Deep beneath the Appalachian Mountains, abandoned coal mines hide dangerous tunnels, tragic histories, and stories of miners who may have never truly clocked out. This week, Kelly takes us underground for two chilling tales: The 24th Victim and The Whistle at Midnight. We're talking phantom miners, mysterious disappearances, impossible tunnels, and voices echoing from places no one should be. Meanwhile, Jen provides increasingly unhinged commentary and repeatedly questions why anyone would willingly stay in these places. Because apparently, hearing ghost miners calling your name isn't enough of a reason to leave.

⚠️ Content Warning: Mining disasters, death, disappearances, disturbing imagery, and discussion of mental health.

👀 Sneak Peek

- ⛏️ Three unsettling facts about coal mines, including underground fires that can burn for decades.

- 👻 A researcher discovers something deeply wrong inside Black Rock Mine.

- 🔦 Phantom workers, shifting tunnels, and a mysterious lunch pail.

- 📻 A security guard at Ravens Hollow hears a whistle, but nobody's supposed to be working.

❓ Question for the Comments: Would you spend one night guarding an abandoned coal mine, or is that paycheck absolutely not worth it?

🔗 Links

🎥 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NotMyGhostPodcast

🎧 Listen now: https://pod.link/1754259268

📩 Paranormal Postcards submissions: notmyghostpodcast@gmail.com

🔗 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/notmyghostnotmyproblem

🛍️ Shop: https://notmyghostpodcast-shop.fourthwall.com/

📸 Instagram & TikTok: @notmyghostpodcast

📘 Facebook: Not My Ghost, Not My Problem

📖 Chapters

00:00 Welcome to the Haunted Coal Mines of Appalachia

01:52 Unscripted Banter and Question of the Day

11:36 Appalachian Coal Mine Facts

16:35 The Stories Behind the Hauntings

18:35 The 24th Victim: Black Rock Mine

32:15 Something Is Still Working Underground

46:40 The Mystery of the Missing Miner

53:04 The Whistle at Midnight: Ravens Hollow

01:04:14 The Whistle and the Voices

01:19:24 Final Thoughts and Outro

📚 Sources & Further Reading

Reclaiming Abandoned Mine Lands — Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement

https://www.osmre.gov/doiu/programs/reclaiming-abandoned-mine-lands

Hazards and Safety: Abandoned Mineral Lands — National Park Service

https://www.nps.gov/subjects/abandonedminerallands/hazards-and-safety.htm

Emissions from Coal Fires and Their Impact on the Environment — U.S. Geological Survey

https://www.usgs.gov/publications/emissions-coal-fires-and-their-impact-environment

Appalachia already gave us rules about whistling, looking, answering voices in the woods, and generally knowing when to mind our own business. Naturally, we responded by finding three Reddit paranormal stories about people doing their best while the mountains apparently ignored every reasonable boundary. We’ve got a honeymoon cabin outside Gatlinburg where voices start calling people by name, a West Virginia dirt road with an eight-foot white figure waiting near a fallen tree, and a bizarre, shadowy camper at Elkmont whose headlight does something lights are absolutely not supposed to do. Meanwhile, Joel arrives as Aunt Judith and becomes increasingly concerned about everyone involved, including us.

With Joel (FuelNeve) — paranormal creator, podcast host, and our resident “WTF are you still doing here?” commentator. Follow: IG @thefuelneve | TikTok @Fuelneve

⚠️ Content Warning: Mature language, sexual humor, drug and alcohol references, frightening paranormal accounts, and brief discussion of racist imagery.

👀 Sneak Peek

📞 A mysterious call somehow comes through at a remote Gatlinburg cabin with no signal

👻 A walk down Grandma’s dirt road ends with an eight-foot white figure near a fallen tree

🔦 A strange camper at Elkmont repeats the same unsettling routine before seemingly disappearing

📱 We attempt to establish whether looking through a camera violates the Appalachian rule about looking

❓ Question for the Comments: If you saw something strange in the woods through your phone camera, does that count as looking?

🔗 Links

🎥 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NotMyGhostPodcast

🎧 Listen now: https://pod.link/1754259268

📩 Paranormal Postcards submissions: notmyghostpodcast@gmail.com

🔗 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/notmyghostnotmyproblem

🛍️ Shop: https://notmyghostpodcast-shop.fourthwall.com/

📸 Instagram & TikTok: @notmyghostpodcast

📘 Facebook: Not My Ghost, Not My Problem

📖 Chapters

00:00 Aunt Judith Arrives

09:59 What Counts as Looking?

