Haunted American History

On Halloween night in 1974, eight-year-old Timothy O'Bryan came home from trick-or-treating in Pasadena, Texas, with a giant Pixy Stix.His father helped him open it.Timothy complained that the candy tasted strange.Within an hour, he was dead.Investigators discovered that the candy contained a lethal dose of cyanide. Four other children had received identical poisoned treats, and police raced to find them before anyone else could be hurt.The case seemed to confirm one of America's greatest Halloween fears: that a stranger might deliberately poison the candy handed to innocent children.But the stranger didn't exist.The killer was Timothy's own father, Ronald Clark O'Bryan, a church deacon drowning in debt who had secretly purchased life insurance policies on his children.And the story didn't end with his conviction.Tonight, we're examining the murder that helped transform Halloween, the nationwide panic over poisoned candy and razor blades, and the surprising truth about how often children have actually been harmed by contaminated trick-or-treat candy.Welcome to Day Fourteen of 31 Days of Halloween. VERB ENERGY Limited addition Blood-Orange Pound Cake- Promo Code - HAUNTED verbenergy.com/haunted Tales from the Shadows Weekend in Lancaster PA CONDEMNED links - https://linktr.ee/CondemnedYouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@HauntedAmericanHistoryTikTok - @hah_podcasthauntedamericanhistory.comPatreon- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/hauntedamericanhistory⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠HAH DISCORD - https://discord.com/invite/bJdbpH3hQm Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In November of 1960, a teenage girl wrote a letter to Dear Abby warning other teenagers about something she'd heard.A young couple had been parked on a deserted road when their radio interrupted the music with a frightening announcement.A dangerous man had escaped from custody.And where his right hand should have been, he had a hook.The couple fled, but when they reached home, they discovered something hanging from the passenger-side door handle.For generations, Americans have told some version of this story around campfires, at sleepovers, and in the back seats of cars.But where did the Hookman come from?Tonight, we're tracing one of America's most famous urban legends, from its earliest documented appearance to the real-life Phantom Killer who terrorized Texarkana in 1946, the folklorists who argued over its meaning, and the horror movies that introduced it to new generations.And before the night is over, there's one more story to tell.A girl waiting alone in a stalled car.A strange scratching sound on the roof.And a warning not to look back.Welcome to Day Thirteen of 31 Days of Halloween. VERB ENERGY Limited addition Blood-Orange Pound Cake- Promo Code - HAUNTED verbenergy.com/haunted Tales from the Shadows Weekend in Lancaster PA CONDEMNED links - https://linktr.ee/CondemnedYouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@HauntedAmericanHistoryTikTok - @hah_podcasthauntedamericanhistory.comPatreon- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/hauntedamericanhistory⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠HAH DISCORD - https://discord.com/invite/bJdbpH3hQm Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In 1888, a woman named Maggie Fox stood before two thousand people in a New York theater, removed her shoe, and demonstrated how she had spent decades convincing Americans she could communicate with the dead.She cracked her toe joints.Forty years of séances, spirit messages, and mysterious knocking sounds had helped create a nationwide obsession with the supernatural.But the story didn't end when the trick was exposed.Instead, Americans found increasingly elaborate ways to pay for the experience of being frightened.Spirit cabinets. Optical illusions. Ghosts appearing on theater stages. Amusement park rides that carried passengers into complete darkness. Midnight horror shows where monsters wandered through the audience.Eventually, those traditions would come together in the haunted attractions we recognize today.Tonight, we're tracing the strange history of America's haunted houses, from the Fox sisters and P.T. Barnum to a New Jersey invention called the Pretzel, Disneyland's Haunted Mansion, and the tragedy that changed haunted attraction safety forever.Welcome to Day Twelve of 31 Days of Halloween. VERB ENERGY Limited addition Blood-Orange Pound Cake- Promo Code - HAUNTED verbenergy.com/haunted Tales from the Shadows Weekend in Lancaster PA CONDEMNED links - https://linktr.ee/CondemnedYouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@HauntedAmericanHistoryTikTok - @hah_podcasthauntedamericanhistory.comPatreon- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/hauntedamericanhistory⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠HAH DISCORD - https://discord.com/invite/bJdbpH3hQm Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In 1899, Halloween was so destructive in parts of America that grown men sat outside their homes with shotguns, waiting for the pranksters to arrive.People stole gates, overturned outhouses, tore up sidewalks, and sometimes set property on fire.Halloween wasn't the family-friendly celebration we recognize today.And in Hiawatha, Kansas, one woman had finally had enough.Her name was Elizabeth Krebs. She was a Swiss immigrant, a gardener, and a mother who had buried three of her four children. After years of watching Halloween vandals destroy the flowers she cared for, she decided to do something about it.In 1912, she convinced her town to replace the destruction with costumes, music, prizes, and a community celebration.But the story of America's oldest Halloween traditions isn't quite as straightforward as the town's commemorative plaques suggest.And just up the road, in a local cemetery, another extraordinary story was taking shape: a grieving widower spending his fortune on eleven marble statues of himself and his dead wife.Tonight, we're heading to Hiawatha, Kansas, for the woman who helped tame Halloween, a century-old argument over who celebrated it first, and one of America's strangest monuments to love and loss.Welcome to Day Eleven of 31 Days of Halloween. VERB ENERGY Limited addition Blood-Orange Pound Cake- Promo Code - HAUNTED verbenergy.com/haunted Tales from the Shadows Weekend in Lancaster PA CONDEMNED links - https://linktr.ee/CondemnedYouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@HauntedAmericanHistoryTikTok - @hah_podcasthauntedamericanhistory.comPatreon- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/hauntedamericanhistory⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠HAH DISCORD - https://discord.com/invite/bJdbpH3hQm Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On Halloween night in 1991, eighteen-year-old Doris Gipson was driving along a rural road outside Elkhorn, Wisconsin, when she struck something with her car.She stopped to investigate.There was nothing in the road.Then she saw something running toward her on two legs.Within months, reports of a strange, upright, wolf-like creature had turned an ordinary Wisconsin farm road into the center of one of America's most famous cryptid mysteries.They called it the Beast of Bray Road.But America's werewolf stories didn't begin in Wisconsin.From the rougarou of Louisiana's bayous to the mysterious Michigan Dogman, a creature whose legend began as an April Fools' Day radio prank, stories of people becoming wolves have followed Americans for centuries.And somewhere along the way, Hollywood helped convince us what a werewolf was supposed to look like.Tonight, we're following the strange history of America's werewolves, the witnesses who claimed to encounter them, and the Halloween night that put Bray Road on the map.Welcome to Day Ten of 31 Days of Halloween. VERB ENERGY Limited addition Blood-Orange Pound Cake- Promo Code - HAUNTED verbenergy.com/haunted Tales from the Shadows Weekend in Lancaster PA CONDEMNED links - https://linktr.ee/CondemnedYouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@HauntedAmericanHistoryTikTok - @hah_podcasthauntedamericanhistory.comPatreon- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/hauntedamericanhistory⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠HAH DISCORD - https://discord.com/invite/bJdbpH3hQm Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.