What if the circus never left—and it was angry

The quiet streets of Baraboo hide a thundering past. We head straight into Circus City’s living history—where the Ringling Brothers built their empire—and follow a single case that starts with an old house, a fallen barn, and a family desperate for sleep, then spirals into one of the strangest hauntings we’ve explored. When sledgehammer blows rattle the walls, a window bursts without warning, and a goldfish bowl hits the floor with no water and no fish, a no-nonsense police chief and three deputies step in. What they witness—clean snow, no footprints, and a Buick sedan dragged uphill with its wheels locked—turns a simple vandalism call into a mystery of weight, force, and a presence that refuses to be seen.

We connect the dots the way a good investigator would: biography, materials, and place. Rose Holliday’s late husband trained elephants for the circus. The house on 8th Street? Built from reclaimed lumber taken from a Ringling elephant-training barn that once held 24 giants. Suddenly the reports make a different kind of sense. The “dog-shaped” shadow children feared, the barn collapse, the house-quaking booms—these aren’t parlor tricks. They feel like boundaries enforced by something that knows its size and space. Whether you land on intelligent haunting, place memory, or an extraordinary string of coincidences, the story forces a new respect for how history embeds in wood, earth, and routine.

Along the way, we revisit how the Ringling Brothers rose from a one-ring show to a national force, how circus territory agreements shaped entertainment, and why Baraboo’s winter quarters mattered. We consider the ethics of spectacle, the emotional residue of training, and what happens when you build a home from timbers that learned the rhythms of command, fear, and applause. The result is part ghost story, part cultural archaeology, and entirely unforgettable.

If this kind of deep-dive haunt keeps you curious, tap follow, share the episode with a friend who loves strange history, and leave a review with your best theory—intelligent haunting, residual echo, or something wilder?

Apologies for echo and technical difficulties.

Thank you for listening to the Paranormal Peeps Podcast.  Check us out on Facebook Paranormal Peeps Podcast or Coldspot Paranormal Research and on Instagram coldspot_paranormal_research

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Episode Transcript

Jamey (00:00):
Between the realm of the dead and the journeys of the
living, join Josh, Jamie, andElisa as they delve into the
vast world of the paranormal andbreathe life back into the
history of the departed.

Josh (00:11):
Hey everybody, welcome back to the Paranormal Peeps
Podcast.
I'm Josh.

Speaker 5 (00:15):
I'm Jamie, and I'm Elisa.

Josh (00:18):
And we are bringing you guys yet another fun and spooky
set of stories.

Jamey (00:28):
You had to pause that long to think of the word
spooky.

Josh (00:31):
Yes.

Jamey (00:32):
Gotcha.

Speaker 4 (00:34):
He's going for a dramatic effect.

Jamey (00:37):
A dramatic pause.

Josh (00:42):
Can I be any more dramatic?

Jamey (00:46):
Please don't.

Josh (00:51):
So when I bring up Wisconsin, what do you think of?

Jamey (00:59):
Somewhere I don't want to live.
No, thanks.

Josh (01:04):
I always think of cheese.

Jamey (01:06):
No, that's true, but I don't like Wisconsin cheese
personally.
Maybe I just haven't had theright Wisconsin cheese.

Josh (01:14):
That could be.

Jamey (01:15):
But some of the Wisconsin cheese I have is just kind of
like it's not bad.
But it's not like, wow, this isthe best cheese ever.

Josh (01:24):
Yeah, I've I prefer Wisconsin cheese over most other
cheese.
Probably because I've had itfor 20 some years.

Jamey (01:32):
Okay, and that's fair.
Whereas I've been likeTillamook.

Speaker 5 (01:36):
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Same.

Jamey (01:38):
And so Tillamook cheddar and Tillamook cheeses are ranked
number one for me for just likeeveryday sort of cheeses.

Josh (01:46):
Right.

Jamey (01:48):
And welcome to the cheese podcast.
Yes, right.
Welcome to the cheese.

Josh (01:51):
Well, it's the reason why I say cheese is because I for a
while I lived in the TwinCities, and it's right close to
the border with Wisconsin.
And so when you drive intoWisconsin from the Twin Cities,
the first gas station you find,there's this giant sign that

(02:12):
says cheese.
And in tiny little lettersunderneath it, gas.

Speaker 5 (02:20):
She's gonna give you gas.
Yep.

Jamey (02:23):
A lot of cheese will give you a little bit of gas.

Josh (02:27):
So yeah, so if you haven't figured out, we are going to
the state of Wisconsin into atown that probably most
everybody hasn't heard of.

Speaker 3 (02:40):
Okay.
And what is it?

Speaker 1 (02:44):
Yeah, so the He's like, you guys are ruining it.

Jamey (02:54):
You know, we're adding some entertainment to it.

Josh (02:58):
So I'm that boring already.
Gotcha.

Jamey (03:02):
Let's go!

Josh (03:04):
Alright, so we're gonna go to uh Baraboo, Wisconsin.

Jamey (03:08):
Is that really how you say it?
Baraboo?

Josh (03:10):
I don't know, that's how it's spelled.
B-A-R-A-B-O-O.
Baraboo.
Baraboo?

Jamey (03:15):
Baraboo.
Baraboo, Baraboo.
I've heard it both ways.

Josh (03:19):
But it's got boo in it, so obviously it's spooky to begin
with.

Jamey (03:22):
Right up our alley.
Yes.

Josh (03:25):
So it was first settled in 1838.
The city which would eventuallybe known as Circus City.
It quickly underwent explosivegrowth for its time.
We went within about 40 years,it went from settlement to
village to town to city.
Yeah.

(03:47):
Officially recognized in 1882,the city already begun laying
its foundations for its futurenickname because in 1878, a
nine-member family by the lastname of Rungling moved to town.

Jamey (04:03):
Rungling?

Josh (04:04):
It was originally Rungling.

Jamey (04:06):
They changed it.

Josh (04:08):
They changed it.

Jamey (04:09):
Ooh, okay.
Do tell.

Josh (04:12):
They decided to leave their home in Prairie Duchne,
Wisconsin.
And if I made I probably reallymessed that one up.

Jamey (04:20):
We always seem to mispronounce things.
But it's no different thanpeople here trying to pronounce
Towilla.
Tuli did the same thing when wemoved here.
Josh and I called it Thule.
Everybody calls it Thule.

Josh (04:33):
Or towilla.
Or Pulya up in with in uhWashington.

Jamey (04:38):
It's Pew Alop.

Josh (04:40):
It is spelt pull ya up.

Jamey (04:42):
Yep, but it's pronounced Pewallop.
Yeah.

Josh (04:45):
Alright, so they made their few uh so they made their
permanent residence within thefuture city of Baraboo or
Baraboo.
And for those who are not verygood at their 19th and 20th
century Midwestern Americanhistory of notable individuals,
uh if the name sounds familiar,it's more than likely because

(05:08):
that you are associating it withthe much more famous slogan,
the greatest show on earth.
Their name was changed fromrungling to ringling.

Speaker 4 (05:23):
Rig-al-ling-ling, ring-a ling-ling-ling, rung
rung.

Josh (05:28):
So officially established in 1884, the Ringling Brothers
Circus called Baraboo, itsheadquarters from the start.
Originally created in 1882 byfive of the seven brothers.

Speaker 5 (05:40):
Yeah, they're too late.
Nope, I'm out.

Josh (05:44):
Exactly.
Yeah.
A small variety show whichtoured around Wisconsin and
performed in various town hallsand meeting spaces.
The small show eventuallybrought in enough money which
allowed the brothers to purchasethe donkey, a trick pony, a
bear, and matching suits.

Jamey (06:00):
So was the matching suits for like one of the brothers
and the bear?

Josh (06:04):
And the pony.
And the pony.
The trick pony.

