Haunts & Hollows: True Tales Of The Gothic South

Liam Ashe

Haunts & Hollows: True Tales Of The Gothic South is where true crime meets Southern folklore. Every other week, mystery author Liam Ashe digs past the haunted plantations, urban legends, and moss-draped cemeteries to uncover the real, often much darker history behind them. Lower the lights, lock the doors, and settle in. Tonight, the truth may just be stranger than the legend. Subscribe and you’ll get an intro to every episode, including early access and an exclusive Research Folio.

Episodes

  1. Aug 4

    Death In The Shade | Three Great Oaks From The Darkest Corners Of Southern Gothic Lore

    A Southern oak with a history of bizarre deaths. A 400 year old Savannah hanging tree. The Devil’s Tree that bears the scars of one serial killer’s twisted game of torture and murder. Three true tales from the Gothic South with a single thread running through: ancient trees that have witnessed the worst, most grievous evil mankind has to offer. In this episode: • The Fairchild Oak in Ormond Beach, Florida, where two plantation owners, both fleeing their own shady pasts, were found dead beneath its limbs, decades apart and with no confirmed cause of death • Savannah’s Candler Oak, a 300-year-old giant beside the city’s old hospital, whose reputation as a “hanging tree” blurs the line between documented history and ghost-tour legend • The case of Florida serial killer Gerard John Schaefer, Jr. whose twisted fantasies gave the Devil’s Tree of Port St. Lucie both its name and its reputation as a site of unspeakable depravity Some of these stories are documented fact. Some may be only folklore. All of them ask the same question: what happens when a death’s only witness is a tree? Listener discretion advised for graphic true crime content. Dive Deeper with the Research Folio. Get a full transcript, list of sources, supplemental media, and more for each drop plus early access to new episodes. A special perk for our email subscribers. Get the Newsletter > Haunts & Hollows: True Tales Of The Gothic South is where true crime meets Southern folklore. Every other week, mystery author Liam Ashe digs past the haunted plantations, urban legends, and moss-draped cemeteries to uncover the real, often much darker history behind them. Lower the lights, lock the doors, and settle in. Tonight, the truth may just be stranger than the legend. Subscribe and you’ll get an intro to every episode, including early access and an exclusive Research Folio.

    Death In The Shade | Three Great Oaks From The Darkest Corners Of Southern Gothic Lore

  2. Jul 21

    The Murder Of Blair Adams | A Bizarre Cold Case Death From Knoxville, Tennessee

    A 31-year-old construction worker told friends and family that someone was trying to kill him. They thought he was imagining things. Until he turned up dead, 3,000 miles away, naked and surrounded by gold and cash in a Knoxville parking lot. A true tale from the Gothic South that asks more questions than it answers: what would drive a man to flee his life only for it to end two days later? In this episode: • The cold case murder of Robert Dennis Blair Adams (December 28, 1964 – July 11, 1996) in Knoxville, Tennessee Listener discretion advised for graphic true crime content. Dive Deeper with the Research Folio. Get a full transcript, list of sources, supplemental media, and more for each drop plus early access to new episodes. A special perk for our email subscribers. Get the Newsletter > Haunts & Hollows: True Tales Of The Gothic South is where true crime meets Southern folklore. Every other week, mystery author Liam Ashe digs past the haunted plantations, urban legends, and moss-draped cemeteries to uncover the real, often much darker history behind them. Lower the lights, lock the doors, and settle in. Tonight, the truth may just be stranger than the legend. Subscribe and you’ll get an intro to every episode, including early access and an exclusive Research Folio.

    The Murder Of Blair Adams | A Bizarre Cold Case Death From Knoxville, Tennessee

  3. Jul 7

    Still On The Hunt | Three Southern Serial Killers Who Were Never Brought To Justice

