Front Porch Mysteries with Carole Townsend

About Front Porch Mysteries with Carole Townsend

Author and veteran journalist Carole Townsend shares remarkable tales from the South, tales of mystery, terror, and wonder. Townsend has built a career on the premise that truth really is stranger than fiction. Here in the South, we love our stories. We begin in childhood huddled around campfires, whispering of things best spoken in the dark, confiding in our small trusting circles. Why is that, do you suppose? I have researched and investigated Southern history for more than 20 years and I believe it has to do with this region itself. There's a lot that hangs in the ether here and much that is buried deep in the soil. There's beauty here in the South and shame and courage and, make no mistake, there is evil. There's always been the element of the unexplained, the just out of reach that we can all feel but can never quite describe. And the best place for telling tales about such things is the comfort and safety of an old front porch. So I invite you tonight to come up here with me, settle back into a chair and get comfortable, pour yourself a drink if you like, and I'll share with you some of the tales best told in the company of friends, tales that prove that truth really is stranger than fiction, and I'll turn on the light. You're going to want that. I'm Carole Townsend. Welcome to my front porch.

Publisher

Carole Townsend

Category

fiction · history · true crime

Language

en

Explicit

Yes

First episode

4 Sept 2024

Latest episode

30 Jul 2026

Latest episodes

32 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   30 Jul 2026

   Cape Fear

   A calm beach can still feel like a warning if you know what the water has taken. We’re headed to Cape Fear, North Carolina, where the Cape Fear River pours into the Atlantic and the coastline’s beauty is matched by storms, shifting shoals, and a long history of ships that never make it home. When locals talk about lights that blink from the horizon or vessels that appear and vanish in the mist, it doesn’t sound like fantasy. It sounds like a place remembering. We start with a Civil War...

2. 

   29 Jun 2026

   Tales From Appalachia

   A bride dies in rural West Virginia, her husband acts strangely calm, and the body is buried before anyone takes a hard look. Weeks later, her mother says the truth arrives the only way it can: through a midnight visitation from the dead. We follow the chilling Greenbrier Ghost story from marriage to tragedy to exhumation, and then into a courtroom where the defense accidentally opens the door to the most infamous detail of all. The result is a piece of Appalachian history that still feels im...

3. 

   4 Jun 2026

   The Battle of Athens

   They survived Iwo Jima and the worst years of World War II, only to come home and realize their small Tennessee towns had been captured by something that looked a lot like a criminal enterprise with badges. We’re telling the true story of the Battle of Athens, a 1946 flashpoint in McMinn County where returning GIs decide they’re done living under predatory policing, voter intimidation, and a political machine that treats elections like property. We walk through how the E. H. Crump machine ti...

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

14 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

4 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 40 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

59

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

51

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Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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