Buried Secrets Podcast: Recent Episodes
Buried Secrets
Talkin' about the paranormal, the occult, and weird and forgotten history. Deep dive into stories about ghosts, ouija boards, cemeteries, obscure and bizarre stories from New York City, urban legends, paranormal investigations, and more!
This episode is about the legendary pigman of Denton, Texas. Kinda.
The thing is, I'd never heard of the pigman, so it's really an episode about how urban legends and folklore are spread, what makes one urban legend take off while another lingers in obscurity, and what our urban legends say about us.
Though I do also tell the story of the pigman somewhere in there.
Highlights include:
- the "Cowboy Mafia"
- the WPA Folklore Project
Content note: this episode contains a brief mention of sexual assault, stories about violent attacks that lead to disfigurement, quoted language that suggests that facial disfigurement is tied to someone’s moral character, mentions of the war on drugs and corruption in the U.S. legal system.
Check out the shownotes.
Not far from the famed Goatman's Bridge in Denton County, Texas, a courthouse square has its share of spirits.
I return once more to North Texas—a place of strange UFO and cryptid encounters, and also where I grew up. This time, I'm looking at Denton Square, a historic spot where urban legends, history, and hauntings intersect.
Content note: This episode contains mentions of violence against Black and indigenous people and suicide.
Highlights include:
- an opera house that became a used bookstore
- a digression about how urban legends spread and develop
- a ghost horse!!
Check out the shownotes.
Support the New Blood Kickstarter! Please spread the word and—if you’re able to—back the project to help bring two new queer paranormal shows into the world! Check out newblood.tv for more info.
Continuing my deep dive into nostalgia and the paranormal! Does the way we feel about paranormal investigation tools change their efficacy? How do our emotions (especially nostalgia) interact with the paranormal?
Highlights include:
- My continuing fascination with whether the ghosts of living people can haunt us
- Looking at nostalgic paranormal investigation tools through the lens of Amanda D. Paulson’s Paranormal Emotive Touchpoint theory
Support the New Blood Kickstarter! Please spread the word and—if you’re able to—back the project to help bring two new queer paranormal shows into the world! Check out newblood.tv for more info.
Shownotes and written version of this episode at buriedsecretspodcast.com.
A look at lore surrounding the legendary Panasonic RR-DR60. How did the late 1990s audio recorder become a device that now sells for $4,000-5,000 USD on eBay? What makes the DR60 so special?
Highlights include:
- plenty o' nostalgia (and skepticism)
- a digression about hard drives (everyone's favorite)
- some arguments in favor of using older gear to investigate the paranormal
Check out the shownotes for sources and a written version of the episode.
A wild ride through nostalgia about instant photography, the pitfalls of both analog and digital photography, the weirdly zeitgeisty history of the Polaroid Corporation, and the search for images we can "trust."
Highlights include:
- My attempts to doctor Polaroid photos
- Spirit photography
- Computational photography
Check out the shownotes for sources and a written version of the episode.
A deep dive into nostalgia, liminality, and the paranormal.
Are we interested in the paranormal because we feel nostalgic? Could that be why so much paranormal investigation gear is inspired by 1980s and 1990s tech?
Highlights include:
- Could a state of feeling deep nostalgia help with spirit communication?
- Radio Shack memories
- Internet aesthetics
- Attempts to find meaning in a chaotic world
Check out the shownotes for sources and a written version of the episode.
In 1897, a series of mysterious airships were sighted all around the United States. This is a look at the flap in general, with a particular focus on some of the North Texas UFO sightings.
Highlights include:
- The Dallas-Fort Worth area as a "window area" with heighted strange activity
- A glimpse into how Victorian-era people responded to UFOs
- Lots of bearded aliens
Check out the shownotes for sources and a written version.
A look at the Aurora, Texas, UFO crash, one of many sightings during the mystery airship flap of 1897.
Highlights include:
- airships!
- urban legends and uncertain truths
- Jacques Vallée
Check out buriedsecretspodcast.com for the shownotes.
Do you ever read a book so interesting that you gotta tell everyone about it? I recently read Consorting with Spirits: Your Guide to Working with Invisible Allies by Jason Miller and was struck by how much great information and advice it contained for paranormal investigators. Though the book is ostensibly geared toward magickal practitioners, it might actually be the most helpful ghost hunting book that I've read so far.
So here are the insights and nuggets of wisdom that I found most illuminating from a paranormal investigation perspective. This episode will be focused on advice about how to stop doubting paranormal experiences, ways to think critically about encounters with spirits, how to be braver and take risks, and other cool insights.
Highlights include:
- the perception/projection ratio
- a digression about neurodivergence
- how to be less afraid of the paranormal
- an exercise to look past the veil
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I’ve been told that if I were in a horror movie, I would die first. But can I help it if I'm curious, chaotic, and solitary? Anyway, here's a look at some solo paranormal investigations I did around Halloween 2021 in two North Carolina state parks: Eno River State Park in Durham and William B. Umstead State Park in Raleigh.
Highlights include: - phantom footsteps - a breath on my neck while I was alone - an abandoned house in the woods - a solo Estes session in an environment where I was being told fairly clearly that I wasn’t wanted
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A look at a place full of cemeteries, ruins, and ghosts of the past. Also actual ghosts. Those too.
Eno River State Park, in Durham, North Carolina, is said to have its fair share of hauntings. I dive into the history of the park, especially the area around the Cabelands Cemetery, which is supposed to be one of the most haunted areas of the park. Plus, I dug up some of the paranormal experiences people have reported in the area.
Highlights include: - Some grim parts of the area's history - A demonstration of my superb math skills - Hidden cemeteries
Content note: this episode contains a lot of discussion of colonialism and chattel slavery.
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What if, after you died, a close friend of yours made a bust commemorating you, spending years trying to make the piece of art capture your very essence? What if some of your ashes were put into said statue, which was then displayed in a prominent public area? Might you haunt that statue? Well, that's what happened to Jason Miller, Scranton native and the actor who played Father Karras in The Exorcist. And Scranton residents have claimed that things have gotten weird.
That's just one of the many strange stories I explore in this episode about some of the most interesting haunted sites in Scranton, PA.
Highlights include:
- A grand masonic temple with many ghost stories
- A haunted trolley car (!!)
- A gruesome murder
P.S. This episode has nothing to do with Scranton's lost Luna Park, but I covered the park earlier in the series and I wanted to draw its old gate so here you go anyway.
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Stories of a haunted museum, a former hotel, a historic home, and a pub in Scranton, PA. Plus a couple cool urban legends about a stone couch and a lady in black.
Highlights include:
- a nun psychopomp
- a child who followed a ghost into the basement
- a ghost that sneaks up on people in a storage closet
- a mannequin that moves on its own
A dive into some of Scranton's haunted locations, including the Lackawanna Station Hotel and Nay Aug Park. Plus, a haunted real estate listing.
Highlights include:
- two defunct amusement parks
- ghosts that love to haunt minor league baseball players
- a weird treehouse
- a mine that was never used
- one of the worst zoos in the US
A dive into some of Scranton's haunted locations, including the Lackawanna Station Hotel and Nay Aug Park. Plus, a haunted real estate listing.
Highlights include:
- two defunct amusement parks
- ghosts that love to haunt minor league baseball players
- a weird treehouse
- a mine that was never used
- one of the worst zoos in the US
I tell the story of a weird paranormal experience I had during a recent trip to Scranton, PA.
Highlights include:
- my first sleep paralysis experience
- a strange roadside creek
- my thoughts about Scranton
Some thoughts about mylar balloons, what they represent in the paranormal, and what else they might mean in terms of our world and our future.
Highlights include:
- mylar balloons' history in the paranormal and position as garbage
- the idea of being haunted by trash
- the power of imagination
- some solarpunk reading recs
A look at what urban legends, especially the Goatman's Bridge urban legends, do in society, including urban legends as "folk news." Plus, some possible debunkings of some of the Old Alton Bridge phenomena.
Content note: This episode contains discussions of white supremacist hate groups.
Highlights include:
• Reflections on the legends on the bridge
• Debunkings and hoaxers
• A haunted house that operates near the bridge
Check out the shownotes for sources and more.
A look at what urban legends, especially the Goatman's Bridge urban legends, do in society, including urban legends as "folk news." Plus, some possible debunkings of some of the Old Alton Bridge phenomena.
Content note: This episode contains discussions of white supremacist hate groups.
Highlights include:
• Reflections on the legends on the bridge
• Debunkings and hoaxers
• A haunted house that operates near the bridge
Check out the shownotes for sources and more.
An attempt to trace the current tales of the Goatman's Bridge to their source: a 2008 YouTube video that contained seemingly new information about the urban legend, including some information that linked the story to the Mothman legends.
Highlights include:
• Thoughts about how the internet transforms and changes urban legends
• A little digital gumshoeing
• Some Mothman easter eggs
Check out the shownotes for sources and more.
Satanic Rituals at the Bridge: A look at the urban legends claiming that cultish activity has occurred at Texas’ famously haunted Old Alton Bridge, or Goatman’s Bridge.
