered on a bloodied battlefield in 1812 has left over a hundred years of President’s scared for their lives, but has the debt finally been paid? Episode Highlights: Strange sights in the Lincoln Bedroom The tall tales and magical powers of Tenskwatawa A dark prophecy Lincoln’s bloody presidency Tainted water in the President’s glass Mediums and séances in the White House Dreams of an ominous voyage A row of white headstones in the Presidential cemetery A debt is paid Resources: The History Goes Bump Podcast, Episode 162: The White House   Enjoyed this episode? Please support the show by rating, reviewing, and subsc

Deep within the heart of New Jersey lies an untamed swath of trees and brush, long believed to be the home of the Jersey Devil itself. A horrifying creature with the head of a goat and the wings of a bat, the legend of the Jersey Devil has haunted the Pine Barrens for generations. Yet the Jersey Devil might not be the only degenerate creature lurking within the shadows of the Pines. What dark secrets does the Devil guard? Episode Highlights: The many forms of dragons What secrets does the dragon’s lair hold? The dwellers amongst the Pines Ghostly apparitions in the trees The many faces of the Jersey Devil Hoofprints in the snow: A sinister creature stalks through the night The 13th child of Deborah Leeds Demonic symbols hidden in the Leeds Almanac Dismembered bodies within the trees: Satanic murder in the Pines Resources: Dogma and Ritual of High Magic by Eliphas Levi Enjoyed this episode? Please support the show by rating, reviewing, and subscribing on iTunes. Please visit Pleasing Terrors, the podcast b

Who can forget the classic tale of the mad scientist who creates a gorgeously gruesome Creature, only to become frightened and disgusted by his own creation? Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein is one of the most widely taught examples of Gothic literature, yet most readers don’t know the true story behind Shelley’s most famous work. Was Frankenstein really the product of a writing competition between friends while on summer vacation, as most people believe it to be, or was the story of the scientist and his Monster born out of a much darker mindset? Episode Highlights: June 1816: The year without a summer The feminists daughter The twisted love life of Percy Shelley An empty crib in the nursery Vacations in the villa with Lord Byron A ghostly competition between friends Reviving the dead with electricity The waking dream of Mary Shelley Giving birth to Frankenstein's monster Who was the mad scientist? Who was the Monster? Enjoyed this episode? Please support the show by rating, reviewing, and subscribing on

Fairy tales often teach an important moral lesson, hidden within the entertaining twists and turns of the story. The tale of Bluebeard, the rich man who keeps the bodies of his murdered wives locked behind the forbidden doors of the dungeon in his castle, doomed to have his wrongdoing exposed by his newest wife, serves as a reminder to young women that curiosity can sometimes be your downfall -- or your savior. In real life there are rarely happy endings to tragedies and moral lessons must be learned the hard way. For Zona Shue, choked to death in her own home, life was certainly no fairytale. Yet the strange events that led to a murder conviction were as fantastical as any tale written up in a storybook. The moral lesson in her twisted fairy tale? Mothers are always right. Episode Highlights: The horrifying fairy tale of Bluebeard and his wives The trial of the Greenbrier Ghost Zona and Trout: A love story gone sour A grisly discovery Witnesses on the stand Mary Jane Hester’s otherworldly visitor Confessio

The time between three and four in the morning is said to be the hour when evil is at the height of it’s power -- the time when the Devil ascends from Hell and ghosts haunt the land of the living. In part two of my experience of the Devil’s hour inside Charleston’s Old City Jail, I receive a message from Hell itself, and discover the truth about one of the jail’s most famous prisoners -- Lavinia Fisher herself. Episode Highlights: 3 AM inside the Old City Jail Torture chambers, the crane of pain, and the hangman’s lair Lorraine Warren visits the Old City Jail Footsteps in an empty corridor A child behind bars Lavinia Fisher and Daniel Duncan: Old City Jail’s famous residents An exploration to the third floor My conversation with Bruce Orr: The truth about Lavinia Fisher Resources: Abode of Misery by David C. Scott, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2010 Six Miles to Charleston by Bruce Orr. The History Press, 2010 Enjoyed this episode? Please support the show by rating, reviewing, and subscri

