December 21, 2025 • 18 mins
Ghosts, curses, apparitions, and chilling hauntings that only appear during the holiday season… If you love ghosts, cryptids, mysteries, and real paranormal encounters, this is the perfect holiday episode for you.
Christmas may be a time of joy, family, and warmth— But for some places in the world, it’s also the season of ghosts.
In this episode, we dive deep into real-life paranormal encounters that allegedly occur only during Christmastime. From haunted mansions to cursed bridges, phantom carolers, and headless horsemen, these stories prove that the holidays can be just as eerie as Halloween.
Join host John as we uncover terrifying yuletide hauntings that stretch across centuries and continents.
👉 Follow Dairyland Frights on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and wherever you get your podcasts!
👉 Support bonus episodes on Patreon for even deeper investigations.
👻 Featured Christmas Ghost StoriesWe explore shocking, chilling tales, including:
🎩 The Brown Lady of Raynham HallOne of the most famous ghost photos ever captured—and the tragic story behind the woman in the brown dress.
🦌 The Ludington Christmas HauntingsEccentric socialite Vera Stark allegedly still roams the grounds in… nothing but a fur coat.
🌿 The Mistletoe BrideA centuries-old wedding game gone horribly wrong—and a discovery made 50 years too late.
🔔 The Brooklyn Christmas Poltergeist (1878)Doorbells, banging, and a flying brick that left police stunned.
🐴 The Headless Horseman of Roos HallA phantom coach that terrorizes England every Christmas Eve.
🐕🦺 Sir Geoffrey de Mandeville & His Headless DogA medieval curse and a ghostly knight roam the fog every six years on Christmas Eve.
🎄 The Alcatraz Christmas GhostA phantom figure who crashed a 1940s holiday party on “The Rock.”
🤡 The Christmas Murder of David FeeA tragic case from 1890 that left a ghost wandering Bastion Square.
🕯️ The Spirit of Gilbert the HighwaymanA murdered outlaw who returns each Christmas Eve in search of a coach that never arrives.
👑 Anne Boleyn’s Christmas ReturnThe executed queen’s somber apparition crossing a bridge at Hever Castle—but only on Christmas Eve.
🏨 The Crescent Hotel’s Mischievous GhostsVictorian spirits that move the Christmas tree and gifts across the room.
🎶 The Singing Ghost of Hotel BethlehemA spectral opera star is said to return to perform Christmas carols.
⭐ Why These Stories MatterThese tales remind us that the holidays carry deep emotion—love, loss, tragedy, and hope. Whether you believe in ghosts or simply love a chilling story, these “Christmas hauntings” offer a fascinating look at how history, folklore, and the supernatural blend together.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker A (00:12):
This is Santa Claus speaking softly so the spirits don't hear me.
They're awake tonight.
They always wake during the holidays.
You found Dairyland frights, and John is aboutto guide you through allegedly true Christmas
hauntings from around the world.
From the echoing halls of Raynham to thecursed snow covered roads of England,
(00:36):
from Brooklyn's phantom attacker to theghostly figure stalking Alcatraz,
these stories have terrified witnesses forcenturies.
Stay close,
and whatever you do,
don't answer the knocking.
The Brown lady of Raynham hall has perplexedvisitors and paranormal investigators for
(00:57):
hundreds of years.
Back in the 1700s, owner Charles Townshendmarried a young woman named Dorothy Walpole.
While they lived happily together for sometime in Raynham Hall, Townshend soon became
paranoid that his new wife was beingunfaithful to him.
(01:18):
Eventually,
driving himself mad with jealousy, he decidedto hide Dorothy away in the hall,
telling all of their friends and family thatshe had tragically passed.
Dorothy was forced to stay inside the mansion,
allowed only to wander through its halls.
Not long after she perished,
(01:40):
never having left Raynham hall after herhusband imprisoned her.