16:48 They Kept Calling Our Names

39:49 Grandma’s Dirt Road in West Virginia

58:05 Smoky Mountain Campground Experience

1:08:50 Closing Chaos

📚 Sources & Further Reading

Paranormal Encounters — Reddit

https://www.reddit.com/r/ParanormalEncounters/

West Virginia's Backwoods Are Definitely Haunted! — Odd Trails

https://crypticcountypodcasts.com/podcast/odd-trails/episode/episode-183-the-backwoods-of-west-virginia-are-definitely-haunted

Paranormal — Reddit

https://www.reddit.com/r/Paranormal/

You’ve probably heard the warnings: don’t whistle in the woods, don’t answer when something calls your name, stay on the trail, and if the forest suddenly goes silent… leave.

But are the viral “Rules of Appalachia” actually old mountain folklore, or did the internet take a mix of traditions, safety advice, and spooky stories and turn them into one giant supernatural rulebook?

We’re kicking off October in Appalachia by separating documented folklore from modern internet horror. We dig into the cultural roots of Appalachian traditions, folk magic, Spearfinger, witch “stirrups,” alpha-gal syndrome, and the way social media helped reshape the region into a list of supposedly ancient survival rules.

⚠️ Content Warning: Brief discussions of death, slavery, and Indigenous displacement.

👀 Sneak Peek

🌲 Which viral “Rules of Appalachia” actually connect to regional folklore

🗣️ Why you supposedly shouldn’t answer a voice calling your name in the woods

🧙 Appalachian folk magic, Spearfinger, and witch “stirrups”

📱 How the internet helped reinvent Appalachian horror

❓ Question for the Comments: Which Rule of Appalachia have you heard before, and where did you first hear it?

🔗 Links

🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NotMyGhostPodcast

🎧 Listen: https://pod.link/1754259268

📩 Paranormal Postcards: notmyghostpodcast@gmail.com

🔗 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/notmyghostnotmyproblem

🛍️ Shop: https://notmyghostpodcast-shop.fourthwall.com/

📸 Instagram & TikTok: @notmyghostpodcast

📖 Chapters

00:00 Cold Open

00:06 October in Appalachia Begins

11:27 Appalachian Mountains, Alpha-Gal & Witch Stirrups

17:12 What Actually Counts as Appalachia?

22:23 The Cultural Roots of Appalachian Folklore

37:45 How the Internet Reinvented Appalachian Horror

44:46 Breaking Down the Rules of Appalachia

59:05 Never Answer a Voice Calling Your Name

65:51 Whistling, Trees, Carvings & Stacked Rocks

84:44 What’s Coming Next

📚 Sources & Further Reading

About the Appalachian Region — Appalachian Regional Commission

https://www.arc.gov/about-the-appalachian-region/

Witches, Ghosts, and Signs: Folklore of the Southern Appalachians — Patrick W. Gainer

Hiking Safety — Great Smoky Mountains National Park, National Park Service

https://www.nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisit/hikingsafety.htm

Appalachian Trail Conservancy

https://appalachiantrail.org/

About Alpha-gal Syndrome — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

https://www.cdc.gov/alpha-gal-syndrome/about/index.html

The McCormick Family Farm story started with buried bodies, shifting accusations, and an investigation that left far too many questions unanswered. In the final part of our deep dive, we follow Michael McCormick’s story to its disturbing conclusion, revisit the effort to search the Colorado property for possible additional victims, and finally get to the reason this farm landed on our list in the first place: the ghosts. From shadow figures and unexplained voices to an apparition reportedly resembling Tom McCormick and an investigation by Portals to Hell, this is where true crime and the paranormal collide in one deeply unsettling place.

⚠️ Content Warning: Murder, kidnapping, suicide, suicidal ideation, and discussion of human remains.

👀 Sneak Peek

🔎 A retired detective reopens the McCormick investigation decades later

🌾 The possibility that additional victims were never found

👤 Shadow figures, unexplained voices, touches, and an apparition resembling Tom McCormick

❓ Question for the Comments: After hearing the history and the paranormal claims, do you think something is still haunting the McCormick Farm?

🔗 Links

🎥 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NotMyGhostPodcast

🎧 Listen now: https://pod.link/1754259268

📩 Paranormal Postcards submissions: notmyghostpodcast@gmail.com

🔗 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/notmyghostnotmyproblem

🛍️ Shop: https://notmyghostpodcast-shop.fourthwall.com/

📸 Instagram & TikTok: @notmyghostpodcast

📖 Chapters

00:00 The Unanswered Questions at McCormick Farm

02:01 The Order of Jimothy

06:38 Colorado Facts & a Headless Chicken

19:48 Michael McCormick’s Final Days

21:11 Reopening the McCormick Farm Investigation

30:00 Michelle Thompson-Larimer & the Granby Standoff

35:13 Could More Victims Still Be Buried There?

