Morbid - Listener Tales 99: Campfire Tale Edition!

Episode Date: June 26, 2025

Weirdos! It's summertime, and it's time for you to pack a backpack, grab your sleeping bag, and join us for some creepy campfire tales! To make them even BETER- they're brought TO you, BY you, FOR you, FROM you, and ALLLLL about you! LISTEN to this Nicholas-less version on all podcast platforms OR WATCH the Nicholas version on Youtube on FRIDAY 6/27/2025! If you’ve got a listener tale please send it on over to [e-mail] with “Listener Tales” somewhere in the subject line- and if you share pictures- please let us know if we can share them with fellow weirdos! :)  Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash KelleyListener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra LallyListener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, weirdos, I'm Ash and I'm Elena. And I'm Alvin and I'm very excited to be here. Hello. And this is morbid. How's that energy? I loved that. That was beautiful energy. It was like not too low, not too high, right in the middle energy.

With like a little extra, you know. Right in the middle Alvin, that's what they call me. That's what I've heard that. That's what I thought. Yeah. Yeah. It just felt right. Not too underwhelming, not

great always great always great not too much that's what it is yeah not too much not too little yeah

it's just chef's kiss yeah that's what it is that's well today we have Alvin from affirmative murder podcast on the show and we have been

so excited about this same same I'm excited let me just can I just also say hey weirdos okay I want to let me get on that train. I love it. It's fun, right?

To address the audience. I'm without my partner and True Crime Friendso Evans today, he had some things to take care of so I will be here taking care of things with both of us. That's kind of what he likes to do. He sends me in and make sure everything good and then I report back to him. I'm like his henchney. I love that.

That's pretty perfect. That's a good set up you guys have. It works. It works for our relationship, you know? We're going strong. And you know what? We'll get Fran on the show. We're going to get both of you because we're going to do this again. For sure.

Regardless of whether you want to or not, we're doing it. Yeah, well, barring, I'd say anything crazy, which I wouldn't, other than that, Oprah Winfrey's a hologram. But we can get into that later. We'll move on. You guys will definitely have me back because I won't say anything crazy. Yeah, of course. No, of course. I've heard nothing of notes so far.

So cool. I think we're good. Everything checks out. Yeah. And I think today what we're going to do because we've been doing this with guests and it's been a lot of fun. You guys seem to dig it. Is we're going to do kind of like a round robin campfire tale. Just talk about some spooky things. Extravaganza. Extravaganza. Eleganza. There you go. There you go. Boom. Boom. Finished it right. There we go. And I think we have a theme here,

don't we? We do. I have Virginia. Virginia? Yeah. Okay. Oh. All right. I think I'm not excited. I think what do I have? I have, uh, you also have, do I, well, maybe not. Yeah, we don't have a theme, really. We don't have a thing. We're all doing a thing and that's what we're doing. That was the theme. We're all speaking into microphones.

The theme is stories. The theme is podcast. Yes, yes. Got it. See, we're okay here. We're all together. The kids are all right. The kids are going to be all right.

So how should we start this? Who wants to start off? Should I start off? All right. I'm going to start off. Mine is a little crazy murder with maybe a haunted leg involved. A haunted leg. A haunted leg, perhaps.

Yep. Yeah, you know. And then we're going to also throw in a cryptid. Just a real good measure. And just like a sneeze of a cryptid. Just like a suggestion of a cryptid. But it's a cool one. All right, cryptids are cool, Elena.

Right. And this one's really weird. You saw the name of it. So, yeah, it's a good one. Now, I'm going to first talk about haunted Lafayette Square Park, aka Tragedy Square. So a lot of stuff has happened here. I'm not going to go into everything that has happened here.

I'll save a couple of things for, like, later things. But I'm going to talk about one key thing. key being a very operative word here. I see what you did there. You look, ooh, ooh. Trust me, it'll make sense. But this one's just like a wild one. It's got an affair.

It's got a leg. It's got a leg. What is the leg of this all? Don't you worry. Is that the theme? The theme is leg. That's the theme. It's giving leg.

I like that. Okay. Yeah. That's what the theme is. because I'm pretty sure my cryptid might have legs as well. So all right. I would hope so. I think we're on brand here.

So Lafayette Square Park was named for, and I looked up the pronunciation of that, and I apologize in advance to our French listeners, Gilbert Dumontier Marquis de Lafayette. Why did you apologize? I didn't have confidence. I thought that was good. Should we get a croissant? Am I at the St.

Vermont? Oh, my gosh. Should I put my hair in a bouffant? Your hair's kind of in like a headphone buffon. There we go. It's happening. It has been grown one of those little French hats. I have.

I have. From her soul. I'm saying that. It just happened. Is that a beret? I see. I became French in this moment. Ha-ha.

There we go. And now everybody left. As soon as we did that, they were like, ooh, I love to do the ha-ha. You have to. So, see, I nailed it. Okay, I feel good about it. Confidence up. So it was named.

for him in 1824 and it was added to the list of national historic landmarks in 1970, which I thought it would have been before that. It took a little while. Took a little while. Took until the crazy 70s. But Lafayette, as probably most of you know, was a war hero for the French and the Americans during the Revolutionary War. He led the Americans into the Battle of Yorktown, which if you've watched Hamilton,

maybe you've heard of it maybe you maybe you love that song on the album what song is that great song which yorktown oh yeah makes sense fitting it's fitting it's a good one lafayette is a great character in that musical by the way like aren't i lafayette and that is that what we say or are you lafayette in that i prefer king george no i think you are oh hell yeah but i don't even know but he's Great. We assigned ourselves characters, but now we forget them. Yeah, it's okay. We'll figure it out. Yeah, you guys should figure it out. We should figure it out. We knew it at one point. We should figure it out for our Broadway debut. Now it's going to bother me for the rest of the pod. I know. We'll message you after. Yeah, don't worry. Okay, cool. Please do. Thank you. We'll add it in and message you. Perfect.

There is a statue of Lafayette in this park, which makes sense. It's his park. It's his park. There's also a statue of Andrew Jackson. and it was sculpted by Clark Mills. And this is just interesting because there's a replica of this statue in New Orleans Jackson Square. So two statues. Same thing. Just thought it was interesting. Now we're going to get into the murder of it all.

The murder. So now we know the place. Let's talk about the thing. You didn't really bury the lead there at all. No, I don't like to. I just like, let's go. So Francis Scott Key's son. Now, Francis Scott Key, you may know that name, Star Spangled Banner.

I don't know. Yeah. I'm just kidding. His son. There you go. His son, Philip Barton Key the second, was, how do we say this delicately? He was doing the nasty with a married woman named Teresa Bagioli Sickles. So already, who, scandal.

Super scandal. Teresa was married to kind of an important man. His name was Daniel Sickle. and he was a representative of the United States Congress. So like, oh. He's going to find out what she's doing. I can feel that. You know what?

Can confirm. He does find that out. Now, Daniel, Daniel is actually much older than Teresa. Teresa was like more than half, like less than half his age. And in fact, he would lie about his age to make the difference less scandalous. He would like lie about his year. Yeah. Essentially.

Leo, Terrier. There you go. Now, Daniel was known to have a shit ton of affairs himself, like ton of affairs. He was just all over the place. He was in Congress. He was doing whatever he wanted. But just like James Maybrick, who we just talked about on Morbid, he was pissed at his wife because she was having an affair. And it's like, well, you know, like pot, meat kettle.

Yeah, do as I say, not as I do. Yeah, exactly. It's not right. It's not a right way to live. Yeah, that's not cool. He had found out about this. He was catching on to it. It's very of the time that he gets angry at her, even though he's doing the exact same thing. Now, the logistics of these kind of affairs are apparently pretty intense. I had no idea.

