Ghost stories and the Unusual Paranormal podcast

What if there were a town where Halloween is never celebrated? In this Halloween special, we travel to Hollow Creek, a quiet town with a dark secret, and uncover the curse that has followed the Carter family for generations. Turn down the lights and settle in for a spooky ghost story about the one night the town couldn't keep Halloween away. Stay until the end for a final Halloween warning.

Pull up a chair and dim the lights. In this solo live reading, we step through the door into Edgar Allan Poe's gothic world with “The Raven.” A grieving narrator hears a tapping at his chamber door, and a midnight visitor arrives with just one word: “Nevermore.” We follow his longing for the lost Lenore as it turns into haunting despair, ask what the Raven really stands for, and look at how Poe's ambiguity and his own life keep this poem chilling more than 175 years later. This has been Ghost Stories…

Before he was a vampire, he was a prince. In this solo episode we go back to 15th-century Wallachia to meet the real Vlad III, known as Vlad Țepeș or Vlad the Impaler. He was a ruler whose cruelty frightened even his enemies. We look at the history behind the legend, from his reign and his battles to the stories of impalement that made his name feared across Europe. Then we follow how his reputation passed down through the centuries until it reached Bram Stoker, and how it became Dracula, the most famous vampire of all time. Is the real man more frightening than the monster? Listen and decide for yourself.

It's spooky season, and this listener-submitted story takes us to Gunslinger Gulch, a ghost town that is anything but ordinary. We start with what you need to know about owner Karen Brassard, then follow the visit as the property turns ominous after dark. We go through the hotspots one by one: the saloon, figures on the boardwalk, the man in the bathroom, the cabin and the church. Then come phantom animals, strange lights and the mystery of Steve, followed by touches, doors opening and closing and lingering human traces in the old boarding house and brothel. How many presences are really at Gunslinger Gulch? Morning skepticism gives way to one last cinematic haunting, and we end by asking whether the town's layered histories explain its unsettling reputation.

This week's story was submitted by Kymber Burt, age 9 — thank you, Kymber, for sharing your ghost story with us. 👻

Every town has one. Every empty road, every lonely stretch of highway, every family that whispers of a strange sighting the night before someone died. In this episode we trace the Phantom Blue Horse — a ghost legend that crossed oceans with settlers, haunted American battlefields, lingered in Native American traditions, and still appears on dark roads today. From Cornish folklore to Gettysburg, from the Apache Southwest to modern-day Wyoming highways, we follow the hoofbeats and ask the question every folklorist eventually faces: are these stories, or are they warnings?

Room 109 of the Goldfield Hotel is said to hold one of Nevada's most enduring ghost stories — Elizabeth, chained and forgotten, and the baby legend that refuses to die. In this episode we trace Goldfield's rise from boomtown to bust, walk through the hotel's glamorous beginnings, and meet the spirits that supposedly linger there: the hanged woman, the rooftop ghost, the stabber, and the upper-floor apparitions tied to mining magnate George Wingfield. We close with a dramatized midnight investigation inside the hotel itself — and ask the question every ghost story eventually forces: are the hauntings real, or is it folklore built on a genuinely tragic past?

Step inside the crumbling cellblocks of Eastern State Penitentiary — the Philadelphia prison built for total isolation that became one of America's most notoriously haunted places. In this episode we trace how a radical 19th-century experiment in solitary confinement gave way to decades of abandonment and silence, and how that silence bred some of the most chilling ghost stories ever told. From shadowy figures in Cellblock 12 to disembodied voices echoing down long-empty corridors, we walk through the site's most bone-chilling encounters — and ask the question that lingers long after the tour ends: is Eastern State truly haunted, or is its history horror enough?

Beneath the dark surface of Fool Hollow Lake lies a drowned settlement — and, some say, a spirit who never left. In this episode we trace the legend of the Blue Lady: the haunted lake, the sunken town beneath it, and the eerie figure locals claim to have seen drifting along the shoreline. We dig into what she looks like, why she may still linger, the reported encounters that keep the story alive, and the unsettling question at the heart of it all — what does she want? Part folklore, part ghost story, all warning: this is the tale of the ghost that won't leave the water.

In September 1887, the Blevins House in Holbrook, Arizona became the site of one of the American frontier's most infamous shootouts — a bloody minute-and-a-half exchange that left four men dead and etched Sheriff Commodore Perry Owens into Western legend. But the story didn't end when the smoke cleared. In this episode we walk through Holbrook's violent frontier past, reconstruct the gunfight beat by beat, follow the aftermath into the folklore that grew around the house, and ask a stranger question: what if the ghost that still lingers there isn't one of the men who died that day? A journey from documented history into haunting, and a reflection on the legacy the Blevins House left behind.

Salem, Massachusetts is a town where history and horror are impossible to separate. In this episode, we sit down by the campfire and walk through the streets of Salem — from the terror of the 1692 witch trials to the haunted houses, cemeteries, and ghost legends that still linger centuries later. We explore what really caused the panic that consumed the town, ask whether Salem is haunted by restless spirits or by the weight of memory itself, and confront the real horror at the heart of the story: human fear, accusation, and violence. A tale of the accused, the executed, and the warning Salem leaves behind for anyone who cares to listen.