Content note: This episode contains discussions of urban legends about animal abuse, as well as white supremacist hate groups.
Highlights include:
• Some possible debunkings
• A creepy abandoned house
• Rumors of rituals in the woods
• A look at one of the Buzzfeed Unsolved claims
Check out the shownotes for sources and more.
A deep dive into strangeness associated with the Goatman’s Bridge, featuring weird stories that I found on forums and comment sections, including a devil sighting, a ghost driver, lights turning red, terrifying laughter, Bigfoot-type phenomena, and more.
Highlights include:
- A ghostly driver redirecting a car to a cemetery
- Disembodied voices
- Will-o'-the-wisps
- Glowing eyes
Check out the shownotes for sources and more.
North Texas has four different Goatman legends, including the Old Alton Bridge Goatman. Here’s a look at those stories, as well as other urban legends about goatmen around the world.
As I continue my series on the Old Alton Bridge, or Goatman’s Bridge, I take a little detour to look at different goatmen throughout history. What similarities are there between the Old Alton Bridge and others? Why are there so many Goatman stories?
Highlights include:
• Satyrs
• Pan
• The Pope Lick Monster
• Vanishing hitchhikers
Check out the shownotes for sources and more.
A look at one legend behind the Goatman’s Bridge, the period of history that inspired it, and a suspicious recent death at the bridge.
Highlights include:
- The Texas Troubles
- Attempts to bury history
- Mass hysteria and bloodthirsty vigilantes
- Some creepypasta-style urban legends
Check out the shownotes for sources and more.
One of the most famous urban legends about the Goatman’s Bridge (aka the Old Alton Bridge) has roots in a hidden, unpleasant part of the county’s history. This episode looks at the legend of the Goatman and the history underpinning the story.
CONTENT NOTE: This episode contains discussions of racially motivated murders and white supremacist hate groups.
Check out the shownotes for sources and more.
In December 2021, I visited the Old Alton Bridge, or Goatman’s Bridge. Here’s what it’s like to visit the famously haunted bridge, as well as the history of the bridge itself.
CONTENT NOTE: I talk about gun use in this episode (not about people getting shot, but about people shooting guns near the bridge because they’re bored.) If you don’t want to hear about that, then skip this episode. You should be fine to pick back up on the series in the next episode. (Also, worth nothing that I recorded this before some of this week's gun violence.)
I know this episode is on the shorter side, but that’s because some long ones are coming up. (I couldn’t get the topics to split evenly, go figure.)
Highlights include:
• Lots of mud
• Some bridge trivia
• Some . . . interesting . . . reviews of the bridge that I found
The Old Alton Bridge, or Goatman’s Bridge, is a famously haunted site in north Texas. It has been featured in Buzzfeed Unsolved and Ghost Adventures, and the urban legends about the bridge are well-known in the paranormal world. But in my research, I’ve discovered that everything may not be as it seems at the Old Alton Bridge . . . Highlights include:
• a Reddit troll who makes some wild claims about the bridge
• what it was like growing up in north Texas
• a look at trickster elements of the paranormal
Subscribe on Patreon to support the show and get access to the Secret Library, map of Haunted NYC, Solo Estes Session Kit, and more: https://www.patreon.com/buriedsecretspodcast
I talk about some of the strangeness and patterns that have emerged during my own randonauting trips. Plus, I tell the story of some freaky fire-related synchronicities that have happened since last week. Highlights include:
• Ominous warnings from Randonautica
• Lots of owl lawn decorations!
• Three fires I’ve encountered since recording the last episode
Subscribe on Patreon to support the show and get cool stuff: https://www.patreon.com/buriedsecretspodcast
I finally talk about some of the weird stuff that has happened to me at the Hell Gate since releasing my episodes about the Hell Gate in 2020. Also, nominally, this episode is part of my series on randonauting, so I of course talk about the ways that Randonautica has led me back to the Hell Gate, as well as the concepts of memetics and the despair meme.
Don't know what the despair meme is? It's a randonauting thing, and I explain it. But in general, we're not talking about internet memes here; instead, I'm looking at memes as anything that spreads information, behavior, styles, symbols, practices, and ideas. (The example that makes sense to me is: If someone is humming a tune, and another person gets that stuck in their head, the tune is a meme that was spread from one person to another.)
So at one point in the episode, I do have to ask the question: is it possible that a supernatural force or entity is transmitting a meme to me when I visit a certain part of the Hell Gate? Does that have anything to do with the widely reported despair meme that has come up among randonauts? I have no answers, but do have fun exploring the questions.
Highlights include:
• An attempt at explaining memetics
• A possible initiation experience
• Ghost-transmitted memes?
Subscribe on Patreon to support the show and get cool stuff: https://www.patreon.com/buriedsecretspodcast
A look at the connection between strange synchronicities and Randonautica.
Plus, I explore some unusual synchronicities that happened to me while just talking and thinking about randonauting. Can Randonautica cause synchronicities when you aren’t even actively using the app? I’m not sure, but I’m ready to speculate wildly.
Highlights include:
• Stumbling across a piece of art called “Synchronicity”
• Conspiracy thinking
• A higher-than-average number of references to 80s music
Subscribe on Patreon to support the show and get cool stuff: https://www.patreon.com/buriedsecretspodcast
Escaping the Probability Tunnel Using Randonautica: A deep dive into how to randonaut, or go on mysterious, synchronistic adventures using the Randonautica app. Highlights include:
• Psychic self-defense
• Ideas behind how the app works
• Weird owl stories
• Probability Tunnels Subscribe on Patreon to support the show and get cool stuff: https://www.patreon.com/buriedsecretspodcast
A how-to guide on how to use a modified version of the Estes Method in solo paranormal investigations. I walk through how to set up your own Solo Estes Method kit, how to use it, cheap or free alternatives to buying new gear, and more. Highlights include:
• Some weird audio from a 1979 spirit communication
• A look at some ghost hunters who developed a technique very similar to the Estes Method
• A quick history of the Estes Method
Subscribe on Patreon to get the Solo Estes Method Kit (pre-recorded questions) that I made: https://www.patreon.com/buriedsecretspodcast
Check out the shownotes for sources and more.
Wrapping up this series on the history and hauntings of Fordham University, I look at some additional theories behind why Fordham University’s Rose Hill campus seems to be so haunted.
Highlights include:
• My recent trip to Fordham’s campus
• Some less pleasant elements of Fordham’s past
• Stone tape theory and residual hauntings
Got a Fordham haunting to report? Send it to buriedsecretspodcast@gmail.com.
For the shownotes and sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
A spin through some theories behind why hauntings and strangeness occurs. In this instance, I'm looking at the concepts of ley lines, window areas, and liminal spaces, and seeing whether any of them could be in play in the hauntings of Fordham University. Highlights include:
- A quick examination of incomprehensible aeromagnetic maps
- A weird internet aesthetic
- Former trails that ran through the area
- Ley line weirdness
Note: Sorry about the radiator noise on this one. I did my best to reduce it, but it ended up sounding a lot louder on the recording than it did in real life. Maybe just pretend it’s a poltergeist or something.
Got a Fordham haunting to report? Send it to buriedsecretspodcast@gmail.com.
For the shownotes and sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
A look at different theories behind hauntings and the paranormal, with an eye to why Fordham University's Bronx campus might be so haunted. This episode focuses on the spread of urban legends and theories behind urban legends.
Highlights include:
• Comparisons with hauntings at Vassar, Columbia, and NYU
• Thoughts about urban legends and why they spread
• Interesting books I’ve read while working on this series
• Psychogeography and hauntology Got a Fordham haunting to report? Send it to buriedsecretspodcast@gmail.com.
For the shownotes and sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
A strange story about a doomed dynasty of rams that once lived on Fordham University's campus, and the urban legends that grew up around them.
Highlights include:
• Kidnapped rams
• A house built for the ram by Grace Kelly's father
• Gruesome office decor
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https://linktr.ee/covidbailoutnyc
https://linktr.ee/emergency_release_fund
Got a Fordham haunting to report? Send it to buriedsecretspodcast@gmail.com.
For the shownotes and sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
Ghosts emerging from paintings, an entity made from smoke, and bathroom electronics going haywire are just a few of the weird stories I dug up for this episode. This is a look at some of Fordham University's "less haunted" haunted buildings, including a theater, administration building, and classroom building. Plus a look at some of Fordham's other campuses (including one defunct one.)
Highlights include:
• An urban legend about George Washington's headquarters
• Phantom cigar smoke
• Stories from the Lincoln Center campus
• A look at a supposedly haunted women's college that had an ill-fated merger with Fordham
Got a Fordham haunting to report? Send it to buriedsecretspodcast@gmail.com.
For the shownotes and sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
Creepy ghost children, a man disappearing into walls, priests blessing haunted dorms, and more, about in these haunted dorms at Fordham University in the Bronx, NY.
This episode is a look at some of Fordham University's "less haunted" dorms: meet the ghosts of Loschert Hall, O'Hare Hall, Martyrs' Court, and Loyola Hall.
Highlights include:
• Thoughts about hauntings based on recent deaths
• Some debunking attempts
• Sleep paralysis
• A dorm built on the former site of a cemetery
Got a Fordham haunting to report? Send it to buriedsecretspodcast@gmail.com.
For the shownotes and sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
A look at my own paranormal experiences living in Fordham University's former medical school building.
My time in Finlay Hall was uneasy, permeated by the feeling that I was always being watched. Though there were reasonable explanations for why I may have felt that way, I don't think that's all that was afoot. I tell the stories of an uneasy possible encounter with an entity in the laundry room in the basement (near where cadavers were once kept), a mysterious bell that seemed to ring throughout the building, and an unusual, regularly occurring gibbering sound that only my roommate and I seemed to be able to hear.
Highlights include:
• Conspiracy theories and the paranormal
• A primal scream
• My attempts to debunk my own experiences
• A bizarre experimental college
Got a Fordham haunting to report? Send it to buriedsecretspodcast@gmail.com.
For the shownotes and sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
Chilling urban legends and ghost stories from people who lived in an old medical school building, which featured a morgue and a large operating theater.
From 1905-1921, Fordham University had a medical school. After its short, troubled existence, the medical school was mostly forgotten. One of the few reminders of the school is Finlay Hall, the old medical school building that was converted into a dorm in the 1980s.
Since students have begun living there, haunting stories have emerged: some people claim to see ghostly students looking down on them during the night, as if they're a cadaver being dissected. Others wake to being choked by cold hands. This episode looks at the stories and seeks to sort out urban legend from credible paranormal experiences, and to corroborate or debunk popular stories.
Highlights include:
• Carl Jung giving lectures at the medical school
• Cadavers being kept in the basement
• Secret tunnels
Got a Fordham haunting to report? Send it to buriedsecretspodcast@gmail.com.
For the shownotes and sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
A look at some stories of ghost priests in an old library and classroom building. Plus, something strange that supposedly happened in the cemetery while The Exorcist was being filmed nearby.
Highlights include:
• A 1980s ghost priest who apparently knew computer programming
• A cemetery (and human remains) that was relocated twice
• Phantom voices heard by security guards
• Lightning striking a cemetery
Got a Fordham haunting to report? Send it to buriedsecretspodcast@gmail.com.
For the shownotes and sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
After a scene in The Exorcist was filmed in Hughes Hall, a former dorm at Fordham University, urban legends began to spring up about the building being haunted.
Rumors of "cultish" graffiti, tales of a young boy's ghost, stories of a mysterious black dog, and more weird urban legends circulated about the building. This episode seeks to tease out why some of these legends may have grown up around the building, which began as the old prep school, was turned into a dorm as a "stopgap" measure that lasted for decades, and has since been completely gutted and turned back into an academic building.
Plus, a look at some of the weird connections that The Exorcist had to Fordham.
Highlights include:
• The Fordham University professor who was an influence on The Exorcist
• What it was like to be one of the last people to live in Hughes Hall (spoiler: it was bad)
• The ghost of a prep school student
• Satanic Panic-type urban legends
Got a Fordham haunting to report? Send it to buriedsecretspodcast@gmail.com.
For the shownotes and sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
Forgotten human remains, a lingering entity monitored by a ghostly priest, mysteriously vanishing objects, strange sounds, and more abound at Fordham University's most haunted dorm.
Here's a deep dive into ghost stories from Queen's Court, looking at both the reported stories as well as the connections between tales of weirdness.
Highlights include:
• A second, forgotten burial ground on Fordham's Campus
• My own paranormal experience
• The entity that supposedly is trapped at the end of the hall of a dorm
• A ghostly priest who banishes and traps a strange entity
• Poltergeist activity
Got a Fordham haunting to report? Send it to buriedsecretspodcast@gmail.com.
For the shownotes and sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
A look at one of the most concentrated areas of hauntings in all of New York City: Fordham University in the Bronx.
Ghostly priests, secret tunnels, a black dog, poltergeist activity, multiple burial grounds, students living in an old morgue, and more, abound at Fordham University. The school's campus in the Bronx is about half a mile wide, but it's packed with weirdness. This series about Fordham University's hauntings begins with a look at Queen's Court, the university's oldest dorm. Queen's Court was built in 1845, was once a seminary, and has a number of ghost stories and urban legends attached to it.
Highlights include:
• A groundskeeper ghost who still does his rounds
• The ghost of a 19th century seminarian
• A digression about Stone Tape Theory
• A theory about why Fordham's ghost stories weren't really talked about until the 1970s
• A conceited archbishop
• Edgar Allan Poe
For the shownotes and sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
A look at some supposed ghosts and creepy cemeteries in Beacon, NY, as well as some haunting aspects of the area's recent history.
A feeling of uneasiness permeates the beautiful town of Beacon, NY. It's a city of industrial ruins, cemeteries (including a terrifying abandoned one), and the memories of a sanatorium for the ultra wealthy and an old asylum for mentally ill criminals. Deep woods surround the city, and mountains loom, adding to a sense of natural beauty, or, possibly, of claustrophobia and a feeling of being watched.
Highlights include:
• A figure that my wife saw in my footage from an abandoned cemetery
• Supposed cemetery hauntings
• Zelda Fitzgerald's stay in a sanatorium in Beacon
For the shownotes and sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
Bail fund to get vulnerable people out of Rikers Island: https://emergencyreleasefund.com/More information about what's happening on Rikers Island: https://theintercept.com/2021/09/16/rikers-jail-crisis-de-blasio-reforms/
A look at the haunting stories surrounding the mysterious ruins of a castle in the middle of the Hudson River.
About 50 miles away from Manhattan, the ruins of a castle lie on a small island in the Hudson River. Travelers pass the ruins on the train, and the only clue to the history of the destroyed castle are the words "Bannerman's Island Arsenal," emblazoned on the side of the structure. The island, and the area, has a long history of hauntings, from its pre-colonial times, to the superstitions of Dutch sailors and stories of a legendary goblin king.
Highlights include:
• A ghost ship
• A poem about the goblin king
• An amateur architect
• Exploding steamships
• Old-timey sailor hazing
For the shownotes and sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
A look at Mount Beacon, a mountain named for its role in the Revolutionary War, which once housed a hotel and tourist attractions, and now is a beautiful, ruin-filled place to hike.
The town of Beacon lies about an hour and a half from Manhattan by commuter train. The area, which once brimmed with factories, is now a quiet, small town, full of crumbling ruins of its past, spooky cemeteries, and deep woods.
This episode focused on Mount Beacon: its history, the reminders it holds of the past, and a experiment to test out a solo version of the Estes method, a popular paranormal investigation technique, on the mountain's peak.
Highlights include:
• The remains of a mountaintop train, hotel, and casino
• Wild speculation about some Estes session results
• Some of Beacon's history
Note: the Estes session contains some brief expletives.
For the shownotes and sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
A look at the elements of high strangeness in the 1893 story of a strange, acrobatic ghost in Woodside, Queens.
This episode delves into the Snake Woods and Rattlesnake Spring, the now-vanished wilderness of the New York City neighborhood of Woodside, and looks at the odd parts of the news reports of a ghostly figure. Though it's possible that the entity was just an unhomed person wandering the dangerous, snake-infested woods, there are enough unusual elements in the story to bear looking at from a perspective of high strangeness.
Highlights include:
• Bigfoot
• Women in White
• Creepy reptiles
For the shownotes and sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
In 1893, a strange entity dressed all in white appeared in a forest in Woodside, Queens.
The entity that was seen in the 19th century didn't seem to communicate verbally, though he made strange, chilling sounds. He was able to move on all fours as quickly as an ordinary person could run, and had a penchant for acrobatic stunts like handsprings. It is unclear what happened to this entity, but more than 100 years later, other stories about ghosts in the Woodside seem to be centered in the same area. . . .
Highlights include:
• A UFO sighting
• Ghost hoaxes in Victorian Australia
• A creepy ghost of a 19th century child
For the shownotes and sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
When a series of dangerous paranormal events plagues a home, famed psychical researcher and author Hereward Carrington is called in to investigate Astoria's "Gold and Ghost" house.
In 1934, a 30-year-old man and his 80-year-old housekeeper supposedly experienced a series of paranormal events at their home in Astoria, NY. One of their tenants was strangled (non-fatally) in bed, the housekeeper and her German Shepherd were thrown to the ground hard enough to break limbs, and the man was visited in the night by a shadow person-type ghost who told him that there was gold buried underneath his basement. The story just gets weirder from there, and even famed researcher Hereward Carrington wasn't able to untangle the details. To this day, questions remain about this story full of strange contradictions and puzzling details.
Highlights include:
• An abandoned secret passageway
• Psychics confirming a ghost's claim
• A stumped paranormal investigator
• A mysterious mannikin
• Buried treasure
For the shownotes and sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
Stop the Astoria NRG Power Plant: https://publicpower.nyc/stopnrgplant
A look at some 19th century tales of haunted houses in Astoria and Long Island City, NY.
Highlights include:
• A ghost spider
• Debunkings
• A runaway horse
• A digression about The Great Gatsby
For the shownotes and sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
Stories about smugglers, tunnels, and ghosts in Astoria, NY, as well as some more of the neighborhood's grim history.
