Latest / Journey to the Fringe / Ghoul Trotters

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Ghoul Trotters · Journey to the Fringe

• 0:02
  Be unexplained to the mundane. Join us on our
• 0:21
  journey to the fringe. Hello and welcome to Journey
• 0:32
  to the Fringe. Just like, I think as a general
• 0:34
  rule, please don't commit crimes in our name.
• 0:38
  Why do we have to keep telling you guys this?
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  I think we just need to keep repeating it. I
• 0:44
  don't think it's a why do we need to. I think
• 0:47
  it's just like a, it's good that we do this because
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  the lawsuits aren't coming. Touche. Anyhow, we
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  are your podcast hosts, Taylor and Chelsea, here
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  today doing a Chelsea episode, which I hope I
• 1:00
  don't need to make another, like, legal notice
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  at the beginning of, but it's Chelsea's episode.
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  Maybe wait to the end on this one. Okay. Yeah,
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  let's just see what we do with it. And it's a
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  Chelsea spooky episode because the season is
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  spooky. And we all know, I mean, we're here at
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  Journey to the Fringe. And we have a profound
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  love of spooky things to begin with. And it's
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  only amplified on Halloween. One of my favorite
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  things in the world is ghost stories. I love
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  hearing people's spooky stories. I love ghost
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  tours when I visit new cities. I want to know
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  what's haunting that city. I want to hear new
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  ghost stories for the places I'm traveling to.
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  Not necessarily on Halloween, but there's just
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  something cozier about a ghost tour when the
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  season is right and the veil is getting thinner.
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  So while I can't afford to fly you all on a worldly
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  ghost tour because you don't pay us enough, I
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  thought tonight I would transport you there with
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  my beautiful words, as I'm known for, so we can
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  take a visit of some of our world's most haunted
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  locations. Starting with South America, the first
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  up we have is Humberstone, which is in the Atacama
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  Desert in Chile. Humberstone and its sister Camp
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  Santa Laura were once thriving nitrate boom towns
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  carved into the Atacama Desert. The Atacama is
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  where the Nazca lines are, correct? How about
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  that? The only thing I can think of is the Atacama
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  skeleton now, which might be from around here.
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  I believe it came from a mining town, did it
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  not? I do not know. Neither do I. Anyhow, pretend
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  we didn't say anything. Here, this that we're
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  talking about was a company built on... I'm sorry,
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  the Nazca lines are in the Nazca desert, so just
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  forget I brought that up. The monkeys and the
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  spiders. The monkeys. Rest in peace, Eric Von
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  Daniken. So their company -built enclaves, where
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  thousands worked, endured the brutal saltpeter
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  industry. Founded in the 19th century and later
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  renamed for British engineer James Humberstone,
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  the towns processed white gold for global fertilizer
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  and munitions markets. Life there was harsh,
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  blistering heat, dangerous machinery, debt bondage
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  to the company store, and constant undercurrent
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  of risk. When synthetic nitrate arrived in the
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  mid -20th century, the industry collapsed almost
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  overnight. Families fled, leaving homes, toys,
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  tools, and entire streets frozen in time. In
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  the world's driest, harshest desert, nothing
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  rots. Humberstone simply calcified into a perfect
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  ghost town. Its haunting stem from that mix of
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  suffering, sudden abandonment, and eerie preservation.
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  Visitors describe footsteps echoing through the
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  empty theater, a woman in white drifting near
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  the church, and children's laughter in small
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  footprints near the old cemetery. One common
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  account comes from... Pulperia's cold storage
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  room. Tourists step inside expecting silence
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  only to hear metallic clanging like machinery
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  starting up, despite the building having no power
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  for decades. A female figure wandering the old
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  train station and voices and footsteps inside
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  the Grand Theatre, one of the most famous hotspots.
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  Humberstone carries the weight of its past. The
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  desert doesn't let anything decay, including
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  memory, and the result is a place where history
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  feels like it's still walking around. And we're
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  fresh off some Halloween episodes, and I can't
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  help but feel some zombie adjacentness with this
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  one, especially in conjunction with... the corporate
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  town. I always feel especially bad for these
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  ghosts when they live and worked in the same
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  place and their soul is now continuing on in
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  the same place. I just think it's a rather sad
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  thing. Yeah, it definitely has the zombie vibes
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  that we just talked about. Exactly. We're getting
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  a theme for this Halloween, I feel like. The
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  next one in South America that I'm going to talk
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  about is the Palace of the Inquisition in Lima,
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  Peru. While we're on this tour, of the world
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  and its haunted locations maybe i'm gonna put
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  some things on the map for you to visit it would
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  be dark tourism but i still feel like that might
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  take me somewhere and then there's all this other
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  good stuff around it and a good ghost tour the
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  palace of the inquisition in lima is one of those
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  places where the historical record is already
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  terrifying enough and we're gonna see this come
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  up over and over again tonight today Whatever
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  time of day you're listening to this. But the
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  paranormal lore layered on top makes it feel
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  like the building is still conducting its own
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  trials. The palace served as the headquarters
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  of the Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition
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  from the late 1500s until the early 1800s, where
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  people accused of heresy witchcraft or superstition
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  were interrogated and tried. Records from the
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  period describe the prosecution of magical practices
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  and the judical methods used against accused
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  witches and healers including the case of Paula
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  Molina in the 18th century which illustrates
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  the inquisition's harsh procedures and the fear
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  surrounding accusations of sorcery. Today, the
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  building houses the Museum of the Inquisition,
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  the reconstructed torture chambers, underground
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  cells, and claustrophobic interrogation rooms
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  that preserve the atmosphere of its past. Visitors
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  often report cold spots in the underground dungeons,
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  whispers in the narrow brick corridors, and the
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  sensation of being watched while passing the
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  reconstruction torture devices. Guides say the
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  most common sighting is a shadowy figure moving
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  at the end of the hallway near the old cells.
