Valoween: Unraveling the Ghostly Romances and Haunted Histories of Valentine's Day

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Rissa Miller, our cherished folklore expert, returns to unravel the captivating evolution of Valentine's Day, from its shadowy Roman roots and stories of Saint Valentine to the pagan charms of Lupercalia. Discover how the Industrial Revolution sweetened the deal, turning Victorian chocolates into tokens of affection, and see how these traditions intertwine with our passion for the paranormal. Celebrate “Valoween” with us—a delightful fusion of love and haunting tales that captures the essence of these seemingly disparate holidays.

Our episode journeys through America’s haunted past, uncovering ghostly romances that defy time and tragedy. From star-crossed Mohican lovers in New York to the lingering spirits of Pennsylvania's Acomac Inn, these stories offer poignant reflections on love and loss. Travel with us to Ellicott City's Judge's Bench in Maryland, where the playful spirit of Mary enchants visitors, and revel in the rich tapestry of hauntings that weave love and the supernatural into the fabric of our history.

Venture into the mystical allure of New Orleans, where tales of haunted love continue to mesmerize. Encounter the tragic "bride under the bridge" and explore the notorious legacy of Lavinia Fisher in Charleston. Wrap up with the romantic saga of Thomas Rowell and Lucinda at Florida's Don CeSar Hotel, where their undying love echoes in the halls. As we celebrate Galentine's Day and Valoween, let these enchanting stories remind us of the enduring power of love, even in the realm of the spectral and unexplained.

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Episode Transcript

Logan (00:01):
Well, hey there, fellow truth seekers, before we dive
into this week's episode ofGeneration X Paranormal, we've
got something special to sharewith you.

Nicole (00:08):
That's right.
If you love exploring theunknown with us, why not take
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Yeah, and by becoming a Patreon you'll unlock exclusive
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mysterious and downright bizarrestories you crave yeah.

(00:37):
Plus, it's a way to join acommunity of like-minded
explorers and who doesn't lovegeeking out about ghosts, ufos
and cryptids together?

Nicole (00:46):
So head over to patreoncom, forward, slash
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Whether you're a casual fan ora hardcore investigator, there's
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Logan (00:58):
And honestly, guys, your support means the world to us.
Together, we can keepunraveling the mysteries of the
universe.

Nicole (01:05):
Thanks for being part of the Generation X Paranormal
Family.
Now let's get back to the show.
Thank you.

Logan (01:57):
Well, hey, everybody, welcome back, Hello everyone.
So we are celebrating a holiday, as you can tell by the hearts
around this guy here.
Well, someday we're going tohave to come up with a name for
this guy, I think.

Nicole (02:11):
Yeah, maybe you guys need to let us know what he
should be named.

Logan (02:14):
Yeah, maybe that's name him or her, I don't know, it
doesn't really matter.
Name this Anyway.
So we are celebratingValentine's Day, but actually we
are calling it Val-a-ween.
So you know, I don't reallyknow a ton about this holiday or
this new version of thisholiday.

(02:34):
So what we decided to do wasbring back an old friend of the
show.

Nicole (02:38):
Yes, we have.

Logan (02:39):
We have Rissa Miller and Rissa Miller has been on a
couple of times and we lovehaving her on, but you know
she's got a much betteraccounting of what Valoween is
than I do.
Do you know much about it?

Nicole (02:50):
I do not, it's a recent thing.
So she's going to explain allthat to us and tell us some
stories.

Logan (02:55):
Yeah, we can't wait.
So what do you say?
We bring her on.
Let's talk to her.
Sounds good, hey, rissa.
Hello, good, hey, rissa, hello.
Hey, it's so awesome to haveyou back on.

Rissa Miller (03:12):
Well, thanks for having me back again I always
enjoy being a guest on gen xparanormal.
We love having you here.

Logan (03:15):
It's awesome and you've kind of become the, which is
great, but you've kind of becomethe holiday guest which is
perfect for us.
You know it's nice to have.
You know it's always nice tohave somebody to come on that
can kind of share in some ofthat fun so pretty excited.

Rissa Miller (03:34):
Well, it's a pleasure, and folklore which
kind of covers holidays isdefinitely one of my areas of
expertise, so I'm happy to behere, and today we're going to
talk, you know, I guess, aboutValentine's Day, with all those
hearts behind you.
I know, yeah, you got some lovefor that ghost back there.
I see, yeah.

Logan (03:51):
We try to be festive, If you remember, for the holiday
one, the Christmas one.
We try to decorate him for theholidays, make him feel like
he's.
You know, part of the show, youknow, not just our mascot,
Right right right.

Rissa Miller (04:02):
Yeah, well, you know, not just our mascot, yeah
well, you know, everybody shouldhave a little more love for
ghosts, because you know, that'swhat we're going to be talking
about today, right like that'sawesome stories yes yeah, I
can't wait, you know I can'twait to hear what she has to
tell us.

Logan (04:17):
Yeah yeah, yeah, if you could tell us a little bit about
kind of the as a start with,like the origin of the, of the
holiday that we're kind oftalking about.
We're super excited about that

Rissa Miller (04:26):
, absolutely, so you know the really interesting
thing is that the true origin ofValentine's Day is actually
unknown.
Historians definitely are notsure and it could have come from
multiple different places, butreally nobody knows.
So the name Valentinehistorically, especially in

(04:47):
Roman times, was not unusual.
It was a pretty common name andthere are lots of stories
associated with people namedValentine, and there's even more
than one Saint Valentine.
So that makes it a littledifficult to pin down the origin
.
Now, reminding a tiny bit, somepeople like to say that
Valentine's Day's pagan originis Lupercalia.

(05:10):
So, maybe, but it's a holidaythat celebrates fertility.
It was a festival honoring Juno, the Roman goddess of marriage,
but the thing is, a lot ofhistorians aren't sure that
they're actually really the sameor that they can even be wedded
together.
That said, let's look at somestories about St Valentine.

(05:32):
There was one really lovelystory that one of the St
Valentines restored sight to ablind girl and later,
legendarily I don't know if thisis true or not sent her a
letter and it was signed yourValentine.
So some people say that's maybethe history of the idea of

(05:56):
Valentine's.
But you know, there's a lot ofVictorian stuff Shocking, I know
, for me to say that, rightSurprise, the Victorians were
involved Of course.
So in the Victorian time it didbecome more common to think
about things like lovebirds.

(06:17):
In early spring is when birdsstart to fly back after winter,
and that's when the phraselovebirds became common.
And then you also have the ideaof offering chocolates or candy
.
Well, there weren't evenchocolates and candy available.
Through most of history.
Sugar was a tropical crop andit wasn't until

(06:37):
industrialization that thatsugar was widely available.
Chocolate as well.
Chocolate is from South America.
It's not like they had iteverywhere.
So during the time of theIndustrial Revolution is when
stuff like that became morecommon, as well as paper
greeting cards.

(06:59):
Before the Victorian era, maybeoccasionally.
You know, people sent letters.
Definitely, love letters were athing for you know, as long as
people could write.
But the idea of a Valentinecame later and Cupid was Greek,
not Roman.
So you know.

Nicole (07:18):
Yeah, they all mesh together.

Rissa Miller (07:20):
Yeah, cupid was known to Greeks as Eros, and he
was the handsome god of love, soall of these things have sort
of mashed up together to give usthe holiday we think of now as
Valentine's Day.
It's definitely a mashupholiday, though, and this modern
manifestation is from all overthe place.

(07:42):
I really like the newer uhversions.
Like galentine's day, it doestrace its history literally back
to parks and rec.
Season two episode 16, when amypoehler has the ladies
celebrating.
Ladies uh brunch and gifts andtoasts, and you know I love that
.
It's a lot of fun.

