Category: Kentucky

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Haunted Kentucky, Briefly Noted

N.B. This is a repost of parts of the original “Haunted Kentucky” and “Haunted Old Louisville” articles published in 2011. These entries have been revised.

Conrad-Caldwell House
1402 St. James Court
Louisville

On the south side of Louisville’s Central Park is the St. James-Belgravia Historic District which consists some of the grandest houses in the Old Louisville neighborhood. This area was the site of the Southern Exposition held between 1883 and 1887. Once the exposition ended, the acres that it occupied were auctioned off and laid out in a British style.

haunted ghosts Conrad-Caldwell House Louisville Kentucky
Conrad-Caldwell House, 2016, by Kenneth C. Zirkel, courtesy of Wikipedia.

The Conrad-Caldwell House, now a house museum, was perhaps the grandest house in this most grand of settings when it was constructed in 1893. Built of limestone, a stone associated with paranormal activity, the interior utilizes seven different types of hardwood to great effect. The house was constructed for Theophile Conrad, a French immigrant who built a number of successful businesses and who wished to build a home similar to the opulent house of his childhood. Conrad passed away in the home in 1905 and his wife later sold the house to another successful businessman, William Caldwell.

After the Caldwell’s residence, the home was used as a boarding house and later sold to the Presbyterian Church as a retirement home.

Employees in the home are accustomed to greeting the spectral residents when they come in the morning. “I think all of us have gotten into the habit of saying hello when we come in morning because we know we’re not alone.” The director told local news station WDRB in 2013. It is also believed that Theophile Conrad continues to run his home in a strict manner, occasionally appearing to visitors, wagging his finger in disapproval. The Caldwells may also be around, as the odors of perfume and cigar smoke have been smelled within the museum as well.

Sources

  • Dominé, David. Ghosts of Old Louisville. Kuttawa, KY: McClanahan Publishing, 2005.
  • “History.” The Conrad-Caldwell House Museum. Accessed 10 December 2019.
  • “Mingling with spirits at the Conrad-Caldwell House.” WDRB. 26 October 2013.

Cumberland Falls State Resort Park
7351 KY-90
Corbin

At 68-feet high, Cumberland Falls is known as the “Niagara of the South,” and it’s also the only place in the Western Hemisphere where one can witness a moonbow, a rainbow caused by moonlight filtering through the falls’ mist. Considered a sacred place by local Native Americans, the site was developed for tourists at the end of the 19th century. The state park was developed in 1930.

The legend surrounding the park involves a bride who either slipped and fell or jumped to her death from one of the overlooking cliffs. One version of the legend holds that this happened in the 1950s, when the bride and her groom were exploring the park on their honeymoon. The couple had not had time to change clothes and the groom had decided to photograph his bride on one of the cliffs. As she posed, she slipped and fell to her death.

ghosts haunted Cumberland Falls State Resort Park Corbin Kentucky
Cumberland Falls, 2009, by J654567, courtesy of Wikipedia.

Another version of the legend speaks of a young couple marrying at the park’s lodge. The bride had become worried when the groom did not show up and was crushed when word arrived that he had been killed in a car accident. In despair, she rushed to the precipice in her wedding dress and flung herself off.

A woman in a white gown has been seen throughout the park, both in and around the falls as well as on the main road. Some have seen her form drifting up through the waters on nights that the moonbow appears. A 2008 blog entry reveals that she may also be active at the park’s lodge.

Sources

  • Cumberland Falls. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Accessed 6 January 2010.
  • Lamkin, Virginia. “Kentucky’s Cumberland Falls.” Seeks Ghosts. 15 December 2015.
  • Specter, Jason. “The Bride of Cumberland Falls.” The Scary States of America Blog. 23 February 2008.
  • Starr, Patti. Ghosthunting Kentucky. Cincinnati, OH, Clerisy Press, 2010.

Filson Historical Society (Ferguson Mansion)
1310 South Third Street
Louisville

In a city filled with extravagant Gilded Age homes, the Ferguson Mansion is perhaps the finest. Constructed in 1901 for the Walter Hite Ferguson who built a business selling cottonseed oil, the home was initially built to house him, his wife, their daughter, and a retinue to six servants. Little expense was spared on this Beaux-Arts style manse which included light fixtures by Louis Comfort Tiffany and other works by the leading designers and decorators of the day. The Ferguson family occupied the home until 1924, when it was sold to the Pearson family who operated a funeral home here until 1978. The house was renovated as a home for the Filson Historical Society, which concentrates on the history of Kentucky, the upper South and the Ohio River Valley.

ghosts haunted Filson Historical Society Ferguson Mansion Louisville Kentucky
The Filson Historical Society by W.marsh, 2007, courtesy of Wikipedia.

The house is believed to be the residence of a spirit named Sally who gleefully tosses books from the shelves in front of shocked visitors and staff members. She is known to produce disembodied footsteps, strange odors, and slam doors, as well as pulling volumes from the shelves which sometimes end up in piles on floors or tables. While there is nothing in the home’s history to attest to Sally’s identity, David Dominé posits that the spirit may stem from the home’s use as a funeral home.

Sources

  • Dominé, David. Haunts of Old Louisville. Kuttawa, KY: McClanahan Publishing, 2009.

Natural Bridge State Resort Park
2135 Natural Bridge Road
Slade 

Adjacent to the Red River Gorge, a place noted for its wild landscape and mysterious encounters, Natural Bridge State Resort Park has its own paranormal activity. According to investigator and writer Patti Starr, the park is home to the Purple Lady, a female apparition wearing a purple evening gown who has been frequently spotted throughout the park. Staff members and visitors alike have seen the spirit in and around the park’s lodge, roads, and campgrounds. Her identity is unknown, though one park employee suggested that she may be the spirit of a woman who was murdered in a cabin on the property many years ago.

ghosts haunted Natural Bridge State Park Slade Kentucky
The Natural Bridge in Natural Bridge State Resort Park, 2009, by Ken Thomas. Courtesy of Wikipedia.

Nina Lautner published the experience of a park visitor in her 2014 Ghosts of America: Southern Appalachia. The visitor stayed in the park’s lodge in 2008 and she experienced an overwhelming sense of dread from the moment she stepped into the room. Unable to sleep, she turned on the lights and they flickered a bit, but she wasn’t able to shake the negative feeling. When she reported her experience to the front desk, the clerk asked if she had seen the spirit.

The titular feature of Natural Bridge State Resort Park is a sandstone archway formed by millions of years of weathering. The park opened in 1896 as a private attraction and trains brought visitors from Louisville, Lexington, and other large cities. The park and Hemlock Lodge are now under the auspices of the state of Kentucky as a state park.

Sources

  • Lautner, Nina, ed. Ghosts of America: Southern Appalachia: True Accounts of Ghosts. Stratus-Pikpuk, 2014.
  • Natural Bridge State Resort Park. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Accessed 6 January 2010.
  • Starr, Patti. Ghosthunting Kentucky. Cincinnati, OH, Clerisy Press, 2010.

Pink Palace (private)
1473 St. James Court
Louisville

In the late 19th century, St. James Court was developed as one of the most exclusive neighborhoods in Louisville. The dramatic French-styled house at number 1473 was constructed in 1891 originally as a gentlemen’s club for the wealthy homeowners. Rumors allude to the fact that this staid institution may have provided female companionship to club members after dark. Interestingly, after a brief stint as a private family home, the house was acquired by the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), a group that crusaded against the consumption of alcohol and other vices. After the WCTU discovered the home’s sordid past, the decision was made to paint the home pink to counteract the negative memories of the building.

Pink Palace Old Louisville Kentucky ghosts haunted
The Pink Palace in 2007. Courtesy of Wikipedia.

Over the years, residents of the palatial home have had various encounters with an aristocratic gentleman. David Dominé included the story of one young lady who lived in a basement apartment some decades ago. One particular night, she had two visits from the spectral gentleman. She saw him first standing in her kitchen; then a short time later he appeared in her bathroom doorway while she took a bath. She quickly got out of the bath and left the room. Hearing the crash of breaking glass and splashing water, she returned to the bathroom to find the window broken. She summoned the police who discovered that the window had been broken by a cement block during a robbery attempt. The cement block landed in the bath where she had been lying just moments before.

The apparition, believed to be the image of one of the home’s former owners, has also appeared to other residents of the home as a warning. The house remains a private residence.

Sources

  • Dominé, David. Phantoms of Old Louisville. Kuttawa, KY: McClanahan Publishing, 2006.

Presentation Academy
861 South Fourth Street
Louisville

The oldest school in continuous operation in the city, the Presentation Academy is a private college-preparatory high school for girls founded by the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth in 1831. The school’s current building was opened in 1893 and designed by D. X. Murphy, one of the city’s leading architects of the time.

Legendary spirits at the school include a nun who died after falling down a staircase and Mary White a student who was killed in a car accident while en route to her coming out party. While documentation does not back up either story, that does not discount the numerous encounters that have occurred here.

ghosts haunted Presentation Academy Louisville Kentucky
Presentation Academy, 2012, by Nyttend. Courtesy of Wikipedia.

David Dominé includes the frightening account of one student’s encounter. As she walked down the hall towards a class, the student noted that another student was walking next to her. After seeing that she was dressed in an old-fashioned uniform, she then noticed that the young lady did not have legs. The student stopped in the middle of the hall to gawk as the spirit continued down the corridor and faded from view.

Sources

  • Dominé, David. Phantoms of Old Louisville. Kuttawa, KY: McClanahan Publishing, 2006.
  • Hedgepeth, Mary Poynter. National Register of Historic Places nomination form for Presentation Academy. 15 August 1978.
  • Presentation Academy. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Accessed 18 December 2019.

L. B. Speed Art Museum
2035 South Third Street
Louisville

Founded as a memorial to her husband, the Speed Art Museum opened in 1927. Hattie Speed’s devotion to her husband’s memorial and her own perfectionism may be what is keeping her spirit within the walls of the museum. A rose-type perfume has been smelled, motion sensors set off, elevators operate mysteriously by themselves and misty, white shapes have been seen on security monitors; all believed to be Mrs. Speed checking up on “her” museum. Some particularly notable occurrences have been connected with the portrait of J. B. Speed’s first wife, Cora Coffin, which has had issues with its label mysteriously peeling from the wall. One museum staff member was shocked to discover the portrait removed and left propped with its face turned to the wall.

ghosts haunted Speed Art Museum Louisville Kentucky
A view of the galleries inside the Speed Art Museum, 2016, by Sailko. Courtesy of Wikipedia.

Several visitors and staff members have reported odd encounters with a Native American man in the museum’s Native American gallery. While the man’s identity is unknown, he has been seen and his presence felt in the space.

Sources

  • Dominé, David. Ghosts of Old Louisville. Kuttawa, KY: McClanahan Publishing, 2005
  • Speed Art Museum. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Accessed 18 December 2019.

Walnut Street Baptist Church
1101 South Third Street
Louisville

Demon Leaper Walnut Street Baptist Church Louisville Kentucky
Early 20th Century postcard of Walnut Street Baptist Church.

Erected just at the outset of the 20th century, the grand Gothic Revival Walnut Street Baptist Church has provided spiritual sustenance for over a century to the citizens of Old Louisville and beyond. But it also harbors a legend. Over the century, people have reported a large, winged creature around the church. Reports of this creature, dubbed the “Demon Leaper” even come from as recent as 2005.

Sources

Dominé, David. Haunts of Old Louisville. Kuttawa, KY: McClanahan Publishing, 2009.

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“The groaning of the prisoner”—Kentucky State Penitentiary

Kentucky State Penitentiary
266 Water Street
Eddyville, Kentucky

For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven did the Lord behold the earth;
To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death.
–Book of Psalms, Chapter 102, Verses 19-20 (King James Version)

In his marvelous book, Hauntings of the Kentucky State Penitentiary, Steve Asher recounts a number of experiences he and other staff members had within the walls of this grim institution. A guard working in the late 1980s had a frightening encounter while inspecting cells in Three Cell House. These particular cells had once been part of death row, and despite them not being in use at that point, they still required inspection.

After examining the first few cells, the guard encountered a cell that was occupied. The prisoner stood in the center of the small space reading a Bible. The prisoner greeted the guard and he acknowledged it with a nod and smile before returning to his inspection.

When he returned to his office, he asked his sergeant if the prisoner had gotten a meal. The sergeant replied that there was no one in that cell, in fact no one had been in those cells in nearly a month. Knowing how thorough the guard normally was, the sergeant insisted on looking in the cell himself to ensure that a mistake had not been made.

The guard and the sergeant approached the cell to find that it was indeed empty. A light layer of frost attested to the cell having been unoccupied for some time. The pair stepped inside and noticed that the temperature inside was quite chilly. The cell had been stripped and was empty except for a small Bible that lay open on the floor.

Picking it up, the guard noted that the pages were open to the 102nd Psalm and one single passage had been highlighted, verse 20, “To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death.” He passed the Bible to the sergeant and shuddered as he read the highlighted verse aloud. Perhaps the spirit was trying to communicate with the guard.

Kentucky State Penitentiary Eddyville
The front facade of the Kentucky State Penitentiary, 2011. Photo by Acdixon, courtesy of Wikipedia.

Eddyville, Kentucky is situated on a sharp bend in the Cumberland River near the border with Tennessee. The bend in the river and the two lakes that were created in the 20th century create a finger of land that is preserved as Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area, a place that is known for many strange goings-on. Rising above the river at the old site of the town of Eddyville (much of the original town was destroyed with the creation of Lake Barkley) is the famed “Castle on the Cumberland,” the Kentucky State Penitentiary.

For more than a century, this grim edifice has stood reminding the lawful of the consequences of lawlessness and little hope for law-breakers. Several sources note that the front entrance of the prison was once marked with a plaque bearing the words, “Abandon hope all ye who enter here,” the same words marking the gates to Hell in Dante’s Inferno.

Steve Asher posits that the prison itself may act as a kind of paranormal dynamo. Constructed with prison labor, the very building itself is imbued with negativity and that that atmosphere creates the perfect storm for an array of paranormal activity. His book offers a glance behind the prison walls revealing apparitions, phantom sounds, bizarre sensations, and disturbing nightmares experienced by members of the prison staff.

The Kentucky State Penitentiary began life in 1884 as a branch prison to relieve the overcrowding of the main state penitentiary in Frankfort. Opening in 1886, the Medievel-Revival edifice was meant to house 800 prisoners. The prison became the main state prison with the closure of the Frankfort prison in 1937. In 1911, an electric chair was installed and served as the primary method of execution at KSP until 1962. During that time, 163 men were put to death in “Old Sparky.”

view of Kentucky State Penitentiary from the Cumberland River
View of Kentucky State Penitentiary from the Cumberland River, 1939, from the National Archives and Records Administration.

On July 13, 1928, “Old Sparky” saw its busiest day when seven men were executed back to back. On that Friday the 13th, the headline of the Louisville Courier-Journal shouted, “Red Seymour loses fight for life, is doomed to die with six others.” The Thursday before had dashed the hopes of murderer Orlando “Red” Seymour when a judge overruled a petition for a sanity hearing. The hearing was held in the KSP chapel where the newspaper described the scene.

Seymour was brought into the prison chapel, where the hearing was held, and remained throughout. He appeared to be very weak and was assisted up the steps to the stage where he sat, his hands in his arms. He frowned when the decision was announced and then was led back to his cell.

Just after 7 PM that night, the prison warden visited the cells of the seven condemned men to read the death warrants. The executions were slated to take place just after midnight. The newspaper described the scene at the prison on Thursday afternoon leading up to the mass execution.

Corridor Is Jammed.

Guards at the prison declared today that never had there been so much excitement attending an execution here, the corridor outside the warden’s office throughout the day was filled with relatives, friends and attorneys of the condemned men. Here and there a woman was sobbing. Little groups congregated about the doorways.

[…]

Down in the death house, the heat was oppressive. The four white men sat or stood before their cell doors throughout the afternoon. All were composed and each repeated his assertion of yesterday that he was ready to die.

[…]

Death Cell Furnished Plainly.

The death house has seven rooms, only four of them cells. These cells are situated directly across from the electric chair room, which may easily be seen through a wide door. The death chamber is very plainly furnished. The electric chair is in the center at the far side of the large room. To the right side, facing the chair, is a small room from which the switches are manipulated.

The Owensboro Inquirer picks up the story of the executions.

Four white men, three of them very young, and three negroes made up the seven whose deaths in the electric chair set a record for Kentucky. Sullen, defiant and prayerful by turns during their stay in the death house, the condemned men were reduced by fear to a condition bordering upon collapse as midnight approached.

Shaken by Dread 

Although there was no clock going to sound the hours, the prisoners sensed and all talk died away long before the death march started at 12:15. With heads supported in cupped hands, they sat silent, their bodies shaken by chills despite the intense heat in the squat stone house that had been their home in the prison. In plain view was the execution chamber and the chair.

After the seven white coffins were placed outside the prison for the families to take, the newspaper noted:

It was thought however, that one or more might remain to be buried in the tiny prison cemetery that lies just outside the towering walls. Early in the morning a red cart and mule stood hitched near the coffins ready to perform their last duty of the state in hauling those that remained down the hill.

After such a dreadful day in KSP history, it is possible that one or more of these prisoners have remained behind in spirit form. Perhaps it is one of these prisoners who appeared to the guard while going about his rounds.

Eastern view of the Kentucky State Penitentiary
Eastern view of the Kentucky State Penitentiary, 2014. Photo by Nyttend, courtesy of Wikipedia.

Please note that this prison is still in full operation and not open for the curious or paranormal investigations.

Sources

  • Asher, Steve E. Hauntings of Kentucky State Penitentiary. NYC: Permuted Press, 2016.
  • Blanco, Juan Ignacio. “Kentucky Executions 1607-1976.” Death Penalty USA. Accessed 26 November 2019.
  • Kentucky State Penitentiary. The Kentucky Encyclopedia. Accessed 26 November 2019.
  • Robards, S.M. “Red Seymour loses fight for life, is doomed to die with six others.” The Courier-Journal. 13 July 1928.
  • “Seven suffer death penalty at Eddyville.” The Owensboro Inquirer. 13 July 1928.
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A cupola seaman—Louisville, Kentucky

This is the third entry of my Encounter Countdown to Halloween. There are only 28 more days until All Hallows Eve!

United States Marine Hospital
2215 Portland Avenue
Louisville, Kentucky

There’s something quite jaunty about the cupola atop the old U.S. Marine Hospital in Louisville. The rest of the building is stately and noble and almost bows to travelers as they cross the Ohio river into Kentucky; perhaps it’s a gracious bow of warm Southern welcome. But the little cupola adds a certain joyful flair to this staid structure, almost like a hotel bellman’s pillbox cap.

US Marine Hospital Louisville Kentucky ghosts haunted
The U.S. Marine Hospital with its jaunty cupola, 2007. Photograph by Censusdata, courtesy of Wikipedia.

Travelers have been passing this spot for nearly two centuries and they have been greeted by this landmark. Almost a hundred years ago, the Dixie Highway was routed across the steel lace of the Kentucky & Indiana Terminal Bridge from New Albany, Indiana into the bustle of Louisville’s Portland neighborhood. Automobile traffic over the Kentucky & Indiana Terminal Bridge ceased in 1979 and rerouted to Interstate-64 and its nearby concrete bridge. The interstate rushes past the sober hospital with its jolly cupola at Exit 3 as it hurries towards the spaghetti bowl interchange with I-65 and I-71.

Built by the Federal government to provide healthcare to boatmen operating on the Mississippi and Ohio rivers and Great Lakes. This hospital was situated here on the Ohio River, for the “beneficial effect of a view of the water, and the impressions and associations it would naturally awake in the minds of men whose occupation were so intimately connected with it.” After the decline of the Marine Health Service in the late 19th century, the facility continued to operate as a hospital and later as quarters for medical professionals until 1975.

The now ancient building saw a multi-million-dollar restoration of its exterior some years ago, though the interior remains unusable, except for a few ground-floor rooms. Efforts to restore the entire structure have yet to succeed.

During the restoration in 2004, a painter working inside heard someone whistling down one of the hallways. When the painter realized that he was alone in the building he grew more curious. A few days later he was working with another painter and the two decided to take a smoke break on one of the building’s galleries. As they walked into the unrestored portion of the building, painter’s co-worker accused him of staring at him and making him uncomfortable. The painter denied that he was staring at him and said he was only concentrating on his work.

“So, we stepped out onto the gallery and lit up our cigarettes, and it just weird all of a sudden. The hair stood up on our necks and the whole place just felt all staticky and like it was charged with energy or something. It got real cold, too, just like an icy wind blew in, and when that happened, my buddy just sort of looked at me as if to ask what was going on.”

The two men were standing facing one another, the painter standing against the railing his back to the railing, while his co-worker was looking out towards the river. Suddenly, the co-worker appeared to see something, and his eyes got big. When the painter turned to see what his companion was looking at, there was a man standing next to him.

Staring at the man in disbelief, the pair was aghast when he simply vanished before their eyes. “He just sort of appeared for a moment or two, and then he was gone. It was almost like we were seeing an old-fashioned picture.” The painter described the man as appearing like “an old-time sailor.” He was wearing “tight, striped pants and a short jacket and a straw hat.”

George Caleb Bingham Jolly Flatboatmen in Port 1857
George Caleb Bingham’s “Jolly Flatboatmen in Port,” 1857. Dating to the period when the Marine Hospital opened, it depicts men who might have been patients here. The description of the seaman seen by the two painters resembles some of the men in this work. This painting hangs in the St, Louis Museum of Art.

After the spectral vision vanished, the co-worker fled back inside the building and refused to talk about what had just happened. The painter, however, told his story to Louisville author and tour guide David Domine, who included it in his 2006 Phantoms of Old Louisville. Hopefully, this magnificent building with the jaunty cupola can be fully restored as old mariners continue “blurring the fine line between the Here and Now and the There and Then.”

Sources

  • Brooks, Carolyn. National Historic Landmark Nomination Form for the United States Marine Hospital, Louisville, Kentucky. 15 March 1994.
  • Domine, David. Phantoms of Old Louisville: Ghostly Tales from America’s Most Haunted Neighborhood. Kuttawa, KY: McClanahan Publishing, 2006.
  • United States Marine Hospital of Louisville. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Accessed 3 October 2019.
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Sipping with Spirits—Guide to Spirited Southern Bars

N.B. Last updated 29 May 2020.

Throughout the South, there are many places where you can sip with spirits. This guide covers all of the bars that I have explored in the pages of this blog over the years. Not only have I included independent bars, but breweries, wineries, restaurants, and hotels with bars as well.

Alabama

Buttermilk Hill Restaurant Sylacauga Alabama ghosts haunted
Buttermilk Hill Restaurant, 2016. Photo by Lewis O. Powell, IV, all rights reserved.

District of Columbia

Omni Shoreham Hotel Washington DC ghosts haunted
Omni Shoreham Hotel, 2009. Photo by Jurgen Mattern,  courtesy of Wikipedia.

Florida

Island Hotel Cedar Key Florida ghosts haunted
Island Hotel, 2007. Photo by Ebyabe, courtesy of Wikipedia.

Georgia

Jekyll Island Club Hotel Jekyll Island Georgia ghosts haunted
Jekyll Island Club, 2012, by Lewis Powell IV. All rights reserved.

Kentucky

Old Talbott Tavern Bardstown Kentucky ghosts haunted
Old Talbott Tavern, 2008, by C. Bedford Crenshaw. Courtesy of Wikipedia.

Louisiana

Hotel Monteleone French Quarter New Orleans Louisiana ghosts haunted
Hotel Monteleone, 2009 by Bart Everson, courtesy
of Wikipedia.

Maryland

Middleton Tavern Annapolis Maryland ghosts haunted
Middleton Tavern, 1964. Photograph for the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS). Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division.

Mississippi

Weidmann's Meridian Mississippi ghosts haunted
Weidmann’s, 2010, by Dudemanfellabra. Courtesy of Wikipedia.

North Carolina

Lake Lure Inn North Carolina ghosts haunted
The 1927 Lake Lure Inn. Photo 2012, by Lewis Powell IV, all rights reserved.

South Carolina

Mad River Grill Charleston SC ghosts haunted
Mad River Grille, 2011. Photo by Lewis O. Powell, IV. All rights reserved.

Tennessee

Earnestine and Hazel's Memphis Tennessee ghosts haunted
Earnestine and Hazel’s, 2012, by Thomas R.
Machnitzki, courtesy of Wikipedia.

Virginia

Michie Tavern Charlottesville Virginia ghosts haunted
Michie Tavern, 2005, by Forestufighting, courtesy of Wikipedia.

West Virginia

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Guide to the Haunted Libraries of the South—Kentucky

Several years before I started this blog in 2010, a series of articles by George Eberhart about haunted libraries was published in the Encyclopedia Britannica Blog. This comprehensive list, still up on the now defunct blog, covers perhaps a few hundred libraries throughout the world with a concentration on the United States. After perusing the list and noting the many Southern libraries missing from the list, I’ve decided to create my own list here.

Like theatres, it seems that every good library has its own ghost. George Eberhart argues that there are two reasons for libraries to be haunted: one, that the library inhabits a building that may have been the scene of a tragedy, or two, that the library may be haunted by a former librarian or benefactor who may continue to watch over it.

For other haunted Southern libraries, see my entries on Alabama, District of Columbia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and West Virginia.

The Carnegie
1028 Scott Boulevard
Covington

As one of the wealthiest men of his time, Andrew Carnegie provided grants to cities, towns, and educational institutions throughout the world to construct libraries for the edification of their citizens. The bulk of his grants were provided to Americans and 1,689 libraries were built across the country. Twenty-seven libraries were built in the state of Kentucky and twenty-three are still standing, among them the Beaux-Arts former Kenton County Public Library in Covington.

Covington Kentucky Carnegie Library ghost haunted
The Carnegie, formerly the Covington Carnegie Library, 2010, by Greg Hume. Courtesy of Wikipedia.

Two years after the library’s construction in 1904, an auditorium was added for community events. The auditorium fell in serious disrepair and was boarded up in 1958, but the library continued to thrive. Outgrowing the original structure, the library moved to a larger facility in 1974 and the building was threatened with demolition. Concerned citizens formed the Northern Kentucky Arts Council to utilize the structure as an arts center. The auditorium was fully restored in 2006 and the center was renamed “The Carnegie” to honor the building’s original use.

Over the years, the building has garnered several legends of ghosts and was investigated by the team from Paranormal Investigations of  Kentucky (PINK) in 2010. The team heard stories from several staff members including one who’s pants leg had curiously been tugged on as they climbed a ladder to the attic. Another staff member who had often worked in the theatre late into the night had a number of experiences with items he was using disappearing only to reappear in a different location. The investigators were able to capture several EVPs during the investigation.

Sources

Carnegie Community Arts Center
107 North Main Street
Somerset

Carnegie Community Arts Center Somerset Kentucky haunted ghost
Carnegie Community Arts Center, formerly the Pulaski County Carnegie Library, 2014, by Nyttend. Courtesy of Wikipedia.

This graceful, Neo-Classical structure near the heart of Somerset has served several different functions throughout its history. Constructed originally as a post office in 1912, the building was transformed into the Pulaski County Public Library after the post office’s move to a new facility in 1972. Following construction of a new library facility, the building now serves as an arts center for the community and hosts several spirits and a paranormal museum.

The International Paranormal Museum and Research Center opened in the basement of the arts center in 2017 and houses paranormal memorabilia from around the world as well as several haunted objects. In fact, the old building itself has several ghost stories associated with it including tales involving a little boy who died on the adjacent property and a woman who died while working in the building. One of the museum’s operators has had a few haunting encounters like hearing the sound of a woman clearing her throat in a restroom while he was working in the building alone.

Sources

  • Harris, Chris. “Carnegie Community Arts Center Paranormal Museum can be spine-tingling.” Kentucky Commonwealth. 4 October 2017.
  • Torma, Carolyn and Camille Wells. National Register of Historic Places Pulaski County Multiple Resource Area (North Main Street Historic District Nomination). 14 August 1984.

Carnegie Hall
401 Monmouth Street
Newport

The Newport Public Library was organized in 1898 and set up on the second floor of a nearby bank. The group solicited a grant from Andrew Carnegie for funds to build a permanent home. With the $25,000 grant, the Beaux-Arts style Newport Carnegie Library was constructed in 1902 on Monmouth Street. The library moved to a new location in 2004 and the building was used as storage by the city until a local businessman purchased it in 2007. Under the businessman’s purview, the building was exquisitely restored and opened as an events space.

A 2014 article in the Cincinnati Enquirer mentions the possibility that the building may be haunted. During a wedding, a sensitive guest noted the presence of a woman and child in the building’s basement.

Sources

  • “112-year-old gem nestled in Newport.” Cincinnati Enquirer. 17 June 2014.
  • “Our History.” Carnegie Hall at Newport. Accessed 17 April 2019.
  • Warminski, Margo. National Register of Historic Places Nomination form for the Monmouth Street Historic District. 28 March 1996.

Danville-Boyle County Public Library
307 West Broadway Street
Danville

Staff at this library have experienced some anomalous things involving the library’s time clock. See my entry “Clocking in for the afterlife–Kentucky,” for more details.

Filson Historical Society
1310 South Third Street
Louisville

With a collection on the history of Kentucky, this Louisville institution contains a library that has been the scene of some haunting hijinks. See my entry “Haunted Kentucky, Briefly Noted,” for more detail.

Helm-Cravens Library
Western Kentucky University Campus
Bowling Green

On this campus known for its ghostlore (see my coverage of the haunting of Van Meter Hall), there is very little written about the spirit at the Helm-Cravens Library. George Eberhart provides only a single sentence on this haunting: “Bowling Green, Western Kentucky University, Helm Library. A student who fell to his death while trying to open a window on the ninth floor is said to haunt the library.” The Helm Library only has a few floors while the Cravens Library, which is physically connected, is nine stories. So, obviously the incorrect building is listed. There is no further information on this haunting.

Sources

Jeffersontown Branch—Louisville Free Public Library
10635 Watterson Trail
Louisville

Scholar William Lynwood Montell’s monumental works on Kentucky ghostlore, including his Ghosts Along the Cumberland: Deathlore in the Kentucky Foothills and Ghosts Across Kentucky comprise the base for a great deal of the works that have come in recent years. In his Haunted Houses and Family Ghosts of Kentucky, Montell includes stories from three libraries, all of which are included in this guide. This book includes firsthand accounts of supernatural encounters collected as part of interviews with people across the state.

The original building that housed the Jeffersontown Branch Library was built on property that was once occupied by the county poor farm. A former director noted that the atmosphere in that building was often dreary and a woman wearing a frilly pink or white dress was seen peering from the front window. The director often heard disembodied footsteps and once saw an entire shelf of books tumble to the floor without reason. The activity ceased when the library moved to a new building next door.

Sources

  • Montell, William Lynwood. Haunted Houses and Family Ghosts of Kentucky. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 2001.

Louisville Free Public Library
301 York Street
Louisville

It is more than appropriate that the architects of the Louisville Free Public Library would employ Louis XVI-style architecture for the building in a city named for the same French king. This building, designed by the firm of Pilcher and Tachau of New York and opened in 1908, is considered the finest example of Louis XVI-style Beaux-Arts architecture in the state. The library, which has been a cultural touchstone in the city and region, continues to occupy this grand building.

Of course, it also seems that one of the librarians has remained on duty here. Some years ago, a library staff member encountered the woman while closing up the library around 9 PM. The staff member told author David Domine, “It was like she was two feet off the ground, and she was just going about her business of putting the books back in place. She had on round spectacles and her hair was up in a bun, and she wore a high-waisted, long skirt and long-sleeved blouse.”

Louisville Kentucky Free Public Library ghost haunted
Louisville Free Public Library, 2007. Courtesy of Wikipedia.

The staff member watched the strange figure going about her duties for about 30 seconds before the figure looked up and vanished before his eyes. He left the building quickly after this strange vision. It turns out that many others have seen the spectral librarian as well, though her identity is lost.

Sources

  • Domine, David. Phantoms of Old Louisville. Kuttawa, KY: McClanahan Publishing, 2006.
  • Hedgepeth, Marty Poynter. National Register of Historic Places Nomination form for the Louisville Free Public Library. 29 June 1979.
  • “LFPL: A History of Pride and Resourcefulness.” Louisville Free Public Library. Accessed 17 April 2019.

Shively-Newman Branch—Louisville Free Public Library
3920 Dixie Highway
Shively

According to Montell’s Haunted Houses and Family Ghosts of Kentucky, this branch library has been known to be haunted since 1990. Attached to the Shively City Hall, the building has seen much community activity over the years. Perhaps this energy has contributed to the paranormal activity. In the auditorium, library staff has heard the sound of a man’s voice, apparently in pain, over the speakers. Lights have flickered off and on, while books and other things have disappeared only to turn up elsewhere.

Sources

  • Montell, William Lynwood. Haunted Houses and Family Ghosts of Kentucky. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 2001.

Woodford County Library
115 North Main Street
Versailles

Some years ago, a high school student working as a page at the library was helping staff close up for the night. Going upstairs, the young man felt the presence of someone behind him. Turning around, he saw an older man with grey hair and dressed in a grey suit with a maroon tie looking at him. As the page attempted to leave that floor, the figure would glide in front of him. He eventually made his way downstairs where he told the staff that he would no longer go upstairs at night.

The Woodford County Library was constructed in 1906, but was lost to a fire after only a year in the new building. The imposing and grand building that still stands on North Main Street was constructed thereafter. The recollections of a librarian interviewed by William Lynwood Montell provides several ghost stories for this building. Besides the young page, a custodian frequently had experiences with objects moving on their own volition.

Sources

  • Jeffrey, Jonathan. “Keeping the Faith: A History of the Library Services in Versailles, Kentucky.” Kentucky Libraries. 1 December 2003.
  • Montell, William Lynwood. Haunted Houses and Family Ghosts of Kentucky. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 2001.
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Firehouse phantom—Lexington, Kentucky

Fire Station #4, “Vogt Reel House”
246 Jefferson Street
Lexington, Kentucky

N.B. This article was originally published 14 May 2013 as part of “From the Archives—Kentucky Briefs.”

The firemen working out of Fire Station #4 have adopted a ghost as their mascot. Painted on the side of the station’s fire truck is a skull wearing a fire helmet and the words, “The Phantom.” Indeed, the station staff does not shy away from their resident spirit, and even the Lexington City Government webpage detailing the fire department’s facilities mentions the spirit.

The oldest firehouse in the city, the building recalls an era when government buildings were elegantly ornamented and sometimes extravagantly designed. The 1904 building utilizes Jacobean Revival style and retains some of its interior elements including a cast iron spiral staircase fire pole, though a truck now occupies the space where horse stalls once stood. The station’s façade now bears the building’s nickname, the “Vogt Reel House,” name for a former city commissioner who donated the land the station sits upon.

Fire Station #4 Lexington Kentucky Vogt Reel House
Vogt Reel House, 2015, by Todd F. Niemand, published under a Creative Commons License, courtesy of Flickr.

Firefighter Henry McDonald was nearly 70 years old, but still on duty on Christmas Day in 1945. World War II, the most devastating war in history had ended just a few months previous when Japan surrendered in August. He had lived to see two world wars dominate the headlines of the Lexington Herald and the Lexington Leader (these papers would merge in 1983 to become the Lexington Herald-Leader).

That Christmas Day, he peacefully drifted off the sleep in the firehouse and would not wake. He was laid to rest in Winchester Cemetery down the road from Lexington.

At some point after McDonald’s death, things seemed to indicate that his spirit had taken up residence in the old firehouse. Some heard the sound of heavy boots treading the iron staircase while unexplainable cold breezes were felt. McDonald’s beloved cane-bottom rocking chair was even heard rocking by itself in the attic. While the activity sometimes chills firefighters working in the building, the spirit has earned their respect and affection. An article from the local NBC station, notes that McDonald’s spirit “is a pretty good ghost. So good he has earned a bump in rank.”

The firehouse’s captain remarked, “He has been promoted and now they call him The Captain.”

Sources

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The battlefield ghosts of Blue Licks–Kentucky

Blue Licks Battlefield State Resort Park
10299 Maysville Road
Carlisle 

Located on the Licking River, the Lower Blue Licks were a mineral spring and salt lick where immense herds of buffalo gathered before they were driven from the area. After the British surrender at Yorktown in 1781 ended fighting in the east, the British and loyal Native Americans continued fighting in the west, particularly in western Virginia, the area that is now West Virginia and Kentucky. After British troops under the leadership of Captain William Caldwell and a contingent of Native Americans unsuccessfully laid siege to the settlement of Bryan Station, on August 19, 1782 they attempted to lure a small militia led by Colonel John Todd (an ancestor of first lady, Mary Todd Lincoln) and famed frontiersman, Lt. Col. Daniel Boone.

The remains of a buffalo path at the Blue Licks Battlefield, 2009. Photo by Mason Brock, courtesy of Wikipedia.

Though the leaders of the patriot militia suspected they were being led into an ambush, Major Hugh McGary mounted his horse and stubbornly rode into the enemy trap. A 15-minute battle commenced killing Col. Todd and Lt. Col. Stephen Trigg and many of their men. Only Boone’s small force was left on the battlefield and, after he ordered a retreat, his son Israel was shot in the neck and killed. The death of Boone’s son and his defeat at Blue Licks would haunt him for the rest of his life.

During the 19th century, the springs attracted visitors wishing to take advantage of the mineral water found in the springs here. The Great Depression brought the construction of a Pioneer Museum here and lodge.

A monument at the Blue Licks Battlefield, 2010. Photo by SuzRstamps, courtesy of Wikipedia.

The multiple layers of a history here have left a varied group of ghosts throughout the park. Campers have encountered a mysterious black-clad woman who appears by campfires to warm her hands. Others have experienced Native American spirits and spectral British soldiers. The founder of the park’s museum was buried next to the building and is known to continue welcoming guests to his museum. Within the park’s lodge, the doors of the dining room are reported to open and close on their own accord.

Sources

  • Battle of Blue Licks. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Accessed 16 April 2018.
  • Morgan, Robert. Boone: A Biography. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books, 2008.
  • Ross, Denita. “Blue Licks Battlefield State Resort Park’s First Ever Paranormal Weekend.” Fantasma: Kentucky’s Magazine of the Paranormal. Fall 2006.
  • Starr, Patti. Ghosthunting Kentucky. Cincinnati, OH, Clerisy Press, 2010.
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Sipping with Spirits—Louisville, Kentucky

This article is the first in a series highlighting haunted bars throughout the South. 

META
425 West Chestnut Street
Louisville, Kentucky

The clump of three commercial structures on West Chestnut Street in downtown Louisville could not be more disparate; a delicate Beaux-Arts commercial building stands with an English Tudor structure with an unremarkable and squat building separating the two. The English Tudor building, which seems to be a transplanted British pub, is now occupied by META, one of Louisville’s best-known “upscale dive bars.” The unremarkable building in the middle appears to be occupied by a tattoo parlor, while the tallest building in the group is a strip club.

Opening on December 5 (Prohibition Repeal Day), 2013, META specializes in unique takes on classic cocktails in an atmosphere that hearkens towards sophistication and seediness. META’s location, two doors down from a strip club, and a former strip club, the Show-n-Tell Lounge, adds to the bar’s sense of seediness. According to Thrillist, the spirit of a former dancer remains in the building, perhaps reminding staff and patrons of the building’s darker past. The apparition of this young woman has been seen gliding through the back hallway and some staying late in the bar have reported an uneasy feeling permeating the air. The identity of this young woman is unknown.

In 1912, the Courier-Journal reported on a dinner held at Kerner’s restaurant at this address: “Two dozen adherents of the Prohibition party, half of them women,” met to organize the county’s first Prohibition organization. So, if you encounter a wraith at META, she may be down for a dance or upset at your imbibing.

Louisville Courier-Journal, 17 March 1934.

While I haven’t been able to determine when the building was constructed, there are many clues scattered in the pages of the local paper. A camera shop, Schuhmann’s Click Clinic, occupied the building in the last three decades of the 20th century; while an exterminating business operated here in the latter part of the 1930s. In 1934, a tailor’s shop at this site was the scene of a suicide when a man shot himself in the head in a wash room. Perhaps this poor gentleman’s spirit remains here?

Sources

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Belle of the Boos—Louisville, Kentucky

Belle of Louisville
401 West River Road
Louisville, Kentucky

After the ball is over, after the break of morn,
After the dancers leaving, after the stars are gone,
Many a heart is aching if you could read them all,
Many the hopes that have vanished after the ball.
–Charles K. Harris (1891), classic American Vaudeville song

On nights after the Belle of Louisville has pulled back into the 4th Street Dock and its passengers have disembarked; the ship’s crew has reported that things sometimes get weird. Shadows and apparitions have been seen; disembodied footsteps and voices have been heard all by crewmembers working after hours.

The Belle of Louisville on the Ohio River in the evening, 1972. Photo from the National Archives.

Built in 1914 in Pittsburg as the Idlewild, the Belle of Louisville has served for more than a century as a day packet, ferry, and excursion boat. For decades, the ship provided transportation and pleasure cruises for citizens up and down the Mighty Mississippi and other major rivers. Since the early 1960s, the ship has served the city of Louisville, its purchase and rechristening an attempt to reconnect the city to the river. The ship has been named a National Historic Landmark as one of the last remaining steamships of its type in the country.

Several sources note that the ship is not haunted, at least according to official sources. In 2013, the ship and its sister life-saving station, the Mayor Andrew Broaddus, were featured on an episode of SyFy’s Ghost Hunters. This first public excursion into the ship’s tragic history included a nod to one of the ship’s former captains, Ben Winters. The captain of the ship in the years following World War II, Winters was overseeing the ship when it was raided after authorities were tipped off about illegal slot machines aboard. Winters was struck with a heart attack as a result of the raid and passed away a short time later.

