Appalachian Ghost Stories and Legends

In the heart of the Appalachian Mountains, there's no shortage of folklore, legends, and ghost stories. Here are some of them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Episode Transcript

(00:03):
This podcast contains adult content. Someof the themes or topics may include information
on murder, kidnapping, torture,dismemberment, maybe some demonic content with information
on positions and paranormal activity. Thispodcast will also include explicit, horrible,

(00:26):
and foul, socially unacceptable, totallyuninhabited adult themes language. So if you're
easily offended, if you're easily triggered, then I highly suggest you turn this
off now, and if not,just keep in mind parental discretion is advised.

(00:59):
Welcome back to this episode of MysteriousCircumstances. Got a good one for
you here. Today. We're gonnabe talking about just ghost stories, folklore,
and superstitions from the Appalachian Mountains.A lot of stuff going on there.
Obviously, I had to turn itdown to some of the more interesting
stuff because I would be doing liketen episodes if I tried to do everything

(01:23):
before we got going, though,I do have to thank some new Patreon
subscribers. We got Nate Pardon,Bob Johnson, Stephen Hernandez, Katie Edinburgh,
and Frasier Milne. Frasier, Ihope I pronounced your last name right.
If I didn't, I do apologize. Anybody else who might be interested
in that, you can go topatreon dot com slash Mysterious Circumstances. There's

(01:44):
over one hundred bonus episodes there.I think last time I checked, we
were up around like one thirty orone fifty something like that. It's only
two dollars a month. It's nottoo damn bad. We try to make
it affordable for everybody. So yeah, get bonus content two bucks a month,
whatever's clever. If you'd like tomake a one time donation and me
just send you episodes that you mightwant from the bonus feed, just hit

(02:07):
me at venmo at MC podcast andyeah, just let me know if you
want crime, supernatural, paranormal,whatever the case is, and yea,
I'll send them right to your email. And I am also going to read
reviews at the end of this oneas well. I have not done that
for a long time, and Ihave I don't know, like six or

(02:28):
seven of them, I think.But with all that behind us, let's
get on with the show, allright. So the exact boundaries of the
Appalachian Mountains are up for debate.The history, culture, and folklore across
this mountain range are pretty similar,but they are also a lot different depending

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on whether you're from North, Centralor South Appalachia. They stretch from the
Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador tonorthern Alabama and Georgia. This mountain range
parallels the eastern coast of North Americafor nearly two thousand miles. It's one
of the oldest mountain systems on Earth. It was formed roughly four hundred and

(03:15):
eighty million years ago, and themountains are over five times as old as
the Rocky Mountains. Because they areso old, they think that erosion has
taken down a lot of the peaks, and some people believe that a lot
of these big, huge peaks wereonce taller than the Himalayas and Mount Everest,

(03:36):
so very old mountain range there.The Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee and
North Carolina have some of the tallestpeaks. And the backbone of this system,
which is the Blue Ridge Mountains,stretches from Georgia all the way north
to Pennsylvania. It was originally settledby Native Americans and later the Scots,
Irish, English, German, andPolish immigrants. These hills and how green

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it was reminded a lot of theimmigrants of their homelands, like the Scottish
Highlands and Ireland and places like that. Because of the dense forest, it
provided a lot of building materials.There was a lot of fresh food,
game animals. You had all theserivers and streams that are filled with fish.

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So it was a good place forsettlers to go if they wanted to
essentially thrive in a way. Butwhen these settlers got there, they had
no fucking clue you know what wasgoing on. They have all this dense
forest, they're not from there.They have natives speaking a really weird language,

(04:46):
they have really weird customs, andthey're not used to any of this
shit. So when it would turntonight, the forests would be very loud,
there would be all these weird,unknown sounds. So whatever the immigrants
heard or saw on the dark,that's some of the stories and superstitions and
legends and folklore that kind of workedtheir way into the storytelling factor. Because

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they didn't have TV, you know, they didn't have cell phones, so
telling stories was a form of entertainmentand a lot of this culture and folklore
they had used to help build thecommunity spirit, and so they had communal
activities like corn shucking, house raising, log rolling, that was bringing all
these different types of people together.The mountain dances were the most popular gathering

(05:38):
spots at the time, and theywere called play parties. They would do
that because a lot of the churchesdid not approve of dancing at the time.
So like any person or fuck it, I'm dancing, you know,
it's kind of like a foot loosething except backing. Like the seventeen eighteen
hundreds, when they would do theseplay parties, the musicians would play like

(06:00):
narrative folk songs, and they wouldbe folk songs of local legends. They
would be fairy tales, they wouldbe ghost stories, and they would incorporate
that into the music. There isa popular Appalachian ghost story called the Ghost
of Fiddler's Rock and it is aboutan unlucky fiddler at one of these parties.
So, like I said, theyincorporated all this stuff together. So

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many ghost stories, songs, superstitions, folk remedies were considered Appalachian folklore.
They can actually be traced back toplaces like Scotland or Ireland. Settlers would
share their stories of Scottish haines andIrish fairies and they would adapt them into

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Appalachian stories over the course of differentgenerations. So these stories would be constantly
changing and evolving. And the factthat Appalachia physically and culturally they were isolated,
and they still are to this day. A lot of their folk lore
traditions still thrive into the twenty firstcentury. Because of that, they also

(07:05):
had old world traditions that was sometimesknown as Appalachian granny magic or folk magic.
A lot of those home remedies wereincorporated through that by use of herbs
and roots and all kinds of differentthings. So, like I said,
it's like a whole melting pot ofdifferent cultures. But because of that,

(07:29):
they created their own culture. Now, there were fights between the Cherokees that
would happen from time to time,but a lot of the early settlers and
the Native Americans, they all learnedto coexist. And the Cherokee were only
most prominent in Southern Appalachia. Imean, they kind of trailed up a
little bit, but Southern Appalachia isdefinitely known for Cherokee and even some Cherokees

(07:55):
joined forces with the US against proBritish tribes during the War of eighteen twelve.
The Civil War also affected Appalachia quitea bit because Appalachian people just wanted
to be left the funk alone.Okay, they did not want to be
bothered. They were actually split upbetween North, Central and South Appalachia,

(08:18):
but for the most part, likemost of the Deep Appalachian people, they
just didn't want to be fucked with. They coexisted with all kinds of different
cultures and races and everything like that, and they're like, you know,
just just leave us the funk alone. But robbers and guerrilla fighters from both
sides, which would be the Northand the South, they would steal their

(08:39):
livestock, they'd steal their food,they'd burn their farms down, they would
terrorize all the women and children whowere left behind, and children were often
kidnapped and forced to serve as lookoutson mountain ridges for either side. So
it was, yeah, they justwanted to be left alone, and that

(09:01):
was not happening. The Appalachians didn'ttrust the North or the South, neither
one of them, because they sawa lot of shit they didn't want to
see come from both sides, sothey didn't trust anything. So because of
that, a lot of these smallercommunities just isolated themselves even more from the
outside world, because you had theWar of eighteen twelve, the Revolutionary War,

(09:28):
you had the Civil War. Allthe Appalachian folk they don't forget this
shit, you know what I mean, They do not forget. So a
lot of the storytellers would spend ghoststories about eternally damned and suffering soldiers from
both sides. That was a bigthing and still is in Georgia. The
stories of the Hellhole and the legendaryGreen Eyes which is known as Old green

(09:54):
Eyes. Those were two tales thatwere told a lot, and the Old
green Eyes was also known as greenEyes of Chickamauga. As I had previously
mentioned, a lot of these Appalachianfolk became their own doctors and their own
pharmacists because of the fact that theyhad carried a lot of these traditions down

(10:15):
and they did not trust people fromthe outside. They would use herbs,
tonics, roots, they would treateverything from typhoid fever to measles. Now,
because of this, the immortality ratewas really really high, all right,
So it ended up not being thebest thing in the world, but
they did not care. So becausethey were so isolated, they were their

(10:39):
own people. They did their ownthing. That inspired a lot of people
to carry on and create all thesestories that were focused on strange and supernatural
because they're surrounded from all sides bythis super dense forest, and you had
all these stories going and carrying onand evolving over the course of one hundreds

(11:00):
of years. Now imagine that you'reliving in rural Appalachia over one hundred years
ago. The only entertainment you haveis storytelling. So you might hear stories
about ghosts, some spooky You mighthave heard a story from one of the
natives living in your town or yourlittle section of the world there in Appalachia.

