YouTube Channel Premiere

For more than fifty years, people have delighted in the ghost stories of Alabama writer and storyteller Kathryn Tucker Windham. Now Alabama Public Television is pleased to bring these literary treasures to life in a new way with Jeffery’s Southern Ghosts, a new digital video series premiering on APT’s YouTube channel on Monday, Dec 22 at 3:00 p.m. Join APT on YouTube by following @ALPublicTV.

In the premiere episode, The Phantom Steamboat of the Tombigbee, we explore the final resting place of the ghost ship Eliza Battle, located near the small town of Pennington, Alabama. Through a combination of new interviews, archival footage featuring Kathryn Tucker Windham, and a dramatic reading of the ghost story performed by Alabama actress Virginia Newcomb, we embark on a journey through time and place. This narrative intertwines a classic ghost story with elements of investigation and historical insight, while fully embracing the spooky atmosphere.

“I’m delighted that APT recognizes the importance of bringing these ghost stories to a new audience,” says Windham’s daughter, Dilcy Windham Hilley. “The stories are an important part of our Southern folklore, preserving tales that have been passed down through generations. The history woven into these eerie stories is well researched and adds a factual groundwork to each one. I expect my mother would be wholly delighted by APT’s  approach to her ghost tales.”

Known as “Alabama’s favorite storyteller,” Kathryn Tucker Windham traveled throughout the South collecting folk tales, local legends, and ghost stories—sharing these tales, as well as her wisdom, in print and on the radio. Beginning with her 1969 book, 13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey, her spooky tales covered five Southern states, frightening and fascinating generations of Alabama schoolchildren.

In today’s landscape, horror-themed YouTube channels have garnered millions of subscribers, and ghost stories are a widely popular topic. Jeffrey’s Southern Ghosts fits seamlessly into this trend by introducing Kathryn Tucker Windham’s ghost stories to a new generation primed to enjoy them. The series will present Jeffrey’s ghost stories through a mix of striking illustrations, dreamy cinematography, mixed media, and both new and archival footage.

Each episode will blend Mrs. Windham’s narratives with interjections and commentary from historians about the time and place of each tale. While the focus will be on the stories themselves and the history surrounding them, Mrs. Windham will be a recurring presence in every episode, serving as a unifying element for the series. We will treat her as a semi-legendary figure—a collector who traveled the land gathering its stories. Her recordings will have an ethereal quality, suggesting she comes from an older, more mysterious world reminiscent of the gothic Old South genre, filled with legends and crumbling ruins.

Like ghost stories shared around a campfire, our guiding principle is to honor Ms. Windham by preserving the timeless tradition of storytelling.

Jeffrey’s Southern Ghosts is the latest project from the award-winning Multiplatform Content Team at Alabama Public Television, which also produces the ongoing series Garden Party with host Trace Barnett. YouTube is the world’s most-watched video platform and an important way to share Alabama stories with a global audience, whether it is recipes for hot pecan pie or delightfully chilling ghost stories.

Episodes of Jeffrey’s Southern Ghosts will premiere on Alabama Public Television’s YouTube channel. Subscribe and click the bell to be notified when we upload our next video. The show will begin broadcasting on APT starting in 2026. Stay tuned!