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0:22

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0:24

podcast that talks about amazing stories of

0:26

Tinseltown from another era and fascinating conversations

0:29

with writer-producer Steve Kubine and actress-writer Nan

0:31

McNamara. So Steve, did Ava

0:33

Gardner and Howard Hughes have a

0:35

good relationship? Well, they did until

0:37

he dislocated her jaw. What? Well,

0:40

don't worry. She hit him back with an ashtray.

0:42

From Beneath the Hollywood Sign is the gin joint for you.

0:56

Southern Gothic is a podcast that

0:58

explores the history behind some of

1:01

the American South's darkest days, greatest

1:03

mysteries, and most chilling ghost stories.

1:25

Wilmington St. James Episcopal is

1:27

the oldest church in the

1:29

historic North Carolina City, still

1:32

in continual use. Located

1:35

a mere three blocks from the Cape Fear

1:37

River in the Wilmington Historic District, the

1:40

neo-Gothic structure was built in 1839 to

1:44

replace an older, outdated church

1:46

from In

1:50

1781, that original church was occupied

1:52

by General Cornwallis and his troops

1:55

during the Revolutionary War, and that

1:57

history seemed to repeat itself in the end.

6:00

pulled tight and the world around

6:02

him shut out. But

6:05

on this particular night, his

6:07

suffering was interrupted by the sound

6:09

of a voice calling to him

6:11

from the stillness. Alexander

6:15

Alexander Hossler

6:18

spun around, his sadness now

6:20

blanketed with a sharp feeling

6:22

of disdain for whoever had

6:24

boldly decided it was okay

6:26

to interrupt his mourning, but

6:29

that anger didn't last for long.

6:32

As his eyes adjusted to who or

6:35

maybe what stood before him, a cold

6:38

wave of fear rose up. Alexander

6:42

was face to face with the

6:44

glowing apparition of Samuel, the

6:47

man whom he had just helped bury

6:50

only days before. These

6:55

men had been the best of friends for

6:57

almost their entire life. Both

6:59

were members of well-known and affluent

7:01

families in the Cape Fear region.

7:05

Jocelyn's father, Samuel Sr., was

7:07

a Yale-educated lawyer from Connecticut

7:09

who moved the family down

7:12

to North Carolina from New Haven when

7:14

Samuel was only about five. But

7:17

that wasn't an arbitrary move

7:19

as his grandfather, Amaziah Jocelyn,

7:21

had been a profitable sea

7:23

captain there for several years.

7:27

Senior quickly became a prominent

7:29

attorney in not just in

7:31

the local community, but the entire

7:34

state of North Carolina. And

7:36

this is how Samuel Jocelyn Jr.

7:39

met and fell in love with

7:41

the beautiful Mary Ann Sampson, the

7:44

daughter of another prominent attorney who had

7:47

been represented by his own father. Well,

7:51

the pair went on June 7, 1809,

7:54

but before young Samuel and Mary

7:56

Ann were able to start a family

7:58

of their own, Tragedy

8:01

struck. Some

8:12

time around mid-March, Jocelyn

8:15

disappeared. Some

8:18

say that he and his new wife had

8:20

gotten into a bit of an argument one

8:22

night and his response was to storm out

8:24

and take off on his horse in the

8:26

middle of a snowstorm. While

8:28

others say Jocelyn was last

8:31

seen heading out to enjoy

8:33

one of his favorite pastimes, racing

8:36

his horse along the sandy roads

8:38

beside the river under the

8:40

beautiful canopy of live oak trees.

8:44

Either way, the result was the same.

8:47

The young man whose life

8:49

had only truly just begun

8:51

was found lying unconscious on

8:53

the side of the road

8:55

while his horse casually grazed

8:57

several yards away. The

9:01

men who discovered him recognized Jocelyn

9:03

immediately and rushed him back home,

9:05

unsure whether he was alive or

9:07

dead and when they got

9:10

there his parents hastily called the doctor

9:12

but by the time he arrived,

9:15

nothing more could be done. Samuel

9:18

Jocelyn was pronounced dead. The

9:23

funeral service was held not long after

9:25

and the young man was

9:27

buried in the graveyard behind St. James

9:30

Church. The

9:32

Raleigh Register gave notice on Thursday, March

9:34

29th, 1810. Died

9:40

lately at Wilmite, Mr.

9:43

Samuel R. Jocelyn Jr. Aged

9:46

25 years, his

9:48

mild and unaffected manners

9:50

and benevolent character and

9:52

disposition endeared him to

9:54

a numerous acquaintance by

9:56

whom his memory will be long

9:58

and affectionably chanced. cherished. So

10:04

yeah, you can understand why

10:06

Alexander Hossler was so

10:08

deeply shocked by the presence of his

10:11

friend Samuel on that cold

10:13

April night, although, according

10:15

to legend, he certainly shouldn't have

10:18

been. Apparently

10:20

the two men frequently spoke of

10:22

philosophical issues exploring the meaning of

10:25

life and death and debating whether

10:27

or not there was anything for

10:29

them on the other side. They

10:32

of course got ridiculed by some of

10:34

their friends for this morbid interest, but

10:37

they held fast and ended

10:39

this particular conversation by agreeing

10:41

that whoever died first would

10:43

come back and prove to

10:45

the other that there was

10:47

indeed life after death. Now,

10:52

y'all, I bet on this particular

10:54

cold April night, Alexander

10:57

Hossler regretted that pact that he

10:59

had made as he stared

11:01

into the eyes of the apparition of

11:04

his recently departed best friend. Alexander,

11:08

he bellowed, how could you let

11:10

me be buried when I was

11:12

not dead? Upon

11:16

hearing this, Hossler panicked, responding,

11:18

not dead, I was there,

11:20

that can't be true. But

11:24

the apparition persisted, demanding, go dig

11:26

up my coffin and discover the

11:28

truth for yourself. Then

11:32

the specter of Samuel Jocelyn

11:35

Jr vanished right before his

11:37

eyes. Alexander

11:40

was quite shaken by the

11:43

experience, but once

11:45

the fear and panic had subsided,

11:47

he started to doubt what he

11:49

had seen, eventually just convincing himself

11:51

that maybe it was all a

11:53

figment of his imagination and who

11:56

could blame him. After all,

11:58

he had been in quite the emotional space. state

12:00

for the last few days and had

12:02

little contact with the outside world,

12:05

certainly his mind was playing tricks

12:07

on him. But

12:10

the following night as Alexander

12:12

continued to grieve alone in

12:14

that dark room, the voice

12:17

of his friend returned. Alexander,

12:22

Alexander, why did you let them bury

12:24

me when I was not dead? This

12:29

time though, Hossler refused to

12:31

believe what he was seeing and hearing

12:33

and rather than responding

12:36

to his deceased friend's spirit,

12:38

he shut his eyes tight

12:40

and mumbled to himself over

12:42

and over again, this is

12:44

not real. But

12:46

it very much was and soon

12:49

Alexander Hossler was going to have to

12:52

accept that because the next night was

12:54

no different than this one or

12:56

the one before. So

12:58

finally after three consecutive visits

13:01

from this spirit in his

13:03

room pleading with him

13:05

to dig up the coffin from

13:07

St. James graveyard, Alexander gave in.

13:10

Knowing full well that hallucination

13:13

or not, neither he

13:15

nor the spirit would rest until

13:17

he took action. Following

13:23

day, Hossler visited his

13:25

close friend Louis Toomer and confided

13:28

in him the events that had

13:30

transpired on the previous nights and

13:32

whether Toomer heard the desperation in his

13:35

voice, believed in the supernatural

13:37

or was merely being a good

13:39

friend, he agreed to help

13:41

Alexander exhume the coffin as the specter

13:44

had dictated. Respectfully,

13:47

they first asked permission

13:49

from Jocelyn's parents who

13:51

in all honesty were in

13:53

no condition emotionally to really

13:55

agree or disagree to anything,

13:57

but they gave him their blessing. as

14:00

long as they carried out their plan

14:03

under the cover of night so as

14:05

not to stir anyone else's curiosity and

14:08

bring negative attention to the

14:10

already grieving family. So

14:14

that evening, just as

14:17

midnight struck, Hosteler and

14:19

Tumor entered the St. James Church

14:21

Cemetery, armed with

14:23

shovels and a lantern, and

14:26

began digging. The

14:30

grave was still fresh and the

14:32

dirt still loose, so it didn't

14:34

take long for the men to

14:37

uncover the coffin, which they then

14:39

anxiously pried open and peered into

14:42

under the dim light of the lantern, discovering

14:45

a gruesome and terrifying scene.