(11:22):
These tales, like I said,get passed down from generation to generation,
and they're often believed to be inspiredby personal experiences with the unexplained.
I mean, if you think aboutit, if you've ever stopped yourself before
walking under a ladder, or heldyour breath when you're passing a cemetery.

(11:43):
You know, you speed up ona mountain road at night because you think
you see glowing red eyes in thewoods. These are all folklore from Appalachia,
and we will get into a lotof other superstitions towards the end,
but let's get into some fun stuff. We're going to talk about some ghost
story and legends. If you askSouthern Appalachians if they believe in ghosts,

(12:05):
they will say no. But thesecommunities were very isolated. At a certain
point in time, they're starting toget out a little bit more. The
thing was is these legends or theseghost stories would often teach you something.
There was always a lesson to belearned within them. Sometimes it makes more

(12:26):
sense than others. But let's getto the first one, and this one
is the first ghost of Bristol.The book of Ghosts of Bristol Haunting Tales
from the Twin Cities by V andBud Phillips, features ghost stories and lore
of the local region and relates anintriguing tale of an early ghost in Bristol.

(12:48):
And The story is set in eighteenfifty four and features a man by
the name of John H. Moorewho owned a store and a small smokehouse
that was located near Lee and MooreStreet in Bristol. So, while he's
preparing to open this new store,the family made arrangements to dig a new
well. One morning, Missus Moorewent to the smoke house with a butcher

(13:11):
knife and was alarmed to see theapparition of what appeared to be a Native
American spirit who was advancing towards heras if to attack her. The spirit
disappeared and was never seen again,and the knife also disappeared. After the
incident, Missus Moore then protested thedigging of the new well. She said

(13:33):
that the spirit she saw was awarning not to disturb the area. So
John Moore, her husband, islike, you're superstitious, this is dumb,
and he just proceeded with the diggingand sure as shit, after the
well was dug, a Native Americangrave was found on the site. And
according to the author Phillips, thisis the first recorded ghost story in Bristol.

(13:58):
Here's one I know a lot ofyou are familiar with, and it's
a story that I am surprised Ihave never done an episode about. This
is the Bell Witch. And thestory of the Bell Witch is extremely popular
and it began in Robertson County,Tennessee. The legend centers around the Bell
family. The Bell Witch, whowas thought to be a woman named Kate

(14:20):
Batts, was supposedly cheated in aland purchase by John Bell, who was
the patriarch of the Bell family,and Bell was a very successful farmer,
so he owned a lot of land, a lot of livestock, all that
stuff. He had a lot ofpool in town, if that makes sense.
And the hauntings were between eighteen seventeenand eighteen twenty one. The first

(14:41):
notable events began when Bell saw astrange creature in the fields. Also during
this time, unfamiliar noises in thehouse started occurring, and the family began
to experience terrifying hauntings, including voices, various afflictions, being pinched or hit
by an invisi entity, and alot more. Outside of that, the

(15:03):
Bell Witch would show up disguised asan animal, sometimes such as a dog
or a bird, and then wouldalso terrorize the family that way. And
she would often focus on John's daughterBetsy Bell and would pull the sheets off
her bed physically harm her with kicks, punches, and scratches. And John
Bell grew so concerned by the escalatingviolence that he shared his story with the

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family friend named James Johnston. Soafter Johnston experienced the spirit firsthand, word
of this spread quick This story eventuallybecame famous enough to reach General Andrew Jackson.
Now, according to legend, Jacksonand his party set up their tents
outside the Bell home, one manclaiming that he had knowledge of how to

(15:54):
deal with witches and was bragging abouthis silver bullets and how they were keeping
the witch away from them and awayfrom the house that night. Yeah,
that shit didn't work. To punishhim, the witch set her sights on
this particular man and gave him abeating that had Jackson's men begging to leave

(16:14):
the premises. Now, John Belldied mysteriously in eighteen twenty, and it
is claimed that he was poisoned bythe witch, but the Bell Witch continued
to haunt the family even after hisdeath. She forced Betsy to break off
her engagement with a dude named JoshuaGardner before eventually disappearing for good. Now

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some stories claim that she promised toreturn to haunt John Bell's direct descendants in
nineteen thirty five, but there wereno reports by Nashville physician doctor Charles Bailey
Bell. If you want to,you can go visit the historic Bell Witch
Cave, which is located in Adams, Tennessee. Next up on the list

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is the own Mountain Lights. Thisis cool because at the end of this
episode, I have an interview witha guy who just recently, like a
month ago, just stayed around BrownMountain and I interviewed him because he saw
these lights, and he is like, the interview is so cool. It's
about forty minutes long, so it'sadditional. I don't know if I'll tack

(17:22):
it onto the end of this episodeor just do it separately. I'm not
sure yet. We'll see how longthis episode is. But it is a
cool interview. And this dude waslike, there were a couple of times
he's like, dude, I freakedout, man, and he tried debunking
it, and he gives you He'svery descriptive of the scene and the wind
and where he was and what hewas doing and everything like that. So

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it's a good interview. But theBrown Mountain lights, they are known as
a supernatural phenomenon with Cherokee origins.Now, these lights are found in the
Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina andBurke County, and this is in the
Piss Guy National Forest. I didnot look up how to pronounce pisca,

(18:04):
but you know, if I tookthe time to look up every pronunciation,
I'd take another week during this episode. Now locals and tourists both have reported
glowing or black lights in blue,white, orange, and red hovering approximately
fifteen feet off the ground in thearea near Morgantown, North Carolina. The

(18:26):
first recorded sighting of the Brown MountainLights happened in seventeen seventy one, when
German engineer John William Girard de Brahmwrote about seeing the lights in his journal.
Now. His written account stated thathe saw the lights at a consistent
time every night, and this leda lot of people to believe he was

(18:48):
actually seeing train lights in the distance, But recorded accounts of the Brown Mountain
Lights sightings happened throughout the twentieth centuryas well, especially as the Lynnville area
game access to electricity. So whilethese reported sightings of the colorful lights are
known for their inconsistency, the lightsare typically seen at night, especially after

(19:10):
a rainfall. The Brown Mountain Overlook, Wiseman's View Overlook, and Lost Cove
Cliffs Overlook are the most popular placesto see them. All are located off
North Carolina one oh five south orNorth Carolina one eighty one near Asheville and
Boone, and offer great scenic vistasat any time of day. I'm pretty

(19:33):
sure I copied these notes from thetravel guide because you don't see scenic vistas.
But these stories about these lights havebeen going on for centuries, all
right. No one has been ableto find out what is causing the event.
There have been multiple versions of theorigin story throughout the years, though.

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One legend tells of a brutal battlebetween two Native American tribes on Brown
Mountain, which left many dead onthe battlefield. In the evenings, a
lot of the women went searching fortheir sons, husband's brothers, fathers,
and they would use torch lights toguide them. A lot of people claim
that the lights seemed today or thespirits of the women still searching for their

(20:18):
loved ones. Another origin story comesfrom the nineteenth century, and this story
claims that the lights were the spiritof a young woman who was murdered by
her husband. That's all, nodetails or nothing. Then we have a
third one. This is from acountry music song in the early nineteen fifties.
A version of the story tells ofa man who went hunting on the

(20:42):
mountain and never returned home. Inthis story, one of the man's slaves
was sent to search for the missingman, but neither were ever seen again,
and the lights are said to bethe light of the lantern used to
continue the search beyond the grave.Even the US Geological Survey investigated the myths

(21:02):
surrounding the lights, and in nineteentwenty two they published an extensive report concluding
that the lights were a combination ofautomobile and locomotive lights, light from natural
brush fires, or light emitted fromother explainable sources. I can tell you
right now that is like the greatestscientific explanation ever. They're just like,

(21:26):
well, it's got to be oneof these six things or something else explainable,
you know. It's like they couldn'teven narrow it down. Now.
While the study might be correct forthe time, the legend dates back much
further than the time of automobiles orlocomotives or trains or anything like that.
They go all the way back tothe days of the old covered wagon,

