Unexplained Files

Unexplained: 10 Years Later

2011-10-31T18:30:00.000-04:00

10 years. Has it really been a decade since our first half-hour show aired on WJTV-12 in Jackson, Mississippi at 6:30pm?

Halloween 2001 seems like yesterday, and it yet seems so long ago. At the time, we were uncertain the special should even air. The terrorist attacks of September 11 were still very fresh in our minds. Stories and updates still poured in daily about the attacks. Nerves were raw and emotions were scattered. Was it really time to air stories about ghosts and death?

After some discussion, we all agreed viewers needed a distraction. Something non-news. Something local. Something...mysterious. "Unexplained: Haunts" offered that in the form of several paranormal investigations conducted in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama between 2000 and 2001. Darren Dedo, sporting a rather "Fox Mulder dark trenchcoat," hosted the show from Sloss Furnaces in Birmingham, Alabama. We taped the show's opening and closing along with several "bumps" for the individual investigations there.

The experience of putting the show together is still fresh in my mind. David Bunger, Christine Riddle, and others helped make the production amazing. David's creative eye and use of a jib helped make stunning video. We were also joined by Rob Ruffin who worked for the Birmingham FOX affiliate at the time but had been the photographer on many of our investigations.

From collaborating with Bob Hamblin on graphics and learning some of his amazing video editing techniques, to working with his son Paul on the jacket art of the VHS (I know, right? VHS was still king then), and to spending countless hours with our host Derren Dedo in haunted locations, researching, and writing scripts...working on Unexplained was more than just ghost hunts. It was a chance to study history, research forgotten documents, and speak with witnesses and other people who needed to share their stories...if only to not feel crazy about what that had witnessed. Unexplained was amazing broadcast television journalism for its time and today.

Recent paranormal shows go for the wow factor because they have to deliver ratings. We didn't have that pressure. Our vehicles of newcasts, the broadcast channel, and the web weren't going away. But that freedom never allowed us to deliver a dull story.

The shows and the monthly franchise reports proved that News, Production, Marketing and Interactive departments of a TV station could work together and produce amazing non-news features. Most of that was because of some amazingly talented people. I mentioned some folks previously but there are many, many more. All of them helped make Unexplained exceptional, including the franchise's second investigative reporter Dean McKnight (who passed away this year), and our final investigative reporter and host of Haunts II and III Jeff Rent.

In recognition of just how special, "Unexplained: Haunts" received a Southeast Regional Emmy for Outstanding Entertainment Program from the Atlanta Chapter of The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The award was given at the 27th Annual Southeastern Regional Emmy Awards on June 8th, 2002, at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Atlanta, GA.

"Unexplained" the franchise received two Mississippi Associated Press awards, the first in 2000 for Best Feature and the next in 2001 for Best Franchise.

"Unexplained: Haunts II" - which aired Halloween 2002 - received a Gold Award for Informational Program and Best of Show from the Mississippi Association of Broadcasters. The award was given at the annual convention of the Mississippi Association of Broadcasters in Biloxi, Mississippi, on June 28, 2003.

"Unexplained: Haunts III - The Anatomy of a Ghost Hunt" aired on Halloween 2003 and received a Gold Award while the franchise received a Silver award from the Mississippi Association of Broadcasters in 2004.

These accolades from our peers were very special, however, nothing can compare to the experiences of working with some wonderfully talented people (many I remain in touch with today), telling some amazing multimedia stories, meeting some fascinating people, and hearing how viewers til this day still remember our stories. That's the reason for this website: to keep these stories alive and accessible although in some cases the people sharing the stories have passed away.

That's one reason I loved documentary video production. We get to capture history for others to enjoy and from which to learn and share.

My first goal is to get more high-quality video of our stories onto this site. Sadly, the video is in a format that I cannot easily or affordably get transferred to a digital format. But when I can, you'll be able to enjoy these stories so much better than their encoding from 10 years ago which was designed for 44.4 modems. It's amazing how the web and technology have changed just in a decade.

Eventually, our team would love to unite for another paranormal production or even take a stab at sharing with you new stories made with the formula that no one else can master.

Unexplained may yet return. Stay tuned...

Cario's Deadly Secret

2003-11-26T23:00:00.016-05:00

Written by: Jeff Rent
Case Filed: 11/26/03 - Vicksburg, Mississippi
Executive Producer: Rick Garner

One of the highlights of any trip to the Vicksburg National Military Park is a chance to explore the legendary ironclad Cairo. Commissioned in 1862, the Cairo was a state-of-the-art warship.

Cairo Museum Curator Elizabeth Joyner says, "She could float in as little as six feet of water."

Sent south to help with the siege against Vicksburg by Union troops, the Cairo met a quick demise while on patrol in the Yazoo River.

Joyner continues, "She was sunk at approximately 12 noon on December 12th, 1862. And she was on a special mission traveling with a full flotilla of vessels to find torpedoes, or mines as we could call them today, that had been planted in the water by the Confederates. And she was going to destroy them."

But it was those very mines which ended the short life of the Cairo.

Vicksburg National Military Park Ranger Robbie Smith says, "It was hit twice. Once on the port bow and that is the hit that was given credit for really sinking the boat." Joyner adds, "And it knocked a large gaping hole to the side of her port bow section and dislodged her number one gun. She went down in about 12 minutes."

Amazingly, none of the crew died but the ship was lost for nearly a hundred years until being discovered at the bottom of the Yazoo River in 1956. It would be more than 20 years before the Cairo would arrive at it's final resting place: the Vicksburg National Military Park.

The display contains as much of the original ship as could be salvaged, including the original boilers, some of its iron skin and many of the ships cannons.

Despite the fact that the Cairo has been in Vicksburg for nearly 30 years, nobody had ever answered, let alone ask, the question: are the Cairo's guns still loaded? A few weeks ago, that question was asked by Joyner.

"I came across information...it said that some of them had been loaded when they were brought up. It didn't make any mention that these particular ones had been unloaded, and I thought, 'Well, ' need to check this out.' "

So, Joyner assembled a small crew and began the task of looking down the bore of each gun with a powerful flashlight.

Smith says, "Sure enough, we were able to see two whole shells and one partial shell in the bore of those pieces."

Joyner says she was "shocked a little" and that the find was "kind of scary."

The guns in question were located on the bow (front) and starboard (right) side of the Cairo. After the discovery, Joyner called in explosives experts from Camp Shelby. They brought a portable x-ray machine to look inside the guns.

Joyner says, "It just wasn't strong enough to really penetrate the full skin of the tube. But they were able to determine that at least one of them is not a threat." Joyner and her staff say there's no immediate threat to visitors, and this discovery only adds to the legend of the Cairo.

Smith says the loaded cannons proves that the Cairo was ready for battle. "She is still commissioned a United States Ship Cairo. She's still prepared and ready for action today because of that. She's been this way for 140 years. The fact that we realized it makes it no more dangerous than setting sedentary for 140 years."

Officials with the military park will next turn to the Navy in hopes of determining whether the remaining two guns pose any threat. Joyner says visitors should not worry, that the loaded guns are not within reach of visitors.

Additional Resources:

USS Cairo at Vicksburg National Military Park

Specifics about USS Cairo

Historical images of USS Cairo

Highly detailed model of USS Cairo

Field Reports from Loyd Hall Plantation - Cheneyville, Louisiana

2003-10-31T09:51:00.011-05:00

Written by: Rick Garner
Case Filed: 10/31/03 - Cheneyville, Louisiana
Executive Producer: Rick Garner

Day 1
2:00pm - Our team arrives at Loyd Hall. Kriss Stephens, our paranormal investigator is to join us around 5pm. We each secure a room for the evening. Most of the rooms are located on the outside of the main house. One room in the main house is available to guests and I have assigned that to Kriss.

Jeff Rent is assign to Room 4, the Commissary, which I have been heard accounts of a guest being "kicked" in the back from beneath the bed while they slept. This "old store" building is original to the plantation is has been completely renovated.

Rob Ruffin, our photographer, is assigned to Room 2, the Magnolia Suite. Once the original kitchen to the plantation, this building has been split into the two rooms. I have Room 3, the Camellia Suite. Guests in Room 2 have been awaken to a wardrobe door opening and closing to the point one of the doors flew off its hinges.

David Bunger, our Production Director, gets Room 5 - Minda's House. This room along with Room 6, the McCullough House (King Suite), are not original buildings and have no paranormal accounts.

9pm - After spending the afternoon conducting interviews, planning the evening and shoots for the next day, and eating dinner, our investigation begins. First, we conduct a "walk-through" with all the house lights on. More for the benefit of collecting usable footage for Unexplained: Haunts III production, this walk-through allows for us to determine if any areas are hot spots.

10pm - We've walked the house and the grounds with only minimal results. One orb is spotted on the second floor balcony and Kriss captures evidence of a "shy" ghost outside on the grounds. Orbs are detected in one shot, then nothing, then appear in another completely different location and not the following shots.

11pm - By this time, an unexpected creaking noise surprises everyone in our "staging area" at the rear of the first floor. The noise was louder than the usual creaking of the wood which is made in the doorway between the "staging area" and the first floor hall. This noise was not made by any team member. We begin turning off all lights and proceed to collect pictures throughout the house.

11:45pm - Knowing the accounts of one of the two third floor attic doors opening on their own, Rob and I have gone to check on them and to secure them both closed. After closing the one door closest to the staircase, Jeff Rent joins us to indicate he had closed that door not long before us. The other door was impossible for any of us to close and he agreed that was his experience. However, this door he noted as an ease to close and found it odd that the latch knob faced up. Rob had found the door open and closed it with some effort. Jeff found it rather difficult to reopen and close the door. We all knew no one else had been upstairs during that time. There was no explanation for the door being opened.

12am - We've been camped out in the second floor room where Kriss is staying the night. This is the one room guests can rent inside the main house. It's here that we've found major paranormal activity. Rob reports more than once a heavy pressure sensation on his chest. This feeling takes his breath away.

We are rolling multiple cameras and taking digital pictures of clouds of orbs that seem to coincide with a perfume smell. Whereas the other team members are smelling the aroma strong and frequent, I only smell it distinctly once and the remaining times are light waftings. However, the smell is moving from room to room and never in the same place. No team members have any strong deodorants and no one is wearing cologne or perfume. One could assume the fragrance is inherit to the room or rooms, but the smell is fluttering in the air like a young woman dashing about trailing her fragrance. The aroma is similar to cloe and is rather floral and powdery.

Although a mirror is in the corner of the room, the phenomena seems to reside in that area. Although a camera could be positioned for the same shot, one moment might contain clouds of orbs, while the next few pictures would show that cloud trickling to one or none.

1:20am - All team members hear what is perceived as furniture moving downstairs. Rushing to investigate, we can locate nothing out of the ordinary.

1:45am - Although team members have attempted to gather other evidence in the house, we are yielding few results. The activity seems concentrated or elusive. Kriss thinks something in the kitchen "doesn't like her." This could be true as this is where the slave nanny has been spotted and pans have been heard rattling on multiple occasions.

2:30am - After returning to the upstairs room, we continue to get more activity before it departs somewhere before 3am. We retired for the evening in our own rooms closer to 4am.

No one experienced any unusual happenings.

Day 2
Focused on collecting interviews and other production elements, our second day at Loyd Hall progresses quickly. We each retain our rooms and the main house room had already been secured by another overnight guest, otherwise I certainly would have assigned Jeff Rent to it.

My conclusions of Loyd Hall are that this property has immense energies pulsating through the land. Nothing in the home caused me fear and I've never experienced any location that has left that impression on me. Perhaps these energies are Native American in nature. There's a great deal of history relating to this plantation. And like many others, the people who know the home best seem to feel comfortable with their unseen guests. After all, this is not the first time that workers or owners have said that they feel their home is being "looked after" by their ghosts.

Our second night of sleep is also undisturbed. Maybe the ghosts knew we were quite exhausted both nights and let us be.

Loyd Hall remains an open "Unexplained" file.

Additional Resources:

Loyd Hall Plantation

Kriss Stephen's Website

Loyd Hall Remains A Family Home - Page 1

Loyd Hall Remains A Family Home - Page 2

Meet the Ghosts at Loyd Hall - Page 1

Meet the Ghosts at Loyd Hall - Page 2

Juson: Search for Gold

2003-10-30T14:43:00.000-05:00

Written by: Jeff Rent
Case Filed: 10/30/03 - Hickory, Mississippi
Executive Producer: Rick Garner

"I guess the story I remember most is the story about the treasure that was supposed to have been dumped in (Lake Juson)," Hickory resident Johnnny Burkes recalls.

Local historian Melvin Tingle says, "One of the rumors is that (Pierre Juson) stored the gold there, you know, for safety and nobody's ever found it."

The dark legend surrounding Pierre Juson and his namesake lake in Hickory, Mississippi, is well known to many people in Newton County. Tingle says, "People were sort of superstitious of it, because of the legend that had been handed down as the travelers going up the Jackson Road. People killed, heads chopped off, pitched in the lake. (Juson) collected the gold."

So, the Unexplained investigative team wanted to separate fact from fiction and look in Lake Juson for that hidden blood money. "If you miss it by two inches or you miss it by two miles...you still missed it," says Ronbert Wade of Adventure Divers. "You have to be very deliberate in your search pattern and you have to be very thorough."

This idea isn't unique to the Unexplained team. Burkes recalls, "They tried to send divers down to see if they could find the gold, but it was so deep when they did get to the bottom that they would bog up over their heads in mud and leaves at the bottom...that they couldn't do anything. Two different times they tried to pump this out and they had problems. I have heard they couldn't pump it out, because of underground streams coming out from the creek."

"We're gonna have a lift bag with us," says Wade. "If we do, indeed, find something...do not surface, because you may never find it again. Go ahead and tie off on it, put some air in that lift bag and let that lift bag come to the surface and we'll have a marker on it."

From the moment the divers hit the water, Lake Juson proves to be reluctant to give up any secrets. Adventure Diver Gary Young describes conditions as, "Very dark! Very dark. About a foot of visibility.Your mind can play funny tricks on you down there."

The dive continues as the search crew works in a grid pattern careful not to search areas in which they've already looked. The searchers say conditions at the bottom of Lake Juson made this mission extremely difficult. Wade says, "The bottom is, basically, I reached down as far as I could and never touched a solid bottom. there 's mud and silt and leaf debris about (four feet) deep in there."

"Well, we didn't find anything, but we've got plenty of memories."

Which means the sunken gold could still be at the bottom of this murky lake, buried in that silt and debris. And as long as the legend exists, people will still be drawn to the story of Pierre Juson and this small body of water. Tingle chuckles, "I'm still looking for the gold."

Our thanks to Robert Wade and Gary Young for their assistance in this investigation. If you're interested in scuba training or other exciting underwater training visit the Adventure Divers & Watersports website.

Return to Part 1: Lake of Gold

Additional Resources:

Juson: Lake of Gold

2003-10-29T14:14:00.011-05:00

Written by: Jeff Rent
Case Filed: 10/29/03 - Hickory, Mississippi
Executive Producer: Rick Garner

In rural Newton County, near the small town of Hickory, sits a small lake with a big history - Lake Juson (Jew-zon). Barely an acre in size, tales and lore surrounding Lake Juson run as deep as its cool water. Murder, stolen gold, and insanity. All attributed to the lake's namesake, Pierre Juson, an early French settler.

"He was quite a guy," says local historian Melvin Tingle. "I think Pierre came up here about 1810, the best that we can figure, and established his trading post at Chunky Chitto trading town. He was one of the first white settlers to Newton County."

Juson set up a trading post just off the military highway which ran past the lake. For years, Juson traded with settlers but it was the Choctaw Indians he identified with best.

Tingle says, "He could speak French, he could English, he was fluent in Choctaw. He married a princess. You know that everybody that married an Indian, married a princess, but he did. He married the niece of Pushmataha, who was a famous Choctaw Indian chief."

Juson would even lead a band of Choctaw Indians in the battle of New Orleans alongside Andrew Jackson, where Juson is credited with giving us the everyday word of "okay."

"He said, 'Pierre, how goes it?' and he says okay. That's where the word "okay," if you look and it goes back the origin of it is Andrew Jackson, gives credit for the word okay coming from the Choctaw word "okey." So, hey, Pierre, done a lot for us!"

These stories alone make Juson an interesting historical figure. However, residents of Newton County say there's much more to the tale of Peirre Juson.
"Where the real thing gets creepy is in his later years, prior to leaving here in 1840, they said he went crazy."

"I guess the story I remember the most is the story about the treasure that was supposed to have been dumped in here." Johnny Burkes lives right next to Lake Juson and he owns the property where the trading post was likely located and for decades he's been hearing tales about the dark side of Pierre Juson.

"I understand that he would trade with the trappers and beat the trappers out of what money they had gotten for their furs. And I have even heard that he robbed some of them, and killed them, and thrown them into this lake. The story on the gold is one of the stage coaches was coming through here and he robbed the stage coach of gold shipments."

That's when legend says law enforcement came looking for Juson.

"He took the gold and paddled out in this lake and dropped it in the bottom of the lake."

From there, some stories say Juson was caught and hung for his crimes. Although, Tingle says that's probably not the case and that Juson actually moved to Tennessee and was buried along the Tom Bigbee River.

Many believe Juson is still at home along the lake. Tingle adds, "I know some friends of mine who coon hunt. They won't go around there. They say that on a moonlight night, hunting around that lake...you see shadows that's uncalled for. You see movement."

"There were some ghost stories told here that Old Man Juson had come back and walk around the lake in a ghost form. That was later on. I never seen him."

But what we do know is that the gold has never been found, despite many attempts to locate it.

Continue to Part 2: Search for Gold

Additional Resources:

Adventure Divers & Watersports

Field Reports from the Yazoo River

2003-06-26T23:00:00.031-04:00

Written by: Jeff Rent
Case Filed: 6/26/03 - Satartia, Mississippi
Executive Producer: Rick Garner

On the edge of the Mississippi Delta sits the quiet town of Satartia. Its most dominant feature is the Yazoo River, which runs through this small community of less than a hundred residents. However, two separate encounters, decades ago, cast a dark shadow on this small river town. Events that many of the people who live here may not be aware ever happened.

"You could see this yellow-green, bubbling water out there and you could. We started to hear moaning and stuff and we left." Texas ghost hunter and original Unexplained contributor Janice Raley says she was directed to this spot by an old farmer who recounted a similar experience from years before. Even the farmer was afraid of this place. "He showed me from the road. He wouldn't come down here even though he worked the land."

Raley says the experience was coupled with the smell of rotting flesh, an overwhelming sense of panic and a voice inside her head telling her it was time to leave. "It was truly terrifying."

Raley swore never to return, until she was convinced rather reluctantly by the Unexplained team to relive her encounter. "I honestly didn't think I'd come back here and...here we are."

I asked her of all of her investigations, if any other place ever had such an effect on her. "No! Not that. There's really not another place I can think of that I said that I would not come back to."

Raley, along with the Unexplained investigative team is back to gather evidence of any paranormal activity. Almost as soon as we arrive, we began having equipment problems. Janis begins loses battery power on her Sony Mavica digital camera after only a few shots. We placed a Trifield meter near the area in which we were working. A trifield meter measures the electromagnetic frequency in the space around it. Some investigators believe it can detect the presence of spirits, which are indicated by a change in an audible tone. It immediately began chattering erratically. Janis confirmed that she had never heard a meter sound like that.

Before long, we started to see things as well. I was watching lightning bugs over the river when I noticed two or three red flickers. Janis confirms my sighting, "Okay, I saw the red one. It looks like the back of a camera. I mean, the red light on the instrument."

Lightning bugs clearly do not produce a bright red flashing light. And what could have been generating that over the Yazoo River?

Then, minutes, later there was something behind us. As I attempted to describe the figure, my microphone went dead. Coincidence? Perhaps. Everyone else were looking in the direction of the river. I was studying the area behind the group, deeper into the cornfield, because I had the sensation that something was watching us. Not that a huge corn field, next to a huge river in the middle of night would produce such an impression!

After watching for about five minutes, I saw a mist that was rather upright. It wasn't like a wide, broad area of mist or fog. It went across the path we came up, moving right to left and then went into the corn.

Three weeks later with a full moon, the team returned without Janis to gather more evidence. For the second time, we encountered equipment problems. Photographer Drew Foster's audio board on his news camera was damaged beyond repair. This second night of investigation also yielded some compelling visual evidence.

JANIS RALEY RECALLS HER TERRIFYING EXPERIENCE

ECTO FORMING

FIELD OF ECTO

NOT A BUG

ORBS

ORBS IN 28-DEGREE AIR POCKET

ORBS AND ECTO FORMING

MULTIPLE ORBS

LARGE ORBS

ORBS CAN BE BLUE

SEA OF ORBS

ORB OVER JEFF'S SHOULDER

Orbs are considered by paranormal investigators to be visual evidence of spirit activity. Orb images collected at this location varied in size, color, and intensity. The variety of which we've never encountered in one investigation. We've determined they're not bugs. One excellent photo has two orbs clearly present with a flying insect.

One picture piqued our interest more than any others, a shadowy figure perched at the top of some trees. It was a clear night and there isn't anything behind the tree upon which a shadow could be cast. Is it a ghostly figure? It closely resembles the misty figure I witnessed just weeks before. Maybe we'll never know, but what we do know is this place scared one ghost hunter so badly it took her three decades to return.

Although our encounters weren't as traumatic they were convincing nonetheless. With or without our presence, the corn will continue to grow and the river will roll in the place we now call "the gates of hell."

Ghost hunter Janice Raley says she's not sure what happened at this location. However, the man who led her to this spot told her it was related to the Native Americans who originally lived in the area.

Yazoo River Facts

The River was given its name by the French Explorer, La Salle, in 1682 when the found a small Indian tribe with that name living near its mouth.
It is the second longest tributary of the Mississippi flowing into it from the east. Only the Ohio is larger.

The first electrically detonated underwater mine was invented and used by Confederates on the Yazoo River in 1862 near Vicksburg to sink the Federal ironclad USS Cairo. A second, non-electrical mine, sank its sister ship, the USS Baron DeKalb near Yazoo City in 1863. Its hull is still visible during low water.
There are 29 sunken ships from the War Between the States beneath the Yazoo River.

Mississippi has 15 river ports, Yazoo City being one of them.
The River was the cause of Yazoo City's founding, and was its lifeline to the outside world for its first 50 years.

The Name

Yazoo (a strange, exotic sound) Yachou, Yakou, Yasoux, Yason, Yasoons, Illasus. Then there was Oalsees, Yahaas, Yassa, Yasoves, Yasus. The word became slightly distorted with the "S" sound becoming a "Z".

What does it mean: River of Death, Leaf, Hunting Ground, To Blow on an Instrument The meaning is actually unknown. Attempts to give it meaning all evolved when European settlers tried to fit the strange sounding word into the patterns of the language of the Choctaws. The Choctaws had a village in eastern Mississippi named Yazoo. According to linguists who have studied the language patterns of the Choctaws, it was a word remaining from the Yazoo Indians' language, which like the tribe itself, was entirely separate from the Choctaws.

There is one legend that Yazoo means "death" because the French, who named the river witnessed scored of Indians, defeated in battle but refusing to surrender, march into the river to their deaths.

Another surmise is that it is from the Choctaw for "hunting ground". Yashu means "to go", and owa meaning "hunt", but no one really knows.

Field Reports from Broadcountry Cinema 3 - Magee, Mississippi

2003-05-23T23:00:00.021-04:00

Written by: Jeff Rent
Case Filed: 5/23/03 - Magee, Mississippi
Executive Producer: Rick Garner

The Broadcountry Cinema 3 in Magee sits just off of Highway 49. By "Unexplained" standards, this 18-year-old building is practically brand new. Dozens of reports of paranormal phenomenon have caught the attention of "Unexplained" investigators and we decided to check it out for ourselves.

These strange happenings started when the building was still under construction. Owner Butch McCall was showing a friend around. "He gets this funny sound in his voice and he's like, 'Man, this place is haunted.' I'm like, 'Well, it can't be haunted! It's not built yet!'"

Nearly a decade later, McCall and his employees had their first paranormal encounter with the woman they call the Lady in Red. Oddly enough, the Lady in Red is associated with the red room, one of three auditoriums. Nobody is quite sure who she is or where she's come. However, several people have seen her.

McCall describes her as having long black-brown hair and wearing a long, red dress - clearly a period dress. "She always seems to be heading in the direction of what we refer to as the red auditorium or the middle-sized auditorium."

Projectionist Chuck McLain says, "I noticed someone going in the red auditorium. I thought to myself, 'Well we're not showing anything in there.' I was going to stop the person, and I looked up and they were gone."

McCall has also spotted her in the projection room, but a few encounters have taken place outside the red room and the projection room. One such incident occurred in the theater's lobby.

Theater worker Florence Ware says, "I had some concessions to put up. So, I was at this little door down here and this cup hit the floor. The first thing I thought about was everybody talking about the ghost!"

McLain recalls, "I heard someone say 'Hey!' Again, there was nobody in here but me."

An interesting thing to point out is the employees don't mention their ghost much. Yet they continue to get independent confirmation from workers about the Lady in Red.

McCall says visitors with no prior knowledge of the cinema's ghost ask him if anyone has ever informed him or if he knows that his theater is haunted. "So, then we open up. It's like, welcome to the club. You've seen her!"

So, "Unexplained" investigators decided to look for evidence of the Lady in Red. The focus was on the areas with the most sightings: the red room and the projection room. We started by taking digital pictures, looking for orbs, which ghost hunters believe are visual proof of spirits.

The picture below was taken on the stairs leading to the projection room. Two orbs are clearly visible:

The most compelling pictures were taken in the red room:

These pictures contain some the largest orbs ever captured by "Unexplained" investigators. We know it's not debris on the lens or other anomalies, because these large orbs are in different locations in these pictures.Also, used in our investigation was a Tri-field meter, also called a ghost detector. This device measures the electromagnetic frequency several feet around it. A steady, constant tone indicates no change in the field. Yet, in the blue theater, the meter's tone fluctuates while the room was empty.

Although, this might not be definitive proof of a ghostly presence, the visual and audio evidence is compelling. The workers at this cinema, however, don't need this evidence. They know the Lady in Red is here, and she's probably sticking around.

Ware says, "I had never really believed in ghosts till all this. There's something." McCall thinks, "She just likes sashaying around here."

Watch Butch McCall Full Interview

Watch Chuck McClain Full Interview

Watch Florence Ware Full Interview

Hidden Secrets

2003-05-16T23:00:00.018-04:00

Written by: Jeff Rent
Case Filed: 5/16/03 - Edwards, Mississippi
Executive Producer: Rick Garner

Tucked behind 200-year-old magnolia trees lies the Yeiser House. Built in 1832, it's a house full of history going back to the Civil War. The story and events at this house actually started several hundred yards down the road on May 16, 1863, during the Battle for Champion's Hill and a little known Brigadier General Lloyd Tilghman who was shot.

Historian DeAnna Thompson-Blailock says, "If it was a sniper, (he was wounded) in the throat. And due to the blood pattern where he bled to death in the Yeiser house, it would seem like a sniper shot because of the blood pattern on the floor."

After being shot, General Tilghman was taken to the Yeiser, which was being used as a field hospital. There, in one corner of a front bedroom, Tilghman bled to death.

Some accounts say past residents even tried to paint over the bloodstain, but it kept reappearing. Blood from one of the Civil War's most violent battles. Many historians consider the Battle of Champion's Hill to be not only the decisive engagement of the Vicksburg Campaign but one of the most important battles in the Civil War.

We wanted to know more about this old plantation, so we enlisted the help of two different psychics and asked them to give us their impressions of the Yeiser house. Neither psychic was told anything about the location or its history which occurred there.

Our first psychic is Tina Michelle from West Virginia. She notices something outside the room where the general died. She describes an older man that had been dishonored and will not leave the outside of the house., near a window.

Inside the impressions are stronger. Tina is told by a voice that we cannot hear to, "Get out of my house."

Tina Michelle Investigation

Our next psychic is Lysa Mateu from California. Mateu determines that the home has many secrets, that things are not as old as they seem, and people are missing. She sees in her mind bones, not grisly, however. This would make sense as the Yeiser's property would likely have a limb pit, where limbs removed from surgery would have been buried.

Lysa Mateu's Investigation

Our psychics concluded this wasn't what they would call a traditional haunting, but the impressions they got would certainly allow us to file the Yeiser house under the unexplained.

Although accounts differ, some historians believe that General Grant following his victory at Champion's Hill spent the night in the room where Brigadier General Tilghman died.

Historical Facts on Yeiser (Hiawatha Plantation)
thanks to Rebecca Drake

Hiawatha is now owned by Mr. and Mrs. C.C. Floyd of Edwards and has been placed on the National Register for Historic Places. The house was once a part of a large plantation originally bought by Isham Palmer in 1827. The land was in his possession for twenty years, so it is presumed that Hiawatha was built at some point during that time. During the War Between the States, Mr. Charles Allen, who maintained possession until 1869, owned the plantation. After the Battle of Champion Hill, the homes served as a hospital for wounded Confederate soldiers.

