This is one of the original Tell Me A Ghost Story calls from the early days of the show. Short, raw, and exactly where it all started. This call was later incorporated into a longer compilation episode with full host commentary, if you want the complete experience.
Hey, it's Michelle, and this early episode is one of my favorites in the entire archive because it does something most paranormal podcast episodes never attempt. It connects a real ghost encounter happening right now in a real person's dining room to a documented legend that is almost four hundred years old. Nellie called in and sent me down a rabbit hole I am still thinking about.
Nellie is back. If you have been following her story across the early episodes of this show, you already know her haunted childhood home has been revealing itself one room at a time. The kitchen. The bathroom. The bedroom. Now the dining room. Nellie spotted a Woman in White standing there, a figure so specific in its appearance and its energy that it sent her looking for answers about what exactly a Woman in White is and where the legend comes from.
Here is what I found. The first documented tale of a Woman in White spirit in Western culture appeared in Germany in 1625, making this one of the oldest recorded ghost archetypes in European paranormal history. The figure appears across dozens of cultures under different names, but the details are remarkably consistent across all of them. White clothing. Female. Tied to grief, betrayal, or a violent and unresolved death. Seen most often in or near places she was connected to in life.
The most famous specific figure associated with the legend is Kunigunda of Orlamunde, a noblewoman whose story involves love, loss, and an act so terrible that her spirit has reportedly never found rest. Kunigunda's legend has persisted for centuries across Germany and Central Europe, and researchers have connected her story to Woman in White sightings reported long after her death. Whether Nellie's dining room visitor is Kunigunda specifically or simply another manifestation of one of history's oldest and most persistent supernatural archetypes is a question this episode does not answer. That is the point.
One returning caller. One true ghost story that reaches four hundred years into European paranormal history. This is where Tell Me A Ghost Story began.
If you have a real ghost story of your own, a haunting experience, something you heard, something you cannot explain, I want to hear it. Call 1 (701) 484-2666 or visit tellmeaghoststory.com to share your story.
You might end up on the show.
Support us with official merch at newmanmedia.shop, catch us on YouTube at @tellmeaghoststory, and follow along on Instagram at @tellmeaghoststorypodcast.
Theme music is Sexy Sax by Cool Cascade.
Production by Newman Media.
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[00:01:09] A Woman Wearing White, Kunigunda of Orlamünde, Tell Me A Ghost Story, Newman Media, Tell Me On this day, my youngest cousin, which I will name Mary, she was with me. We were on the back porch. We were just drawing and we were just talking, having fun.
[00:01:57] And out of the corner of my eye, like my peripheral vision, I noticed something. I felt like I was being watched and I was trying to see, okay, I want to turn and see what is actually, what I'm actually seeing.
[00:02:22] And as soon as I turn, I see something in the dining room. I think it's a woman. Kind of like petite. She's wearing this white gown and I can't see the face. It seems like she is really pale.
[00:02:45] And the hair, it's kind of like a shaggy, pixie kind of style hair, really dark, like a dark brownish color.
[00:03:01] And I just see her walking slow, like as if she's kind of stalking my cousin and I, walking slow. And then she trips. She trips where the pipe was.
[00:03:22] And that's it. Like, it went away. And I see this when I turn around and then I go back to face my cousin and I was telling my cousin, I'm like, Oh, Mary, I just, I thought I saw something and she's like, I saw it too.
[00:03:44] And she was younger than me. So what she did was she basically acted out what she saw, like her walking slow. And then while she was walking, so she tripped.
[00:03:57] And I was like, Oh my gosh, like that is exactly what I saw. And she's like, Yeah, I saw that too. And we weren't scared, but we were like, Oh my goodness, we both saw the same thing. Thank you for calling in again, Nelly.
[00:04:18] Did you know the earliest Western recorded story of a woman in white was in Germany? In 1625, the woman in white was first reported to have been seen in the city palace in Berlin.
[00:04:30] The woman has been linked to several possible historical figures, such as the guilt-ridden countess, Kunigunda of Orlemanda, who, according to legend, fell in love with Albrecht the Fair.
[00:04:44] He proclaimed that he would marry her if, quote unquote, four eyes did not stand in their way, referring to his parents who disapproved of the match. Kunigunda mistook his message and thought the eyes referred to her two children, a son and a daughter.
[00:05:03] So she stabbed their eyes out with a needle, killing both children. Albrecht, horrified by her actions, refused to marry her. Devastated, she made a pilgrimage to the Vatican to obtain an absolution for her sins from the Pope.
[00:05:20] As pennants, the Pope ordered her to build a monastery and then enter into a consecrated life. Some versions state she was sentenced to life in prison, and others that she died of exhaustion while on her pilgrimage.
[00:05:34] Either way, the legend ends with her as a ghost, dressed in white, forever haunting the halls of the city palace. That's all we have this week, folks! Do you have a ghost story? Call 701-484-2666. Or go to tellmeagostory.com and leave your story there.
[00:06:02] Go ahead and leave me a five-star review wherever you get your podcasts. Was something particularly scary in this episode? Or maybe you've had a similar experience? Leave your comments via our Spotify page. Thank you to all the callers who left messages this week.
[00:06:19] And as always, I'm your host, Michelle Newman. Signing off, see you next week!