Ever since her passing,
people have witnessed the image of a woman ina tattered brown dress wandering through the
halls.
And some of these reported encounters are
truly horrifying.
One visitor, unaware of the Brown Lady'slegend, approached a woman in the hall,
(02:04):
only to have her look at him with a glowingface.
But where her eyes should have been,
there were only empty sockets.
Years later,
after numerous other reported sightings,
a photographer from Country Life magazinevisited Raynham hall to document it for an
article.
(02:24):
After snapping a photograph of the centralstairwell, he saw within the image a hazy
silhouette that many believe is none otherthan Dorothy Walpole.
The Brown Lady.
Speaker B (02:37):
An old Victorian house is allegedly haunted by an eccentric woman every Christmas.
One group of ghosts from the Stark family hascreated quite a legacy for themselves.
The Starks left behind numerous spirits thatare now haunting a Victorian home in
(02:58):
Ludington, Michigan,
and visitors have reported numerous sightings,
particularly around Christmas.
One such specter,
Vera Stark, was well known in life for hereccentricities and seems to have brought them
with her into the afterlife.
(03:18):
Those who claim to have seen her ghost say sheappears in the front yard of the home wearing
only a fur coat and picking flowers,
just as she did in life.
In addition, the ghost of one of the Starkdaughters,
who suffered a terrible mishap in themansion's gymnasium,
(03:40):
can allegedly be seen walking through thehalls of the home.
The current owners of the home have evenattempted to open it up to historical tours,
but they apparently ran into problems.
Our spirits did not care for it being open tothe public and went wild.
Speaker C (04:02):
The legend of the Mistletoe Bride haunts England's Bramshill House.
The legend of the mistletoe bride has beenretold for centuries and has taken many forms.
While the story's true origin is difficult todetermine,
many have come to believe its roots are in thedisappearance of Lord Lovell's bride at
(04:26):
Bramshill House in in Hampshire, England.
Allegedly,
Lord Lovell was preparing to wed a young womanrelated to Sir John Cope, the owner of
Bramshill House.
This was around Christmas time,
so mistletoe hung throughout the mansion,
inspiring the wedding party to play a game.
(04:46):
The young bride to be would hide somewhere inthe mansion.
The groomsmen would all seek her out, andwhoever found her first would get to kiss her.
So the bride went to Hyde and the weddingparty sought to find her.
However,
the minutes turned to hours and they stillcould not find her.
(05:07):
Eventually,
the game turned terribly serious,
as no matter where they looked, she remainedmissing.
Not until 50 years later did Lord Lovell,
still seeking answers to his bride'sdisappearance,
happen upon a secret closet in an upstairsroom of Bramshill House.
Inside, he found a wooden chest sealed shutwith a lock.
(05:32):
Upon opening the chest, he found the nearlyunrecognizable remains of his bride.
Speaker D (05:37):
Alleged phantoms plagued a Brooklyn home during Christmastime.
A few weeks Before Christmas in 1878, EdwardF. Smith was at his home in Brooklyn, New
York,
when the doorbell rang.
He answered the door, but there was no onethere.
This soon became a nightly occurrence.
The doorbell would ring only for Smith to find
no one outside and no signs that anyone hadbeen there at all.
(06:01):
Growing frustrated, Smith sprinkled ash andflour along the path to the door, expecting to
find footprints left behind.
But the substances were undisturbed and thenoises continued.
No matter where he and his family stood aroundthe house, the noises remained unidentifiable.
Smith and his family were growing moreconcerned as the doorbell ringing turned to
(06:22):
aggressive banging on the doors.
Eventually, they contacted the police.
The ringing and banging continued, and stillno one was able to identify its source.
One night, a brick suddenly flew through thewindow from outside,
even though police officers were standingnearby and saw no one.
Although they investigated the home for sometime,
(06:43):
police were unable to identify the cause ofthe disturbances.
Smith and those who witnessed the strangeoccurrences ultimately concluded they must be
paranormal in nature.
