Show Notes
In October 1859, John Brown and eighteen men descended on Harpers Ferry with a plan to seize the federal arsenal, arm enslaved people, and ignite a war against slavery. Thirty-six hours later, sixteen people were dead, Brown was captured, and Harpers Ferry had begun its transformation into one of America's most mythologized towns. Today, its streets are filled with ghosts: John Brown wandering the lower town, a burning woman beside the railroad tracks, soldiers haunting a church, and Dangerfield Newby walking an alley with the wound that killed him. But the oldest accounts tell different stories.
Tonight, we explore the ghosts of Harpers Ferry—and how generations of storytellers reshaped real deaths, real violence, and real people into the legends visitors hear today. Pasted text
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