Across the South, asylums were built with the promise of healing — but inside their walls, countless lives were marked by fear, neglect, and cruelty. In this episode of Southern Mysteries, explore the haunting history of institutions like Broughton Hospital, Cherry Hospital, Central State, and Bryce. From mysterious deaths and forced sterilizations to the tragedy of the Eller twins and the lifetime confinement of Junius Wilson, these are the real horrors that gave rise to Southern asylum ghost stories — and the suffering that still echoes through their halls.

Join the Community on Patreon:

Want more Southern Mysteries? You can hear the Southern Mysteries show archive of 60+ episodes along with Patron exclusive podcast, Audacious: Tales of American Crime and more when you become a patron of the show. You can immediately access exclusive content now at patreon.com/southernmysteries

🎧 Explore More Southern Mysteries

Visit SouthernMysteries.com for more episodes and source lists.

📱 Follow on Social Media:

Facebook: Southern Mysteries Podcast TikTok @southernmysteries

Instagram: @southernmysteries Email: southernmysteriespodcast@gmail.com

Episode Sources

• Associated Press coverage, April 1962 — “Twin Sisters Die Together in Asylum.”
• Winston-Salem Journal, April 1962 (coverage of coroner Dr. John C. Reece’s statements).
• Morganton News Herald, April 1971 coverage of Dr. Paul Douglas Boyles and Betty Cheek Yarborough.
• Associated Press regional wire, April 14–15, 1971.
• Find a Grave – Betty Jo Eller & Bobbie Jean Eller memorials.
• Southern Spirit Guide: “Ill Defined and Unknown Cause of Morbidity and Mortality.”
• Asheville Terrors: “Broughton Hospital.”
• Schoen, Johanna. Choice and Coercion: Birth Control, Sterilization, and Abortion in Public Health and Welfare. University of North Carolina Press, 2005.
• Segrest, Mab. Administrations of Lunacy: Racism and the Haunting of American Psychiatry at the Milledgeville Asylum. New Press, 2020.
• Pennsylvania Hospital Archives – Dr. Thomas Story Kirkbride papers.
• Grob, Gerald N. The Mad Among Us: A History of the Care of America’s Mentally Ill. Harvard University Press, 1994.
• Yanni, Carla. The Architecture of Madness: Insane Asylums in the United States. University of Minnesota Press, 2007.
• “Central State Hospital Cemetery Restoration Project.” Georgia Department of Behavioral Health & Developmental Disabilities.
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution archival coverage on Central State Hospital.
• The Crimson White (University of Alabama student paper):
  • “The Hidden History Behind Bryce Hospital” (2023).
  • “Bryce Uncovered: A Look at the Asylum’s Short-Lived Newspaper” (2017).
• Wyatt v. Stickney, 325 F. Supp. 781 (M.D. Ala. 1971).
• Alabama Department of Mental Health archives.
• HauntedPlaces.org – “Bryce Hospital.”
• Ghost Hunts USA – “Bryce Hospital.”
• Ghost City Tours – “Central State Hospital.”
• US Ghost Adventures – “Central State Hospital.”
• UNC–Chapel Hill Southern Oral History Program — Junius Wilson case archives.
• News & Observer (Raleigh) coverage of Junius Wilson’s release and life, 1990s–2000s.

Episode Music

Out of the Mines, courtesy of Ross Gentry, Asheville, North Carolina.

In 1891, fear and anger in New Orleans boiled over after the murder of Police Chief David Hennessy. Within months, eleven Italian immigrants were dead, their lives taken by a mob in one of the darkest and most violent moments in American history. In this episode of Southern Mysteries, we revisit the events that led to the tragedy

💌 Join the Community on Patreon:

Want more Southern Mysteries? You can hear the Southern Mysteries show archive of 60+ episodes along with Patron exclusive podcast, Audacious: Tales of American Crime and more when you become a patron of the show. You can immediately access exclusive content now at patreon.com/southernmysteries

🎧 Explore More Southern Mysteries

Visit SouthernMysteries.com for more episodes and source lists.

📱 Follow on Social Media:

Facebook: Southern Mysteries Podcast TikTok @southernmysteries Instagram: @southernmysteries Email: southernmysteriespodcast@gmail.com

Episode Sources

• New Orleans Public Library – Records of the Board of Police Commissioners, 1890–1891 (detailing Hennessy’s murder, police leadership changes, and subsequent arrests).
• Library of Congress – Historic photographs of New Orleans docks and immigrant labor, 1891.
• Smithsonian Magazine – “New Orleans Apologizes for 1891 Lynching of Italian Americans” (April 2019).
• History.com – “The Grisly Story of America’s Largest Lynching” (2019).
• American Italian Cultural Center, New Orleans – Archival material on Italian immigration and the 2019 mayoral apology.
• New Orleans Times-Democrat, October 1890–March 1891 coverage (contemporary reporting on Hennessy’s murder, the trial, and the mob attack).
• United States Department of State – Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, 1891 (diplomatic correspondence with Italy following the lynchings).
• Reimagining Migration – “The Lynching of Italian Immigrants” (educational resource on anti-immigrant violence).
• Order Sons & Daughters of Italy in America (OSDIA) – The 1891 New Orleans Project (materials on commemoration and memorial efforts).
• John V. Baiamonte Jr. – “The Mafia and the 1891 New Orleans Lynching: The Question of Criminal Conspiracy” (Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association, Vol. 21, No. 3, 1980).
• Italian Sons and Daughters of America – “Our Darkest Hour: Anarchy, a Lynch Mob and 11 Souls Lost.”
• All That’s Interesting – “The Tragic Story of the 1891 New Orleans’ Lynchings of Italians.”

Episode Music

Out of the Mines, courtesy of Ross Gentry, Asheville, North Carolina.

In June 1955, Judge Curtis Chillingworth and his wife Marjorie vanished from their Manalapan, Florida, beach cottage. There were haunting clues, but no bodies were ever found. Their disappearance exposed corruption in Florida’s courts and led to the downfall of a fellow judge. Curtis was known for integrity, Marjorie for her quiet strength — together, they became the heart of one of Florida’s most infamous true crime cases. Their story, and its unexpected ties to the legend of Trapper Nelson, remains one of Florida’s most haunting mysteries.

💌 Join the Community on Patreon:

Want more Southern Mysteries? You can hear the Southern Mysteries show archive of 60+ episodes along with Patron exclusive podcast, Audacious: Tales of American Crime and more when you become a patron of the show. You can immediately access exclusive content now at patreon.com/southernmysteries

🎧 Explore More Southern Mysteries

Visit SouthernMysteries.com for more episodes and source lists.

📱 Follow on Social Media:

Facebook: Southern Mysteries Podcast TikTok @southernmysteries

Instagram: @southernmysteries Email: southernmysteriespodcast@gmail.com

Episode Sources

• Palm Beach Bar Association. Memorial Resolution for Judge Curtis E. Chillingworth. (1965) palmbeachbar.org
• Florida Memory. Justice Curtis E. Chillingworth Temporary Appointment Bio. floridamemory.com
• The Charley Project. Curtis Eugene Chillingworth Case File. charleyproject.org
• The Charley Project. Marjorie McKinley Chillingworth Case File. charleyproject.org
• Crime + Investigation UK. Judge Joe Peel and the Chillingworth Murders. crimeandinvestigation.co.uk
• The Coastal Star. Manalapan 60 Years On: Chillingworth Murders Still Shocking. thecoastalstar.com
• Mental Floss. What Happened to Judge Curtis Chillingworth? mentalfloss.com
• Town of Manalapan. History of Incorporation and Harold S. Vanderbilt. manalapan.org
• Wikipedia. Curtis Chillingworth. wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtis_Chillingworth
• Unlikely Friends — A municipal publication from Jupiter, FL, describing the unlikely friendship between Judge Curtis Chillingworth and Vincent “Trapper” Nelson.https://www.jupiter.fl.us/DocumentCenter/View/301/Judge-Chillingworth-Murder

Episode Music

Out of the Mines, courtesy of Ross Gentry, Asheville, North Carolina.