009: The Mourner's Curse

11/18/16 • 37 min

The stories of Charleston, South Carolina are composed of a tangled web of dreams and memories. They’ve been passed through historians, artists, writers, and tour guides, twisting into a new shape with each retelling.

Deep within the historic city lies a graveyard. Cloaked in ivy and wildflowers, the cemetery is a tranquil spot for a walk and a popular sightseeing destination... as long as the sun is shining. In the dark of night, the graveyard belonging to the Unitarian Church of Charleston transforms from peaceful to terrifying, leaving late-night tour participants shrieking in fear at the ghostly woman lurking behind tombstones. Are the stories surrounding the graveyard’s mistress a true account of a pair of star-crossed lovers still searching for each other beyond the grave, or are they nothing but a spooky story to tell in the dark?

Where does fact begin and fiction end?

Episode Highlights:

Mike Brown’s graveyard
The history of Charleston, South Carolina
Ghostly residents of King and Queens Street
The curse of King’s Street Gate at the Unitarian Church of South Carolina
A scream in the graveyard
What is folklore?
Life and times of Edgar Perry
Star-crossed lovers
Annabel Lee
Folklore, facts, and fiction

Resources:

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Please visit Pleasing Terrors, the podcast behind Old Charleston’s best ghost tour, on Facebook and Twitter!

Where does fact begin and fiction end?

Episode Highlights:

Mike Brown’s graveyard
The history of Charleston, South Carolina
Ghostly residents of King and Queens Street
The curse of King’s Street Gate at the Unitarian Church of South Carolina
A scream in the graveyard
What is folklore?
Life and times of Edgar Perry
Star-crossed lovers
Annabel Lee
Folklore, facts, and fiction

Resources:

Enjoyed this episode? Please support the show by rating, reviewing, and subscribing on iTunes.

Please visit Pleasing Terrors, the podcast behind Old Charleston’s best ghost tour, on Facebook and Twitter!

Previous Episode

008: Shadows of Gotham

The city of dreams, the city that never sleeps, the city with streets paved with opportunities... for many of us, New York represents a glittering place where absolutely anything is possible. Yet for all its glamour and sparkle, there are dark secrets lurking within its shadows, and history has done little to wash away the blood that once soaked New York’s prosperous streets.

They say the population of New York City reaches nearly 8.5 million people. Does that count the haunted souls whose ghosts still roam the streets?

Episode Highlights:

Bloody history of the Empire State Building
A Beautiful Suicide: Evelyn McHale
Visiting the House of Death in Washington Square
The Hangman’s Elm
Walking with Edgar Allan Poe
Charred bodies in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory
A beating heart in 14th West 10th Street
The Bartell Experience
Mediums and paranormal researchers
The tragedy continues

Resources:

“Beautiful Suicide” photograph of Evelyn McHale

Haunted Greenwich Village: Bohemian Banshee, Spooky Sites and Gonzalez Ghost Walks by Tom Ogden, published by Globe Pequot Press, 2012“Gang of Ghosts Ready to Rumble” by William Grimes, New York Times article, published October 29, 1993

“Terror on 10th Street” by Tim Donnelly, New York Post article, October 28, 2012

Spindrift: Spray from a Psychic Sea by Jan Bryant Bartell

Enjoyed this episode? Please support Pleasing Terrors by rating, reviewing, and subscribing on Itunes.

Please visit Pleasing Terrors, Charleston’s best ghost tour, on Facebook and Twitter!

Next Episode

010: The Labyrinth Part 1 - Goblins

The brave Greek hero Theseus made a name for himself when he defeated the monstrous Minotaur and escaped the depths of the Labyrinth by mapping his path back to safety with a ball of red string. The story of the Kentucky Goblins is much like the twisting, mysterious Labyrinth. Many researchers have found themselves lost within the details of the tale, searching for the truth of what lives in the middle of the maze.

Was 1950’s Hopkinsville, Kentucky, really home to a colony of extraterrestrial beings? And if so... have they finally made their return?

Episode Highlights: