Memphis

This podcast, Wicked Wanderers, explores haunted places and unique activities in different destinations. This episode focuses on Tennessee, known for its music scene and the Great Smoky Mountains. The host shares interesting facts about Tennessee, such as bizarre laws and famous people from the state. The main destination discussed is the Orpheum Theater in Memphis, which has a rich history and is reportedly haunted by several spirits, including a friendly girl named Mary. The host also briefly mentions another interesting place called Ernstein & Hazel's, a former pharmacy turned dive bar. Warning, Wicked Wanderers discusses topics that are not suitable for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised. Hello, Wanderers, and welcome to Wicked Wanderers. I am your Wicked Hostess, Jacqueline. And you may be wondering, what is this podcast all about? Well, each week we will be traveling to a different destination. While there, I will discuss haunted places, some dark tourism, and also some fun and unique things to do when you are there. So pack your bags, we're going to Tennessee. Tennessee is known for its music scene, whiskey, and homes to the great Smoky Mountains. Elvis Presley and Dolly Parton are from Tennessee, and the state is home to many other popular musicians over the years. I love Tennessee. I was recently there over the summer at the Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, and we had a blast. We also stopped by the Smoky Mountains on the way home, and it is absolutely beautiful. Before we get started, here are some interesting facts about Tennessee. It's illegal to sell hollow logs, so don't even try. Carrying a skunk across the state border is a huge no-no. The only animal that is legal to shoot out of a moving car via the window is a whale. Makes total sense. If eight or more women are living together in Tennessee, this is considered a brothel. Well, all those sororities, I guess, are brothels. It's completely legal to pick up some road kale on the way home and fry it up for dinner. Sadly, the art of lassoing a fish is lost in Tennessee. It's illegal to do here now. It's illegal to carry an ice cream cone in your back pocket in Tennessee. Tennessee is the birthplace of Mountain Dew. It's tied with the title of the most bordered state. A total of eight states surround Tennessee. Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, Arkansas, Missouri, Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama. Tennessee is the home of cotton candy and, of course, the moon pie. Quentin Tarantino, Megan Fox, Morgan Freeman, Kathy Bates, Justin Timberlake, Johnny Knoxville, Leslie Jordan, were all born in Tennessee. And now, on to our first destination, Memphis, Tennessee. I know, you're wondering, where are we going to Nashville? To be honest, there's much more to do in Tennessee than Nashville, and I'm not a huge country music fan. The birthplace of country music was actually in Bristol, Tennessee and not Nashville. So, on that note, Memphis is the birthplace of rock and roll. Delicious barbecue. It is also one of the most affordable cities to move to in the United States. And our first destination is on the southwest corner of the intersection of South Main Street and Beale Street. The Orpheum Theater. First, let me give you some history on the Orpheum. The Orpheum Theater is a 2,308-seat venue that is in downtown Memphis. It was built over an old coal yard in 1890, originally known as the Grand Opera. The Grand featured singers, musicians, and magicians. The Grand became a part of the Orpheum circuit in 1907, and the theater became known as the Orpheum. Baudrillard Entertainment from France was the main entertainment at the Orpheum for two decades. On October 16, 1923, the Orpheum was destroyed by a fire. Luckily, this happened 30 minutes after the last Patriots and Blossom Seeley had left. The cause of the fire is unknown. It is thought to have ignited on the third floor, which was occupied by a woman closer. On November 19, 1928, the Grand Orpheum Theater was opened. It was built on the original site that the Grand Opera House was on. Rapp Rapp of Chicago designed the new Orpheum, which would be the largest Orpheum circuit. It seated 2,800 people at a cost of $1.6 million, and the auditorium was set up for silent films and live theater. The Grand Orpheum was two times bigger than the Grand Opera House, and the new Orpheum featured glittering gold and silver leaf marble, mush carpet, a 200-pound chandelier, and a mighty Floresta wagon. This led to a new era at the Orpheum, which showcased a variety of performances that included outcasts starring Corrine Griffith, Eddie Cantor, Louis Armstrong, and Duke Ellington. The 1940s motion picture replaced the ball duvet, and the Great Depression was in full