Strange Bluegrass

This episode is best viewed on YouTube on S.B. Pearce's channel. Find it in the Strange Bluegrass Playlist. Join S.B. Pearce as she attends the 2nd annual Battletown Witch Festival in Brandenburg, Kentucky. Hear the tragic story of Leah Smock, a gifted young lady accused of witchcraft. Ultimately, her life ended at the tender age of 21, and she bears the title of being the last witch burned in the United States. The festival was created to celebrate her life and to mourn her untimely, and grisly death.  You'll meet Lady V, High Priestess of Louisville, watch the Sisters of the Dancing Moon perform the German witch dance called Wolfshager Hexenbrut, see the adult costume contest, and listen to Kay Hamilton, descendent of Leah and Kentucky author who wrote the definitive book on her ancestor, Burned As A Witch: The Legend of Leah Smock. You can also browse the wares of many fine local artists, many of which cater to a particular pagan path. 

Join S.B as she speaks with Annie Hamilton Emond with the Meade County Tourism Bureau about their unique festival in Brandenburg, KY. The festival celebrates the unique life and tragic death of Leah Smock, the last witch burned in the United States. 

Join S.B. Pearce as Kyle Kadel gives a spectacular tour of the International Paranormal Museum and Research Center in Somerset, Kentucky. Thousands of items from Cryptids to haunted objects come together to create a unique experience for visitors.

S.B. is stunned to learn that one of the Godfathers of Horror film was a Kentucky Native. Join her as she explores Tod Browning's incredible life and career. 

Join S.B. Pearce as she explores the history of book banning in the Bluegrass State and the challenges facing our Public Library system due to the passing of SB 167.

S.B. Pearce just learned that the state gemstone is the fresh water pearl...or is it? Join her as she discovers something really odd about a few of our state's strange official designations. 

I love a good pun. I also groan but giggle at corny dad jokes. Join me at the Apple Valley Hillbilly Garden and Toyland in Calvert City, Kentucky where I received the coolest tour ever by the super talented proprietor, Keith Holt. Additional images and video footage will be posted to the Strange Bluegrass social media pages.

We've all heard the phrase "It's raining cats and dogs" and the song "It's Raining Men"is an iconic dance classic. Water spouts can make it rain fish and there was once a blood rain in Tennessee. Have you ever heard of the time it rained meat in Kentucky? Join S.B. Pearce as she interviews Kurt Gohde, the Kentucky Meat Rain Expert. I don't think these folks were stepping on a poodle.

Kentucky has always made significant contributions to the world that progress humanity or community, we just aren't always given credit where credit is due. However, a few notable scientists were certainly credited with the highest honor possibe in the world. Join S.B. Pearce as she explores Kentucky Nobel Laureates. 

A happenchance post by her friend, Heather G. brought an amazing character to S.B.'s attention. Her love of dance urged her to do as deep of a dive as is possible for this particular sweet gal from Cloverport. 

An incident that occurred in Franklin, Kentucky in January 1948 was pivotal in the creation of Project Bluebook - a major government study of unidentified fling objects. Join S.B. Pearce as she explores this unique connection to the UFO mania that seized the nation. 

Today marks the 140th anniversary of the worst Christmas Eve tragedy that has occurred in Kentucky. Join S.B. Pearce as she shares the tale of murder, arson, mobs and vigilante justice that rocked the Bluegrass state in the late nineteenth century. *Sorry for the thumping sounds - kids are home for winter break.   

Where there is smoke, there is often fire, but what if you live somewhere with misty mountain tops? Join S.B. Pearce as she explores the underground coal fires of Kentucky. As it turns out, hell is just a short car ride from here. 

Inspired by comic Corey Ryan Forrester and the recent announcement by the United States government regarding Unidentified Flying Objects, S.B. Pearce was inspired to dive into the phenomena of crop circles in Kentucky. Na-nu, na-nu, y'all!

S.B. shares the strange happenings that surrounded her family in their Louisiana home before they finally decided to return to Kentucky. Even her husband was convinced that something was wrong in that house. 

Hear what happens when a very gifted boy in California moves into the family dream house...is it really as wonderful as it seems? Follow him on his journey to Kentucky where he gets a warm welcome from the Bluegrass state's most peculiar residents. 

Hospitals and care facilities are no strangers to death. Hear what happens when those who have passed on can't seem to find their way out. Join S.B. Pearce as she chats with her sister Carla about the things she has encountered when those residents do more than die in the hallowed halls of healing. Bonus! Carla also shares a couple of her personal experiences from their childhood and together they make a Cryptid connection.

Some folks have the kind of openness that allows them to experience many different kinds of paranormal or supernatural activity throughout their lives. Brandi is one of those gifted people. Join S.B. as she talks with a dear friend about their many encounters in Kentucky. 

Kentucky has always had more than its fair share of paranormal happenings but unbeknownst to eight year old S.B., she was about to experience her first...before she even knew what a haunting was. 

Join S.B. Pearce as she explores the life and times of Mary Ann Haney, a Caldwell County woman who rose to international fame in the 1920s during the heyday of circus entertainment. Mabel Stark was her stage name and she was the ultimate master and trainer of the Sumatran tiger. She was also the first woman to receive top billing and superstar status as a wild animal trainer.

Inspired by the book "Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs and Other Questions About Dead Bodies" by author and Ask A Mortician YouTube personality, Caitlin Doughty, S.B. takes a closer look at Kentucky's corpse laws and how some folks just don't give a damn about respecting the dead. 

This time, S.B. and her sister head to Elizabethtown in Hardin County to visit an unusual store called Akashic Awareness owned by Mark and Shelly James. Check out their in depth interview with Mark the dives deep into the concept of Akashic Records, religious history, science, quantum physics and more! Bonus! S.B. participates in a PEMF session and both have their aura's read. What their biofeedback reveals is fairly accurate!

Join S.B. Pearce as she travels to Emminence, KY to explore the only permanent Renaissance Festival in the state. Hear interviews, music, medieval fighting and more from her excursion that took her back in time to 1320. You might be surprised at some of the information she shares!

Stories abound across the internet of the famous Jacob Cooley's chest, a furniture that carries an evil curse that plagued a Kentucky family for over a hundred years. S.B Pearce and her husband, William, set off on a road trip to look at this nefarious home furnishing as they discover more details that truly bring the story full circle. In a a surprise twist, it wasn't Jacob Cooley's chest after all. It was Moses Graham's, as researched by Virginia Cleveland's grand-daughter: Beverly Kienzle, PhD of the Harvard Divinity School at Harvard University. Sounds like the curse was not just a short story but a real haunting as experienced by generations of the same family. 

S.B. Pearce and her sister Carla go on a field trip to a place that invoked fear and intrigue their entire childhoods. Although many may be familiar with the basic history of the "mushroom mines" in Lawton, Kentucky, S.B. managed to dig up a pretty major lost detail about the place that is highly unusual. Join them as they explore the mines on foot and talk about the history and the urban legends or myths that surround this often feared location. 

Join S.B. Pearce as she road trips through Kentucky with a friend to visit what was once the tiniest church in the world and to check out a mysterious place that supposedly was sized for little people. You'll be surprised at the long historical reach of the chapel. 

Join S.B. Pearce as she explores the life and times of a notorious Kentuckian that worked his way to Alcatraz Prison and what he did once he got there. 

Join S.B. Pearce as she explores sensational stories of lightning strikes and fatalities in the Bluegrass State. From lightning portraits to livestock, lightning plays a frightening role in our every day lives. It's just weird how much it happens in Kentucky.

Listen to the tale of a Lexington big shot turned cop turned major drug dealer and how he inadvertently killed an innocent bear. That bear is about to go down in Hollywood history to boot. 

Hot topics are all abuzz in the Bluegrass state and have been since the 1920s. Join S.B. Pearce as she looks to Kentucky's connection to the anti-evolution sentiment in the U.S., a man that wished to be buried with his monkey, and Darwin Award winners. 

Join S.B. Pearce as she explores the dubious claims of the requirements for women to attend school in 1838. Could we really not use our tits to continue counting after we ran out of fingers and toes?