To carry out their affair, Philip and Teresa needed a place because they couldn't just, like, go for it where they lived, you know? Because, like, married, like spouses. Tell me that they were just, like, in the park doing the next. No, that would be Tragedy Square. Hilar. Tragedy and Nasty. In Tragedy Square.

Can you imagine? Just like something about Tragedy Square got them in the mood. Got them going, you know. Wow. Keep this tunnel. Let's go have sex in a park.

In a park with nature and tragedy. Next to the statues. No, they actually went a little more extra with it. They straight up rented a house near the park. And they had like rented a house to do this. A hanky-panky house. A hanky-panky house. Wow.

There you go. And they had a secret code that only they knew about when they wanted to be together. So whoever it was that wanted to like, you know, have a little hanky-panky, they would leave a string hanging in the front window. They're so sexy. Very dorm room. Upset house. Upset house. Yeah.

Just leave a string. And then you know. Very dorm room, but like, but like love. leveled up dorm room. Yeah, fancy Airbnb dorm room. Yeah, there you go. There you go. Exactly. Now, one night, Daniel, so the husband, got an anonymous note from someone who referred to

themselves only as RPG, which I immediately thought of role playing game. That's of course. Role playing game, if you're nasty. Stardu, that way. Yes. Immediately. As soon as I saw RPG, I was like, role playing game, what? If they were doing that back then?

Yeah, and they were nasty RPG because role-playing game used this letter to explain in every last detail about this affair. Just narct it all. Yeah, they went full gnarc with that. And very graphic. RPG used was very crass and wrote, quote, Barton Key has had as much use of your wife as you have. Oh. Oh. Wow.

Sick burn, though. Sick burn. Jersey shorted. They wrote the Sammy letter. Wow. The original. This is the original. OG Sammy.

I was looking with four girls and she was dancing with bottles and they were all in the club and he had a tans on them. That's direct quote from this. R.B.G would have said that for Bainum. That's so RPG. RPG needs to sit down and think about what they just wrote because like, holy shit. I would be pretty satisfied if I wrote that. I feel like, yeah. I got him.

So Francis decides to speak to his wife about this. Or no, not Francis. I'm sorry. I was thinking Francis Scott Key. So Daniel decides to speak to his wife about this because communication is key to all love and commitment. So he was like, let's talk about it. Oh, is it key?

It's key. Oh, that's the long walk to get to that. Okay. We got there. We got there. It's key. It's key. It's key.

All back. Key earlier. Francis Scott Key. So many keys. What he didn't expect when he came to talk to her about it was for her to just confess literally everything in detail. She was just like, yep. Like no shaggy insight. She did it. It was her. She said it was me. It was me. I did it. And after this, the two of them began sleeping separately. So it was a sad time in the home. During this time, apparently, she would just sob. into the night and all the staff could just hear her sobbing all around the house. Just a lot of tension and sadness and betrayal for both. Yeah. Since he was also like a man about town himself. Yeah.

Like let's all remember this. Now, Teresa was so upset about this and she was so regretful of what she had done that she swore the affair was over and that would have been the end of it. Okay. I mean, they did rent property. to fuck in, but I guess take her word for it. It's done. It's done now.

She said we're renting that out to another couple. Yeah. We're subletting our. Another couple. Subletting our nasty house. So yeah, it's like, okay, I guess take her word for it, except don't. Because on Sunday, February 27th, 1859, Daniel was outside of his home doing, you know, shit that Daniels do outside.

And his wife was inside, just gazing out into the world. And he looked up randomly just to look at his beautiful wife and hopefully reconsider his own dalliances. She'd jump out, you know? No, she didn't. But that would have been really intense. What a climax that would have been. I mean. But she did not.

But when he looked up at her, he noticed that she was waving to someone. She said, hey. And not to him. So he looked out to where she was waving. to see who she was waving to. And wouldn't you know, she was waving to fucking Philip. Philip.

Fucking Philip again. Not cool. Daniel was not pleased. Not pleased at all. Uh-oh. Now, Philip and Daniel very much knew each other. Like,

they had been, like, friendly, like acquaintances. They knew who each other was. So when Philip saw Daniel, he started waving to him too, which, like, bold move,

Philip. That's fake as fuck. That's bold. Yeah. right? That's like, no, I'm waving to the family. I'm waving to the family.

I'm waving to all of you. Everybody. Hey, guys. If I was in that situation, I would do something equally as awkward as that. Oh, hey, Daniel. I'm not even at you the whole time. I just,

I have high hands. I was waving at you the whole time. It was just a very intense wave. I wanted to really make sure you saw it. Oh, she's up there too. Great. Whole fam. Love you guys.

Daniel. You who, you. Like power couple. Couple of the century. Love you guys. Winning. You guys are winning.

You guys are so cute together. But. So he starts waving to him to either way after the wave, Philip starts to head over. He doesn't know that Daniel knows about the affair. Oh. So he's just. That's key information. Yeah.

It very much is in this situation. And Daniel is making his way towards Philip as well. I bet a little faster. Yeah, I bet he had a little pep in his step as he's going in there. And they end up meeting at Lafayette Park, where they both came to a stop in front of each other. And Philip thinking, everything's fine. doesn't know that I'm having sex with his wife. He just reaches out.

He said I'm not anymore. Yeah, he's like, we stopped, quote unquote. And so he sticks out his hand to shake Daniel's hand. And Daniel sticks out his hand. But Daniel is holding more than just his own flesh in his hand. He's holding a loaded pistol. And immediately, he draws back and shoots Philip three times in the middle of the day in broad daylight in Lafayette Square Park.

Oh, shit. Philip died. I believe three times. Boom, boom, boom. Sure. This of course meant that Daniel was arrested right away for murder because he did it in the middle of the park in the middle of the day and did not make any attempt to cover this up.

But even though he shot a man in broad daylight with a pretty solid motive for doing so, he was able to hire the legal team of the century. And they were able to get him the distinction of being the first person in America to successfully use temporary insanity as a defense for cold-blooded, very motivated murder. He walked all the way over there. That is malice of forethought. He was so jilted, Ash, he was so jilted that he lost himself. Just lost it. And just like happened to have a gun. How, how convenient. Yeah. Yard work gun. I was doing yard work with my yardwork gun. I rake leaves with this. I blacked out. And I blacked out.

I blacked out. I don't know what to tell you. Sorry. Was I mad? No, I wasn't mad. I'm mad a little bit because he was also having affairs. Oh, no, I mean like Daniel was like, was I mad at this man? No, I was like, no, I'm mad at him for shooting someone in redding. I'm mad. I'm mad at the murder. No, I think he's literally, he's like, what rage does not play into this?

What are you talking about? Never. Did I build a taxi driver style mechanical device to shoot the gun from the wrist? Yeah, but that just happens when I do yard work with. Again. Okay. My yard work gun, okay? You can't extend his hand and then I pictured a gun like,

that's exactly what I pictured too. He's just like, and he just goes to his spidey senses. Exactly like a spider webbed. So he got off. He got acquitted. Shot this man, killed this man in broad daylight. And Daniel just went right back to life

after that slip of rage-induced murder he had. As one does, I guess. He went back to Teresa, who took him, back. They stayed married. They did. Unfortunately for them though, they became social pariahs. Like, sure. Very much. Literally, people said it was like they had smallpox. Like they were quoted as saying that because they were like, we stayed very much away from that. Yeah. He killed a guy. This is, this is too salacious for this time. It is. He killed a guy because she was having an affair with him. Like, that is messy. Whoa. Yeah. Layer on layer of scandal. Soup's messy. Yeah. Nobody wants to be a

part of that. We also shouldn't give too much. credit to the legal team because this is also a time where you can get off from stuff by being like, he had a case of the vapors. That's true. Yeah, you know. They were like, he had a ghost in his body at that moment. He was possessed. And it vacated immediately after.