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  Always the same place, always vanishes when approached.
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  Others described hearing chains dragging or soft
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  crying from empty rooms. While these accounts
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  aren't formally documented in the sources, they're
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  widely repeated by tour guides and visitors,
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  and they echo the building's history of fear,
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  coercion, and suffering. The combination of preserved
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  interrogation chambers, centuries of trauma,
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  and the building's dim subterranean architecture
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  make the Palace of the Inquisition one of Lima's
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  most unsettling and most frequently rumored haunted
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  sites. We're already jetting off to Europe. I'm
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  sorry, guys. We're on a private jet. Our carbon
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  footprint is enormous, except that we're doing
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  this telepathically. And next up is the Tower
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  of London. And while I have always known that
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  this is probably one of the most notoriously
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  haunted places in the world, I had no idea about
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  what was going on there. Obviously, these places,
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  all of them, have super dark histories. The Tower
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  of London is basically the perfect storm for
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  a haunting. A thousand years of imprisonment,
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  torture, royal intrigue, executions, betrayal,
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  and grief all live. layered inside of one fortress.
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  It's not a haunted building. It's dozens of haunted
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  sites stitched together, each with its own ghost
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  story and emotional residue. And there are some
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  famous ghosts in the Tower of London. Starting
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  with my favorite, the ghost bear. Did you know
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  there is a ghost bear in the Tower of London?
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  I did not. How did it get there? Well, listen
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  to this. The tower once kept exotic animals,
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  including lions and a polar bear. In the 1800s,
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  do you think they had hippos? I don't. That took
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  a special kind of situation. In the 1800s, a
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  guard reportedly tried to bayonet a spectral
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  bear, charging him. His bayonet passed through
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  it and he fainted on the spot. I love that guy.
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  I would go specifically to the Tower of London
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  and do a ghost tour, hoping that they have ghost
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  tours for my next trip to London. I'm going to
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  ask them about the bear. Hoping to see the bear.
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  So then we have probably the most famous ghost
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  of the Tower of London, Anne Boleyn. People report
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  seeing her walking near the site of her execution,
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  drifting through the Chapel Royal of St. Peter
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  and Vincula. Vincula? Advincula? Carrying her
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  severed head, appearing as a full -bodied apparition
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  in Tudor dress, guards have reported her for
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  centuries. The princes in the tower. Edward V
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  and his younger brother Richard disappeared in
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  1483, likely murdered. Their ghosts are said
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  to appear as two small figures holding hands
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  and be seen running up staircases and crying.
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  The princes are famously linked to the Bloody
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  Tower where they were imprisoned and the White
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  Tower where workmen discovered the bones of two
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  children beneath the staircase in 1674. Multiple
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  nightguards have reported hearing children's
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  laughter in empty corridors. Next up is the ghost
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  of Lady Jane Grey executed at age 16. Witnesses
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  claim she appears as a pale figure on battlements
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  at dawn on the anniversary of her death. Then
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  we have the white lady who we see again and again
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  and again in these stories, seen in the white
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  tower. Visitors describe a woman in white, Tudor
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  -style clothing, a strong scent of perfume alongside
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  a feeling of being watched or touched. One guard
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  said he felt someone tug his cloak. No one was
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  behind him. I wonder what century this guy was
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  in there with a cloak. It was probably like a
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  couple weeks ago. I know, Mike. cloak doesn't
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  get tugged at all so it's very bothersome when
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  your cloak gets tugged right okay so next we
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  have huska castle in the czech republic while
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  most medieval castles were built to keep invaders
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  out huska was built to keep something in huska
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  is located in a dense forest and it has no water
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  source no kitchens and no strategic defensive
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  value According to historical folklore, it was
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  constructed directly over a massive, seemingly
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  bottomless chasm known as the Gateway to Hell,
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  from which winged demonic entities would emerge.
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  The castle's chapel was built directly over the
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  pit to seal it, and visitors to this day report
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  intense dread and the sounds of heavy scratching
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  from beneath the stone floors. The legend goes
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  that before the chapel was constructed to seal
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  the gateway to hell, the local ruler, often cited
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  as Ottokar II of Bohemia, decided to test just
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  how deep the seemingly bottomless pit actually
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  went and what might be lurking inside. To find
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  out, he offered a dark bargain to local prisoners
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  who had been condemned to death. Anyone willing
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  to be lowered into the pitch black abyss by a
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  rope and report back on what they saw would receive
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  a full pardon. Would you do it? I don't know
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  because I haven't committed a crime where they
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  would say, by the way. If you just kind of go
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  do this thing, we'll give you a pardon. Maybe
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  I would. So. Like being free now, I feel like
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  I wouldn't. Maybe if I was. Yeah. Maybe I would.
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  Maybe I would. I've never been in that situation
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  where I'd have to think about it. That's true.
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  That's true. Could you imagine if you got a park,
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  like a speeding ticket, and they're like, by
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  the way, it's $150 or we're going to lure you
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  into a pit. You're going to see if there's any
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  demons down there. You know what, though? I feel
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  like if it's $150 being like me being in prison
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  for life in medieval Europe because I was accused
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  of witchcraft and they're like, we'll let you
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  out. We'll forget that you're a witch if you
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  go into this deep, dark hole and see what's in
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  there and let us know. I feel like that's different
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  than if I was speeding and had a ticket I could
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  just pay for. You know? It's an interesting proposition,
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  isn't it? But I don't know. I'm not in the position
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  of the $150 ticket, so maybe I can take it to
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  save $150. Yeah. Or it's like, you gotta go to
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  court on this date, or you can go into the pit.
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  I feel like I have a whole new excuse and rationale
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  for why I shouldn't speed to get a speeding ticket.
