Haunted Railways of the World | Japan’s Shinagawa Specter Line, Ireland’s Banshee Train & Beyond: Part 2

0:00 Speaker 1: Welcome back, my fearless passengers of the Paranormal. It's spooky October and in our last episode we survived Sweden's Ghost Metro, Ohio's haunted tunnel, and one very fashion forward specter in Asari. Tonight, we're taking the Midnight Line around the world. So tighten your seat belts or you know, your seat belt of pure faith, because these next haunted railways make Amtrak delays look merciful.

0:29 Speaker 2: Japan's Shinagawa Spector Line.

0:32 Speaker 1: Tokyo's subway system is vast, efficient and haunted. In particular, the stretch between Shinagawa Station and Tamachi Station is said to run directly over a mass grave. The story goes that during construction of the Tokaido Line in the eighteen seventies, workers unearthed human remains from what turned out to be an Edo period burial site. They built the tracks anyway, because apparently respecting the dead was optional in the industrial age. Since then, commuters have reported seeing shadowy figures pacing the platforms, hearing sobbing from empty tunnels, and glimpsing ghostly faces reflected in train windows.

1:12 Speaker 1: In two thousand and three, a Tokyo train operator quit after witnessing a woman in white step in front of his train, but no impact was recorded and security footage showed no one there. Maintenance crews have also claimed to hear chanting in old maintenance tunnels near Shinagawa. Local folklore calls it noroy Resha, the cursed train. Japan's rail system is famous for running on time, even the ghosts punch in early.

1:40 Speaker 3: This spine tingling segment is sponsored by Tokyo Spirit railcards travel the afterlife with convenience and earn Karma points every ride.

1:49 Speaker 2: The Banshee Train of Ireland.

1:51 Speaker 1: In Ireland, they say the wail of a banshee foretells death, but in the nineteenth century people began hearing that same unearthly cry echoing from a train that never existed. The legend of the Banshee train began near County Claire in the eighteen seventies. Locals would wake to the sound of a roaring engine and a shrieking whistle, though no train passed. By the next day, someone in the village would die. In eighteen ninety three, newspapers in Limerick recorded a story of the phantom train of Ennistimone.

2:25 Speaker 1: Dozens of residents heard the thunder of wheels, felt the ground shake, but the line hadn't been used in weeks. Hours later, a farmer was found dead by the tracks. Even Irish rail historians acknowledged the legend, noting the connection between the train of death and the sound of wind in the Limestone Hills, though locals still swear the sound is too rhythmic, too mechanical, too real. It's comforting to know that even death has good public transport in Ireland.

2:55 Speaker 3: Sponsored by Banshee Rail, Ireland's fastest way to the other side. We'll have you howling with delight and mild existential dread.

3:04 Speaker 2: The Phantom Train of Saint Elmo, Colorado.

3:08 Speaker 1: High in the Rockies, the mining ghost town of Saint Elmo is frozen in time, and apparently so is its old rail line. In the late eighteen hundreds, the Denver South Park and Pacific Railroad ran through Chalk Creek Canyon. One winter in eighteen ninety nine, an avalanche buried the line, killing the crew of a supply train trapped inside the pass. When spring thawed, the snow rescuers found the locomotives still upright, with the crew frozen at their posts. Ever since, campers and hikers in the valley have reported hearing the low rumble of a train, the clang of a bell, and even seeing a glowing light on the old right of way where no tracks remain.

3:52 Speaker 1: In nineteen seventy four, a park ranger named Ed Thompson recorded the sounds of a train horn echoing through the canyon. There were no active rail lines for fifty miles. He played the tape back for the Forest Service and they couldn't explain it. Imagine hiking through the mountains, hearing a full locomotive and realizing you're the only ticket holder.

4:16 Speaker 3: This haunting brought to you by Rocky Mountain rail Snack's Ghost approved trail mix for the eternally Outdoorsy now featuring spectral amands.

4:25 Speaker 2: The Ghost Tram of Saint Kilda, Australia.

