By Hannah E. Jones

Completely happy Halloween, Atlanta! For those who’re searching for a superb fright at a haunted web site to rejoice the creepiest day of the 12 months, native paranormal podcasters Becky Kilimnik and Diana Doty will help.

All through her life, Kilimnik has continuously discovered herself residing in haunted houses — to the purpose the place she assumed it was a standard incidence for everybody — and Doty was the “spooky, bizarre child who wished to speak about ghosts on a regular basis and no person else did.”

In 2019, Kilimnik and Doty determined to take these experiences and their shared love for the paranormal to the general public. The pair began Homespun Haints, a podcast to inform tales of hauntings and converse with of us who’ve encountered ghosts, demons and different paranormal phenomena. 

Atlanta has lengthy been thought to be a ghostly metropolis. Kilimnik attributes the paranormal presence to the world’s historical past of upheaval and trauma — together with generations of slavery and Sherman’s March to the Sea. One other principle factors to the Chattahoochee River, the place the granite and limestone function a conduit for ghostly vitality. 

In accordance with the podcasting duo, among the most haunted websites within the space are the Fox Theatre, the Kennesaw Home and Roswell’s Sloan St. which leads into the Founders’ Cemetery.

The Founders’ Cemetery boundaries are unclear attributable to poorly marked graves and the passage of time, however a 2008 report discovered that the cemetery was possible a lot bigger than the initially estimated 2.5 acres — which means close by houses are constructed atop graves. Over time, there have been a number of reviews of parents digging up human stays throughout development. 

Just lately, the co-hosts went on a tour of the historic Kennesaw Home, the place the Marietta Historical past Middle is situated. In the course of the Civil Struggle, the constructing was used as a hospital and morgue and is alleged to accommodate 700 ghosts. 

The co-hosts stroll via a cemetery. (Picture courtesy of Homespun Haints.)

Throughout their tour, Kilimnik and Doty had their very own unexplainable experiences. In a single part of the exhibit, Kilimnik turned extraordinarily nauseous and Doty’s pores and skin prickled like {an electrical} present was operating via her. 

“We walked out of the exhibit; we really feel higher. We stroll again in; we really feel prickly once more,” Doty mentioned. “I wish to [use] probably the most analytical [approach] I probably can, and that is replicable.”

Kilimnik additionally observed an Worker’s Solely door that was barely ajar with the scent of gunpowder wafting out. “It was nearly prefer it was inviting me into this little darkish room, however I didn’t go in,” she mentioned.

Of their expertise, the 2 have discovered that very similar to locations, objects will be haunted, too. Kilimnik owned a number of vintage porcelain dolls, gifted from her grandmother, and she or he and Doty had a operating joke that they have been haunted. In the future, although, Kilimnik’s cousin picked one up and had a visceral response, warning her that there was “an evil spirit within it.”

“I did discover that when the doll was round, I wished to play with it,” Kilimnik mentioned. “After I put it away, it was like out of sight, out of thoughts. I’m not a doll particular person; I believe they’re creepy and I didn’t even wish to play with them as a child.” 

When staying in the identical room because the dolls, Doty noticed a small shadow transferring beneath the door and, anticipating to search out the cat, she as a substitute noticed an empty room. 

Kilimnik added: “After I eliminate the doll, the issue goes away.”

For people trying to faucet into the paranormal, the podcast pair recommends protecting an open thoughts, meditating and utilizing a journal to trace patterns. Additionally, don’t low cost the younger folks in your life that say they’ve seen one thing unusual.

“Youngsters have skills that we flip off as we start to simply accept that the adults in our lives don’t see what we see,” Doty mentioned. “Even probably the most delicate folks say that they will flip off [their otherworldly ability], they usually usually do of their late teenagers or early twenties.”

If all else fails, Kilimnik added, “the best approach to expertise a haunting is to work or reside in a haunted place as a result of, finally, you’re going to expertise one thing.” 

To rejoice spooky season all 12 months, tune into the Homespun Haints podcast for extra firsthand accounts of paranormal exercise.