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  Or else I'll have to go into a big dark black
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  hole. To get out of the ticket. Don't speed.
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  Anyhow, the first prisoner is eagerly accepted.
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  See? Okay, maybe we're just not in the right
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  state of mind. Maybe it's just something that's
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  an easy yes. He was tied to a heavy rope and
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  slowly lured into the dark sinkhole. For the
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  first few moments, there was only silence. Then
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  the man began to scream. According to the legend,
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  his screams were not just cries for fear, but
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  sounds of absolute, unhinged agony. He thrashed
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  blindly, begging wildly to be pulled back to
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  the surface immediately. When the guards frantically
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  hoisted him up, the young prisoner had completely
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  changed. His hair had turned stark white. His
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  face was deeply lined, and he appeared to have
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  aged 30 years in just a few minutes. He was totally
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  incoherent, babbling hysterically about a horrific
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  stench of sulfur and dark half -human winged
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  creatures swarming in the depths. The man never
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  recovered his sanity and reportedly died of shock
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  just a few days later. Anyhow, we're off to Africa
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  now, where... We're now ghost touring the Castle
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  of Good Hope in Cape Town, South Africa. And
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  this is the oldest existing colonial building
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  in South Africa. And it carries a dark history
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  of dungeons and torture. It has been the site
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  of centuries of imprisonment, torture, executions,
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  and colonial brutality, all absorbed into its
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  thick stone walls. Built between 1666 and 1679
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  by the Dutch East India Company, it served as
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  the Cape's colony's military headquarters, government
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  center, prison, and execution ground. Slaves,
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  soldiers, political prisoners, and civilians
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  were held in its dungeons, including the infamous
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  Donker Gat, which is Dark Hole, where people
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  were kept in pitch black standing water until
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  they broke. That sounds awful. Executions by
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  hanging and beheading were common, and drownings
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  occurred during winter floods. This long history
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  of suffering is directly tied to the castle's
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  reputation as Africa's most haunted building.
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  The Castle of Good Hope has hundreds of documented
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  sightings, many from soldiers and security guards.
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  The most famous include the government Pieter
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  van Nuyt. After cursing condemned soldiers in
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  1729, he died suddenly at his desk with a look
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  of terror on his face. His apparition still walks
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  the corridors described as rigid, pale, and furious.
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  Then there's the Lady in Gray, a woman in a long
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  gray dress who appears crying or running through
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  the castle. During recent excavations, workers
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  unearthed the unmarked skeleton of a woman on
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  the grounds. After the remains were given a proper
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  burial, sightings of the lady in grey abruptly
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  stopped. She didn't return. Then there's the
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  ghostly bell ringer. The bell in the bell tower
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  has been heard ringing even though it was sealed
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  off years ago. Guards report footsteps and a
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  shadowy figure near the tower. Then there's a
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  black dog, a large spectral dog that charges
• 17:45
  visitors and then disappears. Witnesses describe
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  it as solid and snarling before it vanishes mid
• 17:51
  -leap. There's Lady Anne Bernard, a well -known
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  historical figure whose apparition is seen in
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  the dolphin pool area, sometimes accompanied
• 18:01
  by the smell of perfume. And there's shadow people
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  and voices. Security guards frequently report
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  shadowy figures in the dungeons, phantom footsteps,
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  screams, sulfurous odors, and even physical pushing
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  and choking sensations. Recent reports in 2025
• 18:19
  include voices in tobacco smoke in the empty
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  governor's quarters. One of the most repeated
• 18:25
  stories come from the nightguards patrolling
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  the ramparts. They hear a woman crying, soft
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  at first, then rising into a wall. When they
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  approach, the sound stops instantly and a tall
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  figure is seen walking the battlements. The figure
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  never responds, never turns, and disappears at
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  the corner tower as if stepping into a wall.
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  The next one, not that I can call anything my
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  favorite out of these. I think you'll notice
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  that most, if not all, of these have a very dark
• 18:56
  history, which is probably more than likely the
• 18:59
  reason that they're heavily haunted. This next
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  one is very interesting to me. It's Oida in Benin.
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  Oida isn't just historically heavy, it's spiritually
• 19:11
  charged. It's one of the few places on Earth
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  where the trauma of the transatlantic slave trade
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  and the living power of Vodun sit directly on
• 19:22
  top of each other, creating a landscape that
• 19:25
  feels alive, watchful, and emotionally overwhelming.
• 19:28
  The paranormal reputation is built on centuries
• 19:32
  of ritual, suffering, and ancestral presence
• 19:35
  that locals treat with deep seriousness. Oida
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  was one of West Africa's largest slave exporting
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  ports from the 1600s to the 1800s. Tens of thousands
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  of people were marched down the Route des Esclaves.
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  Sorry, I'm doing my best here. I think that's
• 19:55
  French. Held in compounds. That might be enclaves.
• 19:58
  No, it's esclaves. Route des Esclaves. Held in
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  compounds, branded, and forced onto ships. The
• 20:08
  trauma of that history is still felt physically.
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  Visitors often describe the area as heavy, thick,
• 20:15
  or charged, especially near the old barracoons
• 20:19
  or the door of no return. At the same time, Oida
• 20:23
  is the cradle of Bodan, a complex, sophisticated
• 20:27
  spiritual system involving ancestral veneration,
• 20:32
  trance, possession, healing, and ritual communication
• 20:35
  with the spirit world. Bodan isn't folklore here.
• 20:39
  It's active, practiced, and woven into its daily
• 20:42
  life. Shrines, sacred forests, and temples are
• 20:46
  everywhere, and ceremonies are constant. And
• 20:50
  the result of all of this is a place where the
• 20:52
  living and the dead coexist, and where spiritual
• 20:55
  energy is treated as a normal part of the environment.
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  So let's take a look at some of the most haunted
• 21:01
  sites in Oida. So first we have the Route de
• 21:04
  Esclaves and the Door of No Return. The four
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  kilometer slave route is a physical path still
• 21:11
  walked today, ending at the beach where the ship's
• 21:14
  anchored. The Door of No Return is a massive
• 21:18
  memorial arch built in 1995 to mark the final
• 21:22
  departure point where enslaved people left Africa
• 21:25
  forever. The visceral emotional reactions reported
• 21:30
  by visitors, including sudden chills, weeping,
• 21:34
  pressure on the chest, The feeling of being followed
• 21:38
  and nausea are heavily documented, particularly
• 21:42
  among members of the African diaspora participating
• 21:45
  in heritage tourism. It's a site of immense historical
• 21:50
  grief. There are footsteps, murmurs, and distant
• 21:54
  voices commonly described, especially near old
• 21:58
  holding compounds. Many locals believe the spirits
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  of those who died on the route remain active,
• 22:05
  restless and protective. Visitors describe uncontrollable
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  crying, nausea, trembling or the sensation of
• 22:13
  hands touching their back. Silhouettes on the
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  beach at dusk, murmuring voices and shadow figures
• 22:19
  near the arch are commonly reported. And it's
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  considered one of the strongest spirit -charged
• 22:24
  places in West Africa due to the magnitude of
• 22:27
  suffering tied to it. And that, to me, would
• 22:31
  seem really like we did an episode on... What
• 22:35
  was it called? Something lingo. Ghost lingo?
• 22:38
  Paranormal lingo? Or something like that. And
• 22:41
  we talked about... Yeah, the terms within, like,
• 22:44
  hauntings. All the different words you can use
• 22:46
  for it. Yeah. And it seems to me like this would
• 22:50
  be more of like a residual just with such charged
• 22:54
  energy, such negatively charged energy that it's
• 22:59
  just imprinted on the place is what it would
• 23:01
  seem to me like. And I can only imagine. It's
• 23:04
  probably very immense feeling standing there.
• 23:08
  The next place in Oida is the sacred forest of
• 23:12
  Kapase. I'm very sorry on my pronunciation if
• 23:15
  this is not right. According to faun oral history,
• 23:19
  King Kapase, the founder of Oida, did not die
• 23:22
  but transformed into a massive Oroko tree to
• 23:26
  escape his enemies. That's a natural way to escape
• 23:29
  things, though, right? Yeah. Turning into a tree.
• 23:31
  Yeah. We've all tried it. This guy, I don't know
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  how he achieved it. You never thought that? You
• 23:40
  have, right? Yeah, of course. Yeah, of course,
• 23:42
  of course. The forest remains a highly restricted,
• 23:45
  active ritual site. The boundary between the
• 23:48
  physical and the spirit worlds is deliberately
• 23:51
  maintained by Vodun priests here. And the phenomena
• 23:54
  described, whispers, shadow figures, a feeling
• 23:58
  of being watched, align perfectly with how the
• 24:01
  local priesthood describes the forest's active
• 24:03
  ancestral presence. The forest is considered
• 24:06
  alive with spirits, deities, ancestral forces
• 24:10
  inhabiting specific trees and shrines. Reports
• 24:14
  include shadow figures moving independently of
• 24:17
  light, whispers in faun or Yoruba, and the feeling
• 24:22
  of being watched from above. Priests describe
• 24:25
  the forest as a place where the boundary between
• 24:28
  human and spirit realms is intentionally thin.
• 24:31
  Then we have the Python Temple. The temple is
• 24:35
  a central Vodun site housing dozens of royal
• 24:39
  pythons, the physical manifestations of the deity
• 24:42
  Dengbe. The snakes roam freely and are entirely
• 24:46
  integrated into the daily life of the city. The
• 24:49
  intense disorientation, dizzy, emotionally overwhelming,
• 24:53
  or charged feelings visitors report are viewed
• 24:56
  by practitioners as the overwhelming proximity
• 24:59
  of divine energy, not as a haunting. You have
• 25:04
  unexplained hissing, movement in empty corners,
• 25:07
  and flashes of light are frequently reported.
• 25:10
  Ritual energy is constant, making the temple
• 25:13
  a hotspot for non -ghost spiritual phenomena.
• 25:17
  I don't even know what that would entail. but
• 25:19
  it happens nonetheless. Then we have the Vodun
• 25:23
  shrines and everyday ritual sites. In Vodun cosmology,
• 25:28
  ancestors and spirits are not trapped or tragic.
• 25:31
  They're active participants in the community
• 25:34
  who are fed, consulted, and celebrated through
• 25:37
  daily ritual. The intense atmosphere visitors
• 25:40
  feel is the result of centuries of unbroken,
• 25:43
  highly concentrated spiritual practice overlapping
• 25:46
  with immense historical trauma. Oida is filled
• 25:50
  with active shrines, altars, and ritual crossroads.
• 25:55
  Offerings, divination, possession ceremonies,
• 25:58
  and ancestral communication happen daily. People
• 26:02
  report sudden shifts in atmosphere, unexplained
• 26:05
  sounds, or the feeling of being observed near
• 26:08
  these sites. And again, these aren't hauntings,
• 26:11
  they're manifestations of a living spiritual
• 26:13
  system. I love that in Oida, a lot of it is said
• 26:17
  that it's not hauntings. It is just really something
• 26:21
  else. Spiritual system. Yeah, it almost feels
• 26:24
  like it comes from a different cultural background.
• 26:28
  Which is fair, because this is a very different
• 26:30
  region than we're used to with hauntings. Yes.
• 26:33
  The last is the collective ancestry memory. A
• 26:37
  city that remembers. Oida's paranormal energy
• 26:40
  is shaped by both trauma and reverence. Locals
• 26:44
  believe ancestors walk alongside the living,
• 26:47
  guiding, warning, and protecting. Visitors often
• 26:51
  describe the entire city as charged, dense, and
• 26:54
  vibrating, even outside major sites. The spiritual
• 26:58
  presence is not passive, it's interactive, intentional,
• 27:01
  and culturally acknowledged. That's my end of
• 27:05
  Africa. I was really excited to do this episode
• 27:09
  because I touched on Europe, but I just think
• 27:12
  that Africa is something that we just don't touch
• 27:15
  on enough, just generally in our culture. So
• 27:18
  I was really excited to do that. I just thought
• 27:21
  that Oida was so interesting because it has that
• 27:25
  mix of spiritual and very traumatic in it. So
• 27:29
  it was almost like it's different than a haunting.
• 27:33
  I think. Oida has a much different energy. Yeah,
• 27:35
  it definitely seems different. I don't know if
• 27:38
  it's a cultural thing or just like it is like
• 27:40
  distinctly different. But I do think you are
• 27:43
  at least selling us short on covering Africa
• 27:46
  because I think we do better than most at talking
• 27:50
  about Africa. Yeah, I could say that. And we
• 27:52
  don't like do that great. We talk about it. No,
• 27:54
  it's just better. Yeah, we do because most people
• 27:58
  don't talk about it at all. Yeah, so I especially
• 28:00
  wanted to include Africa. I actually wanted to
• 28:03
  do more, but I just didn't have enough time to
• 28:06
  include more. So this is a Halloween episode,
• 28:10
  but I might need to carry it into another non
• 28:12
  -Halloween episode. And I always love a coincidence.
• 28:16
  I just talked about the zombies, which is one
• 28:19
  of my favorite episodes I think I've ever researched.
• 28:23
  I found so many ties coming into this episode
• 28:27
  with zombies. The first one with the company
• 28:29
  towns, and then this one with Vodun, because
• 28:33
  I didn't talk, I literally had a sentence about
• 28:35
  Vodun in the zombie episode. And this one kind
• 28:39
  of comes back to the origins of what I didn't
• 28:43
  quite cover in the zombie episode. So it was
• 28:46
  just a coincidence that this came up. As one
• 28:50
  of the most haunted places in Africa to cover
• 28:52
  in this episode. So, coincidence? Or zombies
• 28:57
  pulling the strings? You be the judge. Well,
• 28:59
  and I particularly find it a very funny coincidence.
• 29:02
  Because one of the four different Halloween scripts
• 29:04
  I was working on was haunted Africa. But I was
• 29:08
  going to different places, funny enough. That
• 29:10
  is funny enough. It feels like it might be a
• 29:12
  haunted continent. But also, when you think about
• 29:15
  it, and it being many more than like... What
• 29:18
  is it? Two billion people live in Africa and
• 29:19
  it's the biggest continent. Sorry, second biggest
• 29:22
  continent behind Asia. It makes sense. It intrigued
• 29:26
  me the most because I think I've heard the least
• 29:29
  about Africa when it comes to hauntings. But
• 29:33
  I wanted to be fair to all continents in this
• 29:37
  one. I was less fair to one continent, which
• 29:40
  I think you will see it by the end. Was it Antarctica?
• 29:43
  Enough of that. Which has no hauntings. You would
• 29:47
  be surprised. And Antarctica is not next. The
• 29:52
  next one that's up is we're jetting over to Asia.
• 29:57
  And the first up is Bangar Fort in Rajasthan,
• 30:03
  India, which was built in the 17th century by
• 30:06
  Raja Madho Singh. Bangar was once a thriving
• 30:10
  town at the edge of the Sariska Tiger Reserve.
• 30:14
  It had markets, temples, palaces, and a population
• 30:18
  that lived under the protection of the fort's
• 30:21
  massive stone walls. But the town collapsed suddenly
• 30:25
  and mysteriously, leaving behind a perfectly
• 30:27
  preserved ruin. It's so notoriously haunted that
• 30:32
  the Archaeological Survey of India legally forbids
• 30:36
  anyone from entering the grounds between sunset
• 30:38
  and sunrise. Legends state the entire town was
• 30:42
  cursed by a dark magician, leading to its sudden
• 30:46
  abandonment. Can you just imagine, like, sorry,
• 30:49
  we gotta abandon the town. Fucking magician came
• 30:53
  along and just cursed it, so we gotta abandon
• 30:55
  it. You know what? That honestly sounds like
• 30:58
  the proper way to do things. Yeah. Like, I can
• 31:01
  imagine because our society wouldn't do that.
• 31:04
  But I just, there's something about a society
• 31:06
  that embraces it that I like. They're being their
• 31:09
  authentic selves. Yeah, you know what? It's the
• 31:13
  same, in my mind, on the level of communities
• 31:16
  that exile people. Like, they're just things
• 31:19
  that, you know what? We should embrace and be
• 31:21
  able to do. We should be able to exile people.
• 31:24
  You know, and I say that hot off the press of...
• 31:27
  Apparent white nationalist gathering spotted
• 31:30
  on Tekemloops Reserve Sunday, which is a reserve
• 31:34
  by Kamloops. And I commented, fuck these guys.
• 31:38
  I should have commented. Is that where the name
• 31:39
  Kamloops comes from? Tekemloops? It must be.
• 31:42
  Yeah. Huh. I'm going to go with yeah. Did not
• 31:45
  know that. Basically, it's the same name with
• 31:48
  T at the beginning. Anyhow. Yeah. These guys
• 31:50
  should be fucking exiled. Yes. We should be allowed
• 31:54
  to exile people and we should be allowed to say
• 31:58
  that things were cursed by magicians. Or racists.
• 32:02
  And I think, what's his name? Would agree with
• 32:04
  me. James Randi. He would not agree with me.
• 32:07
  He would probably hate me for saying that. He
• 32:10
  hated me. The magician part or exiling people?