Speaker B (06:54):
A headless horseman allegedly haunts Roose hall every December.
Roose Hall, a mysterious mansion in TheEnglish countryside is rumored to be one of
the most haunted places in England.
Located just outside the small town of Becclesin the county of Suffolk,
(07:14):
the mansion has accumulated plenty of ghoststories ever since it was first built in the
16th century.
One of the most horrifying stories is that ofthe Headless Horseman.
Many people may be familiar with this legend,but at Roose hall, it takes on a life of its
own.
(07:35):
Numerous visitors to Roose hall have reporteda man on a horse riding toward them on the
road,
only to discover that he has no head.
Allegedly, on Christmas Eve, the headless manis often seen clattering down the driveway
with his phantom coach and four horses.
(07:57):
And this is only the beginning of Roose Hall'sghostly existence.
Other rumors claim that there are strangemarkings inside the hall known as devil's
footprints,
and some have even reported seeing a girlwatching them from the windows.
The ghost of Sir Geoffrey de Mandeville andhis headless dog roam the streets on Christmas
(08:25):
Eve.
The story of Sir Geoffrey de Mandeville isbrimming with political betrayals.
He held the title of Earl of Essex and was aprestigious European landowner during the 11th
century.
Because of his title, he had great influenceover royal politics at the time.
(08:46):
However, when a debate emerged regarding therightful heir to the throne,
he chose the losing side and was promptlystripped of many of his assets and
excommunicated from the church.
During his excommunication,
Sir Geoffrey was slain on the battlefield.
(09:06):
But because of his exile,
he was not allowed a proper Christianinterment,
which many believe left his spirit trappedwithin the earthly realm.
Rumor claims that Sir Geoffrey also left acurse on the properties he owned,
stating that should they ever be taken awayfrom him,
(09:27):
ruin would befall his betrayer.
And every six years on Christmas Eve, he and a
headless dog would haunt the lands draped in ared cloak.
Ever since his demise,
people who have visited the properties he onceowned,
particularly the Pimmsbrook Bridge in EastBarnet,
(09:48):
have reported hearing strange sounds andwitnessing the hazy image of a headless dog
breaking through the fog.
Accompanied by a knight in full armor and ared cloak,
a ghost supposedly.
Speaker D (10:04):
Disrupted a Christmas party at Alcatraz.
Alcatraz, the isolated penitentiary located inthe middle of California's San Francisco Bay,
closed down in 1963.
But tales of those who were once held on theisland continue to haunt generations of
onlookers and visitors.
Often referred to as the Rock, Alcatraz hasgained a reputation for unexplainable and
(10:27):
shocking ghost encounters.
And one of the Most notable was recounted
during Christmas back in the 1940s while thefacility was still in operation.
The warden at the time, Warden Johnston,decided to throw a small Christmas party at
his boarding house on the island.
During the gathering, a few of the guardsbegan retelling the story of a phantom figure
(10:49):
who appeared before them wearing a grey suit,brimmed cap and sporting mutton chop
sideburns.
All the guards could do was stare at theghostly figure in shock.
And before they had a chance to move,
the room suddenly turned very cold and thefire in the Ben Franklin stove was
extinguished.
And just as suddenly as he had appeared,
(11:10):
the phantom man vanished.
A Christmas ghost is said to haunt BastionSquare in Victoria,
British Columbia.
On December 25, 1890,
a disturbing story appeared on the front pageof a Victoria newspaper, the Daily Colonist,
just as the clock was striking midnight,ushering in the joyous Christmas Day.
(11:32):
A misdeed as dark, cowardly and mysterious asever disfigured the history of this province
was perpetuated.
The target,
who went by the name David fee, was only 21years old and had been walking to meet his
parents for evening mass at the nearby church.
After attending a costume party dressed up in
a white clown costume, Fee had just arrived atthe corner where the cathedral sat when a man
(11:56):
burst out from the shadows and aimed a doublebarreled shotgun directly at him.
