Southern Gothic

In 1891 Octavia Hatcher was twenty years-old. She was married to the most successful businessmen in the state of Kentucky and was awaiting the birth of her first child. There should have been nothing but excitement and hope in a bright future for the family, but that was not to be. After the devastating loss of her child, Octavia became despondent, eventually becoming bedridden. She was pronounced dead on May 2, 1891. Yet just days later, an odd sleeping sickness struck the town, during which the afflicted seemed dead for a time before reviving. Octavia’s husband, James Hatcher, fear she too may have afflicted with the illness. When the coffin was disinterred she discovered the horrifying truth— Octavia Hatcher had been buried alive. Most legends are a mixture of fact and fiction, but in the the story of Octavia Hatcher the line behind history and legend is much more difficult to spot. For many in Pikeville, Kentucky, the story of Octavia Hatcher’s tragic death is complete fact, but as skeptics of the story point out, there is no known documentation to support such an event occurring. Help Southern Gothic grow by becoming a Patreon Supporter today! Connect with Southern Gothic Media: Website: SouthernGothicMedia.com Merch Store: https://www.southerngothicmedia.com/merch Pinterest: @SouthernGothicMedia Facebook: @SouthernGothicMedia Instagram: @SouthernGothicMedia Twitter: @SoGoPodcast Join our Facebook Group! If you are a sponsor looking to advertise on the show visit Airwave Media or email [email protected] for information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Enter our April T-shirt Giveaway by signing up for our newsletter at SouthernGothicMedia.com In October 1872, a small Georgia community was bursting with visitors and curiosity seekers in an attempt to discover the truth behind mysterious happenings at the family home of Allen Powell Surrency. In what many consider to be one of the most documented ghost story in American history, the Surrency family home seemingly became the epicenter of a destructive entity. From the benign—doors slammed open and closed and objects floated above the ground, to the life threatening—a child thrown from bed and another beaten by unseen hands. Today, proponents of the paranormal say that the events in 1872 have the marks of poltergeist activity. The cause of such activity at the Surrency House remains a mystery. Help Southern Gothic grow by becoming a Patreon Supporter today! Connect with Southern Gothic Media: Website: SouthernGothicMedia.com Merch Store: https://www.southerngothicmedia.com/merch Pinterest: @SouthernGothicMedia Facebook: @SouthernGothicMedia Instagram: @SouthernGothicMedia Twitter: @SoGoPodcast Join our Facebook Group! If you are a sponsor looking to advertise on the show visit Airwave Media or email [email protected] for information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Enter our April T-shirt Giveaway by signing up for our newsletter at SouthernGothicMedia.com Hilton Head Island’s Leamington Lighthouse was erected in 1880 to help guide ships away from the island and safely into Port Royal Sound; but according to local lore, the now decommissioned structure is home to the apparition of a young women in a blue dress. Legends say that the woman is the daughter of a lighthouse keeper who tragically met his fate during a massive hurricane. As a result, she purportedly returns to warn of pending storms. Help Southern Gothic grow by becoming a Patreon Supporter today! Connect with Southern Gothic Media: Website: SouthernGothicMedia.com Merch Store: https://www.southerngothicmedia.com/merch Pinterest: @SouthernGothicMedia Facebook: @SouthernGothicMedia Instagram: @SouthernGothicMedia Twitter: @SoGoPodcast Join our Facebook Group! If you are a sponsor looking to advertise on the show visit Airwave Media or email [email protected] for information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When the Civil War drew to a close, the United States’ railway networks, particularly those in the Southern states, were in shambles. During the Reconstruction era, the rehabilitation of the southern rails and expansion of transcontinental railroads became a major undertaking, and as the importance of the railroad rose. In the three decades after the Civil War over 170,000 miles of track were added to America’s railway system; it opened the western states for further settlement and reestablished the accessibility of the southern states. The accomplishment required a considerable workforce, and railway companies became a significant employers of thousands of men finally freed from enslavement. The work was dangerous, physically intensive, and time consuming. It’s unknown exactly how many men lost their lives to injury or illness while expanding the nation’s railroad system during Reconstruction, but the legacy of these men lives on in one of the most enduring folk heroes in American history…the ballad of John Henry, the steel-driving man. Help Southern Gothic grow by becoming a Patreon Supporter today! Connect with Southern Gothic Media: Website: SouthernGothicMedia.com Merch Store: https://www.southerngothicmedia.com/merch Pinterest: @SouthernGothicMedia Facebook: @SouthernGothicMedia Instagram: @SouthernGothicMedia Twitter: @SoGoPodcast Join our Facebook Group! If you are a sponsor looking to advertise on the show visit Airwave Media or email [email protected] for information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help Southern Gothic grow by becoming a Patreon Supporter today! Along the coastal plain region of Southeastern Virginia and Northeastern North Carolina lies the ominously named Great Dismal Swamp. While this unique habitat has served as home to a wide array of biological diversity for over ten thousand years, modern archaeologists are uncovering more and more evidence of a unique community of runaways slaves and their families who thrived there for over two centuries– the Great