Haunted Bourbon: Proofing The Paranormal At The Jim Beam Distilery

Bourbon history is already full of legends, but the Jim Beam Distillery in Claremont, Kentucky has a set of stories that do not fit on a label. We walk through how the Beam family helps shape American whiskey, why Kentucky’s corn and limestone water matter, and how a working distillery becomes the kind of place where routine, pride, and memory can feel almost tangible in the air.

Then we step into the haunted claims tied to three key locations on the property. Warehouse D brings reports of disembodied footsteps and whistling from empty upper levels, a half-seen figure climbing the stairs, and a man in overalls appearing between the barrel racks. Warehouse K shifts the tone with employee accounts of a woman in an old formal dress who seems to hover on the upper floors, plus the unnerving detail of a floral perfume scent cutting through the heavy smell of aging bourbon. We also talk about the T. Jeremiah Beam House, now a museum, where people report upstairs footsteps, window sightings, and the sound of sample glasses sliding when no one is there.

We ground all of it with context, including the 2019 lightning strike warehouse fire and the strange way real disasters can reshape the folklore of a place. If you love paranormal investigation, Kentucky bourbon history, or ghost stories with specific details you can actually test, this one is for you. Subscribe, share this with a fellow ghost hunter, and leave a review, then tell us: which location would you investigate first?

Thank you for listening to the Paranormal Peeps Podcast.  Check us out on Facebook Paranormal Peeps Podcast or Coldspot Paranormal Research and on Instagram coldspot_paranormal_research

Transcript

Welcome To Kentucky’s Bourbon Spirits

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Between the realm of the dead and the journeys of the living, join Josh, Jamie, and Elisa as they delve into the vast world of the paranormal and breathe life back into the history of the departed.

SPEAKER_02 0:13

Hey everybody, welcome to the Paranormal Peace Podcast. I'm Jamie. I'm Elisa.

SPEAKER_00 0:18

And I'm Josh. And tonight we're going to Kentucky.

SPEAKER_03 0:25

Oh, we've been there.

SPEAKER_00 0:26

We have been there.

SPEAKER_03 0:27

We're going back.

SPEAKER_00 0:28

We're going back.

SPEAKER_03 0:29

Okay. Okay. I just had to do that so I could fit in. Take us back.

SPEAKER_00 0:34

Hey, in at least in August, you'd be like, I've got to be back. I've been to Kentucky.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 0:42

She'd be like, I've been to Waverly.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

Nee nee nee. I know. So freaking excited.

SPEAKER_00 0:49

Deep in the rolling hills of Claremont, Kentucky, the air is thick with the angel's share. That sweet oaky vapor that escapes the bourbon barrels as they age. But at the James B. Beam Distillery Company, the angels aren't the only ones taking their cut. Since 1795, seven generations of the Beam family have mastered the craft of the spirit. But some spirits here never left. From the lady in the window watching over the T. Jeremiah Beam House to the unexplained screams that echo through the grounds on the night of a full moon, the history of the distillery is written in the more than just whiskey and charred oak. Tonight we step past the copper stills and into the shadows of Warehouse D to uncover the legends, the sightings, and the souls that still linger in the birthplace of the world's best selling bourbon. Grab a glass and settle in. Tonight, we're proofing the paranormal at Jim Beam.

SPEAKER_01 1:57

Nice. That's quite the intro.

SPEAKER_00 2:00

I know. Now I just need a glass of Jim Beam.

SPEAKER_03 2:04

Like, what's that?

SPEAKER_00 2:05

It's a bourbon.

SPEAKER_03 2:06

It's bourbon. Alky Hole. Yes. What's that? I'm just kidding.

SPEAKER_00 2:12

Something I don't I don't drink.

SPEAKER_03 2:14

Nope.

SPEAKER_00 2:15

Not a Jim, not a Jim Beam fan, unfortunately, I guess.

SPEAKER_03 2:20

Is it unfortunate?

SPEAKER_00 2:21

I don't know. I mean, it's the world's number one bourbon, so maybe.

SPEAKER_03 2:25

Maybe it's an acquired taste.

SPEAKER_00 2:27

Oh, it is definitely an acquired taste.

SPEAKER_03 2:30

I would imagine it is an acquired taste, but you also don't follow the world, do you?

SPEAKER_00 2:36

I don't.

SPEAKER_03 2:37

So you're not missing out.

How The Beam Family Built Bourbon

SPEAKER_00 2:39

No. The story of the Jim Beam distillery starts even before Kentucky was born. In 1740, when America was known as the Thirteen Colonies, many European settlers came on land dreaming of a better future. As did the Boehm family from Germany. They relocated 48 years later to where central Kentucky is now and changed their name to Beam because that sounded more American. They started growing corn because the hot summers and mild winters were perfect for this crop. The nearby limestone spring made it perfect. Some settlers, like Scottish, Irish, and also German, started carefully producing bourbon. Some settlers, like Scottish, Irish, and German, started carefully producing bourbon. Jacob Beam used his father's recipe for whiskey and decided to try this on his excess corn. The taste of his whiskey bourbon was much sweeter than the better known grain based whiskey. And when Jacob made the best dis oh sorry, and then Jacob made the best decision he's ever made, he started selling it.

SPEAKER_03 4:03

Why not?

SPEAKER_00 4:04

Right?

SPEAKER_03 4:05

If it's much sweeter.

SPEAKER_00 4:07

It's like, hey, this is pretty good.

SPEAKER_03 4:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:09

Let's sell it.

SPEAKER_03 4:10

Let's make some moolah.