Part two of the exploration of faith and religion in the Bluegrass state. Join S.B. Pearce as she covers the establishment of two more major religions in Kentucky plus several that were formed by actual Kentucky natives.

Kentucky has a unique way of keeping the faith that is often made fun by other states. How did our churches become the way they are? S.B. Pearce delves into the history of religion in the bluegrass state and how many of our current practices came to be. She also talks about our unique importance in the spread of certain practices to the rest of the nation.

This ominous phrase may mean a little something more in the Bluegrass state. Join S.B. Peace as she explores a more macabre side of Kentucky. Be careful where you explore, you might accidentally dig something up.

Instead of eight degrees of separation, it's eight degrees of Kentuckiation, the state where everything seems to be connected in some weird way. Like pancakes and the abolition of slavery. Join S.B. Pearce to find out how they are all related. 

Spiritual attachment to objects isn't a new concept. Ghostly encounters can come from many places...and many things. It seems that almost everybody has heard of Annabel, the haunted vessel that was found by Ed and Lorraine Warren. These stories of soul object seem hard to believe...until you experience it yourself. Listen to S.B. Peace interview her parents about a particular object that held more than they bargained for.    Sound effects provided by: https://freesound.org/people/lucy4/sounds/408358/ https://freesound.org/people/TheDweebMan/sounds/277193/ https://freesound.org/people/klankbeeld/sounds/133100/  

For the month of October, S.B. is exploring true paranormal stories of the Bluegrass. Hear her personal story of an event that happened near Soldier, KY.  The following sound effect credits go to: https://freesound.org/people/klankbeeld/sounds/133100/ https://freesound.org/people/julius_galla/sounds/202239/ https://freesound.org/people/Coolshows101sound/sounds/412125/ https://freesound.org/people/InspectorJ/sounds/339671/    

Arnold Philip and John Slack of Elizabethtown, Kentucky hold the honor of pulling the biggest hoax back in 1872, proving once again, that you should never underestimate a Kentuckian. 

The world's greatest "counterfeiter" was from Lewis County, Kentucky. Find out about this strange case that even defied federal authorities. S.B. even shares her questionable singing voice about it. 

Tinderbox Circus Sideshow is one of the last ten-in-one traveling sideshow acts in the country...and they are from right here in the bluegrass state. S.B. Pearce and her most beloved cohort attended their show on Sunday, September 8th at Cosmic Charlie's in Lexington. They were blown away by the raucous, the bawdy, the sexy and the strange the entire night. Hear them chat about the antics of Captain Darron on Awesome, Trashique, and Devereaux Dollface plus a little Kentucky sideshow history to boot!

Kentucky just so happens to be where America's first serial killers wreaked their worst carnage. They were so bad, that even other hardened criminals didn't want anything to do with them. Join S.B. Pearce as she pieces together the myriad of information that's out there on these brother/cousins. 

While combing through the internet, S.B. discovered that one of the most successful pin-up models of the 40's and 50's was born right here in Kentucky. Learn all about this mid-century wildcat and her treasure.

Join S.B Pearce as she and her sister delve into the famous event from 1955 when the Suttons were terrorized by visitors, both of the extraterrestrial and of the human kind. They also sample the delights of the festival now held to commemorate that fateful night in Kelly, Kentucky. Nanu-Nanu, strangers!

The internet has a few strange things to say about Kentucky foods so we set out to eat the things that Google says we consume plus the things we actually do love to nosh. Join S.B. Pearce and a bunch of her most favorite people as they plow their way through a smorgasbord of dishes and signature drinks. 

Xenophobia and yellow journalism prevail in the mid-nineteenth century Louisville. The advertising sucked too. Join author S.B. Pearce as she explores a deadly riot in 1855.

Sorcery, illusion, sleight of hand and trickery. Whatever you call it, there’s no doubt that most folks love a great parlor trick. But did you know that Kentucky has a uniquely strong connection to the world of magic? From corn chips to Vegas, we seem to be able to conjure up all kinds of hocus pocus, including a 135 year old disappearing act.    This is Strange Bluegrass. Join me, S.B. Pearce, as I explore all the weird and wonderful people, places and things about Kentucky.