We saw it. They're like, the devil summoned him. Yeah. He put his name in the book. He's closed. Philip was a witch. Let's burn him. Bye.

Pretty easy. But he was also, not only did he go back to his marriage, he also was put in charge of a command at Battle of Gettysburg and showing he had learned from his mistakes, he wouldn't listen to orders, specifically from Major General George Mead, who people might know. And he ended up leading a bunch of men to get killed in action because of that. Wow. He wasn't killing it. But then...

Sick guy. Sick guy's a sick guy. But then he got hitting the leg with a cannonball. Oh, shit. Which shucks. Shucks. Which shoots and sucks. Aw, shucks.

Correct quote. That's the, he went, aw shucks, my leg. Oh, shucks. I've just been cannonballs. Not the fun kind where I end up in a pool. It's verbatim from the battlefield. Someone was like, and he said unto all shucks.

My leg. His leg was almost blown clean off, like just my leg. And at this point, it somehow made it around the battlefield that he had died when this happened. So his command were like really demoralized and they started pulling back. And he didn't want this because they were like gaining at one point. So when he found out that they were so demoralized, he demanded that he be brought to the front of the line in his stretcher with his leg all mangled just to like boost their spirits.

Bleeding out. Yeah. And apparently according to a New York Tribune article from 1902, it said, quote, to further reassure his men that he was still alive, he sat up and smoked a cigar. And then he put it out. This guy's had a bad rap for the whole story, but that's pretty bad. That is pretty badass. And he's picture I'm like putting it out on his leg.

Just like on his mangled leg. And he's like, I don't even feel that. Which probably means this needs to be amputated. Somebody cut this shit off. Somebody cut this off. I didn't feel that. He said, get me some gin. No.

He was given the Medal of Honor like 35 years later for this whole spiel. Huh. And after battle. the leg, what was left of it, was amputated surgically, and guess what? What? It's in a museum now. His leg? His leg.

His preserved cannonball leg is just on display at the Army Medical Museum in Silver Spring, Maryland. And he went to visit it a lot. He went to go see. And apparently, he took Mark Twain once. Wow. Okay. How did we get there?

Do you like to go visit my leg? Would you like to go? and see my leg Mark Twain What should we do today? Should we just like pop by and give my leg a visit? Like you get a visit

from Mark Twain and you're like, I know exactly what we should do today. What else do you do with Mark? Yeah. But before that, we should go check my leg out. We should go check my leg out.

Yeah, it's just there. And you can look it up. If you look up the picture, it's like the bones of his leg all set up, preserved. And you can see it was demolished. I mean,

cannonballs will do that. Yeah, and it was amputated above the knee. So it's the entire, like, bottom, like tibia-fibia kind of situation. This street must have been amazing. Yeah. It was rough. It was rough. Now, as a result of all this,

the murder and the cannonball leg, Daniel is now said to haunt Lafayette Park. I bet. Because he's mad and he's probably still looking for Philip, I imagine. Yeah. Yeah. You know? if anybody,

Phillips should be haunting this place. I imagine he probably is. Yeah, I bet he is. I bet he is. And maybe they're both like there. Maybe they're just like one step ahead of each other. Like they'll never get to each other.

So they're just always searching. They're like constantly in like a never ending game of hide and seek. That sounds terrible. But unwillingly. But unwillingly. Just forever. He was constantly waving from the distance. And Dan,

you can never come no matter how hard he runs. He just keeps running. That's exactly it. They just one leggidly. One legadly. Well, apparently, speaking of that, people often see him limping in the streets. Oh, sure. Nearby, they'll just be like, oh, Daniel.

That's Daniel. And his leg is apparently haunted. People like, have things around. His leg is the museum. Why does he have so much reach with his haunting? Yeah. Where's the square out again? It's because he's in Berlin, too.

Yeah. It's because he's in pieces. So I think when you're in pieces, you can go wherever you want. Yeah, you can, you have far reach. when you've been in pieces. Damn. Cut my leg off when I die. Go hang it up somewhere.

Yeah. Do it. Take Mark Twain there. Retroactively. I ever get like a historical author in my presence. I will take them to visit your leg. Thank you so much. I would do the same for you.

Thank you. I appreciate that. Absolutely. I'm honored to have witnessed that pact. You guys just said. That was really special. It was. You know?

So that is the tale of Lafayette Park. Wow. But I told you guys I was going to give you a cryptic. did really quick, too. Yeah, you did, and you said he has legs. He sure does. All right. He has a lot of appendages, actually. I don't know if I like that. This is the Snelly Gaster. I'm sorry, what? And no, I did not just sneeze. I said Snelly Gaster. Snelly Gaster. Sure. Is that a curse? Is it a curse us? I just hexed you. Are we good? I feel like you did. End of podcast. You're in trouble now.

You're like, oh, shit. This is in Maryland. So if you're in Maryland, look out for this fella. All right. He's rolling around somewhere. He's gnally gastering. He's snelly gastering. He is kind of like a dragon-like cryptid, which makes him really cool.

And it originated with German immigrants that settled in Frederick County in central Maryland. And the name comes from the German word Schnellgeister. I think it is. That's good. Good job. I am like somewhat German somewhere. Yeah.

So maybe like an ancestor came through there. And that word apparently comes from another German word or like phrase. And it's like Schnellgeist, which means quick spirit or fast ghost. Ooh. Ooh. I don't like a, I don't know. You always want your ghost to just be trudging along. You don't need a fast ghost.

You could trap a fast ghost real easy though. Could you hold up a jar. There is there. You know, trap them. Like a big butterfly. I was confident thing I've ever heard someone say before. I got you. I was still confident in the way it.

That was. I just know it. That's why I had to know. I was like, could you? And you're like, yeah. Just hold up a jar. Hold it up like you're waving at Daniel. There you go.

There you go. We call it dude the sickle. Yeah. I like that. And it looks like this. People first started seeing this snallygaster in 1735. Damn. And to ward it away, they would put red X's

on their barns so that it wouldn't come swooping down because apparently I don't know it just doesn't like that that's like that movie yeah what movie that movie where they do that what movie I know what you're talking about wait say it would you say it's the place of Egypt no no no okay I was like are we there no no no it's like an M-night shamelon movie I think you're right the village oh the village yeah the village I knew you were correct on the Yeah, I was just trying to think of the movie and I was like, I know what you're saying. We got there. We got there collectively.

Not the Prince of Egypt. Great soundtrack. That's a great soundtrack. Also, the village. Great movie. Really good movie. Controversial. But great movie.

Controversial. Well, because a lot of people don't like it. Fuck those people. Well, no, I like you guys. It's a good movie. It's a good movie, damn it. God damn it. Aiders.

So Red X is on the barns. Apparently that will keep them away. So if you're looking for a way, Red X on your barn. Now, this thing looks like a dragon kind of. It's actually part bird, part reptile. It's huge, has a beak and tentacles. Oh. And metal claws, like metal-like claws.

Metal claws. And I don't mean like, dare, neneer, like metal. Like they're both. Like super like death metal claws. Like metal claws. Like metal claws. And it's also apparently really loud. Oh, I don't like that.

Which I hate. I don't like loud things. I don't either. Freaks me out. It apparently screeches as loud as a train whistle. No. And it sounds like a train whistle. I don't like that sound.

Yeah. No. And it's not a metal bird. It's not metal. It's not metal. It's not metal song. It's not just like yelling metal song. That would be a bloody fucking awesome.

Maybe, you know what? I'm not sure. I shouldn't say that I'm sure because maybe people are just misunderstanding this metal bird as like... This bird sounds pretty cool. Sounds pretty metal. Rock on bird. Yeah.

But as if those was... So seeing that would be very scary. Mm-hmm. It's a scary thing. One might say. If this wasn't scary enough, it also wants to eat you. See, I'm done. That's where it goes downhill.

