289 – Fortunate Phantoms: The World’s Happiest Ghost Stories

Mike Huberty • March 30, 2020

With the world under quarantine for an indefinite amount of time and people everywhere being a little freaked out by the current circumstances of our COVID-19 isolation, we thought we’d brighten things up a little bit with some ghost stories that aren’t scary, but they’re happy!

A man with a colorful parrot on his shoulder — Manuco Gandia from the Gallery Inn in San Juan, Puerto Rico and the parrot that scared the crap out of Mike. Photo by Macduff Everton

Wendy and I were joined for a podcast we recorded on Facebook Live with Allison Jornlin, Milwaukee’s Paranormal Researcher of the Year and WhatsYourGhostStory.com ‘s Scott Markus to talk about the happiest ghost stories we know.

In this episode, we talk about a ton of happy ghost stories and one not-so-happy one:

The Gallery Inn in San Juan, Puerto Rico which is haunted by the ghost of the husband of the owner, Manuco Gandia and the stories that the staff told me personally
Rudolph Valentino’s favorite haunts in Hollywood
The lovers that haunt the Miller Caves in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
The spirit of North Hall on the University of Wisconsin campus and the ghost story there from my high school social studies teacher!
How naturalist John Muir saved his professor’s life after a psychic premonition
Milwaukee’s own Hungarian Baron, adventurer Dr. Stephan Borhegyi who still haunts the Milwaukee Public Museum
The ghosts of the Eastland Disaster and the ones that haunt Oprah’s Harpo Studios in Chicago (that’s the not so happy one)

A movie poster for rudolph valentino 's son of the sheik — Rudolph Valentino’s most famous role and his spirit still haunts his favorite places in Hollywood

It’s a fun episode for a weird time, but we hope you’ll enjoy these timeless tales of optimism from the Great Beyond.

Ghost stories are often meant to scare and shock, and those are awesome, but they don’t have to always be that way! As Allison says, “Ghost stories mean there’s an afterlife and when there’s life, there’s hope.” So for this week’s song, we wanted to play the heaviest, meanest song we could think of with the nicest lyrics we could think of. Here’s Sunspot with “Happy”!

I’m in such a good mood
Bursting at the seams with bliss
A moment of perfection that feels just so joyous

sugar, spice and everything nice
Living in paradise
This delight is magnified
I got the whole world on my side

Rainbows and sunshine calling
Puppies and hedgehogs crawling
My cup runneth over and
This life is but a dream
Snuggles and rocking chairs
Little hugs and teddy bears
Did I mention that I’m so goddamn happy

Feeling so majestic
So gleeful you could get sick
Smiles and laughs and winks and my feet don’t touch the ground
The call me Mr. Awesome
Don’t need to feel caution
This is my lucky day, love is all around.

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From the Busboy to the Boardroom (and the Basement): How a Lifetime of Ghost Stories Built a Haunted Business

By Mike Huberty • July 13, 2025

Discover how a lifelong fascination with ghosts led to the creation of American Ghost Walks, one of the fastest-growing haunted tour companies in the U.S. From early paranormal encounters to a pitch on Shark Tank, this is the story of turning spooky passion into a thriving business.