(21:48):
which tells people that, you knowwhat, this ship has been around a
lot longer than that. Now,even though sightings of the lights are now
a rarity, a lot of peoplestill go to the mountain to try to
see them for themselves and the interviewI got he actually saw them, and
it was it's pretty good, prettygood story. Another crazy legend is of

(22:08):
the Mooneyed People. So according toboth Appalachian folk tales and Cherokee legend,
a group of pale skinned humanoids calledthe moon Eyed People might be hiding somewhere
in the Appalachian Range. Typically,they are associated with the small town of
Murphy, North Carolina. The moonEyed People are the short, stout,

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white skinned people with big beards andlarge blue eyes, and their eyes apparently
are so sensitive to the sun thatthey remained nocturnal, which is why they're
called the moon eyed people. Legendsays that the local Native American tribes waited
for the full moon to drive theMoonite people from their underground caves, and

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the bright light made them weak,which forced them to flee into other parts
of Appalachia for good moon Night.People were considered to be a distinctively separate
race of people rather than supernatural beings. The Moonite people were most likely just
European settlers. But what makes thelegend so weird is that it dates back

(23:15):
hundreds of years before the Americas wereeven discovered by white people. Because,
like I said, this is notonly an Appalachian legend, this is a
Cherokee legend as well that goes backhundreds of years. So are the Moonied
people different? You know Appalachian scarystory where the European settlers? Who knows

(23:38):
today? Though, there are exhibitson the Moonied people and they can be
found at the Cherokee County Historical Museumin Murphy, North Carolina. There is
a three foot tall sculpture of twoconjoined figures thought to represent Moonide people,
which was found in the early eighteenforties. And for outIn, which is

(24:00):
a Georgia State park, contains theruins of an eight hundred and fifty foot
long stone wall that is said tohave been constructed by the Moon Eight people.
So I don't know this one.I have to give specific credit because
it comes from horror Obsessive dot comand the article was titled Appalachian ghost Stories

(24:25):
and it was written by Sarah Siegfried. And the reason I have to give
individual credit is because some of thesestories are directly handed down to her through
her family. So Sarah Siegfried,we do appreciate these stories. She hails
from the rural Mountains of Virginia.She enjoys horror movies and ghost stories since

(24:48):
childhood, and Sarah, I'm prettysure we all can agree, a lot
of my listeners will be friends withyou. But one of the stories that
she tells in this article is calledthe Casualties of War. So southwest Virginia
saw battles during the American Civil War, a lot of battles. A lot
of communities have stories of hidden treasures, ghost soldiers, things like that.

(25:10):
Her community has several of the stories, and one of those is Crockett's Cove,
which saw one of those battles,and it's known as the Battle of
the Cove, and it was foughton May tenth, eighteen sixty four.
Union troops passed through the cove andthe small country church was transformed into a
field hospital. Wounded soldiers were treatedthere by people with very little understanding of

(25:36):
germs and sanitation, so a shillout of people ended up dying. Now,
in the nineteen tens, a youngman in Crockett's Cove was looking for
a missing cow. He went intothe woods after he heard a noise and
he was hoping that his cow wasthere. He saw a man leaning up
against a tree, holding his stomachwith blood soaking through his jacket, and

(25:56):
the stranger looks at him and says, help me, and he calls out
to this boy, and the boyagreed to help him, and he ran
back to his farm as fast ashe could, and he's trying to get
help, and he returned with abunch of guys and they were going to
carry this wounded guy out of thewoods, but they could not find the
guy and there was no sign ofhim anywhere. So everybody is like,

(26:18):
listen, kid, why are youbullshitting us? And the boy says,
I wasn't lying. There had beena man in the woods bleeding, and
they asked him to describe the woundedman. He described a man wearing a
dark blue suit with black boots anda satchel over his torso. And what
the boy had described was a Unionsoldier. The wounded soldier was seen several

(26:40):
times in the woods by different peopleafter that. Some people who saw him
were hunting, some were foraging forsassafras, others were just exploring the woods.
And apparently the soldier is still outthere because he has never made his
way back home to his family,so Rockets Cove. I don't know.

(27:02):
I might have to do a ghosthunt down there sometime. This next story
is a pretty good one and alsocomes from Sarah Siegfried, and this is
known as the treasure Hunt. Soin this same cove there is a home
with a lot of stories attached toit. There was a family that built
a huge home in the area thatwould be known as Crockett's Cove, and
during the Civil War, when thefamily heard that soldiers could be on their

(27:26):
way to that area, they buriedtheir silver and some other wealth near the
house to prevent them from stealing theirstuff. And for some reason that we
do not know, no one everretrieved the items after the war, and
they ended up becoming lost, andmaybe the person who hid the treasure died
before they could actually go back anddig it back up. So this story

(27:49):
got passed down into family lore,and there were a lot of communities with
similar stories. Was there really atreasure, did anybody find it? Were
they just saying that shit? Wedon't know. But in the nineteen sixties
the same family owned the property andsome descendants thought it would be fun to
go look for the family treasure.They got some shovels, some beer,

(28:12):
and a metal detector. As theybegan to search for the treasure, they
started feeling a sense of dread anduneasiness. They began to think that what
they were doing was wrong. Theybasically shook it off, as you know,
them just feeling weird, and theycontinued on with their search. But

(28:33):
they also began to talk to eachother about these weird sensations and feelings they
were having. So one of thefamily members saw the hair on his arms
began to stand up, and hefelt like he was being watched. But
he continued searching, but he stillfelt like somebody was staring at him.
He tried to ignore that feeling,but then he looked back at the house

(28:56):
and saw someone in an upstairs windowwatching him. Now, at this point
in time, nobody is supposed tobe in the house because they were all
out on the grounds with him lookingfor this treasure. So the whole group
stopped their search for treasure, andthey ended up searching the house for this
person they saw on the window,but they found nobody in there. There

(29:18):
was no intruder inside. So theygo back out to the field and their
metal detector stopped working at that point, so they decided that it would probably
just be best not to continue withtheir little treasure hunt. So later on
that night, one of the peoplein that group ended up falling over the

(29:38):
railing on the grand spiral staircase.He only had bumps and bruises. He
didn't die, but he insisted thathe had not fallen, but somebody had
pushed him. All right, alittle bit odd there. Now, years
later, in the nineteen eighties,the home was unoccupied. So what happens
when we find an abandoned house ona nice, big property in the nineteen

(30:02):
eighties and ain't got shit to do. You're a teenager, you're gonna go
explore that shit. So one nightin the eighties, several teens decided it
would be fun to sneak inside andlook around. When they crept up the
front porch stairs, and this wasa moonlight night, they found the front
door was open for them, andthey stopped and they started daring each other

(30:22):
to go inside. So one ofthem decides, I'm not as scared of
this shit, and he just goesright in, and all of a sudden,
a large, a really loud soundfrom the porch roof made everybody's scream
and run back out. So theyheard another of their friends outside laughing,
and they just kind of assumed thathe was throwing some handful of rock onto

(30:45):
the roof or something like that.So everybody just kind of laughed it off
and they chilled for a minute.Right about then, a different member of
this teenage group pointed to an upstairswindow and started screaming. So the group
him screaming, and they're like,oh, here we go. Somebody's ficking
with us again. But he's pointingup at this window, and the rest

(31:07):
of the group looks up at thewindow and they all freaked out. They're
running away from there, screaming,tripping over each other, trying to get
to the car and get the hellout of there. Apparently there was a
man standing in the window watching them. In the same window the treasure hunters
spotted a man twenty years earlier.A widower lives there now. He was

(31:29):
married to a woman who was connectedto the original family's descendants. He has
quiet nights of building model airplanes andhas friends over occasionally to play cards.
He says he is not troubled byany spirits. He doesn't believe in ghosts,
and he loves the house. Himand his wife had restored the home
to the former beauty of it.During the years that they live there,

(31:55):
the descendants actually gathered there for familyreunions, and no one has looked for
that treasure lately, so maybe it'sstill out there. I don't know.
All right, before we keep goingto the Snake Charmer, the Haunted Church,
Old Green Eyes, let's go aheadand take a break. We have
a lot more coming up for you. You neither hit that fast forward button

