In 1891, miners in the Coal Creek Valley, the most lucrative mining region in the state of Tennessee, decided they were tired of being replaced by convict labor and were going to do something about it. So on the night of July 14th, 300 men, armed to the teeth, descended upon the stockade in Briceville where the convicts were housed, took control, and proceeded to send the prisoners back east to Knoxville on a train. It was not only a brazen display of defiance against the coal companies, but also the first act in what would become known as the Coal Creek Wars.
Want to Listen to Southern Gothic Ad-Free?
Connect with Southern Gothic Media:
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Banner Mine explosion of April 8, 1911, in Alabama claimed the lives of 128 men, predominantly African American prisoners leased to the Pratt Consolidated Coal Company by the state. This devastating event underscored the dire conditions of convict-lease labor, a system exploiting carefully tailored laws to target black men for profit-driven incarceration. Despite the tragedy, reforms to address the systemic injustices perpetuated by this exploitative practice were not made in Alabama for another decade and a half.
Want to Listen to Southern Gothic Ad-Free?
Connect with Southern Gothic Media:
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In September 1962, Mr. and Mrs. Daughtery, an elderly couple residing in Portsmouth, Virginia, along with their great-great-grandson Cleveland Harmon, found themselves at the center of inexplicable occurrences. Within their home, objects began moving on their own, and furniture inexplicably flew about, leaving no rational explanation for the chaos. As news of the bizarre happenings spread, curious onlookers and psychic investigators from far and wide converged on the Daughtery residence. The investigators quickly speculated that these were classic signs of poltergeist activity.
Want to Listen to Southern Gothic Ad-Free?
Connect with Southern Gothic Media:
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
At 1:20 pm on Saturday, July 19, 1970, a fire broke out in an abandoned home in Hadsboro, Mississippi, that was well known throughout the community as haunted. But what made the incident so unbelievable wasn't necessarily the claim of spirits there, but rather the fact a psychic had foretold of the Cahill House's fiery demise less than a year prior.
Want to Listen to Southern Gothic Ad-Free?
Connect with Southern Gothic Media:
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Historical Blindness is a podcast about history’s myths, mysteries, and misconceptions. By examining cases of outrageous hoaxes, pernicious conspiracy theory, mass delusion, baffling mysteries and unreliable historiography, host Nathaniel Lloyd searches for insights into modern religious belief and political culture.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
On Tuesday, September 8, 1987, 77-year-old Minnie Clyde Winston stepped out of her bathtub onto the tile floor and felt something sticky under her foot. Holding a towel, she looked down and discovered she was standing in a small puddle of red liquid—a substance that would later be identified as human blood. But if that wasn't alarming enough, Minnie and her husband Willie soon found instances of blood spatter like this in almost every room of their house. As disturbing as this must have been, what made it worse is that the cause of this strange occurrence has never been proven, leading some to believe it might have been a manifestation of the supernatural.
Want to Listen to Southern Gothic Ad-Free?
Connect with Southern Gothic Media:
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
“Blood Seeped Under the Door, Down the Steps, and into the Street…”
On the corner of Orleans Avenue and Dauphine Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans is a stately three-and-a-half-story mansion that is said to be the site of a massacre so significant that blood flowed from the building and into the street.
It is the tale of a mysterious Turkish gentleman, perhaps even the brother of a Sultan, who arrived in New Orleans, threw wild parties, and was then viciously murdered.
But is this story true or is it like the city of New Orleans— the product of an ever-changing cultural landscape that merges the past and the present; evolving and intersecting with other well-known legends like that of Pere Antoine’s Date Palm, or The Tree of the Dead.
Want to Listen to Southern Gothic Ad-Free?
Connect with Southern Gothic Media:
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
For almost a century, folks who dare head out to the old L&N train tracks at night, on the edge of the small town of Chapel Hill, Tennessee, have found themselves face-to-face with a strange ball of light that eerily bounces down the line. Some say the light is the spirit of a headless railroad worker, others a murdered woman, but no matter what has caused it, hundreds have purportedly witnessed the strange phenomenon.
Additional Resources for This Episode:
Want to Listen to Southern Gothic Ad-Free?
Connect with Southern Gothic Media:
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In our recent episode Mamie Thurman's Lingering Spirit, we explored the unsolved murder of a woman whose spirit purportedly haunts 22 Mine Road, just outside of Logan, West Virginia; however, there is one mystery that we didn't discuss-- the place where Mamie Thurman was buried. So this week's minisode does exactly that.
Want to Listen to Southern Gothic Ad-Free?
Connect with Southern Gothic Media:
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Head southwest out of Logan, West Virginia and you’ll end up on an isolated strip of road up in the Appalachian Mountains where folks claim the spirit of a lady in white has been hitchhiking with coal drivers for almost a century. The tale isn’t that much different than others seen in ghost stories all over the world, but here on 22 Mine Road, folks know exactly who the specter is– a woman named Mamie Thruman, who was murdered and left here in the mountains almost a century ago. Tragically, while a man was convicted of the crime, most believe her killer got away.
Sponsorship Acknowledgement:
Head to FactorMeals.com/SouthernGothic50 and use code southerngothic50 to get 50% off. That’s code southerngothic50 at FactorMeals.com/SouthernGothic50 to get 50% off!
Key Highlights
Want to Listen to Southern Gothic Ad-Free?
Connect with Southern Gothic Media:
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Admit it: you’re obsessed with royal families – watching them, gossiping about them, wanting to be them. It’s the stuff of fantasy. But for real-life royals, the crown jewels can be more like shiny handcuffs. There are expectations and rules – and if you break them, the consequences are big and very public. And there are royal families and wild royal tales from around the world and throughout history that you have never heard before. Even the Royals is a new podcast from Wondery that takes you inside the cloistered world of royal families, past and present, where wealth and status often come at the expense of your freedom – and maybe even your life. In these stories, very human emotions, like jealousy, love, and disgust, have the power to reshape the world. This is just a preview of Even the Royals. You can listen to the full episode wherever you get your podcasts, or at Wondery.fm/royals_southerngothic.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Your feedback is valuable to us. Should you encounter any bugs, glitches, lack of functionality or other problems, please email us on [email protected] or join Moon.FM Telegram Group where you can talk directly to the dev team who are happy to answer any queries.