(08:02):
Um, and then, of course, todaywe're going to get spooky and
we're going to talk aboutvaloween.
So valoween is the mashupbetween valentine's day and
halloween.
Yes, I cannot find a trueorigin.
I think this started on socialmedia.
Okay, um, that is, that is myofficial opinion on the subject.
I cannot verify that for you.

(08:22):
Um, it doesn't seem to existbefore about 10 years ago,
anywhere it does seem to existfor quite a while on pinterest.
That seems to be where,historically, I can find the
oldest posts about it wow, um, Istill can't, though, yeah yeah,
it's cool, but you know, umalso, there's some debate

(08:43):
apparently whether Valoween isFebruary the 13th, which is also
Galentine's Day, according toParks and Rec.
Or is it?
the same day as Valentine's Day,February 14th.

Nicole (08:54):
Hmm.

Rissa Miller (08:54):
You know what Go for, whatever works for you
I think, yeah, I mean, why not?
I mean, if it's somethingcreated out of Pinterest and
it's still relatively new?
Right, hey, maybe it just hasn't really found its
way yet.

Logan (09:05):
Right yeah.

Rissa Miller (09:06):
I did want to share that.
I I got this cute spookyValentine.
I bought it locally to me inPennsylvania at a place called
the dark parlor where the houseartists Lauren Ray draws spooky
greeting cards and she has madea whole series of these spooky
Valoween greetings.
So mine has a centipede and itsays I want to be your love bug.

(09:27):
And I just thought it was toocute.
I had to get a spooky Valentine, since I knew I'd be chatting
with you all.

Logan (09:35):
Yeah, that's awesome.
That's really cool.
What a great piece of art too.

Rissa Miller (09:39):
Isn't it lovely?

Logan (09:39):
Yeah.

Rissa Miller (09:41):
But yeah, it's not .
Unless you're on Pinterest Isuppose it's not super easy or
Etsy, to find a spooky Valentine, and that's one way that I knew
it wasn't actually going to goback to the Victorians or
something like that.
I just weren't there.
It just was not there to befound.
So, for those looking.
You know you can always checkout Etsy for all of your

(10:03):
Valoween needs.

Logan (10:05):
Yeah, nice plug for Etsy yep right.

Nicole (10:09):
I'm good with that

Rissa Miller (10:10):
well you know, I feel like it's the small makers
and artists that do these thingsfirst, and then, large
companies catch on becausethey're like, oh, this is a
viable thing and we can sell itexactly so, but that's how these
things always begin.

Logan (10:23):
Yep, that's fun though too, because you know it's fun
though too, because you know,it's like kind of like the old
days when we were younger.
It was like you had a littleartist communities and
everything, and while that stillexists in a lot of places, it's
harder to kind of nail down.
Now there's a much biggercommunity that's capable of
doing that, so that's prettycool

Nicole (10:42):
you can get things farther.
You know, like from where we'reat, there's not a lot of that,

Logan (10:46):
yeah

Nicole (10:46):
, to access.
So yeah you know, definitelygetting on there, you can get it
from, even you know, across theocean

Rissa Miller (10:52):
absolutely

Nicole (10:52):
, which I have done

Logan (10:54):
yes, you have

Rissa Miller (10:54):
yeah, I also have time that's where my krampus
cookie cutter came from wassomewhere, oh yeah yeah, that
one was not available at mylocal Michael's.

Logan (11:05):
No, I wouldn't think that'd be the case, or the I
can't remember which one it wasthat did the poop thing.
I'm sure that's not availableat your local.

Rissa Miller (11:14):
Well, that is a Spanish tradition.
That's right, you probably haveto refer to Spanish makers to
get those.
Yes, the Tio de Nadal yourfavorite new Christmas story.

Logan (11:25):
It makes me laugh still.

Nicole (11:28):
What's funny was my uncle contacted us after he
watched that episode.
You better not walk into hishouse and do anything.
It was a total joke, but it wasreally funny,

Rissa Miller (11:42):
oh I love it.
I'm so glad that he's able toembrace these cultural
traditions oh yeah all right, solet's move on to.
Let's get into some spooky lovestories yeah, I'm excited, let's
go for it.
The first one I have for you iskind of a romeo and juliet story
and, um, some of these aregoing to be sad.
I'm going to give you a headsup okay um, the first one.

(12:03):
We're going to go to new yorkstate, uh, north of of Manhattan
Island, even a little north ofSleepy Hollow, and we're going
way back in time to when thevillages there were Mohican.
And there was a chief and hisvillage was I might say this
word badly.
I don't know the Mohicanlanguage, so if anybody who is

(12:26):
listening is an expert in nativelanguages, please forgive me.
I'm trying.
I'm going to say that it wasPatcayote was how the village
was pronounced.
So this chief had a reallyspecial daughter.
She was really brilliant, shewas really lovely and everybody
wanted to marry her.
But one day, walking in thewoods, she met a very special

(12:49):
man.
Unfortunately, he was the sonof an enemy tribe and, much like
in Romeo and Juliet, that doesnever, ever stop people from
falling in love just becausetheir families are rivals.
And even though many men triedto win her heart, she really,
really wanted this one.

(13:10):
Now the chief of the Mohicanswas a stubborn guy.
He was not going to listen tohis daughters' pleas to meet
this young man and because hewas from a rival tribe, the
young man couldn't exactly goask for her in marriage and his
tribe couldn't win against theMohicans.

(13:31):
They were sort of legendarywarriors and you know they
played huge roles in theAmerican Revolution and other
wars that came.
So they decided instead to runaway in the night, basically to
elope kind of just like Romeoand Juliet right.
Well, this is where the storychanges.

(13:51):
For Romeo and Juliet, theirancestors became incredibly
angry this is a legend and theysent a storm, and it was a big
storm lightning, thunder.
The sky just opens and it'sit's such a deluge that it
starts to become a mudslide inthe forest where they are and

(14:15):
there's a huge crash, blindinglightning, and then a boulder is
set loose and it begins rollingdown a hill.
It hits them, carries them inthe mudslide down to a rushing
stream and, unfortunately, theyboth die and their bodies are,
according to the legend, trappedunder the boulder.
The boulder is still there.

(14:35):
It is in Clavrock Creek and thestory is that it is a monument
to them that the enemy tribes,if they would have just
cooperated, both of them wouldhave lived and both of their
tribes would have lived onthrough them, and they say that
right before a storm.
You can still hear her crying.

(14:57):
They call it Spook Rock, andthe Greenport Historical Society
actually set up a plaque in2016 to memorialize what
happened to the two tribes atthat time.

Logan (15:10):
Wow, it's sad.
It is really sad.
You know there's somethingabout.
You know I don't know what itis, you know if you see a ghost
and you know you see the actual,if you see an apparition or not
.
But something about kidslaughing or women crying scare
the you know what out of me.
If that ever comes down to it.
I don't know what it is.

(15:30):
Just the thought of that it'skind of haunting, yeah.

Rissa Miller (15:33):
Yeah, well, you know, I feel like this is one of
those stories that, even thoughit's quite tragic and there was
loss of life, that there's avaluable lesson.

Logan (15:44):
Sure.

Rissa Miller (15:45):
You know cooperation always beats trying
to run away, and you know itisn't always going to be
feasible.
I'm sure that their parentswould have probably never been
into the idea, but then at theend it would have been so much
better than what happened,losing both of them, yeah.

Logan (16:04):
No, it is absolutely a great message in itself.
And yeah, I mean right Kind ofout of the page of Romeo and
Juliet, you know.
But yeah, if you have twobattling entities but yet you
know they can't find commonground, tragedy happens.
So no, that makes perfect sense.