(32:17):
or take these few minutes to gograb yourself a drink. I will meet
you back here in a few allright. So this story is the Snake
Charmer. The story came to thiswoman, Sarah, who wrote the article
from her elderly grandparents who heard itfrom their aged relatives, which would place

(32:38):
the origins of this story in theearly nineteenth century. In the small community
of Slate Spring Branch. There wasa family with a bunch of kids.
One of the kids started to acta little weird. She grew weak and
had fever dreams, and each nightshe would go out to the front porch

(32:59):
after supper was served. She continuedto behave strangely and the parents were concerned
and curious about what was happening.Her parents followed her and peeped outside and
saw her feeding milk and cornbread toa snake that had raised its head through
a knothole in the porch floor.So the adults freaked out. They hurried

(33:22):
back inside, and they're sitting theretalking about what they need to do.
The parents had heard of this sortof thing before, and it was of
snakes being able to charm people intodoing their bidding for them, and the
father decided to kill the snake tostop the charm, and they were ready
the next night, after supper,the little girl rushed outside to feed the

(33:46):
snake, and the father followed quietly. As he was out there, the
snake raised his head through the holefor his meal, and the father grabbed
the snake and cut off its headas fast as he could. But as
he did that, he heard athump, and when he was finished dealing
with the snake, he looked awayhe saw his daughter lying dead on the

(34:08):
porch. Some unbreakable bond had beenforged between the snake and the little girl
because she had been charmed all right. Next up, we have the Haunted
Church mount Olive Methodist Church is inthe small community of Austinville. For decades,
teenagers have gone to the church afterdark to wait for a phenomenon that

(34:31):
is still unexplained. It is saidthat a giant ball of light can be
seen floating over the road into thechurch and down the aisle. Some say
the ball of light is connected toa resident of the church cemetery. The
story was a popular local legend thathas died off and then resurfaced several times

(34:51):
as new generations learn about it.The small community surrounding the church deals with
the traffic of curiosity seekers for aperiod of time and then sees all of
the people just kind of go awayand everything calm down again. Several people
have tried to duplicate the ball oflight. They suspect it could be a
reflection of oncoming headlights or a viewof the moon. Despite efforts to recreate

(35:15):
the lights and explain it away,no one has been able to do so.
Teens would sit in the parking lotwaiting to see the lights or visiting
with one another, and would experiencesomething else. Several have reported hearing a
tap tap tap on their cars.Others have felt their car being shaken by

(35:36):
something unseen. A nineteen seventy sevennewspaper article in The Desert Sun titled A
busy ghost haunts the Small Virginia Churchdescribes the haunting. That article is actually
very easy to find if you wantto look it up. Next on the
list, we have Old green Eyes. This is a ghost who is said

(35:57):
to haunt the battlefield in various forms, ranging from a Confederate soldier to a
green eyed panther. This has beena part of Chickamauga Battlefield lore since the
last shot was fired at a bloodybattle that claimed thirty four thousand casualties on
September nineteenth and twentieth, eighteen sixtythree. The tales of green Eyes and

(36:20):
other phantom sightings stem from the soldierswho lived through the Civil War. Green
Eyes is rumored to be a manwho lost his head to a cannonball,
and he's frantically searching the battlefield atnight for his dislocated body. One of
the earliest ghost sightings shortly after theCivil War ended, is documented in Suzie
Blaylock McDaniel's book called the Official Historyof Catoosa County. Jim Carlock, an

(36:45):
early resident of the postoat community rights. In McDaniel's book about returning home from
a centennial celebration on Market Street inChattanooga, Tennessee in eighteen seventy six,
and this was just a thirteen yearafter the battle, Carlock writes, did
you ever see a ghost? Theyused to see them on the Chickamauga battlefields

(37:07):
just after the war. So Carlockgoes on to write that while passing through
the battlefield or near it, theexact location is unknown, it was dark
and there were no houses nearby whenhe and his friends spotted something ten feet
high with a big white head.He said that him and his companions were

(37:28):
in a wagon and mister Shields wasriding horseback. Carlock said, Shields rode
up and hit the ghost, anda baby cried out, and the ghost
said, let me alone. Hesaid that entity appeared to be a ghostly
apparition of a black woman with abundle of clothes on her head. But
the Civil War is not the onlysource of death that may have imprisoned all

(37:52):
these spirits at the battlefield. Thehill behind Wilder Towers saw the deaths of
many soldiers, mainly from typhoid fever. This was during their training and encampment
on the battlefield in preparation for theSpanish American War, according to various sources.
Other tales claimed green eyes existed beforethe Civil War and circulated among the

(38:15):
soldiers during the fighting, or thatthe spirit existed as early as the Native
American occupation of the land where thebattlefield is now located. Fort Oglethorpe resident
Denise Smith said she encountered a ghostlybeing with green eyes on a cold,
foggy night in the park in nineteeneighty. Smith said she had just gotten

(38:37):
off work at the Crystal Restaurant inFort Oglethorpe and was taking a short cut
through the park on her way homeon Cleo Drive. She was driving really
slow through the fog. She wasabout a half mile from Wilder Tower.
She said. It was raining infoggy, so I was going real slow.
I was going through the S curvepassed Wilder Tower when I saw something

(39:00):
big in the road about eye level, and all I could see were these
big green eyes. It was sofoggy I couldn't see a body. I
got closer and it just disappeared.Smith said she always thought the tale of
the ghostly green eyed beast was amyth and never would have believed in a
million years, but she now saysshe won't step foot in the park after

(39:22):
nightfall. Another woman named Laura Gilstrap, who was a lifelong Fort Oglethorpe president,
said that when she was sixteen yearsold in nineteen ninety, she and
about ten of her friends were enjoyinga hay ride inside the battlefield when the
unexpected happened. She said, arounddusk, the group decided to take a

(39:44):
break around Wilder Tower. Off inthe field. Near the tower, they
saw a flaming torch that would disappear, then it would mysteriously reappear again.
Suddenly, the kids heard a horse'shoofbeats, and a skeleton in a Confederate
Soldiers uniform appeared to dismount from aghostly horse with green eyes. She said.

(40:06):
The skeleton constantly repeated the name Amybefore disappearing for good. Another man
named David Lester, who's a CivilWar enthusiast and reenactor, said about five
years ago he and some of hisfellow reenactors were camping out at the battlefield
as part of Living History Days,which is an event that gives park visitors

(40:28):
a firsthand look at how soldiers livedduring the war. Lester said several of
his friends had wandered into a neighboringcamp to say hello to their fellow soldiers.
The men talked with the neighboring campersfor several hours before returning to their
camp to sleep for the night.The next morning, the men went back
to the camp to wish them agood morning and see how they were getting

(40:51):
along. But they were gone,and there was no sign of their camp
fire from the night before, andnot one trace of any human occupation at
the site. Next up we havethe black dog. And there are a
lot of different stories and origins withthe black dog, all right. This

(41:12):
traces its roots back to Old Europe, where the most famous was the spirit
called Schuck. So Old Chuck wasa spirit who was said to only appear
either before a death or only tothose who would soon die. Nothing would
get him to leave because he mustwait for his owner, which is death,
which is a trait shared with thewhite phantom dogs and Appalachia that either

(41:37):
sit outside homes or follow people around. The black dog is thought to be
the primary animal form of the devilhimself, which would be the hound.
These large black spirit dogs are describedas being larger than a normal dog,
with glowing red or yellow eyes,and they smell like rotten eggs. The
legends extend from the British Eyo,where they often had different forms, such

(42:01):
as being headless, having human faces, or walking on their hind legs.
There are a lot of stories.One of them is the black dog that
appeared at in Church and took twolives in Bungay, Suffolk in fifteen fifty
seven. Black dogs also have theirbenevolent side as well, stories of protecting

(42:24):
graveyards, walking lost people out ofa dense forest, or simply keeping guard
over people from thieves or other threats. One story is of the black dog
of the Blue Ridge, and here'sthat story. In Virginia, there's a
pass that was much traveled by peoplegoing to Bedford County and by visitors to

(42:45):
mineral springs in the vicinity. Inthe year sixteen eighty three, the report
was spread that at the wildest partof the trail in this pass, there
appeared at Sunset a great black dogwho with majestic tread, walked in a
listening attitude about two hundred feet andthen turned and walked back so he passed

(43:07):
back and forth like a centennial onguard, always appearing at sunset to keep
his nightly vigil, and disappearing againat dawn. And so the whispering went
with baited breath, from one toanother until it had traveled from one end
of the state to the other.Parties of young cavaliers were made up to
watch for the black dog. Alot of people saw him. Some believed

(43:30):
him to be a veritable dog sentby some master to watch. Others believed
him to be a witch dog.A party decided to go through the pass
at night, well armed, andsee if the dog would attack them.
Choosing a night when the moon wasfull, they mounted good horses and sallied
forth. Each saw a great dog, larger than any dog they had ever

(43:53):
seen before, and they ended upriding forward. But what they didn't count
on was their horses being scared.When they approached the dog. The horses
started getting freaked out, and theparty was unable to force their horses to
take the pass again until after daylight. Then they were laughed at by their
comrades, to whom they told theirexperiences too. Then they decided to lie

(44:19):
in, ambush and kill the dogand bring it to all the friends that
didn't believe them and kept making funof them. So the next night,
all these guys hide behind all theserocks and bushes with guns in their hands,
and they're ready to kill this thing. And as the last ray of
sunlight started going down over the highestpeak of the Blue Ridge, the black
dog appeared at the lower end ofthis walk and started walking majestically toward them.