SPEAKER_00 4:12

In 1795, Jacob began selling his old Jake Beam sour mash whiskey straight from the barrel. Its immediate popularity throughout the region allowed him to expand his holdings and distribute his whiskey beyond state lines, laying the foundation for a burgeoning an enterprise.

SPEAKER_01 4:35

Well, that was like the thing then.

SPEAKER_00 4:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:39

Any alcohol was like more precious than water.

SPEAKER_00 4:45

So when he started making his whiskey, there were 3,000 other distilleries in Kentucky.

SPEAKER_03 4:54

That's a lot. Holy. In Kentucky.

SPEAKER_00 4:56

In Kentucky.

SPEAKER_03 4:58

Dude, they got a problem.

SPEAKER_00 5:00

Just to give that context, there's 2,000 distilleries in the U.S. today.

SPEAKER_03 5:05

Holy moly. It's kind of like the gold rush, only alcohol.

SPEAKER_00 5:10

And we're talking legal licensed distilleries.

SPEAKER_01 5:15

Right.

SPEAKER_00 5:15

We're not talking about the moonshiners.

SPEAKER_01 5:17

I was gonna say the people grow or growing it, the people making it out in their backyard. Yeah. Or up in the woods. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:24

Which Kentucky is highly known for moonshining too.

SPEAKER_03 5:27

So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:28

Yeah. This is just legal distilleries.

SPEAKER_03 5:30

We've had some good moonshine.

SPEAKER_00 5:32

We have, but that's legal moonshine.

SPEAKER_03 5:34

I understand, but it was still good.

SPEAKER_00 5:36

It was delicious.

SPEAKER_03 5:37

The one we had was butterscotch.

SPEAKER_00 5:39

It tasted just like a butterscotch candy. Like if you melted a butterscot candy.

SPEAKER_03 5:44

Except for it burned.

SPEAKER_00 5:45

Yeah. Gross. It was so good. Uh David Beam, Jacob's son, inherited his father's aptitude for both distilling and business. In 1820, at the age of 18, David assumed the role of distillery manager and spearheaded the company's move towards industrialization. Recognizing the potential for increased efficiency and production, he expanded the he expanded the distillery and became one of the first to implement the revolutionary column still technology instead of uh the traditional pot stills. So they're just industrializing and making it better. Or I should say more efficient.

SPEAKER_01 6:30

Well, because you have to be during that time. If you've got 3,000 people that you're going up against, you gotta be a step ahead.

SPEAKER_00 6:36

Yeah, exactly. The influence and contribution contributions of James Bergen, Jim Beam, were such that is were such that it is his name by which the company and distillery are known today. So born in 1864, the great grandson of Jacob Beam, he took over the family business in 1894 when the brand was known as Old Tub.

SPEAKER_03 7:06

Old Tub. Did they make it in an old tub? That's how it started.

SPEAKER_00 7:12

That's what I picture the label as just an old like claw foot bathtub.

SPEAKER_03 7:16

With an old dude bathing in bourbon.

SPEAKER_00 7:21

Got a little scrub brush in his hands.

SPEAKER_03 7:25

Bathtub full of bourbon. I taste like my old granddaddy.

SPEAKER_00 7:31

Like his grandfather, he wasn't content with the status quo and implemented modern techno techniques and business practices to make Old Tub one of the first national bourbon brands. So I mean you gotta figure, I mean, 1894, like there's still not that much as far as like national recognization of things. Things were still very localized because there's no there's no television, there's no local, you know, national advertising capable capabilities.

SPEAKER_01 8:04

I'm sure a lot of that stuff was by word of mouth.

SPEAKER_00 8:07

Exactly. Word of mouth, and then you know, some transporting it to other areas and like and like having to hand sell it to you know owner store owners and yeah, and stuffers, yeah.

Prohibition Hits And The Rebuild Begins

SPEAKER_00 8:22

But unfortunately prohibition came.

SPEAKER_03 8:28

Oh, of course.

SPEAKER_00 8:31

And during pro prohibition, James Beam, who uh was the father of T. Jeremiah Beam, sold Clear Spring Distillery, which was their name at the time. The family was involved briefly and unsuccessfully in coal mining and stone crushing during the during Prohibition era. During this period, the Murphy Barber Company Distillery, a small complex at Claremont, was purchased by James Beam. The Murphy Barber Distillery had operated at Claremont from 1891 to 1918. Which sounds like a really long time, but it was really 2017.

SPEAKER_01 9:18

I was gonna say it's like what 30 years?

SPEAKER_00 9:20

Yeah, 27 years, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:22

Not as long as it sounds.

SPEAKER_00 9:22

It's not as long.

SPEAKER_01 9:23

Anytime you go like 18 something, you're like 19 something, you're like, whoa, that's ancient. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:30

At the center of the small Murphy Barber Company operation was the two-story frame house, which later became the home of Jeremiah Beam. Built originally in 1911, it functioned with the Murphy Barber Company operation as a boarding house for Coopers, gaugers, and salespeople who visited the plant. When the Murphy Barber Company closed in 1917, the rooming house became a farmhouse. When Prohibition ended, James B. Beam formed a partnership with Harry Blum to build a modern distilling operation. The Murphy Baker Company site at Claremont was chosen as the site for the new operation, and T. Jeremiah Beam was put in charge of the on-site management of the new operation. So they took over an old distillery in the house and turned it into what is now modern-day Jim Beam.

SPEAKER_03 10:32

That's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 10:32

It is neat, isn't it? So Jeremiah Beam moved into the refurbished boarding house, which became the focal point of the operation during the 1930s. Beam lived in the house until 1946 when he moved to Louisville and became and began commuting to the plant. That sounds terrible.

SPEAKER_01 10:53

Well, how far is it?

SPEAKER_00 10:55

That's a couple hours today.

SPEAKER_01 10:57

Oh.

SPEAKER_03 10:58

So would he like commute and then just stay there for a while for the week and then go back home?

SPEAKER_00 11:04

More than likely, that's exactly what he was saying.

SPEAKER_01 11:06

I wonder if it if things like that would be like week on, week off. Right.

SPEAKER_00 11:10

Yeah. I mean, you you've heard of places of people doing that where they'd come in for a little bit and then leave. I mean, because if he's he if he's not actively doing the distilling and like being the the distill master, then he wouldn't necessarily need to be there all the time.

SPEAKER_03 11:27

Right.

SPEAKER_00 11:27

Except for the old boarding house, all the other structures from the Murphy Baker Company operation were removed as a modern Jim Beam distillery company plant developed over the next three decades.

Warehouses, Barrels, And Modern Scale

SPEAKER_00 11:40

Numerous nine-story storage houses, warehouses were built on the site of the of the low hills. And by numerous, I think they're up to 32.

SPEAKER_03 11:52

Holy moly. Today?

SPEAKER_00 11:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:55

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 11:56

They have a half a million barrels of uh product on site.

SPEAKER_03 12:04

Seriously. Holy cow.

SPEAKER_00 12:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:06

Wow, I'd like to see that. I wonder how much they sell a day.

SPEAKER_00 12:13

Um, a few million bottles.

SPEAKER_01 12:16

A day?

SPEAKER_00 12:17

Yeah. The way you used to.

SPEAKER_03 12:20

I mean, I mean today, though.

SPEAKER_00 12:22

Oh.

SPEAKER_03 12:23

I wonder how much they would they sell in a day on average.

SPEAKER_00 12:26

They stopped operating for a year this year.

SPEAKER_03 12:30

Did they really?

SPEAKER_00 12:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:31

This year?

SPEAKER_00 12:32

This year. They're stopping operations for a full year because they're Canadian. A lot of this is um consumed in Canada, and 86% of the Canadian exports dropped. So they they they're only down to 14%.

SPEAKER_03 12:48

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00 12:49

And let's face it, most people aren't consuming alcohol like we used to.

SPEAKER_03 12:56

I hope not. That's probably a good thing.

SPEAKER_00 12:58

Yeah. So like the I think the the liquor industry in itself is in a decline at the moment.

SPEAKER_03 13:04

Eh, good. Who cares?

SPEAKER_00 13:08

I mean, this place will be a museum for a long time coming, so. Um, lakes were created to store water for the operation, and the modern still house and operation buildings were also constructed. All buildings have been added in the last 50 years, including one-story storage houses. Extensive changes to the structures built in the 1930s, plus the addition of other buildings in the last 50 years, prevent the nomination of the entire complex to the national registry. So unfortunately, because everything's being new, they can't get the entire site on the national registry.

SPEAKER_03 13:53

Because it's not old enough?

SPEAKER_00 13:54

Right, because it's constantly in flux. Because it's only, you know, 50 years old. I mean, most everything's other than the house. Right. Everything else is, you know, under 50 years old. The T. Jeremiah Beam House, which remains the focal point of the complex, is the building most significantly associated with the early uh critical years when planning and development of the post-prohibition distillery at Claremont took place. He relocated operations where the critical ingredient was stored in a safe location and nurtured through the dry years. This wasn't just a matter of preservation for him. It was an act of foresight that ensured the can continuity of Jim Beam's unique flavor profile. So imagine having the foresight to say, hey, prohibition, we can't sell anything. So we're just gonna store it.

SPEAKER_01 14:49

Until it's over.

SPEAKER_00 14:50

Until it's over.

SPEAKER_03 14:52

I mean, smart.

SPEAKER_00 14:53

Very smart.

SPEAKER_03 14:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:57

And then you're then you got the supply of all the legal hooch once prohibition drops.

SPEAKER_03 15:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:08

So when Prohibition ended in 1933, Beam was 69. Rather than retire, like we know, he rebuilt and modernized the facility. So the company as we know today, which is the Jim B. Beam Distilling Company, was officially formed in 43. Even though his family had the old tub for a lot longer.

SPEAKER_03 15:36

Right.

SPEAKER_00 15:37

Um, he passed away in 1946. But of course, his name is which the true legacy of Jim Beam truly rests. So T. Jeremiah Beam, uh, James Bean Beam's son took over distilling in 46, and he's credited with help building the brand's profile overseas, start selling it overseas. James Beam's grandsons, Frederick Booker No, the second, Edward Baker Beam, uh, further cemented the family's legacy. In the 1980s, Booker, a sixth-generation master distiller, created the small batch bourbon collection. These premium bourbons include Booker's Booker's Knob Creek, Baker's, and Basil Haydens.

SPEAKER_01 16:29

This is like all words I don't understand.

SPEAKER_02 16:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:33

Yeah. They're just brands.

SPEAKER_03 16:36

Oh, okay. They're just brands, or they're different strengths, or are they they're brands. They're just brands. Okay. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 16:42

Yeah. So it's

The 2019 Lightning Fire And Fallout

SPEAKER_00 16:44

very interesting. Looking into the history of the area, trying to find um why this these places would be haunted.

SPEAKER_03 16:53

Right.

SPEAKER_00 16:54

You look for, you know, tragedies and deaths and typically that's what we look for. Right?

SPEAKER_03 17:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:00

Trying to find anything that kind of happened in the area. Um, and there's just nothing really reported, except for one incident that happened in 2019 on July 3rd.