• 32:13
  The magician part. See, I don't, on either of
• 32:16
  those, I don't know for sure if he would agree
• 32:18
  with you. But I haven't read enough from James
• 32:21
  Randi to confirm that. He hates everything. Well,
• 32:24
  he hates magic. I do know that for sure. Okay,
• 32:29
  where was I? They were exiling people. No, they
• 32:32
  weren't, were they? They weren't exiled. No,
• 32:35
  no, they all abandoned the city because of magic.
• 32:38
  Because of the evil magician, right? Yeah. Okay.
• 32:41
  Okay, so two legends explain its downfall. One
• 32:45
  is the curse of the tantric, which is the sorcerer.
• 32:49
  A sorcerer named Sangia fell in love with Princess
• 32:53
  Ret Navadi. When she rejected him, he tried to
• 32:58
  enchant her with a love potion and she threw
• 33:02
  it onto a boulder, which crushed him. As he died,
• 33:06
  he cursed Bangar. Declaring the town would be
• 33:09
  destroyed and no one would ever live there again.
• 33:12
  Well, that explains it. Number two, the forbidden
• 33:16
  shadow. Another legend says the fort's construction
• 33:19
  violated a sage's warning. No building should
• 33:23
  cast a shadow on his dwelling. When the fort
• 33:26
  expanded and its shadow touched his home, he
• 33:30
  cursed the entire settlement. Whether myth or
• 33:33
  metaphor, the town emptied and no one ever returned.
• 33:36
  I wish my words held that much power, honestly.
• 33:39
  If I could curse something and it just actually
• 33:41
  fucking cursed something. Why is this guy so
• 33:44
  special? What made his words so much more curseable?
• 33:48
  Yeah, it would not work well for corporations.
• 33:50
  I would just say that at that point. Society
• 33:53
  with the ability to curse does not work well
• 33:56
  with our current capitalist system. Well, so
• 33:58
  many things are cursed. Like, it leads me to
• 34:01
  believe that only certain people have the power
• 34:04
  to curse things. Only corporations can curse.
• 34:05
  Yes, I agree. I wonder if it's, like, a genetic
• 34:10
  thing? Like, my words hold more power to throw
• 34:14
  curses? Oh, I don't like that. Let's not get
• 34:16
  into eugenics. Okay. I'll agree with it when
• 34:20
  you put it that way. When you can think about
• 34:23
  instilling more curse into a later child because
• 34:27
  you can pick the parents, it's bad. Bad plan.
• 34:30
  Okay, let's forget it. Everyone forget that I
• 34:34
  ever said that. This is a random thing. Shh,
• 34:38
  I didn't say anything. The fort sits in a valley
• 34:43
  surrounded by dense forests, abandoned homes,
• 34:46
  collapsed temples, and a palace that feels frozen
• 34:50
  mid -life. Locals insist the curse is real and
• 34:54
  the area is known for sudden drops in temperature,
• 34:57
  disorientation, the feeling of being watched,
• 35:00
  unexplained sounds echoing through empty corridors,
• 35:04
  animals refusing to enter certain structures.
• 35:07
  Then we have the woman in the market. which visitors
• 35:11
  often report seeing a woman in black or red sari
• 35:15
  walking through the old bazaar at dusk. She appears
• 35:19
  solid human until she turns a corner and vanishes.
• 35:24
  Local says this is Princess Ratnavati. Then we
• 35:29
  have the tantric shadow. A tall thin shadow figure
• 35:33
  is said to appear near the fort's main gate.
• 35:36
  It moves unnaturally, gliding rather than walking,
• 35:40
  and disappears when approaching. Some claim it
• 35:43
  whispers or mutters in an unknown language. And
• 35:47
  then there's voices heard from the royal palace.
• 35:51
  The palace is the most active site. People report
• 35:55
  Women laughing, footsteps running across the
• 35:58
  upper floors, furniture dragging, faint music,
• 36:01
  all in a building that has been empty for centuries.
• 36:05
  Villagers living nearby say they hear screams,
• 36:08
  cries, and shouts from inside the fort after
• 36:11
  dark. No one is allowed to check. Entering at
• 36:15
  night is illegal. It's not only for... Oh, no,
• 36:19
  never mind. Strike it from the record. The pushed
• 36:22
  from behind phenomenon. Several visitors claim
• 36:26
  they felt a strong shove while climbing the palace
• 36:30
  steps, only to turn around and find no one there.
• 36:33
  A few paranormal groups report being physically
• 36:36
  pushed towards the exit. Finally, people have
• 36:39
  seen small lantern -like lights moving through
• 36:42
  the fort at night. When approached, they blink
• 36:45
  out instantly. Moving to the Philippines, we
• 36:50
  have the Diplomat Hotel in Banguio City. Perched
• 36:55
  on Dominican Hill in Manguio City, the building
• 36:58
  began as a Dominican retreat house in 1915. During
• 37:04
  World War II, it became the site of brutal massacres.
• 37:08
  Japanese forces killed priests, nuns, refugees,
• 37:11
  and civilians inside its halls. After the war,
• 37:15
  it was converted into the Diplomat Hotel, run
• 37:19
  by faith healer Tony Agaiowa. until his death
• 37:23
  in 1987. The hotel shut down soon after leaving
• 37:27
  behind a hollow concrete shell overlooking the
• 37:30
  city. Reporting sightings and hauntings include
• 37:34
  headless apparitions, the most famous phenomena
• 37:37
  happening here. Visitors and ghost hunters report
• 37:41
  seeing headless monks, headless nuns, headless
• 37:45
  civilians wandering the corridors. These figures
• 37:48
  appear solid at first, then dissolve into mist.