(44:45):
When he came opposite of them,every gun fired. When the smoke
cleared away, the great dog wasturning at the end of his walk,
and he was acting like he wastotally oblivious to the presence of all these
people who just shot the shit outof them. So they started firing their
guns again, and still this dogjust keeps walking. So then all these

(45:08):
hunters and then all these dudes juststart getting freaked out, and they just
took off, and that black dogjust kept on doing what he was doing.
So seven years later, there's thiswoman who comes over from the Old
Country and she's trying to find herhusband, who eight years before had come

(45:30):
to make a home for her inthe New Land in America, and she
traced him to Bedford County and fromthere, all trace of him was lost.
A lot of them remembered this tall, handsome guy and his dog.
Then she starts hearing this story ofthis big black dog that occupies the mountain

(45:52):
pass, and she pleaded with allthese people to take her to see him.
And she was saying that if hewas her husband's dog, he would
know her. So they make upthis party, and before night they arrived
at this gap, and the ladydismounted her horse and walked to the place
where the nightly watch was kept bythis dog. And as the night starts

(46:15):
falling, the party starts falling backfrom the trail and they're leaving this lady
alone. They're like, hey,uh, you know, we led you
out here. We're not fucking withthis dog, but you can do your
thing. So the sun starts goingdown a little bit more and the dog
appears and walked right up to thislady. The dog laid its head on

(46:36):
her lap for a moment, thenturned and walked a short way from the
trail, looking back to see thatshe was following him. This dog led
her until he paused by a largerock, where he gently scratched at the
ground, and they gave out along howl and then disappeared. The lady
called the party to her and askedthem to dig, and because none of

(46:59):
these dudes wanted to screw with itand they didn't have any shovels or anything
like that, a lot of themwouldn't help her, but she refused to
leave, so one of the peoplerode back to help her. When they
dug below the surface, they foundthe skeleton of a man and the hair
and bones of a big black dog. They found a seal ring on the
hand of the man and a heraldicembroidery in silk that the wife recognized.

(47:24):
She removed the bones for proper burialand returned to her home. It was
never known who had killed the man, but from that time the big black
dog never showed up again because hehad done his job. That's just one
of these stories. There are somany. So the black dogs that protect

(47:44):
the graveyards were called the church grimand the British Isles, it used to
be a custom to have a dogburied alive under a church to protect the
cemetery from witches, thieves, andeven the devil. One story collected in
link and Shire by Ethan Rudkin isabout the Belle's Hope Bogart. Bell Hope

(48:05):
was a farm where a nurse hadbeen working. The children she had been
caring for mentioned that she had along walk home that night and wondered what
she might do if the black dogBogart appeared, and she told them playfully
that she'd put him in her pocket. Later on, on that walk home,
the report says, the dog appearedand was running around this woman saying,

(48:29):
put me in your pocket, Putme in your pocket. So oh,
man, Like I said, here'sanother one. Here's another one.
Like I said, there's a bunchof different stories concerning a black dog.
The black dog in Appalachia also hassome of the same beliefs around it like
a black cat. It was badluck for a black dog to howl during

(48:51):
a wedding, which meant that thecouple were going to face doom. It
was bad luck for it to crossyour path. If you saw a black
dog walking away from you, itmeant death because it was walking off with
your soul. Its fur, bones, and blood and meat were also used
to heal, much like the blackcat. Grease from a black dog that

(49:13):
was stewed and applied during the darkof the moon was an old cure for
rheumatism. A more humane way wasto sleep with a dog for three nights
past Sunday, so you would starton Friday night and the dog was said
to absorb the rheumatism for you.The blood of a black dog, taken
from the tip of the tail waswiped over the doorway to keep out haints

(49:37):
and other bogarts, and this waspossibly a branching off of the black dog's
role as a protector. When youwere doing a conjuring, you carry the
fur of a black dog taken frombetween the ears, and none of your
enemies can mess with you. Hairfrom the tip of the tail, as
long as the tail is exceptionally long, will ensure you will be slick lucky

(50:00):
in all that you do. Sothose are some of the ghost stories.
Now we get to get into someof the cryptids and creatures, and of
course the first one being the worldfamous Bigfoot, a whole fucking sasquatch.
So all these stories of wild menin the woods date back to ancient times,

(50:22):
and that would include indigenous cultures andmedieval Europe. But the legend of
a bigfoot, which is a verycommon figure in mountain folklore. It began
in nineteen fifty eight in Humboldt County, California. Jerry Crew, a logging
company employee, discovered a set ofextra large footprints in Six Rivers National Park.

(50:44):
A bunch of rumors spread really quicklythrough the company, where the name
Bigfoot soon caught on. Prior tothe twentieth century, Bigfoot was known by
names like sasquatch, which is aSalish word meaning wild men, or yetti,
which is in Himalayan folklore. Thesasquatch was a hairy creature known for

(51:06):
bellowing, stealing livestock, and shakingtrees. Many other indigenous tribes had their
own version of a large hairy monster, but the myth of the sasquatch was
the first to be recorded by Europeansettlers. Since the mid eighteen hundreds,
thousands of Bigfoot sightings have been reportedall over the United States, and that
would include dozens of reported sightings inthe North Georgia Mountains. Today, you

(51:30):
can go celebrate this Appalachian monster atthe Bigfoot Festival in Marion, North Carolina.
At this annual festival, you canexpect educational panels, a Bigfoot calling
contest, a costume contest, andBigfoot themed food. I am really fucking
curious to do you know what,Maybe I'll go there sometime check it out.

(51:53):
I'm not much into Bigfoot or Sasquatchor than any of that, but
I don't know. I'd go getout. I'm sure it's a fun time.
Next, we have the Flatwoods Monster, which is another popular myth and
Appalachian folklore. The Flatwoods Monster originatedin Braxton County, West Virginia. On

(52:14):
September twelfth, nineteen fifty two.A few guys named Eddie May, Freddie
May, Neil Nunley, and TommyHigher were playing at Flatwoods Elementary when they
spotted a light shooting across the sky. On their way to go see what
that light was, the boys stoppedto tell their mother, Kathleen May,
who asked National Guardsmen Eugene Lemon toescort and join the boys on their little

(52:38):
trip. When they arrived at thesight of the lights crash, they saw
a pulsing red light and a tenfoot tall creature with twisted hands and a
glowing green face that seemed to levitateoff the ground. When the creatures started
hissing, at them, they alltook off running. The event made local
and national news and even prompted anofficial US Air Force inquiry. Today,

(53:04):
tourists come out from all over thecountry to visit the home of the Flatwoods
Monster. To learn more about thisscary story, you can visit Flatwoods Monster
Museum in Sutton, West Virginia.Next up, we have my favorite,
the Mothman, made famous by anineteen ninety seven episode of The X Files

(53:25):
and the two thousand and two filmThe Mothman Prophecies. I'm just gonna say
right now, way famous before that, but the Mothman is a creature with
broad wings red eyes who originated inPoint Pleasant, West Virginia. The story
of the Mothman began on November fifteenth, nineteen sixty six. Two couples Roger

(53:47):
and Linda Scarberry and Steve and MaryMallett, reported seeing a large, flying
humanoid with a ten foot wingspan andglowing red eyes following their car. Similar
reports came in over the next fewdays, and the sensational story was soon
picked up by a local newspaper.Mason County Sheriff George Johnson believed it to

(54:10):
be a large bird because the storiesfit the description of a sandhill crane,
which has a red forehead and wingspansrecorded up to seven feet seven inches.
On December fifteenth, nineteen sixty seven. Over a year later, the Mothman
was credited for the collapse of theSilver Bridge, which killed forty six people.