Note: There's mention of chattel slavery around the 15 min mark, and more details after the 18 minute mark.
Highlights include:
• A haunted cave that's disappeared
• Horrific deeds done by a famous Astorian
• Some awful deaths in a tunnel under the river
• A manmade island
• The spooky Hell Gate
For the shownotes and sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
A look at some female ghosts of Astoria, Queens.
Note: There's discussion of chattel slavery after the 26 minute mark.
Highlights include:
• The American president who was supposedly shot on his way to see a haunting
• A ghost who disappears if she stops knitting
• A lady in white and a hag who haunt the same block
• A shameful side of Astoria's history
Tiffany Cabán for City Council (District 22): https://www.cabanforqueens.com/
For the shownotes and sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
A look at the fortune telling teacups, which were popular in the early 20th century, and were adorned with symbols meant to aid in interpreting tea leaves.
Highlights include:
• The different varieties of fortune telling teacups
• An attempt at a tea leaf reading
For the shownotes and sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
A look at the caladrius, a fancy legendary bird that could supposedly diagnose and heal illnesses. Plus weird info about medieval bestiaries, and more.
Highlights include:
• A weird supposed cure for blindness
• A visit to the Cloisters
• A video game that makes you feel like a wizard
• A bit of unicorn lore
Other stuff I mentioned:
• The Last Unicorn youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M57VN_b9FRM
• Atlas of the Mysterious in North America by Rosemary Ellen Guiley: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1460616.Atlas_of_the_Mysterious_in_North_America
• Waltz of the Wizard: https://www.aldin.io/waltzofthewizard/
For the shownotes and sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
A look at some weird medieval creatures from legend and lore. Plus some stories about some recent cemetery visits in Queens, NY, including Houdini's grave.
Highlights include:
• An ancient, impenetrable European forest
• A magical glowing bird
• A dragon with a rooster's head
For the shownotes and sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
Follow on instagram @buriedsecretspodcast
A colonial-era cemetery sits in a quiet residential part of New York City.
Forgotten for years, and even used as a dump for construction materials and other detritus, the Moore-Jackson Cemetery recently been transformed into a beautiful community garden. Here's the story behind the cemetery and the people buried there.
Highlights include:
• Loyalists living in Revolutionary War-era Queens, NY
• The city trying to illegally seize the cemetery at the behest of a developer
• A hot-potato cemetery
Check out the Moore-Jackson Cemetery/Garden's website for more info and historical articles: https://www.moorejacksonnyc.org/
For the shownotes and sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
Follow on instagram @buriedsecretspodcast
E-mail at buriedsecretspodcast@gmail.com.
A look at the remarkable Lent-Riker-Smith Homestead and Cemetery, which one woman's dream and grit turned into a beautiful site with a secret garden.
Highlights include:
• A unique second date
• A collection of vintage ventriloquist dummies
• Fun historic home renovation details
Note: There's discussion of chattel slavery and being held captive against one's will near the end of this episode, around 00:34:15.
For the shownotes and sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
Follow on instagram @buriedsecretspodcast
E-mail at buriedsecretspodcast@gmail.com.
A look at the Lent-Riker-Smith Cemetery, a hidden family graveyard tucked away behind one of the oldest homes in New York City, which is still a private residence.
This is part 1 of the history of the little-known Lent-Riker-Smith Homestead and Cemetery. This episode focuses on the history of nearby Riker's Island, as well as the Riker family, and sets the scene for next week's deep dive into the home and cemetery's more recent history, and what they're like now.
Highlights include:
• Spontaneously combusting garbage
• Gatsby's Valley of Ashes
• A grim modern-day penal colony
• Exploring an off-the-beaten-path neighborhood
Donate to the Emergency Release Fund to get high-risk people out of Rikers: https://emergencyreleasefund.com/
Tiffany Cabán for city council district 22 (Astoria): https://www.cabanforqueens.com/
The Feminine Macabre Volume 1: https://spookeats.com/femininemacabre/
For the shownotes and sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
Follow on instagram @buriedsecretspodcast
E-mail at buriedsecretspodcast@gmail.com.
A look at a small family cemetery dating from the 1600s, tucked into a residential neighborhood in New York City.
The Lawrences were an old family from Queens, New York, arriving in the area in the 1600s and buying land all over. Despite the destruction of many family cemeteries in NYC over the centuries, two Lawrence cemeteries have survived, one of which is in an Astoria man's backyard.
The cemetery, surrounded by both a stone wall and a chain link fence, is closed to the public, though curious onlookers can peer through its iron gate and see a variety of tombstones, some of which belong to veterans of the Revolutionary war.
Highlights include:
• Forgotten cemeteries
• Accidentally scaring local cemetery owners
• A lost shoreline
• Inheriting a cemetery
Donate to the Emergency Release Fund to get high-risk people out of Rikers: https://emergencyreleasefund.com/
Tiffany Cabán for council district 22 (Astoria): https://www.cabanforqueens.com/
For the shownotes and sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
Follow on instagram @buriedsecretspodcast
E-mail at buriedsecretspodcast@gmail.com.
Why are there tombstones around Socrates Sculpture Park? A look at a riverside New York City park surrounded by a wall of tombstones.
It seems that very few people have asked this question, at least on the internet, and there are no obvious answers. There is, however, a fascinating history behind this little park, as well as a whole host of possibilities for how this site came by its morbid gravestone wall.
Highlights include:
• The ultimate NYC villian: real estate developers
• A forgotten creek
• Queens' penchant for illegal dumping grounds
• Cool sculptures
The Feminine Macabre Volume 1: https://www.etsy.com/listing/962586876/the-feminine-macabre-volume-1
For the shownotes and sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
Follow on instagram @buriedsecretspodcast
E-mail at buriedsecretspodcast@gmail.com.
Two tiny, forgotten cemeteries sit near each other in old Astoria, Queens: one was a burying ground for the wealthy families who ran the town, and the other was for Irish immigrants who fled the famine.
Here's a look at the history behind the graveyards, as well as a puzzling mystery about a nearby churchyard that may or may not be a burial site.
Highlights include:
• Robbers hiding their loot in a church tower
• The mystery of a man with two graves
• The discovery of human remains during a construction project
For the shownotes and sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
Follow on instagram @buriedsecretspodcast
E-mail at buriedsecretspodcast@gmail.com.
When a woman sells her home and doesn't disclose that friendly ghosts haunt it, the subsequent court case leads to the New York Supreme Court officially declaring the house haunted.
In 1989, Helen Ackley sold the 18-room Victorian mansion that she'd lived in for 24 years. Located at 1 Laveta Place in Nyack, New York, overlooking the Hudson River, and lovingly restored by Helen and her late husband when they first purchased it in the 1960s, it was the perfect home for the Stambovskys, a Wall Street Trader and his wife, who purchased it. Except for one thing--the house was haunted.
Helen Ackley was proud of her ghosts, and seemed to consider them close friends.
When a local architect mentioned the house's paranormal reputation to the new buyer, Stambovsky immediately sued to get his down payment back, and refused to move into the home. That led to a court case, widely known as the Ghostbusters Ruling, that went to the New York Supreme Court--twice--and cumulated with a pun-filled ruling that quoted the ghost from Shakespeare's Hamlet, as well as the hit 1984 movie Ghostbusters. The judge had spoken: "as a matter of law, the house is haunted."
Highlights include:
• The ghost of a Revolutionary War naval officer
• A fixer-upper with ghosts
• A spirit-approved paint job
For the shownotes and sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
Follow on instagram @buriedsecretspodcast
E-mail at buriedsecretspodcast@gmail.com.
In the 1690s, a Transylvania-born mystic, occultist, musician, and writer named Johannes Kelpius led a group of 40 Rosicrucian monks to colonial Philadelphia to wait for the end of the world.
Though Kelpius and his group of highly-educated mystics were disappointed when the day of revelation didn't come, they made the best of their new home, building an observatory, a botanical garden, and an orchard. They also wrote poetry, composed music, and studied alchemy, divination, and conjuring.
Records show that they experienced a number of paranormal events, including the sighting or a ghostly figure at the edge of the woods during a celebration around a bonfire, blue flames emerging from a fresh grave, and more. There are also stories of Kelpius' followers performing astral projection, and Kelpius himself possessed a magical stone that he guarded fiercely, but which has since vanished.
Highlights include:
• A ghost who appeared at a bonfire-lit celebration
• Blue flames emerging from a fresh grave
• A cave full of serpents
• Astral projection into a London coffeehouse
• The philosopher's stone?
For the shownotes and sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
Follow on instagram @buriedsecretspodcast
E-mail at buriedsecretspodcast@gmail.com.
It only took 15 minutes for the New York Crystal Palace, a beautiful building made of iron and glass, to burn to the ground.
Financially insolvent and falling apart, New York City's Crystal Palace had seen better days. New management attempted to save the beautiful edifice, but its ruin was too far gone. What had once been a glamorous tourist attraction became a decrepit mess.
New York City considered selling it for scraps, or moving the building to Philadelphia, but the screws that kept it together had rusted, making the Crystal Palace too expensive to even take apart. It was almost a blessing when a fire--which was blamed on arson but was more likely the rest of some cost-saving compromises on the gas lines--burned the building to the ground.
