American Hauntings Podcast

In the past on this podcast, we have often asked the question of whether a monster is born or are they made? This might be the episode that finally answers that question. The story that follows suggests that monsters are NOT born; they’re made – often by the very people who should protect them.

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The fires of the witchcraft allegations burned through the towns and villages of New England during the 1600s, leading to accusations, trials, and even hangings. Many communities regretted the belief that the Devil was at work in their own until it was too late and near the end of the century, the fires that had burned so hot began to cool.

But not before the events at Salem Village occurred in 1692, spawning the most infamous witch...

In 1987, ten-year-old Amy Rachel Schulz vanished from the quiet town of Kell, Illinois. By morning, her body was found in a rural oilfield — brutally murdered. The investigation that followed tore through southern Illinois, led to a death sentence, and decades later unraveled into one of the most controversial cases in the state’s history. This is the story of innocence lost, forensic failure, and the haunting legacy Amy left behin...

A war raged in the Puritan New England of the 1600s with both the indigenous people who first settled the land and against the “Spirits of the Invisible World” who used “horrid sorcerers and hellish conjurers who conversed with demons” to torment and persecute the faithful. 

It was a time of sin, suspicion, wild accusations – and witchcraft. Those who had made pacts with the Devil were intent on the destruction of the “purified” wor...

Riders on the Storm” turned out to be the last song Jim Morrison ever recorded. When the album was finished, he left L.A. for Paris and either died on July 3, 1971, or he went permanently off the grid – whichever you’d like to believe.

But it’s the lyrics behind the song that is the most unsettling of all – it was inspired by one of the most sinister spree-killers in history. His reign of terror began in the last days of 1950, and o...

American Nightmares begins with the horror at the root of the stories that kept the early settlers huddled around the fire late into the night – the Devil himself.

Understanding the Devil in America is the key to understanding our undeniable taste for the evil and the monstrous in all their many forms. The pages of our history can be read as a tale of horror -- with the Devil as one of the main characters. The Devil, like the first ...

Our nightmare begins, as all bad dreams do, in the dark.

The new show coming to the American Hauntings Podcast Network is AMERICAN NIGHTMARES, hosted by Troy Taylor (that’s me) and I’ll be delving into America’s history, hauntings, spirits, and sins in a way that we’ve never done before. I’ll be tackling the origins and the history of horror in America, from frightening stories of witch trials to monsters of literature and lore. In ...

“So, I’d been listening to this conversation and I finally walked over and picked up a film off the rack. I handed it to the biggest guy and told him, this is it. Take this home and watch it and if it’s not scary enough for you, I’ll give you your money back when you return it.”

“The guy came back the next day, and he handed me the case with the VHS tape in it. I asked him what he thought and he just had this look in his eye.”

“’Scar...

This Halloween, we discuss our favorite guilty pleasure Horror movies! And we try our best to not judge ourselves and others about the scary movies we all hate to love. Check it out!

Have a question or comment? Text us on the Haunt Line @ 217-791-7859

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In October 1985, four-year-old Timothy “TJ” Davison vanished from a grocery store parking lot in Decatur, Illinois — in broad daylight, while his aunt was just steps away. What followed was one of the most haunting mysteries in Central Illinois history: decades of silence, false leads, and another family disappearance that may be connected in ways no one ever proved. Nearly forty years later, American Dread revisits the case that s...

Post Malone only went into the room because he was with an expert. That’s what he said later, with a lot of regret. The room was part of the other man’s haunted museum in Las Vegas and inside it was the Dybbuk Box, considered by many as the world’s most haunted and cursed object. 

Even that creepy Annabelle doll wouldn’t mess with this thing, some said. It had never been opened before, though, because it was haunted by a Dybbu...

In 1987, the Dardeen family’s quiet life in rural Illinois ended in unimaginable horror.

A crime so savage, it left investigators speechless — and decades later, still haunted by questions that no one could answer.

Cults. Serial killers. Satanic panic. Lies and legends.

American Dread: The Dardeen Family Massacre — one of the most graphic and disturbing cases in Illinois history.

Brought to you by American Hauntings Network.

Mark spent the night drinking beer with his friends and trying to pick up girls, passing most of his time in a cantina called Sgt. Peppers, and a honky-tonk called the London Pub. But when his friends are ready to call it a night, they can’t find him in either bar. They assumed he’d gotten lucky and went back to the hotel without him. 

But Mark Kilroy was never seen alive again.

Have a question or comment? Text us on the Haunt Line @...

The initial inspiration for the film was NOT based on a true story – it was based on an unfinished Edgar Allan Poe story that was also called “The Lighthouse.” Max Eggers began adapting the story but couldn’t figure out what to do with it so his brother jumped in to help, sourcing the plot from the story of a Welsh lighthouse tragedy, which for most people, would sound tame. 

It isn’t. 

And while the story of Thomas Howell, Thomas Gr...

It’s been called the “SCARIEST FILM ON NETFLIX” by critics and viewers alike. It’s a Spanish film that’s written and directed by Paco Plaza, who found fame a few years before it came out with the REC found-footage franchise. But even though we’ve often bragged that the true stories we’ve talked about this season are scarier than the films they’re based on, the reality of that is really up to you. This time, though, the actual story...

Check out the brand new podcast, American Dread, from Adam White.

On Halloween 1992, 20-year-old Penny Timmons vanished in Decatur, Illinois, leaving behind a chilling note in a gas station restroom: “He has a gun in his pants! HELP! This isn’t a joke!”

NEW PREVIEW OF OUR NEW SHOW ON PATREON!

CANYON: THE TRUE STORY OF THE STARVED ROCK MURDERS

Available ONLY by becoming a Patreon supporter of American Hauntings. 

Go to https://patreon.com/americanhauntings and get signed up now!

On the cold, snow-covered morning of March 16, 1960, when the bodies of three women from the Chicago suburbs were discovered at Starved Rock State Park in Northern Illinois. The murders shocked the entir...

Check out the brand new podcast, American Dread, from Adam White.

Two winters. Two murders. Eighteen years apart.

In Decatur, Illinois, the winters of 1942 and 1960 were marked not by snow and holiday cheer, but by the sound of shotguns shattering the night.

In this episode of American Dread, we revisit two chilling cases: the Short Street double shooting of 1942, and the shotgun murder of Virginia Eades in 1960. Different killers, di...

On October 26, 1965, a 16-year-old girl named Sylvia Likens died in Indianapolis from shock, malnutrition, and a brain hemorrhage. She had been tortured for three months and by the time she died, she could barely move or speak. She had been tortured, neglected, sexually humiliated, starved, beaten, and cut by her tormentors. Her autopsy later revealed 150 wounds on her body, including cigarette burns, skin brandings, and knife woun...