• 37:51
  And this is really what gained this particular
• 37:55
  haunting's spot in this podcast, because I had
• 37:58
  to narrow it down over like a lot. And it was
• 38:02
  the headless nuns and headless monks. that made
• 38:05
  it get this spot here. I just feel like that
• 38:08
  would be the creepiest thing to see, and I wouldn't
• 38:12
  want to see it. There's phantom screams and cries.
• 38:16
  At night, people hear women screaming, children
• 38:18
  crying, frantic footsteps, and these sounds often
• 38:22
  echo through the courtyard and upper floors.
• 38:25
  Then we have the nun in the fountain, a recurring
• 38:27
  apparition, a woman in a habit kneeling or standing
• 38:31
  near the old fountain, sometimes headless, sometimes
• 38:34
  covering her face. She vanishes when approached.
• 38:39
  Then we have the window watchers. Locals say
• 38:42
  that it does shadowy figures appear in the broken
• 38:44
  windows, silhouettes that remain still for minutes
• 38:47
  before slipping out of sight. And ghost hunters
• 38:51
  also report poltergeist activity. Doors slamming,
• 38:55
  stones being thrown, sudden gusts of wind in
• 38:59
  sealed rooms, and equipment malfunctioning. Several
• 39:02
  visitors claim they heard footsteps running behind
• 39:05
  them in the long corridor, fast, heavy, and closing
• 39:08
  in, only to turn around and find the hallway
• 39:10
  empty. I hate that one too. Don't like it. Up
• 39:15
  next, Australian Oceania. And we have the Black
• 39:18
  Mountain, or the... Kelkahaka. I really don't
• 39:23
  know what language this is in, so I don't know
• 39:26
  how to pronounce it. So Kelkahaka is how I'm
• 39:30
  going to go with it. And this is in Queensland,
• 39:32
  Australia. It's one of Australia's strangest
• 39:36
  and most feared natural sites. A looming mass
• 39:39
  of jet black granite boulders stacked like...
• 39:43
  a collapsed fortress. The mountain's geology
• 39:46
  is bizarre. The rocks are fractured, hollow,
• 39:49
  and riddled with deep subterranean voids that
• 39:52
  form a maze of tunnels no one has successfully
• 39:55
  mapped. Since the 1800s, people, horses, cattle,
• 40:00
  and even search parties have vanished into these
• 40:03
  gaps without a trace. Cal people have long regarded
• 40:11
  the mountain as a spiritually dangerous place,
• 40:14
  home to powerful beings and energies that should
• 40:17
  not be disturbed. When colonists arrived, they
• 40:21
  added their own stories. Disappearances, strange
• 40:24
  lights, and animals refusing to go near the boulder
• 40:27
  fields, creating a layered mythology of dread.
• 40:30
  Visitors describe Kalahaka as unnervingly alive.
• 40:35
  The mountain emits strange thermal pockets, sudden
• 40:38
  blasts of hot air, icy drafts, or temperature
• 40:42
  drops that feel unnatural in the Queensland heat.
• 40:46
  People report hearing voices echoing from inside
• 40:49
  the rocks, stones shifting as if something is
• 40:52
  moving beneath them, and the sensation of being
• 40:54
  watched from the cracks. I do find that interesting
• 40:57
  just because that is in line with not missing
• 41:00
  411, but that whole idea that he was moving with
• 41:03
  the boulders. Just typical folklore around boulders,
• 41:06
  right? Yeah. And I'm just going to finish this
• 41:09
  and I'm going to add one more thing. I was going
• 41:11
  to say that exact thing once I was done. Some
• 41:14
  claim to see shadow figures slipping between
• 41:17
  boulders or glowing lights hovering above the
• 41:20
  mountain at night, often interpreted as UFOs.
• 41:24
  The most unsettling accounts come from those
• 41:27
  who approach the cave openings. They describe
• 41:30
  a deep rhythmic breathing sound from within.
• 41:34
  or the feeling of being pulled towards the darkness.
• 41:38
  Kalkahaka's reputation isn't built on a single
• 41:41
  legend. It's built on centuries of disappearances,
• 41:45
  strange phenomena, and the overwhelming sense
• 41:48
  that the mountain is not just a pile of rocks,
• 41:50
  but a presence. And that's the end of that one.
• 41:54
  But it also reminds me of, remember in the first
• 41:58
  season, you did that really interesting lost
• 42:01
  city where you couldn't go in after sunset and
• 42:06
  you had to have a guide? Was that the one you
• 42:09
  had to get like a boat to because it was in the
• 42:11
  middle of the island? Yeah. It reminds me of
• 42:13
  that a little bit too. But this one on land.
• 42:16
  Yeah, it does. Is what it reminded me of. So
• 42:19
  it gave me all these feelings about it and one
• 42:22
  was... with the lore around boulder fields. And
• 42:27
  then how... Namadol. Namadol. I was going to
• 42:31
  call it the island of Mu, but I think that's
• 42:32
  further up in the British Isles or something.
• 42:35
  Mu would be near Japan. Oh, boy was I off. But
• 42:40
  yeah, it had both those kind of things for me.
• 42:43
  Next up, by Taylor's request that I already knew
• 42:48
  was coming before... I even started recording
• 42:52
  and he said it. Antarctica. I got one. No way.
• 42:58
  And this is Shackleton's Hut on Russ Island.
• 43:02
  Shackleton's Hut on Russ Island is one of the
• 43:05
  eeriest places in Antarctica precisely because
• 43:09
  it was never meant to be haunted. I don't think
• 43:12
  any place is ever meant to be haunted. No, no.
• 43:14
  Some places are meant to be haunted, Chelsea,
• 43:17
  and Antarctica is not one of them. Okay, when
• 43:21
  you put it that way. Now I remember. Those are
• 43:27
  the rules. Of course. Yet, it feels like it's
• 43:34
  still inhabited. Built in 1908 for Ernest Shackleton's
• 43:39
  Nimrod Expedition. Is that not Dale Gribble's?