Nicole (16:27):
It sounds similar.
When you started the story, Ithought it was this other thing
that I had heard and I don'tknow where it is.
I just remember something abouta story about a Native American
woman and I thought it wassimilar to that, but it has to
do with a waterfall somewhereInteresting.

Rissa Miller (16:38):
I don't think I know that story.

Nicole (16:40):
Yeah, and I cannot remember where it was.
I heard it a long long time ago, but it might be out west
somewhere.

Logan (16:46):
We'll save it for next Valoween.

Nicole (16:47):
Yeah, I'll have to look it up later and let you know.
But I know I've heard that storysomewhere.
Yeah, but once again, theycan't prove that they know for
sure who this person was.
It's just like you know, like alegend, yeah.

Rissa Miller (17:00):
Yeah, we know.
There are definitely a lot ofstories of natives, male or
female, that fell in love withcolonists and it was just not
approved by either side.
Right so many of those storiesare tragic.
People either had to run awayand become isolated, which you
know historically was a reallybig deal, because if you didn't

(17:28):
have the support of a village itwas a lot harder to cut it.

Nicole (17:32):
And.

Rissa Miller (17:33):
You know, if you didn't have a community.
So either people were in thatscenario or often one or both
partners died.
And it is tragic.
It is absolutely a sad anddifficult lesson that I feel
like humanity is still workingon.

Nicole (17:49):
Yes, unfortunately, yeah , yeah.

Rissa Miller (17:54):
So, moving a little further south into
Pennsylvania, my next story isat a place called the Acomac Inn
.
Now, the Acomac is a nativeAlgonquin word, meaning across
the water, and the inn is a realplace.
You can drive by it.
Right now it is for sale.
If you have $1.5 million, youcould purchase it, you know.

(18:16):
On a whim, whatever my birthday, birthday coming up sure, if
you want a haunted restaurant ofyour own, that would be awesome
.

Logan (18:25):
I'd love to buy something like that.
That'd be really awesome.

Rissa Miller (18:27):
Be neat yep, so um , the akamek is a real place.
I have dined there in my life.
Now they have been closed since, I believe, believe 2019.
But as a child, I ate there.
My parents have been thereseveral times and it was a
really lovely place in its day.
I'm not sure what happened orwhy it closed.

(18:48):
I don't think it was because ofthe hauntings.
The hauntings there areactually kind of beloved in the
community, much like the Acomacitself.
This is the place where thefirst steamboat in America was
launched.
It is the landing place on theSusquehanna River where the
Marquis de Lafayette came in1778 and signed the treaty where

(19:09):
France joined the United Statesagainst the British.
So it's a place with lots ofvery cool history.

Logan (19:16):
Yeah, no kidding.

Rissa Miller (19:17):
But embedded in that history is the ghost story.
Dun, dun, dun so in 1874, theCoyle family John and Mary owned
the Acomac Inn and they had ason named Johnny Jr.
So he was a really excellentsailor and a good boatsman and
since they lived on a river,that made him a very fine
prospect.
They owned the ferry stationand the inn.

(19:39):
Unfortunately, he also had areally bad temper and he was
kind of unpredictable.
His behavior was challenging.
If we were looking at him todaywe might say that he had some
emotional health issues to workon.
But they didn't have that kindof language in 1874.

Logan (19:59):
Right.

Rissa Miller (20:00):
So they employed a young woman who was an orphan
from Chambersburg named EmilyMyers.
Now Emily would have been doingvery well to marry Johnny,
because he was completelysmitten with her, since she had
no family and she had no dowry.
However, she knew him and shewas like nope, nope, nope.

(20:26):
He asked her repeatedly tomarry him and she always said no
.
It just continued to do herwork.
So on May 30th in 1882, heasked her one more time and she
said no.
And johnny decided that if hecouldn't have emily, nobody else
was going to have her either,and he shot and killed her in
their barn oh my gosh so then uhhe was like uh-oh uh, this

(20:52):
isn't good.
so he sort of turned the gun onhimself, but he wasn't
successful in killing himself.
He injured himself and then heran off into the woods and 10
days later he was caught andcharged with her murder.

Logan (21:06):
Wow.

Rissa Miller (21:07):
Yeah, he was found guilty of her murder, but
because his family was soprominent, he was able to get a
retrial.
So they took him to a differentpart of Pennsylvania and he got
his retrial.
So they took him to a differentpart of pennsylvania and he got
his retrial and that jury alsosaid oh yeah, this guy is super
guilty of murdering emily myers.
Yeah, um, he was hanged, hedied and they tried to bury him

(21:30):
in their hometown of marietta,pennsylvania, and the city
refused.
They're like we, we don't wantthis murderer here.
Wow.
So they brought him back to theAcomac.
He was buried there and histombstone and burial plot can
still be seen there today.
It is only 50 feet away fromthe building.
Now where Emily Myers is buriedis kind of a mystery.

(21:52):
Some people believe she'sburied there, but she had no
family to bury her, so it's notlike they would have taken her
home.
That was her home, so it's verylikely that she indeed could be
buried at the Acomac Inn.

Logan (22:08):
Wow, that is wild.

Rissa Miller (22:10):
Isn't it Now?
For decades patrons of theAcomEC reported seeing both
Emily and Johnny as apparitionsat the inn.
So Emily is always sad.
Emily is always crying.
She will frequently show up asa full-bodied apparition
pleading for help, weeping intoher hands.

(22:32):
I have not personally seen her,but my understanding from
witnesses that she shows up sofully formed that one time a
staff member was closing downfor the night thought there was
a woman sitting on the porch,called the police.
The cops get there and it's theghost of Emily crying.
Wow.

Logan (22:53):
So the cops actually saw that.

Rissa Miller (22:55):
Apparently a lot of people have seen her.
Wow, now Johnny does not showup as a full-bodied apparition,
but even in death he seems tohave kept his bad temper.
Broken dishes, slammed doors,all kinds of other encounters
with him make people very awarethat there are two totally

(23:15):
different apparitions at theAcomac.
Now can you imagine not wantingto marry someone?

Nicole (23:22):
I was just about to say that she's not aware that he's
there, because that's awful.

Rissa Miller (23:28):
Not wanting to marry someone and getting stuck
with them literally forever.
Exactly.

Nicole (23:32):
That's why she's crying yeah.

Logan (23:35):
And he, of course, is once an a-hole, always an a-hole
.
So he's just gonna, you knowwell, that's what they.

Nicole (23:41):
They say who did we talk to you about that?

Logan (23:42):
I don't remember I'm not sure who it was but yeah, they
said that they will keep thatsame um yeah, I think the term
personality yeah, the term was Iwon't say here because it's a
little colorful, but yeah, oncean a-hole, always an a-hole yeah
, yeah, that sounds about right.

Rissa Miller (23:59):
And uh, it, it.
There are other ghosts thatcome and go from the akamak.
Um, there's a cat ghost, whichsounds super fun to me, and
there's the ghost of aconfederate soldier who was a
spy.
But um, emily and johnny stillshow up.
Still, I mean, I don't knowthat anybody's really been in
the building and all that muchsince it's been put up for sale.

(24:21):
I guess maybe the current ownerand the realtor, but I keep
thinking to myself.
At least when it was a busy andpopular restaurant, the two of
them had other people tointeract with, with the staff
and patrons.
And now it's kind of like justthem.

Logan (24:35):
Can you imagine what, the uh, what, how increased of
activity that's probably goingon in there right now?

Nicole (24:42):
well, especially when they sell it and people take
over, they're probably going torenovate.

Logan (24:47):
That's usually that's usually when things get knocked
loose, for sure well, let's puta pin on that one and hopefully
we come back to that onewhenever yeah oh yeah, and it's
a beautiful property.