Jamey (06:07):
So it wasn't just two pairs matching suits, it was
matching suits across the board.

Josh (06:13):
Yes.
I'm assuming it doesn't notsay, but I am assuming that's
exactly what it is.

Jamey (06:18):
I mean, that's the picture I'm creating my head.

Josh (06:19):
So yes.
This influx of cash allowed thebrothers to officially grow
into a modest one-ring show fromthen on out, which was also
known as the Ringling BrothersVariety Performance Show.
A little long.
It's a mouthful.
Yeah.
Which then became widely knownas the Ringling Brothers Circus.

(06:41):
Word quickly spread about theentertainment of the show
provided, and positive word ofmouth brought even more fans
into their ever-growing tent.
So this they still haven'treally taken it on the road
outside of Wisconsin yet.

Jamey (06:55):
Well, no, they're they're in the beginning phases of it.
I mean it's a one-ring circus.

Josh (06:59):
Exactly.
Not a three-ring.

Jamey (07:01):
Not a three-ring yet.

Josh (07:01):
So still a tiny tent.

Jamey (07:03):
Yes, tiny tent.

Josh (07:04):
Eventually, the brothers had enough income which allowed
them to purchase anothercompetitor circus, the Yankee
Brothers Circus, in 1884 andgrew even larger.
During this prosperous time,and with the addition of the
final two brothers joining thebusiness, it seemed that
everything the brothers touchedturned to gold.
And this risky business ventureevent ultimately ended up

(07:27):
putting even more cash intotheir pockets.
Four years later, in 1884, withseven well-stocked bank
accounts and a newly purchasedelephant, the brothers decided
to take their show across thecountry and started traveling to
other states via the railroad.
This, of course, though broughtabout the attention of other

(07:47):
big names within the highlypopular circus world at the
time, and plans were quicklybeing formulated to establish
circus boundaries.
Sounds like the circus mafia.

Jamey (07:58):
Right?
This is my territory.

Josh (08:01):
You stay here.
Well, you stay there.

Speaker 5 (08:04):
Well, and it's like we've got seven banks.
Like seven bank accounts.
Seven bank accounts.
So it's like track our money.

unknown (08:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (08:11):
You know, like the mafia, like, we've got hidden
accounts across seas.
It's like, no, we have sevenbank accounts.
Come get us.

Josh (08:19):
I can't believe what it would take what it would take to
get an elephant.

Speaker 5 (08:23):
Because at the where did they get a bear?
Well, a bear, you can- You canget a cub here, but like we
don't have elephants in Americathat are just wild.
But with seven bank accounts,I'm sure they could ship one
easily.

Josh (08:38):
Yeah, either from India or Africa.

Speaker 5 (08:40):
Wrap it up.
Well, I bet I bet one of themhad to take a ship across.
Uh-huh.
Yeah.

Josh (08:46):
Buy it and then broker a deal with the local people.

Speaker 5 (08:48):
And can you imagine being the ship that had to carry
that elephant back?
Oh.
It would stink.
I was gonna say it would stinkso bad.
That would be bad.

Josh (08:58):
That's why the other two brothers came in.
They're the elephant wranglers.

Speaker 1 (09:02):
Yeah.

Josh (09:04):
Uh one such name that was well aware of the ringling
brothers' success was that ofJames Anthony Bailey.

unknown (09:11):
Ooh, oh.

Josh (09:14):
Uh business partner to P.T.
Barnum and co-owner of thewell-known Barnum and Bailey
Circus.
While the history between theRingling Ringlings in Bailey and
Barnum is deep, uh, we're notgonna just we'll just touch
briefly on it.

Jamey (09:29):
Um yeah, we don't have to go into everything.

Josh (09:31):
Yeah, the history of the circus is actually It's
extensive.

Jamey (09:36):
Yeah, it's very, very extensive.

Josh (09:40):
There's a lot, there's a lot to it.
Okay, it's interesting though,because when you think about I
mean the circus is unfortunatelygone now.
The circuses are gone, butreally it was about
entertainment.
Well, that's really all theywere.
And and the the like thehighlight for some of these

(10:01):
cities was when the circus trainshowed up.

Jamey (10:04):
Of course.
It was a big thing.

Josh (10:06):
Yeah, it was huge.
Yeah.
Uh during a meeting between thevarious circus kings, an
agreement was made between thetwo parties on which areas and
venues within the country eachrespected circus was allowed to
set up shop.
Uh Barnum and Bailey held therights to play in some of the
larger venues, such as MadisonSquare Garden, and for their

(10:28):
agreement to the terms, theRinglings were allowed to
purchase a share of the AdamFourpaw Sells Brothers Circus.

Speaker 5 (10:37):
That's one that's a lot of names.

Josh (10:40):
There's probably a reason.
Which was originally, yeah,right?
Which was originally owned byBailey.
Later on in 1906, James AnthonyBailey uh passed away, and the
Ringlings were able to purchasethe entirety of the Four Paw
Sales Brothers Circus.
A year later in 1907, theremaining stockholders of Barnum

(11:02):
and Bailey Circus officiallyallowed the Ringling Brothers to
purchase this circus as well.
Uh so that once the sale wascomplete, the brothers were able
to set up their big top tenswherever they wished.

Speaker 5 (11:15):
So they actually would they were taken over.
They were taken over quickly,too.

Josh (11:20):
Yeah.
Yeah, 20 years-ish.
Uh so now the history of theRingling Brothers and their
super deep circus roots isactually really fascinating.
And so, like, if you're a fanof history, I would recommend
really looking into it.
Um, because they're not acircus family by nature.

(11:44):
Their dad did other things, andin fact, they um Al or Albreck
was the oldest, and he learnedhe taught himself to juggle and
to do tricks and stuff likethat, and that's how they
actually all of this stuffstarted.

Speaker 5 (12:01):
Oh, that's cool.

Josh (12:02):
So, like, there's a really neat, deep history of it.
Highly recommend looking intoit if you're interested, you're
if you're interested in it.
Yeah.
Um, now while they wereeventually able to set up shop
anywhere, uh, Wisconsin wasalways their home.
So Baraboo served as theirunofficial circus headquarters.

(12:24):
And as a result of theirsuccess, other small circuses
began to pop up in the area aswell.
So in 1891, the GallmerBrothers Circus got its start.
Seven years later, in 1898,John Robison Circus decided to
try and make its mark on thescene as well, all starting in
the area.

(12:44):
And these were just two of thethe lesser-known circuses that
started.
There was actually like fivethat started in in Baraboo
itself.

Speaker 5 (12:54):
Well, once you see somebody being successful in
something, it's easy to copy.
Yeah.

Josh (12:59):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (13:00):
It's like, let's do it.

Josh (13:04):
And of course, everyone is coming into Baraboo.
And so with them comes uh allthis chaotic energy, and
regardless of how they startedor who owned the circuses at the
time, there was just anoverflow of performers of all

(13:26):
shapes and sizes in the area,various buildings, each with
different purposes.
Uh the place was constantlyunder construction.
And typically this energy seemslike Utah.
Right?

unknown (13:40):
Right.

Josh (13:40):
It well, it really is because Utah was the the gateway
to the west.
Everyone coming to the to thegold fields came through Utah,
either north or south.

Speaker 5 (13:51):
Like I-15 has never stopped being under
construction.

Josh (13:54):
Well, right, and yeah, then and now you have I-15,
right?
Everyone, everybody who's goingto Vegas, if they're coming
from the north, is going throughUtah.

Speaker 5 (14:04):
Yep.
Just to get here, we went downto two lanes.
Really?

Speaker 3 (14:11):
Crazy.

Josh (14:12):
Yeah.
So typically this energy wouldmove with the circus as it
traveled from train station totrain station, never never
having a permanent home, neverstopping.
But sometimes, as the followingstory will count, the energy
decides to stick around and makeits presence known in the most

(14:33):
of chaotic possible ways.
So we'll get into a nice, funcircus ghost story.

