Kentucky Deceased: Hauntings of Frankfort

"I do not appear at your whim."
In the penultimate episode of the 2026 season of Kentucky Deceased, Dr. Eleanor Hasken-Wagner shares audio from a recently unearthed VHS recording of the old Ghost Tour of Frankfort from the year 2000. Meet the Gray Lady of Liberty Hall, hear the latest gossip from 1825, and join Governor Thomas Bramlette at Fort Boone as he defends the capital from Confederate attack. 
Watch the digitized tape here.
Do you have a strange story from Frankfort or Franklin County? Bumps in the night, lights in the skies, or whatever else have you, we'd love to hear them! Record your story here and it may end up on a future episode of Kentucky Deceased.
CONTENT WARNING
Loud noises and gunshots (including cannon and musket fire)
Death of a child
Death by train accident and medicinal overdose
Murder
Civil War violence, including dramatized threats from Confederate soldiers

"I find that when people are lying, they won't tell the story the same way twice."
A skeptical lawyer sees a ghost in his bedroom. Three months later, he finds her portrait in the crawl space.
In this special episode of Kentucky Deceased, recorded live at the Paul Sawyier Public Library as part of the Frankfort Heritage Lecture Series, author Keven McQueen shares two stories: the haunting of the Stockton House in Richmond, Kentucky, and the letters (and souvenir) he received from Charles Manson.
Do you have a strange story from Frankfort or Franklin County? Bumps in the night, lights in the skies, or whatever else have you, we'd love to hear them! Record your story here and it may end up on a future episode of Kentucky Deceased.
CONTENT WARNING
Suicide
Murder, including discussion of Charles Manson
Threats of violence
Brief mention of a marriage between an elderly man and a 15-year-old girl
 

"It's hard to treat the earth badly if we revere her."
What if farming has always been a little bit magic? Local farmer and author Todd Elliott thinks it has, and that we'd take better care of the land if we saw it as alive.
In this episode of Kentucky Deceased, Dr. Eleanor Hasken-Wagner talks with Todd about his book The Cunning Farmer: Agrarian Magical Practices, Mythology, and Folklore. They discuss astrology, the spirits of the land, and the "Christian animism" of the Middle Ages. Todd also reads an excerpt about a moonlit walk to an abandoned farm, where he leaves offerings for the spirits and sees the long history of the land.
Do you have a strange story from Frankfort or Franklin County? Bumps in the night, lights in the skies, or whatever else have you, we'd love to hear them! Record your story at the link below and it may end up on a future episode of Kentucky Deceased.
Submit your story here

"The devil abode in him and dominated him."
John Upshaw Waring was a wealthy lawyer and a ruthless debt collector. He carried a pistol, a bowie knife, and a sword cane. For a quarter of a century, he left a trail of threats, stabbings, and lawsuits across Franklin and Woodford Counties.
In this episode of Kentucky Deceased, Dr. Eleanor Hasken-Wagner looks at the life and death of Waring. She covers his role in the Beauchamp-Sharp tragedy, his 1835 shooting of attorney Samuel Q. Richardson on the steps of Frankfort's Mansion House, and the rumor that he wore a full suit of armor under his clothes.
Do you have a strange story from Frankfort or Franklin County? Bumps in the night, lights in the skies, or whatever else have you, we'd love to hear them! Record your story at the link below and it may end up on a future episode of Kentucky Deceased.
Submit your story here
CONTENT WARNING
Murder, threats of violence, stabbings and shootings, dueling, and brief mention of enslavement.