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Legacy of the Battletown Witch | Encore Episode Sep 21, 2026

Show notes

For nearly two centuries, folks in Battletown, Kentucky, have passed down the story of Leah Smock, a young woman who legend claims was accused of witchcraft and burned alive by her neighbors in 1840. Stories say Leah could predict the future, communicate with wild animals, and even place curses on those who crossed her. After her death, some claimed her spirit remained in the woods surrounding her lonely grave, earning her a place in local folklore as the Battletown Witch.

But behind the stories of witchcraft and hauntings was a real young woman whose life ended under mysterious and violent circumstances. In this episode, we explore the legend of Leah Smock, the accusations that surrounded her, and the generations of stories that transformed a young woman from rural Kentucky into one of the region’s most enduring supernatural legends.

This episode is made possible through the support of our sponsor: Elevate your summer bedding with Quince. Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠quince.com/sogo⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too.

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Mountain Jane Doe & the Lights of Red Dog Road | Minisode Sep 17, 2026

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In our recent episode on Bloody Harlan, we explored the legend of Headless Annie, but she isn’t the only ghost said to haunt the mountains of Harlan County. Just outside the town of Harlan, locals have long reported strange lights moving through the woods along Red Dog Road, a rugged mountain route where legend claims the spirit of a murdered coal miner still wanders after dark.

But there is another story connected to Red Dog Road, and this one is very real. In 1969, the body of an unidentified young woman was discovered nearby and buried in a small cemetery along the road beneath a headstone that read simply “Unidentified Girl.” For nearly fifty years, she was known only as Mountain Jane Doe, until the search for her identity finally connected her to a family that had been waiting decades for answers.

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Bloody Harlan & the Tale of Headless Annie Sep 14, 2026

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Harlan County was once the center of a bitter and bloody struggle between coal miners and the powerful companies that controlled much of life in the mountains of southeastern Kentucky. But today, high above those old mining towns up on Black Mountain, locals claim something from that violent past may still be wandering the winding roads after dark.

They call her Headless Annie—a gruesome apparition said to appear without warning along the roadside, sometimes standing motionless in the glare of passing headlights, other times following those unfortunate enough to encounter her. Some say Annie was the daughter of a miner, brutally murdered during the violent labor struggles that gave Bloody Harlan its name. But that is only one version of the tale, and the deeper you dig into the legend, the stranger the story of Headless Annie becomes.

This episode is made possible through the support of our sponsor: Elevate your summer bedding with Quince. Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠quince.com/sogo⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too.

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The Thing in the White House | Encore Episode Sep 07, 2026

Show notes

On July 26, 1911, Major Archibald Butt, the military aide to President William Howard Taft, wrote to his sister-in-law about something rather odd that had been happening inside the walls of the White House for months: “My dear Clara, It seems that the White House is haunted."

The Major then continues on to describe some of the interesting and eerie claims made members of the White House staff, folks who claim to have come into contact with an entity that has since become known simply as "The Thing."

This episode was done in collaboration with Howard Dorre of the chart-topping history podcast ⁠Plodding Through the Presidents⁠.

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The Southern Gothic Festival with Amy Schofield Sep 03, 2026

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If you enjoyed our episode on Agnes of Glasgow, then you won't want to miss this interview with Amy Schofield, the creator of the Southern Gothic Festival in Camden, South Carolina. We talk about everything from the definition of southern gothic itself, to the many fascinating writers who will be diving into related topics at the festival, and even a little bit of conjecture about who Agnes really was!

⁠⁠Join us at the Southern Gothic Festival on October 9-10, 2026 in Camden, South Carolina!⁠⁠

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The Many Lives of Agnes of Glasgow Aug 31, 2026

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For generations, visitors to Camden, South Carolina’s historic Quaker Cemetery have stopped at the unusual grave of a young woman known only as Agnes of Glasgow. According to local legend, the twenty-year-old crossed the Atlantic during the American Revolution in search of the British officer she loved, following him deep into the Carolina backcountry only to die before they could ever be reunited. Some say her heartbroken spirit still wanders the old cemetery and the woods nearby, forever searching for the man she traveled thousands of miles to find.

But the weathered stone marking Agnes’s grave leaves behind little more than a name, an age, and a date—and when you start digging into the history behind her romantic tale, some of its most familiar details become difficult to explain. More than two centuries of newspaper accounts, local histories, old travel literature, and oral tradition reveal that Agnes of Glasgow has lived many very different lives in the stories told about her. Somewhere among them may be the truth about the mysterious young woman buried in Camden—and how her forgotten grave became the center of one of South Carolina’s most enduring legends.

⁠Join us at the Southern Gothic Festival on October 9-10, 2026 in Camden, South Carolina!⁠

This episode is made possible through the support of our sponsor: Elevate your summer bedding with Quince. Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠quince.com/sogo⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too.

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Ghost Ship of the Outer Banks | Encore Episode Aug 24, 2026

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On the morning of January 31, 1921, Surfman C.P. Brady of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Cape Hatteras Station No. 183 stood watch over the treacherous waters of the "Graveyard of the Atlantic." His early morning shift, had been uneventful until the mist began to lift around 6:30. What appeared before him was chilling: a massive, five-masted schooner, sails still raised, had run aground on the Outer Diamond Shoals. Its name was the Carroll A. Deering. But if this sight wasn't strange enough, when the Coast Guard finally made their way out to the shipwrecked vessel, it was discovered that the crew was nowhere to be found-- a maritime mystery that remains unsolved to this day.

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The Haunting Melody of Pass Christian's Ghostly Harpist Aug 17, 2026

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Along the quiet shoreline of Pass Christian, Mississippi, an old legend claims that on certain nights the delicate music of a harp can be heard drifting in from somewhere over the Gulf. There is no musician on the beach, no vessel visible offshore, and seemingly nothing out on the dark water that could explain it. Yet the story behind that strange melody begins thousands of miles away, with a wealthy couple fleeing war-torn Uruguay aboard a ship bound for a new life in New Orleans.

What followed became one of the Mississippi Gulf Coast’s strangest maritime legends—a tale of romance, betrayal, greed, and a voyage that supposedly ended somewhere off Pass Christian. Whether any of it actually happened is another question entirely, but generations of local lore insist that something from that ill-fated journey may still linger offshore, where the faint sound of harp strings is said to rise above the water after dark.

This episode is made possible through the support of our sponsor: Elevate your summer bedding with Quince. Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠quince.com/sogo⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too.

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Return of the Red Lady | Encore Episode Aug 10, 2026

Show notes

There's been some pretty big changes to a classic story! Join us as we explore a classic Alabama ghost story that claims an old dormitory on the campus of Huntingdon College is haunted by the spirit of a former student.

...but that ain't all! We also had a chance to chat with ⁠Dr. Anthony Leigh⁠, the current president of ⁠Huntingdon College⁠. Dr. Leigh discusses a little bit of the college's history, the legacy of storyteller Kathryn Tucker Windham, and of course the Red Lady herself.

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Robert Johnson's Deal with the Devil | Encore Episode Aug 06, 2026

Show notes

In 1931, Robert Johnson walked into a juke joint in Banks, Mississippi with a guitar strapped to his back. Only a little less than a year before he mysteriously disappeared from the Delta after being teased for his lack of musicianship. But now Robert Johnson was back and he was ready to take the stage and show everyone in that juke what he could do, displaying a musical mastery that left everyone shocked. From that day on, the legend of Robert Johnson has become one of the most notorious pieces of lore in American music-- a myth that claims Robert Johnson went down to the crossroads at midnight and sold his soul to the Devil in exchange for an otherworldy ability to play the blues.

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