Jamey (14:44):
Here we go.

Josh (14:47):
This actually made the news.
It actually was published inthe newspaper in uh Madison,
Wisconsin.

Speaker 5 (14:54):
Oh, that's back then.

Josh (14:56):
Yeah.
In 1930.

Speaker 5 (14:59):
And I'm sure that was not a very common thing to talk
about in the newspaper.

Josh (15:04):
No.
Nope.
So one thing to remember beforeI get into the story is that
not only are all of these circusthings here, the reason why it
was called Circus City is theRingling Brothers, this is where
their winter home was.
So at the end of everysuccessful circus season, they

(15:27):
would come back here.
They would walk theirelephants, walk their camels,
repair their equipment, make newuh acts.
All of this stuff is happeningon the streets of Wisconsin.

Speaker 5 (15:41):
So cool for everybody to be there to watch.
Hopefully they were good totheir animals.

Josh (15:46):
They they sounded amazing, actually.

Jamey (15:48):
Okay, that's good.
I hope so, because there'snothing worse to me than hearing
about people mistreating theiranimals.

Speaker 5 (15:55):
I just think of an elephant in the wintertime.
They're not acclimated to that.
No, they have no fur.

Josh (16:00):
They have no fur.

Speaker 5 (16:02):
I mean, I guess on the little bush end of their
tail, but like other than that.

Josh (16:08):
Yeah, so they so there were uh many buildings that they
built to house the animalsbecause they also had lions and
tigers and bears.
Oh my and so obviously, likeyou have to uh you have to walk
all of the hay-feeding orhay-eating animals and keep them

(16:29):
fed and exercised and stufflike that.
And then you've got thecarnivores that you gotta keep
fed and away from the hay-eatinganimals.

Jamey (16:39):
Yep.

Josh (16:40):
You know, the last thing you want is a tiger getting into
your horses because that's likeyour zebras and stuff, yeah.
Yeah, that's gonna causeproblems.

Jamey (16:47):
Slightly.

Josh (16:49):
So our ghost story begins January 1st, 1930, in a house
located on 8th Street inBaraboo.
It was on this day that thewidowed Miss Rose Holliday.
That's me, her daughter AliceGreen, and Alice, Alice's

(17:10):
husband, Patrick, all moved intotheir newly rented home, which
had been their long dream houseof Rose since before her husband
had died many years prior.
The old home was a modest size,possessed five rooms in total,
two bedrooms were locatedupstairs, while a kitchen,
dining room, and living roomwere located downstairs.

(17:33):
Situated off the back of thehouse was an old barn that
hadn't been formerly used sincethe days of the circus.
While a tad run down, Patrickand Alice had plans to
eventually turn it into a tirerepair shop and make enough
money to purchase the homeoutright.
The old woman felt like she hadwon the lottery when she and

(17:54):
her daughter and son-in-law wereable to move in.
Full of energy, the threefamily members quickly moved
their belongings into the oldstructure and were able to
complete their task beforenightfall.
That is quick to move in.

Speaker 5 (18:10):
Well, I'm sure back then they didn't have like a ton
of stuff like we do now.

Josh (18:13):
That's true.
They didn't have seven TVs tomove in.

Speaker 5 (18:16):
Oh, geez, no kidding.

Josh (18:19):
Seven TVs, 20 monitors, six computers.

Jamey (18:25):
All the miscellaneous, unnecessary stuff.

Josh (18:29):
Exactly.
When all the moving was saidand done, Mrs.
Holiday decided she was goingto retire to bed early and would
finish organizing her room thefollowing day.
So with her cot set up for thenight in the living room.
Well, yeah, no, see, there yougo.
No, not even a bed.
They just got caught on thefloor.

Speaker 4 (18:49):
Well, back then their beds were different than ours.
Yeah, she's gonna set it up thenext day, leave her alone, get
out of her back.
She's gonna weave that bedtogether.
She's gonna tighten the ropesdown and everything.
Jeez.

Jamey (19:00):
Give her some space.

Josh (19:01):
Unfortunately, located directly beneath Alice Alice and
Patrick's room, the old womandrifted off into what she hoped
would be a restful sleep.
But unlucky for her, she wouldquickly find out that her dream
home was actually a nightmare,and the chaos will begin on the
very first night.
As Mrs.

(19:22):
Holiday walked throughDreamland, safe and happy inside
her new abode, she was suddenlyawoken by the faint sound of
moving, audible enough to berecognized as something moving
around, but not clear enough toeither recognize the sound or
pinpoint the location.
Sounds like rats.

Jamey (19:43):
Possibility.

Josh (19:44):
It was as if the sound was both distant and all around her
at once.
As the old woman listened inthe darkness, she began to tell
herself that the cause of thestrange sound simply had to be
mice.
The house was old, so it waswell within reason to assume
that some sort of small creaturehad found its way inside to
escape the cold winterconditions outside.

(20:07):
Satisfied with her assumption,the widow attempted to fall back
asleep, but then the sounds gotlouder.
What was once thought to be thenoises of a scurrying mouse
soon began to manifestthemselves in other parts of the
house.
The ceiling beams began tocreak, the wooden floors began

(20:28):
to squeak.
Soon the volume of noisestaking place inside the home
were too much to bear, and theold woman was nearing her
breaking point when suddenly aseries of loud thumps echoed
through the home and proceededto shake the house to its
foundation.

Jamey (20:46):
Oh wow.
That's a little frightening.

Josh (20:49):
Right?
Immediately after that, thenoises stopped and the house
fell silent.
All that could be heard was thewinter wind howling outside.
Rattled but still exhausted,Mrs.
Holliday convinced herself thatthere had to be some logical
explanation and vowed to solveit the next day.
It wasn't long after that thatshe drifted back off to sleep.

Speaker 5 (21:11):
Well, it makes me wonder because when there's we
get 60 mile an hour wind gustsat our house.
And the house will pop andcreak.
It'll pop and creak and thewindows will windows will shake.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (21:23):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (21:23):
So I mean, if they're having wind that night, why
couldn't it be something likethat?

Josh (21:28):
Oh, it very well could be.

Speaker 5 (21:30):
Yeah.
But I'm wondering if that thatcould have crossed your mind.

Josh (21:33):
It could have.
I mean, but you would thinkthough that if you heard noises
at first thinking it was a mouselike scurrying or something.
And then anything in the house.
You would know that somethingwas different.

Speaker 5 (21:47):
Yeah.
And it makes me wonder, too, isif anybody like the daughter
and stuff upstairs.
Did they hear it?
Did they hear it?
You know?

Jamey (21:59):
It doesn't sound like it.
Yeah.
From what the story's saying.

Josh (22:03):
So the next morning, she was sure she had discovered the
cause of the late night noises.
She believed the ruckus wascaused by her daughter and
son-in-law while having somesort of argument during the
night.

Jamey (22:16):
Was it an argument?
They were loud.
Or was it something else?

Josh (22:23):
The noises were obviously the result of them stomping back
and forth upstairs and pacingthrough the home in the
darkness.

Speaker 5 (22:29):
So it was that kind of loud?

Josh (22:31):
Yeah.
Like shaking, you're talkingabout shaking the rafters and
shaking the house.

Speaker 5 (22:36):
That's wild.

Josh (22:37):
For Mrs.
Holiday, that was the logicalanswer to the mystery.

Jamey (22:43):
Well, and after you've actually had some sleep, and
then you go back and you thinkabout it, and it's like more of
a distant memory, like it'sstill there, but it's not fresh.

Josh (22:53):
Yep.

Jamey (22:53):
It's easy to be like, oh, that must have been it.
Right.