    A prolific serial killer preying the Florida canals. A killer who they thought was behind bars, then eight more bodies surfaced. A vicious, mentally unbalanced monster preying on the elderly in their own homes. Three true tales from the Gothic South with a single thread running through: prolific and still uncaught serial killers with dozens of victims between them.  In this episode: • The Flat-Tire Killer from South Florida who may have claimed as many as 30 lives across nearly a dozen states in the 1970s • The case of serial killer Dan Conahan who was convicted as The Hog Trail Killer but may not be responsible for the eight anonymous bodies found in a mass grave in Charlotte County, Florida • The mystery of convicted killer Leslie Burchart in Richmond, Virginia, who claimed responsibility for the string of Golden Years Murders but whose confessions have been called into question The gruesome deaths may have stopped, but are the predators still walking among us? Listener discretion advised for graphic true crime content. Dive Deeper with the Research Folio. Get a full transcript, list of sources, supplemental media, and more for each drop plus early access to new episodes. A special perk for our email subscribers. Get the Newsletter > Haunts & Hollows: True Tales Of The Gothic South is where true crime meets Southern folklore. Every other week, mystery author Liam Ashe digs past the haunted plantations, urban legends, and moss-draped cemeteries to uncover the real, often much darker history behind them. Lower the lights, lock the doors, and settle in. Tonight, the truth may just be stranger than the legend. Subscribe and you’ll get an intro to every episode, including early access and an exclusive Research Folio.

    Still On The Hunt | Three Southern Serial Killers Who Were Never Brought To Justice

  4. Jun 23

    The Killer Next Door | The Crimes & Execution Of William Seymour Keener In Rabun County, Georgia

    A young farmer lay in ambush of his three young cousins. A short time later, two were dead, both shot at close range. What followed was a sensational murder trial, a failed lunacy plea, a jailhouse confession, and an execution that legend says made the church bells ring 500 times. A true tale from the Gothic South that asks one very important question: what would drive a man kill the girl of his dreams? In this episode: • The bizarre, historic true crimes and execution of William Seymour Keener in rural Rabun County, Georgia for the murders of Arizona and Leona Moore That person next door might be your friend, even your kin, but how well do you really know them? Listener discretion advised for graphic true crime content. Dive Deeper with the Research Folio. Get a full transcript, list of sources, supplemental media, and more for each drop plus early access to new episodes. A special perk for our email subscribers. Get the Newsletter > Haunts & Hollows: True Tales Of The Gothic South is where true crime meets Southern folklore. Every other week, mystery author Liam Ashe digs past the haunted plantations, urban legends, and moss-draped cemeteries to uncover the real, often much darker history behind them. Lower the lights, lock the doors, and settle in. Tonight, the truth may just be stranger than the legend. Subscribe and you’ll get an intro to every episode, including early access and an exclusive Research Folio.

    The Killer Next Door | The Crimes & Execution Of William Seymour Keener In Rabun County, Georgia

  5. Jun 9

    Infamous in Death | Five Women Who Died & Became Southern Gothic Legends In The Afterlife

    A lonely girl in red haunts the place of her death. The grave of a Charleston socialite draws favors for help from a witch. A young West Virginia woman’s ghost testifies at her own murder trial. Five tales from the Gothic South, some true and some perhaps not, with a single thread running through: independent-minded woman who died before their time and became Southern legends in the afterlife. In this episode: • The true tale of missing Florida housewife Nellie VanZant Olford who some say reappeared to lead authorities to her corpse • The South Carolina story of young, impetuous Eliza Huger who, after death, became known as the Witch Queen of Clemson • The legendary Yazoo Witch, a Mississippi malcontent who leveled an entire town with one fiery curse • The story of Margaret Transom, a young college student who took her own life and refused to leave as Alabama’s infamous Red Lady of Huntingdon College • The true tale of Elva Zona Heaster, a new bride murdered by her husband and whose mother claimed returned to testify at his trial as the Greenbrier Ghost Each of these five women led ordinary lives that gave way to extraordinary, and often chilling, afterlives in Southern Gothic folklore. Dive Deeper with the Research Folio. Get a full transcript, list of sources, supplemental media, and more for each drop plus early access to new episodes. A special perk for our email subscribers. Get the Newsletter > Haunts & Hollows: True Tales Of The Gothic South is where true crime meets Southern folklore. Every other week, mystery author Liam Ashe digs past the haunted plantations, urban legends, and moss-draped cemeteries to uncover the real, often much darker history behind them. Lower the lights, lock the doors, and settle in. Tonight, the truth may just be stranger than the legend. Subscribe and you’ll get an intro to every episode, including early access and an exclusive Research Folio.

