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Haunted American History

Christopher Feinstein

Frightening stories that folklore inspires. Join host Christopher Feinstein on a journey to discover the history behind American Folklore and the campfire stories they inspire. Sometimes gor...

Episodes

20 of 537 episodes

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 ma...

00:22:14Oct 22, 2026

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 h...

00:23:51Oct 21, 2026

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 hi...

00:21:37Oct 20, 2026

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 stockbroke...

00:22:01Oct 19, 2026

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...

00:24:15Oct 18, 2026

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 ident...

00:22:13Oct 17, 2026

31 Days of Halloween | Day 16: The War of the Worlds — The Halloween Panic That Never Was

On October 30, 1938, a radio reporter broadcasting from a farm field in New Jersey suddenly stopped speaking. Moments earlier, he had descri...

00:22:17Oct 16, 2026

31 Days of Halloween | Day 15: The True Story Behind The Exorcist

In 1949, a thirteen-year-old boy living outside Washington, D.C., began experiencing something his family couldn't explain. Scratching sound...

00:21:13Oct 15, 2026

31 Days of Halloween | Day 14: The Candy Man — The Murder That Changed Halloween

On Halloween night in 1974, eight-year-old Timothy O'Bryan came home from trick-or-treating in Pasadena, Texas, with a giant Pixy Stix. His...

00:26:51Oct 14, 2026

31 Days of Halloween | Day 13: The Hook — America's Most Famous Urban Legend

In November of 1960, a teenage girl wrote a letter to Dear Abby warning other teenagers about something she'd heard. A young couple had been...

00:20:37Oct 13, 2026

31 Days of Halloween | Day 12: The History of Haunted Houses

In 1888, a woman named Maggie Fox stood before two thousand people in a New York theater, removed her shoe, and demonstrated how she had spe...

00:25:51Oct 12, 2026

31 Days of Halloween | Day 11: The Woman Who Tamed Halloween

In 1899, Halloween was so destructive in parts of America that grown men sat outside their homes with shotguns, waiting for the pranksters t...

00:22:45Oct 11, 2026

31 Days of Halloween | Day 10: American Werewolves in America

On Halloween night in 1991, eighteen-year-old Doris Gipson was driving along a rural road outside Elkhorn, Wisconsin, when she struck someth...

00:23:10Oct 10, 2026

31 Days of Halloween | Day 9: The Witches of Pendle Hill

In 1612, a young woman named Alizon Device asked a traveling peddler for some pins. He refused. A short distance down the road, the man coll...

00:20:03Oct 9, 2026

31 Days of Halloween | Day 8: The Jersey Devil

In January of 1909, strange tracks began appearing in the snow across New Jersey. They crossed yards. Climbed fences. Appeared on rooftops....

00:23:22Oct 8, 2026

31 Days of Halloween | Day 7: The Real Legend of Sleepy Hollow

In 1776, somewhere in the hills of Westchester County, an American cannonball took the head off a Hessian soldier. His name was never record...

00:23:48Oct 7, 2026

31 Days of Halloween | Day 6: The Vampires of New England

In March of 1892, a group of men entered a cemetery in rural Rhode Island and opened the coffin of nineteen-year-old Mercy Brown. Then they...

00:24:34Oct 6, 2026

31 Days of Halloween | Day 5: The Bell Witch — America's Most Famous Haunting

In 1820, John Bell died on his farm in northern Tennessee. According to the legend, a ghost killed him. For years, the Bell family had suppo...

00:24:19Oct 5, 2026

31 Days of Halloween | Day 4: Black Shuck — The Devil's Hound

On August 4, 1577, a violent storm descended on the English countryside. Then something entered the church. Witnesses described an enormous...

00:18:46Oct 4, 2026

31 Days of Halloween | Day 3: Stingy Jack and the Jack-O'-Lantern

Before the jack-o'-lantern was a grinning pumpkin on an American porch, it was something else entirely. A light over a bog. For centuries, p...

00:22:06Oct 3, 2026