(54:32):
For more information on this infamous Appalachianmonster, go visit the Mothman Museum
in Point Pleasant, where you cantake a selfie with the massive Mothman statue
displayed outside, and you can alsocelebrate the Appalachian myth at the annual Mothman
Festival, which typically happens on thethird weekend in September. And I am

(54:54):
going to tell you right now,I have been to Point Pleasant more than
once and i'd most definitely have selfieswith that statue. I want to have
a lot of selfies with that statue. Everybody in the Facebook group has seen
those. I do get made funof a lot for that, but anyway,
I don't care. Next up,we have what is called the Wampas

(55:17):
cat. The Wampas cat, alsoknown as the Cherokee deathcat, is a
large cat similar to a mountain lionor cougar, with a tan yellow fur.
Six legs and large yellow eyes.The legend says that a Cherokee female
was cursed by a tribal elders forwitnessing a sacred pre hunt ceremony. She

(55:39):
had hid under the pelt of alarge cat and got turned into the half
woman, half beast that we hearabout in this Appalachian myth. Forever left
to wander alone through the mountains,the wampas cat acts out in anger at
being cut off from her former life. She's known for standing on her hind
legs and using her supernatural powers todrive her victims to insanity. Now,

(56:04):
despite being a story about Cherokee people, the wampus cat folklore did not originate
with the Cherokee people. Instead,the name came from the Goldsboro News Argus
newspaper in North Carolina in nineteen sixtyfour, a hairy apeman who just kind
of sounds like Bigfoot was reported tobe roaming around US seventy. The newspaper

(56:28):
named the mysterious creature the wampus Cat, and the name just stuck. The
name likely derives from the word catawampus, which is a mountain folklore saying that
describes a Boogeyman or something that hasgone badly. Strange Ways of Brewing,
which has locations in Richmond and Fredericksburg, Virginia, brews a beer named after

(56:49):
the Wampus Cat, and it iscalled the Wampus Cat Triple IPA, And
of course it has to be anipa, which basically is a beer that
tastes like cat piss anyway, soI'm definitely not going to be trying that.
Next up, we have the Wolfman, which is a large canine esque
mammal that roams the hills near WolfCounty, Kentucky. Believed to weigh in

(57:15):
at five hundred pounds and stand tallerthan seven feet high. The Wolfman has
first similar to a bear or agorilla. It is believed to live in
caves and has been seen around thearea since the nineteen seventies. Then we
have the smoke wolf, which isa solid black wolf and it is a

(57:37):
massive canine with eyes as red asthe sun. One witness who has heard
smoke wolves howl and scream at nighton his property describes them as pure evil,
noting that they kill for fun.The only thing known to deter a
smoke wolf is the sound of rattlingchains. Next up, we got the
Grafton Monster. The Grafton Monster wasfirst spotted in West Virginia in the nineteen

(58:01):
fifties and is described as a massivebipedal creature with short fur. It's estimated
to weigh between a thousand and fifteenhundred pounds and boasts broad shoulders and its
headsets low in front of its body, making it a pure headless from behind.
It is believed to also eat livestock. Then we have the raven Mocker.

(58:27):
Now, according to Cherokee legend,the raven mocker is a shape shifting
bigfoot, standing seven feet tall withblack fur and solid white eyes. This
type of bigfoot is believed to inhabitsouthwest Virginia and is able to shift into
any animal, and can also takeon the appearance of an old man or
woman. In its human form,the raven Mocker can lurk among unsuspecting people

(58:52):
and eat their hearts from their chestswithout ever leaving a mark. Next up,
we have the Silver Giant. TheSilver Giant is similar to a bear
and can run as easily on twolegs as a cannon four when standing.
It is between nine and eleven feettall. While its fur is generally dark,

(59:15):
it has a silver streak of hairrunning down its back. And that
was all the information I had onthat one. And then we have the
Cherokee deathcat. This is a catlikebeast that is said to look like a
lion and measures approximately four feet tallat its front shoulder and nine feet long

(59:35):
from head to tail. The creaturecan leap extremely far and is also an
expert climber when it comes to trees. It feeds on large livestock like cows
and horses, and focuses its attackdirectly on their jugular veins. In the
last one we have are called grims. These red eyed beasts guard some Appalachian

(59:58):
cemeteries. Has it that settlers throughoutthe region and believe that burying the family
dog alive in the cemetery would meanthe dog's spirit would morph into a grim,
a black dog with red eyes,and that the dog would then protect
the graveyard. So pretty interesting stuff, right there. All kinds of cryptids,

(01:00:19):
and I know there's so many more, but like I said, it's
I was trying to choose some ofthe more popular ones but also some of
the lesser known ones. And yeah, this one is going to be a
fun one because this is Appalachian superstitions. And I can tell you right now,
dude, I do probably more thanhalf of these, and I never

(01:00:42):
knew where they originated from. Andyou will probably think the same thing once
I tell you some of them.It's funny because I was telling my co
worker Bonnie I work with, She'slike seventy five or seventy six, and
I was telling her about some ofthese. I'm like, have you ever
heard of these? And She's like, oh, yeah, yeah, I've
heard of that. I've heard ofthat for sure, So definitely interesting.

(01:01:05):
First, we're gonna take a quickbreak. You can either hit that fast
forward button go grab another drink.Either way, I'll meet you back here
in a few minutes. All right, here we go, and acts placed
under the bed of a birthing motherwould kill the pain. Never close a
knife you didn't open, or you'llhave bad luck for seven years. That

(01:01:28):
one is one that I have alwaysgone by since I was a kid.
Always keep a penny in your washer. Always go out the same door you
came in. Eat black eyed peasor collared greens with hog jaw on New
Year's Day. Don't wash clothes onNew Year's Day, or you will wash
a family member out that one.I never do laundry on Sundays or New

(01:01:53):
Year's Day. Don't sleep on NewYear's don't do any canning or gardening on
your period. Plant your crops underthe full moon. Don't walk under a
ladder. If you find yourself underone, don't turn around, just back
up. Don't let anyone sweep underyour feet. Never give someone a set

(01:02:17):
of knives as a gift. Ifyou give them to newlyweds, it will
cut their love. If a blackcat crosses your path, turn and go
a different way. Never repay saltthat you have borrowed. If a bad
storm is coming, put a twoedged axe into a stump facing the storm

(01:02:37):
to ensure the storm goes around you. If you spill salt, throw a
pinch over your left shoulders so youwon't have bad luck. When you drop
your fork, it means a womanis coming to visit. If you drop
a knife, a man is comingto visit. Don't cut your baby's hair
before their first birthday. Your babyhas to fall off the bed before their

(01:03:01):
first birthday. Run a chicken overyour baby to keep it from getting chicken
pox. Don't let a pregnant womansee a dead person, or the baby
will have a birthmark. If cowsare laying down or leaves are upside down,
it's going to rain. The leavesbeing upside down is a real thing.

(01:03:22):
That's how we always tell. Hanga horseshoe upside down to keep a
good luck from running out. Weara buckeye in your braw to ward off
rheumatism. Hold your breath when youpass a cemetery or you'll be the next
one to die. If you seea white horse, you'll have good luck.

