Paranormal Episodes

Lighthouses have stood on the Northeastern coast of America for centuries, beacons of hope in dark night or a desperate storm...and, sometimes, silent witnesses to the many tragedies that can befall seafarers and their loved ones in the course of their sometimes dangerous work. This week, we take a trip through the past 300 years of American history to visit some of the most haunted lighthouses in New England (and, uh, one in New Jersey) and see how their morbid tales tie in to the most importa...

For our 175th episode, we're going back to our spooky roots to investigate another internet-popularized urban legend: Black Eyed Kids. In 1998, journalist Brian Bethel took to the fledgling interwebs to share a strange tale. Sitting in his car alone one night in 1996, he'd been approached by two strange children - children who insisted he let them in the car and acquiesce to their demands. The encounter made Brian uneasy...especially so when he realized that both of the kids had entirely black ...

It's an old school ghost story this week - and we mean *way* old school, as we jump back to the early 19th century to explore the Bell Witch Haunting. From 1817 to 1821 John Bell Sr. and his family were harassed by an invisible presence with a clear, distinct voice and a penchant for slapping people around. This week Sean introduces us to the Bell family, the mischievous spectral gossip known as Kate, and the series of events on this Tennessee farm that would eventually turn deadly. (I mean, ma...

Since at least the 16th century, the English counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex have told stories of "Black Shuck", a ghostly black dog who appears as an omen of death. But ol' Shuck isn't the only spectral hound going around portending doom in the British Isles! In this episode, Sean takes us on a tour of Black Dog stories from folklore all over England and Great Britain, and tries to get to the bottom of how the best boys got stuck with such a creepy rap. Along the way we get lost in 19th...

1984's A Nightmare on Elm Street introduced the world to Freddy Krueger, the besweatered slasher who kills teenagers in their dreams. But Wes Craven says he based his most iconic creation on a real-life horror: a plague of young men dying in their sleep, seemingly during nightmares, that hit the U.S. in the late '70s and early '80s. Where did these victims come from? How did they die? What exactly gave Craven the inspiration to create one of the most recognizable horror characters of all time? ...

As Ain't It Scary's spooky season tour comes to a close, we're giving you a sneak peek of what we've been talking about all October with this episode chock full of colonial-era ghost stories! Join us for an hour of ghost ships, George Washington's sexy (?) phantom-about-town, and a big oopsie regarding some lost bones. Trick or treat, everyone! ________________________________________ Connect with us on social media: Facebook: www.facebook.com/aintitscary Twitter: @aintitscary Instagram: @a...

To mark the 150th episode of the podcast (OMG), we're going back to one of our earliest subjects! At the very start of the pod we investigated the Halloween urban legend of the stranger poisoning trick or treat candy, and how the tale actually originated in the true-life crime of Ronald Clark O'Bryan, the "Real Candy Man" who killed his son with a poisoned Pixy Stick for insurance money. This time around, we're looking into another Halloween-related urban legend: Bloody Mary. The Bloody Mary ur...

Could America's most famous house also be its most haunted? That's what many think of the White House, the United States' office, residence, and seat of the Presidency. Inhabited by the most powerful men in the world since 1800, the White House boasts centuries of history, some of the biggest names of all time...and a whole cadre of ghosts. On Carrie's after-hours tour of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, we'll meet: The two First Ladies that held séances in the White House...and may have opened ...

This week we take a long, hard look at one of the most publicized hauntings in British history - and the inspiration for the 2016 hit The Conjuring 2 - the Enfield poltergeist. As a single mother with four kids in 1977, Peggy Hodgson had her hands full even before something started throwing things around her house and pulling her kids out of their beds at night. Eleven year old Janet, rumored to be the center of the haunting, even seemed to channel the spirit of a dead (and quite grumpy) man na...

Father of the Pod Paul Ferrante returns to the show this week to talk blood - the bloody history of the Tower of London, of course! First built up way back in 1066 after William the Conqueror's invasion of England, the Tower of London has risen from being known as just another British castle to being regarded as the country's greatest symbol of monarchical cruelty, thanks to its conversion into a prison for commoners and, also, some of the most famous people sentenced to death in history. ...