The man simply said,
you challenged me.
Before Fee could speak, the man fired and Feeperished within moments.
Apparently, the man had confused Fee foranother man.
Ever since that tragic night, Fee's ghost isrumored to roam the streets outside the
(12:18):
cathedral as well as his grave site.
Speaker C (12:21):
A slain highwayman supposedly reappears each Christmas Eve in England.
One particularly twisted ghost story harkensback to a tragic event that occurred one
Christmas Eve in the late 18th century.
According to legend, there was once a fearsomehighwayman known only as Gilbert, who would
wander up and down one of the town's mainroads.
(12:44):
One evening, the night before Christmas, a manand his daughter were travelling in a horse
drawn coach.
When Gilbert apprehended them.
The daughter was able to exit the coach,
but before her father could disembark, thehorses became startled and bolted down the
road with the man and his coachman in tower.
(13:05):
The two men struggled to get the horses backunder control so they could go back and find
the man's daughter who had been left behindwith Gilbert.
However,
when they arrived back at the scene,
she was nowhere to be found.
Instead,
they saw Gilbert hunched over on the groundwith a dagger in his side.
(13:25):
Rumor claims that once the coach took off downthe road,
Gilbert revealed to the girl that he was theone who took her brother's life sometime
before.
Thrown into a rage by the revelation, shestabbed him and fled the scene.
Local legends say that Gilbert was buried bythe side of the road and every Christmas Eve
he can be seen wandering the same road waitingfor the coach with the man and his daughter to
(13:50):
pass by again.
Speaker E (13:52):
Anne Boleyn is said to return to her childhood home every Christmas Eve.
Hever Castle, which is nestled deep in theBritish countryside of Kent, was once home to
the Boleyn family.
Anne Boleyn, the most well known member of thefamily,
lived the early part of her life there beforeshe married King Henry viii.
Within a few short years of her marriage,however,
(14:15):
Anne was targeted by dissent and gossip withinthe castle accusing her of everything from
witchcraft to adultery.
Eventually, her husband formally accused herof these charges and she was ultimately
executed.
Whether she suffers from heartbreak orhomesickness, Anne Boleyn's spirit is said to
haunt the halls of her childhood Haver Castle.
(14:37):
However,
she allegedly only appears on one day of theyear, Christmas Eve.
Rumors persist that her somber specter is seendrifting silently over the picturesque bridge
that spans the River Eden.
In the grounds of the home where she knew much
happiness,
raucous revelers are said to ring in theseason at the Crescent Hotel.
(15:01):
The Crescent Hotel is by far one of the mostnotoriously haunted hotels in the US Located
along the northern border of Arkansas near theOzark National Forest, the hotel has been
plagued by tragedy and ghost stories since itwas first erected in the 1880s.
While there are different legends and ghostlysightings associated with almost every square
(15:23):
inch of the hotel's estate,
one story continues to astonish visitors tothis day.
Allegedly, one year during Christmas time,visitors came to view the hotel's Christmas
tree, only to find that the Christmas tree andall its packages were mysteriously moved to
the other side of the room.
This could have been a prank staged by thehotel staff or a visitor.
(15:45):
However, the occurrence was accompanied bysightings of various phantom spirits dressed
in Victorian era clothing wandering around thehotel's dining room.
Some said the spirits appeared to be playfuland they moved the gifts and furniture across
the room as a joke.
This was seemingly confirmed when the hotelstaff reportedly returned the next day only to
(16:06):
find that everything was back exactly where itwas supposed to be.
A spectral socialite is said to sing Christmascarols at the hotel Bethlehem.
Hotel Bethlehem, located in Bethlehem,Pennsylvania,
is home to a number of chilling ghost stories.
Not the least of which centers around a young
girl named Mary yohei.