Josh (22:58):
But she approached the couple and asked them about it,
which they vehemently denied,that there was any altercation,
and even turned the questioningback around on the old woman.
The young man and woman hadalso heard the noises during the
night and assumed that thecause of the strange noises were
the results of Mrs.

(23:19):
Holiday moving her furniturearound in the middle of the
night.
When Rose understandably deniedthe allegation made against
her, the three were left withoutan answer and all agreed that
they just had an odd night intheir new home.
And it was simple as that.

Speaker 5 (23:39):
Well, it's like when you have when you move into a
new house, you don't know thecreaks and the weirdness that's
each house has.

Josh (24:53):
Yeah, nothing.
We made eye contact.

Jamey (24:55):
Yeah.
Like and he just is like.
So it's unfortunate.
It kind of really is sad.

Josh (25:02):
Yeah.
So while their topics remainmostly in the camp of mundane,
eventually the two neighboringwomen shifted the course of talk
towards the odd.
As if just to get the subjectoff her chest and get it in,
Mrs.
Bemise abruptly asked Mrs.
Holliday if the family waskeeping a horse in the former

(25:24):
barn-turned garage.
Confused by the question, theold widow politely informed her
neighbor that the family had nosuch horse, and as they were
trying to save for a newautomobile and could not afford
the purchase or upkeep of ananimal as large as a horse.
Mrs.
Holliday then asked Mrs.

(25:45):
Bemise why she would assume thefamily had a horse.
Which is kind of the logicalsense of questioning.
It's like, okay, we can'tafford a horse.
Why do you think we have ahorse?

Jamey (25:59):
I gave you the idea.
Yeah.

Josh (26:01):
Well, the response Mrs.
Bemise gave was that theprevious night, long after the
sun gone down, she was lookingout her kitchen window to check
to if to see if it was snowing.
During her peek through theglass, she caught the sight of
what appeared to be a giant darkshape in the distance near the
old home.
Assuming that the new neighborswere going to be keeping

(26:24):
horses, she found it odd thatthey would be allowed to be
wandering outside the barn,especially one so large as what
she had seen.

Jamey (26:37):
So is it really a horseshoe thing she saw, or was
it like the phantom ghost oflike another animal, a larger
animal?
Because I mean, was it like aClydesdale type horse?
Like what made her think it wasan actual horse?
Because she said it was verylarge.

Josh (26:53):
Probably because that's where your reasoning goes.

Speaker 5 (26:57):
Yeah, it's like the paradiglia where you just your
mind instantly takes you tosomething that you can recognize
and you can reason away.

Josh (27:05):
Yeah.
And when you see a giant shapein the dark and thinking that
your neighbors have horses, it'sobviously a horse.

Jamey (27:12):
Come on, we all know it was Bigfoot.

Josh (27:14):
It was Bigfoot.
After a few moments ofwatching, Mrs.
Bemise said the shape turnedand moved through the snow back
towards the old barn.
The night was very dark, butshe could clearly see the even
darker shape moving across theopen land and entering back into
the barn.
Not sure how to convince thetwo women that they did not, in

(27:35):
fact, have a horse out back,Mrs.
Holiday told the women tofollow her out back.
When they arrived outside, theold woman pointed out the snow,
filling the space between thehouses and the barn was
undisturbed, and that no largeanimal could have walked through
it without leaving some sort oftracks.
Satisfying with the lack of anyevidence leaning in favor of a

(27:59):
large animal having been presentin the yard, the three women
dropped the subject and returnedback inside to finish their
tea.

Jamey (28:07):
It was Bigfoot on a hoverboard.
No tracks.
See, I solved it.

Speaker 5 (28:13):
But it was that sucker was floating.
Had to be floating.
Floating like a butterfly,sting like a bee.

Josh (28:20):
Yep.
It's just it's it's interestingthough, because it's like
that's I mean, I think that'sprobably the way to do it,
right?
Is just to say, hey, look, comeand look at this.
There's nothing there.

Speaker 1 (28:33):
Yeah.

Josh (28:33):
But it is strange.
I mean, we've experienced thisbefore, you know, investigating
in the dark, seeing a shadow inthe dark.

Speaker 5 (28:42):
Yeah, because it's darker than dark.
It's weird.
I it's that's the only way Iknow how to explain it.
It's darker than dark.
Yeah.

Josh (28:49):
Yeah.
And so that's what this womansaw is a shadow in the dark.

Speaker 5 (28:54):
Because I feel like there's always some type of
light.

Josh (28:58):
Yeah, there's a little something that you can see.

Speaker 5 (29:01):
In general, wherever you go, there's like some type
of light.
Yeah.
But then when you see somethingthat has zero light, it's
obvious.
It's obvious, you can tell.

Josh (29:11):
Yeah.
Yeah, it's it's very strange.

Jamey (29:15):
It is a strange feeling when you see something like
that.
Mm-hmm.
Sense tingles.

Josh (29:20):
Yes.
So the next night on January4th, the strange sounds once
again fill the old home on 8thStreet.
Unlike their presence the firstnight in the home, the noises
increased to a volume that didnot allow for any sleep to even
be attempted that night.

Jamey (29:41):
So it's definitely trying to make its presence known,
whatever it is.

Josh (29:44):
Yes.
All three family membersremained wide awake listening to
what sounded like asledgehammer slamming against
the outside of the house.

Speaker 5 (29:54):
Holy cow.

Josh (29:55):
The noise was said to be so loud that even other
residents within theneighborhood.
We were able to hear it aswell.

Speaker 5 (30:02):
Holy cow.
I wonder if they thought, like,who the heck are these people?

Josh (30:05):
Right.

Speaker 5 (30:06):
What are they doing?
Like doing house constructionin the middle of the night?
Trying to knock their wallsdown?

unknown (30:10):
Come on.

Josh (30:11):
It was assumed at one point by the family that the
source of the sound outside thehome must be caused by some of
the other neighbors who wishedthem to leave the area for some
particular reason.
It was learned by the familythat a few members of the
community originally thoughtthem to be bootleggers when they

(30:32):
moved into the old home back onthe first.
Which makes sense.
We're talking the 1930s,prohibition.
So we're kind of, you know, inthat era.
The reason for this being thatthe pro that prohibition was
going on.
And the strange sounds theywere hearing were emanating from
the home were soon to be theresult of building a still in

(30:55):
the old barn.

Jamey (30:56):
Oh.
So they think the little ladyand her daughter and son-in-law
are running a bootleg business.
Yeah.

Josh (31:04):
Now this was cleared up by the family, but some residents
were not so inclined to believethem.

Jamey (31:09):
Bring them in the house and show them.
Yep.

Josh (31:11):
Bring them to the barn.
Let them look for the hiddenstill in the barn.

Speaker 5 (31:15):
It's like, hey, you want to spend the night in the
barn?
Go for it.

Josh (31:17):
Want some hooch?
Some free hooch too whileyou're at it.

Jamey (31:20):
Well, that's what they're trying to prove they're not
doing.

Josh (31:22):
That's true.
Two days later, on January 6th,the family awoke from a
surprisingly quiet night.
No strange noises had permeatedthe darkness of the old home.
No loud bangs had struck theoutside of the structures, and
no booms had rattled the fourwalls that the three family

(31:43):
members had dwelled within.
It was as if whatever wasplaguing the family had decided
to finally leave them in peace.
With a newfound energy and afeeling of refreshment, Mrs.
Holliday arose from her bed,walked to the window to take in
the sights of the morning, butwhen she arrived there, she
discovered that the night hadnot been as uneventful as

(32:06):
originally thought.
For there in the backyard, nowjust a pile of rubble and
flattened boards, was the oldbarn, which stood so steadfast
only a few hours before.
This sight being the finalstraw, the old widow ran
downstairs and called the chiefof police himself, August

(32:27):
Marlowe.

Speaker 5 (32:30):
That would be so devastating.
That would be very tough.