14:51

The body of their friend was face down.

14:54

The casket sat in lining

14:56

was stripped and torn and

14:58

Joselyn's fingernails were chipped and

15:01

bloody, all horrifying

15:03

evidence that he'd been feverishly trying

15:05

to scratch his way out of

15:07

this pine box. Alexander

15:13

immediately fell to his knees.

15:16

The ghostly visitation he had

15:18

received was no hallucination after

15:20

all. His best

15:22

friend had been buried alive. For

15:32

over two centuries, the legend of

15:34

Samuel Joselyn has been one of

15:36

the most infamous legends passed down

15:38

in Old Wilmington lore, and today,

15:42

some folks say that the young

15:44

man's spirit still continues to haunt

15:46

the graveyard at St. James Church,

15:48

but what makes this

15:50

story even stranger, if

15:53

not spookier, is that the

15:55

grave site of Samuel Joselyn is

15:57

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10% off with code PODCAST. Hello

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all, Eric Rivenus with the most

17:13

notorious podcast here. Each

17:15

week I interview an author or

17:18

historian about a historical true crime,

17:20

tragedy, or disaster. Public

17:23

matter ranges from gunslingers to Gilded

17:25

Age murder to gangsters to fires

17:27

to pirates to wild prison breaks.

17:30

My guests bring their incredible knowledge

17:32

directly to you. Please

17:34

subscribe to Most Notorious on your

17:36

favorite podcast app. Cheers and

17:38

have a safe tomorrow. On

17:53

February 28th, 1890, Colonel

17:56

James G. Burr stood on the stage at

17:59

the Old Willy Burr

20:00

claimed that his mother had originally

20:02

told him this story, which she

20:05

said came from Alexander himself.

20:10

But being the historian that he was,

20:12

he didn't write the text of his

20:14

lecture himself, rather he asked someone even

20:16

closer to the origin of it to

20:18

do it. Mrs. Catherine

20:21

Kennedy, a relative of Lewis

20:23

Toomer who claimed that he

20:25

himself told her about what exactly

20:27

had happened back in 1810. Now

20:34

I imagine that before this lecture

20:36

there might have been some sort

20:38

of gossip or whispers

20:40

about Jocelyn, but now with

20:42

this public telling of the

20:45

tale, Samuel Jocelyn's parents' wishes

20:47

to keep the exhumation under

20:49

wraps were clearly no longer

20:51

being respected and the legend

20:53

was now out in the open

20:55

for all. Then

21:00

in 1909, Alfred Moore Waddell

21:03

included it in A History of

21:05

New Hanover County in the Lower

21:07

Cape Fear region, Volume 1,

21:10

cementing it in local history

21:12

for future generations. But

21:15

what's interesting about the way he

21:17

did that is that he mentions

21:20

Jocelyn in the section of the

21:22

book describing the St. James graveyard

21:24

outlining all of the historically significant

21:27

individuals who were buried there, people

21:29

I told you about earlier. But

21:33

then when he gets to the

21:35

part about Alexander Hossler's encounter with

21:37

Jocelyn, he spends more than twice

21:39

as much real estate recounting the

21:41

ghost story than what he gives

21:43

to all the other men combined.

21:47

That being said, Waddell's tome

21:49

was pretty academic, so the inclusion likely

21:52

did little in the way of spreading

21:54

the legend's notoriety, but as far as

21:56

I can tell, this was the

21:58

first time the story is ever made. story was actually

22:01

put into print, a

22:03

noteworthy point in the evolution of any

22:06

local lore. It

22:09

wasn't until 1956 that the

22:11

story really took hold, this

22:14

time due to the work

22:16

of Lewis Toomer's great-grandson, the

22:19

public servant and dedicated historian

22:22

Lewis Toomer Moore. In

22:25

his book, Stories Old and New of

22:27

the Cape Fear region, Moore

22:29

follows in the footsteps of Colonel

22:31

James G. Burr and chronicles

22:33

what is now the most definitive

22:35

version of the story. However,

22:38

unlike some of his predecessors,

22:41

he doesn't with a little

22:43

more skepticism, including it

22:45

under the headline, was

22:47

young Samuel Joslin buried alive.