(16:27):
Born in 1866, Mary or May was raised on thestage,
inspiring within her a love for singing andperforming.
From a young age,
her talent gained her much attention andeventually she found herself performing with
great success on stages in Paris andthroughout Europe.
She even caught the attention of a wealthylord who quickly married her and made her a
(16:49):
member of the British aristocracy.
Tragically,
her success led her down a dangerous path.
Her marriage fell apart after the Lord whoswept her off her feet went bankrupt and she
went on to marry an American soldier whorobbed her of much of her wealth.
At the time of her eventual passing, reportsclaimed that she recalled her years in
Bethlehem as the best of her life.
(17:12):
To this day, Hotel Bethlehem's visitors claimto see apparitions of a young Mei Yohe,
dressed in elegant attire and either singingat the piano or pacing next to the Christmas
tree.
Some even claim to have heard her faint butrecognizable voice singing one of her favorite
songs.
Speaker A (17:29):
Well, my friends,
our sleigh ride through the supernatural comesto an end.
These holiday hauntings might be wrapped inribbons of legend, but many witnesses swear
they're real.
And some say the ghosts still return everyChristmas Eve.
You've been listening to Dairyland Frights.
(17:51):
Make sure to subscribe for more chilling talesfrom across the Midwest and beyond.
And remember,
not every spirit you feel around the holidaysis full of cheer.
Some just want to be remembered.
This is Santa Claus speaking softly so the spirits don't hear me.
They're awake tonight.
They always wake during the holidays.
You found Dairyland frights, and John is aboutto guide you through allegedly true Christmas
hauntings from around the world.
From the echoing halls of Raynham to thecursed snow covered roads of England,
(00:36):
from Brooklyn's phantom attacker to theghostly figure stalking Alcatraz,
these stories have terrified witnesses forcenturies.
Stay close,
and whatever you do,
don't answer the knocking.
The Brown lady of Raynham hall has perplexedvisitors and paranormal investigators for
(00:57):
hundreds of years.
Back in the 1700s, owner Charles Townshendmarried a young woman named Dorothy Walpole.
While they lived happily together for sometime in Raynham Hall, Townshend soon became
paranoid that his new wife was beingunfaithful to him.
(01:18):
Eventually,
driving himself mad with jealousy, he decidedto hide Dorothy away in the hall,
telling all of their friends and family thatshe had tragically passed.
Dorothy was forced to stay inside the mansion,
allowed only to wander through its halls.
Not long after she perished,
(01:40):
never having left Raynham hall after herhusband imprisoned her.
Ever since her passing,
people have witnessed the image of a woman ina tattered brown dress wandering through the
halls.
And some of these reported encounters are
truly horrifying.
One visitor, unaware of the Brown Lady'slegend, approached a woman in the hall,
(02:04):
only to have her look at him with a glowingface.
But where her eyes should have been,
there were only empty sockets.
Years later,
after numerous other reported sightings,
a photographer from Country Life magazinevisited Raynham hall to document it for an
article.
(02:24):
After snapping a photograph of the centralstairwell, he saw within the image a hazy
silhouette that many believe is none otherthan Dorothy Walpole.
The Brown Lady.
Speaker B (02:37):
An old Victorian house is allegedly haunted by an eccentric woman every Christmas.
One group of ghosts from the Stark family hascreated quite a legacy for themselves.
The Starks left behind numerous spirits thatare now haunting a Victorian home in
(02:58):
Ludington, Michigan,
and visitors have reported numerous sightings,
particularly around Christmas.
One such specter,
Vera Stark, was well known in life for hereccentricities and seems to have brought them
with her into the afterlife.
(03:18):
Those who claim to have seen her ghost say sheappears in the front yard of the home wearing
only a fur coat and picking flowers,
just as she did in life.
In addition, the ghost of one of the Starkdaughters,
who suffered a terrible mishap in themansion's gymnasium,
(03:40):
can allegedly be seen walking through thehalls of the home.