But, as the New York Tribune said: "We shall never have another Crystal palace. Its glorious dome . . . is no more; its galleries, its treasures, its magnificent expanses indispensable to the mass-gatherings of this great metropolis--its superb memories are all gone, and gone forever."
Highlights include:
• PT Barnum's attempts to save the Crystal Palace
• An elevator safety demonstration that involved repeatedly cutting the cord
• An exclusive gala organized by conmen and ending in a brawl between ultra-wealthy guests
• How a sensation like the Crystal Palace could have been forgotten
For the shownotes, sources, and pics of the Crystal Palace, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
Follow on instagram @buriedsecretspodcast
E-mail at buriedsecretspodcast@gmail.com.
A look at New York City's ill-fated Crystal Palace, a beautiful structure built on an abandoned cemetery on the outskirts of town.
In the mid-19th century, a castle of glass stood in the wilds of what is now a bustling part of New York City. It was an answer to a similar Crystal Palace in London, which had hosted an exhibition a couple years before.
The Crystal Palace and the Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations was meant to represent American industry and ingenuity, but ended its days as a decrepit symbol of excess and mismanagement before going up in flames. Here's part 1 of its story.
Highlights include:
• The story behind how NYC became a tourist destination
• Weird inventions like the "mechanical leech" and the "typeographer"
• The gardener-architect who built the world's tallest fountain
• A sort of mini Eiffel Tower that sprouted up next to the Crystal Palace
For the shownotes, sources, and pics of the Crystal Palace, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
Follow on instagram @buriedsecretspodcast
E-mail at buriedsecretspodcast@gmail.com.
A look at the second-oldest church still standing in Manhattan, which is full of hauntings both legendary and questionable.
Highlights include:
• A wealthy man's remains being stolen and held for ransom
• A very grumpy ghost
• An heir who convened with his ancestor's ghost instead of marrying
• A mysteriously ringing church bell
For the shownotes and sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
Follow on instagram @buriedsecretspodcast
E-mail at buriedsecretspodcast@gmail.com.
A look at two of NYC's oldest and most haunted churches: Trinity Church and St. Paul's Chapel, two famous houses of worship in Manhattan's Financial District with cemeteries tucked into their churchyards.
Check out the shownotes at buriedsecretspodcast.com to see pics of the cemeteries and churches mentioned in this episode.
Highlights include:
• Disinterring corpses to free up space in the cemetery
• A body (and ghost?) with a missing head
• Edgar Allen Poe's possible cemetery cottage
• 2:30 am church services
• A child's Egyptian-style sarcophagus found during a playground's construction
• A look at some of the forgotten evils that happened in Manhattan
For the shownotes and sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
Follow on instagram @buriedsecretspodcast
E-mail at buriedsecretspodcast@gmail.com.
Paranormal stories about New York City's Hell Gate abound, from stories about a serial killer living inside the Hell Gate Bridge, to a tale of an encounter with the devil, and a possible EVP that Chris just found in a recording from April.
Many of the stories of the Hell Gate center around the grand Hell Gate Bridge, so this episode dives into the bridge's history, as well as accounts of people sneaking up onto the bridge and exploring it. The episode closes out with a recording that Chris did on the shore alongside the Hell Gate back in April 2020, which Chris thought was just a normal recording, but which maybe actually contains a couple somewhat terrifying EVPs? (Listen to the end for that.)
Check out the shownotes for pictures of the Hell Gate Bridge and environs.
Highlights include:
• The best place to hide from zombies in NYC
• Other Hell Gates
• The Nazi plot to destroy the Hell Gate bridge
• A funny flaw in the Hell Gate's paint job
Note: This episode includes brief mentions of suicide.
For the shownotes and sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
You can listen to more audio on patreon ($3/month): https://www.patreon.com/buriedsecrets
Follow on instagram @buriedsecretspodcast
E-mail at buriedsecretspodcast@gmail.com.
Paranormal stories about New York City's Hell Gate abound, from stories about a serial killer living inside the Hell Gate Bridge, to a tale of an encounter with the devil, and a possible EVP that Chris just found in a recording from April.
Many of the stories of the Hell Gate center around the grand Hell Gate Bridge, so this episode dives into the bridge's history, as well as accounts of people sneaking up onto the bridge and exploring it. The episode closes out with a recording that Chris did on the shore alongside the Hell Gate back in April 2020, which Chris thought was just a normal recording, but which maybe actually contains a couple somewhat terrifying EVPs? (Listen to the end for that.)
Check out the shownotes for pictures of the Hell Gate Bridge and environs.
Highlights include:
• The best place to hide from zombies in NYC
• Other Hell Gates
• The Nazi plot to destroy the Hell Gate bridge
• A funny flaw in the Hell Gate's paint job
Note: This episode includes brief mentions of suicide.
For the shownotes and sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
You can listen to more audio on patreon ($3/month): https://www.patreon.com/buriedsecrets
Follow on instagram @buriedsecretspodcast
E-mail at buriedsecretspodcast@gmail.com.
On a summer afternoon in 1904, the General Slocum, a supposedly unsinkable ship carrying about 1,300 people bound for a picnic, caught fire and sank in New York City's notorious Hell Gate.
The General Slocum disaster was the second-worst maritime disaster in US history and the greatest loss of life in NYC before 9/11. But it's been largely forgotten. When a church group and their neighbors went on an ill-fated day trip to Long Island, they encountered a disaster of unfathomable proportions, bolstered by greed, incompetence, and cowardice. And they would pay for other people's mistakes with their own lives.
Over 1,000 people, mostly women and children, died that day, decimating the population of Manhattan's Little Germany and devastating family members who'd been left behind. While this is an upsetting story, it's an important one when looking at the Hell Gate's history, as well as stories of the paranormal in the area.
Note: This episode contains stories about many people--including children--drowning and dying in a fire.
Highlights include:
• Drunk anarchists from Paterson, NJ
• What happened to NYC's lost neighborhood of Little Germany
• An unsinkable ship that sank 8 years before the Titanic
• Heroic rescue efforts by tugboat captains and hospital employees and patients
• Guilty parties getting away with, if not murder, then manslaughter
• A possibly cursed ship
For the shownotes and sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
You can listen to more audio on patreon ($3/month): https://www.patreon.com/buriedsecrets
Follow on instagram @buriedsecretspodcast
E-mail at buriedsecretspodcast@gmail.com.
Legend has it that beneath the churning waters of the notorious Hell Gate, a tidal strait in New York City, lies millions of dollars worth of sunken treasure.
In 1780, during the Revolutionary War, a British frigate called the HMS Hussar struck a reef and sank to the bottom of the East River. Many people believe that the ship carried an enormous amount of gold as payroll for British soldiers.
Despite its location in the most dangerous waters in the area, treasure hunters have searched for the Hussar in vain for years. One submarine inventor lost his entire fortune in the search for the treasure, while other salvagers have sunk millions into the search. If the treasure is there, it seems that it doesn't want to be found . . .
Highlights include:
• A loaded cannon found in Central Park in 2013
• Shipworms, aka the "Termites of the Sea"
• Hidden treasure maps found at the New York Public Library
• The inventor of the modern submarine
• The largest explosion before the atomic bomb
For the shownotes and sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
You can listen to more audio on patreon ($3/month): https://www.patreon.com/buriedsecrets
Follow on instagram @buriedsecretspodcast
E-mail at buriedsecretspodcast@gmail.com.
A look at the mysterious Gothic lighthouse that stands at the tip of New York City's Roosevelt Island.
Did a lunatic named Thomas Maxey build the lighthouse? If so, why did a now-missing stone say that an unknown person named John McCarthy built it? Or was it designed by 19th century starchitect, James Renwick, Jr, who was also responsible for St. Patrick's Cathedral?
There isn't a lot of good information about this online, but a deep dive into newspaper archives had helped get some answers. Chris shares some theories about the lighthouse, as well as more about the industrious "lunatic," Thomas Maxey, who may have had a hand in its construction.
Highlights include:
• More about Fort Maxey
• James Renwick, Jr, architect of St. Patrick's Cathedral
• Drama with the US Lighthouse Board
• Plenty of wild speculation
For the shownotes and sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
You can listen to more audio on patreon ($3/month): https://www.patreon.com/buriedsecrets
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In the mid-19th century, Thomas Maxey, a patient at the New York Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell's Island, built Fort Maxey, a strange structure complete with cannons, a garden of tall flowers, and mysterious carvings.
The infamous New York Lunatic Asylum has its share of chilling stories. But one odd, forgotten story is the tale of a mysterious man who took it upon himself to build a bizarre, hobbit-hole like "fort," which included a bridge, a bizarre stone gateway, and a toll for curious visitors.
Thomas Maxey, the "lunatic" who built the structure single-handedly, believed that the government would one day realize how valuable the fort was and purchase it from him. But in the meantime, he lived in the fort himself, surrounding himself with hollyhocks and broken weapons, donning pretty hats, and regaling his guests with stories about mythology and the ancients.
