Southern Gothic

On July 26, 1911, Major Archibald Butt, the military aide to President William Howard Taft, wrote to his sister-in-law about something rather odd that had been happening inside the walls of the White House for months: “My dear Clara, It seems that the White House is haunted."

The Major then continues on to describe some of the interesting and eerie claims made members of the White House staff, folks who claim to have come into contact with an entity that has since become known simply as "The Thing."

This episode was done in collaboration with Howard Dorre of the chart-topping history podcast ⁠Plodding Through the Presidents⁠.

This episode is made possible through the support of our sponsor: Elevate your summer bedding with Quince. Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠quince.com/sogo⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too.

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If you enjoyed our episode on Agnes of Glasgow, then you won't want to miss this interview with Amy Schofield, the creator of the Southern Gothic Festival in Camden, South Carolina. We talk about everything from the definition of southern gothic itself, to the many fascinating writers who will be diving into related topics at the festival, and even a little bit of conjecture about who Agnes really was!

⁠⁠Join us at the Southern Gothic Festival on October 9-10, 2026 in Camden, South Carolina!⁠⁠

This episode is made possible through the support of our sponsor: Elevate your summer bedding with Quince. Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠quince.com/sogo⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too.

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For generations, visitors to Camden, South Carolina’s historic Quaker Cemetery have stopped at the unusual grave of a young woman known only as Agnes of Glasgow. According to local legend, the twenty-year-old crossed the Atlantic during the American Revolution in search of the British officer she loved, following him deep into the Carolina backcountry only to die before they could ever be reunited. Some say her heartbroken spirit still wanders the old cemetery and the woods nearby, forever searching for the man she traveled thousands of miles to find.

But the weathered stone marking Agnes’s grave leaves behind little more than a name, an age, and a date—and when you start digging into the history behind her romantic tale, some of its most familiar details become difficult to explain. More than two centuries of newspaper accounts, local histories, old travel literature, and oral tradition reveal that Agnes of Glasgow has lived many very different lives in the stories told about her. Somewhere among them may be the truth about the mysterious young woman buried in Camden—and how her forgotten grave became the center of one of South Carolina’s most enduring legends.

⁠Join us at the Southern Gothic Festival on October 9-10, 2026 in Camden, South Carolina!⁠

This episode is made possible through the support of our sponsor: Elevate your summer bedding with Quince. Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠quince.com/sogo⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too.

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⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Into History: History Without Interruption⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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On the morning of January 31, 1921, Surfman C.P. Brady of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Cape Hatteras Station No. 183 stood watch over the treacherous waters of the "Graveyard of the Atlantic." His early morning shift, had been uneventful until the mist began to lift around 6:30. What appeared before him was chilling: a massive, five-masted schooner, sails still raised, had run aground on the Outer Diamond Shoals. Its name was the Carroll A. Deering. But if this sight wasn't strange enough, when the Coast Guard finally made their way out to the shipwrecked vessel, it was discovered that the crew was nowhere to be found-- a maritime mystery that remains unsolved to this day.

This episode is made possible through the support of our sponsor: Elevate your summer bedding with Quince. Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠quince.com/sogo⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too.

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Connect with Southern Gothic Media:

Website:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ SouthernGothicMedia.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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Along the quiet shoreline of Pass Christian, Mississippi, an old legend claims that on certain nights the delicate music of a harp can be heard drifting in from somewhere over the Gulf. There is no musician on the beach, no vessel visible offshore, and seemingly nothing out on the dark water that could explain it. Yet the story behind that strange melody begins thousands of miles away, with a wealthy couple fleeing war-torn Uruguay aboard a ship bound for a new life in New Orleans.

What followed became one of the Mississippi Gulf Coast’s strangest maritime legends—a tale of romance, betrayal, greed, and a voyage that supposedly ended somewhere off Pass Christian. Whether any of it actually happened is another question entirely, but generations of local lore insist that something from that ill-fated journey may still linger offshore, where the faint sound of harp strings is said to rise above the water after dark.

This episode is made possible through the support of our sponsor: Elevate your summer bedding with Quince. Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠quince.com/sogo⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too.

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⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Into History: History Without Interruption⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Connect with Southern Gothic Media:

Website:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ SouthernGothicMedia.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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