swing. Like many things during the Great Depression, the Orpheum had to close its doors. It was then purchased for $75,000, about $1.5 million today, by M.A. Lightman, and the theater became the Malco. During this time, it ran some of the first movies on the big screen until 1976. In the 1970s, Memphis wasn't what it looks like today. Many businesses were gone for at least a decade, the clubs were in shambles, and the single-screen theaters were no longer making profits. Lightman, no longer making profits, sold the Malco. Fifty years later, the once lavish theater was in danger of being demolished for good. When a group of citizens realized they would lose this historic landmark, they formed the Memphis Development Foundation. They purchased the theater and hoped to bring Memphis back to life. The Orpheum was restored to its brilliance that it was in 1928. There were upgraded restrooms, a new dressing room, new heating and air conditioning, concession areas, a box office added to the south side lobby, a green room was added. Along with this were modern performers and audiences. 1984 would be the Orpheum's grand opening. In 1996, with Broadway growing, the Orpheum had the biggest expansion, a bigger orchestra pit and dressing room, as well as a warm-up area would be added. 1997 through 1998, the Phantom of the Opera played on the 50-foot-deep stage. Following that would be the Disney's Lion King, Wicked, and Cat, and the legend of the Orpheum continues to this day. The Orpheum is the second most haunted place in Memphis. There are seven known spirits that haunt the Orpheum to this day. The most known spirit is a spirit of 12-year-old Mary. In 1977, when Fiddler on the Roof was playing, Mary appeared to the performers, so they did what anyone would do and performed a seance on the balcony overlooking the stage. Makes total sense. It is said Mary was on her way to see a performance and was struck by a streetcar in 1928. Local records do confirm that a girl with dark braids was struck and killed. Her body was never claimed or identified, but they do believe that is the girl who haunts the theater. The unclaimed girl was not forgotten. The entire Orpheum staff allegedly attended her funeral. Mary has been spooking performers and patrons, as well as workers, and has been haunting the Orpheum for over 75 years. Mary is a friendly spirit. She is a dark-haired girl in an old-fashioned dress. She loves to play the pipe organ, sing, and run through the aisles of the theater. She even has her own favorite seat, C5, in the box stage left. She is also helpful. When the organ pipe broke, the restorer Harlan Judkins found it unfixable. He took a coffee break, and when he came back, the organ was mysteriously fixed. The book Haunted America by Michael Norman and Beth Scott, published in October 1994, discussed the spirit of Mary. In the book Haunted America, they talk about the experience Teresa Spoon had in April 1979. Teresa went to see her friend Vincent Astor play the pipe organ. The theater turned cold when Victor played Never Neverland from Peter Pan. During this performance, a light seemed to dart into the theater from the lobby and vanish behind the last row of seats. That's when they witnessed the ghostly manifestation of a young girl dancing near the lobby. It was like she was calling to me, Spoon told a reporter at the time. That really scared me, because I felt like if I went near her, I'd never come back the same. Another experience of Mary was during the play Annie. There was a big dollhouse prop that was used as a Christmas present in the play. The dollhouse was massive, and one day the dollhouse was missing. It wasn't anywhere. It was supposed to be backstage, and after searching all over the theater, they found it on a balcony with no idea how it got there. Who could have moved it there? Mary must have wanted to play with it and moved it. The second spirit is of Eleanor. She is a sad spirit, and she resides on the upper balcony. It is said if you go to the balcony alone, you might hear her weeping. Vincent Batterson had an experience with Eleanor when he and his wife, Carrie Seinfeld, were sitting in the theater. Batterson said, And we saw that door open. We saw the crash bar go, and the door slam shut. Nobody was there. Batterson continues to say that Eleanor is a very unhappy spirit and that people who run across her have an unhappy, achy feeling. The third spirit, according to Vincent Batterson's YouTube video, is of a male spirit that is a white and luminous that is always all the way across the room, or at least when I first heard about it, it was all the way across the room. And it was conjectured that he was a guide, that he was going to take Mary across to the other side. Some people call him David. That's the only name I've ever heard. But Mary