Haunted American History

In the winter of 1879, a Cree hunter named Swift Runner returned from the Canadian wilderness without his family.
He claimed they had starved to death.
But when investigators followed him back into the forest, they discovered something far more disturbing.
Swift Runner had murdered and consumed members of his own family. He claimed an evil spirit had driven him to do it.
For generations, Indigenous communities across the northern forests and Great Lakes had told stories of a terrifying being associated with insatiable hunger, cannibalism, and the darkest months of winter.
They called it the Wendigo.
Tonight, we're investigating the history and folklore behind one of North America's most frightening supernatural legends.
From early accounts recorded by French missionaries to the horrifying crimes of Swift Runner, we'll explore the beliefs surrounding the Wendigo and the people accused of becoming one.
We'll also examine the remarkable story of Jack Fiddler, an Indigenous leader who claimed to have defeated fourteen Wendigos, the controversial history of so-called Wendigo psychosis, and how Hollywood transformed an ancient figure of hunger and greed into the antlered monster recognized today.
Because the original Wendigo wasn't simply something waiting in the wilderness.
It was something a person could become.
Welcome to Day 25 of 31 Days of Halloween

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Tales from the Shadows Weekend in Lancaster PA

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YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@HauntedAmericanHistory
TikTok - @hah_podcast
hauntedamericanhistory.com
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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

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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
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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

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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

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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
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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

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