It does prefer to eat chickens and children, the two seas. That's the main part of its diet. Okay. But like adults will do in a pinch. I am not a children. If you can't find children, storebot will do is what they say. Are adults storebought? I would say so.

Probably. No, it gets the two Cs. Like it can get the two Cs because it has a really good sense of smell. Like Sarah and Mary. It's really funny that you said that because the next thing I wrote was it can track your ass like Mary Sanderson. Hell yeah, and your microphone is blocking that part, so I didn't even see it. Right here. And also, so it can smell you, but it also smells.

Like it stinks. Oh, it stinks? Stinks. So you not only see this horrifying mashup of sea, land, and sky coming at you, but it smells like shit. Smell something horrible for you. Yeah, it just, you're seeing this awful thing with tentacles and just like everything screeching at you. And it's just like, and it smells. And it's flying.

So it's just waffing. It's Smell everywhere. How fucked up is that? I didn't think of that. It's doing like death metal screams while smelling like shit. It's doing pigs to pig wheels. It's going to look at.

I'm still in. I'm still in. Because also we're not children, so we might be okay. Yeah, but it could eat us too. Very true. Very true. But are we going to take our chances? Maybe to see this.

I don't know. Epic death, though. That's the last thing you see. Yeah, that's true. As long as it leaves my leg. I'm on the side of one of those cool vans. That's the last thing you go. I'm like a painting on the side of a van.

Oh, hell yeah. A van that somebody opens up the back and smoke just spills up. That'd be pretty sick. That's what, that's what would happen. My snallygaster, brother. My friend Tom painted it on there. That's a snallygaster. Well, it was in the dark.

Well, you know what? That's good because he's nocturnal as well. Oh, shit. Look at that. So that actually works out. His dirty deeds are done under the cover of darkness. Now, its wingspan is something close to 25 feet long. That's long.

So pretty big. Long boy. I also didn't get to mention that it has not one, not two, but it has three eyes. Oh, so it like no shit. It knows shit. It's third eye open. Yeah. Yeah, it knows stuff about you that you don't even know.

I bet. You know what? I'm willing to bet. I believe that. And that one eye in the middle of its forehead is red. No. So it definitely knows things about you. And it's going to use them against you, I feel like.

Oh, no. It also, like I said, it has tentacles. And when I first read that, I was like, what do you mean, though? Like, what do you mean it has tentacles? Like, what? So it has tentacles, but people are confused about where they're actually coming from. Sometimes they feel like they're coming from its mouth beak. Like it just opens its mouth and it's like, blah, la.

Tentacles in me? Yeah, just like, like, ah. Like, like alien. Yes. Yeah. It's just like in its mouth. Mm-hmm. Ew.

Some people think there's just tentacles on it and it just has tentacles that can also grab you. Ew. So either way, there's tentacles for the sake of tentacles. And to me, that's really horrifying. It is. I don't want tentacles for any sake, but especially not just for the sake of being tentacles. For Kalamari's sake. For Kalimari's sake.

For Kalimari's sake. where are these tentacles? How about that? Now, this is horrifying. Sounds crazy, but President Theodore Roosevelt did not think it was crazy. Teddy loved a good adventure. He loved it. And he thought it was real. He was worried about this. He actually wanted to

postpone some big African safari trip he was taking for like, and he had been planning this for like months, and it was this big deal. He was going to totally postpone this and not go because he wanted to stay and hunt the snallygaster. That's hilarious. He considered it a priority. Like, likely.

He was still fit to be president. He might have been arsenic eating at this point. I'm not really sure. I want to chat with him someday because he also went out to where the Bell Witch lived. Oh, you're right. And like stayed with that family while they were being haunted by the Bell Witch. He.

Was Theodore Roosevelt Van Helsing as well? Right. Literally. Are you cracking this code? I think. we just crack the case here. I think we figured something out, guys. I also think we know that Teddy Roosevelt would have had like a paranormal show on the travel channel if he had been around today. Or a podcast. He'd be Zach Began's, but like, yes, he probably would be. He would.

I think he, like, offended the bell witch. He, like, threw him off his horse or something. Oh, you're right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so that's the snally gaster. Be on the lookout for it, people of Maryland, because it's big and loud and smells I was like, shit, so you'll know it's coming. But it's got tentacles. I will be on the lookout for this snally gaster, and it's mouthful of calamat. Gross. And it smells. You get a lot of colomar out of that.

You would, because it's so much. It's like bottomless. I don't think anybody needs bottomless calamari. It's a scolomari. Especially not of the snallygaster variety. I would fuck you up real bad. Bottomless calamari is crazy. I would never go to those things.

There are certain things you just can't take that far. It's true. It shouldn't be bottomless. And snelligaster, columbari is one of those things. Mimosas and fries should be bottomless and that's it. Oh, man. So those are my tails. Damn.

I loved those. I have a haunted leg, a murder, and a fair, and a snallygaster. I like to do that's a lot. Diversity, you know. Thank you. You hit two different spectrums, you know. Yeah. I'm into it.

I wanted to bring the heat. You did. You brought something all right. Brought the heat, the smell, the metal. Oh, yeah. We brought a metal, a metal crypted. Yeah. Yeah.

All right, Alvin. I think you're up. It's on me? It's on you now. Okay. All right. So my story is, it's true in nature, but goes into the spooky dokey. Oh, hell yeah.

Yeah, so I live in Baltimore, which has a lot of history in the Eggground Post from here. This is the story of a haunting in Fell's Point, which is an area here, all these cool bars. The streets are cobblestone. Some of the bars go back to the 1700s and some things happen in those bars. I love a cobblestone street. Oh, yeah, yeah. It's not great for when you're wearing like boots or things that have a heel on them. You will roll an ankle, but it's good for the aesthetic.

Oh, it just, it looks great, feels awful. Yeah. That's life, though. It looks good. It feels awful. So in the early 1900s, a Polish immigrant by the name of John Rikowsky owned and operated a pub called the Wharf Rat, which was an establishment that had been around since the 1790s.

Damn. In fact, it was the first licensed bar in Baltimore. And it was a hub for sailors and pirates. So picture like the soft platoon from SpongeBob Squarepants. Yes. Like real. like real. So salty in there. Check for your toughness and your saltiness.

I like that a lot. I can smell that place. I don't want to smell that place. Yeah. So ocean. My nose is not letting me do that. So much ocean. It smells like a wharf rat. Yeah, truly.

Yeah. So according to legend, Rikowski had recently purchased a Victrola horn phonograph. So that's, you know, that's the record player with the horn coming off of it. Hell yeah. Today people get them from urban outfiters. have like tattoos of them but at this point this was like the peak of technology. Hell yeah. This was the iPhone.

If you had one of these, this is like a, this is a status symbol. Yep. This was pre-hipster. Yep. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, this was straight up like, whoa, you have a what? Things stop when they, you know, like things stop. When you rolled that in.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, guys, let me blow your minds really quick. Let me pull out the old victrola. So he has one of these. He has one of these. And again, it's the year 1907. So Rikowski had only one record, the star spangled banner. Whoa, wait a minute.

Energy. Whoa, there is a theme here. Whoa. There's things happening. Look at us. Holy canoli, guys. Look at us. He only one record, the star spangled banner.

He allegedly played the star spangled banner ad nauseum on this particular night, on a particular night at the wharf rat, because he was so excited to have a record player, you know what I'm not. I would be really angry, but like, I get it now. He said, oh, say, can you see? Yeah, listen, man, you get the sono speakers coming in. I mean, obviously more songs exist today, but what song sounds best on the sonos? You keep playing that song.

That's true. I relate to this. You know what? I say, I was going to say, Ash is like, um, hello hyperfixation Mary over there. I was like, you know what? Listen to this song 20 times. It's great. Yeah, I just cycle through ghost like over and over again.