• 43:42
  No, sorry, Shackleford. Rusty Shackleford. It's
• 43:46
  his pseudonym for committing crimes. The hut
• 43:52
  was a lifeline during one of the harshest chapters
• 43:56
  of polar exploration. Men nearly starved here,
• 44:00
  suffered frostbite, hallucinations, and isolation
• 44:03
  so intense it warped their sense of time. When
• 44:07
  the expedition left, the hut remained exactly
• 44:10
  as it was. Beds made, tools laid out, food tins
• 44:13
  stacked, boots waiting by the door. Antarctica's
• 44:17
  freezing bone -dry climate preserved everything
• 44:20
  perfectly, creating the uncanny impression that
• 44:23
  the men might walk back in any moment. The atmosphere
• 44:27
  is what makes the hut feel alive and why so many
• 44:31
  visitors describe it as paranormally charged.
• 44:34
  People report hearing footsteps crunching outside
• 44:38
  when no one is there. feeling a presence standing
• 44:41
  behind them in the cramped rooms, or catching
• 44:44
  the scent of tobacco despite the sterile Antarctic
• 44:48
  air. The most famous account comes from Sir Edmund
• 44:52
  Hillary. When he opened the hut's door during
• 44:55
  a 1950s expedition, he said he saw the distinct
• 44:59
  figure shackling himself, walking toward him
• 45:02
  in welcome before the apparition dissolved. Others
• 45:07
  have described seeing a man -shaped shadow moving
• 45:09
  between the bunks or hearing low murmuring voices
• 45:13
  in a building that should be utterly silent.
• 45:16
  Shackleton's isn't haunted in the theatrical
• 45:19
  sense. It's haunted by memory, by the extremity
• 45:24
  of human endurance, and by the feeling that the
• 45:26
  men who lived and suffered there were never fully
• 45:28
  left. Wrapping up. I will leave you with an iconic
• 45:33
  haunting of Canada. If you know anything about
• 45:37
  hauntings in Canada, it is that every original
• 45:42
  Fairmont is heavily haunted, and the Fairmont
• 45:46
  Banff Springs in Alberta is no exception. While
• 45:51
  it looks like a fairytale chateau nestled in
• 45:54
  the Rocky Mountains, it harbors Son of Canada's
• 45:57
  most notorious ghosts. The most infamous is room
• 46:01
  873, which was completely sealed off and drywalled
• 46:06
  over after a horrific family murder. Guests and
• 46:10
  staff have repeatedly reported bloody handprints
• 46:13
  appearing on the mirrors in the room directly
• 46:15
  below it. The hotel is also haunted by the ghost
• 46:20
  bride whose dress caught fire in the grand marble
• 46:23
  staircase in the 1920s and who was still seen
• 46:27
  dancing alone in the ballroom. And that is my
• 46:31
  final solo Halloween episode. And I do think...
• 46:38
  That I will follow this up when I see fit. When
• 46:41
  it's not Halloween season. Because I was left
• 46:44
  with more than enough for another episode or
• 46:47
  two. And I just love these stories so much. So
• 46:51
  it'll be nice to... And you know what? We have
• 46:53
  neglected ghost stories for a while. We have.
• 46:56
  And there's just something that I love so much
• 46:59
  about ghost stories. And you know what? It is
• 47:01
  a question that I like to ask people. frequently
• 47:05
  is about their ghost stories if i'm just meeting
• 47:08
  them or i don't know their ghost stories and
• 47:10
  a lot of people are off put by not off taken
• 47:13
  aback yeah i also ask if they've ever seen a
• 47:17
  bigfoot as you would expect me to do but i love
• 47:22
  it i love ghost stories i love ghost tours and
• 47:26
  being in the spirit of halloween i thought what
• 47:29
  better way to do it than to look around the world
• 47:32
  and see some hauntings In different cultural
• 47:36
  lenses. Well, and I like to see that we do take
• 47:39
  a different approach with our personalities because
• 47:42
  my go -to is what's the plural of Bigfoot? Bigfoots,
• 47:46
  of course. Is it Bigfoots or Bigfeet? Yeah, it's
• 47:50
  a good question. That is a very different approach
• 47:53
  because my question is, have you seen one? How
• 47:58
  do you pronounce multiple Bigfeets? And I've
• 48:03
  always liked the concept of as opposed to the
• 48:07
  literal examination of. Maybe if they don't have
• 48:10
  one, that'll now be my next question is, how
• 48:13
  would you exclaim? Okay, let's say you saw two
• 48:16
  of them. What would you say? Ah! Multiple Bigfoots!
• 48:19
  And now I'm just channeling King Charles energy
• 48:21
  seeing Kling Rap for the first time. Oh no, the
• 48:27
  horses have arrived. I don't even know what to
• 48:33
  say. Before we bring this into a completely different
• 48:37
  episode, I have been Taylor here with Chelsea.
• 48:40
  We are Journey to the Fringe. Thank you all for
• 48:41
  listening and we'll see you next week. Bye. Thank
• 48:52
  you for listening to Journey to the Fringe. If
• 48:55
  you have liked what you have listened to, please
• 48:57
  like, share, subscribe, or follow depending on
• 49:01
  what. venue you are listening to us through.
• 49:04
  Also, please, if possible, leave a five -star
• 49:06
  review as that really helps us in the algorithms.
• 49:09
  Should you wish to interact with us, please check
• 49:12
  us out on your social media of choice. I bet
• 49:15
  you we are there. And if you really want to communicate
• 49:18
  with us and give us ideas for new episodes or
• 49:21
  tell us that we're wrong and terrible, either
• 49:23
  way, please send us an email at journeytothefringe
• 49:26
  at gmail .com. For now, I'll see you in the next
• 49:29
  episode.