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Family Ghosts

WALT FM

Every house is haunted. In each episode of Family Ghosts, we investigate the true story behind a mysterious figure whose legend has followed a family for generations. Grandmothers who were secretly jewel smugglers, uncles who led double lives, siblings who vanished without a trace, and other ghostly characters who cast shadows over our lives in ways that might not be immediately obvious. We are all formed in part by our familial collections of secrets, intrigues, and myths. By engaging with each others’ legends, perhaps we can see each others’ realities more clearly. Hosted by Moth Grand Slam winner Sam Dingman, whose stories have been featured on NPR, Risk!, TBTL, and The Moth Radio Hour.

Copyright 2017-2021 WALT FM

Every house is haunted. In each episode of Family Ghosts, we investigate the true story behind a mysterious figure whose legend has followed a family for generations. Grandmothers who were secretly jewel smugglers, uncles who led double lives, siblings who vanished without a trace, and other ghostly characters who cast shadows over our lives in ways that might not be immediately obvious. We are all formed in part by our familial collections of secrets, intrigues, and myths. By engaging with each others’ legends, perhaps we can see each others’ realities more clearly. Hosted by Moth Grand Slam winner Sam Dingman, whose stories have been featured on NPR, Risk!, TBTL, and The Moth Radio Hour.

Copyright 2017-2021 WALT FM
58hr 10min
Thumbnail for "Season 1 Trailer: Every House Is Haunted".
Every house is haunted.
March 21, 20171min 6sec0 B
Thumbnail for "1: The Family Jewels".
One afternoon in 1961, a mysterious woman in sunglasses wandered into my grandfather's jewelry shop and stole his heart. Two years later, she vanished without a trace.
March 23, 201750min 42sec0 B
Thumbnail for "2: No Brown Spots".
Everything changed for Caila on June 22, 2010. On today's episode, she finally confronts the truth about what happened that night.
November 15, 201759min 5sec0 B
Thumbnail for "3: Sue's Clues".
When Nick's grandfather died in 1994, something bizarre happened: his aunt Susan stole the body and hid it.
November 22, 201758min0 B
Thumbnail for "4: A Spirit of Vengeance".
Jill grew up hearing the terrifying legend of "the crazy man from Mississippi." But as an adult, she starts to question her mom's version of the story.
November 29, 201748min 14sec0 B
Thumbnail for "5: Lookin' Good, Charlie".
Mark's only memories of his father are tender, stubbly hugs and an old leather shaving kit.
December 6, 20171hr0 B
Thumbnail for "6: That You Should Be Happy".
Micaela is haunted by a recurring dream - a vision from her family's harrowing past.
December 13, 201752min 16sec0 B
Thumbnail for "7: None Of Your Business".
Sam discovers he has an uncle he never knew about.
December 20, 201751min 32sec0 B
Thumbnail for "Season 2 Trailer: We Never Really Talked About Our Past".
The official trailer for Season 2 of "Family Ghosts"
May 1, 20192min 42sec0 B
Thumbnail for "8: The Love Family, Part 1 - Love & Logic".
After a fateful acid trip in 1967, a man named Paul tries to build his ideal family.
May 15, 201957min 42sec0 B
Thumbnail for "9: The Love Family, Part 2 - Vision & Completion".
Love is real.
May 15, 201944min 9sec0 B
Thumbnail for "10: The Love Family, Part 3 - Constance & Composure".
Posey tries to uncover the connection between the loss of her mother and her parents' time in the Love Family.
May 22, 20191hr 3min0 B
Thumbnail for "11: His Minor Years".
A souvenir from from Meara's great-uncle turns out to be a clue about a scandal that almost tore her family apart.
May 29, 201959min 9sec0 B