I'm not mad at it, but I can't even be mad at this guy. Because I would do the same thing. At the same time, it's like, it's the star spangled banner. Like how, how hard is that hitting? Even in 1907, like, you know? Yeah. I mean, I think they hadn't heard, you know, they hadn't heard dropping like a Todd or something like that. Like they, to them, this is the jam.

This is it. But there's a limit to the jams. You know, certainly. You can't just be playing it over and over again. But he was excited. I can't, I can't be mad at him, you know. One customer has. his cousin Alexander Anderson took exception to the constant loop of the Star Spangled Banner

and demanded that he turned it off. Which is honestly, it's a reasonable request. It is. But it's also like every party party has a pooper. That's why we invited you. Yeah. That's why we invited Alex. It's a party pooper when everybody else is loving.

Like, oh my God, run it back. Everybody is living for this. Air horns going crazy. You hear the remix spent, and this guy reasonably is like, can you please, I'd rather sit in silence. Yeah, he's like, we heard this. I get it. I get it. It's been done, right?

Yeah. But you also, you have to keep in mind, Rakowski being both the owner of the wharf rat and the owner of this once in a generation piece of technology. It's like, will the fuck are you to tell me? This is my bar. This is my phonograph that I am playing. record on, you can leave. Yeah. Which also valid.

Both of these things are- I don't want to hear the Star Spangled Banner 50 times. Well, I own the place and I'll play what I wish. Exactly. So it's like... Is to play this song 50 times. Go somewhere else, my dude. Go somewhere else, man.

Your infel's point, there's bars everywhere. I assume I wasn't there. This is Star Spangled Banner Night. A few other bar. Had to be this one other bar in this bar area for sailors. There had to be. I would think. Yes. So, you know, they start to get to bickering back and forth because Rikowski resented the tone Anderson used.

You know, sometimes it's not what you say. It's how you say it. Exactly. He probably said turn that dumb song off. You know, he probably insulted it. And this guy's high on the song right now. Oh, hell yeah. So this is my jam. You know, by P.B. Bridgers. Like, I remember, if you told me that song sucked, we're going to have a problem. We might like. So I understand, you know, tensions are high. Absolutely. probably had some nasty things about the Star Spangled Banner. And, you know, that's not how you catch more flies with honey.

Exactly. So they start going back and forth. And now Anderson's demanding that he turns the music off. And enraged, he took a swing at Rikowski, who eventually succeeded in kicking him out of the pup. So they got into a little bit of a scuffle, but Rikowski kicks him out of his bar, tells him, get out of here. I'll play the Star Spangled Banner as much as I damn well, please.

Oh, hell yeah. Anderson dusted himself off. left, but he later returned with his brother. I knew it. Oh, yeah. I knew it. Yeah. We hadn't seen the last of him.

You haven't heard the last of he dusted himself off in his fancy clothes. They all had like a little frilly collars and he dusted it off. Oh, yeah. A kerfuffle. And he said, yeah, the last of me. And he left. He came back with Adam and a pistol that he purchased nearby. Oh, no.

Oh, he got that like that day. Yeah, he just went and got a pistol, you know. Yeah. Angry and bought a pistol right then. there. The 17 hundreds of it all. Yes. Yes. I'll take a pistol and 17 of your finest marbles. Never came out of those. Whatever came out of those guns. And some gunpowder. Whatever came out of those. So they came back and they shot Rakowski who stood by the bar's pool tables. And Rakowski was taking to Johns Hopkins Hospital, which it was still there then. One of the first hospital.

Damn. Yeah, it's been around. So the brothers, let me sorry. Yes. So he was taking to Johns Hopkins Hospital. This is 1907. He was taking to John Hopkins Hospital where he died leaving behind his wife and seven children. Oh. Yeah. The brothers were picked up by the police and arrested because they shot a man in broad daylight at his own bar. But just playing a song. Just how he's song. He was just hyper fixating a little. Let him have a moment. You know? Think about it. Star Spangled Banner had to be like party in the USA. Oh my God. Yeah. The record players out. It's one of the first records pressed. Yeah. It's getting play. You're riding down the street. You're hearing them laid in people's wagons. Like this is the thing. This is the anthem of the year. You know. So Anderson was convicted in the Rukowski murder in October of 1907, spooky times. Ooh. Yes. The wharf rat eventually opened up back under new management. And not long after that, stories began spilling out of customers and staff. reporting seeing floating orbs in the spot where John was shot.

Ooh. Hearing music, faintly from coming from dark corners of the bar and a specific spirit, a specific spirit being seen by cooks in the kitchen area for years. I love that he did not give it up after eternity. He was like, I'm going to still play my fucking song. This is my jam with a capital J.

Hell yeah. This star-spangled banner even harder. Oh, I would do the same thing. He said, let's get this into the top 40. The number one song in the country, The Star Spangled Banner. So this spirit is believed to be that of the murdered man, who was often reported as being seen crying by those who caught a glimpse of him in the kitchen area.

That's so sad. Well, maybe, yeah, it's sad, but maybe he just is so moved by the Star Spangled Banner, you know. Oh, maybe he's going to put a positive spin on it. You know, he loves the song. And maybe he's just really happy that now he gets to play it as much as he wants. That's a good point. Let's try to find a positive spin. I like it. Happy tears.

Yes. So John is apparently not the only spirit that still haunts the halls of the wharf rat. Back in 2004, the then owner of the tavern stated that some nights the music will turn down mysteriously on its own. Ooh. Because it's not the Star-Spangled band. I was going to say. That is not the jam. Yeah.

Turn this fucking fleet foxes off now. The Star-S-big banner on now. So it is believed that the murder victim is, It's believed that the murderer and the victim share the same space, bickering over the Star Spangled banner for all of eternity. So Alexander's turning that shit down. We got Mr. Rikowski turning that shit back up. They're just having a battle, you know.

Damn. So it's believed that both of those spirits still hunt this building to this day. Unfortunately, in 2021, the Warfrat closed his doors after being bought by a mystery buyer in an online option. No. Shortly after the sale went, I know, I hate one. like and yeah but listen i'm going to get into gastro pub culture for a half a second because it is annoying but you know this really cool old place with a lot of character was bought by a mystery buyer in an online auction and then shortly after the sale went through it was revealed that

the buyer was um a woman named jesse stanlin who competed in season six of top chef oh so yes so great chef she has a she has a place called jesse o's here in in baltimore it's good food and she's going to you know, remodel it and open it and make a chic little, you know, gastrop type of situation out of that, which is, you know, I like, you know, I like good restaurants. I do too. Hell yeah. And I love top chef. And I love top chef.

Who doesn't? Exactly. But I also, I love a good dive bar. Me too. Like, like, you know, it's like, I love a good restaurant. I'm going to go. I'm going to go line up and I'm going to go try the food. Hell yeah.

I love a good dive bar with no box, a character on the wall. Oh, yeah. And sitting in there knowing like all. all the history that happened in there. It's like, so fun. Yeah. So I'm hoping that she keeps maybe the bar or some of the furniture or some element of it. You got to keep something.

She was on top chef. She'll keep it. She knows. Yeah. So one last fun fact is there is a company called the Baltimore Ghost Tours that will take you around all the spooky locations in the city, specifically in this fellow point area. And in 2007 on the 100th anniversary of his murder, John Rikowsky's remaining family, which was

about 50 people all got together and honored John at the war frat. They sat around and told his story. They sang the Star Spangled Banner. Oh, yeah, they did. In his honor. And they had cake. It was reported that John did not make an appearance this night, but a lot of people liked to believe that he was at peace so much enjoying watching from a

distance that didn't feel like he needed to break it up with showing up, you know. I love that. I don't think it would be warmly received, even though they're all there. for him, like, if you were at your grandmother's funeral and you guys are all celebrating her and then her ghost showed up. Yeah. I would say, Nana. Oh, my God.