SPEAKER_01 17:17

2019. Super recent.

SPEAKER_00 17:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:20

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 17:21

Lightning strikes one of the barrel warehouses. So we're talking nine stories of whiskey barrels.

SPEAKER_01 17:31

Okay, so what happens?

SPEAKER_00 17:32

And everything's in wood. Oh, geez. The barrels are wood, the building's wood.

SPEAKER_01 17:37

So what happened?

SPEAKER_00 17:38

So the warehouse burns so hot that the heat melts the fire truck's tail lights that show up like candle wax.

SPEAKER_03 17:47

Well, okay, yeah. So wood and alcohol and fire. You got the alcohol to fuel the fire. That's gonna, yeah. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 17:56

Firefighters let the warehouse burn until Saturday evening in the hopes that most of the liquid would burn up rather than spill into the nearby creek. Even still, the runoff created a 23-mile-long alcohol plume that floated down the Kentucky River, leaving thousands of fish who couldn't hold their liquor dead in its wake.

SPEAKER_03 18:21

Poor fishies are not meant to breathe liquor.

SPEAKER_00 18:26

An official casualty count is forthcoming. So it was it was tens of thousands of fish then.

SPEAKER_03 18:33

No sad though.

SPEAKER_00 18:35

The plume had entered the Ohio River by Sunday night, which then thankfully it dissipated because of the the size of the river.

SPEAKER_03 18:43

Diluted it down.

SPEAKER_00 18:44

Diluted it down. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:45

That's gonna be so hard for the fishermen.

SPEAKER_00 18:48

Oh yeah. Trying to catch drunk fish.

SPEAKER_01 18:50

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_03 18:51

Or dead fish.

SPEAKER_01 18:52

All the dead fish. And can you imagine the stench?

SPEAKER_00 18:56

It could be terrible.

SPEAKER_01 18:57

Oh, that would stink so bad.

SPEAKER_00 18:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:00

Alcohol and rotting fish.

SPEAKER_00 19:01

Yeah, they end them did have you pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines. Oh, I think that's a good thing. Oh, I'm sure cleanup.

SPEAKER_01 19:08

Which sucks though, too, because it's not like really their fault. No.

SPEAKER_00 19:11

It's not their fault. Like, lightning strikes a wooden building.

SPEAKER_01 19:14

What do you do?

SPEAKER_00 19:15

Yeah. Starts the whole thing on fire.

SPEAKER_03 19:20

That's terrible.

Why The Hauntings Stay Quiet

SPEAKER_00 19:22

So many of the hauntings that have been reported over the years have been kept quiet. Um, they just the the staff haven't really talked a ton about it. So most of what we know um is actually from one single investigation from paranormal lockdown.

SPEAKER_03 19:43

Oh, geez. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 19:45

They were the first ones allowed in in 2018.

SPEAKER_03 19:48

Wow. Okay, so this was before the drunk fish incident started. This is before the drunk fish. So they're not being haunted, but haunted by drunk fish. They are not being haunted by drunk fish. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 19:58

And if you guys remember, um that show didn't last very long. In fact, that was season three of uh the show, and that was the last season that they had. Um, but it was uh Nick Groth and uh um wasn't it Katrina?

SPEAKER_03 20:15

Katrina. Oh yeah, I remember that.

SPEAKER_00 20:17

And they would spend 72 hours in a in a location and spend the night in there on cots.

SPEAKER_03 20:22

I'd love to go spend 72 hours in a single location.

SPEAKER_00 20:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:26

Because when you typically when you go investigate, you're doing it for a few hours. You don't get the chance to do days to really get a chance, a better chance at experiencing what really goes on there.

SPEAKER_01 20:38

And like one night can be very different from the next.

SPEAKER_00 20:42

Absolutely, exactly. And so, and it's always and it's always variant too, right? Like you get you get that time, but then you get the daytime.

SPEAKER_03 20:50

Yep. No, there's daytime stuff too, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 20:53

So you get you kind of get this whole concophony of of potentiality of things happening, and it's like this would be fun, it would be amazing.

SPEAKER_01 21:02

So and I feel like you're gonna get way more uh good evidence that you can not refute.

SPEAKER_04 21:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:14

Because I I feel like when you have a location for that long, you're going to get multiple things that that are going to happen, but that can re-occur. So instead of maybe you're only experiencing one door open, maybe you're experiencing three or four. Right. Right.

SPEAKER_03 21:32

Or maybe a certain incident that happens at a certain time of the day or night will happen on another day or night at the same time.

SPEAKER_00 21:41

Right. Maybe it happens every night at midnight. And then you could catch it every night you're there at midnight.

SPEAKER_03 21:47

That would be awesome. That would be way cool.

SPEAKER_00 21:48

Yeah. I remember I watched their one episode where they did Waverly and they had taken a um tripwire and laid it on the body chute. And then they slept.

SPEAKER_03 22:03

They slept down.

SPEAKER_00 22:04

In the body chute.

SPEAKER_03 22:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:06

And you can see something walk up the tripwire as as the lights go up.

SPEAKER_03 22:12

Towards where they were.

SPEAKER_00 22:14

Toward where they were laying.

SPEAKER_01 22:15

Yeah. Whoa. That's pretty wicked. Yeah. Were they asleep when it happened?

SPEAKER_00 22:20

Yes. They woke up because they heard a noise. And they got to review their stuff. But yeah, it's I mean, it's kind of neat that way. It'd be I would love to be able to sleep in Waverly if we could get it for that long.

SPEAKER_03 22:34

But oh, that would be an arm and a leg.

SPEAKER_00 22:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:38

And a butt cheek.

