Arcane Carolinas

Join Charlie for two AC Case Files interviews regarding strange experiences, one on the coast of North Carolina and one on the streets of Pittsburgh, PA!

Links:

• Children of Solitude (Michael's new horror novel!)
• Grafton Monster Fest

Upcoming Live Appearances:

• PBO Pride (maybe? - Michael solo - June 6 & 7, 2025)
• Grafton Monster Festival (Charlie Solo - June 13 & 14, 2025)
• ConGregate (Michael solo - July 11-13, 2025)
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Salem Black River Church near Maysville, SC, is one of the oldest churches in South Carolina and has a rich history as a place of worship and community. From it sprang many other local institutions and activists of tremendous importance also. But the Internet holds that today it is a place of disturbing phenomena from hauntings to monsters. Is any of that true? Go creepin' around with Michael and Charlie as we talk about why no one...

Bertie County, NC, is a place of rural beauty--and possibly of an angry ghost engaged in some questionable parenting from beyond the grave! Join Michael and Charlie for a deep dive into the history of one of the state's oldest counties, a fun spooky legend, and the many ways this legend connects to the history of the community where it's set.

Links:

• Sign up for pre-order info for Michael's next b...

Late on a rainy, foggy night, as you drive through the early settlement of Jamestown, NC, a young woman may flag you down in hopes of refuge from the weather and a ride to her home. This is a familiar legend in the Carolinas, but it isn't unique. Is there real history behind this instance of the well-known tale of a hitchhiker from beyond? And just how common is this story? Join Charlie and Michael for a fun discussion full of surp...

Look, up there in the sky! It's a drone! It's an alien! It's... live-action folklore in the making!

Join Charlie and Michael for a quick, informal chat about the wave of "drone"/UFO/UAP sightings being reported (and sometimes recorded, and maybe sometimes manufactured) nationwide! Originally this was the intro to the next episode, but we went on long enough we thought this deserved to be its own thing. Happy holidays, and thanks fo...

Now that Spooky Season for 2024 has drawn to a close, and Michael and Charlie have gotten a bit of a rest, let's... rewind time to the start of Spooky Season! Join Charlie, Michael, and an enthusiastic crowd as we talk about three fun and spooky stories and places from the Carolinas and beyond!

Note: if you listen to the show with kids, the jokes in this are a little more risque than usual, so take that into account!

Links:

• Ph...

On stormy nights the spectral figure of a woman in blue dashes through the darkness to climb the stairs of the old Rear Range Light on Hilton Head Island. Why is her mission so vitally important she continues it from beyond the grave? Join Michael and Charlie as they dig deep into folklore and history in search of another Shady Lady haunting one of the Carolinas' most iconic locations!

A content warning up front: this episode is ab...

It's been a little over four years, and Charlie's new show Lost Monster Files is about to premiere, so we think it's a good time to re-introduce ourselves to folks who might be new to the show. And while you're at it, take a dive into a legend shared by more than one of the indigenous peoples of the Carolinas as Charlie tells the tale of the Catawba River Runner!

Did you hear the story of that video game that drove that kid mad? It happened just one town over! My cousin's friend told me he heard about it at summer camp! 

This episode is the second half of our history deep dive into the Heroes of America, an anti-Confederate secret society that started in the "Quaker Belt" region of NC. 

Did you know a sprawling network of anti-Confederate organizers formed in the Piedmont of NC at the outset of the US Civil War? Join Michael and Charlie for a history deep-dive into a little-discussed corner of the reality of political organizing in the south during that era!

From the Devil's Tramping Ground to ghost chickens in the US Capitol, what are our paranormal bucket list items? And what makes any given paranormal hotspot such a focal point for the strange in the first place? Join Michael and special guest co-hosts Gary Mitchel and Tally Johnson for the rest of our ConGregate 2024 conversation!

We've all heard of Route 66, but have you heard of Route 666? Did you know a phantom hotrod terrorizes a two-lane highway through South Carolina and North Carolina by night? Or have you seen the ghostly merchant in downtown Winston-Salem? Join Michael at ConGregate 2024 with special guest co-hosts Tally Johnson and Gary Mitchel to discuss these and other stories!

As the episode title says, and as we say in the episode, DO NOT GO TO THIS PLACE. IT IS ILLEGAL AND IT IS VERY EASY TO DIE THERE. PLEASE DO NOT DO THAT.

On a spring-like December morning in 1954, dozens of school children, their teacher, and one exceptionally brave janitor had an encounter with what came to be known as The Monkey-Dog. Join Charlie and Michael for a discussion of one of the more obscure and fascinating stories out of Robeson County, NC, and a larger conversation about the distinction between a myth and a cryptid!

Y'all, this story has it all: country music, 19th century sightings, the Brown Mountain Lights, electoral politics, multiple varieties of entrepreneurship, UFOs, aliens, illegal construction on federal land, trailbreaking, John Keel, curiosity shops, and traffic jams. We don't even know what else to say! Join Michael and special guest co-host Michelle at the Black Mountain Library in May, 2024, as they discuss a story of hope and h...

Lake Norman is sometimes referred to as North Carolina's only inland sea, and a review of its size and dimensions definitely back that up. But it's also a place where strange things are seen in, around, and sometimes over the water! Join Charlie and Michael for a chat about the upcoming spooky season and a discussion of Lake Norman as a locus of the strange!

Do you love spooky tales such as the Boo Hag or the classic legend of The Rattlesnake Honeymoon? Do you love comic books and sequential art produced by folks right here in the Carolinas? Then check out this Arcane Carolinas Case Files episode where Michael interviews Fiona W. Dunn, co-creator and illustrator of Tarheel Tales of Terror!  

Michael here! I have no idea how to introduce this episode, honestly, because every time we say anything even remotely snarky about this episode's subject some piece of technology fails us: we had microphones go out in the middle of recording, our hosting provider ate the episode when it was supposed to go out, and even so small a thing as trying to add episode artwork caused me to lose the draft seconds before I would have clicked...