A letter, written by Elizabeth (Bettye) Gervin Ray, whose family once occupied the neighboring Coker House briefly mentions Hiawatha: "Someone wrote a piece for the Campe Chase Gazette claiming the Coker House is the only existing Civil War structure in the area. No way! The Floyd's plantation - Hiawatha - is far older than and was already an established plantation when Mr. Coker built 'Greenwood' for his wife. The front bedroom in Hiawatha - the one to the left as you go in - is probably the one Grant slept in after the battle, as it was always the fancy room of the 'great room'. My mama was petrified of that room and would never enter it after dark! She was scared of the bloodstains on the floor."

In 1869, four years after the war, the property was sold to Mr. Smith and Mr. Yeiser. Some people in Edwards still refer to the home as "The Yeiser House," because it was in their possession for twenty-one years. Mr. A.J. Lewis, a citizen of Edwards and the first millionaire of Hinds County, purchased the plantation in 1890.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

Tina Michelle's Official Site

Tina Michelle's Field Reports of Yeiser House

Lysa Mateu's Official Site

Tina Michelle Interview

Lysa Mateu Interview

Ghost on Tape?

Field Reports from Baldwin House - Vicksburg, Mississippi

2003-04-23T23:00:00.006-04:00

Written by: Jeff Rent
Case Filed: 4/23/2003 - Vicksburg, Mississippi
Executive Producer: Rick Garner

Have you ever wondered when buying a home do you pick the house or is it possible the house picks you? For transplanted Californians Bruce Baldwin and his wife, Marion, the question doesn't have an easy answer. Their house and restaurant at the intersection of Crawford and Adams Streets is a turn-of-the-century Victorian - practically new by Vicksburg standards. From the moment they stepped inside the dwelling, they knew it was a unique home.

"When we first came out here just to view it, my wife felt something like brush up against her head."

"I thought it was a pigeon or a bird or something," recalls Marion. "It pushed my hair and scared me. There were no birds in the house."

For most people an encounter such as this might scare them into leaving and not coming back. Not the Baldwins. You see, Bruce is a paranormal investigator, possessing psychic abilities. You may remember him from a previous "Unexplained" investigation at the Priestly House in Canton. Bruce says they live with about seven spirits, many of which they've seen and heard.

"On the stair case over here we would see these long flowing skirts with a black, with a kind of white trim down on the bottom coming down the stairs every once in a while. And later we learned about Aunt Gertrude. Well, we figured that was probably Aunt Gertrude coming down here."

Marion recalls, "One fellow was, I don't want to say in a black shroud, but in a black suit with a hat. I've seen him on the stair case more than once."

"We'll be sitting in here and in that room which is the bedroom we'll hear like murmuring. Just mumbling...murmuring...and it'll get louder and then we'll go in there and it will stop."

"The voices, the mumbling sounds that I hear at night, that wakes me up...I've gotten used to (them) now."

Baldwin says they've named at least three of their resident spirits. All of which they claim are non-threatening and in some cases polite. "I started to go out the back door and I reached down for the knob...and the knob turned by itself and the door opened."

And it's these claims of sightings and encounters which has led the "Unexplained" investigative team, assisted by Bruce, to see if we could collect any evidence of paranormal activity. We first set up a camera in the back room of the house. I took the first watch followed by Executive Producer Rick Garner. Nothing noteworthy happened while either of us were in the room, and after reviewing the tape we decided no conclusive evidence could be found due to the room being over a very busy kitchen.

Baldwin also walked through the house trying to collect Electronic Voice Phenomenon (EVP), which paranormal investigators believe are the recorded voices of ghosts. The tape contained one intriguing sound or voice, but we couldn't tell what it said. It actually sounded like it was spoken backwards, so we played it in reverse. It sounds like a voice saying "Hey, have a nice day."

The Baldwins also have a small collection of photos containing what appears to be ectoplasm. Like orbs, some investigators believe this is photographic evidence of spirit activity.

This is an image not shown in our piece, which Marion claims she took in Vicksburg. She was taking pictures of homes across the street. This picture was in her stack of pictures. The Baldwins claim that no statue or person was visible that could have produced this image:

For the Baldwins, this evidence only adds to the charm of their business and new life in Vicksburg. "Always wanted a haunted house...and I ended up getting one. It's just great!" If you would like to visit the Baldwin House Restaurant, you can contact them at 601-638-8130

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Watch Bruce Baldwin Full Interview

Watch Marion Baldwin Full Interview

Bruce's Journal
1022 Crawford Street
Vicksburg, MS

(We flew out to see the house)
6-13-98 approx 10:00am
I felt a slight presence but it only lasted momentarily.

6-14-98 Early PM
Marion felt something brush up against her hair and she heard what she thought was a bird but nothing was there. She also took some pictures and when they were developed, there was ectoplasm in one shot and a woman's head in another.
(Back to Calif. To see our house)

8-20-98 Mid-afternoon
We are busy working on the house. We have electricians doing some wiring and they don't want to go under the house because there are noises in the walls. They say it sounds like rattles. They finished the wiring.

8-27-98 Midday & afternoon
We both heard very loud footsteps upstairs - nobody was there. Marion also heard bells (not the bells from the church down the street but bells you might use to call servants)

8-28-98 Late afternoon
Marion came over and said something was on her back and would I get it off - there was nothing there.

8-29-98
I have been noticing what appear to be lights flickering for the last couple of days. Today, some were almost like sparks. Marion and I have both been feeling presences from time to time.

9-1-98 Late afternoon
I seem to be catching a glimpse of something on the staircase (out of the corner of my eye). This is happening more often now. Marion was in the kitchen and heard what she thought was a woman weeping. It was loud enough for out door to come running in to check it out.

9-4-98 1:30 am
Marion woke up to the sound of a thump. She woke me and I went through the house to see what I could find. There was a sound like large critters scurrying around everywhere. There was a heavy presence in the whole house but I got no impressions. I back to bed and all was quiet the rest of the night.

9-5-98 6am
Marion and I both woke up at 6am and heard someone talking. Marion got up to see if the radio in the other room had come on - it had not. She checked to see if it was the neighbor or some one on the street - nobody. She no longer heard the talking until she came back in the bedroom, which was the only place it could be heard.

9-9-98 10:30 pm
I felt heavy presence that seemed to be following me around

9-10-98 12:30 am
We both heard the voices again. This time it sounded to me like only a man's voice. Also I got up to go to the bathroom and there was an animal upstairs. It was black and looked like a cat but had no tail. It had kind of a long heavy looking head. (It was dark though). After 8am we heard crashing noises downstairs twice. Both times we found nothing.

9-11-98 12:45pm
A friend of ours was over for coffee and we were sitting at the upstairs table. Where he was sitting, he had a view of the stairs. He was telling a story and he used profanity. He suddenly covered his mouth and started to apologize to someone coming up the stairs - no one was there.

10-5-98 Mid-afternoon
I was working in the attic when I heard footsteps run up the stairs and then right back down. They sounded like a small person or a child. By the time I could get down from the attic and check, no one was in the house.

10-16-98 2:15 am
I got up to go to the bathroom and felt a very strong presence in the whole 2nd floor of the house. Earlier in the evening, a sheet of plywood that was leaning against the wall came crashing down and Marion heard someone in the other room. When I checked, no one was there.

10-19-98 7:00 pm
Our dog went to the upstairs door and started to bark at something downstairs. I went down to check it out. No one was there. When I got back upstairs a friend of ours who is staying here said he heard something on the stairs, too.

10-22-98 7:30 pm
Marion went downstairs and she heard the same bird sound she heard on 6-14-98. No birds were there.

10-25-98
Last night I felt a very strong presence in the house and I sensed that someone was sitting in my chair as if to say, "What are you going to do about it?"

10-27-98 9:00pm
I was going downstairs to get some ice cream (for now our main refrigerator is downstairs). As I started down I felt a presence. Right away, I got a sense that it was saying, "Oh, it's you." Then, I got a feeling of meeting an old friend - and I was happy. Later that night, as I was going to bed, my back got icy cold - the front was warm. I told Marion to come and feel it but it was too late. Early the next morning, my dog was growling at something in the Grand Room - nothing was there.

10-28-98
Our friend Larry from Calif. Said that he had more than once felt the house moving slowly back and forth.

11-5-98
My wife had gone to the store and I was watching TV. The dog stood up and looked toward the door that leads to the stairs. When I opened the door, I got a glimpse of what I thought was Marion. I said, "I bet you have a lot of groceries to bring up." No one was there.

1-14-99
My dog has been acting very strange and nervous all night for no apparent reason.

1-15-99
I felt a presence today. I told my wife about it. The dog acted strange again tonight and I felt a very strong presence a couple of times.

1-16 thru 1-20-99
I keep feeling a presence but can't get a sense of who it is. My dog is still acting strange at night.

1-21-99 4:00 pm
My dog is acting strange, again. It is the first time this has happened in the daytime.

4-24-199 5pm & 5:45pm
We are just about to complete our kitchen and this afternoon I felt a pretty strong presence in the kitchen. It is about 6:15 and I just felt a weak presence upstairs. Our friend, Larry, said that yesterday he kept hearing something downstairs but every time he checked it out he found nothing.

4-29-99 evening
I haven't felt anything today but I would swear someone called my name (male voice). However, the radio was on and it could have been anything. All week until today I have been feeling them, though, upstairs and outside. My poor dog has been acting weird at night.

5-9-99
I am still feeling the presence almost everyday.

5-10-99
We got some pictures of the house back today. One of them appears to have ectoplasm in it.

9-7-99
There have been sightings out of the corner of our eyes, some sounds of what appear to be footsteps and other strange sounds and the dog acts weird from time to time. This has been going on now since my last entry but tonight a friend of ours (Bob) who is staying in the back bedroom has been hearing strange sounds in the wall. He says it sounds like debris or something falling down the wall. I placed my hand on the wall and felt something but it wasn't very strong. I think it was just what is normally in the wall.

10-10-99
For the last 4 or 5 days, my dog w3ould not come down the stairs. She would bark for one of us to come and get her. She seemed to be afraid of the stair's landing where the spirit has been glimpsed. I thought it was just my imagination, because it has been so quiet around here, but that changed about 6pm this evening. I was walking toward the backdoor to go outside when the damn doorknob turned and the door opened. It only open a couple of inches and I probably would have assumed it has not been shut properly if I hadn't watched the knob turn. Then for about 5 seconds, I felt a very strong presence.

10-11-99 9:00pm
The dog was in the bedroom barking and I wondered what she was barking at. Marion said, "I heard it, too!" I started to go downstairs and as soon as I opened the door, I was hit by a strong presence. All the way down the stairs and the whole bottom floor was full of a very strong presence. I felt almost as though I was floating in it.

10-21-99 pm
I was taking my dog downstairs and I was thinking how apprehensive I was about going down. I got to thinking that I had stumbled a couple times going down the stairs, as had my friend, Bob, and my dog. It was so bad that now when my dog wants to go downstairs, she barks for someone to come and get her. We also have a second picture of ectoplasm around the stairs. It is much thicker than the first one. This has all happened since we brought home some antiques home from storage.

11-22-99
This afternoon, a friend of ours, Ray, saw a woman in a black, full-length dress almost to the bottom landing of the stairs. She immediately disappeared.

12-1-99
Ray, our friend & server, saw a woman in a black skirt coming down the stairs, again.

12-3-99
Ray heard someone say a name (Levinia) - no one was there.

12-4-99
Bob saw someone coming down the stairs three times today - no one was there.

12-20-99
I was telling my wife of a 3-wick candle we have downstairs. The wicks were flickering but only 2 of the 3. It just struck me odd that they weren't all flickering. I also told her that I had seen something pass by that I thought was Muffin. I saw this quiet a few times but nothing was there. She said she had been seeing it, too.

1-11-00
I was talking to Ray today and I told him that yesterday I had heard a woman's voice call my name. I looked but no one was there. He said the same thing happened to him that morning only she had called his name.

1-15-00
I was in one room and Marion was in another. I thought I heard her say something, so I went in to ask her what she had said. She told me that she hadn't said anything. In fact, she thought I was talking to a woman in the other room - there was nobdy there but the two of us.

2-10-00
Today I was walking past the door to the back parlor. I saw a short petite woman leaning over one of tables. I feel she was about 5 foot. When I backed up for another look she was gone.

2-11-00
Ray came up to me and said he had just seen a woman and then she was gone. We talked about her and she matched the woman I saw yesterday.

2-12-00
I was behind the coffee bar and I forget what we were talking about but she was there and it made her made. I came out from behind the bar and went almost all the way to the front door before she quit following me.

4-19-00
For the last couple of months, Ray and I have had many glimpses of ghosts in the house. Today, we saw a man coming up the front steps. Ray saw him twice and I saw him once. I have also heard my named called often by a woman - no one is ever there. She also calls Ray's name and she called Taylor's name. Taylor is a young man who works for us.

4-26-00
Today, I got a glimpse of a new ghost. It was a man standing in the room by the coffee bar. He was very tall about 6'5" or 6'4" and about 45 years old. I think that may be Uncle Charley.

5-7-00
Today, a spoon that was on the table, on a plate, fell on the floor. No one was near the table. Maybe the ghosts are getting playful.

5-19-00
This morning, I heard the front door open and close. I saw Ray looking for someone and I said I had heard the door open and close, too. He said he had seen her and that she was solid. She was wearing a black wool suit and Ray thought it was too hot today for wool. Anyway, by the time he hot back to sear her, she was gone. He said the suit look like it was from the 20's and she was wearing a veil, which made him think she had come from a funeral. He has also seen a woman in a flapper outfit a couple of times.

Best Kept Secrets

2003-03-27T23:00:00.022-05:00

Written by: Jeff Rent
Case Opened: 3/27/03 - ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico
Executive Producer: Rick Garner

"The government has been covering up so much for so long and they have the people so baffled...it's unbelievable."

However, Dennis and Ann Bossack say they know the truth. Dennis says he spent three decades with a secret group called Omega Agency. "For 30 years, being with Omega Agency, which is an above top secret, private agency. It's not connected with any government. Omega Agency is basically the security force for what's known as the Universal Government, which is 752 advanced planets in the universe."

Bossack says Earth is in line to become the 753rd advanced planet. "What I mean by advanced is they've matured. They've done away with wars, with prejudice, hatred, pollution, taxes, government...control. They've achieved deep space travel."

Bossack says that planetary societies do not achieve deep space travel until that have matured. The Visitors, according to Bossack, define maturity as being "absolutely, totally, and completely responsible and trustworthy."

Bossack semi-retired from Omega Agency in 1997. He's coming forward, because he believes "the end" is near. "We're looking at a war starting in the Middle East between Israel and Palestine, between the U.S. and Iraq. I mean we're talking about a world war. World War III. And it will be nuclear but on a lower scale.

"The end times does not mean that the Earth is going to be destroyed, but life is going to end as you know it. Things are going to change."

Bossack spent many years monitoring and spying on several government agencies. One of many things he is sure of: our government isn't the one controlling the action. He believes you need to look elsewhere for who's really in charge. "Pharmaceutical, petrochemical corporations: Merck, Pfizer, I G Farbin, the Rockefellers. He who controls the food, controls the people. Duke Energy right now is running around the world buying up water rights!"

However, Bossack says Omega Agency isn't involved in world domination. That's the goal of a group of conspirators called the New World Order. Instead, Omega Agency is preparing Earth's introduction to alien visitors by allowing Biblical prophecies to be fulfilled.

"The Visitors are all human beings. God made man in His own image."

Bossack says Visitors have evolved further than Earthlings have and that he's met many Visitors over the last 30 years. In fact, several of them are among us today. The plan to introduce Earthlings to Visitors is right on track. "If the schedule stays the way it's supposed to, and if the government continues with their war and has their war the way that they're supposed to...in mid-2004, it's my job to introduce the entire planet to the Visitors. And then, I get to fully retire."

Additional Resources:
UFOLAB - Dennis & Ann Bossack's Website

Rapture Ready

Map: Sacred Sites of Iraq

Dennis Bossak speaks about Omega Agency

Dennis Bossak speaks about the Visitors

Dennis Bossak shares more about the Visitors

Dennis Bossak speaks about alien abductions

Ann Bossak speaks about Roswell

Dennis Bossak speaks about Roswell

Dennis Bossak reveals shocking conspiracies

Trails of Destruction

2003-01-30T12:50:00.023-05:00

Written by: Jeff Rent
Case Filed: 1/30/03 - Newton, Mississippi
Executive Producer: Rick Garner

December 2002, a Thursday afternoon in the quiet town of Newton. An F2 tornado shatters the holiday spirit destroying or damaging dozens of homes and businesses including the Wal-Mart.

And in the following days and weeks, the rebuilding process had begun. Nothing new if you're from Newton. You see, this isn't the first tornado to rip through the town, it's just the latest.

Billy Rainer recalls, "The tornado then hit our house...completely destroyed it."

Mae Helen Clark says, "I just felt like all the air had gone out of me...just everything."

"It kind of instilled a fear of bad weather in me, like it did in my mother, says James Rainer.

Newton natives remembering Thanksgiving Day, 1934 - the first in a series of devastating and sometimes deadly tornadoes. Clark was with her grandparents listening to music. "The thunder just came and it thundered and lightning. It made an awful boom, boom sound. And Stanley just played that much louder and sang that much louder."

Clark says her family only learned of the tornado the next day. Their property wasn't damaged. But the Rainer brothers, who now live in Kansas, and their family weren't so lucky. Their home was reduced to rubble, in the same spot hit nearly 70 years later.

"(Where the Wal-Mart is) is our home property...where we were born and raised. (They) say lightning doesn't strike twice in the same place, but tornadoes evidently do."

And in Newton, it's apparently more than twice. Since 1934, six tornadoes have taken nearly identical paths through this town of 3900. Clark adds, "1934, '48, '76, '82 and '86...all hit on highway 80."

And they all crossed the highway within about a mile of each other. Nobody in Newton seems to know why they've got their own tornado alley. The National Weather Service says there's no scientific reason why these storms have taken similar paths. Rather, they chalk it up to bad luck.

Jim Butch, National Weather Service, says, "Granted, Newton County has had several tornadoes over the past couple of years. It could be Rankin County the next time, or it could be Madison County, or any other county. It's just more or less a flip of the coin, just where they decide to develop."

Butch says since 1950, only 23 tornadoes have ripped through Newton County. This isn't an unusually high number. But just tell that to the folks living in Newton, cleaning up and rebuilding their lives again and again.

Newton residents say they've actually been lucky when it comes to tornadoes. Only 11 people have been killed from these storms. Mae Helen Clark is writing a series of articles for The Newton Record, chronicling the history of all six tornadoes.

The article below appeared on the front page of the weekly THE NEWTON RECORD, Thursday, December 6, 1934

TORNADO VICTIMS ARE NOT FATALLY INJURED

HEAVY PROPERTY DAMAGE SEEN AFTER STORM
High Cyclone Winds Struck Newton Thursday Night; 17 Injured; Buildings Destroyed

A cyclone struck in the eastern part of Newton Thursday night about eight o'clock, injured seventeen people and completely destroyed a number of homes and quite a bit of timber. Those receiving injuries were: White - Mrs. Emma Sealey and son, Edward, Mr. and Mrs. Ollie Williams and daughter, Martha Gene, Mrs. P.L. Thompson, George Williams, Dora Lee Robinson, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Emmit Robinson, Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Raynor and two children; Colored - Minnie Moore, Susie Johnson, Lolo Moore and Tommy Hardy.

The Arnold Raynor and Emmit Robinson residences were completely demolished; the O.P. Williams and Lucy homes were partially destroyed; Tanner's store, Sealey's filling station, a half dozen negro Baptist Church were completely destroyed. Telephone and telegraph poles and wires were blown down, and considerable damage to other property was suffered. Lights were out in town about an hour. The cyclone was traveling northward and dipped to earth south and east of Newton, missing the main section of town by a quarter of a mile.

Practically, all of Newton's residents knew nothing about the storm until it had passed over. A heavy rain followed immediately in the wake of the storm.

After passing here the storm did quite a bit of damage in the Doolittle neighborhood, three miles north of Newton. A large barn near Mrs. Newt Doolittle's home was blown away and the front porch of Mr. and Mrs. Johnson's home was demolished. Several of the stately oaks on the T. L. Doolittle place as well as several out houses and negro homes were blown down.

All those receiving injuries were rushed to the Newton Infirmary, where they received medical attention. Mrs. George Williams and Martha Gene Williams were more seriously injured than any of the other people. Mr. Williams received a severe cut to the head, and Martha Gene suffered a broken leg. Mrs. Ollie Williams had several broken ribs. All of the injured are improving nicely at the present time.

Newton and Meridian employees of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company and Southern bell telephone Company met the emergency in the praiseworthy manner than characterizes them in all similar situations. Local telephone operators did everything possible to get messages through.

A happy day of Thanksgiving marked by a general holiday, large attendance at church services, and a victory by the Newton High School over the Forest High Squad, after a successful gridiron season was turned into a day of tragedy. This was the first tornado that had struck Newton in many years.

The Ollie Williams family is temporarily domiciled in a Bracken apartment, the Emmit Robinson family is with his brother, Leo Robinson, the Lucy family is in the Phillips home and other families that lost their homes are with relatives.

Additional Resources:

Violent storm moves east across South

Mae Helen Clark: Newton Tornado Survivor and Researcher

Rainer Brothers: Newton Tornado Survivors

Field Reports from Selma, Alabama

2002-11-06T12:31:00.026-05:00

Written by: Rick Garner
Case Filed: 11/06/02 - Selma, Alabama
Executive Producer: Rick Garner

When I first learned that there was a city Chamber of Commerce sponsoring a "Ghost Tour" in the town of Selma, I was immediately intrigued. Through all my research for this series, this was truly a unique discovery. Yet, I've also concluded that there are so many odd and fascinating stories out there...I'll never locate more than a third of them!

After other locations had fallen through, Selma became the site for the sequel to Unexplained: Haunts from 2001. That program featured a year's worth of paranormal investigations from several locations in three states. So, you can imagine my concern of what we would, or more importantly would not, find in the one single location of Selma.

The town is a combination of old and new...antebellum homes and modern civilization. Downtown Selma still contained traces of the past through either current businesses preserving history or other structures long since abandoned. Living history is always fascinating to me.

We teamed up with WBRC Fox 6 from Birmingham, Alabama. Rob Ruffin, once a Videographer for Unexplained, worked with us on our Sloss Furnaces investigation. It was a pleasure to team up with him, again, and his reporter, Rhonda Robinson.

Our investigations were conducted by three members from the Alabama Foundation For Paranormal Research, Ronnie Nixon, Shaun Nichols and Jamie Cutler.

Each investigation below was conducted by the Alabama Foundation For Paranormal Research and documented by WJTV and/or WBRC crews.

Grace Hall

Reports:
At this beautifully restored antebellum home resides the ghost believed to be "Miz Eliza", who has been a regular guest since 1982. Several other ghosts have been spotted over the years for a total of five spirits believed to share the home with the owners and their guests.

Investigation:
Documented by WBRC, the AFFPR examined the location and experienced a fireplace with "knocking" sounds coming from it during the interview of the home's renter, Dr. James Johnson. While in the Green room, where "Miz Eliza" died, Shaun Nichols recorded what he described as, "the ghost dog barking and a woman laughing right after the bark. Also, while on the balcony of the guest rooms, the voice of a little baby saying, "what's dat?" You can tell the baby can not be more than 2 years old, because it is still in the stage of trying to learn how to talk."

Baker House

Reports:
This house was built prior to 1861. The grounds of this home were the scene of a skirmish during the fall of Selma. A wounded Union soldier crawled under the staircase and died following the battle. They say the blood is still visible under those stairs today. The current residents hear footsteps upstairs even though the second story burned many years ago and was never replaced.

Investigation:
Due to time constraints, we almost dropped this site from our list. WBRC, Ron and Jamie had journeyed to Old Cahawba to investigate the ghost town. While I was walking with AFFPR Investigator Shaun Nichols through the Baker House, we passed by the location of the bloodstain. I didn't know at the time that Shaun had activated his digital recorder. He conducted a question and answer session and we taped our interview sessions. Outside, Shaun began listening to his recorder and it was then that he heard a voice clearly say, "Talk to me."

I always examine any evidence with the eye of a researcher - finding every possible explanation. I had never heard anything like that before. No other Electronic Voice Phenomena could compare to that one, and I was there to know it wasn't a hoax or a mistake.

The Castle

Reports:
This German Gothic house even looks haunted at first glance because of its overgrown yard and long multi-paned stained glass tracery windows beneath sharply pointed dormers. The Weaver house was completed in 1865 and is said to be copied from a castle on the Rhine. The Weavers were one of the founding families of Selma and their house stands in what once was a walnut grove, which supplied craftsmen much of the wood used inside the home.

The present owner first detected the presence not long after they moved in. She kept hearing faint music somewhere in the house when she lay in her bed at night. A few years later they began hearing voices speak to them. Once when the family dog was in the kitchen barking someone said "Dog, shut up!"

Of course no one had been in the room with them at the time. Each time the voices are heard they are clear and distinct, there is never any doubt what has been said. A few years ago a friend was installing a ceiling fan while the owner was out of the house. While up on the ladder he was asked "What are you doing?" When the owner returned home she found her friend waiting outside, unwilling to re-enter the house alone. Another spooky episode was when the person delivering her paper in the wee hours of the morning noticed a light on in the attic. When the paper carrier, a fellow schoolteacher, mentioned it the owner replied that it couldn't have been because the attic isn't wired for electricity.

Investigation:
Our only abandoned home to investigate in Selma, the Castle proved to be in fair condition. Structurally, it seemed sound, although signs of vandalism and vagrant usage was scattered about. That was before the home was locked up, so it was somewhat like opening some ancient vault when we went inside.

The home had been abandoned for six years and seemed inviting enough. I could tell there was energy in the home, but it wasn't interested in us. Question and answer sessions were recorded and digital images were continually being taken.

Jeff Rent and I journeyed to the kitchen, which instantly appeared different than the rest of the home...stone floors instead of the hardwood, unkept elegance of the rest of the home. As if we had walked in on something, a surge of energy came across me. I backed out of the room and instructed the AFFPR members to follow me quickly to the kitchen and described what had happened. They began another Q&A session and more picture taking.

The EVP's collected here seem to be the result of having a "contaminated" investigation. Some additional talking was going on occasionally between our three hostesses, and even though they were never near a Q&A, sound carries in a large home. Having cameras rolling much of the time was the only way to confirm that what seemed like EVP's, proved otherwise.

The Castle of Selma: Historical Walk-through

St. James Hotel

Reports:
Workers have often heard the sound of dogs barking the courtyard, water faucets turning on and off in the men's restroom, the opening and closing of the front door, and actual manifestations have been seen by guests.

Until our investigation, the St. James Hotel had never had these accusations checked out.

Investigation:
This stop proved to be the quite interesting with an added bonus: a psychic, Karen McCutchen, joined us. Having experienced odd encounters at the St. James, Karen allowed us to hone in on two key areas of the hotel: the ballroom and the courtyard.

St. James Hotel: Ballroom Raw Footage

St. James Hotel: Courtyard Raw Footage

Karen McCutchen: Full Interview

We had the pleasure of eating both lunch and dinner at the St. James Hotel and I highly recommend a visit or stay here.

Sturdivant Hall

Reports:
Completed in 1853 by Colonel Edward T. Watts, the elegant mansion remained in the family until 1864 when it was purchased by John McGee Parkman, a young industrialist who went from a bank clerk to bank president in a few short years. Legend has it that while serving time in the federal prison at Cahawba for poor investment of bank funds, Parkman attempted a daring escape with the aid of his friends. It is believed that he was either shot to death or drowned after diving into the river. The volunteers at "the big house" can tell you story after story of the activities of John Parkman. Encounters even caught the front door opening and closing by itself on film for the segment they produced on Selma's ghosts.

Investigation:
Perhaps our timing was off, but the irony was interesting. When we wanted to scrap Baker House due to its potentially low yield and it provided startling evidence, Sturdivant Hall was expected to be the most productive and we collected no conclusive results.

The mansion is amazing and well worth a tour.

Old Cahawba

Reports:
Children's laughter near a children's cemetery has been heard by several.

Investigation:
No conclusive results were gathered here, although spending the night in Cahawba would be a rather intriguing event.

Special Bonus:

Kathryn Tucker Windham: Full Interview

Check out our other reports:

Selma: Ghosts of the Past

Selma: Southern Ghost Town

Selma: Ghost Writer

Special thanks to Trifieldmeter.com for the donation of a Natural Trifield meter, the best piece of scientific equipment for paranormal research.

The Official Website of Selma, Alabama

YouTube Video Channel

Field Reports from Priestley House - Canton, Mississippi

2002-10-31T11:46:00.017-05:00

Written by: Jeff Rent
Case Filed: 10/31/02 - Canton, Mississippi
Executive Producer: Rick Garner

At a glance, you can draw many parallels between the cities of Selma, Alabama, and Canton, Mississippi. Both are popular sites for Hollywood filmmakers. Both are full of historic antebellum mansions. And both seem to contain an abundance of ghost stories.

The Priestley House in Canton is one of these homes where residents say they're living with spirits. Owner Frankie McMillan says, "I did not believe in ghosts before I moved here. I thought they were silly. And it took me a while living here to believe it."

Dr. James Priestley and his wife, Susan, built the Priestley House in 1852. A prominent doctor, Mr. Priestly died during an epidemic of yellow fever. The current owners, the McMillan family, have lived in the home for several years. And they're quickly discovering they're not alone. McMillan recalls, "I came in (the upstairs bedroom) one night to cut that closet light. And I cut the light off, turned around. I was going back toward my bedroom and she was standing (near the doorway). And I just kind of stopped for a second. Kind of scared me. Then I kind of skirted around her and went and got back in my bed."

Frankie McMillan believes what she saw was the ghost of Susan Priestley. Priestley family members have said that the bedroom where McMillan encountered the ghost was Susan Priestley's room. It is also the room where she died. They, too, have seen her ghostly apparition.

So, the "Unexplained" investigative team enlisted the help of amateur psychic and ghost hunter Bruce Baldwin. The only thing Baldwin knew of the Priestley House was its location and none of its history. He started his tour of the home and immediately picked up on an energy in this room. "This corner is hot."

The McMillans say candles will frequently fall from their holders. Some Canton residents have reported seeing the figure of a woman in the windows. Indeed, that corner is "hot."

Baldwin moved to the front hall where he examined the piano. "I bet that this piano plays itself sometimes."

We checked with homeowner Frankie McMillan and Baldwin's impression was dead on. "I know I was awake and that piano was playing and nobody was here."

Baldwin moved upstairs to the Blue Room, the former room of Susan Priestley and the site of her ghostly apparition. Baldwin is immediately overcome with emotions to the point of tears. "This is a sad room."

After our investigation, we asked Baldwin about this reaction. The bedroom upstairs...I don't want to go in that bedroom anymore. It's just...it's like intense sadness in there. I kind of get the feeling like a lot of people have died in that room."

We do know that at least one person, Susan Priestley died in that room and her husband died from yellow fever, although there's no evidence that he died in this room.

And, remember, Baldwin had no prior knowledge of events, which had taken place in the Priestley House. The McMillans say nobody in their family will sleep in this room anymore.

Following Baldwin's investigation, we set up a camera in the corner of the Blue Room along with an observer, Jamie Hamblin of Canton, armed with a digital camera. A Tri-Field meter, a device which detects changes in electro magnetic frequency, sometimes called a Ghost Detector, was also placed in the room. Our unit from Trifieldmeter.com is the best of its kind and paranormal experts have found it's very accurate for detecting paranormal energies.

The Tri-field meter sounded several times, even though nobody entered or moved in the room. And when our observer tried to use the digital camera, she discovered the batteries were dead, even though they had just been replaced.

We put another set of fresh batteries in the camera a while later. They, too, drained in the matter of minutes. Executive Producer Rick Garner says this is the first time he's ever experienced a camera going dead twice, bringing him to the conclusion that something was quite active at the home.

Paranormal investigators believe the presence of ghosts or spirits will drain battery power due to their disruptive presence to electromagnetic devices or even a need for energy.

One more incident of note, investigator Bruce Baldwin used a tape recorder to capture electronic voice phenomenon or EVP's. Baldwin checked his equipment and for the first time, his tape was completely blank. Another indicator to a disruption of the electromagnetic field needed to record sound on the tape - basically, a bulk erase.

In the end, the investigation yielded some interesting results, which were confirmed by the home's residents. They say it's just part of everyday life at the Priestley home.

Frankie McMillan says, "She moved here I'm sure as a young married lady. Her husband died here. She lived through the Civil War. She got so attached to this house that I think she just can't leave it."

Unexplained: Haunts II Uncovered | Selma: Ghost Writer

2002-10-30T15:07:00.011-05:00

Written by: Ouida W. Myers
Case Filed: 10/30/02 - Selma, Alabama
Executive Producer: Rick Garner

Kathryn Tucker Windham is probably best known by young readers for her books about Jeffery and other Ghosts. Thirteen Alabama Ghosts and Jeffery (1964) written with Margaret Gillis Figh, was her first book about Jeffery and other ghosts. Other titles include Jeffery Introduces Thirteen More Southern Ghosts (1971), Thirteen Georgia Ghosts and Jeffery (1973), Thirteen Mississippi Ghosts and Jeffery (1974), Thirteen Tennessee Ghosts and Jeffery (1976), and Jeffery's Latest Thirteen: More Alabama Ghosts (1982). In the words of Kathryn Tucker Windham, "My desire is to preserve our Southern ghost tales-the true ones-before they are lost." She certainly seems to have satisfied that desire.

Kathryn was born in Thomasville, Alabama in 1918 to James Wilson and Helen Tabb Wilson. She had an early fascination with photography and has often told the story of waiting in line for hours to get a free Brownie camera when she was twelve-years old. She claims that many of her best photographs were taken with that camera. While still in high school, she worked as a movie reviewer for her cousin Earl's newspaper, The Thomasville Times. After earning an A.B. degree from Huntingdon College in 1939, she was hired by the Alabama Journal, Montgomery in 1940 to be a police reporter. She also worked for the Birmingham News as a reported and photographer (1944-1946) and the Selma Times-Journal (1960-1973) as reporter, city editor, state editor, and associate editor. Odd-Egg Editor (1990) is her "memoir of life as a 'lady editor' in an old-style Southern newsroom."

Kathryn Windham is also a renowned historian. These titles are evidence of this: Treasured Alabama Recipes (1964), Exploring Alabama (1969), Treasured Tennessee Recipes (1972), Treasured Georgia Recipes (1973), Alabama: One Big Front Porch (1975), Southern Cooking to Remember (1978), Count Those Buzzards" Stamp Those Grey Mules (1982), and out of print title, A Serigamy of Stories (1988). (Serigamy is a made-up word which means "a whole-lot,...a heap of, a goodly number").

As interesting as these titles may seem, you really haven't experienced Kathryn Tucker Windham's greatest gift until you seen or heard her in action as a story-teller. She is often heard at story-telling events, historical meetings, and most significantly, in classrooms.

She is a favorite on Alabama Public Television and National Public Radio. Her gifts have been recorded in both video (including 13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffery, A Sampling of Southern Superstitions, and Cooking up Stories) and audio (including Alabama Folktales, Jeffery- Five volumes of ghost stories, Recollections-Five tapes of public radio stories). Kathryn Windham is in her very best story-telling fashion when becomes Julia Tutwiler in her one-woman show My Name is Julia, based on her book by the same name. The most recent audio titles (available in May) are Grits and A Barbershop Education from the Southern Recollection Series.

Additional Resources:

Listeners Connect with Alabama Through Radio Storytellers

Special People-Kathryn Tucker Windham

All Things Southern: An Interview with Kathryn Tucker Windham, First Draft, Journal of the Alabama Writer's Forum, Fall 1998

Let Her Own Works Praise Her. Julia Tutwiler Brent Davis, Producer. Video may be purchased from the Center for Public Television, University of Alabama - Free downloadable guide

Selma-to-Montogomery March

National Voting Rights Museum and Institute

Voting Rights Act of 1965

Importance of Selma to Confederacy

Battle of Selma

Selma Showcase

Selma-Dallas County Chamber of Commerce

Unexplained: Haunts II Uncovered | Selma: Southern Ghost Town

2002-10-29T12:05:00.016-05:00

Written by: Jeff Rent
Case Filed: 10/29/02 - Cahawba, Alabama
Executive Producer: Rick Garner

Cahawba was once Alabama's state capital (1820-1826) and a thriving antebellum river town. It became a ghost town shortly after the Civil War. Today it is an important archaeological site and a place of picturesque ruins.

As early as 4,000 years ago Indians occupied Cahawba, and the Spanish explorer DeSoto may have visited a large Indian village located there in 1540.

In 1819 the state of Alabama was carved out of the wilderness. Cahawba, its capital city, was an undeveloped town site, a gift from President James Monroe to the new state. Consequently, Alabama's legislature was forced to find temporary accommodations in Huntsville until a statehouse could be built. By 1820, however, Cahawba was a fully functioning state capital.

Cahawba's low elevation gave it a reputation for flooding and an unhealthy atmosphere. Those opposed to the selection of Cahawba as the capital used this reputation to persuade the legislature to move the capital to Tuscaloosa in 1826. Within weeks Cahawba was nearly abandoned.

The flooding had been greatly exaggerated by Cahawba's opponents, so the town recovered and reestablished itself as a social and commercial center. Cahawba became the major distribution point for cotton shipped down the Alabama River from the fertile "black belt" to the port of Mobile. The addition of a railroad line in l859 triggered a building boom. On the eve of the Civil War, more than 3,000 people called Cahawba home.

Cahawba's glory days were again short-lived. During the Civil War, the Confederate government seized Cahawba's railroad, tore up the iron rails and used them to extend a nearby railroad. A lice-infested prison for 3,000 captured Union soldiers was established in the center of town. In 1865 a flood inundated the town, and in 1866 the county seat was removed to nearby Selma. Businesses and families followed. Within 10 years, even the houses were being dismantled and moved.

During Reconstruction, the abandoned courthouse became a meeting place for freemen seeking new political power. Cahawba became the "Mecca of the Radical Republican Party". A new rural community of former slave families replaced the old urban center. These families turned the vacant town blocks into two-acre fields.

Soon, even this community disappeared. By 1900 most of Cahawba's buildings had burned, collapsed, or been dismantled. Few structures survived past 1930, but the town was not unincorporated until 1989. By that time, only fishermen and hunters walked the town's abandoned streets.

Today, nature has reclaimed Old Cahawba, but historians and archaeologists from the Alabama Historical Commission are working hard to uncover Cahawba's historic past and to create a full time interpretive park. Visitors are welcome at Old Cahawba. Enjoy the wildflowers. Take the time to roam the abandoned streets, view the moss-covered ruins, talk with an archaeologist, read the interpretive signs, and contemplate Cahawba's mysterious disappearance.

The site of Old Cahawba lies at the confluence of the Alabama and Cahaba Rivers. From downtown Selma, take Highway 22 west 8.6 miles. Turn onto Country Road 9 and follow this quiet country road another 5 miles to Cahawba.

Don't miss the many historic attractions and unique shopping opportunities in nearby Selma.

SELMA is proud to have had one of Hollywood's brightest stars in our "sky." Long before Jessica Lange was presented with an Academy Award for Best Actress (1995), SELMA knew it had a winner in Orion Pictures, "Blue Sky." It was filmed on location at Craig Air Force Base by Academy Award winning director, Tony Richardson. This probing drama also featured yet another Academy Award winning star, Tommy Lee Jones. Joining Lange and Jones were Powers Booth, Carrie Snodgrass and others.

Selma's successful filming stage was set by the 1968 release of "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter", which was based on the book by Carson McCuller. Alan Arkin earned his second Academy Award nomination, and Sandra Locke was nominated for an Oscar for their roles in this touching drama. Also recognized in the film are Cicely Tyson, Stacy Keach, and Percy Rodriquez.

Also filmed in SELMA during the 1960's was "Pay Day," which featured Rip Torn.

Warner Brothers selected Gabrielle Anwar, Meg Tilley, Billy Wirth, and Forest Whitaker to appear in the 1990's production of "Body Snatchers." A vote of confidence was given to SELMA by Robert Solo, who chose to produce his second film in the town.

SELMA offers unique filming opportunities for production companies and film enthusiasts! Located high on a bluff overlooking the beautiful Alabama River, SELMA is a natural setting for a variety of scenes. It contains majestic antebellum mansions, Victorian homes trimmed in gingerbread, and a rich blend of riverfront stores. Filming on Craig Air Force Base does not require Department of Defense clearance because it is no longer a military facility. However, fixed base operator and S.A.G. member, Ben Oliver quickly tells interested film professionals that the runway is long enough to land a 747!

Numerous Civil Rights based productions have featured SELMA, a city world renowned for it's role in the achievement of the 1965 Voting Rights Bill.

Affordability and production experience enhance SELMA's appeal to the film industry. These positive factors are proven by the fact that SELMA ranks second in Alabama cities in the amount earned in filming projects. SELMA is proud of it's role in the film industry and looks forward to future stars in our "sky."

Additional Resources:
Selma-to-Montogomery March

National Voting Rights Museum and Institute

Voting Rights Act of 1965

Importance of Selma to Confederacy

Battle of Selma

Selma Showcase

Selma-Dallas County Chamber of Commerce

Visit Selma

Unexplained: Haunts II Uncovered | Selma: Ghosts of the Past

2002-10-28T14:51:00.024-05:00

Written by: Jeff Rent
Case Filed: 10/28/02 - Selma, Alabama
Executive Producer: Rick Garner

Civil Rights: The March from Selma to Montgomery

Over a century of amazing history has taken place in Selma. While one struggle ended there - the Civil War ended with the fall of Selma on April 2, 1865 - another struggle began almost to the day on March 7, 1965, with a violent beginning to the fight for voting Civil Rights of African-Americans.

Most African Americans did not have the opportunity to exercise the right to vote in many of the Southern states. Mississippi and Alabama were very repressive and ripe for change during the mid 1960s. Civil rights workers became active in gaining the right to vote for African Americans.

During the summer and winter of 1964 and 65 civil rights workers throughout Mississippi and Alabama were becoming active in voter registration and preparing for the coming elections. Workers organized voter-education classes and conducted practice elections. During these activities violence would erupt with civil rights workers being arrested, injured, disappearing or killed.

Outraged over the killing of a demonstrator by a state trooper in Marion, Alabama, the black community of Marion decided to hold a march. Martin Luther King agreed to lead the marchers on Sunday, March 7, from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery, Alabama, the state capital. At the state capital they would appeal directly to governor George Wallace to stop police brutality and call attention to their struggle for voting rights.

When Governor Wallace refused to allow the march, Dr. King went to Washington to speak with President Johnson, delaying the demonstration until March 8. The people of Selma however, felt that they could not wait and began the march on Sunday March 7, which became known as "Bloody Sunday".

When the marchers reached the city line at Edmund Pettus Bridge, they found a posse of state troopers waiting for them. As the demonstrators crossed the bridge leading out of Selma, they were ordered to disperse, but the troopers did not wait for their warning to be headed. They immediately attacked the crowd of people who had bowed their heads in prayer. Using tear gas and batons, the troopers chased the demonstrators to a black housing project, where they continued to beat the demonstrators as well as residents of the project who had not been at the march.

Martin Luther King lead a march to the Selma bridge on Tuesday, March 9, during which one protester was killed. Finally, with President Lyndon Johnson's permission, Dr. King led a successful march from Selma to Montgomery on March, 25.

During the Selma marches hundreds of marchers were jailed and injured. The marches were marred by death as well, when two Northern whites participating in the march were murdered and a minister was beaten to death in the streets of the town. Over the next few months the aftermath of the March violence would continue for civil rights workers. J. Edgar Hoover, director of the FBI announced that the FBI would not provide protection to civil rights workers in Mississippi.

Bloody Sunday received considerable national attention, and numerous marches were organized in response. As a result President Johnson gave a rousing speech to congress concerning civil rights which was instrumental in the passage of the Voting Rights Act within that same year.

Adapted From: Blackside, Inc. Eyes on the Prize:America's Civil Rights Years 1954 -1965 http://breakthrough.blackside.com/blackside/EducationOutreach/eyes1-guidetext6.h tml . (1996)

Western Michigan University. Time Line of American Civil Rights Movements http://www.wmich.edu/politics/mlk/.

Civil War: The Selma Campaign

by Colonel William G. Rambo

In the spring of 1865, the fourth year of the War Between the States, Maj. Gen. James H. Wilson led 13,500 Union Cavalry and Mounted Infantry on a major raid deep into Alabama. His mission was to take the pressure off Union forces besieging the defenses of Mobile and occupying the attention of Lt. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest and his Cavalry Corp. To accomplish this, Wilson planned to capture and destroy the vast Confederate arsenal at Selma. This this the traditional battle summary provided by the Alabama Division's own Col. William G. Rambo.

On March 22, Wilson's force left its winter camps in extreme northwest Alabama and headed southward to Elyton (present-day Birmingham). The Federal columns reached Elyton on March 30. The march had been uneventful other than the hardships of negotiating muddy roads and swollen streams caused by the heavy spring rains.

There was no opposition to Wilson's maneuvers because Forrest had been busy gathering his forces which numbered close to 10,000 but were scattered over parts of Alabama and Mississippi. The Federals had wisely launched a simultaneous cavalry raid from extreme southeastern Alabama which caused Forrest to delay committing his main forceuntil he could be sure of the real intentions of the invading Northerners. By the time Forrest was convinced that Wilson's force was his major threat and that Selma was his goal, the Yankees had a big advantage. Flooding streams and rivers seriously hindered the Confederate concentration of forces.

Even if Forrest could succeed in assembling the majority of his available troops, he would still have the disadvantage of facing superior numbers of Union Cavalry, who had brand new equipment, well-fed horses and seven shot Spencer repeating carbines. Forrest's men were armed with an assortment of single-shot rifles, shotguns and carbines. But they still had their Southern fighting spirit and they were led by one of the greatest generals of the war whose very name was "worth 10,000 men."

On March 30, Wilson detached Gen. John T. Croxton's Brigade to destroy all Confederate property at Tuscaloosa. After capturing a Confederate courier who carried dispatches from Forrest describing the strengths and dispositions of his scattered forces, Wilson also sent a brigade to destroy the bridge across the Cahaba River at Centreville. This action effectively cut off most of Forrest's reinforcements. Then began a running fight that did not end until after the fall of Selma.

On the afternoon of April 1, after skirmishing all morning, Wilson's advanced guard ran into Forrest's line of battle at Ebenezer Church, where the Randolph Road intersected the main Selma road. Here Forrest had hoped ot bring his entire force to bear on Wilson. However delays caused by flooding plus earlier contact with the enemy enabled Forrest to muster less than 2,000 men, a large number of whom were not veterans but militia consisting of old men and young boys.

The outnumbered and outgunned Confederates fought bravely for more than an hour as more Union Cavalry and Artillery deployed on the field. Forrest himself was wounded in a charge by a saber-swinging Yankee Captain who he killed with his revolver. Finally, a mounted Federal charge with carbines blazing broke the Confederate militia causing Forrest to be flanked on his right. He was forced to retreat under severe pressure.

Early the next morning Forrest arrived at Selma, "horse and rider covered in blood." He advised Gen. Richard Taylor, departmental commander, to leave the city. Taylor did so after giving Forrest command of the defense.

Selma was protected by three miles of fortifications which ran in a semi-circle around the city. They were anchored on the north and south by the Alabama River. The works had been built two years earlier, and while neglected for the most part since, were still formidable. They were 8 to 12 feet high, 15 feet thick at the base, with a ditch 4 feet wide and 5 feet deep along the front. In front of this was a picket fence of heavy posts planted in the ground, 5 feet high, and sharpened at the top. At prominent positions, earthen forts were built with artillery in position to cover the ground over which an assault would have to be made.

Forrest's defenders consisted of his Tennessee escort company, McCullough's Missouri Regiment, Crossland's Kentucky Brigade, Roddey's Alabama Brigade, Armstrong's Mississippi Brigade, Gen. Dan Adam's state reserves, and the citizens of Selma who were "volunteered" to man the works. Altogether this force numbered less than 4,000, only half of who were dependable. The Selma fortifications were built to be defended by 20,000 men. Forrest's soldiers had to stand 10 to 12 feet apart in the works.

Wilson's force arrived in front of the Selma fortifications at 2 pm. He had placed Gen. Eli Long's Division across the Summerfield Road with the Chicago Board of Trade Battery in support. He had Gen. Emory Upton's Division placed across the Range Line Road with Battery I, 4th US Artillery in support. Altogether Wilson had 9,000 troops available for the assault.

The Federal commander's plan was for Upton to send in a 300 man detachment ater dark to cross the swamp on the Confederate right; enter the works, and begin a flanking movement toward the center moving along the line of fortifications. Then a single gun from Upton's artillery would signal the attack by the entire Federal Corps.

At 5 pm, however, Gen. Long's ammunition train in the rear was attacked by advance elements of Forrest's scattered forces coming toward Selma. Both Long and Upton had positioned significant numbers of troops in their rear for just such an event. However, Long decided to commence his assault against the Selma fortifications to neutralize the enemy attack in his rear

Long's troops attacked in a single rank in three main lines, dismounted with Spencers carbines blazing, supported by their own artillery fire. The Confederates replied with heavy small arms and artillery fire of their own. The Southern artillery, in one of the many ironies of the Civil War, only had solid shot on hand, while just a short distance away was an arsenal which produced tons of canister, a highly effective anti-personnel ammunition.

The Federals suffered many casualties (including General Long himself) but not enough to break up the attack. Once the Yankees reached the works, there was vicious hand-to-hand fighting. Many soldiers were struck down with clubbed muskets. But the Yankees kept pouring into the works. In less than 30 minutes, Long's men had captured the works protecting the Summerfield Road.

Meanwhile, General Upton, observing Long's success, ordered his division forward. The story was much the same for his men as on Long's front. Soon, US flags could be seen waving over the works from Range Line Road to Summerfield Road.

After the outer works fell, General Wilson himself led the 4th US Cavalry Regiment in a mounted charge down the Range Line Road toward the unfinished inner line of works. The retreating Confederate forces, upon reaching the inner works, ahd allied and poured a devastating fire into the charging Yankee column. This broke up the charge and sent General Wilson sprawling to the ground when his favorite horse was wounded. He quickly remounted his stricken mount and ordered a dismounted assault by several regiments.

Mixed units of Confederate troops had also occupied the Selma railroad depot and the adjoining banks of the railroad bed to make a stand next to the Plantersville Road (present day Broad Street). The fighting there was heavy, but by 7 pm the superior numbers of Union troops had managed to flank the Southern positions causing them to abandon the depot as well as the inner line of works.

In the darkness, the Yankees rounded up hundreds of prisoners, but hundreds more escaped down the Burnsville Road, including Generals Forrest, Armstrong, and Roddey. To the west, many Confederate soldiers fought the persuing Yankees all the way down to the eastern side of Valley Creek. They escaped in the darkness by swimming across the Alabama River near the mouth of Valley Creek (where the present day Battle of Selma Reenactment is held.)

The Yankees looted the city that night while many businesses and privat residences were burned. They spent the next week destroying the arsenal and naval foundry. Then they left Selma heading to Montgomery and then Columbus and Macon, Georgia, and the end of the war.

Forrest rejoined his divisions at Marion while General Buford's Alabama and Mississippi Cavalry harassed Wilson's columns as they moved across central Alabama. Forrest then moved his command to Gainesville, where he was informed of the collapse of the armies led by Robert E. Lee and Joseph Johnston.

Dark Side of the Blues

2002-09-27T23:00:00.014-04:00

Written by: Jeff Rent & Rick Garner
Case Filed: 9/27/02 - Jackson, Mississippi
Executive Producer: Rick Garner
Special Thanks: Steve LaVere, Delta Haze
Still images in video from film "Can't You Hear the Wind Howl?: The Life & Music of Robert Johnson" Used with permission.

The huge cotton fields of the Delta produced more than just cotton. In fact, the immense Dockery Plantation may be the exact location of the birth of the Blues. Slaves and then sharecroppers communicated across the fields in a style called "field hollering." This became the Blues we know today.

After the Blues' birth in the fields, Clarksdale, Mississippi, would become the Home of the Blues and is now linked to a rather mysterious chapter in Blues history.

The intersection of Highway 61 runs through the Delta and crosses Highway 49 in Clarksdale. It is promoted that this is where Robert Johnson made a deal with the devil. Johnson even recorded a song called "Cross Road Blues" and the legend says that in selling his soul to the devil, he was able to play anything on the guitar. If one plays their guitar at the crossroads just before midnight, a tall black man will come up from behind. Once given the guitar, he will play it and hand it over. Anything can be played on the guitar, for the price of a soul.

Although 61 & 49 is promoted to be the crossroads of the Robert Johnson legend, it's purely a romantic tale and in fact there is no real crossroads at all.

Not only is Johnson the subject of an undying legend, he also has three grave markers. The first one, at the Mt. Zion Church near Morgan City is incorrect. The second one, behind Payne Chapel at Quito, Mississippi is entirely bogus. And the third one, at Little Zion Church two miles due north of Greenwood is, without a doubt, his final resting place. From Robert Johnson and the Crossroads Curse

Although Johnson's recording career was very brief, his life story has taken on mythical proportions in the years since his death. In rural folklore, the intersection of two roads was often regarded as an evil place, the site of black magic. This notion dated back to early mythology in Africa and Europe. As these pagan cultures were forcibly assimilated by Christian society, some of their original beliefs were blended with the new religion. So according to the legend, Johnson went down to the crossroads and made a pact with Satan. The devil promised to fulfill his dreams, thus Johnson traded his eternal soul for his extraordinary talents. Of course, the devil wouldn't allow him to enjoy his success and the lord of the underworld soon claimed his prize. Even though Johnson's musical legacy would eventually earn worldwide acclaim, he never had a chance to enjoy the fruits of his labor.

But while the legend of Robert Johnson is interesting enough on its own, there is much more to the story of "Crossroads". In addition to the bluesman's untimely death, there have been a string of tragedies associated with musicians who have performed the song over the years. Eric Clapton, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and the Allman Brothers Band have all experienced the loss of group members or loved ones. My website will also delve into these other occurrences. Personally, I don't believe that this song is actually cursed. While there have certainly been some terrible misfortunes associated with a number of the artists who have recorded the composition, I think these are merely coincidences. Nonetheless, it's another fascinating aspect of the "Crossroads" legend. Even now, this tale from American folklore still endures.

Robert Johnson was born on May 8th, 1911 in Hazlehurst, MS. He was the illegitimate son of Julia Dodd and Noah Johnson, a man whom he would never know.

Steady work was scarce, so he and his mother were forced to move often, as she sought employment in Memphis and various parts of the Delta. While he was still just a young boy, he went to work in the cotton fields on a plantation near Robinsonville, MS. It was a bleak existence, so he turned to music for comfort. At the age of seventeen, he married his childhood sweetheart, Virginia Travis. He loved his young bride dearly, but their romance was short-lived. In April of 1930, little more than a year after they were wed, his wife died during childbirth. Johnson was absolutely grief-stricken and this incident marked a turning point in his life. From then on, he traveled constantly, devoting all his time and energy to his music.

Over the next few years, Johnson worked tirelessly to hone his craft. He and his friend Willie Brown would often sit on tombstones, writing ominous melodies and drinking moonshine. Although he could not read music, he had a keen ear and often imitated the styles of other musicians. From watching fellow guitarist Son House, he was inspired to develop his own bottleneck slide technique. He also played with Charlie Patton and Sonny Boy Williamson, performing in juke joints throughout the Deep South. But Johnson was quite ambitious and he was not satisfied with the moderate acclaim he had received. Since many of his contemporaries were envious of his musicianship, this may have led them to spread false rumors about him, whispering that he had gladly paid the Devil's price to satisfy his own ambition.

Undisputed facts about Johnson's life are few and far between. More often than not, his legend has obscured the few grains of truth, which can be discerned. According to the myth, the young bluesman desperately longed for fame and fortune. Johnson was not satisfied with his own musical abilities and felt that he needed more talent to achieve success. He was already bitter toward his creator, blaming God for the death of his beloved wife and unborn child. Despondent and irrational, he made a momentous decision. At the stroke of midnight, he walked down to the windswept crossroads at the junction of Highways 61 and 49 in Clarksdale, MS. Reciting an ancient incantation, he called upon Satan himself to rise from the fires of Hell. In exchange for Johnson's immortal soul, the devil tuned his guitar, thereby giving him the abilities, which he so desired. From then on, the young blues man played his instrument with an unearthly style, his fingers dancing over the strings. His voice moaned and wailed, expressing the deepest sorrows of a condemned sinner.

In 1936, Don Law, a producer who worked for the American Record Company, approached Johnson. Law was eager to record the blues man, offering to pay him between $10 and $15 for each song. The first sessions occurred later that year, at the Gunter Hotel in San Antonio, TX. Johnson played some of his own compositions and also modified the work of other artists, recording seventeen songs on November 23rd, 26th, and 27th. If he was not fully satisfied with his performance, he would record an alternate version. But Johnson was a confident musician and he had been playing these compositions for years. As a result, most of the songs were recorded on the first take.

While in town, he was arrested for vagrancy and thrown in jail. At the station, the police beat him and smashed his guitar. Rather than risk further abuse at the hands of the officers, Johnson asked them to contact Law. The producer verified the bluesman's story and subsequently posted his bail. Although this incident might have seemed quite traumatic, it apparently had little effect on Johnson. After recording "Crossroad Blues" and several more songs in the days that followed, he left San Antonio and resumed his wandering lifestyle.

The next sessions took place during the summer of 1937, at the Brunswick Records Building in Dallas, TX. On June 19th and 20th, Johnson performed twelve more songs for Don Law. Once again, a handful of alternate versions were also recorded. As before, Johnson received a modest cash payment and no royalties. Although the producer was already making plans to conduct some additional sessions in the future, he would never see Johnson again. The troubled blues man had a date with destiny.

Just as the story of Johnson's life is filled with contradictions, the circumstances of his death also remain murky at best.

The most likely explanation is that a jealous husband poisoned the blues man with strychnine, after Johnson unsuccessfully attempted to rekindle an old romance with the man's wife. Following his spurned overture, he was drinking at a juke joint with Sonny Boy Williamson. His friend strongly cautioned him not to drink from an open whiskey bottle on the table, but Johnson paid him no mind. He suffered terrible convulsions and died several days later, on August 16, 1938. Even in death however, Johnson could not find any lasting peace. To this day, his final resting place is still the subject of considerable debate. In Mississippi, there are actually two different gravesites, which bear his name.

Without the solid foundation of the blues, rock and roll would probably not exist. During the decades since his death, Robert Johnson's music has influenced countless other artists. In the most immediate sense, his style was adopted and imitated by the blues musicians who followed in his footsteps. Then in turn, these artists had an effect on subsequent generations.

His legacy can be heard in a broad spectrum of music, from jazz to R & B to rock. And in recent years, he has finally begun to receive the credit he so richly deserves. In 1986, he was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame as one of the forefathers of rock music. Further recognition came when the U.S. Post Office issued a commemorative stamp in his honor on September 17, 1994. It is impossible to calculate the full impact of Johnson's music, as the ripple effect continues to spread outwards. But clearly the lonely blues man from Mississippi has achieved the fame, which he craved during his short life.

The haunting melodies of Billie Holiday gave new life to a song written in 1933 by Rezso Seress. Three years later, a rash of suicides in Hungary pointed to the song as the cause. The song was banned and American musicians and singers jumped at the chance to record the infamous tune. Billie Holiday's version became the most popular. Was the song responsible for hundreds of suicides? The only fact known is that Rezso Seress did leap to his death in 1968. From Snopes.com

Up to seventeen suicides were purportedly linked in some way to the song "Gloomy Sunday" in Hungary before the song was (allegedly) banned. These "links" included people who reportedly killed themselves after listening to the song (either from a recording or performed by a band), or who were said to have been found dead with references to "Gloomy Sunday" (and/or its lyrics) in their suicide notes, with "Gloomy Sunday" sheet music in their hands, or with "Gloomy Sunday" playing on gramophones.

I don't know how any of these claims could be verified short of paging through old Hungarian newspapers; even then, it would be difficult at this late date to separate exaggerated and fabricated reports from true ones. I suspect that this portion of the legend is trivially true, a combination of Hungary's historically high suicide rate and the assumption of a causal -- rather than a coincidental -- relationship between the song and suicides that caused rumors and media reports to be greatly exaggerated.

Hungary has had the highest suicide rate of any country for many years (as high as 45.9 per 100,000 people in 1984), so a few dozen suicides there over a year's time certainly wouldn't have been unusual, even in 1936. Nor is it at all uncommon for suicides to work something from popular songs or books or films into their deaths. Only when one particular song was coincidentally linked to a sufficient number of suicides to draw attention to all the suicides in which it played a part did people start to claim that it was somehow the cause of these deaths.

Many claims are made about the reaction to "Gloomy Sunday" by Hungarian authorities, from "discouraging" public performance of the song to an outright ban on it. I have found no reliable information about when, where, or by whom this song might have been banned in one form or another. My guess, based on similar legends (such as the claim that Donald Duck was banned in insert Scandinavian country of choice), would be that some Hungarian municipalities may have instituted some types of (possibly voluntary) restrictions on the song, but that there was no nation-wide ban on "Gloomy Sunday."

The claims about American reaction to the song are even wilder. Some sources claim that no "Gloomy Sunday"-inspired suicides were reported in the USA at all, while others attribute cases of suicide (up to "200 worldwide") in both the USA and Britain to the English-language version of "Gloomy Sunday" (including "young jazz fans" who became depressed after hearing Billie Holiday's version of the song). Likewise, while some sources say that there were no restrictions whatsoever placed on the song in the USA, others claim that it was "banned from the airwaves." (Sometimes the ban is said to have been directed at a particular version of the song, such as Billie Holiday's recording of it.) Some sources even claim that a sort of "compromise" ban was enacted as many radio stations played only the instrumental version of the song.

The "girlfriend who inspired the song committed suicide" claims sounds like an embellishment of the basic legend, as I only found one source that mentioned it. It claimed that Javor "wrote the song for a former girlfriend," and that shortly after its release she committed suicide and left behind a note reading simply "Gloomy Sunday."

Rezso Seress did indeed commit suicide, jumping from a Budapest building in 1968. This portion of the legend also appears to have been embellished, with some sources claiming that he was depressed because he'd never been able to produce another hit after "Gloomy Sunday."

On Congress Street in Downtown Jackson in the shadow of the capitol building, stands the 930 Blues Cafe. But it's a different sort of shadow that brought the unexplained team to this building.

Original Image

Enhanced Image

The picture seems to be of a misty human form standing at the top of the stairs...a figure that wasn't discovered until the image was viewed later. That picture was taken inside the 930 Blues Cafe. The person who took the picture, was only trying to get a shot of the mural at the top of the stairs. Our cameras were not allowed inside the 930 Blues Cafe, but we did speak with employees who have reported a number of strange happenings, such as doors slamming shut when there's no breeze. So, these legends only continue to lure people to the mystique of the Blues. From a legendary Delta blues man dealing with the devil to a song that's said to drive people to suicide, and ghostly figures lingering in Blues cafes. With all urban legends there is a shred of truth. Nobody, however, can deny that the pain of the Blues is still attracting fans from all parts of the world.

Additional Resources:

Delta Haze Corporation

Robert Johnson Notebooks

Robert Johnson's Death Certificate

Robert Johnson Memorials & Buildings

"Can't You Hear the Wind Howl?"

The Unofficial Billie Holiday Site

The Song that Can Kill

930 Blues Cafe

Starchild Mystery

2002-08-29T12:34:00.018-04:00

Written by: Jeff Rent
Case Filed: 08/29/02 - Jackson, Mississippi
Executive Producer: Rick Garner

The mystery of the Starchild skull began in Mexico nearly 70 years ago when a young girl discovered it in a cave. In that cave was a human female skeleton lying on the floor with a small hand sticking out of the dirt, wrapped around the arm of the skeleton.

The young girl began to dig.

"She found in a shallow grave another skeleton of a smaller being that she said was misshapen all over," says Lloyd Pye, the author and researcher for the Starchild Research Project.

It's this misshapen skeleton, of which only the skull remains, which has baffled scientists and researchers. "Who" and perhaps more importantly "what" was found in that Mexican cave? Pye believes it's a Starchild, or a human-alien hybrid, along with its mother or some sort of care taker.

Pye adds, "When it died, she buried him, left its hand sticking up out of the ground, wrapped its hand around her arm and she committed suicide."

Pye says stories of Starchildren are common among ancient cultures. The stories say a being from the heavens comes to earth and impregnates a woman who is usually infertile. Then, the village raises the child until the being returns several years later to take the child with it. As far-fetched as this might sound., Pye has done everything to prove that this couldn't possibly be what he now believes is the remains of a real Starchild.

"There is nothing to account for it, because we've been through every book that we can find about human deformities and there's nothing like it."

Pye says all reasonable theories have been disproved. And that the symmetrical, but flattened head, the unusual position of the eye sockets and the unusually low bone density point to this skull as being genuine.

But Pye's argument isn't enough to convince our experts Dr. Michael Galaty and Dr. Julian Murchison, anthropologists from Milsaps College. Both men viewed a videotape with great details about the skull presented by Pye.

Galaty says, I didn't see anything that looked so outlandish that I couldn't, I wouldn't expect it to exist."

"(Pye) didn't convince me that all other possibilities had been accounted for," says Murchison.

Galaty continues, "What you have here is a case of someone who has found something that's interesting, that he can't explain. Therefore he is jumping to the most extreme possible explanation."

"It was totally out of context," says Murchison. "We, as anthropologists - as scientists - are concerned about how things appear in context. So, he tells this fantastic story about sort of how this woman found the skull and the position of the bodies, but there's no way to go back and check that out."

Both anthropologists agree that it's tough to judge Pye's argument without physically examining the skull for themselves. However, they did suggest one way that could solve the mystery of the Starchild skull once and for all - DNA testing. Interestingly enough, Pye agrees, "That should tell us definitively one way or the other whether it is indeed a very unusual human deformity as rare and bizarre as the "Elephant Man" in it's own way. Or whether it's something else."

Pye says the only thing keeping him from conducting DNA testing is the high cost. He is currently raising the funds, which will tell him if this is a Starchild or just some old bones.

Carbon 14 dating tests have estimated the age of the skull at 900 years old.

Additional Resources:

Official Starchild Project Website

Watch Lloyd Pye Full Interview

Watch Athropologists Full Interview

Field Reports from Duff Green Mansion

2002-08-01T23:00:00.041-04:00

Written by: Rick Garner & Dean McKnight
Case Filed: 8/1/2002 - Vicksburg, Mississippi
Executive Producer: Rick Garner

Breakfast Cook Catherine Miller is emphatic in her opinion of the Duff Green, "To me, the Duff Green Mansion is one of the most beautiful places I have every worked."

Employee Lib Galloway agrees, "You know, as many people that have died in this house - it's gonna feel spooky. However, it didn't. I felt like the house was sheltering me, protecting me, and taking care of me."

Duff Green Mansion in Vicksburg was built in 1856. Then, the home of Duff and Mary Green, the young home would be faced with destruction during the Civil War. Cannonballs ripped through its upper floors five times before Mary Green raised a yellow flag from the roof. This signified that the home was a hospital and both sides - Union and Confederate soldiers - were tended to in the mansion. However, Union wounded were kept on the upper floor, just in case a wayward cannonball pierced the house, again.

Today, Duff Green is one of the nation's most elite bed and breakfast inns, restored to its former beauty with the tender care of Harry and Alicia Sharp. Restoring the home took over two years, and the Sharps soon learned they were not alone in the mansion.

Employee Brian Riley says, "This paranormal activity that happens...it happens 24 hours a day at any given time. You just never know when it's going to happen."

Miller says she's encountered the original owner more than 10 times, "I was standing there over the stove stirring my grits, and I felt this rubbing on my shoulders. I thought someone had walked in behind me - teasing me or something like that. But I looked back and there wasn't anyone there. Then, I knew it was Mrs. Green."

Miller has seen Mary Green and described her as a beautiful woman with blonde hair. Owner Harry Sharp has also seen Mary Green. "I saw something move out of the corner of my eye and I turned around and saw her floating. I could see her and the back of her large antebellum dress...it was green...and then she vanished (snap) just like that."

The Dixie Room as its called today once served as an operating room during the Siege of Vicksburg. Amputated arms and legs were once accounted as being "piled as high as the ceiling." Paranormal sightings in this room number at nearly fifty - all different, unrelated individuals who knew nothing about the room being haunted.

Sharp says, "The sighting is of the same Confederate veteran, sitting by the fireplace with his amputated leg staring straight ahead."

The Green's daughter, who died young, bounces a ball and runs up and down the steps. Sharp has heard the footsteps on several occasions.

So has Lib Galloway, "I would call thinking it was the innkeeper. Nobody answered and I'd come in the house. Not a person was in the house...not a live one anyway."

Sharp also shared how a crime scene investigator from Louisiana was taking pictures one day outside of the Duff Green. The image shocked both the investigator and Duff employees. A distinct black figure with a transparent head is clearly visible standing on the steps.

David Sharp says he once thought the sound of footsteps was so real, that he assumed it was his dad walking into the room. He began speaking to him and when he turned expecting to see him, no one else was in the room. However, the photograph of the black figure was far more disturbing to him. "That really shook me up, because I knew the place was haunted but I never wanted to see a ghost, and I saw that on camera and didn't really wanna stay here anymore."

Even on the day of our investigation, there was more unexplained. Employee Brian Riley says,"I walked down the hall and peeked into the Dixie Room and all the lights were on. So, I turned them off and left. About two minutes later, I came back through and peeked back in and all the lights were back on - that happened two or three times today."

Even while we were there, something surprised us all. A shelf that had been there some time was found collapsed and twisted. Harry Sharp was surprised by the find as the shelf was fine just two days prior - standing against the wall. We examined the shelf and found all the weight to be on the bottom, which made it seem even stranger that the shelf was twisted down and if almost stepped on by an unseen force.

Throughout the evening, we took seventy pictures. The camera says they are there but the images are inaccessible. Something else that remains to be unexplained.

Lib Galloway summed up our visit to Duff Green well, "Well, I used to think that anybody who believed in haints or ghosts had to be an idiot, but after I experienced some myself I decided its the height of arrogance to say I don't understand therefore it does not exist. I don't know what it is, but I know what I've seen and what I've heard and I know there's something."

1856 - House built by Duff and Mary Green

1861 - the iron grillwork of the balconies was cut off and donated to the Confederate Army for the manufacturing of ammunition.

Late 1860's - House used as hospital and home for displaced soldiers.

1880 - Greens sold mansion it to Peatross family

1880 - The platforms of the balconies were removed

1880-1930 - Sold to be an orphanage and nursing home

1931- Salvation Army purchased home for $3000 to be organization's local headquarters.

1985 - Sharps purchased mansion, having never been renovated or restored since it was built in 1856. Sharps undertook a two-and-a-half-year restoration with the approval of the U.S. Department of the Interior. In some rooms, they stripped as many as 27 coats of paint from the walls. Twelve-foot doors between the library and dining room were stripped to reveal solid cypress wood, which the Sharps left unpainted so that its lovely grain could be admired. They replaced missing fixtures, including all of the home's chandeliers and all but two of its thirteen original mantels. They learned that, through the years, the Salvation Army had sold the fixtures and chandeliers to raise operational funds. Original molds are located for the balconies and they, too, are restored.

Known Ghosts of Duff Green:
Mary Green: - She has been seen numerous times by several employees. Described as beautiful with blonde hair with green dress.. She has made physical contact with the breakfast cook, massaging her shoulders while the cook makes breakfast.

Young Green Daughter - Bounces a ball down the main staircase and runs up and down stairs. Also, seen as small child with blond hair and wearing a white nightgown.

Confederate solider - Always seen in Dixie Room sitting in chair with amputated leg and staring blankly ahead. 50 different guests have seen this solider, not knowing about him.

Attic white light - Central heating and air repair crews have reported a white light zipping around the attic.