Just in time for spooky season, we return to Holbrook, Arizona and the legend of the Bucket of Blood Saloon. We trace the tale of the black-hatted stranger at the Horse Head Saloon, the skeptic who tested the haunting and vanished by morning, and the real, violent history behind the building's grim nickname. From gunfights and killings to the ghost lore that lingers today, we explore why this old saloon still feels haunted — and Joe shares his own eerie experience of hearing piano music and gunshots inside, with no one around to make them.

We check into Durango's historic Strater Hotel — a Victorian landmark left over from Colorado's silver-boom days — and ask why so many people insist they've felt something they can't explain inside its walls. From the hotel's boomtown origins and the peculiar way old buildings seem to hold onto their past, to firsthand encounters in the hallways and rooms, we walk through the stories guests and staff have shared over the years. Along the way we weigh the skeptical explanations against the experiences themselves and end on the question that keeps us coming back: are these hallways haunted by death, or by life?

As the last rays of sunlight disappear behind the rugged San Juan Mountains, the Lebanon Schoolhouse stands alone on the quiet plains outside Dolores, Colorado. Its weathered white walls glow faintly beneath the moonlight, while its tall windows stare into the darkness like empty eyes that have watched more than a century pass by. The wind whispers through the old cottonwood trees, carrying sounds that seem almost like distant laughter... or perhaps something else.JOIN US, WON'T YOU?

YOURS TRULY,

JOE THE GHOST GUY

The wind never truly rests on Ocracoke Island. It sighs through weathered cedar trees, whistles across lonely dunes, and carries the endless rhythm of the Atlantic surf. By day, the island is breathtaking—a place of wild horses, sandy beaches, and quiet fishing villages. But when twilight settles over the Outer Banks, Ocracoke becomes something else entirely: an island where history and legend walk hand in hand.

Known as part of the "Graveyard of the Atlantic," the waters surrounding Ocracoke have claimed thousands of ships over centuries of storms, shifting shoals, and hidden sandbars. Sailors, fishermen, and lighthouse keepers have long whispered that not every soul lost at sea has found peace.

A restless spirit of the infamous pirate whose final battle ended in the waters off Ocracoke in 1718. According to island folklore, his headless ghost still searches the inlet where his life came to a bloody end, while phantom footsteps echo along the shoreline after midnight.Legend tells of refugees fleeing religious persecution in Europe, carrying everything they owned aboard a ship bound for the New World. Greed overcame the captain and his crew, who murdered the passengers for their treasure before setting the vessel ablaze. But justice came swiftly. The burning ship turned upon its murderers, consuming them in a supernatural inferno, leaving every soul aboard cursed for eternity. Ever since, the ghostly vessel has returned to Ocracoke's waters, forever sailing through fire with the anguished cries of its victims echoing across the sea.These Ghostly Stories and More on this Week's Episode.

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Yours Truly,

Joe The Ghost Guy

Deep beneath the ancient stones of the Colosseum in Rome lies a history soaked in blood, violence, and death. In this episode, we explore the chilling legends surrounding one of the world’s most infamous haunted locations. From phantom gladiators and ghostly cries echoing through the arena to shadowy figures roaming the underground Hypogeum, the Colosseum’s dark past may still linger in its ruins. Are these merely echoes of history—or proof that the dead still walk where the games once claimed countless lives? Step into the arena… if you dare.

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Yours Truly,

Joe The Ghost Guy

The Curse of the Superstition Mountains is one of Arizona’s darkest and most enduring legends, centered around the rugged Superstition Mountains east of Phoenix. What makes it a “curse” goes beyond greed. Join us, won't you?

Yours Truly,

Joe The Ghost Guy

Hunted Headlines and Stories explores the eerie, mysterious, and often chilling events that have made their way into newspaper headlines and local lore. These stories dive into real-life reports of unexplained disappearances, haunted locations, ghost sightings, strange crimes, and unsettling legends that blur the line between fact and folklore. Each story uncovers the dark history behind the headlines, bringing forgotten mysteries and spine-tingling tales back to life for listeners who love the unknown.

In the small rural town of Ridgeway, Wisconsin, this legend is often tied to tragedy, and people have heard whispers of a ghostly figure that has circulated for generations. Locals describe a pale, shadowy presence that appears along quiet country roads, especially on foggy nights or in the early hours before dawn. Some say it resembles a man in old-fashioned clothing, while others insist it has no clear shape at all—just a shifting silhouette that seems to watch from a distance.

In Arizona, from Prescott to near the Grand Canyon, this Monster hangs out in the high woods and the roughest Mountains; this Giant of an Ape-like makes his home.

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YOURS TRULY,

JOE THE GHOST GUY

The Biltmore Hotels were built in 1926 in Miami and Los Angeles.

It was a high-standard hotel whose Guests included Elite Actors and actresses, the high society, presidents, and Mobsters. In fact, one disgraced Mobster is hunting the 13th floor of the Biltmore Hotel to a Unsolved Murder of a Actress who's Ghost haunts the hotel.

And More!

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