Phantasmal Crime

The headline from the Chicago Tribune asked, "Did voice from grave finger murder suspect?" The question is startling, implying that a ghost solved a murder case. This isn't the first time that a ghost solved a murder case in America. The Greenbriar Ghost is a famous case from 1897 that many people believe actually happened. The same is true of the Teresita Basa murder case. Did her spirit inhabit the body of one of her coworkers and lead the police to her killer? The case of the Greenbriar Ghost is not only unique in the supernatural world, but for decades, it was a one of a kind tale in the annals of the American Justice System. In 1873, Elva Zona Heaster was born in Greenbriar County, West Virginia.  In 1896, she met and fell in love with a drifter who was passing through Greenbriar named Erasmus and they married soon after.  A young boy running an errand for Erasmus to the home that Zona and Erasmus shared, found Zona dead at the bottom of the stairs.  The local doctor...

We have shared on previous podcasts that there were asylums that had sterilized patients without their knowledge and without their consent. Now, ratchet that up to doing mind-altering experiments on these patients without their knowledge or consent. That is the Allan Memorial Institute. This building had once been a home, but for a time it was like a prison. The atrocities that occurred here have left behind an immense amount of spiritual residue and this nearly always leads to paranormal activity.  The Allan Memorial Institute started off as the Ravenscrag Mansion. The mansion sits perched on the slopes of Mount Royal and was built by Sir Hugh Allan in 1863. Allan was a Scotsman who had made much of his money in banking and shipping. At one time, his business controlled 12% of the ocean-going trade for Montreal. He purchased 14 acres on Mount Royal and hired architect Victor Roy of William Spier & Son to design the mansion, which was in the Italianate style. Allan gave his hom...

A pub on Fishamble Street in Dublin is named Darkey Kelly's. The name commemorates a dark time in Ireland's history when a woman had to do what she could to keep out of poverty, and this particular woman, Darkey Kelly, was accused of multiple murders and hanged and burned at the stake for her crimes. But did she really commit these crimes or was she framed after the local sheriff got her pregnant? And does her spirit still haunt this area as an apparition known as "The Green Lady?" There is a legend told in Dublin about a witch named Darkey Kelly. This story of a witch burned at the stake held on for years and it was one that survived and passed on because not much was known about Darkey Kelly. There are no pictures of her. No one painted a picture of her. The only evidence that she practiced witchcraft came from the claims of a nobleman. History indicates that she wasn't witch. But she might have been a serial killer. Christchurch Cathedral sits in the heart of m...

In 2025, the Michigan Bell Building in Grand Rapids, Michigan sold for over $18 million to a New York investment firm. This eight-story office building is home to AT&T today and while a 101-year-old historic building in downtown Grand Rapids is interesting, it is the murder that occurred at the home that once stood on this site before the building that makes this site intriguing and haunted. The Judd White House stood here and was the scene of a murder-suicide with a wooden leg as the weapon. The Judd White House was named for the family of Mayor George H. White. White had been a unique figure in Grand Rapids. He was a pioneer of the Grand River valley. In 1855, he moved from Saratoga, New York to Grand Rapids. In Grand Rapids, he had held many offices of trust and as the Grand Rapids Evening Press wrote in his obituary in 1902, "his services were sought in many important cases which figure in the history of the country. Early he was elected justice of the peace and afterward ...

Mining and railroads transformed Denver from a small town on the plains to a regional metropolis. Hotels were a necessity for the influx of business people and tourists. We featured the history and hauntings of the Brown Palace Hotel on the main feed several months ago and the man who designed that hotel, Frank E. Edbrook, also designed the Oxford Hotel. This is the oldest hotel in Denver, Colorado and has been home and witness to decades of history. One piece of that history was a murder that took place in Room 320. That room is now known as the Murder Room and, of course, it seems to be haunted. The population of Denver boomed in the 1870s and soon it was the third largest city in the West. By 1890, 100 different railroads had their hub in Denver and flowed up into the mountains or out into the plains. In 1891, three men decided that the city needed a first-class hotel within walking distance of Union Station. These men were entrepreneur and owner of Vindicator Consolidated Gold Mini...

Anne Boleyn was the second wife of Henry VIII and she probably is the wife that most people are familiar with of his six wives. She was executed, but she was innocent, so this was murder. A schism was created when Henry tried to annul his marriage to his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. The King had to wait seven years before he could marry Anne, but his love waned just three years into that marriage. He stood by as she was executed. This kind of betrayal and unjust death can lead to hauntings and in the case of Anne Boleyn, it would seem that her spirit is at unrest. The controversy and mystery that surrounds the life and death of Anne Boleyn began at her birth. Trying to pin down her date of birth is impossible. Historians have argued for centuries and eventually they agreed on two separate years: 1501 and 1507. Her father was Thomas Boleyn, who became Earl of Wiltshire and Ormonde and he was a member of the Privy Council. Her mother was Lady Elizabeth Howard who was the ...

Is it possible that some kind of great evil could whisper in the ear of a man and compel him to kill? That is what Matthias Schambacher claimed. The German Schambacher had immigrated to America and eventually opened an inn with his wife in 1851. The couple would use the cover of their inn to murder people and do away with their bodies. Those murders left behind ghosts and Schambacher may have even gotten a final strike from God, when lightning hit his tombstone as he was lowered into the ground. The natural and the supernatural seem to occupy the same place here. The Blue Ridge Mountains are gorgeous with their tree covered peaks and blue-green hue. I've driven the Blue Ridge Parkway and spent time in the Crown Jewel of the range, Asheville. The entire range is just amazing with many peaks, all identified with individual names. One of these peaks is Hawk Mountain, which rises to 1,521 feet. Many take advantage of several of the hiking trails that traverse the 2600 acre Hawk Mo...