Rissa Miller (24:58):
It's right on the Susquehanna River, so hopefully
somebody wants to reopen it andhopefully Emily and Johnny are
hopeful.
Yeah.

Logan (25:06):
And hey, audience for sure, and audience we're going
to put up pictures and stuff ofit.
So if you got 1.5 million right, is that what it was?
That's right, 1.5 million,that's nothing you know.
Just I don't know.
Just take a second job orsomething or make that your job.
You know, you never know.

Rissa Miller (25:22):
Yeah, that's true yeah, yeah, you never know who's
listening.

Logan (25:25):
Maybe somebody's looking for a historic investment
property if I had 1.5, believeme I'd actually do it.
I'd be something that would bereally cool to renovate and have
and even bring this story youknow as, as part of it, create
you know, bed and breakfast orsomething.
Oh, I don't know.

Rissa Miller (25:41):
Yeah, it's had a lot of different lives, since
it's been an inn with sleepingquarters.
It's been an inn that was justa restaurant.
So and it is.
When you look at the pictures,it's a great old building.
It's a gorgeous site.

Logan (25:55):
That's really cool.
It's awesome and thoselistening on the podcast look it
up.

Rissa Miller (25:59):
It's pretty cool.
So now we're going to movesouth again into Maryland and
we're going to go to a towncalled Ellicott City.
Now, ellicott City holds aspecial place in my heart.
It is where I got started as aghost tour guide many years ago.
I have worked there for a longtime for Maryland history tours
and that's where this storycomes from.
So it is the ghost of theJudge's Bench.

(26:20):
So the Judge's Bench is abuilding.
It dates back to the late 1800sand it is made of the very
particular kind of stone that'scommon in Ellicott City.
It's a composite stone that hasquartz crystal in it, and the
story goes that that's whyellicott city is so very haunted
is that the quartz crystalcomposite sort of holds and

(26:44):
binds spirits down in the cityright ellicott also sits at the
crux of two rivers so you havethat energy as well, holding and
binding your ghosts down.

Logan (27:01):
Yeah, that seems to be a pretty common thing, you know,
even from most paranormalresearchers.
You know, quartz just seems tohave that capability to lock
down memory and limestone.
And then you have running waterincreases activity.
So, yeah, let's talk about arecipe.

Rissa Miller (27:16):
Even better in Ellicott City.
It's down in a valley and thenthey put an electric grid over
the top, so it's almost like abox.
Yeah, I mean, I know a ghostbox is a real thing, but in the
way of describing a piece ofland it's like a land, ghost box
.

Logan (27:34):
An opposite Faraday cage.
Yeah, everything's locked intothat one area like that.

Rissa Miller (27:38):
that's pretty wild yeah, perfect yeah well, I have
another story of a forbiddenlove.
And, um, the judge's bench,like I said, dates back to the
1800s.
It's made on a foundation ofthis composite uh, stone.
It's been a resident, it's beena grocery store, it's been a
flooring store.
Right now it's a really populartavern.

(28:00):
It was named the judges benchbecause right up the hill they
used to have the courthouse andthe judges would go down there
afterwards and get their bourbon.
And, uh, it's a town, it's atown favorite that's still
popular for having reallyexcellent bourbon.
Uh, I think I even sent youmaybe a picture of like one of
their really famous bourbonflights.

Logan (28:19):
Yeah, we'll put it up there for sure, and I do love
them.
That's still a thing.

Rissa Miller (28:22):
They've still got it.
So in the 1940 and 1970, it wascalled Burger's Grocery and it
was kind of a mom and pop localgrocery store before we had
things you know like Kroger andhuge complex grocery stores like
that.
Back when you know you went toa mom and pop store to get your
food and the couple who ownedthe store started their business

(28:45):
right after they were they'remarried.
They lived upstairs from thestore and they had a daughter.
Her name was mary.
Now nowadays ellicott city is asort of upscale tourist
destination, but back then inthe 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, it had a
reputation as a different kindof town.

(29:05):
It was a town that had survivedthe Prohibition and come out
just partying and happy andready to go, and it was a town
known for basically wine, womenand song.
In fact it was such a reputabletown that even the local Fort
Meade military were not thesoldiers there were told they

(29:26):
were not allowed to go toEllicott city because it was so
wild, which is probably like youshould go to Ellicott city.

Logan (29:31):
Yeah, that means, every soldier was there.

Rissa Miller (29:34):
Yeah, pretty much so.
Um, that said, they didn't wantMary to date any boys from town
.
They wanted to find her anhonorable young man to be her
husband, and by the time she was19, of course, she met and fell
in love with a boy who was fromEllicott city and, um, her

(29:55):
parents were like, yeah, no, youcan't marry him, we don't even
want to meet him.
Um, and she just she couldn'tsee any way this was going to
work out in her favor.
So, unfortunately, in 1962,mary hanged herself on the third
floor of the building, but shenever left.

(30:15):
She is a very popular ghostabout town the judges, bench
folks who work there, thecurrent owners.
The current owners, when theytook over, were non-believers
and they have since changedtheir minds and decided that
they are believers.
And you know, there's a sort ofa happy addendum to the story.

(30:37):
In the late 90s there was ayoung man who was going to
college in the area and heworked at the judge's bench as,
like his you know college job asa bartender.
He could see Mary and he couldinteract with her the years he

(30:58):
was in school and then he evenstayed after because he and Mary
really developed a greatfriendship and he didn't want to
leave and move on to hisprofessional career because he
had to leave her behind.
Um, eventually he did.
He couldn't stay forever, butum the the guess.
To me the happy part is atleast she finally got to have
not only someone who could seeand interact with her as a ghost
, but she got to have her ellicacity boy and um at least have

(31:21):
that relationship with someoneeven after her death oh wow,
that's sad.

Nicole (31:29):
Yeah, that's sad it is.

Rissa Miller (31:31):
It is a tragic story.
It is a it was a yet anotherstory yes it's very sad, but I
uh, I do love that.
She at least she does have alot of interaction.
People go in there just to lookfor her.
Apparently, she likes to.
She's very playful.
She's still a 19 year old, youknow.
She's stayed forever.
I know several people who'vehad interactions with her in the

(31:55):
bathrooms and in the differentparts of the pub, but uh, she's
a very busy and actually playfulyes, she is always kind of
upbeat okay okay, yeah, she'slike I said, she's a 19 year old
, she's still.
She will always be there andthat's it.

Nicole (32:13):
They see her and hear her, or is it?
She's just moving stuff around.

Rissa Miller (32:17):
All of the above, all of it.

Logan (32:20):
That's cool, all of the above, so she's not what some
people consider residual.

Rissa Miller (32:26):
She's not residual .
I like the city has lots ofresidual stories, but I chose
Mary specifically because she isa very active interactive.

Nicole (32:35):
That's awesome.
Those are the best.
Yeah, they are the best.
Residuals are good becausebecause you know, they're just
as paranormal, but and they tella story and they tell a story,
but the active are always butwhen you get a response from
them, it's different differentis a good word, positive or
negative?

Rissa Miller (32:55):
yeah so now I'm going to come all the way over
to missouri, to springfield, tophelps grove park for another
story of lost love that that's afamiliar, it is so, since the
two of you know phelps grovepark, any chance that you've
seen any, uh, ghostly activitythere yourselves?

Nicole (33:16):
no, and you and you know , I went to college in
Springfield and that was the bigstory, you know at Phelps Grove
Park.
You need to go there.
So we were there all the timebut I never saw anything, and
most of the people don't seeanything.
It's just mostly like a legend.

Rissa Miller (33:31):
I think it could be a legend you know, I dug
around a lot on this one.
I really wanted to find namesand I couldn't find them.
It doesn't mean they're notthere.
Right it just means you know,without being in Springfield,
Missouri, and going to yournewspaper archives, I could not
find them online.

