Richard Etheridge was the first in a long line of Black keepers of the U.S. Life-Saving Station at Pea Island on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. He served during the Civil War and was appointed to his position in 1880. Etheridge hired local black men from the community to serve. They were trained as…
The Legendary Moonshiner- Popcorn Sutton
Marvin Popcorn Sutton was a mountain legend, plain and simple. Born and raised in Maggie Valley, North Carolina, he spent his days running the backroads between there and Cocke County, Tennessee, making moonshine the way his people always had. Popcorn wasn’t shy about what he did. He told his story in books and home videos,…
Dr. George Rogers Clark Todd – brother-in-law of Abraham Lincoln & Confederate Army surgeon
Dr. George Rogers Clark Todd was the brother-in-law of President Abraham Lincoln, but the two never agreed, with Todd once saying that Lincoln was “one of the greatest scoundrels unhung.” Todd had worked tirelessly around the clock to save lives for several days following the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863, bandaging wounds, administering anesthesia, and…
The Deadliest Train Wreck in North Carolina’s History
Shortly after midnight on December 16, 1943, the Atlantic Coast Line southbound train left Fayetteville, North Carolina, behind schedule, pulling eighteen cars into the early morning hours. The trip was uneventful until the train approached Rennert, where a sudden jolt caused the last three cars to uncouple. While the cars remained upright, the dining car…
The Santa Claus Murders
It was a cold December night in the tiny town of Santa Claus, Georgia—a place better known for its charming name than for tragedy. But on that night in 1997, darkness crept in. Jerry Scott Heidler, a troubled young man with ties to the Daniels family, broke into their home with murder on his mind….
Madame Delphine MacCarthy Lalaurie and her House of Horrors
Madame Delphine MacCarthy Lalaurie, a prominent and wealthy socialite in New Orleans, gained infamy for her cruel treatment of enslaved individuals. In 1832, she and her third husband, Dr. Leonard Louis Nicolas Lalaurie, moved into a grand neoclassical mansion at the corner of what are now Royal and Governor Nicholls Streets. The mansion became famous…
The Marshall House in Savannah, Georgia
The Marshall House at 123 E Broughton St in Savannah, Georgia, is a beautiful and historic structure that is central to the city’s spiritual folklore. It’s also a site where numerous people have met their fate over the years, mainly when it served as a Union hospital at the end of the Civil War, and…
Sloss Furnaces is One of the Most Haunted Places in the American South
Sloss Furnaces in Birmingham, Alabama, is rumored to be one of the most haunted places in the American South. It opened in 1871 and finally closed in the early 1970s, and it was considered an absolute hellhole to work at. Over the years, many have supposedly met many untimely deaths there, with some online reports…
The “Hauntingly” Beautiful Boone Hall Plantation
If you believe online reports, the Boone Hall Plantation in Mount Pleasant may be one of the more haunted locations in the Charleston area. Major John Boone founded the plantation before it was sold to John and Henry Horlbeck. Over the years, many have stated that the people who once called this place home may…
The Swinging Corpse
Located at 161 East Bay Street, the F.W. Wagener Building is a beautiful structure in Charleston, South Carolina, with tall arched windows and cast-iron pillars. Built in 1880 by German immigrant F.W. Wagener, it housed his firm’s offices, a grocery store, and rental space across three expansive, open floors. The Poirier family built much of…