Nestled inside Charleston, South Carolina lives a menacing stone monstrosity, often called the most haunted building in America -- The Old City Jail. The square upon which the Jail sits has been home to untold amounts of suffering and torture, making it the perfect breeding ground for the supernatural to take hold. As part of my training and experience as a storyteller and tour guide, I have been visiting haunted locations for the past 19 years. There have been many times that I’ve been in the presence of people having a paranormal encounter, but I had never felt anything myself until the night I decided to enter the Old City Jail. This is part one of my experience, the story of a night that shook me to my very core. Episode Highlights: My journey into Charleston’s Old City Jail, the most haunted building in America A blood-soaked address Walking through Hell in the Old City Jail -- three terrifying tour experiences The woman in the white dress Horror in the Six Mile Wayfarer House Paranormal investigations

The railroad tracks over the Tsavo river are flanked on either side with lush grasses. A picturesque river runs below, providing a calming base for the trains that rush from Uganda to Kenya and back again. During it’s construction, men from all over India and far parts of Africa gathered at the Tsavo river, working for months on end. At first, the men were oblivious to the twin pairs of golden eyes stalking them from the grasses… until half-devoured bodies and screams in the night became commonplace. From a distance, from a viewpoint high above the clouds, the Kenya-Uganda Railway snakes its way across deserts and through forests of thorns, trailing bloodshed and pain in its wake. Episode Highlights: Demons in the Forest of Thorns Lieutenant-Colonel John Henry Patterson and the Tsavo River Devoured men and lion prints: A campsite surrounded Patterson’s hunt for a pride of unordinary lions The figure on the platform Blood on the desert sand The price of the railroad Enjoyed this episode? Please support the s

Throughout history, disasters of astronomical proportions have taken place on one auspicious day -- Friday the Thirteenth. Shipwrecks, tsunamis, raging forest fires, brutal murderers, and horrifying accidents have all claimed victims on a day that many believe has been cursed since the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The same serpent who tested the pair has become the dark figurehead of Friday the Thirteenth, feared by ancient cultures for centuries. The fear of 13 seems like old suspicions that were born and died in ancient times, but as an asteroid headed straight for the Earth threatens to destroy civilization as we know it, the due date of Friday the Thirteenth might be more relevant than ever. Episode Highlights: Shipwrecks, gruesome murders, natural disasters, and cannibalism: A trail of death through history The fear of Friday the 13th Numerology and mysticism Adam, Eve, the Serpent, and 13 Symbolism in the works of Edgar Allan Poe Sinister snakes and dark evil in Ancient Egypt Flying aste

Underneath our world lies a twisting and complicated maze, a dark mass of underground caves, passageways, and secrets. In part two of our Labyrinth series, we delve into the explorations of Greg Newkirk into the heart of the Kentucky goblin mystery. Episode Highlights: The m-cave mystery in the desert The “other grandma” Return of the Kentucky goblins Secret missions and underground battles Amazing Stories Brown Mountain: Finding a way into the Labyrinth Mummified remains Following the numbers The Mammoth Resources: Secret Cipher of the UFONAUTS by Allen Greenfield “As Above, So Below” Episode of Euphomet Podcast Enjoyed this episode? Please support the show by rating, reviewing, and subscribing on iTunes. Please visit Pleasing Terrors, the podcast behind Old Charleston’s best ghost tour, on Facebook and Twitter!

The brave Greek hero Theseus made a name for himself when he defeated the monstrous Minotaur and escaped the depths of the Labyrinth by mapping his path back to safety with a ball of red string. The story of the Kentucky Goblins is much like the twisting, mysterious Labyrinth. Many researchers have found themselves lost within the details of the tale, searching for the truth of what lives in the middle of the maze. Was 1950’s Hopkinsville, Kentucky, really home to a colony of extraterrestrial beings? And if so… have they finally made their return? Episode Highlights: The Greeks and the Minotaur The mystical Edgar Cayce Flying saucers in Kentucky A sighting in Roswell, New Mexico Shots fired in Hopkinsville, Kentucky Owls or little green men? Greg Newkirk and the Week in Weird The return of the Kentucky Goblins Resources: Movies:  Close Encounters of the Third Kind E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial Poltergeist Gremlins Critters Signs The Bigfoot Hunter:Still Searching  Week in Weird Traveling Museum