SPEAKER_00 22:39

You could you need you need the you know TV show money.

SPEAKER_03 22:44

Yeah, you definitely do. So when they were locked down for 72 hours in here, what did they experience? What they experienced.

SPEAKER_00 22:51

Yeah, so I I only covered the first part of their investigation. Um, I didn't want to give a whole like you can go watch it, right? It's per it's it's season three of paranormal lockdown. You want to find it, that's on um it's on HBO Max, so you can stream

Warehouse D Footsteps And The Half Figure

SPEAKER_00 23:10

it. So there's three main haunted locations listed on this property. So we'll go the first one is warehouse D.

SPEAKER_02 23:18

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 23:19

Which people have experienced disembodied footsteps and whistling coming from above them when no one else is in the upper uh upper floors of the warehouse.

SPEAKER_03 23:28

Okay, so this isn't the one that got stuck by light struck by lightning, is it?

SPEAKER_00 23:32

No, no, this one still exists. Okay, so um this property is massive.

SPEAKER_01 23:38

Okay. So what I've found is in warehouses, I've seen where there's a lot of whistling in warehouses.

SPEAKER_03 23:47

That would make sense to me though.

SPEAKER_01 23:49

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 23:50

You gotta whistle while you work.

SPEAKER_01 23:51

Well, it's like whistling to get other people's attention. Yeah, because it's just so big and yeah, whatever.

SPEAKER_00 23:57

Well, the the thing about these warehouses, too, um, and maybe people don't understand how bourbon gets made, but after you brew um the bourbon itself, the the alcohol itself, it gets put into casks, so wooden barrels and then stored.

SPEAKER_03 24:16

It's where it gets its flavor.

SPEAKER_00 24:18

Yeah, it's stored for 10 years. I think it's 10 years it sits in these barrels and they just rotate the barrels.

SPEAKER_03 24:22

Right.

SPEAKER_00 24:23

And so yeah, when it goes in, it's clear. When it comes out, it's brown, it's brown, it's caramel colored. All of the flavoring, all of the color comes from the barrel itself. And so these guys, the the people that would be going into these warehouses would be one checking on to make sure there's no leaks or anything like that, but they're also gonna be rotating the barrels on all nine floors.

SPEAKER_03 24:50

Oh my word, that's a lot, and this is Kentucky. That's hot and humid.

SPEAKER_00 24:55

Yeah, think of like how stuffy the top level of Benson Griss Mill gets, and that's only the second floor or third floor, technically, right? Yeah, imagine six more above it.

SPEAKER_01 25:08

Well, and how do they get the barrels from one level to the next?

SPEAKER_00 25:13

I hope they use cranes or like winch systems or something.

SPEAKER_03 25:17

Well, given the weight of the barrels, I'm assuming that they do.

SPEAKER_00 25:20

Yeah, they got it, some sort of pulley system. They're a couple hundred pounds at least a piece.

SPEAKER_03 25:24

Yeah, it'd be cool to go see though.

SPEAKER_00 25:28

It would be very cool to see. And you can. It's a it is a museum, so you can go see some of the stuff.

SPEAKER_03 25:33

Oh, that'd be awesome.

SPEAKER_00 25:34

Um, and you can do tours, they still do tours. Um, so you can do a tour and a bourbon tasting. Uh or not taste a bourbon if you don't like if you don't want to drink it.

SPEAKER_03 25:44

I'd like the to do the tour though.

SPEAKER_00 25:45

Yeah, tour would be fun. As people walk in the door to the barrel warehouse, they catch a glimpse of the lower half of a person walking up the stairs to the second floor.

SPEAKER_03 25:56

Half a body.

SPEAKER_00 25:57

Half a body going up the stairs.

SPEAKER_03 26:00

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 26:00

So no one's in the warehouse. You walk in and there's ch going up.

SPEAKER_03 26:03

Makes you wonder if it's like residual, you know, just their daily routine of rotating the barrels and they just didn't give enough energy to create the full body.

SPEAKER_01 26:10

They suddenly had enough. Yeah, because I mean they half they still had to walk up the stairs. Maybe they worked part-time. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:17

So they're just half. That's half-time.

SPEAKER_00 26:22

Uh a man in overalls has been spotted standing in between the stacks of the barrels, and that area is called the ricks. So and there's not much space in between these racks, so it's you know, maybe only a couple a foot and a half, two feet wide.

SPEAKER_03 26:37

Well, right, they gotta pack as many in there as they can. You don't want to waste space.

SPEAKER_00 26:41

So he's often seen um as people are just walking down the main aisles and they catch they, you know, they look down the ricks and they can see them just standing there.

SPEAKER_03 26:51

Is he like watching?

SPEAKER_00 26:52

Like, yeah, looking at you as you're walking by.

SPEAKER_01 26:56

And then I'm sure they look right back and like they do a double take and they're gone.

SPEAKER_00 27:00

Yeah, exactly. But you know, it's kind of common. Like, I don't know how many people else do this, but like when I'm walking down a hallway with a bunch of doors, I'm always looking in the door.

SPEAKER_03 27:11

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 27:12

And so that'd be the same be the same way in these in these warehouses. So people have also felt a foreboding presence in the warehouse as if they're not supposed to be in the area and they're not welcome there.

SPEAKER_03 27:25

Well, and that would make sense too, because if you weren't a worker, what would you be doing up there, you know, right? Stealing some bourbon.

SPEAKER_00 27:34

You have no business being in there. Why are you here?

SPEAKER_03 27:36

Why are you there? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:37

Or it's just something that's not a happy spirit that you're feeling that energy of. Yeah, it's their alcohol. Get out of right.

