Slightly Odd America

People are leaving Augusta’s Ezekiel Harris House gasping for air, and it’s not the humidity. Think Augusta’s historic homes are just antiques and architecture? Think again. The Ezekiel Harris House at 1822 Broad Street is thought to be one of the most haunted places in Augusta, GA , with at least two different ghosts still calling this 1797 home theirs. Ghost #1: The Hanged Revolutionary War Soldier Visitors report hearing the distinct creaking of a rope from the stairwell, like someone swinging from a taut noose. This is believed to be the spirit of a soldier hanged in the house during the Revolutionary War . “The soldier’s apparition has been seen from time to time,” and guests say they’ve felt “a rope tightening around their throat” while touring the Ezekiel Harris House. Ghost #2: The Unknown Female Spirit A female apparition also appears inside the house. Nobody is quite sure who she is or why she’s still here. Guests have spotted her in period dress , then watched her vanish. ...

People are leaving Sloss Furnaces with ringing in their ears, and it’s not from the tour guide’s microphone. Think Alabama’s road trip stops are just beaches and BBQ? Think again. Sloss Furnaces at 20 32nd St N is ranked as one of the most haunted places in America and a top abandoned place you can actually visit. Dozens of workers died here, and some never clocked out. Ghost #1: "Slag" Wormwood, The Foreman Who Still Pushes In the early 1900s, foreman James "Slag" Wormwood ran Graveyard Shift. He forced men into deadly conditions. True crime locations don’t get more real: 47 workers died under him. In 1906, he fell into molten iron, or was he pushed? Today, visitors report a sudden shove near the furnace, along with paranormal activity caught on multiple real investigations. Others hear a man barking orders. Paranormal investigators from Ghost Adventures and Ghost Hunters recorded a voice growling, “Get back to work.” Ghost #2: The Man in the Boilermaker Suit A...

This one’s walking a line.  There are 3 ways to read the Viking milk story, and one of them changes the course of U.S. history. I’m only breaking down that path inside. Slightly Odd Society members get: This full June deep-dive on Vikings, milk, and war The uncensored article I can’t post publicly You help pick July’s exclusive topic You’re the reason I can publish the stuff that doesn’t play nice with algorithms. If you know someone who likes history with teeth, send them this link. It keeps me independent. Now, let’s get into Vikings, milk, and war! Keep America Slightly Odd and Read this Exclusive Article! If you landed on slightlyoddamerica.com and thought, “Finally, my kind of weird,” then you’re exactly who I make this for. The Slightly Odd Society runs on curiosity, thrift store field notes, and reader contributions. To keep the oddities coming, follow me to Patreon and Substack, where the real backroom stuff lives. On Patreon , members fund my deep dives into forgotten roa...

Gunntown Cemetery in Naugatuck is one of the state’s oldest burial grounds, and some people say you don’t want to visit alone after dark. The Facts: Gunntown Cemetery was established in 1790 and sits on Rubber Avenue Extension in Naugatuck. It’s the final resting place for many of Naugatuck’s earliest settlers, including citizens who supported independence during the Revolutionary War. The area was once called Gunntown, named for the Gunn family who lived and operated a sawmill nearby in the 1740s.  Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren declared it “officially haunted,” and it was featured in Southern Connecticut Paranormal’s Season 1 Episode 3.  What Visitors Report A black dog is seen trotting through the headstones, which is a figure that appears in English folklore as a bad omen. Orbs, mists, and cold spots, plus the sound of phantom horse-drawn carriages A man with a lantern leading a horse, and a little boy playing near the back wall Unexplained music and l...

Depression is a hell of a drug, and it can embattle the most stalwart among us at any time. It doesn’t matter who you are, what you’ve done, or what you have to look forward to. Sometimes it comes on as the result of a life event that shakes you to the core, and other times it’s just been with you your entire life. After a major event, it can seem like the entire world has gone grey. Food doesn’t taste as good, if you can even force yourself to eat. Things that brought you joy feel empty and hollow. Your goals and dreams seem pointless, and the stench of failure permeates your pores. It’s a trip into the darkness you may never be able to leave. According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention , suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States, with northern New England well toward the front of the pack. According to a 2023 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire have death rates of 18.47, 17.85, and 14.56...

The Night the Highway Went Quiet There are nights in Cleveland when the lake feels closer than it should. The wind carries that cold, metallic smell off the water, and the streetlights along the interstate glow a little too softly, as if the city is holding its breath. Interstate 90, especially the stretch that curves past East 185th Street, has always had that quality: a kind of watchfulness and a sense that the road remembers more than it lets on. On an October night in 2015, that feeling became something else; something documented and witnessed. It was something that still unsettles people who drove that road long after the incident faded from the news cycle. It began the way these things often do, with headlights cutting through the dark, a driver minding their own business, and a shape on the shoulder that shouldn’t have been there. That shape was a woman walking alone and dressed in white. The first caller described her as “in distress,” though the phrasing was vague, li...

This post was originally shared as a Facebook and Instagram "DID YOU KNOW" post. I share them weekly, and you can get in on the fun by liking my page at Facebook.com/TheNewSlightlyOddFitchburg and following me at Instagram.com/SlightlyOddFitchburg ! Now onto the unexplained story! DID YOU KNOW that in the old logging camps of the North Woods, workers tell stories about a creature called the Hidebehind? It's a forest predator said to stalk men by slipping behind the nearest tree every time they turned to look. Early accounts describe it using forest sounds to lure people off the trail with a single crack, a faint creak, or the echo of something heavy falling deeper in the timber line. Loggers claimed the Hidebehind favored birch stands, where the pale bark made it easier for the creature to blend in. Some men reported finding fresh gouges in the trunks after hearing the sounds, as if something had been watching them from just out of sight. The tale usually starts the same...

Presidents' Day is supposed to be a holiday for finding great savings on cars and mattresses. It's also a day for schoolchildren to glue cotton balls to construction paper and call it George Washington, and a day for the nation to nod politely at the idea of leadership and legacy. What it's not supposed to be is a day to consider the possibility that one of our former presidents never really left. Yet, if you listen to the stories whispered around Virginia plantations, old Richmond neighborhoods, and the long-shadowed halls of the College of William and Mary, you'll hear a name spoken with a mixture of curiosity and unease. John Tyler is the president who refused to stay in his lane during life and, according to some, refuses to stay in his grave. He's already an oddity in American history. He was the first vice president to ascend to the presidency after the death of a sitting president, and he insisted on being treated as the full, legitimate president rather tha...

The Upton Chamber off Prairie Street is one of New England’s genuine archaeological mysteries, and a spot people say feels off. The Chamber Itself: It’s an underground stone structure, roughly 14 feet long, built with corbelled stonework and a narrow entrance passage. There's no mortar and no official record of who built it or why. The entrance aligns with the sunrise on the summer solstice. People who enter the chamber commonly report a few things: Strange acoustics inside. Sounds echo oddly, and some say voices carry in ways that don’t match the size of the space. A sense of being watched or a sudden feeling of dread and unease. Disorientation or nausea while inside. The claim that electronic devices act up or drain battery faster than normal. Hikers on the trail have also reported seeing a figure near the tree line around the site. Descriptions vary, but the “ someone watching from the woods ” story comes up a lot in online forums and trip reports. What We Know for Sure It’s on ...