The stories of Charleston, South Carolina are composed of a tangled web of dreams and memories. They’ve been passed through historians, artists, writers, and tour guides, twisting into a new shape with each retelling. Deep within the historic city lies a graveyard. Cloaked in ivy and wildflowers, the cemetery is a tranquil spot for a walk and a popular sightseeing destination… as long as the sun is shining. In the dark of night, the graveyard belonging to the Unitarian Church of Charleston transforms from peaceful to terrifying, leaving late-night tour participants shrieking in fear at the ghostly woman lurking behind tombstones. Are the stories surrounding the graveyard’s mistress a true account of a pair of star-crossed lovers still searching for each other beyond the grave, or are they nothing but a spooky story to tell in the dark? Where does fact begin and fiction end? Episode Highlights: Mike Brown’s graveyard The history of Charleston, South Carolina Ghostly residents of King and Queens Street The cur

The city of dreams, the city that never sleeps, the city with streets paved with opportunities… for many of us, New York represents a glittering place where absolutely anything is possible. Yet for all its glamour and sparkle, there are dark secrets lurking within its shadows, and history has done little to wash away the blood that once soaked New York’s prosperous streets. They say the population of New York City reaches nearly 8.5 million people. Does that count the haunted souls whose ghosts still roam the streets? Episode Highlights: Bloody history of the Empire State Building A Beautiful Suicide: Evelyn McHale Visiting the House of Death in Washington Square The Hangman’s Elm Walking with Edgar Allan Poe Charred bodies in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory A beating heart in 14th West 10th Street The Bartell Experience Mediums and paranormal researchers The tragedy continues Resources: “Beautiful Suicide” photograph of Evelyn McHale Haunted Greenwich Village: Bohemian Banshee, Spooky Sites and Gonzalez

The idyllic Fox Hollow Farm boasts of a basement-level swimming pool and sprawling acres of land. But all is not as it seems. A man creeps through the woods nearby, his legs transparent in the flashlight’s beam. There is an incessant knocking at the front door by hands unseen. Night swims in the pool end with ghostly fingers clenched tight around a throat. For Joe Leblanc, Fox Hollow Farm was meant to be an escape from a long commute and skyrocketing rent. For the dozens of men buried on its grounds, Fox Hollow Farm had come to represent something much more sinister. Episode Highlights: Joe Leblanc Fox Hollow Farm and the Graves family The man with no legs Herb and Julie Baumeister A knock in the night Herb’s dark history Bones in the yard Twisted games An altar in the woods Resources: “While Julie Was Away” People Magazine Article, 1996 Where the Bodies are Buried by Frannie Weinstein and Melinda Wilson “Fox Hollow Farm” Paranormal Witness, Season 2, Episode 8   Enjoyed this episode? Please support Ple

Mysteries are a rarity in our world. What used to be unexplainable is now quickly answered by the modern marvels of technology and science. So when a new mystery appears, we drive ourselves crazy searching for an explanation, haunted by what we can’t explain. One modern mystery is reasoning behind the strange events that took place on a Siberian mountain in 1959, in which a group of experienced hikers were found dead in bizarre circumstances. Since the day of the discovery, many have been tormented by one simple question: What happened on Dyatlov Pass? Was it a Yeti, an avalanche, a top secret military test gone horribly wrong that killed the group? Or was it something simply incomprehensible to modern listeners– an ill-fated encounter with goddesses and myths of old? Episode Highlights: Dyatlov Pass Incident: Ski Tourists in Siberia The search begins First disturbing discoveries Nine sets of footprints in the snow Charred and frozen bodies Conflicting and confusing evidence Timeline of events: What went wro

Werewolves have been portrayed in folklore, books, movies and television for centuries. Rageful howls under the full moon. Fangs, claws, fur, muscle and legend. Is it a monster? A ghost or a demon? Is it real? Historic folk tales about werewolves often evoke images of crisp nights in dark ages of Europe. Yet in the United States, the state of Georgia has one of the longest histories of werewolf encounters in the country. This is the story of the Georgia Werewolf. Personal accounts and anecdotes in modern times give us a glimpse of this creature, not yet verified by science. Small-town legends passed down since the 1800s led ghost-hunters to the local cemetery. Rumors swirled around a well-known farm and the unusual behavior of a young family member. What if the monster was not in the woods, but amongst us? Episode Highlights: Personal accounts of close encounters with werewolves in Georgia Author Linda S. Godfrey’s research on the American Werewolf Ghost-hunters investigate the cemetery linked to the monster