Oh, my God. It's the fucking ghost is here. Run. I'd be so excited. Oh, my gosh. I'd be like, ma. What's up? Girl.

I knew you'd come here. Yeah. So that was the story of John Rakowski and the Warfrat. That's amazing. I love that. I also love that that just like perfectly lined up with your story. did. Right? That's amazing. You thought of the beginning. There was a there's a theme here.

There was. You have shoes to fill. We've been on theme. Will you be on theme? We brought the Star Spangled Banner. No. Maybe we'll find something. We'll try. I'm going to talk about the Martha Washington Hotel in Abingdon, Virginia. Ooh. So she has legs. She had legs. Martha Washington. There you go. Legs for days.

That's one thing she's known for is those long legs. Those legs. Those gams, though. That gate, baby. All right. Well, long before that hotel was ever established, the building was actually just a home. And it was built in 1832 for General Francis Preston, his wife Sarah Buchanan Preston, and their nine children.

A lot of kids. A lot of kids. Yeah. Now, General Francis Preston was said to be the. hero of the war of 1812. So he was like a pretty big deal. I'd say. And he also had a lot of money. And back then it cost about $15,000 for him to build his house, which in today's money is a little more than half a million dollars. I was just going to say, that must be a lot of money. Yeah. He had lots. Yeah. I mean, to have nine kids, you'd have to have like a little something,

something saved up. So I would say so. Good on him. Now, the Preston family stuck around for about 26 years. And then he ended up dying like the first year that the home that they were in the home. And then his wife ended up keeping it up. But I don't know what happened. And they just somebody bought it. That was it. The end. They said, let's turn this place to do an all girls college.

Yeah. Yeah. So they did. Now, even though it changed. Yeah. It was big. It was a man Sean. And she owned.

Yes. Now, even though it changed hands, there are still some of the Preston family's heirlooms in the hotel. to this day, like a nine-foot-tall grandfather clock that one of the daughters actually had shipped to her family from England. Nine feet tall. Nine feet tall. And it still works to this day. That's a clock.

Isn't that cool? How expensive was that to ship? Right. $52 or a million or a million dollars. Or a zillion and four today. Probably half a million. That's an imposing clock. Yeah, it's a lot.

But how thoughtful. It's a nine-foot-tall clock when you walk in. How thoughtful to just. send a nine foot clock. Very thoughtful. I love it. By ship? By sea?

I was just. By sea, you say? Now, the hotel lobby today is actually what was once the Preston's living room, which is really cool. Oh, wow. I love stuff like that. I do too. I'm like, wow, they were just like hanging out in the living room here.

And like, now I'm just checking in my room. Now I'm just checking in for the night. Yeah. So when the building was revamped and turned in. to a college. Like I said, it was named after Miss Martha Washington, the very first, first lady, the one with the legs, with the gams. Oh, that Martha Washington. That's the one.

You know, over the years, the locals actually have shortened the name a bit, and now it's just the Martha. That's amazing. So fresh. So, I like that. It makes you kind of think of Martha Stewart, though. Absolutely. And I love her.

You know, because whenever you hear like, that's so Martha, you're like, Martha. You're like Martha Stewart, I know. Yeah. Do you know that Martha Stewart? And I'm always going around saying that's so. You know, whatever. Do you know, she's in her 80s? I know, she looks great.

Yes. She does look fantastic. She looks incredible. And she's just like. She's a woman about town. She's just like, you'd never know. She's killing it. She goes on TikTok sometimes.

I love it. And she's been to jail. Yeah, exactly. It's tight, man. Because she wouldn't rat. But we will get into all that. We just love Martha. Go Martha.

This is a Martha Stan podcast. All Marthas. Well, this Martha, this Martha has seen a lot of shit over the years between the Civil War and the Great Depression. And a lot of the ghost stories that circulate throughout the Martha and originate like within the walls. The Martha. It's funny every time I hear it. And these ghost stories originate from within the walls of this place. And a lot of them come from.

from the Civil War. Oof. Yeah. So during that time, a lot of the young women attending the college there, they ended up changing courses and more and more of them started looking to nursing as a way to help out during the war. So the men serving were using the school grounds as their kind of training barracks. And before long, the Martha would become a makeshift hospital for fallen soldiers,

both Yankees and Confederates. Oof. Yeah. You're like, I don't know if you like want to hose those two people at the same places. That's a tense hangout. I was going to say, seems like a conflict of interest happening here.

That's a lot. Oof. Yeah. Now, plenty of battles were also fought nearby and much of the surrounding land was like very, very affected by the war, but the Martha remained unscathed. Because it's the Martha.

She's the Martha. She's elegant. Yeah. So once the war was over, classes resumed and, you know, things went back to normal for a little bit. After it was just like a battlefield hospital. They were like, quick timeout.

just quickly going to become a battlefield hospital. I just picture somebody like pressing a button and like all the desks just go back together. Like a professor pops out from like a desk and he's like, all right, class in second. I love it. Yeah. So things went back to normal for like a little bit. But then the Great Depression rolled around and then that brought a lot of typhoid fever with it during that time period. So people didn't have money and they were dying so the enrollment dipped a little bit because like death and no money.

That will happen. Yeah. And by 1932, the Martha was officially closed. Oh. So she changed hands a couple times, but guess what? Don't worry. She was only closed for like a couple years. And for a little while...

Can't keep a good Martha down. You cannot. I mean, look what happened to Martha Stewart. Exactly. Just a couple of years came what even better. So Martha. So Martha. Now, for a little while, the actors and actresses involved in shows that were going on across

the street at the barter theater. would actually use the Martha as housing. And some of the most famous guests during that time were Patricia Neal and Ned Beattie, Bady, damn it, Bady. Ned Bady. Ned Bady. Bady. Bady. But then in 1935, the Martha reopened its doors as a hotel. And then from that point forward, people have been sharing paranormal happenings for decades.

So let's get into them. Let's go. There's, like, quite a few spirits that haunt this place. And the first one is no humid at all. It's actually a horse. Ghost horse? Yes. I have a little equestrian haunting for you guys today.

We love to see it. So the horse... It would. It was. So the horse is most often spotted on the southern region of the land, which makes sense because that is where he was tied up when his owner was brought to what once was the hospital on these grounds. Now, the owner of the house.

the horse was a union soldier, so like rock on. And he had been attacked by Confederates, rock down. Rock down. Rock down. Rock off. Rock out of here. Rock down. So we just went down.

Rock down. So he got got by them, unfortunately. The owner of the horse, he had been attacked by them because they were riding into adding. I can't say this word. Hold up. Abingdon. It kept auto-correctingting. to like a different word.

Oh, I hate that. It's not the truth. It is a falsity. So they were riding into Abingdon. And as they wrote in, they attacked this huge group of Union soldiers standing guard. And as the shots were flying, a bullet grazed this particular soldier's head. Oh. So he totally fell down off the horse and he ended up being carried to the hospital.

And when he was brought inside, somebody tied up his horse, like I said, on the South lawn. So unfortunately, this guy ended up dying from his injuries. And the horse stood there waiting for him all night. Oh. All night. Now, as morning broke, somebody went out to check on the horse, maybe bring it like a little carrot or something. And he was gone. And there was like no marks in the grass that showed that he trotted away, like no sign of him leaving whatsoever.

So they actually put on like a hunt for this horse. Like they were trying to locate this horse. And they could never find it. But now in present day, people will spot. this horse on the southern lawn. He's bad. But as they go forward and start to approach him, he'll just disappear. Good for him.

Ghost force, equestrian haunting. I'm not doing my horseman. He's like, are you my owner? No. So get fucked. Bye. Who doesn't want to just go and just vanish when you don't feel like talking? I'm a huddle.