The current owners of the home have evenattempted to open it up to historical tours,
but they apparently ran into problems.
Our spirits did not care for it being open tothe public and went wild.
Speaker C (04:02):
The legend of the Mistletoe Bride haunts England's Bramshill House.
The legend of the mistletoe bride has beenretold for centuries and has taken many forms.
While the story's true origin is difficult todetermine,
many have come to believe its roots are in thedisappearance of Lord Lovell's bride at
(04:26):
Bramshill House in in Hampshire, England.
Allegedly,
Lord Lovell was preparing to wed a young womanrelated to Sir John Cope, the owner of
Bramshill House.
This was around Christmas time,
so mistletoe hung throughout the mansion,
inspiring the wedding party to play a game.
(04:46):
The young bride to be would hide somewhere inthe mansion.
The groomsmen would all seek her out, andwhoever found her first would get to kiss her.
So the bride went to Hyde and the weddingparty sought to find her.
However,
the minutes turned to hours and they stillcould not find her.
(05:07):
Eventually,
the game turned terribly serious,
as no matter where they looked, she remainedmissing.
Not until 50 years later did Lord Lovell,
still seeking answers to his bride'sdisappearance,
happen upon a secret closet in an upstairsroom of Bramshill House.
Inside, he found a wooden chest sealed shutwith a lock.
(05:32):
Upon opening the chest, he found the nearlyunrecognizable remains of his bride.
Speaker D (05:37):
Alleged phantoms plagued a Brooklyn home during Christmastime.
A few weeks Before Christmas in 1878, EdwardF. Smith was at his home in Brooklyn, New
York,
when the doorbell rang.
He answered the door, but there was no onethere.
This soon became a nightly occurrence.
The doorbell would ring only for Smith to find
no one outside and no signs that anyone hadbeen there at all.
(06:01):
Growing frustrated, Smith sprinkled ash andflour along the path to the door, expecting to
find footprints left behind.
But the substances were undisturbed and thenoises continued.
No matter where he and his family stood aroundthe house, the noises remained unidentifiable.
Smith and his family were growing moreconcerned as the doorbell ringing turned to
(06:22):
aggressive banging on the doors.
Eventually, they contacted the police.
The ringing and banging continued, and stillno one was able to identify its source.
One night, a brick suddenly flew through thewindow from outside,
even though police officers were standingnearby and saw no one.
Although they investigated the home for sometime,
(06:43):
police were unable to identify the cause ofthe disturbances.
Smith and those who witnessed the strangeoccurrences ultimately concluded they must be
paranormal in nature.
Speaker B (06:54):
A headless horseman allegedly haunts Roose hall every December.
Roose Hall, a mysterious mansion in TheEnglish countryside is rumored to be one of
the most haunted places in England.
Located just outside the small town of Becclesin the county of Suffolk,
(07:14):
the mansion has accumulated plenty of ghoststories ever since it was first built in the
16th century.
One of the most horrifying stories is that ofthe Headless Horseman.
Many people may be familiar with this legend,but at Roose hall, it takes on a life of its
own.
(07:35):
Numerous visitors to Roose hall have reporteda man on a horse riding toward them on the
road,
only to discover that he has no head.
Allegedly, on Christmas Eve, the headless manis often seen clattering down the driveway
with his phantom coach and four horses.
(07:57):
And this is only the beginning of Roose Hall'sghostly existence.
Other rumors claim that there are strangemarkings inside the hall known as devil's
footprints,
and some have even reported seeing a girlwatching them from the windows.
The ghost of Sir Geoffrey de Mandeville andhis headless dog roam the streets on Christmas
(08:25):
Eve.
The story of Sir Geoffrey de Mandeville isbrimming with political betrayals.
He held the title of Earl of Essex and was aprestigious European landowner during the 11th
century.
Because of his title, he had great influenceover royal politics at the time.