45:01 The Paranormal Claims Begin

01:13:01 Portals to Hell Investigates McCormick Farm

📚 Sources & Further Reading

20 Years Later a Murder Probe Resumes — ABC News

https://abcnews.com/TheLaw/story?id=5348483

Three Sets of Remains Found on Colorado Ranch — Los Angeles Times

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-02-09-mn-5962-story.html

Diggers Search for More Bodies on Colorado Ranch — UPI

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1986/02/07/Diggers-search-for-more-bodies-on-Colorado-ranch/2040508136400/

Digging Up a Murderous Family Plot — Westword

https://www.westword.com/news/digging-up-a-murderous-family-plot-5891107/

Michael McCormick offered investigators a deal: information about Herbert Donaho and the other bodies buried on his family’s Colorado farm in exchange for leniency. But as the graves were uncovered, Michael’s accusations against his father began colliding with his own involvement—and eventually with an entirely different confession. In Part 2 of our now three-part McCormick Murder Farm deep dive, we follow the bodies, the broken plea agreement, the overturned conviction, and the questions nobody could conclusively answer.

⚠️ Content Warning: Graphic discussion of murder, torture, mutilation, and human remains.

👀 Sneak Peek

🤝 Michael offers investigators information in exchange for leniency

🪦 More bodies are uncovered on the McCormick property

🕵️ His accusations against his father begin to unravel

⚖️ A murder conviction is overturned nearly two decades later

❓ Question for the Comments: Who do you think was telling the truth about what happened on the McCormick farm—Michael, Tom, neither, or some horrifying combination of both?

🔗 Links

🎥 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NotMyGhostPodcast

🎧 Listen now: https://pod.link/1754259268

📩 Paranormal Postcards submissions: notmyghostpodcast@gmail.com

🔗 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/notmyghostnotmyproblem

🛍️ Shop: https://notmyghostpodcast-shop.fourthwall.com/

📸 Instagram & TikTok: @notmyghostpodcast

📘 Facebook: Not My Ghost, Not My Problem

📖 Chapters

00:00 Welcome Back and Part 1 Recap

02:20 Michael’s Confession on the Flight

04:17 Michael Names His Father

09:22 More Graves Discovered on the Farm

20:10 Robert Szwarc and the Darkest Allegations

36:41 Michael’s Story Changes Again

43:34 Trial, Sentencing, and an Overturned Conviction

50:18 Unanswered Questions and Part 3 Teaser

📚 Sources & Further Reading

McCormick Farm Murders — Killer Queens Podcast

https://www.killerqueenspodcast.com/mccormick-farm-murders/

The McCormick Murder Farm — Colored Red Podcast

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-mccormick-murder-farm/id1301799830?i=1000458762630

What happens when a property known for paranormal activity is also tied to one of Colorado’s most disturbing criminal investigations? In Part 1 of our now three-part deep dive into the McCormick Family Farm, we follow Michael Rexford McCormick from a stolen-truck investigation and two spectacular bail jumps to the deal that sent authorities searching for buried victims. Along the way, we examine the farm’s history, allegations involving its vulnerable workers, Herbert “Bert” Donoho’s disappearance, and a six-hour hotel standoff—plus enough chaotic banter to briefly make talking geese seem like the least threatening part of this story.

⚠️ Content Warning: Murder, suicide, suicidal ideation, substance use, and the exploitation of unhoused and vulnerable people.

👀 Sneak Peek 🚛 The stolen truck that connected Michael McCormick to a missing man 💰 Two million-dollar bonds—and two disappearing acts 🌾 Disturbing allegations about how the farm recruited and controlled workers 🚨 A stolen credit card, a Best Western, and a six-hour police standoff

❓ Question for the Comments: At this point in the story, do you believe Michael was telling investigators the truth?

🔗 Links

🎥 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NotMyGhostPodcast

🎧 Listen now: https://pod.link/1754259268

📩 Paranormal Postcards submissions: notmyghostpodcast@gmail.com

🔗 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/notmyghostnotmyproblem

🛍️ Shop: https://notmyghostpodcast-shop.fourthwall.com/

📸 Instagram & TikTok: @notmyghostpodcast

📘 Facebook: Not My Ghost, Not My Problem

📖 Chapters

00:00 The McCormick Family Farm

01:21 Moving Chaos and Talking Animals

16:47 Colorado Quick Facts

20:27 Content Warning and Unexplained Knocking

28:53 Michael McCormick’s Arrest and Deal

34:01 Four Graves and the McCormick Family

43:00 The Alleged Farmworker Scheme

53:56 Herbert “Bert” Donoho Disappears

63:14 Two Bail Jumps and an Omaha Standoff

74:24 Why This Is Now a Three-Parter

📚 Sources & Further Reading

Michael: From the Case Files of S.P.O.O.K.S — Tracy Beach

https://outskirtspress.com/michael

The McCormick Murder Farm — Colored Red

https://coloredred.buzzsprout.com/131790/episodes

McCormick Farm Murders — Killer Queens

https://www.killerqueenspodcast.com/mccormick-farm-murders/

Something may be lurking beneath the lakes of Oklahoma—and something else is wandering Pennsylvania’s hemlock forests, crying uncontrollably about its face. This week, we’re investigating two wonderfully bizarre lesser-known cryptids: the allegedly enormous Oklahoma Octopus and the tragically damp Squonk. We dig into where these stories came from, what evidence actually exists, and why a cryptid does not have to be biologically real to become culturally immortal.