Highlights include:
• An infamous lunatic asylum
• An "insane" man who seems smarter than most sane people
• People being committed to the asylum for no reason
• Nellie Bly's gutsy investigative reporting
• Some follow-up on the Luxor, and magical triangles
For the shownotes and sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
You can listen to more audio on patreon ($3/month): https://www.patreon.com/buriedsecrets
Follow on instagram @buriedsecretspodcast
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A look at the haunted side of the Luxor Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, as well as some of the tragedies and violence that have happened in the area.
This episode is focused on the haunted aspects of the hotel, including creepy things that have happened there and nearby, theories about why it may be haunted, ideas about what should be done to counteract the Luxor "curse" and more.
Note: This episode contains brief mentions of suicide, domestic violence, mass shooting, bombing, and falling from a great height.
Highlights include:
• A possible burial ground for mob victims
• What supposedly happens to your body if you die in a Vegas hotel
• Mysterious deaths and violence
• Theories about the hotel's "curse" and how to lift it
• Possible Illuminati connections
For all of our shownotes, including our sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
You can listen to more audio on our patreon ($3/month): https://www.patreon.com/buriedsecrets
Follow us on instagram @buriedsecretspodcast
E-mail us at buriedsecretspodcast@gmail.com.
The Luxor Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas is one of the most iconic hotels on the strip—and supposedly one of the most haunted.
Back in the 1990s, there were grand plans to make Vegas a new Disney-type destination, full of ornate themed resorts and fun activities for children. The Luxor Hotel and Casino, an Ancient Egyptian themed hotel that's shaped like a giant obsidian pyramid with a beam of light coming out of the top, was a strange and fascinating example of Vegas' '90s family-friendly ambitions. But all that changed in the early 2000s, when Vegas changed tack.
This week is a look at the history of the hotel, from its construction and grand opening to its current de-themed state, plus some initial thoughts on why people might believe the hotel is cursed.
Highlights include:
• A ill-fated pyramid hotel project that was planned for the site next to the Luxor
• Mysterious dead links
• A light that's visible from space
• Special elevators that go sideways and up to bring people to their rooms
• Ancient alien 3D movies
• Authentic reproductions of Ancient Egyptian artifacts
For all of our shownotes, including our sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
You can listen to more audio on our patreon ($3/month): https://www.patreon.com/buriedsecrets
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A look at the legendary Book of Thoth and the historical figure who inspired Ancient Egypt's most famous fictional sorcerer and is considered the first Egyptologist.
Setne Khamwas, aka Prince Khaemweset, was the son of Ramesses the Great, as well as a high priest of Ptah, and a historian with a passion for preserving Ancient Egyptian history. He traveled around Egypt, restoring sites and monuments from the Old Kingdom, including the famous Pyramids at Giza. He's a big factor in why so many famous Ancient Egyptian sites are in relatively good repair. He's also behind some ancient alien theories.
The Book of Thoth, a book of magic that was featured in the fictional stories about Setne Khamwas, also has an interesting backstory, and links to ceremonial magic, Hermes Trismegistus, and hermeticism in general.
Highlights include:
• Ancient aliens
• A magical bull
• Field mice fighting battles
• The good and bad parts of being an ancient historian/tomb raider
For all of our shownotes, including our sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
You can listen to more audio on our patreon ($3/month): https://www.patreon.com/buriedsecrets
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A look at the magic-filled legends of Se-Osiris, Ancient Egyptian Wizard, who, as a pre-teen, traveled to the underworld and later dueled with a reincarnated sorcerer.
Setne II, an Ancient Egyptian story that's survived on papyrus, tells the tale of a Dante's inferno-like descent into the underworld, and a flurry of magical duels and reincarnation. Oh, and the person doing the magic is a 12-year-old kid.
Highlights include:
• A protective mother who turns into a goose to fly to save her sorcerer son
• The weighing of hearts
• The jackal-headed god Anubus
• Ammit, devourer of the dead
• A trip to the land of the dead
For all of our shownotes, including our sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
You can listen to more audio on our patreon ($3/month): https://www.patreon.com/buriedsecrets
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A look at the magic-filled legends of Prince Setne, a character based on the son of Ramesses II, who goes on a tomb-raiding journey to acquire a magical book. And it's the prequel to the stories about his 12-year-old boy wizard son, Se-Osiris.
Setne I, or Setne Khamwas and Naneferkaptah, is a tale that's survived on papyrus from Ptolemaic Egypt. It about a wizard who descends into a tomb to collect a book written by the god Thoth, only to find it guarded by ghosts. Indiana Jones-style hijinks ensue.
Highlights include:
• An eternal snake (ouroboros)
• A magical glowing book hidden inside a series of boxes
• The ancient city of Memphis, Egypt
• The wrath of Thoth
• A look at different types of Ancient Egyptian writing systems
Note: This episode contains brief mentions of drowning, suicide, incest, soliciting sex for money, killing children, and disinterring corpses
For all of our shownotes, including our sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
You can listen to more audio on our patreon ($3/month): https://www.patreon.com/buriedsecrets
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Dagger John, New York City's most influential and vicious archbishop, had a huge impact, whether he was consecrating Calvary Cemetery and founding Fordham University, or peppering the mayor with threats to burn down the city.
"Are you afraid," asked the mayor, "that some of your churches will be burned?"
"No, sir; but I am afraid that some of yours will be burned. We can protect our own. I come to warn you for your own good."
Highlights include:
• The "Black Coats," aka America's evil wizards, aka the Jesuit colonizers
• The Mohawks who built Manhattan
• Threats to burn down the city
• What happened on the land that became Calvary Cemetery
• The first saint born in the US, a Protestant society woman with eleven children who became a Catholic nun
• Secret societies in Ireland
For all of our shownotes, including our sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
You can listen to more audio on our patreon ($3/month): https://www.patreon.com/buriedsecrets
Follow us on instagram @buriedsecretspodcast
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More people are buried at Calvary Cemetery, in Queens, New York, than in any other cemetery in the United States.
This episode is focused on the history of the cemetery, what it's like to visit it nowadays, and some of the most interesting people buried there.
Highlights include:
• The Cemetery Belt, a collection of NYC cemeteries that can be seen from space
• A rich man who died in a barn
• A Black, queer communist author and poet
• Rome's ancient catacombs
• Some NYC mobsters
• A female author who grew up in a castle
• A NYC cop who was assassinated in Sicily
For all of our shownotes, including our sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
You can listen to more audio on our patreon ($3/month): https://www.patreon.com/buriedsecrets
Follow us on instagram @buriedsecretspodcast
E-mail us at buriedsecretspodcast@gmail.com.
A look at the forgotten cemeteries and potter's fields that lie beneath the most famous parks in NYC.
Back in the 18th and 19th centuries, a number of potter's fields (cemeteries for paupers) were scattered around Manhattan. Some of NYC's most famous parks were built right on top of those forgotten cemeteries, including Madison Square Park, Washington Square Park, Union Square Park, Central Park, Bryant Park, and Sara D. Roosevelt Park.
Highlights include:
• Grave robbers
• The 20,000 bodies that lie beneath a famous park
• Yellow fever
• 18th century NIMBYs
• Construction workers finding tombstones
For all of our shownotes, including our sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
You can listen to more audio on our patreon ($3/month): https://www.patreon.com/buriedsecrets
Follow us on instagram @buriedsecretspodcast
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A look at some popular ghost stories from haunted Asheville, North Carolina, along with a strange F. Scott Fitzgerald conspiracy theory.
Highlights include:
• Haunted bridges
• Gruesome disinterments at a potter's field
• A haunted high school
• Two dead women named Helen
• A bookseller's memories of hanging out with F. Scott Fitzgerald
• An old tombstone shop
• The Brown Mountain Lights
Note: This episode contains mentions of murder, police brutality, suicide, drowning, and disrespectful disinterment of corpses.
For all of our shownotes, including our sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
You can listen to more audio on our patreon ($3/month): https://www.patreon.com/buriedsecrets
Follow us on instagram @buriedsecretspodcast
E-mail us at buriedsecretspodcast@gmail.com.
A look at the strange history of the haunted Grove Park Inn, and the famous people (and ghost) who've stayed there.
Built by a quinine medicine mogul based on plans drawn up by his son-in-law (who was not an architect), the Grove Park Inn is has hosted many famous guests. F. Scott Fitzgerald lived there for two summer, 10 presidents have stayed there, as well as celebrities like Thomas Edison and John D. Rockefeller. And then there's the Pink Lady, a mysterious female ghost who employees and guests have reported encountering.
Highlights include:
• F. Scott Fitzgerald's "beer cure"
• The Pink Lady ghost
• A scenic mountaintop grave
• A terrifying advertisement for quinine
• Zelda Fitzgerald's last years and tragic death
• The US Supreme Court's nuclear war plans
• Staying at an isolated cabin in the woods
• A place called "Bat Cave"
• Workers living in circus tents
Note: there are several mentions of suicide/attempted suicide throughout the episode, as well as details about dying in a fire.
For all of our shownotes, including our sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
You can listen to more audio on our patreon ($3/month): https://www.patreon.com/buriedsecrets
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A look at Santa Muerte, or Saint Death, a Mexican folk saint whose popularity has skyrocketed over the last 20 years.
