Tommy Cullum's Let's Get Freaky · Tommy Cullum

Tales, Trails, and Taverns - Haunted New England with Joseph Gelinas | EP: 371

April 10, 2026·1 hr 20 min·6 clips

A shadowy demon figure appears in the front seat of a car, and a ghost stands by a bed at night.

1. Tommy Cullum's Let's Get Freaky podcast features Joseph Gelinas, author of Haunted New England and host of Tales Trails and Taverns, discussing paranormal history across New England. 2. Joseph Gelinas is a Cape Cod native, hiker, and paranormal researcher who grew up as the sixth generation in a family home built in the 1800s; Tommy Cullum is the host based in the UK. 3. The episode's core thesis is that New England's deep history, quartz-rich stone walls, and underground water make it one of the most haunted regions in the world, with paranormal stories layered into almost every trail and historic building. 4. Gelinas grew up in a house that had been in his family since the 1620s, and the ghost of Nelly Baker — his great-great-great grandmother — reportedly targets women: both of his father's ex-wives refused to stay, and one was locked in a closet for 30 minutes by a door with no functioning latch. 5. At age 16, Gelinas saw a white mist shaped like a woman at the top of the stairs near Nelly Baker's trunk, walked past, and sat in the living room until sunrise rather than confront it. 6. Around age 11, at a cranberry bog in Barnstable-Mashpee on Cape Cod, Gelinas and his family watched a Native American man in full headdress riding bareback on a horse across the bog, then turned to find the figure completely gone with no possible exit from the steep embankment. 7. Gelinas traces his interest in haunted trails to Raven Rock State Park in North Carolina, where a park employee told him about the Northington Ferry Trail — a route haunted by the ghost of James Northington, who drowned after riding a horse off a second-story balcony on New Year's Eve. 8. Profile Rock in Somerset, Massachusetts is discussed as a site connected to King Philip's War, where the Wampanoag chief King Philip gave his war belts to his general Anawan before being killed by a trusted advisor. 9. The General Stanton Inn in Charlestown, Rhode Island is cited as an example of unintentional ghost sightings: Gelinas saw what appeared to be a little girl in a hallway, dismissed it as a tablecloth, then learned the inn is haunted by three ghosts — including a little girl. 10. On a Cub Scout overnight aboard the USS Massachusetts battleship in Fall River, Gelinas heard five minutes of rhythmic knocking in the ship's hospital compartment that stopped the instant he crossed the doorway threshold, with no camera running. 11. Tommy Cullum recounts a personal sighting of a woman walking into a bus shelter near his home at 1am who vanished, with only a fox exiting — an encounter he interpreted as a possible shapeshifter. 12. Both hosts discuss how the stone tape theory — that paranormal events are recordings imprinted in quartz and replayed — is particularly relevant to New England given its extensive stone wall construction and geological quartz content. 13. Gelinas describes finding a large quartz crystal set deliberately in a stone bowl-shaped wall in the woods of Pachaug State Forest and choosing to leave it in place rather than bring it home. 14. Gelinas' aunt reportedly saw the Loch Ness Monster while driving past Loch Ness in Scotland, describing a neck briefly visible above the water, which Gelinas treats as credible given her history of truthfulness. 15. The Bridgewater Triangle in Massachusetts — encompassing Fall River, the Freetown State Forest, and Lizzie Borden's original house — is named as one of the most haunted concentrations in New England. 16. Gelinas notes that Pachaug State Forest in eastern Connecticut, roughly 20-30 minutes from his home, hosts reports of black mist following hikers and a colonial guard apparition called the Breakneck Hill Guard. 17. The conversation has a relaxed, anecdote-swapping tone between two paranormal enthusiasts who share experiential beliefs and trade stories without skeptical pushback. 18. Both hosts remark on how often unexplained sightings go unregistered because people dismiss them in real time — framing the episode around pattern recognition rather than dramatic revelation. 19. Listeners who enjoy firsthand paranormal accounts, New England history, and haunted location research will find this episode directly useful. 20. Those expecting scientific investigation, skeptical analysis, or structured debate will likely not find what they're looking for here.

As heard by us

A personable haunted-New-England chat with local texture, family energy, and a steady chill.

Joseph Gelinas offers a lively haunted New England conversation tied to Tales, Trails and Taverns, a blog, a podcast, social media, and the book Haunted New England.

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Why you'd press play

If you want haunted New England from someone who chases it on purpose, press play.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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