Josh (32:33):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (32:35):
Because those aren't cheap.
And if they tried so hard toget this house, they're not
going to be able to afford torebuild a barn construct a barn.

Josh (32:44):
Yeah.
And they're just renting.

Speaker 4 (32:46):
Oh, they're just renting.

Josh (32:47):
They're just renting.
At this point in time, they'rejust renting.
They're hoping to maybe buy thehouse later, but they were
going to turn the bar and thebarn into a business.

Speaker 1 (32:56):
Yeah.

Josh (32:57):
So they could afford to buy the house.
But now with no barn, there'sno business.

Speaker 1 (33:02):
Yep.

Josh (33:03):
After listening to Mrs.
Holiday demand that some sortof action be taken to solve the
mystery of whatever was goingon, Chief Marlowe made an
agreement with the woman thathimself and three deputies would
stay at the house that nightand keep watch over the
property.
If some vandals were behind thelate night noise making and

(33:24):
recent destruction of the barn,he assured her that they would
catch them.
So when 8 p.m.
rolled around, Marlowe and histhree men arrived just as they
said they would and set up campin the dining room.
Mrs.
Holliday served the men coffeeand brought them up to speed on
everything that had been goingon up to that point.

(33:44):
When she had finished herretelling, she made the decision
to retire to bed.
Only she would not be sleepingin her room as usual.
Instead, she'd be sleeping on acot in the living room close to
the action.
So when the offers officersdiscovered who or what was
causing the ruckus, she would bethere to give them a piece of

(34:06):
her mind.
The temperature had droppedsince the four men arrived, and
it was currently registeringbelow zero.

Speaker 5 (34:24):
Oh, so cold.

Josh (34:25):
As we call up in that area, normal winter.
So if anyone was outsidegetting into mischief, they were
obviously a fool.
Well, I wouldn't call it that.
We still managed to live inthat at that time with negative
10 below every morning toschool.

Jamey (34:46):
With a chill.

Josh (34:47):
Uphill both ways.

Jamey (34:49):
Imagine you managed to live in that time.
So you lived in the 1930s inthat weather?

unknown (34:54):
Shh.

Josh (34:54):
Don't tell anybody I'm that old.

Jamey (34:56):
You a vampire?

Speaker 5 (34:59):
He's almost a hundred.

Josh (35:01):
Look good for my age.

Speaker 5 (35:02):
Yes, you do.

Josh (35:03):
So if anyone oh, sorry.
Uh with not much to do butwait, the chief and his deputies
walked leisurely through thehome, peering out the windows,
enjoying the pot of coffee Mrs.
Holiday had made them prior toreturning in for the night.
As the men kept watch, the oldwidow slept soundly on the cot
in the living room.
The greens made not a soundfrom their room upstairs.

(35:26):
The first hour passed by withnothing out of the ordinary.
Then a second came and wentjust as uneventfully.
The deputies were beginning tofall asleep at their posts, and
Chief Merlot started to thinkthat whatever was bothering the
three members of the old homehad decided to leave them be.
Content that the matter was nowresolved, Chief Merlot decided

(35:50):
to follow in his men's footstepsand get a little bit of
shut-eye.

Jamey (35:55):
No, you're there to stay awake.

Josh (35:58):
But no sooner than he shut his eyes and tilt his head back
when a bang loud enough andhard enough to shake the whole
house slammed into the wallsfrom the outside.

Speaker 5 (36:11):
That's scary.
That is scary.

Josh (36:13):
It's like getting hit by a truck.
The four officers quicklyjumped to their feet and ran to
the windows on each of therespective sides of the house
and peered out into thedarkness.
One man, obviously braver thanthe rest, grabbed his shotgun
and ran outside, yelling forwhoever was there to show

(36:34):
themselves, but nobody cameforward.

Speaker 5 (36:37):
You know what this sounds like?
The bellwitch haunting?
Somewhat, yeah.

Josh (36:41):
A little bit, yeah.

Speaker 5 (36:42):
Because the banging on the outside of the house,
running outside with a gun, liketrying to fight figure out who
it is, and nobody's there.

Josh (36:50):
Yep.
When the deputy returned backinside and alerted the chief,
there were no signs that anyonehad been there.
The fresh fallen snow wasunbroken, and there are no
tracks indicating that neitherautomobile nor horse had visited
the area since their arrival.
Convinced there was logicalexplanation for the noise and

(37:12):
movement of the house, the chiefordered all members of the home
to gather in the living roomand for the dwelling to be
searched from top to bottom.
As the deputies made their waythrough the home, Mrs.
Holliday informed the chiefthat they would not find anyone
because nobody was ever foundduring a search.
And sure enough, the house wasempty, besides those already

(37:36):
accounted for.
But still, the strange noisesstarted to fill the home as they
had done for so many nightsprior.

Speaker 5 (37:47):
Well, that's good.
At least they have otherwitnesses, right?

Josh (37:49):
Yes.
Five or four other witnesses.

unknown (37:53):
Yeah.

Josh (37:53):
With the belief still that the noises had a known source,
Chief Merlot stood in the centerof the living room and began to
proclaim proclaim to hisseven-member audience what he
thought was the cause of thelate night mischief.
But not long after he startedhis speech, the intensity of the

(38:14):
activity picked up.
Without warning, a window thathad been previously secured and
checked by the deputies wassmashed open without so much as
an inkling to the cause.
The sound of the breaking glasscaused Mrs.
Holiday to cry out for someonewithin range to save the
goldfish which lived in the bowlin front of the window.

unknown (38:38):
Oh poor goldfish.

Josh (38:39):
But she was seconds too late, as the force of the window
breaking caused the bowl tofall from its pedestal and smash
on the ground.

Jamey (38:47):
Poor goldfish.
Hurry, get a bowl of water.

unknown (38:50):
Right?

Jamey (38:50):
Throw it in.

Josh (38:51):
As the widow and Chief Marlowe moved towards the area
in which the goldfish hadlanded, they both took notice of
something odd.
The fishbowl was seen byeveryone hitting the floor, but
what wasn't found in theaftermath of the crash was any
water or the fish that calledthe bowl home.

Speaker 5 (39:12):
What?
So it's like it'd been emptied.

Josh (39:15):
Exactly.
Understandably confused by thelack of water and being present,
and with everyone gatheredslightly around the glass strewn
floor, each scanning the areafor the missing fish, Patrick
Green broke the quietude byasking a very simple question.
Do you suppose it's ghostsafter all?

(39:38):
Almost immediately afteruttering of those words, a
series of booms, as loud asthunder, emanated from the floor
above and shook the housebelow.
Chief Marlowe ordered his menupstairs to investigate the

(39:58):
jarring sounds, but the threemen stood firm in their place.
With sounds continuing to fillthe space around them, the
deputies looked at one anotherwith apprehensive eyes until a
man stepped up for them all andsaid, I guess we'll go home now
because there's something aboutthis house that isn't right.

(40:21):
Nothing human came in here andshook the place and took the
water and the goldfish.
It's not anything for us tohandle, Chief.

Jamey (40:32):
Well, yeah, what are they gonna do?
I'm gonna arrest that ghostthief, right?

Josh (40:40):
As Chief Merlot listened to the words spoken by his
deputy, he took notice of thefaces of the three members of
the family.
He couldn't just abandon themin their time of need, but he
also realized that the situationwas beginning to grow, well,
you know, out of his control.
And his men were right.

(41:00):
This wasn't something for themto handle, but made a vow to
serve and protect the residentsof Baraboo.
So people needed whatever helpthey could get.
So with the inner strength hecould muster, the chief pushed
aside his fear, puffed out hischest, turned to Mrs.
Holliday and the greens, andsaid, I am not afraid of any

(41:22):
ghost that ever walked, and I'llstay here until.

Speaker 1 (41:27):
Boom.