(01:03:43):
Hold your feet up when you're crossinga railroad track or you'll lose your
boyfriend. If you're walking with someone, you have to go on the same
side of a post or obstacle,or it will break your friendship. Do
not wash clothes on Sunday. Yournose is itching. It means company is
coming. Open the windows when someonedies, and cover the mirrors so that

(01:04:06):
their soul can leave. Hang amirror by the door to protect against evil.
Never leave a rocking chair rocking,or you will invite spirits. And
there we go. So, becauseof the length of this particular episode,
I am going to put out theinterview with Shane on a separate episode,

(01:04:30):
probably tomorrow. It's like I said, Jane is the guy who I talked
to. He witnessed the Brown Mountainlights just like a month ago. Super
cool interview. I think you guyswill like it, but I think I'm
just going to do it separately becausethis is a long enough episode. So
let me credit a couple of sources. Here. We got Blue Ridge Mountains
Travel Guide, Appalachian Folklore, Monstersand Superstitions March eighteenth, twenty twenty two,

(01:04:56):
written by Amy Lewis. Next wehave the Appalachian Ghost Tales and Stories
written October thirteenth, twenty eighteen.We also have the Moonlit Road dot Com.
Then we have ten Mountain Monsters FoundLurking in Appalachia, an article written
by Beth Braden. And finally,Holy Stones and Iron Bones, Black Dogs

(01:05:17):
and Appalachian Folklore, which is ablog. So I hope you guys enjoyed
this episode. If you want tostick around for some reviews, you are
more than welcome to. First,let me give some information here. If
you want to follow me on socialmedia, you can go to Twitter at

(01:05:39):
podcast MC. If you want tofollow me on Instagram, go to Mysterious
Underscore podcast. You can also followmy personal Instagram as long as you have
a real account. Just go toburn it to all thirteen. It's not
hard to find. I do havea TikTok. I can't honestly remember what
it's name because I don't get onTikTok very much. But I do have

(01:06:00):
a TikTok as well. I thinkit's Mysterious Circumstances, but I can't remember
the exact name. If you wantto email me, you can hit me
at Justin dot MC podcast at gmaildot com. Facebook, you can join
the group and yeah, you haveto answer the questions otherwise I won't let
you in, sorry, or theadmin won't let you in actually, and

(01:06:25):
then I also just made a newFacebook page. When I took a break
from Facebook the last time, theydecided to go ahead and just delete my
fucking Facebook page for the podcast,So I just waited a few months and
decided to make a new one.So if you want to go like the
Facebook page, let's type in MysteriousCircumstances podcast you can find it. Like

(01:06:45):
the page. Let's get on withsome of these reviews here, all right,
let's see what we got here.This one is from looks like Roxy
Mountain. Bob says, Wow,Wow, Wow. I'm in my fifties
and had never listened to podcasts.I had a road trip and decided to
try one out, and I thoughtit would be like an audiobook. I

(01:07:09):
was completely sucked into Justin's conversation,and I am so impressed by his genuineness,
his knowledge that would only come throughhours of research and preparation. Added
his complete professionalism. Oh yeah,man, you know I'm professional to an
extent. I specifically enjoy feeling likewe were just sitting at a table drinking

(01:07:30):
a beer while he is just tellingme a story. I'm hooked. I've
been listening now to Blood and Dusttoo, besides Mysterious Circumstances, and listen
as much as I can and sometimesrepeat episodes. I've tried a few other
folks out, but keep coming backto a Justin creation because I compare everything
else to him now and they justdon't stack up. If I had tried

(01:07:50):
out anyone other than Justin, Iprobably would have clicked the show off.
So I'm thankful for the great entertainmentand intellectual stimulation you are providing your listeners.
If you ever come towards Charlotte,North Carolina to do a show or
investigation, let me know. I'llbuy you a beer or five. Lol.

(01:08:11):
A grateful fan, Bob Ja.I tell you what, Bob,
I'm pretty sure we are friends onFacebook now. I think you sent me
a friend request. Dude, Charlotte, North Carolina, my guy, I
would fucking love to go there,And to be honest with you, i'd
go there just for like a weekendtrip at some point. Man. I
don't know about a live show,but I'll still have five or ten or
twelve beers with you and we cantalk four hours, dude, because I

(01:08:35):
have a lot of random fucking knowledgein my brain at this point. But
I always appreciate people taking the timeto leave reviews. So thank you very
much, Bob. I appreciate it. Man. I'm really glad you're liking
the podcast. Next up, wegot Duda Man nineteen seventy nine says love

(01:08:57):
it. I recently found this podcastwhile looking for episodes about Jesse James,
and now I'm hooked. Justin asan amazing host with just enough humor and
personal opinions sprinkled in to keep itfun. Hell yeah, dude, that
was a great series, man isone of my favorite series was Jesse James.
Next up, we got Smithers seventyseven. I love the podcast.

(01:09:18):
I love listening to a podcast atwork. Helps me get through my day
and always keeps things interesting. Feelslike I'm hanging out with Justin and seems
like a guy I'd love to geta beer with. I'll be honest,
I am pretty fun to drink withfor the most part. Keep up the
great work. PS. Would lovefor you to roast me like a one
star. Okay, here's the deal. I didn't know what to say to

(01:09:44):
that, because I'm like, oh, all right, Like I got a
five star review, but he onceroasted like a one star. So what
I did was I posted that inmy Facebook group and asked for a little
bit of help. And here iswhat people came up with. The roasting
is not what it usually is,but I think it kind of fits this

(01:10:08):
scenario. So let's see what wegot here. Roseanne says, I would
seriously be concerned about this person's sensibilities, judgment, and questionable life choices.
I mean, Justin, wouldn't yoube worried about you if you wanted to
hang out with you, and it'slike yeah yeah. Christina says, we've

(01:10:32):
all heard Justin roast someone before.If you've been around long enough, then
you know that this could be brutal. Justin I would proceed with caution on
this one. Tammy says, Idon't know. I think I do some
research Justin style and find out aboutthis person and then proceed to roasting.
Clayton says, roast him up alittle, but he seems like a cool

(01:10:53):
dude. Matthew says, brah,like you'd have a beer with stupid pleab
Come on. Only last podcast onthe Left drops that fucking low. Keith
says comments seemed fine until the roastingsuggestion. I don't know. Does that
mean something different the US and whatit does here. Chuck says, make

(01:11:14):
it weird, make it awkward,watch some roast jokes. You got this,
think about us playing pool, drinkingbeer, rocking out. And then
Cathy says, actually, this guysounds fun. So that's about all I
got. Man, it's not toohardcore roasting, but you will actually hear
one here in a few minutes ifthat's what you're into, Because I do

(01:11:40):
have a nice little one star review, and for the love of God,
you guys are never going to guesswhat it concerns. This one is from
Kevin seven eight four to five.Been listening several months now. Best podcast
out there in my opinion. Justlisten to the Wild Bill interview. It
was great. I hope there willbe more, Kevin. Yeah, actually

(01:12:00):
will be more. Bill reached outto me last week and wanted to talk
about some more stuff. Apparently theprison that he's at had a bunch more
killings and murders and shit. Soyeah, that's what we're gonna do.
Man. I'm going to have himback on here very soon and definitely do
another interview. And thank you verymuch for that five star. This one

(01:12:24):
is Zen Beginner thirty three. Goodshow overall. I enjoy the show for
the most part, but the constantcussing gets old quick. That's a two
star right there. He did giveme a pitty star. As we know,
the two star reviews are pitty stars. Listen, Zen Beginner. I
don't know if you're a female ora male, but there's this cool fucking

(01:12:48):
thing at the beginning of the podcastcalled a disclaimer that literally tells you there's
going to be cussing. Then there'sthis really other cool thing, and it's
a big, giant fucking E rightnext to the episodes that there is heavy
cussing in. That E stands forexplicit I'm not sure if you're familiar with

(01:13:11):
that word. You can google itif you want. Then, besides that,
if you actually read the podcast description, there's this thing right at the
top at the beginning, in allcapital letters, surrounded by asterisks that says
explicit language. Now I'm fucking surethat you are an intelligent pert well,

(01:13:38):
I mean half ass if you canleave a fucking review, I'm thinking that
you can read. I mean youcan write, obviously, or at least
type for that matter. You're probablyone of those people who can't even fucking
read or write cursive. That's kindof what I'm thinking. But I mean,
dude, fucking read. You know, if you don't even have to

(01:13:58):
fucking read, you can listen tothe disclaimer at the beginning of the fucking
episode. Anyway, I don't evenknow what to say about reviews like that
anymore. It's like, are youfucking kidding me? At this point,
I have literally been doing this foralmost seven fucking years and a month,
almost exactly a month. It'll beseven fucking years and people still just don't
fucking get it. Anyway, movingon, we have a lovely nine one

(01:14:24):
eight five stars favorite podcast. Keepup the good work, oh man,
This one right here, five stars, P two two six sig. Hell
yeah, it gets me through theday. I found this podcast while I
found a blood and dust. Ilistened to it while I'm at work,
and it's how I get through aboring day. Dude, I tell you

(01:14:45):
what. I don't listen to muchpodcasts, or many podcasts. I should
say. I am a fucking audiodrama freak. Like it's TV for your
fucking ears man, Like I listento a lot of fucking audio dra amas.
I've thought about making one before,but yeah, I just don't have
time for that shit. But there'sa couple of podcasts I listened to,

(01:15:08):
though, But I do appreciate that, and I'm glad I can get you
through the day. This one isfunny, Oh my body says five stars.
Great podcast. Only podcast. Ican relax and fall asleep to keep
it up. Hell yeah. Nextup, we got JD. Dodger,
very interesting. I've tried many podcasts. I rate them by the voice.

