TwistedPhilly - The History Behind the Hauntings

Sep 04 2022 29 mins 12

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Episode 84 – Originally Released October 2019

Pennsylvania is filled with folklore and ghost stories from all over the state: ghost stories, cryptids, haunted houses, and abandoned towns with misty forms wandering the forest. These legends aren’t enough for me. I always want to know the history behind the hauntings, what’s the real story that inspired the folk tales, and are these folk tales even based on truth?

As we inch closer to Halloween, it’s time to gather ’round the fire for some scary tales from Philadelphia and other parts of the keystone state filled not only with strange sightings but the history behind these stories. Were these ghosts real people, what was their story, where and when did they live and why do we think they haunt the land of the living?

Research for this episode includes:

The Big Book of Pennsylvania Ghost Stories by Mark Nesbitt and Patty Wilson, available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and eBook on Google Play
Tadeusz Walendowski, Polish American Historical Association, Polish American Studies Vol. LVII, No2 (Autumn 2011)
Ghost Stories of Berks County by Charles Adams, Available on Amazon
An Autobiography of a Quack by Dr. Silas Wier Mitchell, published 1905
Reading Eagle News, January, 2019
The Lewisburg Chronicle 1905 – 1911
The Belfonte Republican 1910-1911
The Altoona Tribune 1910-1911
The Altoona Mirror 1905-1906
New York Academy of Medicine, Beyond the “Yellow Wallpaper” by Joanna Goldberg
The National Museum of Civil War Medicine

TwistedPhilly is researched, hosted, and produced by me, Deana Marie, and available biweekly wherever you listen to podcasts. Follow me on Tiktok and Instagram at twistedphilly to see many of the locations and histories I discuss in the show.