Dismal Swamp Maroons. Help Southern Gothic grow by becoming a Patreon Supporter today! Connect with Southern Gothic Media: Website: SouthernGothicMedia.com Merch Store: https://www.southerngothicmedia.com/merch Pinterest: @SouthernGothicMedia Facebook: @SouthernGothicMedia Instagram: @SouthernGothicMedia Twitter: @SoGoPodcast Join our Facebook Group! If you are a sponsor looking to advertise on the show visit Airwave Media or email [email protected] for information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Check out our special bonus video content for this episode by becoming a Patreon Supporter today! On May 14, 1804 Meriwether Lewis and William Clark set out on what would become a two year expedition across the western half of the United States. Yet for all the successes of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, there lies a shadow over the legacy of the famed Meriwether Lewis– for as this daring explorer was able to survive the treacherous journey into the vast wilderness of North America, his life came to an end not long after his return– a tragedy with mysterious circumstances that over two centuries later remains unsolved. This episode also includes a special guest voiceover by Jeremy Collins of Podcasts We Listen To Help Southern Gothic grow by becoming a Patreon Supporter today! Connect with Southern Gothic Media: Website: SouthernGothicMedia.com Merch Store: https://www.southerngothicmedia.com/merch Pinterest: @SouthernGothicMedia Facebook: @SouthernGothicMedia Instagram: @SouthernGothicMedia Twitter: @SoGoPodcast Join our Facebook Group! If you are a sponsor looking to advertise on the show visit Airwave Media or email [email protected] for information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Just north of Lafayette, Louisiana– in the small town of Sunset– is Chretien Point, a beautiful Creole style two-story mansion that once served as the centerpiece to a vast cotton plantation known as Chretien Point. Today, the enduring legacy of Chretien Point is not in its bricks or furnishings, but in the story of its mistress, Félicité Neda Chretien. Commonly referred to as a ‘real-life’ Scarlett O’Hara – Madame Félicité Chretien was confident, strong-willed, intelligent, and beautiful. Félicité learned how to successfully run a plantation from her father, and it was she who saw Chretien Point Plantation through its most prosperous days, and it was Madame Chretien who saved it from its darkest. Help Southern Gothic grow by becoming a Patreon Supporter today! Connect with Southern Gothic Media: Website: SouthernGothicMedia.com Merch Store: https://www.southerngothicmedia.com/merch Pinterest: @SouthernGothicMedia Facebook: @SouthernGothicMedia Instagram: @SouthernGothicMedia Twitter: @SoGoPodcast Join our Facebook Group! If you are a sponsor looking to advertise on the show visit Airwave Media or email [email protected] for information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For almost two centuries the legend of the disappearance of Peter Dromgoole has been told by the students of the University of North Carolina. In 1833 Peter Dromgoole arrived to study at the University, and although he initially failed the entrance exam Peter remained to prepare to retake the test. Yet before he could do so, Peter Dromgoole vanished without a trace. The oft-told legend of Peter Dromgoole is one of a love story that ends in a tragedy. There is another version of the tale, one that looks at Dromgoole family letters, in an attempt to discover Peter’s path from North Carolina. Today, centuries later, the mystery remains unsolved. What actually happened to Peter Dromgoole? Help Southern Gothic grow by becoming a Patreon Supporter today! Connect with Southern Gothic Media: Website: SouthernGothicMedia.com Merch Store: https://www.southerngothicmedia.com/merch Pinterest: @SouthernGothicMedia Facebook: @SouthernGothicMedia Instagram: @SouthernGothicMedia Twitter: @SoGoPodcast Join our Facebook Group! If you are a sponsor looking to advertise on the show visit Airwave Media or email [email protected] for information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On July 26, 1910 the Waverly Hills Sanatorium opened outside Louisville, Kentucky; the hospital on the hill was dedicated solely to the treatment of those infected with the highly contagious and often fatal disease, tuberculosis. During its forty years in operation, thousands would pass through the hospital doors, though most would survive, hundreds would not. Although modern medicine has largely made tuberculosis an illness of the past, the stigma of it lingered.      In the decades since the sanatorium closed and the site deteriorated, it gained a new reputation, as one of the most haunted buildings on Earth.  Help Southern Gothic grow by becoming a Patreon Supporter today! Connect with Southern Gothic Media: Website: SouthernGothicMedia.com Merch Store: https://www.southerngothicmedia.com/merch Pinterest: @SouthernGothicMedia Facebook: @SouthernGothicMedia Instagram: @SouthernGothicMedia Twitter: @SoGoPodcast Join our Facebook Group! If you are a sponsor looking to advertise on the show visit Airwave Media or email [email protected] for information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Eliza Battle was once one of the most luxurious steamboats on Alabama’s waters, but her untimely demise by fire has left many to believe that she can still be seen on the Tombigbee River’s water– an omen of death. Help Southern Gothic grow by becoming a Patreon Supporter today! Connect with Southern Gothic Media: Website: SouthernGothicMedia.com Merch Store: https://www.southerngothicmedia.com/merch Pinterest: @SouthernGothicMedia Facebook: @SouthernGothicMedia Instagram: @SouthernGothicMedia Twitter: @SoGoPodcast Join our Facebook Group! If you are a sponsor looking to advertise on the show visit Airwave Media or email [email protected] for information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices