Press Release: Lakes of the Clouds
When You Wake podcast releases final episode of first season: Lakes of the Clouds
Taverna at Lichenwood—October 7, 2021 – When You Wake, a podcast of not just ghost stories, has announced the final episode of season one: Lakes of the Clouds. The season concludes with some genuinely spooky stories of hikers who took their final steps in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.
The Lakes of the Clouds hut on Mount Washington in New Hampshire is along a moderately trafficked stretch of Appalachian Trail, mostly known for high winds and extreme temperature swings. And in this episode, guest Lindsay Robinson (who worked here one summer in the late 1990s) shares tales of a few of the many hikers who took their final steps along these craggy peaks. You won’t get these stories in any park service brochures.
O’Shaughnessy shares that season two is already in process. Fans are encouraged to visit www.whenyouwakepodcast.com to share their own ghost stories with the production team.
As always, the episode features original music by composer Nicholas D’Amico. The episode and entire first season of When You Wake is produced by OE Sounds.
About When You Wake
Host Robert O’Shaughnessy travelled the United States collecting ghost stories. Listeners can find the podcast website at www.whenyouwakepodcast.com. The episode “Lakes of the Clouds” can be found on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2yny9tkJVAezQza1aR5uFF?si=2ABUShQcSTG7ar7jOc4PBw&dl_branch=1. And on Apple Podcasts here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/when-you-wake/id1558184802?i=1000537872017.
WYW on Feedspot’s List of Best Ghost Story Podcasts
Feedspot just told the world that When You Wake is one of the best ghost story podcasts. As we ready the final episode of season one, this is the sort of thing that makes the whole team smile. Check out the list and some great storytellers here: https://blog.feedspot.com/ghost_story_podcasts/.
Press Release: Ghosts of Gettysburg
PRESS RELEASE
When You Wake podcast releases new episode: Ghosts of Gettysburg
Taverna at Lichenwood—September 14, 2021 – When You Wake, a podcast of not just ghost stories, has announced its latest episode: Ghosts of Gettysburg. Podcast host Robert O’Shaughnessy is given a tour of the infamous civil war battlefield by Brad Lancaster of Gettysburg College. Then local author Mark Nesbitt shares stories of Gettysburg hauntings, past and present. This is the third in a three-part series exploring what the ghosts of early America can teach us about the present day.
O’Shaughnessy explores American history and folklore through the lens of shared ghost stories. “Behind the tourist shops and college bars, the ripple effects of powerful events can still be felt. The very forces that brought General Lee’s army into this sleepy Pennsylvania town can still be felt today. It was a thrill to me to hear and share stories from this singular American town.”
Guest Brad Lancaster gives a tour of the battlefield. Lancaster is the Director of International Student Services at Gettysburg college. The second guest, Mark Nesbitt, is an author and owner of Ghosts of Gettysburg tours and gift shop. Original music by composer Nicholas D’Amico.
About When You Wake
Host Robert O’Shaughnessy travelled the United States collecting ghost stories. The first season concludes in October, 2021 and this is the Episodes are released monthly. Listeners can find the podcast website at www.whenyouwakepodcast.com. The episode “Ghosts of Gettysburg” can be found on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1frve4aqkdf9hVi84l3Tnf?si=3bde9b2340a048f1. And on Apple Podcasts here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/when-you-wake-season-01-episode-06/id1558184802?i=1000535306440.
Press Release: Maryland my Maryland
PRESS RELEASE
When You Wake podcast releases new episode: Maryland my Maryland
Taverna at Lichenwood—August 17, 2021 – When You Wake, a podcast of not just ghost stories, has announced its latest episode: Maryland, my Maryland. Podcast host Robert O’Shaughnessy hears the legend of murdered slave Big Lizz from writer Kristina Gaddy and then visits Baltimore for an intimate tour with local educator and artist Michal Makarovich. This is the second in a three-part series exploring what the ghosts of early America can teach us about the present day.
O’Shaughnessy explores American history and folklore through the lens of shared ghost stories. “Culture doesn’t just happen,” said O’Shaughnessy. “It is formed over centuries by the people who inhabit a place and by the stories they tell. Today’s headlines show a country wrestling with what it means to be an American, and I am curious about what the ghost stories of certain formative places can teach us.”