Josh (41:27):
Yeah.
And then crash.
The house shook suddenly to apoint where nearly everyone
inside fell to the floor.

Speaker 4 (41:36):
Holy cow.

Josh (41:37):
Chairs, other pieces of furniture were grabbed at to
help them uh rise back up totheir feet before anyone could
plant them firmly on the ground.
Another crash, another giantjolt to the dwelling sent them
back to the gr back to theground.

Speaker 5 (41:55):
I want to experience something like that.
I mean, it would be a littleintimidating, but I'd yeah.
Oh, it'd be totally scary, butthen afterwards you'd be like,
Oh, did you feel that?

Jamey (42:05):
Like, I don't think I would want to see what could do
that.
No, right?
You know what I mean?
Yeah.

Josh (42:11):
Like, what in the world is there?

Speaker 5 (42:14):
Well, no kidding, because the most thing we ever
see is like something likelittle getting tipped over.
Right.
And we think that that'samazing.
And some footsteps.
And it's like, whoa, so like orlike Yeah.
Did you hear that?
That was so cool.

Josh (42:29):
Or a board being thrown across a room.
That was loud.

Jamey (42:33):
That we heard that.
It wasn't being thrown acrossthe room, it was being uh
dragged or something.
Well, no, it was like slid.
Slid across the wood flooring.
Yeah.

Josh (42:42):
Yeah, but that was loud.

Jamey (42:43):
Yeah, and that gal jumped in my arms like she was like I
was so jealous.
Woo! She was like, Yeah.

Josh (42:51):
That was the coolest thing in the world.

Jamey (42:53):
It yeah, it was a little freaky, but it was also kind of
funny because the gal, the wayshe was unexpected.

Josh (43:01):
After the second crash, the house went silent again.
The activity seemed to havegone, and the only sound which
could be heard was that of thewind.
The resulting mess caused bythe internal thunder was
promptly cleaned.
Broken glass cups and disheswere placed in the bin, and the
broken window was covered forthe remainder of the night.

(43:23):
Once again, Chief Merlotordered a complete search of the
house, both inside and out, butjust as before, nothing was
found, and the snow outside wasundisturbed.
Interesting though, during thesecond sweep of the home, an
odor reminiscent of a largegrouping of farm animals began

(43:44):
to fill the air.
With a failed attempt at humor,and as a means to figure out
the source of the animal smell,Chief Marlowe asked Patrick how
long they had been keepingchickens in the basement.
Slightly perturbed by thequestion, the young man told the
chief of police that regardlessof what everyone in the area

(44:07):
believed, the family owned noanimals, no chickens, no large
horses, no farmyard animals ofany kind.
The smell was a new mystery inan already long line that had
been plaguing the family sincemoving in.
Which, you know, if you've beento a barn or an area where they
keep cows and horses andsomething.

Jamey (44:27):
You know the smell.

Josh (44:28):
Yeah, it's an undeniable smell.
Well, it's unmistakable.
Yeah.

Jamey (44:32):
You know, yeah.

Josh (44:33):
You know what it smells like.
And it's hard to describe.

Jamey (44:36):
It stinks.

Josh (44:37):
It does.

Jamey (44:38):
Makes me wonder, is it like a phantom elephant?

Speaker 5 (44:42):
Well, see, like see, what I'm wondering too is when
we go to haunted places, we'lloften smell like cigarettes or
cigars.
Cinnamon.
Or cinnamon.
Or um apples.
No, we're just told to go eatan apple.

Josh (45:00):
Oh, that's right.

Speaker 5 (45:02):
Or we'll smell like potpourri, like old lady
perfume.
Yep.

Josh (45:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (45:08):
But to have it smell like a barn?
Yeah.

Josh (45:12):
Yeah.
I'd rather much rather smellcigarette smoke, old lady
potpourri than barnard.

Speaker 5 (45:19):
Barn barnyard.
Yeah.
Yeah.

Josh (45:21):
As the clock near neared midnight, Chief Marlowe made the
final decision to withdraw fromthe home and admit defeat.
He told Mrs.
Holiday, if this keeps you,you'll have no you'll sorry, if
this keeps up, you'll have tomove.
In response, the old widow toldthe chief that they would begin

(45:41):
packing up as soon as the suncame up.
With final goodbyes and goodlux, the four men put on their
thick wool overcoats and headedoutside into the bitter, cold
Wisconsin night.
But their sense of relief asthey thought of leaving was
short-lived.
For when they got outside, theynoticed that the chief's Buick
sedan, their only source oftransportation, was gone.

(46:04):
Even though Chief Merlot hadthe keys in his pocket.

Jamey (46:11):
It was the goldfish.

Josh (46:12):
It was the goldfish.

Jamey (46:14):
Or the phantom horse.
Yeah.
I think it's the goldfishbecause the goldfish is missing.
And he can hotwire.

Josh (46:22):
That's right.

Jamey (46:22):
It was a goldfish.

Josh (46:24):
It had still somehow managed to disappear from the
front of the old house sometimebetween the deputies performing
their last search and the fourmen leaving the house.
Morlow, it was safe to say,officially had had it with
ghosts.

Jamey (46:44):
Now, did they ever find the car?
And was it the goldfish?

Josh (46:51):
Yes and no.

Jamey (46:52):
Okay, do tell.

Josh (46:54):
The four public servants ran outside through the freshly
fallen snow in search of thevehicle, but could find no sign
of it.
Convinced that it was nothidden somewhere around the
house, they decided to run downthe street and scan the area
along the road.
When they arrived, they begantheir search, but it wouldn't
take long to find the missingmotor vehicle, for there at the

(47:16):
top of the hill, sitting in asnowbank nearly a block away,
was the chief's Buick.
The vehicle's tire marks in thesnow had indicated that it had
been dragged uphill with itswheels locked in place.
But what had managed to pull itup there remained a mystery,

(47:37):
for no additional tracks werefound.
Not wanting to spend anotherminute outside and wanting to
get away from the area asquickly as possible, the chief
unlocked the vehicle and thefour men filtered inside.
When with the key in theignition, the vehicle started up
just fine.
No damage had come from itsunexpected adventure and left

(48:00):
the area quickly, disappearinginto the darkness and gentle
falling snow.

Jamey (48:04):
See, I tell you, it's if it wasn't the goldfish, which
we've ruled that out.

Josh (48:10):
Because it wasn't in the car when they found it.

Jamey (48:12):
It wasn't in the car, and the car was dragged and
obviously the goldfish doesn'thave that kind of capability.
Oh, but it can drive, but itcan't exactly.
Exactly.
That seems perfectly logical tome.
But I'm telling you, it was aphantom elephant.
It drug it.

Josh (48:29):
It could have been a phantom horse.

Jamey (48:31):
It drug the car.
I think an elephant would bemore capable.
Cars back in those days were alot more the solid.
Like, not like today.

Josh (48:40):
I mean, haven't you seen the Andy Griffith show?

Jamey (48:42):
Right?
But I mean, like you sneezetoday and you crumple your
bumper.

Josh (48:46):
Yeah.

Jamey (48:47):
You know, blow out your windshield.

Josh (48:50):
When the sun began to rise that morning, Mrs.
Holliday stayed true to a word.
The three members of the familystarted packing up their
belongings and proceeded to moveout of the old house on 8th
Street.
The day was long and the boxeswere plenty, but through sheer
determination not to spendanother night in the strange
home, the trio somehow managedto completely move out and find

(49:11):
accommodations in a boardinghouse on the other side of the
Baraboo River, all beforenightfall.
Not long after their previousresidence was officially listed
as vacant, and the strangenoises inside were not heard by
anyone in the area again.

Jamey (49:28):
Obviously, whatever it is is causing the ruckus and
dragging cars and all the thingsand taking goldfish and water
didn't want anybody in thathouse living there.