⚠️ Content Warning: Brief discussion of drowning deaths and water-safety statistics.

👀 Sneak Peek

🐙 The suspiciously modern origins of the Oklahoma Octopus

😭 The Squonk’s tear-soaked place in Pennsylvania lumberjack folklore

🔍 Why cryptid stories survive even without scientific evidence

❓ Question for the Comments: Would proof of one cryptid make every other cryptid more believable?

🔗 Links

🎥 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NotMyGhostPodcast

🎧 Listen now: https://pod.link/1754259268

📩 Paranormal Postcards submissions: notmyghostpodcast@gmail.com

🔗 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/notmyghostnotmyproblem

🛍️ Shop: https://notmyghostpodcast-shop.fourthwall.com/

📸 Instagram & TikTok: @notmyghostpodcast

📘 Facebook: Not My Ghost, Not My Problem

📖 Chapters

00:00 Cold Open

00:06 Welcome to Lesser-Known Cryptids

04:43 Would One Proven Cryptid Change Everything?

11:49 Giant Squid: When Sea Monsters Turn Out Real

16:20 What Counts as a Cryptid?

30:20 The Oklahoma Octopus

44:53 Wine Break & Meet the Squonk

01:01:14 Is the Squonk Real?

01:04:06 Closing Thoughts

📚 Sources & Further Reading

Is There an Oklahoma Octopus? — KGOU

https://www.kgou.org/show/how-curious/2023-09-26/is-there-an-oklahoma-octopus

Tulsa District Water Safety—Statistics — U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

https://www.swt.usace.army.mil/Missions/Water-Safety/Statistics/

Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods — William T. Cox

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Fearsome_Creatures_of_the_Lumberwoods%2C_with_a_Few_Desert_and_Mountain_Beasts

Giant Squid on Baited Camera — Smithsonian Ocean

https://ocean.si.edu/ocean-life/invertebrates/giant-squid-baited-camera

This week’s Paranormal Postcards gives us three very different reasons to trust your gut: a real-world threat near Seattle’s Green Lake, a Japanese smoke entity that becomes far too attached, and a haunted college staircase where challenging the resident presence goes exactly as badly as you would expect. Joel joins us as these stories somehow lead to Taser Ghost, paranormal boundary violations, and a one-sided feud with Dave’s suspiciously excellent writing.

⚠️ Content Warning: Stalking and predatory behavior, religious trauma, illness and vomiting, injuries, physical violence within a paranormal account, brief mention of recent loss, and mature language.

👀 Sneak Peek

🚨 Missy’s instincts warn her that the man following her is no ordinary passerby

🌫️ Birdie touches a smoke entity—and deals with the consequences for three days

🏫 Dave challenges whatever is haunting a Mount Ida College staircase

📺 Joel pitches the 1990s villain we didn’t know we needed: Taser Ghost

❓ Question for the Comments: If you were canonized as a saint, what incredibly specific thing would you be the patron saint of, and what would people pray to you for?

🔗 Links

🎥 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NotMyGhostPodcast

🎧 Listen now: https://pod.link/1754259268

📩 Paranormal Postcards submissions: notmyghostpodcast@gmail.com

🔗 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/notmyghostnotmyproblem

🛍️ Shop: https://notmyghostpodcast-shop.fourthwall.com/

📸 Instagram & TikTok: @notmyghostpodcast

📘 Facebook: Not My Ghost, Not My Problem

👻 Joel/FuelNeve: Instagram @thefuelneve | TikTok @Fuelneve

📖 Chapters

00:00 Cold Open & Welcome Back

00:33 Catching Up After the Hiatus

04:34 Patron Saints of Very Specific Chaos

14:19 The Creep at Green Lake

25:40 Taser Ghost: The TV Show

27:39 The Smoke Demon and I

42:20 A Haunted Experience at Mount Ida College

51:43 Submissions and Final Chaos

55:35 Stay Spooky, Stay Skeptical

📚 Sources & Further Reading

Listener-submitted accounts — Missy, Birdie, and Dave

Enenra — Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enenra

Grimly Podcast — Audioboom

https://audioboom.com/channels/5166696-grimly-podcast