SPEAKER_00 27:46

I would I would imagine though, that if you work there and you're part of the the distilling crew, that you probably have a very high sense of possession, even though it's not technically yours, but there's pride in what you're doing.

SPEAKER_03 27:59

Exactly. Well, especially back then, a lot of people had pride in their jobs and did good jobs, not like today necessarily.

SPEAKER_00 28:08

Where it's half cheeked. That's that's why maybe that's why they're only showing up with the bottom legs because they're doing everything they're doing is half-assed.

SPEAKER_03 28:19

Literally.

SPEAKER_00 28:20

Literally.

Warehouse K And The Floating Woman

SPEAKER_00 28:23

Um, so let's move on to warehouse K.

SPEAKER_03 28:26

All right.

SPEAKER_00 28:27

It's another one of the reported haunting locations. This one is interesting. It's reported that prior to the construction of the warehouse, there was a house that was on the property. In fact, there were many houses on the property. This uh property's 500 acres.

SPEAKER_03 28:44

Holy cow. It's got some size.

SPEAKER_00 28:47

Just a little bit.

SPEAKER_03 28:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:49

Um, but that house burned to the ground. And unfortunately, there was somebody inside, and a little a woman passed away.

SPEAKER_01 28:57

Oh, that's too bad.

SPEAKER_00 28:59

Now, the the challenge is is that the you know, these properties have been around since the 1700s. Historical records are not very good.

SPEAKER_04 29:11

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 29:11

And so there's no telling which house, how long the house was there, or who owned the house. There's there's no solid records of any of that.

SPEAKER_02 29:22

Right.

SPEAKER_00 29:23

Um, but she's been re uh reported as uh wearing uh formal dress and that she doesn't really just stand on the ground on the up on the second and and upper floors, she more floats, kind of hovers, kind of hovers, okay. But she's been seen by many employees, and some have refused to even just go into that warehouse.

SPEAKER_03 29:48

Just well, I mean, imagine if you see a woman just hovering there. I mean, that's a little alarming.

SPEAKER_00 29:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:54

I mean, I think for paranormal investigators, it would be kind of thrilling.

SPEAKER_00 29:58

Oh, we'd be loving it.

SPEAKER_01 30:00

I mean, like if I was just a normal person, I would be more afraid of a ghost just hovering there. Yeah. Doing nothing than one that was going about their business doing whatever.

SPEAKER_00 30:14

Right.

SPEAKER_01 30:14

I would be more scared of that. That's more scary to me.

SPEAKER_00 30:19

Especially when you think like in in Warehouse D, there's there the activity that's there seems to be associated to the activity of distilling.

SPEAKER_03 30:27

Right.

SPEAKER_00 30:28

They look like workmen, right?

SPEAKER_03 30:30

But with a woman hovering.

SPEAKER_00 30:31

But a woman What is she doing? You know, yeah, like what are why are you here? Like this is not you're not supposed to be here.

SPEAKER_01 30:38

Okay, so is she on the main floor? Is she on all the floors?

SPEAKER_00 30:41

Like upper floors.

SPEAKER_01 30:42

Upper floors?

SPEAKER_00 30:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:44

Which is interesting because we've talked about how residual spirits, when they're doing their thing, if the dynamic of their house or whatever they're at has changed, they do not.

SPEAKER_00 30:58

Right.

SPEAKER_01 30:59

So So they can go in and out doors that aren't there. Or like the floors their floors are higher up, and so the ghost is only seen halfway. Yeah. They half their torso and their head through the floor, right? Right. Walking because their main floor was three feet lower.

SPEAKER_00 31:16

Right. And and this could very well be something more residual versus intelligent.

SPEAKER_01 31:23

But it's interesting that she's hovering when she's on those upper floors. Upper floors. I would think maybe hovering if it was on the lower floor because maybe where her house stood was just a little bit higher.

SPEAKER_00 31:34

Well, and they didn't they never said exactly which floor she appears on. Right. Um, and so it could just be the second floor.

SPEAKER_03 31:45

But when you say upper floors and there's a multitude of floors, you're thinking the the top sheet tune and all of that floor.

SPEAKER_00 31:52

Yeah. Yeah. And the who knows they never specified. And so they did there was an interview with an employee by the name of Becky who worked at the um distillery, and her account is that she was coming up the stairs, and when she looked down the hallway, the the the the aisle of the building, she saw a woman in old timey dress that was just standing there. She didn't move, didn't say anything, but looked solid. Although the interesting thing is she appeared m grayer than more c than color.

SPEAKER_03 32:31

Interesting.

SPEAKER_00 32:32

So she was like a grayscale instead of being full color. So Becky decided it's time to leave. As she left and started walking out, she looked back behind her and the lady was gone.

SPEAKER_03 32:46

Right.

SPEAKER_00 32:48

Now there's a belief there that the lady in this building is named Mary.

SPEAKER_03 32:57

Okay, why?

SPEAKER_00 32:58

That's the thing. Nobody knows.

SPEAKER_03 33:00

They don't give a reason. They probably just give a reason.

SPEAKER_00 33:03

They could have named her.

SPEAKER_03 33:04

Well, when you say there's a belief that her name is Mary, that's why I asked.

SPEAKER_00 33:07

Right.

SPEAKER_03 33:08

Not that they call her Mary.

SPEAKER_00 33:09

Yeah. They just and I think it's just one of those things. It's got it's handed down. Or maybe someone maybe found some information out once upon a time.

SPEAKER_03 33:21

Or maybe they got some they're intuitive and they know her names, maybe.

SPEAKER_00 33:26

I mean, that's entirely possible, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 33:29

It is.