Josh (49:41):
Yep.

Jamey (49:42):
Because as soon as they vacated, the neighbors quit
hearing it too.

Josh (49:45):
Exactly.

Jamey (49:46):
So whatever happened to that house, does it say it all?

Josh (49:49):
Oh well, it's the story's not done.

Jamey (49:51):
Oh.
Dun dun dun dun dun dun parttwo.

Josh (49:54):
Part two.
When they left and it and itwent quiet, the residents
located around the property werecontent once again.
While the strange caseinvolving Mrs.
Holiday and the Greens istechnically closed because the
family moved out, Chief Merlotcouldn't get the mysterious
events out of his mind.
And there had to be some sortof explanation, no matter how

(50:17):
bizarre to explain what he andeveryone else inside had
witnessed.
So with a resolution toofficially solve the case, the
chief of police sent out lookinginto the history of the
property and the meta andmetaphorically digging up every
stone he could find that mightbe able to help put the case to

(50:37):
bed.
But he wasn't able to look longbecause it appeared a new
mystery had taken up residenceon 8th Street.
Only this time it wasn'taffecting one family, but rather
the kids who lived in proximityto the now vacant house.

Speaker 1 (50:54):
Oh.

Josh (50:55):
In the week following the relocation of the old widow and
her daughter and son-in-law,Chief Marlowe began to receive
reports from the parents ofchildren in the area who claimed
to have not only seen, but alsohave been pursued by solid
black mountainous shadows in thedark.

(51:16):
Some children claimed it hadthe overall shape of a giant
black dog.
Others said it lumbered alongand they could feel the ground
tremble when it was near.
One young boy, Richard Curran,who lived at 222 South Avenue,

(51:36):
claimed that he saw the strangething and it was as big as a
house.

Speaker 4 (51:41):
Elephant.
That's what I've been saying.

Josh (51:44):
The story spread so quickly and frightened the
children in the area so badly.
It wasn't long before themothers in the area collectively
decided that no longer weretheir children allowed to play
in that part of town during thedaytime or at night for the fear
of what they were seeing mightactually be real.

Speaker 5 (52:05):
Okay, wait.

Jamey (52:06):
First they said it was a dog, a big dog, long mountainous
the size of a house.
But right, but if you're fromthat, you know, Wisconsin,
you're not automaticallythinking it's an elephant.
You're gonna say something morelogical, like it's a big,
lumbering, huge dog.
Which would make sense.

(52:28):
Yeah.
Yep.
I I feel like it's an elephant.

Josh (52:33):
Chief Merlot, now presented with two strange cases
that no lawman ever expects,was beginning to think that the
odd occurrences may somehow beone and the same.
So with the information hegathered for Mrs.
Holiday and the descriptions ofthings the children in the area
had reported seeing, he went towork what he did best,

(52:54):
investigating.
And for the next few days hedid just that.
The officer of the law spokewith residents who had called
Barabu home their entire lifeand knew the history of the area
better than any book couldprovide.
He looked into the history ofthe homes located, looked
through all old records of pastevents where people claimed to
have seen strange things in thearea, and even looked into the

(53:17):
histories of the circuses thatonce called this place home.
When he felt that he had gotteneverything he needed to
officially solve the case, hemade one phone call, and that
was to Mrs.
Holliday herself.
When Rose Holliday answered thephone, Chief Merlot immediately
asked her who her husband wasand what he did for a living

(53:39):
when he was alive.
Slightly caught off guard bythe question, Mrs.
Holliday informed the chiefthat her husband, Michael
Holliday, had been dead forthree years by that point.
But when he was alive, he wasemployed by the circus as the
head elephant wrangler.

(54:00):
He was responsible for breakingthem and teaching them how to
do the tricks that everyone paidto see.
After receiving the answer,Chief Merlot offici officially
had everything he needed tosolve the case.
He thanked the old woman andwished her the best, but not
before making sure that she andher family were no longer being
harassed by strange noises andunexplainable crashes.

(54:23):
She confirmed everything wasgood and bid the police chief a
pleasant farewell.

Speaker 5 (54:30):
Wow.

Josh (54:32):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (54:33):
That still does not explain the fish.
No.

Jamey (54:40):
Yeah.
He was thirsty, he drank thewater and so.

Josh (54:43):
Busted the window, busted the window out, put his trunk in
the fishbowl, sucked everythingup.
And I'm now now granted, I'venever heard of a f of a ghost
drinking water.

Speaker 5 (54:55):
Well, here's the thing.
And both my dad and I heard acat drinking out of the glass.
We heard the water beinglicked.

Jamey (55:12):
So well, and that's like after TC passed away, and you
know, we have the ceramic foodbowls.

Speaker 1 (55:20):
Yeah.

Jamey (55:20):
And you know how when cats eat and they take a bite
and they like shake and a pieceof dry food flies out and hits
the goes tink on the ceramicbowl.
Yep.
I kept hearing that, and I wassitting on the couch and I
looked directly at the bowl.
There's no cat at the bowl.

Josh (55:34):
But you can hear it.

Jamey (55:35):
But you can hear it.
Yeah, same.

Josh (55:37):
I'm like, it makes you wonder if food was actually
disappearing though, or in thiscase was water disappearing.

Jamey (55:42):
Like right.
I I have no explanation, or youknow, but um, but you hear the
sounds.
It's like they come to visitand they're doing what they
would do when they were alive,eating, drinking, plundering.

Speaker 5 (55:54):
But what was interesting is in my case, I
don't think we because I hadthat cat since I was like six.
My cat was still alive.
We did have other cats previousto that, sure, but none that
stuck around to have a glass ofbecause that's what the glass
was for, was for the cats todrink out of.

(56:15):
So, but I don't think we hadany other cats that did that,
that were inside, even to dothat.
So I don't know.
It's wild.
Yeah, it really makes me wonderif water was disappearing or
not.

Josh (56:27):
Before I would say no, but now listening to this, I'm
like, hmm, maybe I wonderbecause when the cat drinks
water, generally speaking, youdon't notice how much is gone
until time has passed.

Jamey (56:38):
Right, yeah.
Well, same with like food.
If you keep a whole bowl offood out of dry food, you don't
notice this four or five littlepellets are missing, right?

Josh (56:47):
So the question still is is how did Chief Marlowe solve
this mystery so quick?
And then why was the last thinghe needed a single phone call?
So part of his investigation,he actually reached out to a
gentleman by the name of EricMiller.

(57:07):
He was the head of DwightMiller construction, he was
responsible for the constructionof the majority homes on 8th
Street.
And so Mr.
Miller sent him a letter, sentMr.
Marlowe a letter.
So in the letter, Mr.
Miller stated that the house on8th Street was built using

(57:31):
reclaimed lumber from an oldcircus barn located on Water
Street, just one mile south of8th Street.
This specific circus barn wasoriginally used to train the 24
elephants owned by the RinglingBrothers Circus.

Jamey (57:51):
How freaking cool is that?
It came full circle.

Josh (57:55):
And because so his theory of all of this was that because
his her husband was a circustrainer, and the house happened
to be a reclaimed elephant barn,that they were being haunted by
an angry circus elephant.

Jamey (58:14):
Or elephants.

Josh (58:16):
Or elephants.

Jamey (58:17):
I mean, if I was made to do tricks, I mean I'm roughly
the size of an elephant.
If I was made to do tricks,stop.
I I would be, I would be, youknow, part of my language, I'd
be pretty pissed off too.

Josh (58:29):
And and I would say that it now I don't know fully how
accurate some of the stuff thatI've seen is true, but it looked
like the way they would treatthese elephants was terrible and
to get them to be trained.

Speaker 5 (58:42):
Yeah, yeah, I've heard that too.
It's like the chains and right.