O’Shaughnessy met writer and historian Kristina Gaddy after reading her account in Shore Monthly on the Conjuring of Big Lizz on Maryland’s eastern shore, a story familiar to the podcast host from his own Maryland childhood.
Michal Makarovich, a former math, journalism, and filmmaking teacher at St. Paul’s School near Baltimore, Maryland, taught O’Shaughnessy geometry proofs, and encouraged a love of cult movies. Listeners will appreciate Makarovich’s singular insights and quick wit.
About When You Wake
Host Robert O’Shaughnessy travelled the United States collecting ghost stories. Episodes are released monthly. Listeners can find the podcast website at www.whenyouwakepodcast.com. The episode exploring Maryland and Baltimore can be found on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and many other top podcast distributers.
Easter 2021 in Salem
Salem greets you like an unremembered dream. Once you move through all the usual clutter that wraps itself around most American cities and towns, you arrive at the core of the thing and it’s like seeing a cousin you haven’t met but whose familial features are quite recognizable.
Just around the corner from a local head shop, you’ll find a memorial – the Salem witch trial memorial stone bench. Each of the stone benches is in remembrance of one of the people killed in the warmer months of 1692.
Sarah Osborne was the first to go. She rarely attended church and showed little interest in blending with her neighbors. She was arrested and died in jail in May of that revelatory year.
Bridget Bishop was the first to be executed. She was hung. (Nineteen of the twenty executed. Giles Corey was crushed under stones until he died for refusing to plea.)
Tituba was one of the first to be accused. A slave of mysterious origins, she was put on trial. Her master, Rev. Samuel Paris, said she had signed pacts with the devil, was seen flying in the air on a stick, and had ungodly visions. She passed some time in prison but was not hung nor crushed. She gave coerced testimony, was released from prison and disappeared from the historical record.
Go to the memorials today and you’ll find flowers strewn about. You’ll see candles, some burning, others long melted. Small, perfumed tributes to the origins of this country.
If you let yourself be available for it, Salem is giving. So it made sense to begin a journey into the ghosts of early America here, where mysterious passions led to many unnecessary deaths in a time of disease and uncertainty.
This is the first in a series of three podcast episodes that will introduce listeners to some early American ghosts.
Episode page on this website here.
Apple Podcasts here.
Spotify here.
About “Growing Up Haunted”
The first full episode has just published and we couldn’t be more excited to share this story of growing up in a haunted house.
But first: as we think through what exactly is this podcast, a few (disjointed?) flickers illuminate the way. We want to tell a kind of ghost story from a unique guest, and then wrap what the guest gives us with our narrative. And we don’t want to know what the guest will say ahead of time, so that as interviewer we can feel surprise and we can react without notes and without preconception.
We do not want to make everything connect. If there are fall-offs, lapses, incongruencies – that’s being a human. That’s what thinking feels like. There is something immensely satisfying about hearing, say, Coltrane or Garcia wander off and then come back again. Can we do this narratively? Dare we try?
We’re interested in not just ghost stories. That is to say, we’re interested in ghost stories. Of course. And also, we’re interested in people who have seen ghosts and we’re interested in where they’ve seen ghosts and we’re interested in the history of those places where the ghosts are seen. Places in geography. Places in time. And places in consciousness. And we use that word consciousness quite deliberately, because we think consciousness and time both have a hall of mirrors effect, where there is the one object reflected into every direction and as you look at the whole situation you discover that any perceived fixed point is an illusion. A fabrication.
Grab a thread dangling from what looks like a fixed point and pull and it just unravels into nothing.
We’re interested in that unravelling.
Back to Ronaldo. He grew up in a haunted house, raised by loving parents, in a time of great change. We think you’ll enjoy hearing from him.
Final thought: Nicholas D’Amico was kind enough to help with the composition of the entire season we’re going to be releasing and we’re really excited to share what he’s done. And we have a few guest musicians to introduce throughout the season. So stay tuned for that.