4:29 Speaker 1: In Melbourne's Seaside suburb of Saint Kilda, the trams still clatter along, but one line they say carries a ghost. According to local legend, in the early nineteen hundreds, a conductor named Thomas Burke fell from tram one six' four during heavy rain and was crushed beneath the. Wheels passengers reported feeling the, jolt but found no. Body his remains were discovered a mile away the next, morning still gripping his ticket. Puncher since, then late night riders have described hearing the faint ding ding of an invisible bell and glimpsing a man in uniform walking the aisle even when the tram's.

5:10 Speaker 1: Empty Melbourne's Herald Sun archives mention several eye witnesses who claimed to see a misty figure boarding trams At Aklan street during the nineteen. Fifties in the nineteen, eighties a driver reported seeing a man vanish in front of the driver's window after waving his hand in. Warning, today tram drivers still tell each other if you See Tommy, burke slow, down he's just making his. ROUNDS i love a ghost who's still dedicated to customer. Service that's the spirit of public. Transport.

5:44 Speaker 3: Literally this spectral segment is sponsored By, tramformers the world's first haunted transit, toys collect all five before they disappear from. Shelves.

5:55 Speaker 2: Literally The Blue Ghost train Of South.

5:59 Speaker 1: Africa in The Karu desert near the abandoned town Of, uniondale a legend persists of a blue lit passenger train that materializes on foggy. Nights locals call it the blue. Train according to, folklore it's connected to a nineteen fourteen accident that killed dozens when a passenger train derailed in a. Sandstorm witnesses claim to see the phantom train's headlights appear out of, nowhere then vanish across the, desert followed by the faint sound of. Crying truckers on THE n Nine highway have repeatedly reported seeing lights moving parallel to the road that suddenly vanish into thin.

6:39 Speaker 1: Air in nineteen sixty, five one driver swore he nearly collided with a train at a crossing that had been inactive for over thirty. Years South african railway historians admit there's no logical, explanation no, mirages no power, lines no. Reflection just when you think you've seen everything in the, desert the day desert sees.

7:00 Speaker 3: You Tonight's Desert, detour brought to you By Ecto, lube the only rail grease guaranteed to stop even ghostly, squeaks now available in spectral.

7:11 Speaker 2: Blue The ghosts of The Canadian.

7:13 Speaker 1: Pacific The Canadian Pacific railway was a deadly. Undertaking hundreds of workers, dyed blasting tunnels through The. Rockies in one particularly treacherous section Near, craiglaki where the last spike was driven in eighteen eighty, five workers began hearing phantom. Pickaxes long after construction, Ended trains passing through The Kicking Horse pass tunnel still report radio, interference sudden temperature, drops and shadow figures in the. Headlamps Engineer Douglas, kincaid interviewed in nineteen sixty, eight said he saw a man standing in the tunnel waving a.

7:52 Speaker 1: Lantern he hit the, brakes thinking it was a. Worker when he, stopped no one was, there only the smell of sulfur and a burned out lantern lying on the. Ballast i'd say he dodged a bullet or a very, old very judgmental.

8:09 Speaker 3: Ghost brought to you By Polar spirits vodka distilled with glacial water and a hint Of canadian, remorse perfect for thawing after a long night of.

8:18 Speaker 1: Haunting, so dear, travelers if you ever hear a whistle in the, night or see a flicker of blue light where no train should, be don't. Panic just remember you're part of a, long proud history of people who saw something unexplainable and decided to write about it On. Reddit From tokyo subway ghosts To Ireland's Banshee, express one thing's for. Sure the rails of history are haunted not just by, tragedy but by. Memory every, whistle every, lantern every clanging. Echo it's the past refusing to be.

8:55 Speaker 1: Silent this Is, amy your conductor of The, strange reminds you to, subscribe, share and keep your lantern, lit because next week we're exploring haunted, lighthouses the ghosts who never clocked.

9:09 Speaker 3: Out this episode was fueled by Speaker, express the only podcast platform where your stories can haunt The internet. Forever use code Ghost train for one FREE evp upload