Pumpkin Smiles

Some scientists say our physical surroundings—plus a few tricks of the human mind—can literally give us the heebie-jeebies. A story about trusting your gut feeling when renting places.

“It was like something sealed up in the wall was trying to bust out.”

A story from Jennifer, an elementary school teacher who is still a little nervous about her eerie experience as a kid.

Kaskaskia became the capital of the Illinois Territory in 1809; after Illinois achieved statehood, Kaskaskia briefly served as the state capital (1818–20), until it was damned and would be destroyed, along with all of the land around it.

An old Hawaiian legend goes that as long as all Hawaiians remained at peace, no shark would ever disturb a human being in the island waters.

The people honored the pledge and kept peace with themselves and their neighbors. They served the Shark God faithfully and were thankful that they need have no fear of him in their own lagoons.

But what happened when the United States came to the peaceful islands?

On January 11, 1880, the Marlborough departed from Lyttleton, New Zealand,, bound for Scotland under the command of a Captain Herd, with 33 crew members and a small number of passengers on board. The Marlborough never did arrive at its destination, and when months went by with no sign of it the ship was listed as missing and was assumed to be lost, that is until October of 1913.

A series of grave desecrations happened in Paris between the summer of 1848 and March 1849. These desecrations were eventually blamed on an unknown person nicknamed “The Vampire” of Paris.

In Haiti, voodoo believers pray and perform animal sacrifices to feed and beckon the spirits. Voodoo is often seen as a practice involving magic. In Haiti, Voodoo is a religion born out of the struggle of slaves.

A wide variety of mythical creatures are found in Burmese mythology. Many Burmese creatures are part human or creatures capable of assuming human form. This episode features one of them.

A foretelling by a phantom during the Korean War.

Up the close and down the stair,
In the house with Burke and Hare,
Burke's the butcher, Hare's the thief, Knox the man who buys the beef.
Burke and Hare they were a pair, Killed a wife and didnae care.
Then they put her in a box, and sent her off to Doctor Knox.
Burkes the Butcher, Hares the thief, Knox’s the yin that buys the beef!