Thumbnail for "12: The Chinese Food Incident".
A mysterious burglary has haunted the Falco family for 25 years.
June 5, 201951min 43sec0 B
Thumbnail for "13: June & George".
Kimberly's grandparents find themselves imprisoned without cause. When they're released, they refuse to talk about it.
June 12, 201948min 32sec0 B
Thumbnail for "14: The Sasquatch of Spring Valley".
After Asher's uncle dies, the family goes to clean out his apartment, and discovers a box of love letters from a woman they've never met.
June 19, 201954min 28sec0 B
Thumbnail for "15: A Settling in the Bones".
Kirya's childhood home is haunted by two elusive ghosts.
June 26, 201953min 15sec0 B
Thumbnail for "16a: Bone Hill - Act 1".
Martha's family has their land stolen, and then their identity.
July 3, 201946min 35sec0 B
Thumbnail for "16b: Bone Hill - Act 2".
Martha's family makes a home on Black Mountain, and reckons with the past.
July 3, 20191hr0 B
Thumbnail for "Season 3 Trailer: A Circle of Ghosts".
The official trailer for Season 3 of our show.
November 20, 20192min 12sec0 B
Thumbnail for "17: The Clotilda Legacy, Part 1: The Descendants".
A community in Mobile, Alabama is haunted by a shameful secret.
December 4, 201938min 46sec0 B
Thumbnail for "18: The Clotilda Legacy, Part 2: The Stronghold".
Joycelyn and Darron try to escape the shadow of the Meaher family's pervasive influence in Africatown.
December 11, 201942min 21sec0 B
Thumbnail for "19: The Clotilda Legacy, Part 3: The Reckoning".
Ring the bell so the world will know.
December 18, 201945min 47sec0 B
Thumbnail for "20: A Boy In A Story".
David tells the story of three unlikely family members who shaped his life.
January 8, 202058min 8sec0 B
Thumbnail for "21: Collateral For Ten Million".
Kierran tries to figure out if any of her grandfather's stories were true.
January 15, 202056min 56sec0 B
Thumbnail for "22: The Trove".
Mariah travels to a country she's never been to in hopes that she can find a man she's never met: her father.
January 22, 202057min 39sec0 B
Thumbnail for "23: Your Ghost".
Three stories about the moment when the static dissolves, and a transmission from the past comes through loud and clear.
January 29, 20201hr 5min0 B
Thumbnail for "24: Little Stonehenges".
Following her father's death, a ghost appears in Natalie's childhood home, leaving a trail of troubling clues.
February 5, 202053min 57sec0 B
Thumbnail for "25: The Ambassador".
Mac and his mom have a lot to talk about: her relationship with her psychic, his brother's murder, and a life-altering betrayal that happened decades ago.
February 12, 202049min 7sec0 B
Thumbnail for "26: Spirit World".
Is it you? Are you there? I miss you.
February 19, 202057min 23sec0 B
Thumbnail for "27: The Mission".
Decades after her brother's mysterious disappearance, Toni finally learns the truth about what happened to him.
March 4, 202054min 16sec0 B
Thumbnail for "28: The Faith Exam".
Julian joins a church in Poughkeepsie, and discovers a decades-old secret about her uncle.
March 11, 202057min 46sec0 B
Thumbnail for "29: A Crane in the Bay - Part 1".
When an unnatural disaster befalls her family, Kate demands answers. But no one's willing to talk.
January 14, 202135min 55sec0 B
Thumbnail for "30: A Crane in the Bay - Part 2".
Kate flees the haunting silence of Baltimore - but no matter where she goes, Eddy's ghost isn't far behind.
January 28, 202142min 41sec0 B
Thumbnail for "31: A Crane in the Bay - Part 3".
After more than thirty years of following roads to nowhere, Kate carves her own path.
February 11, 202134min 32sec0 B
Thumbnail for "32: Unwell - A Midwestern Gothic Mystery".
Sam takes you on a trip to a mysterious boarding house in Mt. Absalom, Ohio - a community riddled with secrets and lost memories.
February 25, 202156min 4sec0 B
Thumbnail for "33: Rack & Cue".
Bradford and Paul come to terms with the people they wish their parents could be - and the people they actually are.
March 11, 202130min 46sec0 B
Thumbnail for "34: Foxes".
Kimberly King Parsons tells the story of a mother telling a story about her daughter telling a story.
March 25, 202143min 21sec0 B
Thumbnail for "35: Guests".
Mary Terrier tells the story of a woman who seems to hold all the keys.
April 8, 202134min 14sec0 B
Thumbnail for "36: Still Close".
Sam receives an unexpected message from the past, delivered by a Spiritualist medium in a mysterious town called Lily Dale.
April 23, 202148min 28sec0 B
Thumbnail for "39: The Old Block".
Jim grabs the baton, and Gastor sees the face behind the mask.
June 4, 202140min 55sec0 B
Thumbnail for "42: The Namesake - Part 1".
Jessie's name is the continuation of her aunt's story. But no one's ever told Jessie the real story of her aunt.
July 16, 202143min 37sec0 B
Thumbnail for "45: A Hollywood Ending".
After his brother's tragic murder, Mac's family finds disparate ways of re-assembling their shattered lives.
September 10, 20211hr 8min0 B
Thumbnail for "49: City Folk".
Sam gets a ghostly answer to a decade-old question.
November 5, 202138min 30sec0 B
Thumbnail for "50: They Don't Make 'Em Like That Anymore".
Stories about coming to terms with the truth about our mothers.
November 19, 202135min 16sec0 B
Thumbnail for "51: You Know It's Wrong".
Stories about rediscovering home in unexpected ways.
December 3, 202137min 49sec0 B
Thumbnail for "52: Untitled Dad Project".
Janielle Kastner tries to get to know a man she never got to meet.
December 17, 202150min 3sec0 B
Thumbnail for "53: Something in the Wind".
Sam has a memory he can't explain.
December 31, 202136min 24sec0 B
Thumbnail for "BONUS: The Rumor".
A mysterious story has haunted the city of Baltimore for 25 years. Can Sam unravel the truth...before the truth unravels him?
October 25, 202115min 27sec0 B
Thumbnail for "37: The Walls of Jericho".
When Erin moves to England, her mother presents her with a life-altering choice.
May 7, 202133min 37sec0 B
Thumbnail for "40: Motherland - Part 1".
The two of us became the embodiment of the Chinese phrase xiang yi wei ming - mutual reliance - for life.
June 18, 202141min 31sec0 B
Thumbnail for "41: Motherland - Part 2".
Part 2 of Jiayang Fan's story about her and her mother's intertwined quests for survival.
July 1, 202147min 4sec0 B
Thumbnail for "42: The Namesake - Part 2".
"You can open up a book and choose a sentence at random, and derive meaning from it."
July 30, 202133min 41sec0 B
Thumbnail for "43: The Namesake - Part 3".
"I feel really lucky that Danny is Danny."
August 13, 202129min 46sec0 B
Thumbnail for "44: Forever Is A Long Time".
Everyone in Ian's family gets divorced. Now that he's been married for a few years, he wants to know if his relationship is doomed.
August 26, 202157min 42sec0 B
Thumbnail for "46: A Dime for Mr. Fetterman".
Family stories that seem simple on the surface, but are actually the keys to understanding our entire personalities.
September 24, 202142min 21sec0 B
Thumbnail for "47: The Soft War".
Thi Bui tells producer Jennifer Lai about the delicate process of asking her parents about their worst experiences.
October 7, 202137min 52sec0 B
Thumbnail for "48: Superheroes".
Stories about unexpected impulses with deep generational roots.
October 21, 202143min 7sec0 B
Thumbnail for "BONUS: Snatching Sinatra".
For the last few months, Sam's been hard at work with John Stamos (yes, that John Stamos) on a top-secret project...
July 27, 202112min 4sec0 B
Thumbnail for "38: The Reality Map (or The Faith Exam, Part 2)".
