Haunted American History

Bloody FM

A daily campfire-style podcast blending American history, folklore, and true crime. What scares you? Let’s find out.

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  1. 5h ago

    31 Days of Halloween | Day 24: The Ouija Board — The Dark History of Talking to the Dead

    In February 1927, William Fuld fell to his death from the roof of his factory in Baltimore. Years earlier, Fuld claimed that a Ouija board had told him to build that very factory, promising him a future of enormous success. It was a strange ending for the man who helped turn a simple talking board into one of America's most recognizable supernatural objects. But the Ouija board wasn't originally designed to summon demons. It was a business. Tonight, we're tracing the history of the Ouija board from the rise of American Spiritualism and its mysterious naming in a Baltimore boarding house to the bitter family feuds, lawsuits, and tragedies surrounding the people who manufactured it. We'll explore the mediums who claimed to channel entire books through the board, the real-life exorcism that helped inspire *The Exorcist*, the Hollywood movies that transformed a parlor game into an object of terror, and the strange modern legends surrounding demons like Zozo. And we'll examine the science behind the moving pointer, including experiments suggesting that a Ouija board may reveal information buried in our own minds. Because the most unsettling thing about the Ouija board might not be the possibility that something on the other side is answering. It might be that the answers are coming from us. Welcome to Day 24 of 31 Days of Halloween VERB ENERGY Limited addition Blood-Orange Pound Cake- Promo Code - HAUNTED verbenergy.com/haunted Tales from the Shadows Weekend in Lancaster PA CONDEMNED links - https://linktr.ee/Condemned YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@HauntedAmericanHistory TikTok - @hah_podcast hauntedamericanhistory.com Patreon- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/hauntedamericanhistory⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ HAH DISCORD - https://discord.com/invite/bJdbpH3hQm Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    31 Days of Halloween | Day 24: The Ouija Board — The Dark History of Talking to the Dead

  2. 1d ago

    31 Days of Halloween | Day 23: The North Berwick Witch Trials — The Devil's Halloween Gathering

    In the winter of 1590, an elderly Scottish healer named Agnes Sampson was brought before King James VI of Scotland. She had been accused of witchcraft, tortured, and forced to describe an extraordinary gathering that supposedly took place on Halloween night. According to her confession, hundreds of witches had sailed across the sea in sieves, gathered at a church in North Berwick, and met the Devil himself. Their purpose was to bring about the death of the king. James initially dismissed the accusations. But then Agnes whispered something into his ear, repeating words he had supposedly spoken privately to his new wife on their wedding night. The king was astonished. What followed was one of the most notorious witch hunts in Scottish history. Tonight, we're investigating the North Berwick witch trials, the accusations against Agnes Sampson, Geillis Duncan, and John Fian, the brutal interrogations that produced their confessions, and the extraordinary Halloween gathering described in the surviving accounts. We'll also examine how these trials influenced King James's beliefs about witchcraft, helped shape the imagery of witches in Shakespeare's *Macbeth*, and left behind a mystery that has endured for more than four hundred years. Because while the alleged meeting with the Devil may never have happened, the people who died because of it were very real. Welcome to Day 23 of 31 Days of Halloween VERB ENERGY Limited addition Blood-Orange Pound Cake- Promo Code - HAUNTED verbenergy.com/haunted Tales from the Shadows Weekend in Lancaster PA CONDEMNED links - https://linktr.ee/Condemned YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@HauntedAmericanHistory TikTok - @hah_podcast hauntedamericanhistory.com Patreon- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/hauntedamericanhistory⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ HAH DISCORD - https://discord.com/invite/bJdbpH3hQm Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    31 Days of Halloween | Day 23: The North Berwick Witch Trials — The Devil's Halloween Gathering

  3. 2d ago

    31 Days of Halloween | Day 22: The Queen Mary — The Haunted Ship's Dark History

    In 1967, the RMS Queen Mary arrived in Long Beach, California, after more than three decades crossing the Atlantic. Not long afterward, a marine engineer working deep inside the ship claimed to hear the sounds of tearing metal, rushing water, and screaming men. He would later connect those sounds to a terrible wartime disaster. On October 2, 1942, the Queen Mary collided with HMS Curacoa, a British warship escorting her through dangerous waters. The massive ocean liner sliced through the smaller vessel, sending hundreds of sailors into the North Atlantic. The Queen Mary never stopped. Today, the ship is celebrated as one of America's most haunted attractions, with stories of drowned children, mysterious figures, haunted staterooms, and the ghost of a young crewman killed by a watertight door. But how many of those stories are true? Tonight, we're investigating the real history and alleged hauntings of the RMS Queen Mary, from her days as a luxury ocean liner and wartime troopship to the tragedies recorded in her logs, the paranormal investigators who helped build her reputation, and the Halloween attractions that turned her ghost stories into an industry. Because the Queen Mary doesn't need invented ghosts to have a terrifying history. Welcome to day 22 of 31 Days of Halloween VERB ENERGY Limited addition Blood-Orange Pound Cake- Promo Code - HAUNTED verbenergy.com/haunted Tales from the Shadows Weekend in Lancaster PA CONDEMNED links - https://linktr.ee/Condemned YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@HauntedAmericanHistory TikTok - @hah_podcast hauntedamericanhistory.com Patreon- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/hauntedamericanhistory⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ HAH DISCORD - https://discord.com/invite/bJdbpH3hQm Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    31 Days of Halloween | Day 22: The Queen Mary — The Haunted Ship's Dark History

  4. 3d ago

    31 Days of Halloween | Day 21: Savannah, Georgia — America's Most Haunted City

    In Savannah, Georgia, ghost stories are everywhere. In Wright Square, a woman is said to wander the night asking strangers if they've seen her baby. Her name was Alice Riley, and nearly three hundred years ago, she was executed in the very square where her ghost supposedly appears. But Alice Riley is only the beginning. Tonight, we're exploring the history and hauntings of Savannah, the city famously dubbed America's Most Haunted City. From the devastating yellow fever epidemic of 1820 and the graves of Colonial Park Cemetery to the haunted halls of Moon River Brewing Company and the disturbing legends of the Sorrel-Weed House, we're separating historical fact from the stories that generations of ghost tours have passed along. We'll also explore the Gullah Geechee traditions of haint blue and the terrifying boo hag, the real murder behind *Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil*, and the surprising history of how Savannah earned its haunted reputation. Along the way, we'll uncover stories of tragedy, exploitation, forgotten history, and the people whose lives became something much larger after their deaths. Because sometimes the most unsettling thing about a haunted place isn't what people claim to have seen there. It's what actually happened. Welcome to Day Twenty One of 31 Days of Halloween. VERB ENERGY Limited addition Blood-Orange Pound Cake- Promo Code - HAUNTED verbenergy.com/haunted Tales from the Shadows Weekend in Lancaster PA CONDEMNED links - https://linktr.ee/Condemned YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@HauntedAmericanHistory TikTok - @hah_podcast hauntedamericanhistory.com Patreon- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/hauntedamericanhistory⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ HAH DISCORD - https://discord.com/invite/bJdbpH3hQm Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    31 Days of Halloween | Day 21: Savannah, Georgia — America's Most Haunted City

  5. 4d ago

    31 Days of Halloween | Day 20: The Amityville Horror — The True Story Behind the Haunting

    On November 13, 1974, a young man ran into a bar in Amityville, New York, shouting that his parents had been shot. When police arrived at his family's waterfront home, they discovered six bodies. Ronald DeFeo Jr. had murdered his parents and four younger siblings while they slept. Just over a year later, another family moved into the house. George and Kathy Lutz knew about the murders, but they believed they could make a new life there. Within twenty-eight days, they had abandoned the property, claiming something terrifying had happened inside. They described mysterious voices, unexplained noises, strange substances appearing throughout the house, and a supernatural presence that seemed determined to drive them away. Their story became The Amityville Horror, one of the bestselling haunted-house books of its time and the inspiration for a horror franchise that continues to this day. But how much of it actually happened? Tonight, we're investigating the real murders behind the Amityville Horror, the twenty-eight days that supposedly transformed an ordinary family home into a supernatural nightmare, the lawsuits and conflicting testimony that followed, and the people who spent decades living in the shadow of America's most famous haunted house. Welcome to Day Twenty of 31 Days of Halloween. VERB ENERGY Limited addition Blood-Orange Pound Cake- Promo Code - HAUNTED verbenergy.com/haunted Tales from the Shadows Weekend in Lancaster PA CONDEMNED links - https://linktr.ee/Condemned YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@HauntedAmericanHistory TikTok - @hah_podcast hauntedamericanhistory.com Patreon- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/hauntedamericanhistory⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ HAH DISCORD - https://discord.com/invite/bJdbpH3hQm Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    31 Days of Halloween | Day 20: The Amityville Horror — The True Story Behind the Haunting

