The Welcome to the first episode of American Hauntings, the podcast dedicated to the history, haunting, legends, and lore of America's past.

Hosted by Cody Beck and Troy Taylor, our first season,

explores the hauntings of Alton, Illinois, one of the most haunted small towns in America. Alton Illinois is a town born quite literally from blood, mud, and river water.

According to legend, author Mark Twain once referred to Alton as a dismal little river town.

There's some debate as to whether or not Twain actually said these words, but if he did, it would be understandable.

Alton has a dark history, one of floods, epidemics, death, murder, the Civil War, the

Underground Railroad, and more.

The events of yesterday, they say, create the hauntings of today, and in no place is this

more true than in Alton.

It may not be called a dismal little river town anymore, but people from all over the country now refer to this

place as one of the most haunted small towns in America.

Alton got its start in 1814 as a ferry crossing for the Mississippi River, but the area was first described in print in 1673,

when French explorers Marquette and Joliet came down the river and made note of a fearsome creature

that had been carved and painted on the river bluffs near where

Alton would someday be located. The creature known as the Piazaw or the bird that devours

men according to a line of wick translations, was a winged monster that allegedly preyed

on the local Native American people. Slane by a clever Indian chief who offered himself

as bait for the creature until his warriors could kill it, the beast died in the river never to be seen again.

To commemorate its ferocity, its likeness was carved into the bluff where Marquette and Joliet saw it many years later.

The ferry crossing that became the town was started by Colonel Rufus Easton,

who saw the potential of the area and started a place

that he called for his son, Alton.

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