Andrew tells the family ghost story behind a "Family Ghosts" story.
May 20, 202152min 36sec0 B
Thumbnail for "54: The Fatal Nickel".
The wayward son of a manufacturing dynasty tries to sow fresh roots in his family tree.
January 14, 202242min 11sec0 B
Thumbnail for "55: Don't Look Directly At It".
Malcolm Gladwell shares a parable from the past, and Nick Markovich searches for the meaning of life.
January 27, 202244min 25sec0 B
Thumbnail for "56: Pioneer Stock - Part 1".
Craig grows up in hiding from his uncles' secret lives, fearful that his family will one day discover his own secret.
February 12, 202245min 35sec0 B
Thumbnail for "57: Pioneer Stock, Part 2: A Life Deferred".
Craig unlocks the mysteries of his Uncle Brent's life - literally.
February 25, 202241min 57sec0 B
Thumbnail for "58: Pioneer Stock, Part 3: Sacred Secrets".
Craig learns the truth about the end of his Uncle Larry's life - and finds a new beginning for his own.
March 11, 20221hr 2min0 B
Thumbnail for "59: How Will You Spend Your Time? (A Family Ghosts Mixtape)".
Seven songs from in (and around) our series that just might make you come unstuck in time.
March 25, 202243min 37sec0 B
Thumbnail for "60: Telling Our Stories To Ourselves".
Producer Veralyn Williams explores the power of subjective storytelling in the aftermath of her experience working on a particularly harrowing episode.
April 8, 202257min 9sec0 B
Thumbnail for "61: The Pretender & The Godfather".
As he passes a significant milestone, Sam reflects on two of his wayward early role models.
April 22, 202233min 59sec0 B
Thumbnail for "62: Manual Transition".
Mark embarks on a rollicking quest to find a Cool Dad.
May 6, 202231min 54sec0 B
Thumbnail for "63: Hard Eights and Husky Boys".
Stories about inscrutable older men with vital wisdom to share - if only we could figure out how to talk to them.
May 21, 202233min 5sec0 B
Thumbnail for "64: A Mississippi Story".
Guy Story finds out his father had a secret.
June 3, 202236min 51sec0 B
Thumbnail for "65: An Electric Dissatisfaction".
Josh Ritter tells Jayson De Leon about charting a course through the unknown.
June 17, 202242min 19sec0 B
Thumbnail for "66: Bone Hill Reprise".
An important update about Family Ghosts, and a reprise of a timely tale.
July 1, 20221hr 38min0 B
Thumbnail for "67. The Midnight Disease".
A special message about the past and the future, with gratitude from your Ghost Host.
April 5, 20231hr 4min0 B
Thumbnail for "Good Company".
Sam's quest to uncover a family ghost that lives in his radio.
August 31, 20238min 19sec0 B
Thumbnail for "FG Presents: The Burden".
Introducing "The Burden," from legendary investigative reporter (and longtime friend of the Ghost Family) Steve Fishman.
March 19, 202422min 5sec0 B
Thumbnail for "Pack One Bag".
A new series from Stanley Tucci, David Modigliani, Lemonada, and Gilded Audio - featuring Sam as story editor!
June 5, 202435min 50sec0 B
Thumbnail for "Sam's Breadcrumbs".
Sam's guest interview on the Breadcrumbs podcast, hosted by his oldest friend Allen.
April 19, 20231hr 1min0 B

11: His Minor Years

Thumbnail for "11: His Minor Years".
May 29, 201959min 9sec

A souvenir from from Meara's great-uncle turns out to be a clue about a scandal that almost tore her family apart.

"I've got a box of old photographs - mostly pictures of you. I never look at those pictures anymore - I guess you got your negatives, too. They're playin' oldies on the radio - kick the clutch and shift the gears. You can drive all night long, but you can't get there from here." - Trout Fishing In America

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Thumbnail for "11: His Minor Years".
11: His Minor Years
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