Exactly. So that's the ghost horse. Now, the next paranormal happening is also not. a person. Well, geez. But it is the bloodstain from a person. Oof. So. And it's haunted? What's that? A haunted bloodstain? Yes, a haunted blood stain. Yes, a haunted blood stain. So as we know, in the early days of the war being fought, the murder though was turned into a hospital. But before that, it was a school. And the young woman who, there was a young woman who was attending the school and then ended up being a nurse. But she got wrapped up in a love affair with a high standing

Confederate soldier. Oh, girlie. Yeah, we're not rooting for her. Rock down. Rock down out of here. Rock down. Rock down. Now, this particular soldier was also a narque. So maybe that's a thing.

I'm shocked. You niche and a turncoat as well? Yes, exactly. He sucked. What was she looking for here? Yeah, like what is the appeal here? I don't know. Losers?

She's in college, so probably. Damn. She's in her self-sabotage phase right now. Going full send in the sabotage department. No. So yeah, he's a narc. He was a lookout and a spy for the Confederate side. And he was supposed to inform his general Robert E. Lee on the whereabouts and the hideouts of the union soldiers.

So he had just gotten this job and he knew it was going to be really dangerous. So before he set out on his duties for the day, he wanted to say goodbye to his girlfriend because he was like, I don't know. how I'm going to fare here. But so he... I can tell you. Yeah. So he uses this underground tunnel system that runs right underneath the school and also apparently had stairs that led into the building.

The tunnel system is like still there and connects the Martha to the previously mentioned barter theater. I just don't think it's usable anymore. Like it collapsed right back when. Because that would be wild to see. That'd be so crazy. That's gnarly. But so he as he climbs up into the school, he's making his way downtown to his lover who has

bad judgment. And he ends up being spotted by two union soldiers who shoot him right as he gets to her door. Now, she opens the door hearing the commotion and he falls right at her feet and dies on that very spot soaking the ground beneath him. And throughout all the year since then, the bloodstain that was left from him has been known to reappear from time to time, despite everybody's best effort to clean it up. There's been new flooring put in. They put carpet over the area at one point, and still the bloodstain shows up. And actually, when they put the carpet in, there have just been like holes that will appear over where the bloodstain is.

And if you look through it, you'll see the blood stain. That's so like him. That is so like him, just not going away, just narking forever. Yeah. All of his faults. He's in college, bro. All of his faults and I knew he would also be that, like, guy who just won't let it go. Yep.

Yep. So the blood stain, people still say, like, it will appear to this day. It just simply won't fade. And how creepy. Like, even when they put new flooring in. There's a few of these kind of stories in places where, like, a blood stain will just, like, consist or some kind of stain will just, like, not go away. They're always the weirdest and creepiest to me, because I'm like, why is this a haunted

stain? It doesn't make sense either. Like I understand ghosts because it's like an energy kind of thing. I think because of his shittiness, maybe he just, that's what he comes back as. He's just blood as a stain. I like that. When you're a shitty person, you come back as a stain. I mean, he was a stain.

So, yeah. Stain. So maybe that's that. So fuck that guy. If you ever live in a gross house, you can just use this as an excuse. I'm like, oh my God, there's ghost stains everywhere. Sorry. Sorry.

Sorry. Just so many shitty ghosts coming back. Sorry. Can't stop them. Can't stop one stop. All right. Well, this next paranormal instance is another love story, but we're actually rooting for this one. Is this a person?

Yes. Yes. We finally have people. And this one also involves some ghostly tunage, my friends. Oh, yes. There it is. There we go. Connection.

Oh, boom. Music. Music. Connection made. There we go. All right. So there was a young nurse working in this building, and she fell in love with one of her patients who was a union soldier. There we go. And he was named Captain John Stoves. We love a John.

I know, and he was a captain even. So hot right now. Two good Johns is what we're seeing here. Cheers. So Captain John Stoves unfortunately had been badly injured on the battleground and his soldiers carried him through the tunnel system and up into the hospital using that secret stairway. And he was brought to the third floor and immediately admitted into room 403. So the nurse assigned to room was a young woman known only as Beth, just simply Beth. And for weeks and weeks while Beth tended to Captain John, she would also play him his favorite songs on her violin. That's adorable. Romantic. But unfortunately, over time, Captain John was not getting any better. And one night he was sitting with Beth and he called out to her, play something, Beth. I'm going.

Oh, John. He said, I'm going. I'm going. I'm going. I'm going. I'm a head out, Beth. I'm out of life. As he lay there, dying, Beth played him a quote-unquote sweet southern melody. Good for Beth. I don't know what song. And he died.

Spangled banner. Star-spangled banner. But just weeks later, Beth also ended up dying from typhoid fever, which I mentioned was running rampant. Oh, no. And the day she died. people started hearing her violin music coming from that room 403 and all throughout the third floor. And some guests.

So even like the day she died, it started happening. So it's like still a hospital and then it goes back to being a college and people are hearing the music. And then now that it's a hotel, people who have that room will say that they feel a presence and that they can hear her violin softly playing. Elvin has just been shaking his head. Alvin isn't a place of gnar, Cliar. It went to not sweet so quickly. It was so sweet and notebookish at first. And then it went to terrifying and I don't want to be here.

I don't like it. Yeah. I don't like a room with a presence unless it's like the presence of a good smell. And here's the thing. I love a good string instrument. Yeah. Bring me a violin. Bring me some some violin.

But like when it's just string instruments in the air. And I don't have. Yeah. I need an order. coming from. I need to see it. Yeah. I need to see the person playing it. And then I can be like, okay, that makes sense. Yeah, put a little tip in their case. Exactly. But just in the air, no, disembodied string music. No. It goes, children's laughter in a distance. Ooh, hate it. And string instrument now. Yeah. You know, I had this fear, but the sound of a child

in the distance that you, and there's not supposed to be a child here. No. And now violin, subtly in the background, playing sad music. Yeah. Yeah. A sweet southern melody. Which like, what is the sweet southern melody? Oh, yeah, she did. Oh, yeah. She flipped the tragedy. I bet it was like hauntingly beautiful.

Oh, I'm sure. It was. Because he had just said, I'm a head out. You got to. He said play me something. Play me out. Yeah, play me out. Yeah, play me out.

Like God, imagine. But actually, apparently they're both. Captain John and Beth are both said to be buried in Abingdon's Green Spring Cemetery. So if you want to go find them, I don't know if they're buried together. I want to find them. Let's go find them. Let's go. I want to see them. Let's go to Virginia.

I want to see Captain John. All right. Well, we have more hauntings first. Number four on the list of hauntings comes from the tunnels that I've mentioned a few times. Oh, yeah. Those are haunted as fuck. Oh, absolutely. So like I said, the tunnel was mainly used for soldiers.

It was also used as part of the Underground Railroad. And then after the war, the actors and actresses who were working. working at the barter theater and staying at the end. Like I said, they'd use the tunnel as like a go back and forth between work and home. I feel like I wouldn't do that. I personally would never. We're just to a creepy dark tunnel. No.

Yeah. Like all that history in there, I'd be like, I'm going to walk across the street. Even just like if there wasn't history in there, I'm not using a tunnel for shit. No. I'm not a minor. No, it's just a lot going on in there. It goes across the street. It's right there.

I'm not a gopher. I'm going to stay up here. How much quicker could it be? Exactly. Probably not. I could fall. I have to climb up something. I could just walk in through the door frame threshold. I don't know. I don't know. The thing. Yeah. So many of those people, these actors and actresses, they said they got this weird sense of dread underneath in the tunnel. And many think that there's something haunting that tunnel. And they say the spirit seems dark and malevolent. Now, soldiers were definitely killed down there. And the tunnel also actually collapsed in 1890 and was said to, have killed a man who was down there. So some people think that he could be the angry spirit still lingering, but others think that it's the ghost of a Confederate soldier who was killed by Union soldiers once they heard that ammunition was being hidden and stuffed away in the basement of the

Martha. I don't want any of that. Yeah, so they think that the ghost is still trying to protect the tunnel and is stuck on this loop of keeping Union soldiers out. Oh. And that's why the tunnel has such unwelcoming vibe. Oh, creepy. But as recently as 1995, there was a sighting during a big renovation of the Barter Theater where two workers ended up seeing two men emerge from the tunnel. But they referred to these men emerging from the tunnel as ghostly figures. Oh.