is wary of him. She will not go near him, so he's stuck here as long as she's safe. There are four additional ghosts, but there are no names for them, or much information besides that people have uneasy feelings and disembodied voices are heard. There are YouTube videos of Vincent discussing the haunting at the Orpheum if you wish to find out more. I know I usually do one haunted place, but while I was researching, I came across this one place and I could not resist telling you guys about it. Ernstein & Hazel's, known as the best dive bar in the country, located downtown on South Main Street. Before it became a dive bar, it started off as a pharmacy in the late 30s. Abe Plough owned this pharmacy and he created the product that could straighten the hair out. Oh yes, he is the inventor of the slicked-back look. His invention took off and it was huge from New York to New Orleans. All those slicked-back styles that you see in those old Sapientone pictures, you can thank Abe for that. On top of inventing the slicked-back look, Abe also was made famous by the Coppertone suntan lotion. Talk about an overachiever. With his incredible success, Abe gave the building to his two hairstylists, Ernstein and Hazel. Ernstein and Hazel were cousins. They turned the pharmacy into a cafe. Ernstein's husband was a great street promoter named Sundeen, what a name, and opened a nearby music joint called Club Paradise. And talk about success. This place had legends play there. B.B. King, Tina Turner, Aretha Franklin, Motown, Ray Charles, Bo Diddley, Sam Cooke, Chuck Berry, Jackie Wilson. I would have absolutely loved going there. Over the next 20 years, these musicians would go from Club Paradise to Ernstein and Hazel. They would tell stories, have good times, and find some action from the women upstairs. Oh, yes, it was also a brothel. And let the good times roll until the 70s. Like the rest of Memphis, Club Paradise shut down and was boarded up. 1992, Bud Chipman and Delmar George bought Ernstein and Hazel's property. Ernstein and Hazel's is not only a cool dive bar, it also represents Memphis history, soul, jazz, and the blues that fill the streets. Ernstein and Hazel's represents what life in Memphis is about. Great music, great food, and great time. Ernstein and Hazel's is one of the most haunted places in Memphis as well. This place attracts entities who have an attachment to their personal good times or tragedy that they associate with this place. This place is still haunted. There is real evidence and tons of personal experiences from both patrons and the staff members. Memphis Paranormal Investigations have declared on their website that Ernstein and Hazel's is one of the most haunted places. When they go out and investigate this building, they never leave empty-handed. During their investigation, they captured entities on film. A full, see-through apparition of a man was caught on film walking in front of the building and entering from the front. A transparent face of a man was caught at the top of a staircase, which connects the first and second floors. A woman's face was caught on the door of a second-floor bedroom. The jukebox is where the most infamous paranormal phenomenons happen, and it is haunted. The old jukebox seems to have a life of its own. For decades, the machine will not only turn on and start playing music on its own, but it will play songs relevant to the conversations that are going on at the bar. One experience of this haunted jukebox is when a woman was there celebrating her recent divorce, and the song D-I-V-O-R-C-E by Tammy Wynette played. The jukebox playing songs on its own has been witnessed too many times by too many people to be a coincidence. A former employee wrote about a haunting at Ernstein and Hazel's for a Vice article and recounted how one night the jukebox came on, she went to check it out, and was touched by a disembodied hand. The hallways in the room of the second floor are filled with supernatural activity. During the colorful history of the bar, these rooms were filled with women who had bad reputations and practiced their trade in sex work. Ray Charles frequently visited this place to do heroin and would visit with the sex workers. There are tales that at least one sex worker met a violent death. Though there is no proof of this, there is no doubt that abuse was going on. In these thinly lit halls, the disembodied voices of women can often be heard at night, and you may see a shadow pass by. Occasionally, employees see full-figured apparitions. Rushlil George, a previous owner, committed suicide Ernstein was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound on the second floor. Most employees avoid the area and try to stay in the lower levels. They try to ignore what they hear above their heads, including the