    Infamous in Death | Five Women Who Died & Became Southern Gothic Legends In The Afterlife

  6. May 26

    No Such Thing As Coincidence | The Bizarre Connections Linking Different Cold Cases Across The Gothic South

    Two women with the same name are murdered in the same spot, just days apart. A machete murder in Saint Augustine leads to another suspicious death and a book that someone desperately didn’t want written. Two young Atlanta women at the same bank and same desk disappear two years apart under eerily similar circumstances. Five true tales from the Gothic South with a single thread running through: each has an unbelievable connection to an entirely different cold case. Is it coincidence or something more sinister? In this episode: • The unsolved cold case executions of Mary Lou Morris and Mary McGinnis Morris in Texas, October 2000 • The 1991 murder of Dorothy Donovan and the bizarre coincidence that moved her son, Charles Holden, from suspect to innocent victim • The 1974 cold case machete death of former model Athalia Ponsell Lindsley in St. Augustine, Florida, and its possible connection to another baffling murder only a few months later • The brutal 1955 execution-style murders of Judge Curtis Chillingworth and Marjorie Chillingworth and the Judge’s connection to Trapper Nelson, a South Florida legend who died of a suspicious shotgun blast • The disappearances of Mary Shotwell Little and Diane Shields in 1965 and 1967 and the chilling links between their Atlanta employers, friends, and even roommates Chance is everywhere if you look hard enough, but so is conspiracy. So, is it just coincidence? Sometimes the most unsettling answer is “Maybe.” Listener discretion advised for graphic true crime content. Dive Deeper with the Research Folio. Get a full transcript, list of sources, supplemental media, and more for each drop plus early access to new episodes. A special perk for our email subscribers. Get the Newsletter > Haunts & Hollows: True Tales Of The Gothic South is where true crime meets Southern folklore. Every other week, mystery author Liam Ashe digs past the haunted plantations, urban legends, and moss-draped cemeteries to uncover the real, often much darker history behind them. Lower the lights, lock the doors, and settle in. Tonight, the truth may just be stranger than the legend. Subscribe and you’ll get an intro to every episode, including early access and an exclusive Research Folio.

    No Such Thing As Coincidence | The Bizarre Connections Linking Different Cold Cases Across The Gothic South

  7. May 12

    Blood Fell Like Rain | The Terrifying True History Of Blood Falls In The Gothic South

    A thundershower of gore rains down on a Tennessee tobacco field. Biblical stories tell of frogs, eels, blood and more falling from the skies. Raw meat and gristle blanket a South Carolina cotton farm and foretell the end of days. A collection of true tales from the Gothic South with a single thread running through: the undeniable presence of blood—in unbelievable quantities—where it simply shouldn’t be.  In this episode: • The tiny town of Coalburg, Alabama, where dark clouds rained down millions of slithering eels on a warm evening in 1892 • The Macon, Georgia, blood fall of 1842 that included chunks of meat, gristle, and organs that weighed up to 25 pounds • The 1843 blood fall in Laurens, South Carolina, that one popular preacher identified at a deadly omen portending the Book of Revelations • The infamous Atlanta Blood House that seeped gallons of type O blood from the walls, floorboards and crawl spaces in September 1987 • The Lebanon, Tennessee, blood fall of 1841 that spread gore for more than 800 yards across a field of terrified farm hands  What falls from the sky in the American South? Sometimes it’s rain or snakes or eels. And sometimes it’s blood. Dive Deeper with the Research Folio. Get a full transcript, list of sources, supplemental media, and more for each drop plus early access to new episodes. A special perk for our email subscribers. Get the Newsletter > Haunts & Hollows: True Tales Of The Gothic South is where true crime meets Southern folklore. Every other week, mystery author Liam Ashe digs past the haunted plantations, urban legends, and moss-draped cemeteries to uncover the real, often much darker history behind them. Lower the lights, lock the doors, and settle in. Tonight, the truth may just be stranger than the legend. Subscribe and you’ll get an intro to every episode, including early access and an exclusive Research Folio.