SPEAKER_00 33:30

Um it's also reported, or Becky also reports, that sometimes when she's up on that that level, um, she can smell flowers in the warehouse. Which is interesting because you should be smelling distilling alcohol.

SPEAKER_03 33:48

Right. So if you're smelling flowers, that's a whole nother thing. And a lot of time the flower, the floral smell is uh obviously associated with a woman.

SPEAKER_01 33:57

Right. Yep. Or I wonder if it's like potpoury kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_00 34:02

It could be perfume-based too. Yeah. Because a lot of perfumes were were flower-based, and so could be smelling just her perfume.

SPEAKER_04 34:09

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 34:10

But it would be very interesting because like this if you smell alcohol being distilled, there's a very distinct aroma to it. And so smelling flowers would definitely be out of the ordinary.

SPEAKER_03 34:26

Well, and I wouldn't think that the smell of the alcohol would be subtle. No, I think it would be very obvious. So if you have a floral scent that's over that, it's gonna have to be a little bit more.

SPEAKER_01 34:40

I'm sure it was probably concentrated in one specific spot. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 34:44

Yeah. So because it, yeah, they so when um Nick and Katrina walked into warehouse D the very first time, they're like, Oh yeah, you can smell it. And they just stepped two feet into the door.

SPEAKER_01 34:59

Right.

SPEAKER_00 35:00

The alcohol, yeah, the smelling of the the distilling of alcohol. So you know it's gonna be strong.

SPEAKER_03 35:06

Right.

The Beam House, Lucy, And Moon Howls

SPEAKER_00 35:09

Um in the main house, which is the one that was built in 1911, that's where all of the distillers and their families had lived and stayed.

SPEAKER_03 35:19

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 35:19

Um now it's a museum. Uh people have reported seeing and hearing a lady walking around the upstairs of the house and looking out the windows. So she's most seen on the second floor and the stairs.

SPEAKER_04 35:35

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 35:37

Um, it's suspected that it's T. Jeremiah's wife, Lucy, as she spent time overseeing the renovations of the house.

SPEAKER_03 35:45

I mean, it would make sense.

SPEAKER_00 35:46

Yeah. Um, and the people have all staff have also reported hearing footsteps and the tinkling of sample glasses moving across the floor when nobody's there.

SPEAKER_03 36:00

Across the floor?

SPEAKER_01 36:01

Wait, how does that happen?

SPEAKER_03 36:02

How does it move across the floor?

SPEAKER_00 36:04

This is the sound.

SPEAKER_03 36:06

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 36:06

The sound of glass sliding on on on wood, obviously.

SPEAKER_03 36:10

Well, when you say floor, I picture little marching shot glasses. The little glasses like that just are sliding across the if it's on the bar if it's like on a wood bar, yeah. That makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 36:25

Yeah, I'm not sure how they would have done the sampling inside of the building. I have no idea.

SPEAKER_01 36:30

It's like everybody sit on the ground. I'm gonna slide you some glasses.

SPEAKER_00 36:33

Right?

SPEAKER_03 36:34

They just roll a barrel in.

SPEAKER_00 36:35

Yeah. Now, the interesting part, and this didn't come up in any of the um interviews that they had during the show, is there are reports of for some reason of a security guard who would go outside and howl at the moon when it was a full moon.

SPEAKER_03 37:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 37:01

Some people just do that. My dad will do that sometimes. If I'm in my house, at my parents' house. I mean, this is like my whole entire life. I'll be inside and my dad will come home from somewhere and it's late, and all of a sudden he will just howl outside. And all of a sudden I hear him like, oh, dad's home. Just a random quirky thing he does that we all laugh at. Okay, so maybe some guy who just says this little quirky thing he does every time it's full moon.

SPEAKER_00 37:29

It's very possible. Well, supposedly, now uh that he's no longer um living, he's still doing it as a spirit.

SPEAKER_03 37:40

Oh that'd be awesome to go there on a night when the moon is full. That would be cool. Listen for that. Or see it. Both. That'd be really neat.

SPEAKER_01 37:51

See the guy out there howling at the moon.

SPEAKER_00 37:53

And then you see that he transforms and he's he's like standing wolf.

SPEAKER_03 37:58

Yeah, that part I wouldn't like so much.

SPEAKER_00 38:00

Little werewolf.

SPEAKER_03 38:01

Rip you apart, right?

SPEAKER_00 38:03

Yeah, I know. Ghost werewolf.

SPEAKER_03 38:05

It's cool until it's not.

SPEAKER_00 38:07

Right.

Paranormal Lockdown Evidence And Responses

SPEAKER_00 38:10

Um, so a couple of things that the paranormal lockdown crew experienced is when they were up in on this, I think it was the second floor of Warehouse D. It's kind of hard to tell. They all the floors kind of look the same.

SPEAKER_01 38:24

Oh, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_00 38:25

Um, they were Katrina and Nick were talking, and Katrina noticed that there was a um a dark mist showing up behind the cameraman. So the cameraman's sitting there filming them, right? And she sees behind him there's a shadow mist forming.

SPEAKER_03 38:46

Creepy.

SPEAKER_00 38:47

Yeah, that would be very creepy. Of course, it's not caught on tape.

SPEAKER_03 38:51

Well, of course it's not gonna be. Um cameras are pointed the wrong way, right?

SPEAKER_00 38:56

Then um, as Nick was kind of investigating down the hallway, he ended up hearing um loud noises of things moving amongst the stacks of barrels in the ricks.

SPEAKER_01 39:07

Oh, like what would be moving?