sounds of people walking around and having conversations. A former employee who had been working there for 15 years went upstairs, and he saw something running at top speed. He left the bar. He never came back to work. Downstairs, the lights sometimes will be very dim and low, and other times they will brighten up enough to blind people. Tourists who come looking for evidence rarely leave empty-handed as well. Weird orbs and shapes are seen in almost every photograph taken. Cameras will struggle to take pictures or capture whatever is in the building. Human faces have been captured in some of the pictures taken inside, but one of the most terrifying things is the voices in the chatter you can hear as if someone is gossiping about you. But it wouldn't be Ernstein's and Hazel's without a little gossip of the hair salon. This place has a very shady past, and many of the businesses have secret rooms and basements, which were used by smugglers, gangsters, and cutthroats. And the spirits of those who made this history still haunt the neighborhood. Ernstein and Hazel's is open for business, so make sure you grab some food, and just maybe you'll experience some of the spirits that haunt this place for yourself. Excuse me, can I have a burger with a side of spirits? Thank you. There are so many different things you can do in Memphis. Of course, there is Graceland, home of Elvis. You can tour his home, explore Elvis' beautiful mansion, walk the same gardens that Elvis walked to find peace, and see the aircraft that he traveled in from show to show. You can view Elvis Presley's Memphis Entertainment Complex for an extraordinary experience featuring his legendary costumes, artifacts, and personal mementos from Elvis and his family. Did you know that there have been several reports of people who have had near-death experiences say that they saw Elvis in the bright light? I guess people really do love the king. If you love spooky things, which I hope you do because you're listening to this podcast, take a ghost tour, look at the underbelly of Beale Street, where there is darker history of corruption, voodoo, ghosts, and lost souls. Learn about the legends while seeing some of Memphis' oldest sites, which include the Orpheum, home to Mary. You should know all about her by now. The John Alexander Austin House, a Victorian mansion haunted by star-crossed lovers. And, of course, the notorious Ernstine and Hazels. There are several different tours. They have walking tours and bar crawl tours. Memphis is full of tasty treats and delicious eats. So, it can be hard to decide what and where to eat when you are there. Memphis is known for Memphis-style barbecue and barbecue spaghetti. So, make sure you try those. According to Family Destinations and Guide, some of the top places to eat in Memphis, I'll give you a few are White Restaurant and Wine. This upscale place focuses on wine and entree pairing. The Bison Ribeye and Stuffed Filet are the top recommended dishes to try. I don't know if you've ever had bison before. It's absolutely amazing. Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken, located in downtown Memphis, is famous for its hot and spicy fried chicken. You definitely need to try some hot and spicy fried chicken. It is definitely spicy, but it's worth it. Brother Juniper's, this place is known for their breakfast and brunch. Try their Garden and Lamb Omelette. Pair it with a side of loaded cheese strips, sour cream, green onions, and bacon. It's making me super hungry. The Soulfish Cafe, Incorporated. Southern-style soul food. Fried catfish and vegetables are the go-to. I love soul food. It's amazing. Of course, there's Ernstine and Hazels. They only have the soul burger with plain chips, but it is known to be one of the best burgers in town. After you eat some great food in Memphis, you might want to walk it off. For those who like to connect with the city while being outdoors, there are dozens of amazing hiking trails available. Take your animal companion. Check out the Stanky Creek Trail. It's a shorter trail with beautiful wildflowers, and pets are also allowed. Old Forest State National Area is a state area with trails that are at least 10 degrees cooler than the rest of the city. And let me tell you, it can get really hot in Tennessee. I'm not sure if any of you guys have ever been to the South, but it is very humid in the South. And we have a thing called Swamp Ass. Because you get so hot and humid, you literally feel like you have swamp ass because you are so sweaty. It's not fun. Now I've given you some things to do while you are in Memphis, and there is plenty more to do while you are there. It is time for our final destination. Let's get dark. We will be going to Talbot, Tennessee. Are you wondering what is in Talbot, Tennessee? Well, there