It is believed that Winters’ spirit may remain aboard the ship. One former employee reportedly saw a full apparition of Winters some years ago. While working alone in the ship’s office, the employee looked down to file some papers. When he glanced back up he was face to face with the late Captain Winters. For several seconds, the employee stared at the dead man overcome with a sense of fear before the spirit faded from view.

The Belle of Louisville on the Ohio River at dusk, 1972. Photo from the National Archives.

The episode also uncovered the sad story of “Floyd,” a crewmember allegedly sent to his death by Winters. Legend holds that Winters had a disagreement with a crewmember whom he sent to work on the ship’s paddlewheel. While the man worked, the captain ordered the ship’s boilers to be fired and to head out full steam ahead. The paddlewheel was engaged with the crewmember still on it. The poor man was mangled and drowned in the churning machinery. The spirit of this crewmember may be among the spirits that have not left the ship.

The Belle of Louisville, 2006. By Bo, courtesy of Wikipedia.

Author and tour guide Robert Parker had a terrifying experience while touring the Belle of Louisville on a cold night in September of 2003. After a short tour, Parker and his companion were allowed to explore the ship. The pair stepped into one room where they noticed an uncanny chill. As they began to leave, Parker spied a diamond ring almost hidden in the room’s paneling. He jokingly slid it on his finger and was overcome with a chill. Quickly, he removed the ring and returned it to its ledge in the paneling. Continuing out onto the deck of the ship, Parker and his companion again felt a serious chill near the ship’s calliope. After their experience, the pair learned that a crewmember had been stabbed to death in that area.

Beware, if you find yourself aboard the Belle of Louisville after the ball, you may encounters some of the specters that continue to lurk on the steamer.

Sources

  • Foster, Kevin J. Nomination Form for the National Register of Historic Places for Belle of Louisville. 10 April 1972.
  • Louisville Ghost Hunters Society. “Belle of Louisville,” in Jeff Belanger’s Encyclopedia of Haunted Places. Franklin Lakes, NJ: New Page Books, 2005.
  • Parker, Robert. Haunted Louisville. Alton, IL: Whitechapel Press, 2007.
  • “Season 9 Episode 5 Recap: ‘All Ghosts on Deck.’” SyFy. Accessed 16 April 2018.
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Eight-sided Spirits–Kentucky

N. B. This article has been expanded and revised 16 December 2019.

Octagon Hall
6040 Bowling Green Road
Franklin, Kentucky

As the birthplace of both Abraham Lincoln and his Confederate counterpart Jefferson Davis, Kentucky could be considered the birthplace of the American Civil War. Though, when its Southern neighbors began to secede from the Union, the state attempted to remain neutral. When the Confederate army invaded the state and occupied Columbus, Kentucky on the Mississippi River, all hell began to break loose. A Confederate shadow government was created to oppose the Unionist state government already in place and the state joined the Confederacy in December of 1861. The provisional capital at Bowling Green had to be evacuated the following year and some eight to ten thousand fleeing soldiers camped on the grounds of Andrew Caldwell’s estate with its unique eight-sided home outside of Franklin. The soldiers only camped on the estate overnight before heading into Tennessee.

Two days later, pursuing Union troops swept through the plantation and continued to frequently search the grounds for hidden Confederates while they held the area. Wounded soldiers, knowing of the Caldwell’s pro-Confederate leanings, sought out the house as a hiding place. A story told by the Caldwell family involves soldiers being hidden in the cupola that once topped the house. Mr. Caldwell kept bees in the cupola and Confederates would be dressed in bee suits and hidden there. When Union troops would search the house, the bees prevented them from searching the cupola

haunted Octagon Hall Franklin Kentucky ghosts
Octagon Hall, 2008, by Kentondickerson. Courtesy of Wikipedia.

 

Andrew Jackson Caldwell began construction on this unique plantation home in 1847 completing it in 1859. The home’s location: on the Nashville & Louisville Turnpike (now U. S. Route 31W) and the Louisville & Nashville Railroad (about a mile east of the road) made this home a landmark for travelers and locals alike. Throughout the home’s history it remained a private residence until 2001, when the Octagon Hall Foundation took over the house transforming it into a house museum.

A host of spirits remain at Octagon Hall. Some investigators have suggested that the building’s unusual shape and limestone bricks may exacerbate the hauntings. Keith Fournier, a paranormal investigator who investigated the house many times, told the Bowling Green Daily Times that the house is “probably one of the most haunted sites in the country. For its size…there’s more evidence caught in that location than for any other location oi its size in the country.”

haunted Octagon Hall Franklin Kentucky ghosts
Rear view of Octagon Hall, 2008, by Kentondickerson. Courtesy of Wikipedia.

One of the primary spectral residents is the spirit of Mary Elizabeth Caldwell, daughter of Octagon Hall’s builder. Young Mary was around seven years of age when she died in 1854. Legend purports that the child was playing in the kitchen when her dress caught fire. During some of his investigations, Fournier has heard the child weeping in the house accompanied by the deep male voice speaking in a Southern drawl.

The museum’s executive director had an experience with the child’s spirit only three or four weeks after his arrival. “We were doing renovations in the basement and I saw a little girl. I thought she was a tourist and I said, ‘can I help you?’’ When the child vanished, he stood there with his mouth agape. Many others have seen other spirits roaming the grounds including Confederate soldiers and shadow figures.

Sources

  • Episode 2. “Octagon Hall.” Most Terrifying Places in America, Season 7. Travel Channel. Originally aired 22 October 2010.
  • French, Jackson. “SyFy’s ‘Ghost Hunters’ to lead ghost hunt at Octagon Hall.” Bowling Green Daily News. 13 April 2018.
  • “History.” Octagon Hall Museum. Accessed 16 December 2019.
  • Kentucky in the American Civil War. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Accessed 13 December 2010.
  • Swietek, Wes. “Sites throughout the region full of ghostly lore.” Bowling Green Daily News. 10 October 2015.
  • Westmoreland-Doherty, Lisa. Kentucky Spirits Undistilled. Atglen, PA: Schiffer, 2009.