The Catholic Church has condemned Santa Muerte as "satanic," the Mexican military has destroyed shrines to her, the Mexican government refuses to acknowledge the veneration of Santa Muerte as a religion, and the media in the US and Mexico have conflated the cult of Santa Muerte with drug cartels.
But that's not the whole story. We take a look at the history behind Santa Muerte and see how many people who've felt rejected by the Catholic Church have been able to find hope, comfort, and community in Santa Muerte.
Highlights include:
• Marijuana smoke used as incense
• A trans woman who puts on the largest festival to Saint Death
• A reimagined version of the rosary
• Frida Kahlo holding a ying yang
Note: there's a mention of someone being beheaded at 1:21-2:32.
For all of our shownotes, including our sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
You can listen to more audio on our patreon ($3/month): https://www.patreon.com/buriedsecrets
Follow us on instagram @buriedsecretspodcast, and follow Jen @jenmariewilde.
E-mail us at buriedsecretspodcast@gmail.com.
A look at an apparatus to contact the spirit world that Thomas Edison claimed to be working on, but which never surfaced.
In 1920, famed inventor Thomas Edison gave a series of interviews bragging about a device he was testing, a spirit telegraph, which spiritualists could use to give their seances a more scientific bent. Though he despised Ouija boards, table tipping, and other trappings of spiritualism, Edison believed that his new invention could determine whether the human personality persisted after death, once and for all. The only problem? The invention never materialized.
Highlights include:
• Creepy uses for the phonograph
• The "little people" or "life units" that make up our bodies
• Electrocuting an elephant in Coney Island
• A chapter of Edison's diary that his family had removed
• Edison's ghost
Note: At 3:36-4:40 there're details of a person being executed via electric chair, and at 4:40-5:26 there're details of an elephant being electrocuted.
For all of our shownotes, including our sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
You can listen to more audio on our patreon ($3/month): https://www.patreon.com/buriedsecrets
Follow us on instagram @buriedsecretspodcast, and follow Jen @jenmariewilde.
E-mail us at buriedsecretspodcast@gmail.com.
A deep dive into the mysteries and history of a strange palace and garden built by an eccentric millionaire in Sintra, Portugal.
Sometimes described as a playground for adults, Quinta da Regaleira is a mysterious estate built by a millionaire entomologist in the early 20th century, full of occult and masonic references. Chris talks about the history, symbolism, and some theories about the place.
Highlights include:
• A city named after a moon temple
• Freemason symbolism
• An Initiation Well
• A tree that's the last of its kind
• Green men
• Pentagrams on church floors
• Secret tunnels
• A "floating" library
Note: There's a brief reference to sexual assault, in the context of the story of Leda and the Swan, at 25:00-27:00.
To see pictures of Quinta da Regaleira, visit the shownotes for this episode.
For all of our shownotes, including our sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
You can listen to more audio on our patreon ($3/month): https://www.patreon.com/buriedsecrets
Follow us on instagram @buriedsecretspodcast, and follow Jen @jenmariewilde.
E-mail us at buriedsecretspodcast@gmail.com.
In 1933, a teenage girl shot her father on the orders of a Ouija board. Or was it her former-beauty-queen mother who encouraged the violence?
When playing with a Ouija board with her mother, 14-year-old Mattie Turley receives the message that she must kill her father so her mother can be free to marry a handsome cowboy.
Her mother, Dorothea, who had won a beauty contest in 1916 and had attended the London Academy of Music, had married instead of following her dream of being an actress. Shortly after the family moved to an isolated cabin in the mountains of Arizona, Dorothea began consulting the Ouija board and making strange demands because of it. Was she just manipulating the people around her for her own purposes, or was something more mysterious afoot?
Highlights include:
• The “American Venus” beauty contest
• A manipulative mother
• A stereotypical cowboy
• A Ouija-ordered murder
• Scandal at a girls’ reform school
• America’s creepy salute
• Misandry vs. misogyny
For our shownotes, including our sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
You can listen to more audio on our patreon ($3/month): https://www.patreon.com/buriedsecrets
Follow us on instagram @buriedsecretspodcast, and follow Jen @jenmariewilde.
E-mail us at buriedsecretspodcast@gmail.com.
We're back talking Ouijamania in 1920! We take a look at more Ouija board stories, including communication with the ghost of Marie Antoinette and the tale of a doomed treasure hunter.
Highlights include:
• A supposedly Ouija-crazed cop who hijacked a car at gunpoint and proceeded to disrobe
• Queerness in 1920s San Francisco
• The ghosts who haunted European aristocrats
• Hyperinflation in Weimar Germany
For our shownotes, including our sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
You can listen to more audio on our patreon ($3/month): https://www.patreon.com/buriedsecrets
Follow us on instagram @buriedsecretspodcast, and follow Jen @jenmariewilde.
E-mail us at buriedsecretspodcast@gmail.com.
"Ouijamania" is the phenomenon where people, usually women, supposedly went crazy because of their Ouija board use, usually resulting in their institutionalization.
We take a look at Ouijamania in 1920 and see how the panic over Ouija boards was influenced by big movements at the time, including womens suffrage, prohibition, and, unfortunately, eugenics.
Highlights include:
• Occult rituals
• 1920s insane asylums
• Burning money
• The dark side of 1920s feminism
For our shownotes, including our sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
You can listen to more audio on our patreon ($3/month): https://www.patreon.com/buriedsecrets
Follow us on instagram @buriedsecretspodcast, and follow Jen @jenmariewilde.
E-mail us at buriedsecretspodcast@gmail.com.
We take a look at the sudden popularity of Ouija after World War I. We tried talking about 1920s Ouijamania and just barely make it outta the 19teens.
Highlights include:
• Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini playing with a Ouija board in an Atlantic City hotel room
• The pope hiring a former psychical researcher to denounce Ouija
• Possible connections between remote viewing and successful Ouija board use
• The solar plexus chakra and ouija
• The dark side of 1920s America
For our shownotes, including our sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
You can listen to more audio on our patreon ($3/month): https://www.patreon.com/buriedsecrets
Follow us on instagram @buriedsecretspodcast, and follow Jen @jenmariewilde.
E-mail us at buriedsecretspodcast@gmail.com.
We take a detour in our look at the Ouija board and dive into Victorian Egyptomania.
In the Victorian Era, people were really into death and the supernatural. Americans and Europeans also started traveling to Egypt and bringing back mummies and other pieces of Egyptian culture. We talk about some of the weird stuff that Victorians did with Egyptian artifacts, some now-destroyed Egyptian Revival buildings in NYC, and what all of this has to do with Ouija.
Highlights include:
• An Egyptian Revival prison built on quicksand in New York City
• Mummy unwrappings
• Creepy automatons and mad scientists
• Mummies as medicine
• Jewelry made from real scarab beetles
• Imperialism and stealing Ancient Egyptian artifacts
• Indiana Jones-style hijinks
• A giant Egyptian-influenced reservoir that used to sit in the middle of midtown Manhattan
For our shownotes, including our sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
You can listen to more audio on our patreon ($3/month): https://www.patreon.com/buriedsecrets
Follow us on instagram @buriedsecretspodcast, and follow Jen @jenmariewilde.
E-mail us at buriedsecretspodcast@gmail.com.
Chris digs up some early stories of people getting waaay too obsessed with their Ouija boards.
Highlights include:
• a rare story of a 19th century black woman's experience with Ouija
• a couple destroying their home to (supposedly) convert the world to Masonic principles
• Presidential talking boards
• petty society columns
• Ouija wrecking havoc on a wealthy Brooklyn family
• a man finding spiritual fulfillment through Ouija
Most of these stories take place during the Victorian era, but we also look at a few in the early 20th century, going up to the start of WWI, which is when Ouijamania really kicked off.
For our shownotes, including our sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
You can listen to more audio on our patreon ($3/month): https://www.patreon.com/buriedsecrets
Follow us on instagram @buriedsecretspodcast, and follow Jen @jenmariewilde.
E-mail us at buriedsecretspodcast@gmail.com.
In the 20th century, William Fuld's name became synonymous with Ouija boards. We look at how he got into the Ouija game, the feud with his brother that split the family for nearly a century, his mysterious death that resulted from some advice that the board gave him, and more.
We also talk about how the official Ouija board evolved throughout the 20th century, look at some of his competitors, and talk about what he did to shut them down and make his Ouija board the Ouija board.
We also give an update on the planchette that Chris ordered and had an unsettling experience trying for the first time, getting a message that may have a connection to the hostile entity we spoke to in Salem.
For our shownotes, including our sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
You can listen to more audio on our patreon ($3/month): https://www.patreon.com/buriedsecrets
Follow us on instagram @buriedsecretspodcast, and follow Jen @jenmariewilde.
E-mail us at buriedsecretspodcast@gmail.com.
We take a look at the board's invention, in particular two women behind it, Helen Peters and Ouida: a highly-educated, unconventional medium who later ended up denouncing Ouija, and the eccentric, dog-obsessed English writer whose name may have inspired the board's.
In 1886, homemade talking boards became a new "Ohio craze" that newspapers reported widely around the country. Five years later, a man named Charles Kennard started a company to create his own talking board, which he claims he invented (though the prototype may have been made by his neighbor, a coffin maker turned undertaker.)
But what most people don't know is that one woman's involvement in the Ouija board's creation had been totally written out of the history, until Ouija historian Robert Murch unearthed her story. We look at how a woman named Helen Peters was integral in ensuring the board got patented. She also was at the Ouija board session that the board's name came from, and wore a locket around her neck with another woman's name, Ouida, which is where the name "Ouija" may have emerged from.
Ouida was a real character--an extremely prolific, oddball author of somewhat scandalous 19th-century adventure novels--so we take a look at her life and wonder how we'd also never heard of her.
We'll pick up again next week to talk about what happened to Kennard's company, and what happened to Ouija as the 20th century dawned.
For our shownotes, including our sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
You can listen to more audio on our patreon ($3/month): https://www.patreon.com/buriedsecrets
Follow us on instagram @buriedsecretspodcast, and follow Jen @jenmariewilde.
E-mail us at buriedsecretspodcast@gmail.com.
We begin a series about Ouija boards, digging into the strange history of the much admired and maligned method of communicating with spirits and/or having fun at parties.
Before Ouija, there was planchette. Invented in Paris in the 1850s, planchette was a method of automatic writing. Much like the planchette we recognize from today's Ouija boards, it was a heart-shaped plank of wood. But it was much larger than today's planchettes, rested on wheels or casters, and had a slot to put a pencil through. One or several people would rest their hands on the planchette, and see what messages come through.
Highlights include: The Spiritualist movement, weird personifications of "Planchette," plenty of alarmist rhetoric about this popular parlor game/occult technique, and the story of a young woman in New Orleans who supposedly died as a result of her obsession with planchette
This is the first of ?? episodes about Ouija boards. We'll be back next week to talk about the invention of Ouija boards and spirit boards!
For our shownotes, including our sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
You can listen to more audio on our patreon ($3/month): https://www.patreon.com/buriedsecrets
Follow us on instagram @buriedsecretspodcast, and follow Jen @jenmariewilde.
E-mail us at buriedsecretspodcast@gmail.com.
Continuing our look at Salem's most haunted hotel, we unearth a strange synchronicity in the history of the land that the Hawthorne Hotel stands on and take a look at the mysterious Salem Marine Society.
Following up on a lead that Chris found last time, we dive into what happened at the site of Salem's famously haunted Hawthorne Hotel. We find a really strange set of circumstances that we can't believe aren't spelled out more in many of the sources we found online. We also correct a big inaccuracy perpetuated by many websites about the Hawthorne Hotel.
Highlights include: Arson, a man named Estes, two buildings with the same name burning down on the same weekend, a ship's cabin located on the hotel's rooftop, and more
You can listen to the full, unedited Estes session audio from our Hawthorne Hotel Investigation on our patreon ($3/month): https://www.patreon.com/buriedsecrets
For our shownotes, including our sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
Follow us on instagram @buriedsecretspodcast, and follow Jen @jenmariewilde.
E-mail us at buriedsecretspodcast@gmail.com.
We deep dive into the stories of other guests in the hotel, as well as the hotel's history.
After sifting through all of the haunting-related reviews of the Hawthorne Hotel on Trip Advisor, we talk about the most interesting ones (including reviews from some guests who don't believe the hotel is haunted.)
Highlights include: ghostly cats, Ouija boards, the ghost of a sailor, glitchy phone calls, disembodied voices, cold spots
You can listen to the full, unedited Estes session audio on our patreon ($3/month): https://www.patreon.com/buriedsecrets
For our shownotes, including our sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
Follow us on instagram @buriedsecretspodcast, and follow Jen @jenmariewilde.
E-mail us at buriedsecretspodcast@gmail.com.
We share our strange encounters at Salem's famously haunted Hawthorne Hotel, including audio from an Estes session where we spoke to some of the hotel's spirits.
In part 1 of our look at the Hawthorne Hotel, we look at some of our experiences at the Hawthorne, and share audio from our (we believe successful) attempt to speak to some of the hotel's entities.
Highlights include: a possible sleep paralysis episode, a (briefly) missing wedding ring, a conversation with a squid fisherman, a not-so-friendly entity named Justin, and our first attempt at a Estes session.
You can listen to the full, unedited Estes session audio on our patreon ($3/month): https://www.patreon.com/buriedsecrets
For our shownotes, including our sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
Follow us on instagram @buriedsecretspodcast, and follow Jen @jenmariewilde.
E-mail us at buriedsecretspodcast@gmail.com.
Resources and things we mentioned:
You can buy Wildnisgeist by Stone Breath here
Watch the web series Spirits of the Stanley here
Watch Hellier here (or on Youtube or Amazon prime)
Episode of Astonishing Legends about the Estes Method
Week in Weird article about how to use the Estes Method
The company Chris bought the SB-7 Spirit Box from, Ghost Augustine (they also sell on Amazon)--definitely recommend this place because they replaced the first spirit box they sent with no hassle. Chris thought it was defective, but it turned out that Chris was just using it wrong. They were extremely nice about it and had great customer service.
Did you know that in late 19th century Australia, ordinary people would dip sheets in toxic glowing paint and run around at night pretending to be ghosts?
Neither did we, but Chris dug up this oddball story from Jen's home state of Victoria and was excited to tell Jen all about it! The story involves a angry mob chasing a preacher; a protective mom siccing her dog on a creepy dude; calls for vigilante justice; hallucinogenic moonshine and a "very fine" draper's dummy; a lady dressed up in a glow-in-the-dark wedding dress and playing guitar on a rooftop, and more.
For our shownotes, including our sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
Follow us on instagram @buriedsecretspodcast, and follow Jen @jenmariewilde.
E-mail us at buriedsecretspodcast@gmail.com.
You can support the show on patreon (these days, Chris is running to local cemeteries and recording off-the-cuff impressions for patreon, so you can subscribe for that!): https://www.patreon.com/buriedsecrets
We return to Blackwell's Island to look at the now-destroyed Charity Hospital as well as the Renwick Ruin as it stands on today's Roosevelt Island.
In part 2 of our 2-part look at the Smallpox Hospital / Renwick Ruin, we talk about the Gothic ruin of the Smallpox Hospital that remains on Roosevelt Island, as well as the much larger ruin of the 19th century Charity Hospital (also FKA Penitentiary Hospital, City Hospital, and Island Hospital) that's since been torn down.
We also discuss the connection between Charity Hospital on Blackwell's Island and the Elmhurst Hospital Center, which is now famous as the epicenter of the current coronavirus crisis here in Queens, New York.
Note: This episode is a little darker than part 1, with a few mentions of suicide and some conversation about COVID-19. (Chris did leave out the parts about the awful medical experiments that happened at Charity Hospital, though.)
For our shownotes, including our sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
Follow us on instagram @buriedsecretspodcast, and follow Jen @jenmariewilde.
E-mail us at buriedsecretspodcast@gmail.com.
You can support the show on patreon (these days, Chris is running to local cemeteries and recording off-the-cuff impressions for patreon, so you can subscribe for that!): https://www.patreon.com/buriedsecrets
We take a look at the ruins of a forgotten Gothic hospital on Roosevelt Island in New York City
A crumbling ruin is all that's left of the old Smallpox Hospital that used to operate on Roosevelt Island, an island that lies between Manhattan and Queens in New York City. Nowadays, the ruin lies in a park and is lit up by floodlights at night. It's a picturesque shell of the old Gothic building, and is popular with urban explorers, but the story behind it is a fascinating one.
Originally built by James Renwick Jr, the superstar 19th century architect who built St. Patrick's Catherdral in Manhattan, and often called "the Renwick Ruin" these days, the old Smallpox Hospital was built in the 1850s.
At the time, Roosevelt Island (then called Blackwell's Island) was an isolated "haven" for the poor and sick--many wealthy Manhattanites wrote about the picturesque island, more garden than prison. But in reality, the island housed an infamous penitentiary (where William Macy Tweed, aka Boss Tweed, was once held), a workhouse and almshouse for the poor and sick, the infamous New York Lunatic Asylum (where muckraking journalist Nellie Bly got herself admitted to expose the horrific conditions), as well as a few hospitals, including the Smallpox Hospital.
In part 1 of our 2-part look at the ruins of the Smallpox Hospital on Roosevelt Island, we talk about the dark history of the island in the 19th century, the famous architect behind the hospital, and a bit of the history of smallpox in the world and in New York City.
We're coming to you from lockdown in Queens, New York, so we look at how 19th century Blackwell's Island relates to the world today, especially with the current coronavirus crisis. We also daydream about about some paranormal investigations we want to do on Roosevelt Island once we're cleared to hang out again.
For our shownotes, including our sources, visit buriedsecretspodcast.com.
Follow us on instagram @buriedsecretspodcast, and follow Jen @jenmariewilde.
E-mail us at buriedsecretspodcast@gmail.com.
You can support the show on patreon: https://www.patreon.com/buriedsecrets