  6. 5d ago

    31 Days of Halloween | Day 19: Friday the 13th — The Truth Behind the Unlucky Day

    In 1907, a wealthy Boston businessman named Thomas Lawson published a novel called Friday, the Thirteenth. It told the story of a stockbroker who exploited people's fear of an unlucky date to trigger a financial panic. That same year, a seven-masted schooner bearing Lawson's name sank in the Atlantic. In Boston, where Lawson lived, the date was Friday, December 13th. Only two men survived. For generations, Friday the 13th has been associated with terrible luck, mysterious curses, and the fear that something awful is waiting to happen. But the superstition isn't nearly as ancient as people believe. Tonight, we're tracing the strange history of Friday the 13th, from medieval superstitions and the Knights Templar to a secretive New York dining club, a Wall Street panic, and the horror movie that turned an unlucky date into one of the most recognizable names in American pop culture. Along the way, we'll uncover the stories that were invented, the coincidences that actually happened, and why Friday the 13th feels especially ominous when it falls in October. Welcome to Day Nineteen of 31 Days of Halloween. VERB ENERGY Limited addition Blood-Orange Pound Cake- Promo Code - HAUNTED verbenergy.com/haunted Tales from the Shadows Weekend in Lancaster PA CONDEMNED links - https://linktr.ee/Condemned YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@HauntedAmericanHistory TikTok - @hah_podcast hauntedamericanhistory.com Patreon- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/hauntedamericanhistory⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ HAH DISCORD - https://discord.com/invite/bJdbpH3hQm Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    31 Days of Halloween | Day 19: Friday the 13th — The Truth Behind the Unlucky Day

  7. 6d ago

    31 Days of Halloween | Day 18: The Salem Witch Trials — From Tragedy to Halloween Capital

    In 1891, a jeweler in Salem, Massachusetts, began selling a silver souvenir spoon decorated with a witch on a broomstick. Beneath the witch were three small pins. Those pins were modeled after evidence used two centuries earlier, when frightened girls accused their neighbors of being attacked by invisible spirits. The accusations helped send innocent people to their deaths. And now their story was being sold as a souvenir. In 1692, Salem Village became the center of one of the most infamous witch hunts in American history. Nineteen people were hanged, one man was crushed beneath stones, and five others died in jail. More than 170 people were accused. But the history of Salem didn't end when the executions stopped. Over the following centuries, stories of curses, restless spirits, and haunted buildings grew alongside a very different kind of tradition: turning the town's darkest history into a Halloween destination. Tonight, we're returning to Salem to examine what actually happened during the witch trials, the people who suffered, the legends that followed, and how a town once ashamed of its past became America's Halloween capital. Welcome to Day Eighteen of 31 Days of Halloween. VERB ENERGY Limited addition Blood-Orange Pound Cake- Promo Code - HAUNTED verbenergy.com/haunted Tales from the Shadows Weekend in Lancaster PA CONDEMNED links - https://linktr.ee/Condemned YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@HauntedAmericanHistory TikTok - @hah_podcast hauntedamericanhistory.com Patreon- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/hauntedamericanhistory⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ HAH DISCORD - https://discord.com/invite/bJdbpH3hQm Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    31 Days of Halloween | Day 18: The Salem Witch Trials — From Tragedy to Halloween Capital

  8. Oct 17

    31 Days of Halloween | Day 17: The Bunyip — Australia's Mysterious Water Monster

    In 1845, a strange fossil bone appeared in the Australian town of Geelong. When an Aboriginal man was shown the remains, he reportedly identified the creature immediately. It was a bunyip. According to the newspaper account, the animal stood more than twelve feet tall, had the head of an emu, the body of an alligator, and claws capable of killing a person. Within two years, a supposed bunyip skull was on display in a Sydney museum, and reports of mysterious creatures were spreading across colonial Australia. But the bunyip's history began long before European settlers arrived. Across Aboriginal Australia, different communities had their own stories of powerful beings inhabiting rivers, lakes, and deep waterholes. These weren't simply tales of monsters. They carried teachings about danger, responsibility, and the relationship between people and the land. Tonight, we're exploring the history of Australia's most famous water monster, the extraordinary sightings that fueled a nineteenth-century obsession, the strange explanations offered by scientists, and the Indigenous traditions that survived long after the colonial bunyip became a curiosity. And we'll discover why Halloween itself feels a little different in a country where October marks the arrival of spring. Welcome to Day Seventeen of 31 Days of Halloween. VERB ENERGY Limited addition Blood-Orange Pound Cake- Promo Code - HAUNTED verbenergy.com/haunted Tales from the Shadows Weekend in Lancaster PA CONDEMNED links - https://linktr.ee/Condemned YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@HauntedAmericanHistory TikTok - @hah_podcast hauntedamericanhistory.com Patreon- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/hauntedamericanhistory⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ HAH DISCORD - https://discord.com/invite/bJdbpH3hQm Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    31 Days of Halloween | Day 17: The Bunyip — Australia's Mysterious Water Monster
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About

A daily campfire-style podcast blending American history, folklore, and true crime. What scares you? Let’s find out.

Information

  • Creator
    Bloody FM
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    537
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2020 Christopher Feinstein
  • Show Website
    Haunted American History
  • Provider
    Christopher Feinstein

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