Podcast
American Hauntings Podcast
Hosted by Cody Beck and Troy Taylor · EN
History, hauntings, legends, lore, true crime, and the dark side of American History. Hosted by Cody Beck and Troy Taylor, Season 10, "Murder City" is now live.
56episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
American Dread: The Hatchet House
Feb 2500:23:12Tap to summarizeHow well do you really know your neighbor?In Decatur, Illinois, 1964, evil didn’t break in—it lived inside the house. On a cold February night, a family argument ended with a hatchet, a triple killing, and a manhunt that stretched from Illinois to Florida.This is The Hatchet House—a story of blood, silence, and a terrifying truth: sometimes the monster isn’t out there……it’s already home.Check out our new American Hauntings Podcast Network for even more spooky shows.Have a question or comment? Text us on the Haunt Line @ 217-791-7859New Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/troytaylorodditiesCheck out our updated website and sign up for our newsletter at AmericanHauntingsPodcast.comWant an episode every week, plus other awesome perks and discounts? Check out our Patreon pageOur Sponsors:* Check out Shopify: https://shopify.com/hauntingsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
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James "Big Jim" Colosimo
Feb 1701:13:37Tap to summarizeJames “Big Jim” Colosimo ruled the Chicago underworld longer than any man in the city's history. The money he raked in from the many enterprises that he controlled was conservatively estimated at $50,000 a month for about eight years. Colosimo was a strange character and a man who helped usher in Chicago's organized crime era – although he’d never actually live to see it. Check out our new American Hauntings Podcast Network for even more spooky shows.Have a question or comment? Text us on the Haunt Line @ 217-791-7859New Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/troytaylorodditiesCheck out our updated website and sign up for our newsletter at AmericanHauntingsPodcast.comWant an episode every week, plus other awesome perks and discounts? Check out our Patreon pageFind out merch at AmericanHauntingsClothing.comFollow us on Twitter @AmerHauntsPod, @TroyTaylor13, @CodyBeckSTLFollow us on Instagram @AmericanHauntingsPodcast, @TroyTaylorgram, @CodyBeckSTLThis episode was written by Troy TaylorProduced and edited by Cody BeckOur Sponsors:* Check out BetterHelp: https://www.betterhelp.com* Check out Shopify: https://shopify.com/hauntings* Check out TruDiagnostic and use my code HAUNTINGS for a great deal: https://www.trudiagnostic.comAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Transcribe →Episode 12: "Signs, Wonders, and the Satanic Century"
Feb 1300:35:27Tap to summarizeIn 1908, a Pentecostal minister announced to his followers that the Devil was alive and well and interfered with every aspect of human life. And he wasn’t alone in this belief. Others described demons as swarming around the human soul and living off them “like ticks on cattle.” The Pentecostal belief about the Devil interfering with our everyday lives was just one example of how the twentieth century became the “Satanic Century” for both American religion and popular culture. More than at any other time since the seventeenth century, American religion became obsessed with the Devil and all his works. The was largely due to the rise of two powerful religious movements at the time – Pentecostalism and Fundamentalism. Each gave the Devil a special role in both their view of the world and their personal spiritual experience. But they were not the only ones – Roman Catholicism remained convinced of how the Devil’s influence continued to represent a threat to the lives and souls of its followers. In fact, it was during this same time that the Catholic Church revealed the horrors of a demonic possession that would shock the nation. The exorcism that followed would become known as one of the first to make national news in modern American history.Our Sponsors:* Check out BetterHelp: https://www.betterhelp.com* Check out Shopify: https://shopify.com/hauntings* Check out TruDiagnostic and use my code HAUNTINGS for a great deal: https://www.trudiagnostic.comAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
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No Safe Hour: Between Daylight and Darkness
Feb 1100:19:48Tap to summarizeIn the early 1980s, Springfield, Illinois learned there was no safe hour.On this episode of American Dread, we examine two unconnected crimes that unfolded just one year apart — one in broad daylight, the other in the dead of night — and how both shattered a city’s sense of safety.In 1981, an axe attack inside Lauterbach Cottage Hardware left one man dead and a killer who vanished without a trace.In 1982, a brutal double murder inside a family home was solved — but its consequences would resurface decades later in a devastating way.These cases aren’t linked by suspects or motive.They’re linked by place, time, and a chilling truth: violence doesn’t wait for darkness.American Dread is part of the American Hauntings Podcast Network.Check out our new American Hauntings Podcast Network for even more spooky shows.Our Sponsors:* Check out BetterHelp: https://www.betterhelp.com* Check out Shopify: https://shopify.com/hauntings* Check out TruDiagnostic and use my code HAUNTINGS for a great deal: https://www.trudiagnostic.comAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
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Live from Dead of Winter 2026
Feb 1001:12:52Tap to summarizeCheck out our new American Hauntings Podcast Network for even more spooky shows.Have a question or comment? Text us on the Haunt Line @ 217-791-7859New Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/troytaylorodditiesCheck out our updated website and sign up for our newsletter at AmericanHauntingsPodcast.comWant an episode every week, plus other awesome perks and discounts? Check out our Patreon pageFind out merch at AmericanHauntingsClothing.comFollow us on Twitter @AmerHauntsPod, @TroyTaylor13, @CodyBeckSTLFollow us on Instagram @AmericanHauntingsPodcast, @TroyTaylorgram, @CodyBeckSTLThis episode was written by Troy TaylorProduced and edited by Cody BeckOur Sponsors:* Check out BetterHelp: https://www.betterhelp.com* Check out Shopify: https://shopify.com/hauntings* Check out TruDiagnostic and use my code HAUNTINGS for a great deal: https://www.trudiagnostic.comSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/american-hauntings-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
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Sneak Preview of New Season Coming to Patreon!