Logan (33:51):
Right.
Well, I think, even having gonethere myself, everybody talks
about it, but I don't even knowif I remember, because I know
you'll get into it.
Well, there's a bridge involvedthere is but there's.
There's not.
I'm not 100 sure where thebridge would have been, because
there's a couple of places whereit could have it still exists
and there's a picture okay, yeah, maybe that was all.

(34:12):
You just forget where it isyeah, I did.

Rissa Miller (34:13):
Well, there are three entrances to the park,
says the woman who's never beenthere but looked at maps.
That's what confused me.

Logan (34:19):
There are three entr.
There are three entrances tothe park, says the woman who's
never been there but looked atmaps.

Rissa Miller (34:22):
That's what confused me.
There are three entrances.
There are three entrances tothe park.
So Phelps Grove Park actuallydates back to 1914.
It was at the south side of theSpringfield city limits back
then and it was part of the Johnand Mary Phelps homestead.
At the time they're kind ofconsidered the founding mother
and father of the city.
He was a Missouri congressman,he was the governor of Missouri

(34:42):
and his wife, mary, was involvedwith educating orphans after
the Civil War.
Today it is a 31-acre park andit's not as big as it used to be
.
They've sort of trimmed it awayover time but it does still
have the McGcgregor waiting pool, memorial rose garden, a
baseball field, walking trails,tennis courts and lots of

(35:03):
pavilions and and the fieldstonebridge.
Now, I love bridge storiesbecause the thing about bridges
is that they're liminal space,meaning a bridge is kind of, you
know, that connection betweenthis side and this side and in
the middle you're kind offloating right perfect place for

(35:25):
ghost stories, right sureabsolutely bridges seem to have
a cryptid or a ghost story orsomething yeah, so especially
all uh mothman, but yeah, yeah,yeah well I'm a big fan of
Mothman personally, but I don'tknow, I don't know.
I don't think that I would sayMothman is my favorite cryptid,
but he's, he's up there.

(35:46):
He's up there, probably topfive yeah for sure, for sure.

Logan (35:49):
Ours too, yeah.

Rissa Miller (35:51):
Yeah, top five.

Logan (36:00):
I'm sitting here favorite cryptid oh, there's a lot of I
don't know.
They interchange for me, yeah,yeah, let me get back to the
park.

Rissa Miller (36:03):
Yeah, sorry, you get lost a long time with that,
but yeah, you're right, let's,let's head back so the
interesting thing about thisparticular fieldstone bridge is
that it's not going over a bodyof water.
It's arching over a drainagecanal, so maybe it's possible,
logan, that you just overlookedit.

Nicole (36:17):
I probably did you know, you've seen it.
He just forgets.
It's possible, logan, thatyou've just overlooked it.
I probably did.
You've seen it.
He just forgets it's not a hugebridge.

Logan (36:23):
Okay, makes sense then.

Rissa Miller (36:25):
So the story would date back to pre-1950s, and in
the 1950s is when more and morepeople were able to afford cars
because they were starting to bemass produced, manufactured in
factories.
Before that, cars were only forthe very, very rich.
This is a horse-drawn carriagestory at its core.
At its beginning I did findmodern takes on this that say it

(36:51):
was in the 70s or 80s and a carflipped, but there's a lot
older stuff on it, on a carriage.
So I'm going to place theorigin of this pre-1950.
On their wedding night, acouple's crossing the bridge in
their horse-drawn carriage.
Something spooks the horse, thecarriage tips over, which
happened a lot when horsesspooked, especially if they
reared up.
And the carriage tipped over therailing of the bridge.

(37:13):
The way the carriage landed itinstantly killed the couple
bridge.
The way the carriage landed itinstantly killed the couple and
the story is that people stillsee the woman in her wedding
gown walking under and aroundthe bridge.

Nicole (37:26):
This is another story of super tragic loss.

Rissa Miller (37:29):
They call her the bride of the bridge or the bride
under the bridge.
There's another story that thehorse was frightened by robbers.
Now we'll learn here veryshortly not in our next story
but the one after that thathighwaymen and robbers were
really common historically.
So that's definitely apossibility of what could have

(37:51):
spooked someone out for awedding night carriage ride.

Logan (37:55):
Right.

Rissa Miller (37:55):
You know yeah.
And that's definitely I mean goahead, I catch off, I was gonna
say you know, if I were arobber and I saw somebody in all
their wedding finery, I'd belike I'm taking the brad's
jewelry yeah, that's the thingthat definitely could have
happened yeah, for sure, butit's interesting because I've
only heard the horse-drawncarriage, I haven't heard the,

(38:16):
the vehicle one no, I meanmostly just centers around.

Nicole (38:19):
They say the the lady in white yeah, that's what they
call her is lady in white andand to this day, it's still a
big thing.

Logan (38:27):
It's not like it's gone away, it's still a a very active
if if they want to say it's alegend or whether or not it is
or not, but um, but it's stillvery active today and I still
think people even go there andtry to do paranormal research in
that area too.

Rissa Miller (38:42):
I did read that as well.
That's right around that bridge.
They do detect EMF and.
Evps and things like that,which is why I really wanted to
find newspaper stories aboutwhat happened and it just was
hard to find things pre-1950 forto dig on at a distance right
you know, if I ever get overthere, I'm gonna look it up yeah

(39:04):
, hey, let us know, we'll meetyou sounds good.
Legends always start fromsomething yeah, they do they do,
and there's always there'salways that origin story which
you know, is part of what I loveto find.
I love to find the beginningyeah, yeah, yeah it's also nice
to call a ghost by their name.

Logan (39:20):
Yeah exactly right get more.

Nicole (39:21):
It's part of what I love to find.

Rissa Miller (39:22):
I love to find the beginning.

Nicole (39:23):
Yeah, it's also nice to call a ghost by their name.

Logan (39:24):
Yeah, exactly, right, I get more response.
Yeah, because you don't need togo.
Hey, lady in white say dosomething.
Yeah, and you know honestly.

Rissa Miller (39:29):
I even like the bride under the bridge better,
because lady in white has becomea trope and I can say that
there aren't ladies in white.
There certainly are, uh, butit's kind of like hey, you, you
know?
Yeah, exactly that's what theycall every lady that's anywhere,
some white customer gown andyeah, there's the lady in white,
the lady in gray, the lady inred, and, uh, these are all

(39:51):
super common tropes now in theghost world and I'm like, well,
who is the lady in white?

Logan (39:57):
Cause they're not all the same.

Nicole (39:59):
Who is this lady?
I have a name people, exactly,and you know, even if you, you
know even the bride under thebridge is a little more defining
.

Logan (40:08):
We'll go with that Right.
Right In the bridge.
We'll just call it right now,from this moment forward.

Rissa Miller (40:21):
There you news, yep, yep.
So now we're going to head tonew orleans.
What is a series of ghoststories, without one from new
orleans right, absolutely, yougotta, you gotta love a new
orleans ghost story, especiallywhen it starts at the first
legal brothel.
Okay, so the year is 1821 andwe're going to be heading to the
dauphine orleans hotel.
It is still a real place.
You can absolutely go there andget a drink in the bar or spend

(40:44):
the night if you, you know,feel up to it.
I suppose, and I have indeedbeen there.
I did not spend the night, butI also didn't have any other
worldly experiences anddisappointing, but true um.
This particular hotel is alsoknown for its signature cocktail
, which is called a pim cup.