In the second of our two-part series on the best-known, most widely dramatized haunting case in American History, we finally get to the ghosts! On December 18, 1975, George and Kathy Lutz moved into the house at 112 Ocean Avenue. Twenty-eight days later, they fled the house, leaving most of their belongings behind. This week, Sean takes us through the amazing “true” story, as told to us by the Lutzes through author Jay Anson. Prepare for chills, thrills, and more pigs and flies than a dang Willi...

Is it possible for an online meme-turned-urban legend to become...real? That's the question we ask this week as we investigate the origins of Slender Man, an eerie, faceless monster known to have been created on the Something Awful forums in June 2009. While Slender Man's origins are traceable, his reach has extended much further than even his long limbs and tentacles could have possibly ever expected. Do some people really believe in Slender Man? Have those beliefs been powerful enough to...

Among the legends of allegedly cursed objects, stories of cursed jewelry and gemstones reign supreme. There's something mystical about these items, which often fall into the hands of the extremely wealthy, famous, and powerful - from bone-fide royalty to your run-of-the-mill tycoons and socialites. But can these gaudy possessions really be cursed? We cover the stories of 4 of the most possessed possessions, including: The Delhi Purple Sapphire, which returned to one desperate author's pos...

Union Cemetery sits at a crossroads, almost 400 years old, with headstones scattered across its area spanning centuries of New England history. From the first settlers from the New Fairfield Company to the most recent citizens of Easton, Connecticut, Union Cemetery is home to the final resting places of hundreds of locals...and several spirits. Why has Union Cemetery and its surroundings been the site of not one, not two, but at least three brutal murders/body disposals? Who is the real "White Lady", Union's most famous ghost who has become one of the most often-seen spirits in state history? And what made Ed & Lorraine Warren, basis of the Conjuring films and locals to Union themselves, call it the most haunted cemetery in America? Follow us on a haunted cemetery stroll through decades of history, madness, and bloody, bloody murder.

We're singin' more sea shanties on the finale to our 2-part series on ghost ships! This week Sean rounds things out with two twentieth-century tales of ships turning up abandoned at sea, their crew and passengers vanished without a trace. First,...

In this first of two nautical episodes, Sean introduces us to three of history’s eeriest ghost ships. First, the Flying Dutchman sets the stage (and sails) for all ghost ships to come. Then, the passengers and crew of the Mary Celeste vanished on...

In 1886, Sarah Winchester - widow of William Winchester, the son of the founder of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company - took her $20 million inheritance ($550 million in today's money), moved from Connecticut to California, and began a project that...

In 1892, 19-year-old Mercy Brown's corpse was exhumed and her vital organs were ritually burned by Exeter, Rhode Island townsfolk convinced the recent consumption victim was a vampire, feasting on her surviving younger brother's life force from the...

Hotels are places of transition, whose rooms have seen intense passions, furious hatred, great joys, deep sorrows, and even murder. Not surprisingly, hotels are also places that seem to attract the spirits of their former tenants.  From a golf course...

Halloween is SPOOKY SEASON, and Sean is kicking us off with a howlin' all-werewolf episode! We take a whirlwind tour of the mythology and history of werewolves (including skinwalkers and the Rougarou) before tackling real life monsters like Gilles...

Theaters are places of intense emotion - the laughter of a hilarious comedy, the love of a romantic musical, the tears of an affecting tragedy. It's no wonder that these magnets for, well, drama, tend to be some of the most haunted places in the...

It's our very first guest star episode!  On this ep, Paul Ferrante - author of the "T.J. Jackson Mystery" paranormal YA series and dad/dad-in-law to our very own Carrie and Sean - stops by to talk ghosts. The ghosts of Gettysburg, PA, that is! The...

In 1985, U.K. tabloid The Sun started a frenzy of fear when they published a series of articles about a cursed mass-produced painting - dubbed "The Crying Boy" - that had been found at the sites of dozens of house fires. In each of these instances,...

This week we complete our two part series on the most haunted cemeteries in the entire world! From the gateway to hell in Stull, Kansas, to the story of a vampire king in London, England, to crying statues in Savannah, moving coffins in Barbados, and...