22:52

Explanation neither is offered nor

22:55

attempted of the strange visitation

22:57

to Hossler by the apparition

22:59

of the supposedly dead Joslin.

23:03

It is simply one of

23:05

those exceedingly unusual happenings which

23:08

cannot be clearly explained. If

23:11

one cares to believe that

23:13

there is such a thing

23:15

as spirit communication from the

23:17

other world, the Joslin incident

23:19

here with told surely gives

23:21

fine support for such arguments.

23:24

If one does not believe such things,

23:27

certainly that is his prerogative

23:29

and privilege. The

23:32

facts only are offered, secured

23:34

from reliable sources of the

23:37

most dependable and trustworthy nature.

23:41

So, is this old Wilmington tale

23:44

true? Did the apparition of

23:46

Samuel Joslin really appear to his

23:48

friend on that cold April night

23:51

or maybe even more important

23:53

is the question, was the young

23:55

man actually buried

23:57

alive? Well,

24:00

Not too long ago, Wilmington

24:02

native and professor of history

24:04

Dr. Chris E. Fonville Jr.

24:07

set out to answer these questions, admitting

24:10

to the Southport Historical Society recently

24:12

that he also grew up hearing

24:14

the story all of his life.

24:17

In fact, he even said that he

24:19

first heard it from his kindergarten teacher

24:22

at St. James, Mrs.

24:24

Peggy Moore Purdue, the

24:26

daughter of Lewis Toomermore. And

24:30

y'all, if that ain't enough to

24:32

prove this is truly a homegrown piece

24:34

of local lore, then I

24:36

don't know what is. Unfortunately,

24:39

the professor couldn't find any

24:41

documentation to prove whether Samuel

24:43

Joslin had in fact been

24:45

buried alive or not, but

24:47

he did discover information about

24:49

how exactly the young man

24:51

died or at least

24:53

how they thought he died if

24:55

he was buried prematurely. Dr.

24:59

Fonville found these details in

25:01

the memoirs of General Joseph

25:03

Gardner Swift, the first graduate

25:05

of the United States Military

25:07

Academy. In

25:10

1804, Swift's first orders as an

25:12

officer were to head down to

25:14

North Carolina and oversee the construction

25:16

of the defense of the mouth

25:18

of the Cape Fear River. And

25:21

while he was there, he became

25:23

friends with many of the prominent

25:25

men of the city. So when

25:27

Samuel Joslin Jr. went missing, he

25:30

joined the search party. March

25:34

18, in company with

25:36

many gentlemen from Wilmington on a search

25:38

for the son of our friend Samuel

25:40

R. Joslin, on the second

25:42

day the body was found in Holly's

25:45

Shelter Swamp. He happened

25:47

to wander thither in a demented state and

25:49

chill to death lying in some four inches

25:51

of water. His

25:54

name, Samuel, when recently married

25:56

to a daughter of counselor

25:58

Michael Sampson of of your

26:00

vet name. Based

26:03

on this, it's apparent that Samuel

26:05

Jocelyn Jr. was missing for quite

26:07

a bit of time before he

26:09

was found, and suggestion

26:11

by Swift's manuscript is that

26:14

he likely succumbed to hypothermia.

26:17

What we don't know from this though is why

26:20

was he even there? Well,

26:22

when Dr. Fonville published his

26:25

book, Curious Tales from Old

26:27

Wilmington and the Wilmer Cape

26:29

Fear, he didn't have this

26:31

answer, but last year he

26:33

gave a talk to the Southport

26:35

Historical Society, in which

26:37

he told folks that not long

26:39

after his book was released, he

26:42

received a truly unique document from

26:44

a member of the Jocelyn family,

26:46

a letter that outlined

26:48

the family's version of the events

26:50

leading up to Samuel's death. The

26:53

seven-page letter was written by his

26:56

niece, the daughter of Betsy Jocelyn,

26:59

Samuel Jr.'s younger sister.

27:03

The professor described its contents

27:05

as such. The

27:07

story is that although suffering

27:09

with an ailment, a fever of

27:12

what doctors in those days

27:14

basically called ague, business

27:16

required Samuel to go to

27:18

his plantation 35

27:20

miles north of Wilmington. His

27:23

wife, Mary Ann, pleaded with him not to

27:25

go because of the sickness, and he said,

27:27

I promise I'll be back

27:29

tomorrow. When he did

27:31

not return, Mary Ann dispatched a writer

27:33

to find out about her husband's delay.