(08:46):
However, when a debate emerged regarding therightful heir to the throne,
he chose the losing side and was promptlystripped of many of his assets and
excommunicated from the church.
During his excommunication,
Sir Geoffrey was slain on the battlefield.
(09:06):
But because of his exile,
he was not allowed a proper Christianinterment,
which many believe left his spirit trappedwithin the earthly realm.
Rumor claims that Sir Geoffrey also left acurse on the properties he owned,
stating that should they ever be taken awayfrom him,
(09:27):
ruin would befall his betrayer.
And every six years on Christmas Eve, he and a
headless dog would haunt the lands draped in ared cloak.
Ever since his demise,
people who have visited the properties he onceowned,
particularly the Pimmsbrook Bridge in EastBarnet,
(09:48):
have reported hearing strange sounds andwitnessing the hazy image of a headless dog
breaking through the fog.
Accompanied by a knight in full armor and ared cloak,
a ghost supposedly.
Speaker D (10:04):
Disrupted a Christmas party at Alcatraz.
Alcatraz, the isolated penitentiary located inthe middle of California's San Francisco Bay,
closed down in 1963.
But tales of those who were once held on theisland continue to haunt generations of
onlookers and visitors.
Often referred to as the Rock, Alcatraz hasgained a reputation for unexplainable and
(10:27):
shocking ghost encounters.
And one of the Most notable was recounted
during Christmas back in the 1940s while thefacility was still in operation.
The warden at the time, Warden Johnston,decided to throw a small Christmas party at
his boarding house on the island.
During the gathering, a few of the guardsbegan retelling the story of a phantom figure
(10:49):
who appeared before them wearing a grey suit,brimmed cap and sporting mutton chop
sideburns.
All the guards could do was stare at theghostly figure in shock.
And before they had a chance to move,
the room suddenly turned very cold and thefire in the Ben Franklin stove was
extinguished.
And just as suddenly as he had appeared,
(11:10):
the phantom man vanished.
A Christmas ghost is said to haunt BastionSquare in Victoria,
British Columbia.
On December 25, 1890,
a disturbing story appeared on the front pageof a Victoria newspaper, the Daily Colonist,
just as the clock was striking midnight,ushering in the joyous Christmas Day.
(11:32):
A misdeed as dark, cowardly and mysterious asever disfigured the history of this province
was perpetuated.
The target,
who went by the name David fee, was only 21years old and had been walking to meet his
parents for evening mass at the nearby church.
After attending a costume party dressed up in
a white clown costume, Fee had just arrived atthe corner where the cathedral sat when a man
(11:56):
burst out from the shadows and aimed a doublebarreled shotgun directly at him.
The man simply said,
you challenged me.
Before Fee could speak, the man fired and Feeperished within moments.
Apparently, the man had confused Fee foranother man.
Ever since that tragic night, Fee's ghost isrumored to roam the streets outside the
(12:18):
cathedral as well as his grave site.
Speaker C (12:21):
A slain highwayman supposedly reappears each Christmas Eve in England.
One particularly twisted ghost story harkensback to a tragic event that occurred one
Christmas Eve in the late 18th century.
According to legend, there was once a fearsomehighwayman known only as Gilbert, who would
wander up and down one of the town's mainroads.
(12:44):
One evening, the night before Christmas, a manand his daughter were travelling in a horse
drawn coach.
When Gilbert apprehended them.
The daughter was able to exit the coach,
but before her father could disembark, thehorses became startled and bolted down the
road with the man and his coachman in tower.
(13:05):
The two men struggled to get the horses backunder control so they could go back and find
the man's daughter who had been left behindwith Gilbert.
However,
when they arrived back at the scene,
she was nowhere to be found.
Instead,
they saw Gilbert hunched over on the groundwith a dagger in his side.
(13:25):
Rumor claims that once the coach took off downthe road,
Gilbert revealed to the girl that he was theone who took her brother's life sometime
before.