SPEAKER_00 39:09

Exactly. What would be moving?

SPEAKER_01 39:13

Jeez.

SPEAKER_00 39:14

Because remember, when they do paranormal lockdown, they're the only ones on the property for 72 hours.

SPEAKER_01 39:19

Right. But like, are there things that they can actually be moved?

SPEAKER_00 39:23

Yeah, so the barrels can move. There's like some uh uh you know, wood equipment that helps move transport barrels back and forth and I would I would assume it would be more of the equipment than the barrels themselves because can you imagine the energy that it would take with those big barrels like that?

SPEAKER_03 39:39

So to roll a couple hundred pound barrel, yeah, even move out of that barrel, just get across the room, right? It'd be like Donkey Kong barrel coming at you.

SPEAKER_00 39:47

Oh my gosh, it'd be careful.

SPEAKER_03 39:48

Quick, next floor.

SPEAKER_00 39:49

That would be so terrifying.

SPEAKER_03 39:53

Jump, jump, hit it with a hammer.

SPEAKER_00 39:57

You know, I'm white, right? I can't jump. Oh geez. Um so then they went over to Warehouse K. And as they were talking about the the woman uh up there, they were you doing an Echo Vox section, which is kind of like the Spirit Box, similar, similar, right? Um the same principle, it's the exact same principle, just different name, yeah. Well, the the difference is is the Echo Vox is more like a data dictionary. Okay, so it's like uh an echoey ovulous versus using the uh radio stations.

SPEAKER_03 40:42

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_00 40:43

Um so while they're doing that, Nick experiences a tug on his pants. Okay, like right around his like knee level. He thought he might have clipped one of the barrels that were on the ground, and then he realized he was a foot and a half away from the barrel. Oh, so it's like, yeah, that's not uh that wasn't the barrel.

SPEAKER_03 41:04

Right.

SPEAKER_00 41:05

So then he, you know, what do we normally do when when something happens to us, right? Was that you that did it?

SPEAKER_03 41:12

And can you do it again?

SPEAKER_00 41:13

Right? And so when he goes, Was that you that did it? Over the echo box, a woman's voice comes up through and says, Yes.

SPEAKER_01 41:21

Nice, that's so cool. I love when I get answers like that, right?

SPEAKER_00 41:27

Um, and that's where I ended up stopping because they were setting up their their cots for the night, and I'm like, okay. Um far enough. I went, yeah, I went far enough. I don't want to recount the entire episode and just be in well, this is what happened on an episode of a ghost TV show.

SPEAKER_01 41:44

But it gives us a good idea of what's going on in the distilleries, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:49

It would be really neat. So they because they have tours, so they do daily tours. Um, it would just be really neat to go see and experience some of the just the just the buildings themselves, even if you're allowed. Um, it would be great, and especially now that they're not distilling for a year, yeah. If you could get in and investigate, like, even like okay, maybe they won't let you in the stacks of the barrels. It's understandable, like that's their livelihood.

SPEAKER_03 42:20

So they don't want people to want people messing around that.

SPEAKER_00 42:23

Right. You know, they want people messing around because if you pull a cork and drain a barrel, you know, there's or drink a barrel. Or I'm gonna find you in a puddle if you drink a barrel.

SPEAKER_01 42:35

Um everybody bring your straws, right?

SPEAKER_00 42:39

Bring a hole in the barrel, bring your sippy cups. Why do you get 700 people during this investigation? No reason. Um, but like if you could do just the house, even um, and investigate the house, which is now part muse is mostly museum.

SPEAKER_03 42:56

Right.

SPEAKER_00 42:57

It'd be neat to to try to experience um Lucy in in that hour.

SPEAKER_01 43:03

Oh, yeah. To see her standing there.

SPEAKER_00 43:05

Yeah. Well, she actually moves around. So like you can you'd be sitting down on the main floor and you could hear footsteps walking above you.

SPEAKER_03 43:12

That's always a cool sound.

SPEAKER_00 43:14

It is a very cool sound.

SPEAKER_03 43:16

We've heard that in the mill and stuff before.

SPEAKER_00 43:17

Which was the first time I I think we've all three of us have sat down in one spot together and experienced footsteps moving, and all of us going, Oh yeah. You could follow it, you can follow it back and forth.

SPEAKER_01 43:33

Yeah, yeah, like not even just a couple footsteps, which is what you normally get, which is so hard.

SPEAKER_00 43:38

Minutes, yeah. Cause usually when it's like footsteps, you're like, Did you hear that? Did you hear that?

SPEAKER_03 43:44

No, we just sat there and listened because it just kept going, kept going.

SPEAKER_00 43:48

Um, so I would hope it'd be something like that where you could just hear her moving around upstairs.

SPEAKER_03 43:53

That'd be really neat.

SPEAKER_00 43:54

Um, and there's no telling if she's actually residual or if she's um intelligent, like the haunting is so be fun to find out and go through and see if she would react and interact with yeah, or get a better idea of which one it is, residual or intelligent. Exactly.

Final Thoughts And Stay Ghosty

SPEAKER_00 44:15

As the sun sets over the knobs of Claremont and the shadows stretch long across the rick houses, the line between Angel Share and the spirits of the past begin to blur. Whether it's Lucy Beam keeping watch over her window or a long gone distiller still checking in the checking the proof in the warehouse D, one thing is certain, at Jim Beam, history doesn't just sit in a bottle, it walks the halls. The next time you pour a glass of that Kentucky gold, take a moment to listen. That faint creak in the floorboards or the sudden scent of flora perfume might just be a reminder that some legacies are still too spirited to ever truly rest. And as always, stay ghosty, my peeps.