(41:04):
Now, most people are gonna belike rissa, that's from england.
Well, new orleans has its ownvariation on the pims cup.
Yes, it did start in england.
It came from london in the 18.
A hundred years later it landedin the French Quarter and they
changed it.
They added lemonade, 7-up whichwas a real thing in 1940,

(41:25):
because 7-Up started in the1920s and cucumber.
So it is considered to be arefreshing cocktail.
It's gin-based and if you go tothis particular place, it's
supposedly one of the best spotsin New Orleans to get one, and
maybe you can sip on it and lookfor Millie Bailey.
So May and Millie Bailey wereIrish sisters.

(41:48):
They immigrated with theirparents in the 1850s and
unfortunately their parents died.
So they had to sort of rapidlycome up with a plan B, and May
decided the best way to make alot of money was to open a
brothel and to employ otherwomen as sex workers.
So this is a lot to take in andhistorically this was

(42:13):
definitely a way a lot of womenchose to go, because this was a
more viable living than mostthings that unmarried women
could do, and I'm sure thatmaybe somebody will have
something to say about that, buthistorically this is
unfortunately a reality historyis history you were never going
to make a living as a maid or uma cook the way you could as a

(42:37):
sex worker.

Nicole (42:38):
End of story.

Rissa Miller (42:40):
So, and also in the 1800s, if you didn't have a
husband, well, that was a wholeother thing.
Now, millie was not as excitedto open a brothel as her sister,
but she kind of had to helpanyway, and she wanted to do
something different.
And so, as Storyville became avery famous part of New Orleans,

(43:02):
which is, it's a touristdistrict now, but back then it
was also known as, I think, theScarlet Thread, because that was
the part of New Orleans,storyville, that was where all
the brothels were.

Logan (43:16):
Okay ville.

Rissa Miller (43:16):
That was where all the brothels were.
Okay, this was legallysanctioned prostitution.
I'm going to let you know.
Uh, it was a true red lightdistrict.
They had the red lanterns hungout in the windows and sometimes
the girls were in the windowslike live girls in the windows
and uh may, bailey's place wasprobably one of the most famous
brothels in the history of NewOrleans.
Wow, so, yeah.

(43:40):
So if Millie, her sister,wasn't crazy about it, well, she
got drag, kicking and screaming.

Logan (43:45):
Yeah.

Rissa Miller (43:46):
Right, yeah.
So the Dolphine New OrleansHotel is still there.
It's really well known becauseit is where James I'm sorry,
John Audubon painted the Birdsof America, I mean if you're
going to paint somewhere.

Logan (44:01):
I went there on tour.
Did you go there?

Nicole (44:03):
Yeah, I've only been to New Orleans?

Logan (44:06):
Yeah, possibly I feel like I didn't mean to cut you
off, but I swear that soundsreally familiar yeah.

Rissa Miller (44:13):
Well, if you go there today, the portraits by
the Storyville photographer, ejBalak, show different madams
that worked in New Orleans overtime and some of the girls.
There is still a framed copy ofthe original first brothel
license in New Orleans, whichwas issued to May Bailey, on
display in the bar and theystill have red lights burning in

(44:33):
the courtyard.

Nicole (44:35):
So interesting.

Rissa Miller (44:36):
Yeah, there are a number of famous ghosts there.
There are Civil War ghostsbecause it also served as a
Civil War hospital.
There is a girl named Jewel whowas one of the sex workers, and
they say that you can still seeher dancing in the window
sometimes and that she has a catcompanion that shows up as an
orb.
But Millie Bailey turned out tobe the most famous ghost.

(45:01):
Unfortunately, they call herthe lost bride of the Dolphine
Orleans Hotel, and she did infact find a man to marry, and
there's two ways the story cango.
Some people say he was amilitary officer with a gambling
habit.
Others say his actualprofession was gambling.

(45:21):
Either way, this doesn't soundgood, right?
No?

Logan (45:25):
right, it's gambling.

Rissa Miller (45:26):
It's already a recipe for disaster yes, so the
very day of their wedding hedied due to a huge gambling debt
.
Oh my gosh and um.
Some tellings of the storiessay that he was killed, which I
mean historically, you know.
The stories say that he waskilled, which I mean
historically, you know, thegambling debt.
That's something that happened.
Others say that he ran thishuge gambling debt up and he

(45:49):
didn't want her to marry into it, so that he killed himself, so
that they would not marry Eitherway this is like the worst
setup ever for being left at thealtar Right.
Yeah, the legend goes thatMillie lost touch with reality.
She became very, very ill andthat she died extremely young.
Her spirit still wanders in herwedding dress and veil, which

(46:12):
her fiance never got to see herwear, and witnesses report that
she goes to be as if she'sexpecting him.
She keeps, keeps watching outthe window.
She's pacing anxiously likewhere is he?
Where is he?
And they say that whenever shewalks by there's like a gust of
cold air.
Even in the heat of the NewOrleans summer, when Millie
walks by, the place goes cold.

Logan (46:34):
So could she be a residual?

Rissa Miller (46:37):
Maybe yeah maybe but, you know I didn't see any
accounts of people interactingwith her, but it is a tragic
love story yet again.

Logan (46:48):
Yeah it does sound residual it does sound residual,
but still, I mean, that's youknow with, with New Orleans
having so much paranormal, Iguess incidences and activity.

Nicole (47:01):
Yes, oh yes.

Logan (47:03):
I could see where you know there would be several
entities there.
But yeah, I would imagine she'sgot to be residual, yeah.

Nicole (47:10):
I guess that's one place to go if you need to cool off.
Yeah no kidding.
Right.

Logan (47:14):
Because it's hot in New Orleans.

Rissa Miller (47:17):
My goodness, you can sip a Pimms cup and get
cooled off by the ghosts.
Yeah, there you go, cup and getcooled off by the ghosts.

Logan (47:23):
Yep, there you go.
Call it a date.

Rissa Miller (47:25):
We'll head there.
That sounds like a greatHalloween activity really.
Yeah, actually it's really good.

Logan (47:30):
So if you're in New Orleans and you want to do some
celebration on this wonderfulholiday, head on down there, get
yourself a drink.

Rissa Miller (47:38):
And maybe LA's place is still there, yep.

Nicole (47:39):
Yeah, yeah, that's really cool though that's
awesome.
Yeah.

Rissa Miller (47:43):
Another place full of fascinating history.
Yeah for sure, we're going tostay in the South and we're
going to head to the oldCharleston jail in South
Carolina for a story of a couplethat is together forever.
The year is 1891.
Lavinia I'm going to say hername wrong every time.
Lavinia and John Fisher livedin Charleston, south Carolina.

(48:04):
This was a major port city atthe time.
I mean, it's still a port city,of course, but back then
commerce coming in through theocean was a huge part of the
economy.
Now, inns in that part of thecountry were named by their mile
, so there was like a fourmilemile house, six-mile house,
eight-mile house, depending onhow many miles out you were from

(48:25):
the main town.
The Fishers operated thesix-mile Wayfarer house and it
was kind of like a rest stop, abar and a place where you could
sleep.
Now, around this time there hadgotten to be word that there
might be gambling taking placeinside the inn.
Probably Other kinds ofextracurriculars, maybe the kind

(48:48):
that May Bailey offered in NewOrleans, and you know.
Things like that started togenerate around the Charleston
community, but there weren'treally a lot of people willing
to come forward as witnessesprobably because the people
traveling wanted thoseactivities to continue.

Nicole (49:05):
Right.

Rissa Miller (49:05):
And when they, when the six mile wayfire house
came up, the word was thatLavinia was so beautiful that
people said she was enchantingand beguilingly beautiful.
So that's that's prettycharming and a powerful way to
convince people that you'reright, I'm sure.
So there got to be issues withwhat historically were called

(49:30):
highwaymen.
Basically, like I mentioned, wewere talking about the
Springfield story.
These were people that robbedyou on the road, especially in
the days of a horse-drawncarriage.
If you had a couple of dudes onhorses that could run up
besides a carriage, it waspretty easy to rob people.
And unfortunately that startedhappening outside of Charleston.
Now a mob got word that at theFive Mile House, right down the

(49:54):
way from the Fishers, that'swhere the highwayman was.
So this wild, crazed mob wentand burned down the five mile
house wow it's not the bestsolution, but it's what they
know.

