Review of Season Twelve
Rain, Aliens, Ghosts, and More.
Hi my spooky friends!
When I started Horrifying History; I planned to do only four episodes. After all; I had an idea, but no idea what I was doing. As I write this, we just started Season 14 with no plans on stopping now. The way I see things is this…if it is no longer fun - it’s time to stop. I am still having fun, so Horrifying History will be sticking around for a while.
So let’s talk about Season 12, since this season was a little different. This season played around Halloween, and this year I couldn’t say no to all who wanted to collaborate with Horrifying History. Our first collaboration was Horrifying Halloween with the podcast Creepy Confidential who at the time was new to the Darkcast Network. I love Creepy Confidential and their host Noelle. Her show reminds me of my show, and I love how her and I think alike. This was the easiest collaboration that I have ever done because of this. It was her idea to talk about corpse brides, and I loved the horrible tales we told in that episode. Be sure to check it out. It’s a good one.
We also took part in a Halloween collaboration week with Darkcast with Friday Hauntings, Saturday Spooky True Crime, Sunday Witches Calderon, Monday Monster Mash, and Tuesday Halloween Traditions. Each of these was a different theme, and I loved hearing all the different spooky tales that my fellow Darkcast Network podcasters came up with. I decided to tell a tale about a case from the French Werewolf Trials that we are going to do more shows on, but we also decided to submit a personal experience of mine. I decided to answer one of the questions that I am asked quite often - do I believe in ghosts. The answer is yes, and that is because when I was three years old I saw the spirit of my grandfather who died well before I was born in 1947. He saved my life that day, and I will forever be grateful to the man who came from the other side to make sure the granddaughter he never met was ok.
Our next collaboration was with Greyhorn Pagans Podcast and with the website Paranormal World. In an episode we called Unholy Halloween Hauntings, we each told a spooky tale from around where we lived. It was a very interesting episode to do with two different groups from around the world, but it made for a very unique episode.
Now on to the rest of the season. Our first episode was about Charles Hatfield, who was called the Rain Maker. Charles claimed to have made a chemical concoction that could create rain, and he made a lot of money doing this. But he almost lost it all when a flood caused millions of dollars in damage. Even so, he still tried to get paid. Did he actually create rain, or was his formula a fake? We will never know since he took the recipe to the grave with him.
Our next episode was about the abduction of Betty and Barney Hill, which is one of the most famous UFO abduction cases in history. The problem with this story was that after this event, many others started saying that they too were abducted, and many of these were fakes. Because of that alone; many thought Betty and Barney lied too. But personally, I think they told the truth. Betty and Barney had nothing to gain, and never tried to make a dime off of their experiences. Both of them were upstanding people with great jobs and a lot to lose by speaking up. There is a lot of theories about why they said what they did, like false memories. But the problem with that is that false memories do not usually make a person physically ill like the Hill’s were.
Our next episode told the story of Wolf Messing, who allegedly saw through time. Do I believe that he was a seer? No, I do not. But I do believe that he had an incredible ability to be able to read people in ways that others cannot. Does that make him a seer? Maybe. Did he actually rob a bank for Stalin? There is no proof he did. I believe that Wolf was a master of marketing, and that helped give him the reputation that he still has today.
I came up with the idea for the next episode of Season 12 by watching a show on Netflix. I never heard of Jamie Gomez before this, and I was fascinated with him after watching a show on him. Who wouldn’t be, after all - he started out in porn and ended up being a cult leader! But the thing that made this story different is that this is not history. In the past, Jamie created a huge following, but lost a lot of them after people started learning about all the abuses that he committed. He is still said to be a cult leader in Hawaii, so stay tuned my dear listeners - this tale is far from being done.
The next episode was about a woman who was accused of being a witch in modern times. Helen Duncan was charged for doing witchcraft even though she was busted several times as being a fake. The reason was that she somehow found out some very sensitive information, and made it public in during a reading. As much as I understand that keeping secrets in war is vital, I do believe the British government could have handled this situation differently. So did Winston Churchill, who changed this law after he heard about this case. This episode shows how far people will go to keep a secret.
Our next episode of Season 12 is dedicated to my mom. On a dark and stormy winter’s night; my mom sent me a Facebook message that only said: Lizzie Halliday - The Worst Woman on Earth. Of course I was intrigued. What could she have done that was so bad that she would gain that title? After doing some quick Googling, I told my mom that I definitely would be doing a show on her. To me it was very clear that Lizzie had a serious mental health issue, and was a sociopath. I believe the reason she got away with her crimes for so long was the fact she was a woman. For centuries, people believed that women were delicate little flowers that wouldn’t hurt a fly, but Lizzie proved that wrong. Thanks mom for the episode idea…it was a great one.
Our next episode I wanted to do for a long time, but needed to be in the right head space to do it. Talking about crimes against children affects me. It affects almost everyone, but not everyone deep dives into research about it. Even so, the story of Amber Rene Hagerman is one that needs to be told. It is because of her that so many children around the world have been saved through the Amber Alert System. But I also think this story needs to be told so someday Amber gets the justice that she and her family deserves.
Our next two episodes were a lot of fun to do, since my favourite thing is ghost stories. Mary King’s Close and the University of Toronto are both famous for their ghost stories, and both locations have very unique tales. From ghost kids to axes embedded into doors - both places have great tales to tell. But the one story I wanted to tell since I travelled to New Orleans last year was the tale of the lost treasure of the pirate Jean Lafitte. Jean was a very interesting character, and if he was a super hero he definitely would be an anti-hero. He did some really horrible things, but yet he did some amazing things that saved the city of New Orleans. This is the reason he is still talked about today…that and his treasure. Do I think it is possible that Jean has some treasure still out there ready to be found? I hope so, so who wants to go on a road trip with me?
The last episode of the season was a show that was supposed to be different, since it was supposed to be a collaboration episode. Sadly that didn’t happen, but this mini-episode turned out to be a great stand alone episode. We always hear about Christmas Ghosts via the story “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens, but I didn’t want to tell that classic story. I wanted to tell you about real Christmas ghosts that haunt some very famous places. These Christmas ghosts are not sticking around to get you on the right path. Some are replaying their death, while others are letting everyone know that the past is still in the present.
So thank you all for listening to our Season 12, and if you haven’t - go check these episodes out! Not only will you learn more about some very important historical events, but you will also see that things are not always as they seem.
…and until next time…
Horrifying History