Join Adele and Nora this month for an interview with Adele’s deceased husband Captain Tom Baylis. One of Petaluma’s pioneers, Captain Tom was the first immigrant to setup a game warehouse, hotel, and he brought both sail and steam boats to Petaluma, from San Francisco, in the early 1850s. He recounts details about his life and some of the early days in Petaluma. Tom Baylis was an entrepreneur, a civic leader, and an all-around dashing disrupter in the Age of Steam – a pioneering steam punk ..read more

Never ones to miss a deadline, Adele and Nora got this special lucky 13th episode in just under the wire. This month they take a stroll with Clara Travers through Petaluma’s Cypress Hill, B’nai Israel, and Calvary Cemeteries. Join them for a self-guiding tour using the map they uploaded to the Petaluminaries website. In this nifty narrative of our nearby necropolis, they expound on the nature of Victorian cemetery art, architecture, and iconography. During their definitive dialogue on the dearly departed, they visit a few of Petaluma’s notable graves, and even run into an old friend. We can’t ..read more

This month Nora and Adele stop in to see Addie Gossage Healy one of Petaluma's deceased local photographers at her studio on Main Street. They learn about the development of photography and the influence it had on the average Victorian person. From the Civil War battlefields to portraits of the dead and images of spirits and auras, photography was integral to how Victorians dealt with their own mortality. This episode is sure to put the focus on death and a ghost in the frame ..read more

This month Nora and Adele tell the story of one of Petaluma's most brutal crimes and the sensationalistic trial that resulted from it. The murder of  blind Nancy Meagher shocked the county. That she was pregnant at the time, made it even more shocking. Then when her sisters were accused of the heinous act, it made headlines nationwide. Find out the details and the unusual conclusions on the next Petaluminaries podcast ..read more

This month Nora and Adele drop in on Sarah Cassiday, at the old Carnegie Library, to find out about the mythological and literary origins of the ghostly season. Frau Holle, Calleaich, and Krampus are just a few of the ancient spirits who were associated with pagan winter celebrations, and they still haunt what we now know as the Twelve Days of Christmas. From Shakespeare to Dickens to Poe to M. R. James to Stephen King, literary masters are still inspired by our shrouded and long-dead brethren. Listen and learn a little from, and about, Petaluma’s longest-serving and not-so-insane librarian ..read more

Clara Travers joins Nora and Adele for a steamboat journey into Berkeley and San Francisco to meet up with and interview Dr. John Campbell Merriam, California’s first vertebrate paleontologist. They learn about the prehistoric creatures of California, and Sonoma County, that may still walk the land in - spectral form of course ..read more

This month Nora and Adele invite Dr. Christine Remarque back to talk about Petaluma’s “Soiled Doves.” With a special warning about the sensitive content, our ghostesses delve into the history of sex work in California and Petaluma specifically. As controversial then as they are today, sex workers have often been overlooked in the history books. But their spirits still roam the streets, the former saloons, bordellos, and upstairs parlors. Have a listen as we tell more colorful stories of those who “Rest in Petaluma ..read more

Due to an outbreak of ACD (Apparition Coherence Disorder), in Santa Rosa, Adele and Nora have to think fast this month and change their planned podcast topic. They decide to cover the Wickersham Murders along with the Anti-Chinese laws and riots of the late nineteenth century in California and Petaluma specifically. Be warned though, this dark history includes references to murder, lynchings, arson, and a month-long manhunt. It’s not for the faint of heart ..read more

This week, Adele and Nora invite the Reverend Waugh to give his take on Spiritualism, seances, and charlatanism in the late Victorian Era. They highlight some of the Spiritualists in Petaluma and the connection between Spiritualism and the growth of the suffragist movement. We also learn about Harry Houdini and his battle against Margery and other fake mediums ..read more

This week, Nora and Adele meet up with ghoul-on-the-road, Clara Travers, from Marysville, CA. They hear Clara’s tragic tale, and recount the stories of a number of Petaluma’s ‘Dead and Unwept’ for the audience. Note that this episode (like nearly all Petaluminaries episodes) makes reference to suicide and murder. These stories are sometimes quite gruesome and all listeners are warned ..read more