Logan (50:07):
So then what does that do ?
Yeah, I don't know I'm not sure.

Rissa Miller (50:11):
I'm not sure what the good in that is either.
But then they were.
They were like super excited, Isuppose, and they went on down
the road to the six mile way forour house, where the fishers
were.
Now, at the six mile house,they could see the fire, smell
the smoke, they heard the ruckus.
They knew that things were notgoing well and a lot of the
folks sort of deserted thepremises.

(50:31):
But the fishers this is theirhouse they were like we don't
really want to go.
So they left reluctantly, andthe mob left a watchman, a
watchman, a watchman.
Now the next thing I'm going totell you is the story of
lavinia.
Fisher is possibly the story ofamerica's first female serial

(50:52):
killer.
Wow, do you know this one?
now that I say no, no, I do notokay so, um, the mob left this
guy, David, at the house.
The Fishers came back.
The Fishers came back andsomehow David got away, ran back
into Charleston and he was likeit was never the Five Mile

(51:15):
House people, these Six MileWayfarer House people are the
villains.
It is actually Lavinia Fisherand her husband, John's just
like, okay, we'll do it.
Um, they said that LaviniaFisher this was, um, his own
testimony that she violentlylaid hands upon him, choked him,
boxed his head with a pan, uh,broke glass over him and somehow

(51:39):
he's still got away.
And apparently she also hadwhips and had men holding him
down so that she could beat himjeez yeah right.
So, um, you know, eventually theauthorities do catch up and the
sheriff comes out to the sixmile wafer house.

(52:00):
They surround the property,they have guns, but Lavinia and
John just kind of like walk out.
They're like, ok, we give up.
Now here's where the storystarts to get cloudier.
No-transcript Historians cannotverify whether that is true or

(52:35):
not.
It could be that her legend hasgotten bigger over time.

Logan (52:39):
Right yeah, that could be , and you see that happen from
time to time.
Absolutely, potentially, yeah,over time.

Rissa Miller (52:43):
Right yeah, that could be, and if you see that
happen from time to time, soyeah, potentially yeah.
And then there's, of course,the expected stories that she
was so beautiful that she couldlure anybody in to her end.
Was she greedy and unscrupulous, robbing people?
Yes, history says yes, was she?

Nicole (52:57):
a murderer?

Rissa Miller (52:58):
Possibly Was she.
You know, was she like Bonnieand Clyde with her husband?
We'll actually probably neverknow, right, we'll never know.

Nicole (53:08):
It also sounds very vampire-ish.

Rissa Miller (53:10):
Yeah, it does sound.

Nicole (53:12):
Well, Charleston is a.
Lures them in with her beauty.

Rissa Miller (53:15):
Yeah, it does, doesn't it?
It is a fascinating story.
I mean, if you just examine thehistorical know, the historical
context and the fact that theyhad an end so that they were in
a position of trust, you know,and somewhere you want to go,
you feel safe while you sleepand like you water your horse,
you know.

Logan (53:34):
Yeah, you're extremely vulnerable at that point.
So, yeah, that is be easier todo.

Rissa Miller (53:39):
I mean so they were convicted of highway
robbery and they were condemnedto be hanged in February of 1820
.
So when the day arrives, theFishers go to their execution
and they say that John Fisherwas extremely upset and pale and
tremoring uncontrollably insideof the carriage and tremoring

(54:04):
uncontrollably inside of thecarriage, and that he was
clinging to Lavinia and holdingher close, and that they walked
to the gallows arm in arm.
And now this sounds like astory too, I don't know.
They say that he basicallyrepented before he was hanged,
but she refused to.
They say that her exact wordswere hang hang on here I.
I want to read them.

(54:25):
Um, I will have none of it.
Save your words for others thatwant them.
But if you have a message youwant sent to hell, give it to me
.
I'll carry it there.

Nicole (54:36):
Wow, no regrets.

Logan (54:38):
No kidding Geez.

Rissa Miller (54:40):
No regrets.
Yeah, she definitely seemed toembrace who she was, and they
were both hanged and they diedon February 18th 1820.
Now there's some mystery aboutwhat happened to her afterwards.
Allegedly they were both placedin a potter's field, which you

(55:01):
probably know is a cemeterywhere the graves are not marked.

Logan (55:04):
Right, a pauper's cemetery.

Rissa Miller (55:06):
Exactly, or a criminal's cemetery.

Logan (55:09):
Or a criminal's cemetery.

Rissa Miller (55:10):
yes, the funny thing is they say that somebody
possibly kept her body.
Her bones were confiscated.
Now, is this an urban legend?
We'll probably never know, butmany people say that she still
haunts the city of Charlestonand the old jail because she

(55:31):
wants her bones put back.

Logan (55:35):
Hmm.

Nicole (55:35):
That's possible.

Logan (55:37):
Well, she didn't exactly seem to lay down very easily.
If so, that'd be the person Ithink would'd be definitely
trying to do it.

Nicole (55:45):
It feels like she drug him into all this too.
He was that scared.

Rissa Miller (55:49):
It does feel that way when you read the more
in-depth accounts of what wasgoing on.
She was definitely the leader.

Nicole (55:59):
Yeah, yeah, for sure.

Speaker 4 (56:01):
But indeed they were hanging together, together,
together, forever, except thatshe's the haunt he's like I'll
have none of it.

Logan (56:08):
I'm good I'm out.
Yeah, thanks for thanks for thememories.

Nicole (56:12):
We're gone and she was like in charleston, is it down
near the?

Logan (56:17):
river.
We've seen it, yeah, yeah,we've seen it, we've seen it, oh
yeah, they do, tours they'veseen it?

Rissa Miller (56:21):
We've seen it.
Oh yeah, they do tours.
They have, like just you know,regular history tours and also,
of course, spooky tours.
She was the first woman hangedin South Carolina as a criminal,
so it sounds like she wasdefinitely a character.

Nicole (56:34):
Oh yeah, for sure.

Speaker 4 (56:35):
Yeah, I would say so Very colorful, yeah, yeah.

Logan (56:37):
Yeah and yeah, and it's such a that town, with its
history, and just again kind oflike New Orleans, has that same
pedigree of just vibe about it.
Yeah, just wild stuff.
That's happened there.

Rissa Miller (56:51):
It does.
So I have one more story foryou before we run too late.
I want to tell you a happytogether forever, ghost story.

Nicole (56:59):
We'll end it on a positive note.

Rissa Miller (57:03):
Yeah, I definitely planned it this way I I had my
most shocking story and then I'mgonna have my sweet happy
ending okay, so in florida thereis a place called the don cesar
hotel and I have a friend whostayed there and I asked her I
was like what was yourimpression?
And she's like well, it wasdefinitely haunted.
She goes just saying and I waslike excellent, that's what I

(57:24):
really wanted to hear you saywhen I asked your impression.
So it's also called the PinkPalace.
It is a huge pink hotel,surprising no one in Florida,
and it's built to honor a lover,so it is at St Pete's Beach and
it is a Moorish architecturestyle.
There are other things likethat in Florida, but the woman

(57:48):
that it was built for wasSpanish, so it was also built to
honor her Spanish Mediterraneanlineage.
It is considered the mosthaunted hotel in northern
Florida and according to legend,it harbors a pair of
star-crossed lovers.
So Thomas Rowell was born inMassachusetts in the 1890s and

(58:10):
he was educated in England, inLondon.
So he went to see an operacalled Martina.
No, I'm sorry, martina, anna,I'm not a huge expert expert on
opera, so forgive me if I'msaying that nor us.
So, martinana is not the operaand that is also the name of the
leading character.
The male character was doncesar, the name of the hotel.

