SCAREDY CAT discussion

The Greenbrier Ghost” is Zona Shue, a West Virginian woman murdered by her cruel and abusive husband, Erasmus Stribbling Trout Shue, in 1897. By feigning sadness and covering up Zona’s bruised and broken neck with a stiff-collared dress, Erasmus was not suspected by anyone except Zona’s mother, who, after receiving three ghostly visitations, appealed to a local prosecutor. The case was reopened and Erasmus was found guilty. It was the first time in American legal history that a ghost story contributed to the verdict.

The ghost of a young woman haunts the picturesque, beachside Hotel del Coronado in California. In 1892, Kate Morgan was found dead with a bullet in her head and a gun in her hand, but the bullet did not match the gun. Today, hotel guests and employees report seeing the ghost of the young lady. Evidence of her hauntings can be found in books that have been turned around and toilets that flush themselves.

The wife of the our fourth President, James Madison, was known for being the last to leave a party -- something that carried over to her death, in which she apparently refuses to leave the White House. When Woodrow Wilson’s second wife Edith attempted to re-plant Dolley’s rose garden, Dolley’s ghost appeared and instructed the gardeners to stop at once. Today, Dolley still watches over her garden and is occasionally seen walking the hallways of the Executive Mansion.

Louisiana’s Myrtles Plantation counts at least twelve ghosts as permanent residents, the most infamous of which is Chloe, a slave owned by Clark and Sara Woodruff. It is said that Chloe was caught listening to the Woodruffs through a keyholes and had her ear lopped off. (She also may have been forced into being Clark’s mistress.) In revenge, Chloe baked a birthday cake poisoned with extract of oleander leaves, which killed Sara and her two daughters. Chloe was found guilty and hanged. Now, she wears a green turban and roams the plantation, rearranging furniture and stealing tourists’ earrings.

Some accounts claim that Elizabeth Pratt of Ft. Mifflin, PA, was a sergeant’s wife who lost her infant son and young daughter to yellow fever (a distraught Pratt succumbed to the disease shortly after and died screaming). Other tales cast Pratt as the wife of an officer who refused to let her daughter marry an enlisted man; the two women fought and the daughter died of yellow fever before they could reconcile. In remorse, Pratt screamed and hanged herself off the balcony of the officer’s quarters. Today, the sound of her screams is so chilling that neighbors call the police, thinking that a murder is taking place at the fort.

In 1942, prostitute-turned-killer Toni Jo Henry became Louisiana’s first woman to die in the electric chair. After breaking her husband, Harold “Arkie” Burks, out of jail, the two hitched a ride with a passing car driven by Joseph P. Calloway. Toni Jo ordered Calloway out of the car at gunpoint, made him to undress and say his prayers, then shot him once in the head. Today she is said to haunt the Calcasieu Courthouse. Workers report hearing her screams, feeling her presence, and smelling her burning hair

Aileen wrote: "Erasmus Stribbling Trout Shue ..."

Any man with a name like that would have to be an abusive husband. I think there's a rule somewhere about that. ;)

Lol

I've been spot reading this. It's supposed to be a true story. It's creeped me out at times:House of Darkness House of Light: The True Story Volume One

Chuck wrote: "I've been spot reading this. It's supposed to be a true story. It's creeped me out at times:House of Darkness House of Light: The True Story Volume One"

Hey Chuck, I just added, "House of Darkness House of Light", to my:To read shelf. I want to be creeped out. :)

Chuck wrote: "I've been spot reading this. It's supposed to be a true story. It's creeped me out at times:House of Darkness House of Light: The True Story Volume One"

Sylvia wrote: "Chuck wrote: "I've been spot reading this. It's supposed to be a true story. It's creeped me out at times:House of Darkness House of Light: The True Story Volume One"

Hey Chuck, I ..."

I have put this in my to read pile, thanks Chuck

The Amityville Horror (the Original) IS from a true story, but the people who lived there said some of it was added in. She also stated people camp out in her front yard and is always asking questions

Mika wrote: "The Amityville Horror is supposed to be a true story."

It is. The house went for sale recently, I think.

BLACK AGGIE

When Felix Agnus put up the life-sized shrouded bronze statue of a grieving angel, seated on a pedestal, in the Agnus family plot in the Druid Ridge Cemetery, he had no idea what he had started. The statue was a rather eerie figure by day, frozen in a moment of grief and terrible pain. At night, the figure was almost unbelievably creepy; the shroud over its head obscuring the face until you were up close to it. There was a living air about the grieving angel, as if its arms could really reach out and grab you if you weren't careful.

It didn't take long for rumors to sweep through the town and surrounding countryside. They said that the statue - nicknamed Black Aggie - was haunted by the spirit of a mistreated wife who lay beneath her feet. The statue's eyes would glow red at the stroke of midnight, and any living person who returned the statues gaze would instantly be struck blind. Any pregnant woman who passed through her shadow would miscarry. If you sat on her lap at night, the statue would come to life and crush you to death in her dark embrace. If you spoke Black Aggie's name three times at midnight in front of a dark mirror, the evil angel would appear and pull you down to hell. They also said that spirits of the dead would rise from their graves on dark nights to gather around the statue at night.

People began visiting the cemetery just to see the statue, and it was then that the local fraternity decided to make the statue of Grief part of their initiation rites. "Black Aggie" sitting, where candidates for membership had to spend the night crouched beneath the statue with their backs to the grave of General Agnus, became popular.

One dark night, two fraternity members accompanied new hopeful to the cemetery and watched while he took his place underneath the creepy statue. The clouds had obscured the moon that night, and the whole area surrounding the dark statue was filled with a sense of anger and malice. It felt as if a storm were brewing in that part of the cemetery, and to their chagrin, the two fraternity members noticed that gray shadows seemed to be clustering around the body of the frightened fraternity candidate crouching in front of the statue.

What had been a funny initiation rite suddenly took on an air of danger. One of the fraternity brothers stepped forward in alarm to call out to the initiate. As he did, the statue above the boy stirred ominously. The two fraternity brothers froze in shock as the shrouded head turned toward the new candidate. They saw the gleam of glowing red eyes beneath the concealing hood as the statue's arms reached out toward the cowering boy.

With shouts of alarm, the fraternity brothers leapt forward to rescue the new initiate. But it was too late. The initiate gave one horrified yell, and then his body disappeared into the embrace of the dark angel. The fraternity brothers skidded to a halt as the statue thoughtfully rested its glowing eyes upon them. With gasps of terror, the boys fled from the cemetery before the statue could grab them too.

Hearing the screams, a night watchman hurried to the Agnus plot. To his chagrin, he discovered the body of a young man lying at the foot of the statue. The young man had apparently died of fright.

The disruption caused by the statue grew so acute that the Agnus family finally donated it to the Smithsonian museum in Washington D.C.. The grieving angel sat for many years in storage there, never again to plague the citizens visiting the Druid Hill Park Cemetery.