is a haunted house attraction like the ones you go to during spooky season called Frightmare Manor. Have you ever heard of it? Located at 7588 West Andrew Johnson Highway in Talbot, Tennessee. Okay guys, hear me out. This isn't just a haunted house. It is a true terror. This place has history that has been dripped in innocent blood with layers of twisted horror that has been hidden for decades. Calling all my murderinos because this haunted house was once owned by Jeremiah Flexer. You don't know who Jeremiah Flexer is? Don't worry, I will tell you all about him. He was a grandfather of three and lived on his land with his extended family. He was a wealthy Tennessee plantation owner and one of the founding members of Talbot. He is also a serial killer. Yes, you heard me correctly. This haunted attraction is in the home of a famous turn of the century serial killer. The first missing persons cases were reported in 1887 to Hamlin County Sheriff J.F. Hayes. And would continue to be reported until 1902. They were mostly ignored due to dangerous wildlife or people getting lost in the rough terrain of the Appalachian Mountains. But the real cause of all these missing people is much more sinister. And the town of Talbot would come to the gruesome realization of what really happened. July 5th, 1902, John Flexer sharpened his axe and brutally chopped his wife, son, daughter-in-law and his three grandchildren ages 12, 8 and 4 into pieces. The body parts of all six family members were scattered inside the manor. But what made these murders truly appalling were the unintelligible phrases smeared on the walls written in blood of his own family. After this blood feast, Jeremiah walked up the staircase, placed the bloody axe on the mantle and jumped head first to his death out the second story floor window. The murders were investigated by Hamlin County Sheriff Hayes who was quoted as a Morristown Gazette. Seeing so much gruesome torture and murder to innocent life was truly sickening. I vomited and had to go outside to regain my composure. Anyone into true crime would say, Jacqueline, that's familicide, that doesn't make him a serial killer. But during their investigation, they uncovered an even more darker secret. Mass graves were found on his property. The missing people, the official human body count linked to Jeremiah, is currently seven, six of his own family, nine. And 31 separate, rotted, decomposed victims have been discovered tossed in a pit in the backwoods of his property. The true body count during his decades of inhumane experiments and undetected slaughter could be close to 100. What would cause a man like this to step ruthlessly, butcher his own family, dismember, mutilate animals and humans like it was nothing? And instead, Jeremiah suffered from an undiagnosed form of severe schizophrenia and bipolarism. And no, people who have these disorders does not mean that they are killers. These disorders are frequently common and people live without any issues. But unfortunately for Jeremiah, these conditions were not fully understood by the medical community. His condition was left unchecked and without medication. He lived a double life as a family man and respected plantation owner and an undetected serial killer by night. Due to its horrifying past, no business or family ever wanted anything to do with his land for over a decade. And the manor was abandoned and left to ruin until Brightmare bought it in 2009. The terror that happened over a hundred years continues to haunt this abandoned plantation. And it's crazy that it's now occupied by a freaking haunted house. I want to go to this haunted house. They are open the last weekend of September, weekends in October and the first weekend in November. So who wants to come with me next year? I'm totally down to go to this serial killer haunted house. And this concludes my episode of Wicked Wanderers. I hope you enjoyed listening to me. I truly appreciate and love you guys. Please rate, review and subscribe. This helps others find my podcast. If you have been to Memphis or any of the places mentioned, please let me know. I would love to hear about it. Please write me an email at wickedwandererspodcast at gmail. You can also send me a message on Instagram at wicked underscore wanderers podcast. Anything you send does not have to pertain specifically to Memphis. I just want to hear about all the cool places you've been to. And if you have any haunted stories or have done any dark tour of them, I definitely want to hear about it. I write, record and produce this podcast all by myself. And if you would like to donate to my podcast, you can at patreon.com slash wickedwanderers. The links to where I found the information for this podcast will be posted in the show notes. Wander more and stay wicked. Outro Music