The Big Yellow House in Summerland is reputed to be one of the most haunted houses in California, but Matt thinks this claim is a bit overblown. In this episode, he discusses how the fading of cultural memory can lend credence to stories that are otherwise unremarkable.
Tag Archives: history
83. Mudhouse Mansion
Mudhouse Mansion is one of the better-known haunted houses in Ohio. From a historically dubious story about slavery to a deeply creepy story about a woman staring out of a window for ten days straight, Mudhouse Mansion provides a range of ways to think about ghost stories.
82. Port Chatham, Alaska
Far to the north and deep in the woods, there is a ghost town… but unlike some ghost towns, this is a place where the mysteries of the forest and the supernatural converge. Matthew takes us to Alaska to unravel the facts from the fiction and to find out what Bigfoot has to do with this spooky place.
81. Odds and Ends
Matthew takes a quick look at some odds and ends… little bits of interesting stuff that doesn’t quite fit anywhere else. From who is in on the joke, what Freud has to do with folklore, and even a very famous private part, this episode has a tiny bit of everything.
68. The Myrtles Plantation
The Myrtles Plantation, claimed by many to be one of the most haunted places in the United States, is famed primarily for the ghost of a young enslaved woman named Chloe. In this episode, Matt provides a few different perspectives on how the ghost stories of the Myrtles developed and what they mean to visitors.
67. Interview About The Vampire(s) (With Kaylia Metcalfe)
.In this episode, Kaylia joins Matt to discuss something more ghost-adjacent than ghostly: the vampire. Much of what is generally thought of as vampire folklore is actually the result of 19th-century fiction, but Matt and Kaylia get into even earlier actual folklore from Europe.
66. Ghosts of UC Santa Cruz (With Dr. Liberty Stanavage)
Matt and his old friend Liberty Stanavage talk about the ghosts rumored to haunt their alma mater, the University of California Santa Cruz. Along the way, they discuss how these ghost stories reflect both student life on campus and the way that the faculty and student body of the university view themselves.
65. Necromancers, Priests, and Protestants (With Dr. Justin Sledge)
In this episode, Matt talks with Dr. Justin Sledge, an expert on esoteric and occult traditions in philosophy and religion. They discuss the transition from priests to necromancers in Medieval Europe as well as the influence of the Protestant Reformation on beliefs about ghosts.
64. The Brookdale Lodge
The Brookdale Lodge in the Santa Cruz Mountains is both a large resort hotel and a local haunted house. In this episode, Matt shares the local lore, talks with two people who had eerie encounters at the Brookdale Lodge, and shares his own experiences there.
63. Summer Camp Stories With Dawn Burley
Ghost stories are often associated with campfires, and common perception is that Scout camps are a prime place to learn ghost stories. But the logistics of camp, and of the counselor’s need to keep control over campers, makes that situation a bit more complicated. In this episode, Matt is joined by his old friend, and former Girl Scout camp counselor, Dawn Burley to talk about ghost stories in the Girl Scout camp experience.
KMMA Media 