    Blood Fell Like Rain | The Terrifying True History Of Blood Falls In The Gothic South

  8. Apr 28

    Deadly Dames II | Six Southern Women Who Wouldn’t Stop At Murder To Get What They Want

    A popular granny who poisoned her family for the money and the laughs. An angel of death nurse who kept a list of the souls she saved. A teen babysitter who smothered her young charges for no reason at all. Six true tales from the Gothic South with a single thread running through: woman who, for either money or reasons they couldn’t explain, killed family, friends, and complete strangers. In this episode: • West Virginia “Angel of Death” nursing assistant Reta Phyllis Mays who was suspected of killing more than a dozen elderly veterans starting in 2017 • The bizarre case of nurse Bobbie Sue Terrell whose story included arson, psychiatric care, self-harm, and string of shocking deaths at Saint Petersburg’s North Horizon Health Center in the 1980s • Florida native Christine Laverne Slaughter who was charged with the smothering and shaking deaths of six infants who had been entrusted to her care • The South Carolina story of Lavinia Fisher, a 19th century inn keeper and alleged highwayman, who was said to have run a profitable murder ring as one of America’s earliest female serial killers • Church-going grandmother Janie Lou Gibbs from Cordele, Georgia, who used arsenic to kill her husband, grandson, and three sons • The infamous Nannie Doss, known as the Giggling Granny, an American serial killer responsible for the deaths of nearly a dozen people between 1927 and 1954 Listener discretion advised for graphic true crime content. Dive Deeper with the Research Folio. Get a full transcript, list of sources, supplemental media, and more for each drop plus early access to new episodes. A special perk for our email subscribers. Get the Newsletter > Haunts & Hollows: True Tales Of The Gothic South is where true crime meets Southern folklore. Every other week, mystery author Liam Ashe digs past the haunted plantations, urban legends, and moss-draped cemeteries to uncover the real, often much darker history behind them. Lower the lights, lock the doors, and settle in. Tonight, the truth may just be stranger than the legend. Subscribe and you’ll get an intro to every episode, including early access and an exclusive Research Folio.

    Deadly Dames II | Six Southern Women Who Wouldn’t Stop At Murder To Get What They Want

  9. Apr 14

    Deadly Dames I | Six Southern Women Who Said “Til Death Do Us Part” & Meant It

    A devious Atlanta bride whose careful planning couldn’t ensure her new husband’s death. The sensational murder trial of a South Florida socialite ends with a question mark. An Alabama serial killer who disappeared only to return as her own twin sister. Six true tales from the Gothic South with a single thread running through: woman who said “Til death do us part” and truly meant it. In this episode: • The historic true crime case of Frankie Silver who, in 1833, became the first white woman executed in North Carolina • The 1805 murder trial of Polly Barclay who paid her brother and her lover to shoot her husband as he returned to their farm in Wilkes County, Georgia • The sensational case of Daisy Grace who shot her husband Eugene in 1912 but managed to secure her freedom on a technicality • The unsolved murder of Jacques Mossler, possibly by his eccentric wife Candy Mossler and nephew Mel Powers, in his Key Biscayne apartment • Florida serial killer Judy Buenoano who used arsenic, a canoe trip, and explosives to take care of husbands, boyfriends, and her own son • The bizarre case of serial killer Audrey Marie Hilley who escaped prison more than once before dying in the Alabama wilderness Listener discretion advised for graphic true crime content. Dive Deeper with the Research Folio. Get a full transcript, list of sources, supplemental media, and more for each drop plus early access to new episodes. A special perk for our email subscribers. Get the Newsletter > Haunts & Hollows: True Tales Of The Gothic South is where true crime meets Southern folklore. Every other week, mystery author Liam Ashe digs past the haunted plantations, urban legends, and moss-draped cemeteries to uncover the real, often much darker history behind them. Lower the lights, lock the doors, and settle in. Tonight, the truth may just be stranger than the legend. Subscribe and you’ll get an intro to every episode, including early access and an exclusive Research Folio.

    Deadly Dames I | Six Southern Women Who Said “Til Death Do Us Part” & Meant It

  10. Mar 31

    The Deadliest Town In Georgia | One Southern Town That Draws Death Like Flies To Honey

    A deadly tornado that claims the lives of dozens of child workers. A second storm that brings fire, heartache, and many more deaths. An invisible killer that snuffs out the living before they even know there’s an alarm. Four tragic true tales from the Gothic South with a single thread running through: a small southern town that can’t escape death, no matter how hard it tries. In this episode: • The Kelly Barnes Dam collapse of 1977 that nearly wiped a small Southern bible college off the map • The 1903 Georgia Cotton Mill disaster that claimed more than 50 lives • The Gainesville Tornado of 1936 and the Cooper Pants Factory tragedy that left more than 200 locals dead and more than 2,000 homeless • The 2021 industrial accident at a Foundation Food Group poultry plant that killed six and injured a dozen more Dive Deeper with the Research Folio. Get a full transcript, list of sources, supplemental media, and more for each drop plus early access to new episodes. A special perk for our email subscribers. Get the Newsletter > Haunts & Hollows: True Tales Of The Gothic South is where true crime meets Southern folklore. Every other week, mystery author Liam Ashe digs past the haunted plantations, urban legends, and moss-draped cemeteries to uncover the real, often much darker history behind them. Lower the lights, lock the doors, and settle in. Tonight, the truth may just be stranger than the legend. Subscribe and you’ll get an intro to every episode, including early access and an exclusive Research Folio.

    The Deadliest Town In Georgia | One Southern Town That Draws Death Like Flies To Honey

  11. Mar 17

    Rest In Pieces | The True Stories Of What Happens When You Bury A Body With No Head

    A doomed railroad man still swinging his phantom lantern. A Confederate soldier haunting a Greensboro cemetery with half a skull and an empty canteen. A bizarre true story of Lincoln assassination conspirator whose head went missing for more than 100 years before it was buried. Three tragic tales from the Gothic South with a single thread running through: when you bury a body without its head, you’re going to get a ghost. In this episode: • The legend of Joe Baldwin, a Carolina railway worker who lost his head in a tragic collision at Rattlesnake Bend • The Lonely Ghost of Greensboro Cemetery, a young private who took a cannon ball head on and never lived to tell his own tale • The true tale of Lewis Powell, a violent Civil War soldier and failed assassin whose body was returned to his family without his head Dive Deeper with the Research Folio. Get a full transcript, list of sources, supplemental media, and more for each drop plus early access to new episodes. A special perk for our email subscribers. Get the Newsletter > Haunts & Hollows: True Tales Of The Gothic South is where true crime meets Southern folklore. Every other week, mystery author Liam Ashe digs past the haunted plantations, urban legends, and moss-draped cemeteries to uncover the real, often much darker history behind them. Lower the lights, lock the doors, and settle in. Tonight, the truth may just be stranger than the legend. Subscribe and you’ll get an intro to every episode, including early access and an exclusive Research Folio.

    Rest In Pieces | The True Stories Of What Happens When You Bury A Body With No Head

  12. Mar 2

    Lovers Slain | The Gruesome True History of Serial Killers & Lover’s Lanes

    A young lothario who was flayed alive for his illicit intentions. Two predators that stalked Lover’s Lanes in the early 20th century. A vicious serial killer who hunted the South’s lonely highways for more than a decade. A collection of terrifying tales from the Gothic South with a single thread running through: the vicious killers who stalk the innocent youth on Lover’s Lane. In this episode: • The 20th century urban legends of the Dead Boyfriend, the Killer with a Hooked Hand, and Skinned Tom • The Petting Party Bandit that terrorized Memphis, Tennessee, in the 1920s • The Atlanta Lover’s Lane Killer that killed three and wounded three others in the 1970s • The Colonial Parkway Killer that hunted along Virginia’s rural highways in 1980s and 1990s, although a dead man may be guilty of the more than dozen murders Listener discretion advised for graphic true crime content. Dive Deeper with the Research Folio. Get a full transcript, list of sources, supplemental media, and more for each drop plus early access to new episodes. A special perk for our email subscribers. Get the Newsletter > Haunts & Hollows: True Tales Of The Gothic South is where true crime meets Southern folklore. Every other week, mystery author Liam Ashe digs past the haunted plantations, urban legends, and moss-draped cemeteries to uncover the real, often much darker history behind them. Lower the lights, lock the doors, and settle in. Tonight, the truth may just be stranger than the legend. Subscribe and you’ll get an intro to every episode, including early access and an exclusive Research Folio.

    Lovers Slain | The Gruesome True History of Serial Killers & Lover’s Lanes
  • 12 Episodes

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Haunts & Hollows: True Tales Of The Gothic South is where true crime meets Southern folklore. Every other week, mystery author Liam Ashe digs past the haunted plantations, urban legends, and moss-draped cemeteries to uncover the real, often much darker history behind them. Lower the lights, lock the doors, and settle in. Tonight, the truth may just be stranger than the legend. Subscribe and you’ll get an intro to every episode, including early access and an exclusive Research Folio.

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