Phantasmal Crime

The Black Donnellys were an Irish family looking for a new start across the Atlantic Ocean in the early 1840s. James and Johannah Donnelly had lived in poverty and strife and they hoped that Canada would bring a new start for their little family. So they packed up what little they had, along with their son James, Jr., and migrated to Forest City, Canada from Tipperary, Ireland.  They would find a new life in this new world, but they would not gain it in the right way. They would take what was not theirs and this would lead to strife for their family. It would eventually lead to a lot of death as well. And now spirits roam the former Donnelly homestead. James found work in Canada and Johannah gave birth to their second son William, who was nicknamed “Clubfoot Will” because he was born with a clubfoot. They were happy for a while, but they really longed to have their own land and their own farm. Around 1845, the Donnellys moved to Biddulph, Ontario, which was in the Ca...

Salem, Massachusetts' Gardner-Pingree House was the scene of a horrific murder. In 1830, this had been one of the grandest houses in Salem and was owned by Captain Joseph White. On the night of April 6th, he was bludgeoned and stabbed to death. This event and the ensuing trial featured some prominent names. Daniel Webster was the prosecutor and writers like Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne and H.P. Lovecraft were all inspired by elements from this true crime. Such a horrific murder can lead to rumors of hauntings. And several ghosts seem to be at unrest in the aftermath.  The Gardner-Pingree house sits at 128 Essex Street and was built in 1811. Salem native son Samuel McIntire designed the house in the Federal architectural style. McIntire was a self-taught woodworker and architect, and he built these beautiful and phenomenal mansions. His specialty was creating wonderful pieces of woodwork that included these ornate mantles for fireplaces. McIntire even entered a proposa...

The McCormick Ranch is located in a remote part of the Eastern Plains in Stratton, Colorado. Mike McCormick and his father worked the property with the help of homeless men they hired during the 1980s. No one can be sure if these homeless men were actually paid for their work because many of them ended up dead. The ranch was the perfect place for serial killers to do their dastardly deeds as no one would hear the victims scream. Several bodies were found on the property, but not all of them, and that may be why this ranch is crawling with paranormal activity.  The town of Stratton in Colorado was incorporated in 1917 and was named in honor of the gold miner and philanthropist Winfield Scott Stratton. This has always been a tiny agricultural community and it was here that a twisted family laid down roots with a farm. I don't know the name of the patriarch who established the farm or when he bought the land, but it was bordered by the state of Kansas and spread out over more than 2,0...

The Novel "To Kill a Mockingbird," written by Harper Lee, has been translated into over 40 languages, sold more than 30 million copies, been made into a movie and won a Pulitzer Prize. The story was set in a fictional southern town in the state of Alabama and tells the story of a black man, Tom Robinson, living in the South during the Great Depression and what happens when he is accused of rape by a white woman. A prominent white lawyer named Atticus Finch defends him masterfully and yet, Robinson is convicted and eventually killed when he tries to escape custody. It was as though Harper Lee had heard the true story of Robert Milton. Milton was a black man accused of rape by a white teenager in 1920s Mississippi. He was convicted and executed and most people believe he was an innocent man. Perhaps that is why he haunts the courthouse where he was hanged, the Old Tishomingo County Courthouse. Join us for this compelling story of how rape was treated in the 1920s, ...

 (Suggested by: Memory Burcalow) The Crandell Murder shocked the nation. Sylvester Crandell shot his mother-in-law, his step-daughter, his wife and himself in 1887. This was the worst crime Saratoga County had experienced up to that point. All four people would die and the main motivation seems to have been money. Sylvester Crandell and wanted more of it and when his wife and mother-in-law wouldn't give it to him, his rage erupted. And in the wake of the crime, it seems that the Crandell House has some paranormal activity. Julia V. Stone was born in 1846, the daughter of paper collar manufacturer Samuel S. Stone. During the 1850s and 1860s, companies were experimenting with making cuffs and collars out of paper. These detachable paper collars and cuffs could be thrown away when they got dirty. So they were very convenient and popular during a time when laundry was hard to get done. This made Samuel Stone a very wealthy man. He was worth around $1,625,000 in today's dollars. Jul...

Jean Harlow was known as the "Original Blonde Bombshell." In 1932, she married Paul Bern, a screenwriter, director and assistant at MGM Studios. It was an odd match and would end when Bern apparently committed suicide. Or did he? Could he have been murdered? And by who? Could this be why his spirit is at unrest? Come with us as we explore the mysterious death of Paul Bern! Paul Bern was born as Paul Levy in Germany in 1889. The family moved to New York in 1898. Paul's father died in 1908 and his mother drowned herself to death in 1920. Paul studied acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and got started acting on the stage in New York. He decided to take a stage name and changed Levy to Bern. The acting was not going very well, so Bern decided to jump into stage managing and then in the early 1920s he moved to Hollywood. He got involved with film editing and then started working on writing and directing films for United Artists and Paramount Picture...

Gerard John Schaefer had been a Florida Law Enforcement Officer. Police are some of our most trusted public servants. Our default position when it comes to police officers is to trust them. And most of the time, that position is correct. But sometimes it can be wrong. Very wrong. That was the case with Gerard John Schaefer. He was a prolific serial killer during the heyday of serial killers in the 1960s and 1970s. There are those who say he made Ted Bundy look like a Boy Scout. Many serial killers have a particular place they gravitate to for dumping bodies. Schaefer had a place he liked to torture and kill young women. That place is known as the Devil's Tree.  Oak Hammock Park is a popular waterfront park in Port St. Lucie, Florida. Trails encircle a lush hammock with an area of pine trees. Large live oaks that have stood as sentinels for centuries make up the rest of the landscape. This park is hard to find as it sits in the middle of a residential neighborhood. Everything about ...