And they were like, yeah, they weren't actual dudes. So from that moment forward, anybody working on the renovations at the time refused to work past a certain time. Yeah. They were like, I am not staying here any longer than necessary. Yeah, I'm not here to fuck with that. But I'm pretty sure that the tunnel is closed at this point. So I guess that's like the one spirit that you don't really have to worry about too much. Oh, God, no, I don't like that.

No, I don't like it. I don't like, like, that's what I don't like. Like, whenever I'm in Brooklyn and New York, like, you'll see people, sometimes you see people dress like it's the 1900s. Yes. It throws you off because you're like, is that a ghost? So if you imagine working, you just see somebody come out of the tunnel wearing like, suspenders and big puffy pants.

Yes. That guy's dressed different. And you just look around. You're like, is everyone else seeing that? And everybody's like, no. Everybody's walking around just like ghost these days and I don't like it.

I do not like it. They need shirts that say like ghost or not ghost. I'm paranormal. Just vintage, not a ghost. All right. Well, guys, we have a fifth haunt. So the fifth haunt coming from the Martha is a messy man in more ways than one.

And this ghost is often spotted in the hallways dressed in soldiers' gear, and he's using crutches to get around. However, he forgot to wipe his feet upon entrance, and he leaves a trail of mud behind him wherever he goes. That's rude. Yeah. So people will try to call out and get his attention and be like, hey, asshole, you're tracking mud everywhere.

But it's no use because he's just in a perpetual state of setting you up to Swiffer. But if you... Worst ghost ever. Worst ghost ever. But if you do get the chance to see his face, be prepared, my friends. Because if you get an actual look at him and he turns around and checks you out, you will see that his head is split into two and there's all kind of brain matter and bone exposed. Oh. Yeah.

Okay. So I can forgive the dirt tracks because I think he's got more on his mind. Yeah. Than wiping his feet. I would think. I would think. Got his own set of problems. Yeah, he's got priorities and mud art is not high up on that.

That unfortunate person that gets to get around to him is like, hey, guy, the foot, oh, God. Oh, God. They just start crying immediately on impact. And I love it because it sounds like he just turns around like, like, what the fuck is up? You want to talk? You want to scold me about the mud? Yeah, check this out. My brain's literally coming out of my head.

Sorry. And I have crutches. Yeah, I'm going through it, okay? Like, damn. But the most haunted place in the Martha is said to be the basement. Yeah. Because during the Civil War, a lot of people on the wrong side of the fight were keeping people enslaved. And in the basement at the Martha, there were chambers where enslaved people were kept.

Now, obviously, these people were, they were not living in great conditions at all. And beyond that, they were also being abused daily. So many of them died while being kept down there. and it said that their remains were buried within the walls of the basement. Oh. Oh my God. So now people will go down there and they obviously feel like overwhelming sadness. And they also run into like a lot of ice cold spots.

Like you'll just be walking and then immediately you'll get this like crazy chill. And people also will see figures out of the corner of their eyes. I feel like I have goosebumps right now. Yeah, I do actually. My goosebumps have goosebumps. So if you guys want to stay at the Martha, remember that it's said to be one of the most haunted locations in Virginia. And there are 63 rooms to choose from. And apparently really famous people have stayed in the rooms over the years.

Harry Truman, he was like the president one time. Lady Bird Johnson. She was with the president one time. And Elizabeth Taylor's even stayed there. And she's Elizabeth Taylor. And she's, that's Charlotte's dog. Yeah. There you go.

Wow. Well, you've done a great job. This is a great advertisement for The Martha. I'll tell you where I know where I'm going to be staying next. It's Abingdon, Virginia. There you go. I love it. Oh, man.

Yeah, The Martha sounds wild. It's beautiful on the inside, but I don't know if I would go there. There's a lot of shit. A lot of shit in there. One of the most haunted places in Virginia. So like, oh. I'm not saying a lot. Yeah.

Truly. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, geez. That's just heavy. It was heavy as fuck. Yeah. Martha. Oh, man.

Yeah. The gosh darn Martha. But there's violins, guys. You know what? I think the theme of this was very like America. Yeah. We should theme it something else next time, guys. We really should.

Because we got Star Spangled Banner. We got U.S. congressman. we've got Martha Washington. Was this propaganda? Did we just accidentally? We all wink at each other. Total accident. Whoopsie.

Well, guys, this was a blast. This was so fun. Creating propaganda together. This was wonderful. 10 out of 10 recommend creating propaganda with your friends. What a day. We talked about metal birds. Martha's, man, we went, what a journey.

We talked about how one song being played over and over again is not that bad. Yes. It's not that bad. It's not that. You heard it be worse. It could be worse. Oh, I thought you said the same thing, but you said worst and I said first. Ah, close.

But Alvin, you need to come back. You and Fran need to come back. Please. This was so much fun. And tell everybody where we can find you. Oh, yes. Okay. Well, I don't think I said it at the beginning.

I host a podcast called Affirmative Murder with my co-host, Fran. He could not make it at the time. He has things to do. But please feel free to follow us on socials. Any social media platform that you use, you can find us on there. Our podcast comes out every Monday, and we started doing little, you know, listener type of things on Thursday. So we're doing this too.

Also, while I have this moment, we do these little town hall things every once in a while when we come across different, you know, things that are happening in the world. we've done one on sexual assault in the workplace and just like the experience as a woman just like walking down the street because we're two dudes who host podcasts and we didn't know and our audience like 75% women and we just wanted to kind of get the perspective. That's awesome. I recently went on a trip to Europe with a friend of mine. He was lightly, even though none of it's light, but he was lightly sexually assaulted at the club.

My friend is one of my best friends. He's gay. And I did not know how to approach the situation other than like often. offer him violence. Like, would you like me to... Offer him violence? I was like, would you like me to fight this person? Which we had a long discussion about.

I would never do that to like a female friend I was out with. I would provide a myriad of other solutions that I could think of, but I couldn't think of any. So we are going to do a town hall soon. And I would love to hear from the LGBTQ community about ways that we can, you know, help. Because people, people, the work ally has been kind of co-opted these days from people. They're just like, well, I'm not trying to hurt you. Right. Exactly.

You know, are you just saying you're not an interesting? and the demise of somebody is not enough. Like what are what can we do to like help make a better space? So we will be doing one of those episodes soon and feel free we do calls and people call in and we just let people speak and, you know, tell their story and stuff. So that's something we're going to be doing soon. So, you know, we would love to have any listeners on that are listening to this. We'd like to call in. Please reach out to us on social media and we can figure out a way in a time where we're going to do all this stuff. And yeah, that's my whole spiel. That's amazing. Seriously. And we can post all the information for that in the show notes so that you guys can like directly be involved in this because this is amazing and everybody. should. Absolutely. I love that. You guys rule. Fran's cool too. He's a super cool dude. Fran is cool. I've done so many types of things. Elena, you've never met Fran, but he is, he is real. Please tell Ashley he is a real person. He's a real person. I don't know. We've spoke through messages and he's like such a sweet human being. I love him. I'm gel. I want to hang out with you guys. We'll get there.

We'll get all of us together, I swear, because we're going to do this again because this was so much fun. Yes, that's had a blast. And until then, We hope you keep listening. And we hope you keep it weird. But not so weird as America. Bye. America. America.

Yeah, America. Yeah, America. Classic.