(01:15:31):
Mostly I enjoy listening to Justin doesn'tbother me. He uses some four letter
words, he does his research andis just as baffled at what happens to
the person as I am. Ireally enjoy your podcast. Keep up the
good work, Justine, Sincerely,jd F. Hell yeah, JDF.
I'm telling you what, man,My reactions are pretty fucking real, you

(01:15:53):
know, because that's why I pickedthese cases. Because they're fucking weird or
they're fun, you know, oneor the other. Next up, we
have Missus Bell the literal Best.I love this show. Justin. You
are amazing. Your show is sowell done. The conversational style. It's
like an old friend or cousin tellingyou a compelling story. Your topics are

(01:16:14):
varied and always intriguing. I canand do listen for hours. Also,
your roasting of bad reviews has merolling laughing. Keep on being awesome.
Love you, I'll tell you what, Missus Bell, I love you too,
and I hope you I hope youhave a great day. Whatever time
you're listening, I hope you havea great day. Next up, we

(01:16:35):
have our Roberts five, one,six. Please don't change the thing.
I love the fact they can't labelthis podcast as true crime, history or
paranormal. It's a great mixture ofit all and keeps everything from being repetitive
and boring. Your topics and contentis so interesting. The f bombs float
by without me noticing. Thanks forthe hours of non political entertainment. As

(01:16:59):
for your haters, they need tostay on their couch drinking their buttermilk while
watching Matlock. Keep doing what you'redoing. Fuck yeah, I like that
review because you have a very goodpoint. They really can't label me in
any specific genre because I do alittle bit of everything, and if I
find some interesting, I'm gonna doit. I love paranormal, I love

(01:17:21):
history. I love crime as longas it's unsolved, you know, even
some of the weirder salved ones.Next one, I'm not sure how to
take this one. This is fromfucking July, so they probably I don't
know how this it's a five starreview, okay. And it says MN

(01:17:42):
fanatic, which I'm assuming is Minnesotafanatic. And it says Mac not a
show for me, but I've listenedto a few episodes too much, rambling
and repeating self. Guests are usuallyway too quiet, got tired of getting
my ears blown out, just didn'thear half the conversation. Story or story.
I love a little slash in therewhen there's a co host, don't

(01:18:04):
mind the profanity at all. Hostis usually quite shocked to learn a case
has already been covered. There's millionsof podcasts covering true crime. The shocking
part is if only one or twocover a case. I'm telling you what,
man, I hope you hit thatfucking five star button by accident,
because I would fucking destroy this goddamnreview. Yeah. I don't know what

(01:18:28):
fucking episodes you listen to or howlong ago I fucking made them. Oh,
man, I want to go offon that one, but they did
give me five stars. But MinnesotaFanatic, you really fucking need to branch
out and listen to way more episodes, dude, or dude that whatever the
fuck. I don't know. Ithink you're kind of fucking slow. Yeah,

(01:18:50):
I mean, like I said,I started this podcast seven years ago
when there weren't millions of podcasts.Some of you don't remember that long ago.
I get it because I'm pretty surethis person's like a fucking teenager or
something. I'm never shocked when acase has been covered by somebody else,
and if I was, it wasin the beginning at some point in time.

(01:19:11):
So next up, we got fivestars from Beach Boy fifty one.
Love it just as a fantastic researcher. His presentation of each subject is excellent.
I'm sixty five years old and havealways been a history buff. His
research on Jesse James and Billy theKid was I opening for this, old
man. I tell you what,Beach Boy fifty one, you are fucking

(01:19:32):
awesome, dude. And like Isaid, Billy the Kid probably hands down
if I had top three favorite episodesor series for that matter, Dude,
Billy the Kid is up there.That was crazy awesome. I don't listen
to my own episodes ever. There'smaybe a dozen I've listened to after I

(01:19:53):
edit and put him out, andthat one is a great series. I
don't know if I've read this one. This one is deep tea keeper two
stars. Why the Profanity? Notgreat but not a bad show. But
I'm almost to the point of notlistening anymore because I don't think I can
stand any more of the needless,highly distracting, immature profanity. Come on,

(01:20:17):
man, exclamation point. Well,I'm gonna tell you the same thing
I told the other motherfucker. Okay, if you take the time to listen
to a disclaimer, to read thepodcast description, to look at the episodes,
I have a great, big fuckinge right next to them, you

(01:20:40):
will know there is profanity in thispodcast. I don't know to tell you.
I mean, my heart bleeds foryou right now. There's a good
chance I might lose sleep over thefact you can't handle the profanity. And
I will be the first one tosay some episodes have more than others.
There's also episodes where I don't curseat all, like when I do episodes
with Roseanne. She doesn't like cursingon her podcast. I don't curse.

(01:21:02):
You know, It's pretty simple.You know, if I'm into it,
it's just going to happen. Dude. Here's the deal. If my eighty
seven year old grandma can fucking getaround it. She don't care. She
doesn't say anything, you know whatI mean. She's eighty seven, dude,
that's an old country woman right there. You will be okay. I
promise you that, I promise you. But anyway, that's all I got

(01:21:25):
for you. I love you,guys, Thank you for tuning in.
I appreciate everybody being understanding about myunruly episode schedule right now. Full disclosure.
Back in early November, actually onmy birthday on November fourth, my
dad was diagnosed with a very rare, very aggressive terminal cancer and it has
been a roller coaster of a fuckinglife man for the last four or five

(01:21:49):
months. We're all trying to dealwith it and maintain and we're all working
together as a family, and we'retrying to enjoy as much as we can.
At this point time, I reallydon't like talking about it. People
on my social media, personal socialmedia, you know, they know what's
going on. I'm not gonna likestart talking about it right now because I'm

(01:22:10):
I'm gonna start getting upset. Butyou know, that's why my episodes have
been very, very sporadic. I'vegone, like, you know, five
six weeks without putting out an episode. I got a lot of shit going
on, you know what I mean. But I appreciate everybody being understanding.
I appreciate everybody that is donated tomy dad's medical bills to help out and

(01:22:30):
everything like that as well. Ithonest to God means the fucking world to
me. Man, Like all thesepeople who have never met me in person
want to help me and my familyout, and I just can't think all
of you enough. I fucking loveyou guys so much, and like,
this is why I do what Ido. I've always I've always prided myself
on the fact that this podcast,I try to bring people together, even

(01:22:54):
though they might not be into thesame genres or the same topics, or
from a city or a country treeor whatever the case is. Like we
all have similarities. We all cometogether, we have a good time.
We try to enjoy life. Allthese people who have reached out and taking
the time and like donated to mydad's cause. I really really cannot thank

(01:23:15):
you guys enough. I fucking loveyou. For all the other listeners out
there who did not know that,who aren't part of like the Facebook group
or don't follow me really on socialmedia. That's that's a lot of the
ship going on, and why myepisodes of you know, taking a little
bit of time sometimes. You know, I got to take care of myself.
I got to kids, and youknow they're going through it too.

(01:23:36):
It's just been a rough patch.You know it's life sometimes, I suppose,
but I just wanted to give ashout out to all you guys and
just say I appreciate you guys forbeing patient and understanding and so caring during
these last few months. So loveyou guys, and until next time,

(01:23:58):
I'll see you on the flip side.