Is This a Ghost? Podcast By Clayton Smith and Patrick Dean cover art

Is This a Ghost?

Is This a Ghost?

By: Clayton Smith and Patrick Dean
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A real podcast about real ghosts that's real funny.

Clayton Smith and Patrick Dean World
Episodes
  • 160. Waverly Hills Sanatorium

    160. Waverly Hills Sanatorium
    Jun 25 2025

    If we had a nickel for every ghost that was made from tuberculosis, gosh, we wouldn't have to podcast ever again. Anyway, here are a few more dollars for the kitty!

    This is the story of the Waverly Hills Sanatorium. Come for the ghosts, stay for zero IT interns, basement brothers, are you gonna do more sedition?, I was guessing pope, a tuberculosis hospital for the sick and curious, and one star, did not like, family drove away with changeling.

    Sources:

    • https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/10176644/thomas-hercules-hays
    • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waverly_Hills_Sanatorium
    • https://usghostadventures.com/americas-most-haunted-trending/hauntings-of-waverly-hills-sanatorium/
    • https://www.reddit.com/r/Paranormal/comments/6xatx5/i_have_worked_at_the_waverly_hills_sanatorium/
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    46 mins
  • 159. The Ghost of Hank Williams

    159. The Ghost of Hank Williams
    Jun 18 2025

    All my rowdy poltergeists are coming over tonight! And that's where Hank Jr. got his famous line. Wow, the family tree just unspools and unspools, and suddenly there's nothing left but an old guitar on a sad barroom floor. What were we talking about?

    This is the story of Hank Williams. Come for the ghost, stay for flip him like a piggy bank, coquina theory, broad-boned frost giant, punching down quite literally, Wes Anderson music label, bolos and YOLOs, that's a pH joke, and our lawyers are terrible.

    Sources:

    • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hank_Williams
    • https://hankwilliams.nl/english/life/lilAndLon.html
    • https://www.whiskeyriff.com/2024/10/25/hank-williams-ghost-haunts-nashville/
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    59 mins
  • 158. Six Flags Over Texas

    158. Six Flags Over Texas
    Jun 11 2025

    Hey, folks! Clayton here. Listen, I completely forgot I had a weekly podcast that I've been doing for the last 3+ years and didn't prepare any notes for this one. That is what we call in the podcast industry a whoopsie. What I can tell you is that this episode is born from my and Patrick's recently lived experience. What I can also tell you is the ITAG interns are so mad at me for not remembering we had to drop a podcast episode this week.

    This is the story of Six Flags Over Texas! Come for the ghost, stay for some other great stuff! I don't know, this goes live in like eight minutes.

    Sources:

    • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angus_G._Wynne
    • https://www.sixflags.com/overtexas/about-us/park-history
    • https://www.theshorthorn.com/news/the-ghastly-ghost-tales-of-arlington/article_d1e09692-72b7-11ee-a1de-1bca3639b5b2.html
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    49 mins
All stars
Most relevant  
This podcast makes me want to get drunk and have conversations with my friends 😂 I will listen with a headphone in while doing chores and my kids keep asking what I'm laughing at. A great podcast for anyone that enjoys paranormal/history stories but also has a dark humor.

makes me laugh out loud

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I enjoyed listening to this podcast over a long distance road trip I was doing alone. I'm not super into podcasts in general, because I often find podcaster people annoying and, mostly, I don't love having to listen to a conversation I can't take part in. But I loved Cartalk back in the day, so that's an example of a talk radio show I enjoyed. I'm guessing this is not really a show for super ghost obsessives, since they are very open about not doing tons of reasearch, but it is good enough to tell an absorbing story and they note the stuff that could stand more investigation, if you want to do it. They also tell a lot of stories I've never heard before, which is refreshing. They hit some of the big, famous ones, of course, but also go into a lot of smaller, more off the wall ones as well, which I really enjoy. I find ghost stories super interesting, but when I'm driving for hours alone, especially at night, I don't need to be freaked out. They go on so many tangents and get distracted by the randomest details, that it's very difficult to get genuinely scared. It is, however, entertaining and they have a friendly vibe. I subtracted a star on a less important rating because sometimes the meandering tangents are genuinely too long, especially the ones about their personal lives.

Other points of note: I appreciate Patrick's effort to "fix" some of the misguided phrasing of things, such as when a sexual relationship between a slave and her owner is termed an "affair" by a reputable news source and he insists on calling it assault. It is hopeful when people doing things in the public eye/media etc. learn to be better and call out mistakes like this (yes, it is generous to call them mistakes). Secondly, I very much enjoy Clayton's appreciation of the ridiculous. The more absurd and, frankly, dumb the situation gets, the more he savors it, which gives me vicarious chuckles. Third, they have serious geek cred, which they reveal incidentally, for the most part, like when Clayton makes a semi obscure He-Man reference or when he admits his celebrity crush is on Tatiana Maslany (She Hulk). I own a Bubbah Hotep dvd and saw it on the big screen in Chicago hosted by Bruce Campbell in person, so I feel like they're kinda my people (Patrick has a signed poster from the movie).

Overall, definitely five stars. My favourite story so far is the one about the ghost hole. I love that and think it needs to be a plot device in a mystery novel.

Ghost stories for interest, not scares

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