Aug 2900:07:08Tap to summarizeNEW PREVIEW OF OUR NEW SHOW ON PATREON!CANYON: THE TRUE STORY OF THE STARVED ROCK MURDERSAvailable ONLY by becoming a Patreon supporter of American Hauntings. Go to https://patreon.com/americanhauntings and get signed up now!On the cold, snow-covered morning of March 16, 1960, when the bodies of three women from the Chicago suburbs were discovered at Starved Rock State Park in Northern Illinois. The murders shocked the entire state and led to a manhunt that snared a confessed killer who spent the next 59 years in prison. It was a tragic, heart-wrenching case, but thankfully, it was over – or was it?Not only have the murders left ghost stories in their wake, but the man who confessed nine different times to the murders changed his mind behind bars and then spent the next six decades trying to get out of prison, declaring himself innocent.Was he guilty? Not guilty? Had the cops railroaded the wrong man? What really happened in 1960 -- and what didn't?This podcast will look at ALL sides of the story. We’ll present the evidence, the rumors, the mistakes, and hopefully, the truth – and then you can judge the guilt or the innocence of those involved for yourself.COMING SOON!Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/american-hauntings-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
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Bonus- American Dread: Cold Barrels, Cold Blood
Aug 2700:23:46Tap to summarizeCheck out the brand new podcast, American Dread, from Adam White.Two winters. Two murders. Eighteen years apart.In Decatur, Illinois, the winters of 1942 and 1960 were marked not by snow and holiday cheer, but by the sound of shotguns shattering the night.In this episode of American Dread, we revisit two chilling cases: the Short Street double shooting of 1942, and the shotgun murder of Virginia Eades in 1960. Different killers, different motives—but each crime left the same lasting scar on the community.Step into the cold, walk the streets where it happened, and hear the true stories of tragedy and terror from the dark side of the American Heartland.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/american-hauntings-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
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An American Crime
Aug 2601:32:01Tap to summarizeOn October 26, 1965, a 16-year-old girl named Sylvia Likens died in Indianapolis from shock, malnutrition, and a brain hemorrhage. She had been tortured for three months and by the time she died, she could barely move or speak. She had been tortured, neglected, sexually humiliated, starved, beaten, and cut by her tormentors. Her autopsy later revealed 150 wounds on her body, including cigarette burns, skin brandings, and knife wounds.What had Sylvia done to deserve such torture? Nothing.Have a question or comment? Text us on the Haunt Line @ 217-791-7859New Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/troytaylorodditiesCheck out our updated website and sign up for our newsletter at AmericanHauntingsPodcast.comWant an episode every week, plus other awesome perks and discounts? Check out our Patreon pageFind out merch at AmericanHauntingsClothing.comFollow us on Twitter @AmerHauntsPod, @TroyTaylor13, @CodyBeckSTLFollow us on Instagram @AmericanHauntingsPodcast, @TroyTaylorgram, @CodyBeckSTLThis episode was written by Troy TaylorProduced and edited by Cody BeckSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/american-hauntings-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
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Bonus- American Dread: The Freeman Murders
Aug 2000:18:33Tap to summarizeCheck out the brand new podcast, American Dread, from Adam White.On a quiet May night in 1976, the city of Decatur, Illinois, was shattered by a brutal double murder that still echoes nearly fifty years later. Two young cousins, June and Marcella Freeman, were savagely stabbed to death and left discarded like trash on the side of West Center Street. Their killer, Michael Timothy Gibson, would soon be caught — but justice didn’t end the nightmare.In this debut episode of American Dread, host Adam White takes you deep into the horror of that night, the trial that followed, and the decades of pain that haunted the victims’ families and the Decatur community. With real crime statistics, eyewitness details, and chilling atmosphere, this story explores not just the crime itself, but the scars it left behind.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/american-hauntings-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
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The Entity
Aug 1201:15:17Tap to summarizeThe true story of THE ENTITY doesn’t begin with Carla Moran coming home from work one night, it actually started with researchers Barry Taff and Kerry Gaynor from the Department of Parapsychology at UCLA visiting the home on August 22, 1974. A short time earlier, the two men had been discussing the paranormal in a local bookstore when they were approached by a woman name Doris Blither, who wanted to tell them about her haunted house. The pair agreed to meet Doris at her home, not realizing at the time how baffling and terrifying the case would turn out to be. Have a question or comment? Text us on the Haunt Line @ 217-791-7859New Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/troytaylorodditiesCheck out our updated website and sign up for our newsletter at AmericanHauntingsPodcast.comWant an episode every week, plus other awesome perks and discounts? Check out our Patreon pageFind out merch at AmericanHauntingsClothing.comFollow us on Twitter @AmerHauntsPod, @TroyTaylor13, @CodyBeckSTLFollow us on Instagram @AmericanHauntingsPodcast, @TroyTaylorgram, @CodyBeckSTLThis episode was written by Troy TaylorProduced and edited by Cody BeckSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/american-hauntings-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
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