The Skeleton Key Chronicles is your source for creepy content, true crime, haunted history, customs & lore, missing persons and oddities.
The formality and haunting beauty of a funeral where a riderless horse, with the backwards facing boots in the stirrups, is being led along as part of the procession is always a striking image. I am often intrigued about the sources of these many traditions and find this one, in particular, very touching if not…
With Labor Day and National Beer Lover's Day being celebrated around the U.S. today, I'm sure many of you are relaxing by the pool, grilling some food and enjoying a cold one. How many of you are sipping your cold brew from a skull stein? Did you know that in the late 19th century skull…
Continue reading ➞ DRINK FROM THE SKULL OF YOUR ENEMY, KINDA SORTA
It's Memorial Day, a day to remember and celebrate all of those brave people who lost their lives defending our freedom. Prior to being declared a federal holiday back in 1971, Memorial Day was often referred to as Decoration Day and has it's own roots and even a particular set of customs, dating back more than…
So today is St. Patrick's Day and under normal circumstances I'd be celebrating Ireland's patron saint by raising a pint or two at my local pub. But alas, the Covid-19 protocol has made that celebratory tradition impossible. So as an alternative I think I'll sit here and write a little instead. I can't help but…
Beware the number thirteen - at least when it comes to the trains running near Spuyten Duyvil station in the NYC borough of the Bronx. The number thirteen seems to vex this particular station and the notoriously sharp curve located nearby. On a cold January day in 1882, Friday the 13th to be exact, an…
Cincinnati's oldest cemetery is home to more than just our city's first settlers, it is also the site of what was once a thriving Native American village. The area known as Pioneer Cemetery is located just off Wilmer Avenue in the city's East End. It sits unassumingly across the street from Lunken Airport and is…
Marie Laveau is perhaps the most notable occultist in American history. Known as the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans, Laveau spent her entire life in the city working as a voodoo priestess, midwife, herbalist and hairstylist. In addition to protection spells and gris gris, Marie was a devoted Catholic and intertwined her magical workings with…
President's Day mostly comes and goes with little to no fanfare, a paid holiday for a chosen few and maybe a great mattress sale, but this year it got me thinking, have there been any weird or extremely interesting causes of death for any of our former leaders? We all learn about assassinations of presidents…
Continue reading ➞ DEAD PRESIDENT: ZACHARY TAYLOR AND HIS CALAMITOUS CHOW DOWN
I love urban legends and I find that while most are seemingly far fetched stories, a few of them are rooted in grains of truth. I think that may be the case with one local bit of lore here in the Cincinnati area. Amy and The Legend of Lick Road. Let's start with the legend:…
Continue reading ➞ LICK ROAD: WHERE URBAN LEGEND AND TRUE CRIME COLLIDE
The Jinx illustration depicted here announced the Friday the 13th wedding party of James Kral and Jenny Patton. It was published in Chicago paper 'The Day Book' on June 13, 1913. The devilish skeletal imp announcing the couple's theme of embracing everything 13 for their big day. The nuptials would take place on the 13th…
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