Josh (58:45):
And so, I mean, I think Dumbo was was a pretty good
showing of that because Yeah, Iwould say so.
And so that being the case,then yeah, like I could see the
the spiritual retributionhappening.

Jamey (59:02):
Well, and think about it, where the wood came from, a
barn that these animals weretrained in and probably
mistreated in.
So there's a lot of that highemotion, I think, even from
animals that can seep intothings and then you repurpose
the wood for a house and it justcomes out, you know.

Josh (59:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (59:26):
Here's a thought.

Speaker 5 (59:29):
What if the animals put out all that energy that the
wood absorbed and they comeback and use that energy to
create all of the paranormalexperiences?

Jamey (59:46):
And to destroy the barn.

Speaker 5 (59:48):
And to destroy the barn.

Josh (59:49):
Yeah, because that barn was toasted.

Speaker 5 (59:50):
Yeah.
Like, is that is is that athing?
Do you think that could bepossible?
Like, they put out the energywhile they're alive and then
use.
That energy when they're deadto that would indicate create
that those paranormalexperiences.

Jamey (01:00:05):
That it's not residual, it's intelligent.

Josh (01:00:08):
This sounds intelligent though.

Jamey (01:00:09):
It sounds very intelligent.
Because if it tears down thebarn and it comes and goes with
the people in it.
Yeah.

Josh (01:00:16):
Yeah.

Jamey (01:00:16):
And when the people leave, it stops.

Josh (01:00:18):
And it moves a police car.

Jamey (01:00:21):
Well, and it moved locations.
It stopped like after thepeople moved out of the house,
it then went to another home.

Josh (01:00:28):
Yep.

Jamey (01:00:29):
In another area.

Josh (01:00:31):
Yeah.

Jamey (01:00:31):
It's like the elephant's revenge.
Yep.
I don't blame them.

Josh (01:00:36):
So this was supposed to be originally posted in a
newspaper article, but was madefamous in 1953 by being
published in Fate magazine.

Speaker 1 (01:00:48):
Okay.

Josh (01:00:49):
So after this, after this was posted in 1953, the whole
town was inundated with psychicsand mediums and paranormal
investigators and everybodytrying to get a piece of the
action, of the elephant action.

Speaker 5 (01:01:05):
Well, one, it's a super rare thing to happen.
Yes.
By a haunting by an animal.
Yeah.
And then two, America's notold.

unknown (01:01:14):
No.

Josh (01:01:14):
We are not old.
We are very young.

Speaker 5 (01:01:18):
Yeah.
So it's not like there's gonnabe a ton of haunting things
going on.

Jamey (01:01:23):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:01:25):
And for something of that magnitude.
Oh, yeah.

Jamey (01:01:27):
It would attract a lot of people.

Speaker 5 (01:01:29):
I would go.
It's not like there's socialmedia for right?

Josh (01:01:32):
Well, yeah, it's 53, right?
What more do you got going on?

Speaker 5 (01:01:36):
I mean, I would go.
I really would.
100%.
It would be entertainment.
It would be.
Yeah.

Josh (01:01:43):
I mean something, I mean, as long as you weren't freaked
out by it.

Jamey (01:01:46):
Well, I mean, there's a little bit of that aspect
because you think of somethingas massive as an elephant, and
then here's one that's likesupernatural.
Like, right, you don't see itcoming or anything.
And if it tore down a barn anddrug a car, what could it do to
you physically?
Right?

Josh (01:02:00):
Squish you like an ant.

Jamey (01:02:01):
It makes you wonder.

Josh (01:02:02):
Yeah.
Well, I mean, imagine that.
Like in the Bell Witch, it wasa big black dog.

Jamey (01:02:10):
Yeah.

Josh (01:02:11):
And that's terrifying enough.
Like seeing a dog in the darkor even during the day, an anger
dog is terrifying.
But imagine coming around thecorner and there is a giant
ghost elephant standing there.
Literally the size of a house.

Speaker 5 (01:02:29):
Yeah.
Can you imagine the energy thatsucker's giving off?

Josh (01:02:32):
Oh, it's gotta be massive.
But in in the same token,though, too, like this is the
town that these 24 elephantsthat the circus owned that had,
they walked them around town.

Speaker 5 (01:02:44):
Mm-hmm.
And they pared them on thestreets, basically, yeah.
To learn how to do tricks.

Josh (01:02:50):
And so, like, this is their home for the most part.
And so, like, all of this, likeall of that energy has to be
absorbed into the town itself.

Speaker 5 (01:03:01):
Well, and it makes me wonder because elephants live a
long time.
Yes, they do.

Josh (01:03:05):
They do.

Speaker 5 (01:03:06):
And that was only 20 years later, right?

Josh (01:03:10):
It wasn't.
No, it was 50 years.
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:03:13):
So wait.

Josh (01:03:15):
It was 1880 to 1930.

Speaker 5 (01:03:18):
Okay, got you.
Got you.

Josh (01:03:20):
But still, you're right, though, in the still the same
sense, like depending on the ageof the elephant when they got
them, they could have still beenalive in 1930.
But more than likely, probablynot.

Jamey (01:03:33):
So then they were probably buried somewhere out
there, right?

Josh (01:03:37):
Oh, yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:03:37):
And elephants never forget.

Jamey (01:03:39):
That's right.

Josh (01:03:40):
That's right.

Speaker 3 (01:03:41):
But the moral of the story, I think, here is don't be
cruel animals because theycould come back and haunt you.

Jamey (01:03:47):
Tear your barn down.
Tear your barn down.
Take your car.
Take your car.
Squish you without evenblinking.
Eat your goldfish.
Actually, drink your goldfish.

Josh (01:04:00):
Could you imagine if it was a tiger?
A ghost tiger?

Jamey (01:04:03):
Oh, dude, no.
No, no.
I don't know what would beworse.
I think it would all be equallyterrible.

Speaker 5 (01:04:09):
Instead of getting like people getting like those
three little scratches on yourface, you have like half your
arm ripped off.

Jamey (01:04:18):
Yep, that was a ghost tiger.

Josh (01:04:20):
That is something right out of a horror movie.
Oh my gosh.

Speaker 5 (01:04:23):
Yeah.
Can you imagine the growls outof that one?
Oh, geez.
No.

Josh (01:04:29):
Just sitting in bed.
Wow.

Jamey (01:04:32):
I would wet my bed.

Josh (01:04:36):
And the house.

Jamey (01:04:38):
Terrible.
You get the hissing.
Yeah, no thanks.

Josh (01:04:44):
Yeah.
And what's amazing is that isone story of a town that is
completely haunted.

Jamey (01:04:57):
We need to go.

Josh (01:05:01):
And we'll cover those, we'll cover some more of those
haunted locations in anotherpodcast episode.

Jamey (01:05:06):
Yeah, we'll we'll sprinkle them in.

Josh (01:05:08):
Because they're amazing.
This is one awesome hauntedtown.
And for its size, it's stillonly like 20,000 people.

Speaker 4 (01:05:20):
Yeah, it's it's not huge.

Josh (01:05:22):
It's a little it's a little tiny town.

Speaker 5 (01:05:26):
And all that ghost hunting.
It's so fun.

Josh (01:05:30):
Yeah.
Alright, everybody, if youenjoyed the story of the ghost
elephant, please like andsubscribe.
And as always, stay ghosty, mypeeps.

Speaker 5 (01:06:06):
Okay, pause for a quick.
My watch somehow clicked on towhat you were saying.
And I said, sorry, I didn'tunderstand that.
Boobs with the sound ofthunder.
No, no, and that's when I rollover at night and one go.

Jamey (01:06:22):
Thunderclap.
I'm just trying not to smile.
I was like, uh oh, what's sofunny?
Boobs with the sound ofthunder.
That's great.

Josh (01:06:37):
In response, the old Whittle.

Speaker 5 (01:06:41):
The old widow.
The old widow.