(58:34):
He loved this opera so much.
And the leading lady, theactress, oh my goodness, he was
just smitten with her.
This is the Spanish beauty.
Her real name was Lucinda.
He went to see this opera nightafter night and he finally got
to meet her and of course theyfell in love.
They used to meet after thecurtain at a fountain in London

(58:57):
and they decided that at the endof the run of Martina they were
going to run away together.
I guess she mentioned this toher folks and they were not too
keen on the idea and they werewaiting at the curtain of the
last opera performance and theywhisked her back to Spain.
He tried and tried and tried tofind Lucinda and he was never

(59:19):
able to find her again.
He eventually married a womannamed Mary.
That marriage failed.
He moved to Florida, decided toget into real estate and then a
few years later he got a letter.
It said Thomas, my beloved.
My father promised to deliverthis message.
This life is an intermediateand I am not without pain.

(59:40):
I will wait for you by ourfountain.
Our destiny is time.
So she died.
She died, but it gave him avision.
He was going to build theperfect place for them to spend
eternity together.
He bought 80 beautiful acresalong the beach in Florida.

(01:00:02):
He was three times over budget.
The hotel today is worth morethan $24 million and he
completely recreated thefountain from England exactly as
it was.
It is the centerpiece.
When you walk into the hotel,it is the first thing you see
and they say that this is whereyou see them most frequently

(01:00:23):
together.
He did stay forever in thehotel.
He lived there the rest of hislife and he died there as well.
When you see him, they say thathe appears in his signature
white suit and hat and that he'saccompanied by a beautiful dark
haired lady in historicclothing from what would look

(01:00:43):
like, you know, the turn of thelast century.
So she has long skirts.
Her skirts rustle.
People hear her shoes clickingaround the hotel to this day and
her skirts rustling, so theystill walk around together.
They, he, she had evidently didfind him at the don cesar hotel
, um, but lots of other famous,like very famous people have

(01:01:07):
stayed there uh al capone, lukeeric, uh franklin d roosevelt,
uh f scott, fitzgerald and zeldastayed there.
Some people say that, um, itwas their last happy time
together, f?
Scott and zelda, and thenoccasionally there is a residual
of them dancing in the ballroomoh yeah, because right after

(01:01:27):
that she was institutionalizedfor her mental health challenges
and that was kind of theirdownfall.
then they they're right, theirlives sort of changed forever at
that point.
Um, so the don cesar hotel isnow a hotel and spa and it's
still there.
You can still visit it today.
It's gone through a lot ofiterations.
It was also, interestinglyenough, a World War II hospital,

(01:01:51):
but it's had a lot of lives.
It's sort of a staple inFlorida and they say that even
to this day you can see Jamesand Lucinda walking around.

Logan (01:02:02):
It's cool and that's that is pretty gripping, because you
know, obviously they theyweren't together in this life.
I mean, he created this entirepalace for her.
Basically, wow, that's awesomethat is heartwarming.
That's a lot better to end on.

Rissa Miller (01:02:22):
I thought that was a lovely way to end on.
I thought that was a lovely wayto end.

Logan (01:02:24):
Yeah, that's great, yeah, um, yeah, thank you so much for
bringing these stories to us.
You know it, it is.
It is always, of course, whenyou run a paranormal podcast
show, you know there's alwaysthe.
You know the really, reallyscary stuff and we got plenty of
that.
You know all the cryptids andeverything, but you tend to
forget there's a very humanelement behind all of this.

(01:02:46):
So, when it comes to a holidaylike this, you know where people
obviously have married and my,my spouse does everything with
me, literally everything with me.

Nicole (01:02:57):
Yes.

Logan (01:02:58):
So no, it's great, it's always nice to have this sort of
story.
But yeah, it's great, it'salways nice to have this sort of
story.
But uh, yeah it's awesome.

Rissa Miller (01:03:03):
You know, I think the ghost stories ultimately are
reminders both of our historyand our humanity.
So you know, uh, hauntings canbe scary, so can people and
hauntings can be very trueHauntings can be beautiful, and
so can people.

Logan (01:03:20):
Absolutely Well.
I can't think of any otherbetter way to end it than that I
mean that's perfect.

Nicole (01:03:24):
Yeah, it's a perfect story.

Logan (01:03:25):
Yeah, marissa, thanks again for coming on, and we'll
look forward to the next time wecan find another wonderful
holiday to celebrate.

Rissa Miller (01:03:34):
I'm sure we'll come up with something.
I love being a guest on yourshow, so thanks for having me
again.
We love having you, yeah, sothanks for having me again.

Logan (01:03:40):
We love having you.

Nicole (01:03:40):
Yeah, we always enjoy your stories, so we'll see you.

Rissa Miller (01:03:44):
Take care.
Happy Halloween.

Logan (01:03:47):
Happy Halloween.
It's always great having her on, isn't?
It no, I love having her onthat was fun.
Yeah, she's always a blast.
You know she has got to be oneof the best storytellers out
there.

Nicole (01:03:58):
Honestly, she's so knowledgeable and yeah out there
, Honestly she's soknowledgeable.
She's always so much fun.

Logan (01:04:03):
She actually is a tour guide, so I would love to
actually go be a part of thatcrowd and listen to her.
Yeah, arisa, we may head outyour way, but again, no,
seriously.
Thank you, arisa, for showingus, or telling us, these stories
.
Some were a bit sad, sure, butit goes with the holiday.

Nicole (01:04:22):
Yeah, but when they're ghost stories they gotta be a
little sad.
Yeah, that's true, they're nothere that's a good point, I
guess.

Logan (01:04:28):
I guess I kind of showed me on that one, but well, I mean
, it was a good episode.
Um, we've had some fun.
We've had some really goodepisodes of recent uh, today was
no different.
Gosh, thank you so much for allthe growth lately.
Guys, you know it's been great.
You know we always say it onour show, but we do have a

(01:04:49):
Facebook Generation X ParanormalPodcast.
Please, please, please, followus there.
If you're listening on thepodcast, please follow us there
as well.
And, of course, on YouTube.
I always feel like you see thison every YouTube video, but
please like and subscribe, orAnn, was it in the thumbs up
button?
Ring the bell yeah ring the bell, smash that thumbs up button.

(01:05:10):
Anyway, yeah, honestly, we jokeabout it.
But, guys, if you could, that'dbe great, because that really
does help us out quite a bit.

Nicole (01:05:24):
And if you're watching and want to be a guest on the
show, just email us at info atgxparanormalcom, and we can
discuss doing that.
I mean, if you're going, youknow an author that's going to
be releasing a book or whatever,you've had an experience that
you would like to share.
It doesn't have to necessarilybe video, it can just be audio.
So if that's something thatyou're looking to do, just
contact us.

Logan (01:05:38):
Yeah.
So on that note, get yourGalentine's Day out the door,
you know.
Celebrate your Galentine's Day,or forgot how that even goes.
Galentine's right, galentine's.
What a great Parks and Recepisode, I know.
Or if you're single, or howeveryou do it.
However, you're celebratingthis holiday.
Grab some chocolates, have agood one, and we'll catch you
next week.
Happy Valoween.

(01:05:58):
Happy Valoween.

Nicole (01:06:02):
Thanks for tuning in to Generation X Paranormal.
Remember, all editing is donein-house and we're a self-funded
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(01:06:23):
and ways to help us keep theshow going Until next time.
Stay curious and keep exploringthe unexplained.