The Tape Library - Archive of the Paranormal & the Unexplained - PLAYBACK | The Chilling Stories Behind the World’s Creepiest Ghost Towns

Episode Date: May 14, 2026

Join us on a chilling expedition through the Scariest Ghost Towns in the World, as we delve into their dark and mysterious histories. From the ghostly whispers of Bodie, California, to the tragic echoes of a French village ravaged by war, our journey takes us to abandoned places teeming with paranormal activity. Witness the eerie spectacle of a Mexican theme park where a haunted statue is said to blink and shiver at the island of dolls in Mexico. Discover the chilling secrets of an English medieval village and real life Silent Hill, Centralia, PA, a town consumed by an underground mine fire. Source for Centralia ghost stories - https://www.offroaders.com/album/centralia/haunted.htm Do you have a supernatural story to share? Drop me an email at [e-mail] You can check out The Tape Library in audio form on all of your favourite podcast providers. Tiktok - https://www.tiktok.com/@thetapelibrary Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/people/The-Tape-Library/100094332411836/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thetapelibrary Archive of the Paranormal, the strange and the unexplained. The Tape Library brings you the creepiest stories, to keep you horror junkies up all night. True scary stories of ghosts, cryptids, UFOs and true crime. Additional footage and audio from Evanto, Singularity, Midjourney and Pexels. All other footage used under fair use. SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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free of charge. BetMGEMGEMM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. Welcome to Playback. This show is our chance to revisit a classic entry into the tape library archives and consider what it all means in the grander scheme of the strange world we live in. For tonight's episode we'll be playing a tape from 2024, an episode where I took a look at stories of abandoned towns and places from all over the world and one of those locations will lead us quite nicely into next week's brand new episode.

So get yourself comfortable and let's hit play. In 1859, a man named William S. Bodie and a few of his companions discovered gold in an area just east of the Sierra Nevada. Bodie set up a small camp in the area, with the intention of making his fortune by mining the gold that lay in the hills surrounding the area. Bodie would see a town named after him, set up at this place. set up at this location, but he would never live long enough to witness it. The same winter that he moved into the area,

while building up their supplies to begin digging, he would be caught in a powerful snow blizzard, freezing to death. He would, supposedly, be the first victim of the curse of Bodie, a town that would suffer its fair share of terrible occurrences. Just two years later, the Bunker Hill mine, would be established and begin a prominent time for the newly founded town of Bodie. Over the following 17 years the population rose from just 30 miners to over 5,000 people, and the mines that would change hands over time made a lot of people very rich.

The harsh winters of the area continued to be an issue and in 1878 hundreds would die from the cold weather and a strange disease. disease that seemed to be sweeping through the population. But this wasn't the death of Bodie. In fact, the population doubled the following year, with now 10,000 people calling the town home. But with that increase in population came an increase in lawlessness. Bodie was quickly developing a reputation for violence and theft, with many finding their lives ended in a flash as they crossed paths with the wrong individuals on the street. streets of the mining town. Its reputation can be summed up in one infamous story,

where a little girl was told by her family they would be moving there. The little girl wrote down in her journal, Goodbye God, we're moving to Bodie. The crime rate likely contributed to Bodie becoming a less desirable destination to live in. But over the next three years a number of mining companies went bust, which saw the population quickly dwindled down to just a few thousand and then there were the fires. The first major one in 1892 took out many of the businesses in town. In 1932, a tragic story of something so simple reportedly took out the majority of the buildings, including one of the churches. A boy, not even three years old, apparently found a pack of matches and began to play with them.

inquisitive as any small child would be. He could have had no idea of the destruction he would bring about to his town. That small act led to the area being left the smouldering shadow of its former self. The town would be further destroyed economically by the Great Depression, and it is said by the end of World War II, only six people called Bodie Home. And that, my friends, is where the ghost stories, really begin.

The legend goes that a married couple that remained in town were arguing one day, when the husband had had enough and shot and killed his wife. Obviously, it was such a small population. This crime was quickly uncovered. A small group of free men visited the husband at day and killed him. But although they buried him in the local outcast graveyard, the man would come back. Late at night all three men reported that they were visited by the deceased husband, who would be seen shaking his fist outside their windows.

Soon after this, all three men would be dead, each passing away one by one from some unknown sickness. The town is now abandoned, but has its regular visitors from tourists in the area, as well as a number of park rangers who have called the shellabwe. a town home over the years, the area being declared a historic park in the 1960s. Unlike most ghost towns, with Bodie, it doesn't appear to just be a term the reference its abandonment. There are several reported ghosts that apparently still call Bodie home, the first of which is described as the ghost of a Chinese maid, who apparently resides in the J.S. Kane House in town, which was once the home of a prominent

banker, but in recent years has housed Park Rangers. Children are most likely to be the ones who see her. Several have described seeing a heavy-set Chinese woman sitting on their beds in one of the upstairs bedrooms, while a ranger's wife told the story of how she was laying in bed alone late one night, when she suddenly felt a heavy presence sitting on top of her. She was terrified to realise it was the same woman the children had been seeing and she was trying to suffocate her. The ranger's wife fought with the being before managing to get out of her grip and crashed to the floor when she looked up at her bed. The Chinese woman was gone. In later years a ranger named Gary Walter was staying in the same bedroom when he saw the door suddenly

open by itself. He said the air suddenly became thin and he felt like he was suffocating. As soon as he rushed out of the room the sensation just stopped. Other ghosts are reported in town, including in one building the apparent regular sighting of two turn-of-the-century children who can be seen and heard running around and giggling to one another. And another The house that passes by claim to see a woman peeking from behind the curtains as they walk past. But when they enter the building, there's no one to be seen. These are just a few of the many apparent ghosts that reside in the remaining houses of Bodie. Another famous apparition is often referred to as the angel of Bodie.

This refers to the grave of a three-year-old child that can be found in the graveyard. The story goes that the child was accidentally struck in the head with an axe and killed. Many have reported seeing this child around the area, with one man even claiming he found his own child, playing and giggling, with seemingly no one, while near the grave. The most famous of all of Bodey's legends though is its curse. Of course the town has seen many tragic events over its years, but just because the town is destroy it, it doesn't seemingly mean its curse is over. It is said that if you take anything from Bodie, even if that were just a pebble from its grounds, you are taking a part of that

curse home with you. The legend goes that the remaining ghosts of the town are very protective over the area and don't want anyone to take away what little they have left. Supposedly there are logbooks of all the various items that have been taken from Bodie. and then swiftly returned when those tourists realize the true cost of their little souvenir. Much like Robert the Dole, people have written letters apologize into the spirits of Bodie for disrespecting their home. While Bodie is a fascinating place with a rich history, the horrors it seems to keep hidden within are what makes it just one of the world's scariest ghost towns. Darkness. The town is being devoured by darkness.

Some of you may remember that a few months back I have released an episode on the legends of Portlock Alaska. That was originally intended to be a selection of stories about various ghost towns and abandoned places. But it sort of turned into an episode all of its own. So I promise we will return to that topic soon and here we are. Now some of these aren't strictly ghost ghost towns, but it's my video so I can be a rebel with all want to. But they are all places that have been left, a shadow of their former selves, and all contain secrets for us to uncover. We've got tales of haunted statues, terrifying legends, and real life tragedies.

The one thing all these places have in common, however, is that the dead outnumber the living. I've got a pretty big list of places here to cover, so I'm not sure they will all make it into this episode. So if you do want a part two, please do let me know in the comments. Also feel free to throw suggestions at me of places I should cover within this series. Okay, let's head to our next location. Get yourself a warm drink, dim the lights, and get comfortable. We're going exploring. Hopefully, we will make it back in one piece.

The village of Oridore-sur-Glan in France was a simple quiet rural village. That was until June 10th, 1944, when the lives of everyone there would be changed forever. While the area had been under German control for quite some time, the army had little interest in this village. The morning of the 10th would have just been like any other, with people going about their daily activities, completely unaware that a large number of Nazi troops were marching towards them. Just one day before, not too far away, a decorated German commander had been captured by the French resistance and was subsequently burned alive in front of a crowd of onlookers,

seemingly as an act of revenge and apparently due to suspicions of resistance members being active in the area. The Germans marched into the village that day and began a massacre. Originally presented as a standard ID check, the Germans began to separate the men from the women and children. The men were taken to several large barns while the women and children were ushered into a church. The church was set on fire. Those that attempted to escape through its windows were shot down in a hell of machine gun fire. The men at the barn were also guided gunned down before they too were set on fire. 643 people lost their lives in the massacre, with only six surviving, many of whom were only able to survive, by hiding underneath the bodies

of their friends and families. The village was never rebuilt and remains a haunting reminder of the war that tore Europe apart. However, a new village was set up next door to it, and a museum was built to commemorate the atrocity that took place there. Of course, as with any place of such horrific history, reports of paranormal activity have been made over the years, with vaporitions being spotted, of people walking the ruined streets, and a sickly burning smell that apparently appears at random. But no stories of ghosts could possibly overshadow the very real horror that took place in this small, innocent village. In Boko del Rio Mexico, there stands the remains of a theme park that has become something of a dream trip for many interested in the paranormal. I had a little trouble finding out

much about the history of this place, so if anyone has a source with some detailed information about what happened here, then please do let me know. But seemingly the park was closed down, not long after it opened in 1988. The park had been left to the decay. and what is left is a creepy perversion of childhood memories. Urban explorers have recorded videos of decaying Disney characters that have been warped and broken by time. But what this park has become famous for, however, is one statue in particular.

The legends surrounding the long-forgotten park claim, in true horror movie fashion, that it was built on the location of a graveyard, but that for whatever reason the bodies would not move first. This obviously adds a whole extra level of creepiness to an already strange place. Locked away in the basement of one of the buildings, explorers have found what appears to be a faded statue of Snow White. The reason this statue has gained so much attention, however,

is that a video was uploaded that apparently shows the statue, blinking. Others have claimed to see someone walking around the park late at night, just catching a glimpse of her in their periphery, before the figure quickly shuffles off into the darkness. Those who have got a better look at this figure claim, it's the same snow white that is locked away, seemingly escaping and walking around the abandoned park late at night. If there is any truth to these claims, it's obviously unclear,

but I for one would love to go and visit Snow White one day. Staying in Mexico for the moment, let's talk about a much more well-known location, the island of the dolls. Accessible only by boat, this small but chilling island has become something of a tourist attraction, but is described as the world's largest collection of haunted dolls. The island isn't inhabited by any humans. humans, at least not anymore. Instead it is home to hundreds of some of the creepiest

dolls you are ever likely to see, becoming a hotspot for not just those wanting to visit this little oddity, but also a whole host of paranormal researchers and explorers who want to see if there is any truth the strange legend of the island. And what a fantastic legend it is. The story goes that at some point in the 1950s, a hermit named Donne Julian Santana Barrera took up residency on the island. Two different versions of the events that started all this have been reported. Some say a girl died before he arrived on the island. Others say that Don Julian witnessed her death himself, but in both versions, a small girl apparently drowned. The most common story is that he found her body floating down one of the canals. Don Julian attempted to save the

girl but it was too late. This led to his 50-year obsession. Don Julian claimed he could hear the girl screaming late at night, shouting that she was scared and wanted her doll. The following day, he headed back to the spot where the girl had died, and sure enough, he found a doll floating in the water. He picked it up, dried it off, and placed it in a nearby tree. But then the next day he discovered another, and then another. Dolls were beginning to appear on the island. Don Julian saw this as the girl wanting more dolls, and when his crops began to fail, he thought this was her work, or at least that of some other spirit on the island.

So he began to collect more and more dolls in an attempt to appease the ghost, scouring rubbish piles for the remains of toys and bring them back to the island, even trading food supplies with others so that he could bring back more dolls, gradually filling the entire island with the twisted remains of toys that became even more disturbing as the elements began to ravish what remained of them over the years. In 2001, after close to half a century living on the island and collecting dolls, Don Julian invited his nephew to come and join him on a fishing trip. The now 80-year-old man reportedly said something about the mermaids in the water, calling to him. His nephew left Don Julian for just a few moments. But when he returned,

he found his uncle, laying face down in the water, dead. Supposedly in the same spot he had found the girl all those years before. The island, as I said, has become something of a tourist hotspot, with many seemingly visiting to ask the dolls for help in whatever difficulty they may be experiencing in life. Many have reported to see the dolls move or hear them whispering to one another as you walk past. I don't know how much of the story of the island of the dolls is true.

Was Don Julian just a strange, possibly. unwell man living out his fantasy alone or was there something more to it either way it is said that if you ever visit the island of the dolls it is wise to bring a gift for them if you don't well you may suffer a similar fate if you are enjoying these strange stories and want to hear more then please consider subscribing every month i release multiple episodes covering the paranormal the weird and the unexplained. I'd love it if you could join our growing community. In a beautiful valley in Yorkshire lies the remains of one of the largest abandoned medieval villages in England. Founded sometime around the 10th century, the village of Warren Percy was

seemingly a prosperous place for around 600 years, yet strangely. In the early 16th century, the village was seemingly totally abandoned. Gradually faded, fading away over the centuries, leaving behind only the remnants of a church and the foundations of several buildings. Many have pointed to a whole host of individual events that led to the village's gradual abandonment, but a discovery by archaeologists in the 1960s found the bones of over 100 skeletons buried deep in the pits underneath the village. The bodies were apparently left there over the course of a few hundred years. But what made this little strange was the condition the bodies were in.

There was evidence that the skeletons had been burned, mutilated and torn apart. At the time the suggestion was that maybe this was an example of cannibalism being present during a famine, or that maybe some sort of massacre had taken place there on one or possibly more occasions. However, a further investigation in 2017 led to the idea that the inhabitants of the village, seemingly had a deeply held widespread belief that the dead were returning to life, believing these reanimated corpses to be some sort of vampire-like phenomena. The way to counteract this was by dismembering the bodies of the recently deceased, before burying them deep in a pit,

leaving Warren Percy as a terrifying and rare, but not unheard of, example of the belief of vampires within England's history. I think we'll finish up our exploration of ghost towns tonight with a look at what might be one of America's most famous abandoned places. The place that is often referred to as the real-life Silent Hill, Centralia. Throughout the 1800s, much like Bodie, Centralia grew into quite the prosperous little mining town. However, in this case, the export from the mines was coal.

But again, much like Bodie, lawlessness was abound in the town, with the town's founder Alexander A, being murdered by members of the Molly Maguire. A secretive society made up of Irish immigrants who were active in the area, and were playing a key part in attempting to unionise the mine workers. Depending on what you believe, the Molly Maguire may have played a case. key part in the future destruction of the town. Father Daniel Ignatius McDermott was the first Catholic priest to take up residency in Centralia, believing members of his own congregation to have played a part in the murder of Ray, he began to denounce the Molly Maguire publicly, which led to him being

brutally assaulted by a group of men who were seemingly involved with the group. In a fit of rage, Father McDermott gathered the townsfolk and proclaimed that one day St. Ignatius' church would be the last remaining structure in the town, and that the town would be destroyed. He was partially right. St. Ignatius was demolished in the late 1990s, meaning that it was not even the last standing church in Centralia. But the fact he suggested the town would not be left standing at all was seemingly correct. with many spreading this legend as evidence that the town was cursed. The exact cause of what started the destruction of Centralia had been left up for debate, but the most commonly suggested cause was an attempt by the town's officials to clean up the local landfill using a series of controlled fires.

This landfill was within an abandoned mine pit, just next to one of the small towns, weirdly numerous cemeteries. In May of 1962 they used the fires as they had done numerous times before, within the landfill. But this time, the fire was not fully extinguished before the workers left for the evening, causing embers to fall into the openings that led deep into the numerous abandoned mining tunnels that were still present deep under the town. There is some debate over other possible causes of the fire, but whatever started it, a fire began to burn underneath Centrelia, and it would not go out. It would be over a decade before the apparent seriousness of the fire under Centrelia was discovered. Cracks had begun to

open up in the ground surrounding the town, with toxic smoke seeping out from the burning fires below. In one famously reported incident in 1981, a young boy was playing in his backyard, when suddenly a three-foot wide sinkhole opened up, revealing a terrifying 150-foot drop into the dark, fiery pit below, and spewing out more smoke as it opened up. Luckily the boy was saved before he could fall to his death, but the town was becoming increasingly dangerous for the residents. Over the decades that followed, the government attempted to move people out of Centralia and condemn it, but still, some simply refuse to leave. As of 2020, only five people remain as residents of the strange little town. Putting aside the fascinating story of an underground fire that still to this day

cannot be put out, Centrelia has developed a bit of an interest from those fascinated in the paranormal over the last few decades. It is often referred to as the real-life Silent Hill and is said to be the inspiration for the famous fictional ghost town, although it only influenced the creators of the movie, not of the original game series. Nonetheless, the similarities with its cracks spewing smoke into the air at times is a little uncanny. With its five residents but three graveyards,

Centralia is certainly a spooky location and has become something of a hotspot for those who like the darker side of tourism, with many visiting the town, especially around the Halloween season. Although despite this, there are few reports of any paranormal activities said to have taken place within the town. The most commonly reported sightings of that of a miner being seen walking the streets at night,

as well as those who claim to see creatures that resemble the monsters found within the Silent Hill Games. Although it's hard not to just assume that's people letting their imaginations run wild. Despite this, people seem to be continually drawn to the town to hunt for ghosts. I was able to find two stories that people wrote that I would love to read for you all now. I have included a link to where you can find these if you want to read them yourself. The first came from a man named Scott Sailor from New Jersey. I visited Centralia last weekend with a couple of friends, and I thought I might share a very weird experience I had while exploring the town.

We were there for about an hour and a half and were checking out the interesting locations that I'd heard about, like the burning hillside, the crack in Route 61, and the streets without homes. We were in the area next to an old cemetery on the east side of the town, east of Route 61. We had just checked out the old tombstones and were getting a whiff of smoke from the east, so we walked down the old gravel road to look around. We found a slag-covered hillside with steam coming out of it, and we were pretty fascinated by some fossils we found. When we heard what sounded like a voice saying,

something inaudible from down below, where we were. All three of us heard it. We figured it was someone else checking out the area too. So we sort of ignored it. And then we heard it again. A little more clearly. A few words, but it sort of sounded like, leave this place.

At that moment the hill we were standing on started steaming more than a few moments before and it really stunk, like rotten eggs, like sulphur, I guess. Well, it sort of spooked us, so we figured we better head back to the car. As we were walking back in the area of the cemetery, We heard it again. Not the same words and not clear, but something like, why, why did you do that? What was even weirder was that it wasn't like someone was yelling out of the bushes. It was quiet and kind of closer.

And we couldn't figure out the direction it was coming from. Too weird. We got back to our car and didn't see any other cars or people the whole time we were We left and weren't sure what to make of it. We really weren't sure we wanted to talk about it. All I know is I'm not going back. When I got home I found out the area where we were walking was near the location that was where the fire started, across from the cemetery. I just thought I'd let you know about it. Something is not right about that place. The second report comes from a man named Jim and his girlfriend Laurie in the late 90s.

Hi, my name is Jim. About a month ago, my girlfriend Laurie and I were coming back from Gnobles and we decided to take the 61 home and stop at Centralia, to take a look as we did once before. First, let me say we're not superstitious. In fact, we're quite the opposite. We like checking out abandoned places and old buildings, old cemeteries and that. old cemeteries and that sort of thing.

We've seen a lot of old abandoned homes over the years, but the one we checked out in Centralia, about a month ago, really gave us a fright. It was a white abandoned twin home, up on a side street on a hill. There were two units, and both had red numbers sprayed on the front, which indicated from what I gathered,

the homes were probably set to be demolished in the near future. So we decided to check it out. The back door was open, so we went in. Some of the first floor windows were boarded up, making it dark, but we explored the old house a little. We were on the second floor in the hallway, near the stairs that led up and down to the first and third floor. The door was open leading up to the third floor. Laurie was in the hallway while I was at the top of the stairs that led downstairs.

At that point we heard footsteps. coming from the stairs from the third floor. It sounded to me like the steps were coming down the ceiling, above the steps going down to the first floor. So my first thought was someone was coming down out of the attic, or third floor bedroom. At first we were startled and thought someone else was in the house. As the footsteps sounded like they were about to reach the second floor hallway. Laurie looked into the stairwell, expecting to see someone. There wasn't anyone there. At the same time I looked down the steps to the first floor and saw nobody. We just stared at each other for a few seconds. I said, you want to leave? And she said yes. We made a bee line down to the

back door where we came in and out to the car. We drove about a hundred feet and stopped to look back at the house, looking at the windows. I mean, we expected to see someone looking out at us. Nothing, though. Really weird. Like someone walked down those stairs, but we couldn't see them. Freaked us out. Anyway, I don't know what to make of that. You wouldn't know who used to live in that house. Not even sure where it was or what the numbers were, but if ever I thought a house was haunted, it would be that one.

Sort of changed my impression of old vacant homes. If any of the places we've discussed tonight are actually haunted is obviously up for debate. But it's hard to deny that places like this, places that were once full of life, but are now overcome with death and decay, have a certain atmosphere to them. Just a little something about standing in a place where no one should be anymore. Sets those hairs on the back of your neck. Standing up. That's all for this entry into the tape library. Again, there were so many different places I could talk about for this one.

So if you do want me to do a second part, let me know. And of course, let me know if there's any places you think I should have covered. As always, if you've enjoyed this episode, then please click the like button. It's a simple thing, but it really helps me reach more. helps me reach more people with each episode. Also, if you haven't already, click subscribe so you don't miss out on any future episodes. I think for the next tape library we're going to be digging our teeth into a good old haunting case. So until next time, pleasant dreams. Now receiving frequency transmission.

Um, last night I was standing across the street from a bar smoking a cigarette, and these kids were leaving the bar, some young people, four of them. And this little tiny, shavvy sedea next to me, beeped because someone unlocked it. And I took a step back and I looked at this tiny little foredoor. And these kids were walking towards it. And as they got closer, one of them goes, oh my God, the car got bigger since we were inside. And then another one goes,

oh, holy crap, it's an SUV now. And so I took another look at the car. And I had to sort of take their word for it because I was looking at a tiny little car. And I thought, I think that thought creates reality. Because to these kids, kids, the car was really big. I'm not gonna argue with them.

Mostly because they were so excited about it. Radio.