27:36

The writer returned to Wilmington, said,

27:38

well, yes, Mr. Jocelyn got to

27:40

his plantation. He finished his business

27:42

and started back to Wilmington, but

27:45

has not been seen or heard

27:47

from since. So

27:49

the family immediately put together a search

27:51

party that went out looking for him.

27:54

Sure enough, they finally found the

27:56

pie, his horse nearby.

28:01

If the reality of Samuel Jocelyn

28:03

Jr's death is not tragic enough

28:06

on its own, the family

28:08

document goes on to say that while

28:10

the search party was out looking for him,

28:13

they came across a house near where they

28:15

found his body. So

28:18

they knocked on the door and

28:20

an elderly lady answered. She

28:23

told them that yes, about two

28:25

days prior a man did come

28:27

by there but he had

28:29

been acting so strange that she

28:31

turned him away out of fear. Then

28:35

that night after dark, she

28:38

heard a gunshot. And

28:41

y'all, in retrospect, that

28:43

was likely Samuel trying to get

28:46

the attention of someone, anyone

28:49

to come help him. Unfortunately,

28:53

no one ever did. But

29:00

while this document, combined with

29:02

General Swift's, might be

29:04

enough to substantiate how Jocelyn died,

29:07

it doesn't answer either

29:09

of the other questions. Was

29:12

he actually buried alive and if

29:15

so, did his spirit

29:17

really return to beg his

29:19

friend Alexander Hossler to uncover

29:21

that truth? Dr.

29:24

Fonville quite openly admitted in his

29:26

lecture that he will

29:28

likely never know the answer to this

29:30

but, much like his

29:32

predecessor Lewis Toomer Moore, he

29:35

ain't rolling nothing out. Now

29:39

the supernatural part of this story will

29:42

never be able to substantiate but

29:45

I think it's possible, I'm not

29:47

saying it's plausible or probable, just

29:49

possible, that Samuel Russell

29:52

Jocelyn Jr. was indeed

29:54

buried alive. Today,

30:08

folks still visit the graveyard

30:11

behind St. James Church in

30:13

search of the spirit of

30:15

Samuel Jocelyn Jr. over two

30:17

centuries after his purported burial

30:19

there. However, as

30:22

I said earlier, the young man's

30:24

gravesite is nowhere to be found. Likely

30:27

one of the graves moved in

30:30

the mid-1800s to make way

30:32

for wider streets. Of

30:35

course, historians do admit that during

30:38

that time there is a possibility

30:40

some of the folks buried there

30:43

weren't actually moved and y'all,

30:46

if that's the case, there might just

30:48

be more to worry about than

30:50

the spirit of Samuel Jocelyn

30:52

Jr. My

30:56

name is Brandon Schechtsnider and

30:58

you are listening to Southern

31:00

Gothic. Southern

31:07

Gothic is an independent podcast produced

31:10

by Southern Gothic Media and made

31:12

possible through the support of listeners

31:14

like you. This

31:16

week's episode was written by Brandon

31:18

Schechtsnider and edited by Rachel Boyd.

31:21

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31:23

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31:25

as well as additional bonus

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the Into History Podcast channel

31:36

where you'll not only receive

31:38

access to those ad-free versions,

31:40

but also hundreds of episodes

31:42

of other chart-topping history podcasts

31:44

like History Daily, History That

31:46

Doesn't Suck, American Criminal, and

31:48

more. Of course, y'all,

31:50

as always, no matter where you get

31:53

your episodes of Southern Gothic or how,

31:55

thanks for listening. Lucky

31:58

Little Shacks! What's

32:33

something you learned in history class that you

32:35

feel like wasn't the whole truth? Better

32:38

yet, what's something you didn't learn at all

32:40

that was omitted completely? That's

32:42

what I like to call redacted history. My

32:45

name is Andre White, the host

32:47

of the Redacted History Podcast, the

32:49

place where histories forgotten events, heroes,

32:51

and villains get their story told,

32:54

one episode at a time. The

32:56

Redacted History Podcast. Real

32:59

history never dies. Stream

33:01

the Redacted History Podcast on Apple

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Podcast, Spotify, or wherever else you

33:06

get your podcasts.