Thrown into a rage by the revelation, shestabbed him and fled the scene.
Local legends say that Gilbert was buried bythe side of the road and every Christmas Eve
he can be seen wandering the same road waitingfor the coach with the man and his daughter to
(13:50):
pass by again.
Speaker E (13:52):
Anne Boleyn is said to return to her childhood home every Christmas Eve.
Hever Castle, which is nestled deep in theBritish countryside of Kent, was once home to
the Boleyn family.
Anne Boleyn, the most well known member of thefamily,
lived the early part of her life there beforeshe married King Henry viii.
Within a few short years of her marriage,however,
(14:15):
Anne was targeted by dissent and gossip withinthe castle accusing her of everything from
witchcraft to adultery.
Eventually, her husband formally accused herof these charges and she was ultimately
executed.
Whether she suffers from heartbreak orhomesickness, Anne Boleyn's spirit is said to
haunt the halls of her childhood Haver Castle.
(14:37):
However,
she allegedly only appears on one day of theyear, Christmas Eve.
Rumors persist that her somber specter is seendrifting silently over the picturesque bridge
that spans the River Eden.
In the grounds of the home where she knew much
happiness,
raucous revelers are said to ring in theseason at the Crescent Hotel.
(15:01):
The Crescent Hotel is by far one of the mostnotoriously haunted hotels in the US Located
along the northern border of Arkansas near theOzark National Forest, the hotel has been
plagued by tragedy and ghost stories since itwas first erected in the 1880s.
While there are different legends and ghostlysightings associated with almost every square
(15:23):
inch of the hotel's estate,
one story continues to astonish visitors tothis day.
Allegedly, one year during Christmas time,visitors came to view the hotel's Christmas
tree, only to find that the Christmas tree andall its packages were mysteriously moved to
the other side of the room.
This could have been a prank staged by thehotel staff or a visitor.
(15:45):
However, the occurrence was accompanied bysightings of various phantom spirits dressed
in Victorian era clothing wandering around thehotel's dining room.
Some said the spirits appeared to be playfuland they moved the gifts and furniture across
the room as a joke.
This was seemingly confirmed when the hotelstaff reportedly returned the next day only to
(16:06):
find that everything was back exactly where itwas supposed to be.
A spectral socialite is said to sing Christmascarols at the hotel Bethlehem.
Hotel Bethlehem, located in Bethlehem,Pennsylvania,
is home to a number of chilling ghost stories.
Not the least of which centers around a young
girl named Mary yohei.
(16:27):
Born in 1866, Mary or May was raised on thestage,
inspiring within her a love for singing andperforming.
From a young age,
her talent gained her much attention andeventually she found herself performing with
great success on stages in Paris andthroughout Europe.
She even caught the attention of a wealthylord who quickly married her and made her a
(16:49):
member of the British aristocracy.
Tragically,
her success led her down a dangerous path.
Her marriage fell apart after the Lord whoswept her off her feet went bankrupt and she
went on to marry an American soldier whorobbed her of much of her wealth.
At the time of her eventual passing, reportsclaimed that she recalled her years in
Bethlehem as the best of her life.
(17:12):
To this day, Hotel Bethlehem's visitors claimto see apparitions of a young Mei Yohe,
dressed in elegant attire and either singingat the piano or pacing next to the Christmas
tree.
Some even claim to have heard her faint butrecognizable voice singing one of her favorite
songs.
Speaker A (17:29):
Well, my friends,
our sleigh ride through the supernatural comesto an end.
These holiday hauntings might be wrapped inribbons of legend, but many witnesses swear
they're real.
And some say the ghosts still return everyChristmas Eve.
You've been listening to Dairyland Frights.
(17:51):
Make sure to subscribe for more chilling talesfrom across the Midwest and beyond.
And remember,
not every spirit you feel around the holidaysis full of cheer.
Some just want to be remembered.
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