Figure on step - Photographic evidence of entity on front steps. Cleanly a dark humanoid figure with translucent head.

Lady in white - Reported by one guest standing near her bed when she awoke from sleep.

Footsteps - Heard constantly in hallways and outside.

Results of Investigation:
Digital Pictures - 70 pictures taken but images are not accessible. Possibly due to exposure to electromagnetic paranormal energy.

Hi-8 Footage - The same familiar "wooden knocks" were captured in the attic twice, but the "white, zipping light" described by air conditioning repairman was not scene. However, a collapsed work shelf provided a surprise to the owner and investigation team.

Tri-Field Meter - Monitored corner of bed where woman in white had been seen by a former guest. The electromagnetic readings were fairly consistent, therefore revealing no evidence of paranormal activity at that time.

Other Experiences - Dean McKnight recalled feeling a "bone-chilling blast of cold air" in the hallway where Mary Green's ghost has been seen.
Producer Rick Garner was taping a segment with Brian Riley when he felt a light touch of a finger on his left side. He did not see or hear anything else, although the hair on his left arm stood on-end. Rick felt massive electromagnetic fields in several rooms in Duff Green, a sensation that confirms to him the presence of paranormal activity. The feeling is similar to coming in contact with an electrical field.

Call Duff Green at 1-800-992-0037 or visit their website.

Watch Tour of Dixie Room

Watch Catherine Miller Full Interview

Watch Harry Sharp Full Interview

Watch David Sharp Full Interview

Watch Caretaker Lib Galloway Full Interview

Watch Caretaker Brian Riley Full Interview

Watch Evidence of Attic Disturbance

Watch Details about Footsteps

Cooper's Well: Saratoga of the South

2002-06-27T23:00:00.015-04:00

Written by: Rebecca Drake (used by permission)
Case Filed: 6/27/02 - Raymond, Mississippi
Executive Producer: Rick Garner

Reverend Preston Cooper, a Methodist minister, bought land near Raymond in 1837 as a romantic location for his home. After building his home on the crest of a hill he was in need of increased water supply so he hired a man to dig a well at the foot of the hill. After going down 30 feet he struck a rock bed and gave up. What Reverend Cooper did not realize at the time was that for the next several years he would be "haunted" by a recurring dream in which an angel would appear and say "Dig, Cooper, Dig".

A book called History of Cooper's Well was written in 1851 by a newspaperman and in this book we find an accurate account of Rev. Cooper's experiences set down in his own words: "One night as I lay on my bed wrapped in a peaceful and quiet sleep, induced by a consciousness of being at peace with all men, I dreamed that I saw a figure of a man with a familiar face stand before me, and when I looked the man said: 'Cooper resume the digging of your well; much depends on it; it is all important you should do so, see you do it!' and vanished. So when I awoke I could scarcely persuade myself that it had been a dream." He listened to the dreams which continued for several years and became more determined than ever to dig until he struck water.

On Friday 16th, 1841 his dream was realized. After hiring four diggers the well had reached a depth of 100 feet. Neighbors gathered around the well on the final day of digging expecting a disappointment. Reverend Cooper was leaning on the windlass looking down into the well expecting the realization of his dream. Anxiety was at its highest point! A few moments after Cooper looked down the windlass the digger struck his mattock into the crevice of a rock and water appeared. Said Cooper... "It looked to me like a bright coin at the bottom of the well, and in answer to my question, 'what is that,' the digger said, 'it is water but it stinketh mightily, it stinketh so bad you can never use it."

An analysis of the water proved to be of medicinal help and people came from everywhere to drink of the water. The July, 1899 edition of the Jackson Evening News stated that "the waters had a high reputation in curing dyspepsia and the various intestinal diseases of long standing; in liver complaint, chronic inflammation of the bladder and malaria, in dropsy, and especially in chronic diarrhea."

In 1848, ten years before his death, Cooper sold the land to his brother-in-law who began to make improvements. In less than ten years after the Well's discovery it became a popular resort for the wealthy planters and merchants from Mississippi and neighboring states. A hotel was built on the site as well as a 50-foot observatory where smoke from the steamboats could be seen on the Mississippi and Yazoo River 40 miles away! The hotel became famous for its many attractions - a grand ballroom, a shooting gallery, a billiard hall, afternoon toilettes for women, and mint juleps in the saloon for the men.

The largest crowd ever recorded at the Wells was in 1851 when U.S. Senator Foote, then the Union Candidate for Governor in opposition to U.S. Senator Jefferson Davis, addressed possibly 2000 people. The Wells opened for the Season that same day and after the ball that evening over half of the visitors could not be accommodated. Many slept in chairs on the galleries and in the parlor or on the office floor.

During the Civil War "Cooper's Well Resort" was destroyed by Union troops. After the war the Spengler family from Vicksburg bought the facility and a new hotel was built. The resort then reached its zenith from around 1880 until 1920. Known as the "Saratoga of the South" the hotel could accommodate up to 800 guests. Even today some Raymond citizens can remember Cooper's Well when it was at its height of splendor... "the pavilion for dancing, military parades, the wonderful food that was served, Lake Catherine, a man-made lake covering several acres at the foot of the hills, with all its geese and ducks..."

The other popular health spa before the Civil War was "Mississippi Springs", a settlement even older than Cooper Wells, located off what is now Highway 18, near Raymond. The settlement was famous for having seven springs, each with a different water mineral. "Mississippi Springs" became more or less a camp site where people would go that had faith in the healing qualities of the water. Many of these people would build cottages and stay for long periods of time. Seven Springs Road, a few miles from Raymond now marks the area.

Little is known about what happened to Mississippi Springs and why it passed in popularity. Cooper's Well, on the other hand, died a slow death. During the Depression it became an artists colony housing painters and writers working under WPA grants. In 1940 Joe Dehmer of Jackson bought the property but the once famous hotel burned to the ground in the same year. The Pavilion, a two story open structure over the main well - used for dancing - was the last structure remaining on the site. It burned after 1970.

The graveled Cooper's Well Road has been replaced by Midway Road as access to State Highway 18. Lake Catherine no longer exists.

(Information and photography from COOPER'S WELLS BOOKLET [author unknown] found in Raymond Library.)

Learn more about Jerry McWilliams

Jerry's wife, Kay, is often speaking with various groups about Cooper's Well. If you would like to hear some of the most astounding history ever told about Mississippi, call to learn her availability at 601.857.8715. Be sure to share that you learned about Cooper's Well from "Unexplained."

Video Tour of Cooper's Well

Image of Jerry McWilliams with new Confederate Headstones

Image of Civil War map showing Cooper's Well

Image of Cooper's Well mail with Confederate stamps

Image of Cooper's Well mail dated 1912

Image of artistic Cooper's Well mail

RARE Image of receipt from Cooper's Well

Angels Among Us: Reunion

2002-03-21T23:00:00.024-05:00

Written by: Cindy Carter and Tim Freeny
Case Filed: 3/21/02 - Jackson, Mississippi
Executive Producer: Rick Garner

"I'm going to hug your neck," said Scott Watkins, when he met Sarah Haller. This reunion comes almost two months after Sarah was hit by a car on I-55 South.

She was involved in a fender-bender, and had stepped out of her car when another car struck her from behind. Scott Watkins saw the whole thing.

"I saw a black Toyota lost control and hit her and thrown her 30 feet in the air. You looked like a rag doll. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that you would not be here without the Lord's intervention," said Watkins to Sarah.

Scott called 911 and began to pray.

He says he also called his wife, asked her to pray and call anyone she could think of and get them to pray as well. Scott then pulled over and prayed over Sarah.

"I was really comforted by it. It really re-emphasized why I was still alive," says Haller. Sarah went on to say, during that time, all voices around her melted away, except one. When Sarah was laying on the ground, the only sound she could hear was the voice of Scott praying over her. The fact that Sarah could only hear his voice isn't the only thing that amazes Scott.

Scott wondered what happened to Sarah. On February 27th, just before going to bed, Scott and his wife tuned in to our newscast to watch NEWSCHANNEL 12's Unexplained report, "Angels Among Us."

"We just fell off our bed and the spirit of God hovered in our room and we got on our knees and began to pray," said Watkins. Scott contacted us and we arranged for this reunion. Scott says he was reluctant at first to come forward because he didn't want to discourage anyone's belief in angels. However, he says prayer is also a miracle and through prayer God moved him into action, and prayer prevented Sarah from being seriously injured.

"From prayer, I know the Lord reached down and touched her," said Watkins.
"I wanted to believe I had been touched by an angel, but I was even more excited about meeting him," said Haller. Sarah and Scott say they still believe in angels.

The Bible defines angels as being either divine agents or human. Sarah says at that crucial moment, Scott truly was her angel.

"(The Bible) says God will send His angels and it also says He will equip us to do his work," adds Haller.

So, this mystery shifts a bit from "who" prayed over Sarah, to the power of prayer itself. Sarah prayed for help, she received it. Scott prayed Sarah's injuries wouldn't be serious. They weren't. What do you believe?

Additional Resources:

Angels: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Angels, Demons and Satan

Do you believe in angels?

Angels Among Us

2002-02-28T23:00:00.019-05:00

Written by: Cindy Carter
Case Filed: Thursday, 2/28/02 - Jackson, Mississippi
Executive Producer: Rick Garner

Angels...messengers from God. In the Hebrew Bible, there are over 300 references to these heavenly hosts in the Old and New Testaments. Looking outside of the Christian and Jewish faiths, there are references to angels in Islam. The ancient Egyptians also believed angels visited their dead.

Do angels really exist? And if so, do they visit us in times of need? Sarah
Haller has no doubts.

"It says in the Bible that God will send his angels to watch over you and protect you and I know that day, God and his angels were watching over me."

On January 19, 2002, Sarah and her fiance were driving south on I-55 when they hit a car that was stalled in one of the lanes. They were not injured. Sarah says she noticed her car's mirror had broken off and walked into the median to retrieve it. That's when a car struck her from behind and threw her 30 feet.

"I heard a loud screech and a squeal and somebody had swerved to miss the car that we had hit and he spun out and came down into the median."

She landed face down in the grass, but never lost consciousness. A physician and his wife pulled over to help her. Sara stayed face down because she didn't want to risk further injuries. All of a sudden, Sara says she heard the voice of a man praying over her.

"His hand was on my lower back and you can hear how loud it is out here and I could hear him as if there was no other background noise."

Sara says she took note of every person that walked up to her and walked away, but no one saw the stranger arrive or leave her side. He simply showed up, prayed for her and disappeared. She says all voices melted away, except the stranger's voice.

"He was just praying: 'Dear God, please be with this girl and protect her and heal her body.' It was just amazing."

The prayer calmed her nerves.

"I do believe that she did see an angel." Mark Anderson is pastor at Sarah's church, Colonial Heights Baptist. He's familiar with her story and says angels acting as guardians, comforters and protectors is not a myth. "The classic verses that we find are in Psalm 91 saying that we have angels that are our guardians. In Matthew 18, there are scripture references to treating little ones right because they have angels who are before the face of God."

So, if angels exist, what do they look like? Many of us picture wings and a halo but for those who say they've encountered angels, like Sarah, this traditional image just doesn't match what they claimed to have seen.

"In the Hebrew Bible, there is a word for angel which is "malakh" and then, there's another word for angel which is "shalakh," but you have both words refer to human as well as divine agents at various times."

Rabbi Jim Egolf tells us, while angels can be supernatural; humans are just as capable of doing god's work. Angels can be human. "We look for the miraculous and yet we probably walk through every day and don't realize who's doing what that's God's work."

There is certainly a modern day fascination with angels. There are books written about them and, of course, hit television shows and movies often borrow from the legend. In the middle of this fascination, spiritual leaders don't want people to forget: angels represent God but they are not gods. Sometimes they don't have our best interests in mind.

"Just as there are good angels, there are bad angels that are demonic spirits. These are angels who fell from heaven."

Anderson says a person seeking an "angelic" presence in their life opens the door for all angels, even evil ones. Of course, experts say, looking for an angel and having a chance encounter are two different things. Sarah is certain an angel from God came to her assistance.

"Everybody I've told about it says 'Wow, you had an angel come pray over you!"

Pastor Anderson believes Sarah's story. Rabbi Egolf agrees it is possible. So, what do you believe?

People who consider themselves "angel experts" say they've learned a few things about angels based on people's experiences. Angels are always in a hurry, they can't be traced and have a tendency to vanish once their mission is accomplished.

Additional Resources:

Angels: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Angels, Demons and Satan

Do you believe in angels?

Jackson's Worst Disaster

2002-02-19T19:24:00.039-05:00

Written by: Jeff Rent
Case Filed: 2/19/02 - Jackson, Mississippi
Executive Producer: Rick Garner

Few know of the horrific past a quiet block in Downtown Jackson has experienced.

"It was Jackson's version of the Twin Towers," says Historian Grady Howell, Jr. He has studied the event in detail and recounts what happened when Jackson's Confederate arsenal exploded on November 5th, 1862.

"And at 3:10 that afternoon, this quiet little knoll that we're standing on right now and where that building is pretty much located turned into a volcano. According to the witnesses, it blew the place into atoms. The cannonballs that were being refilled were exploding, the bullets were exploding, the wreckage was ablaze, bodies were thrown all over the place."

Arsenals had one purpose: the production and storage of weapons for either the Confederacy or Union armies. No photographs or sketches exist of Jackson's arsenal, a converted boy's school. However, its appearance and size could've resembled the headquarters for the State Department of Education, formerly Central High School. The appearance and the destruction of the arsenal were mysteries.

Howell adds,"There was no published account of what actually happened."
Jump forward about 90 years and this was a pretty typical neighborhood for Jackson, a number of houses and apartment complexes lined the 500 block of North Street, but residents who lived here in those days would find things that were anything but normal.

Con Maloney, who grew up in the area, "I can remember some of the big trees that were sitting back in here had cannonballs in them...actually had cannonballs in the trees. We'd climb up the trees and look at 'em and talked about trying to pry them out, but we never did."

In fact, in the early 1950's, this area after heavy rains yielded numerous weapon fragments and intact cannonballs.

"I've always wondered why something hasn't been built there on that property, but so far it hasn't."

So, for years Jackson's worst disaster went unexplained, but through a little research, Mr. Howell was able to shed some light on what happened here and to debunk any of the conspiracy theories. It came down to one thing: poor quality control.

"Black powder while they were fabricating the cartridges on the tables was spilling on the tables. There were open kegs of black powder that they were getting ready to use for the manufacturing of more munitions. "

Con Maloney also recalls yet another historical jewel from this area, one that's a piece of another international mystery.

"In the apartment house where we lived...we lived on one side...my Uncle John lived on the other side, my Uncle Pete lived upstairs and across the hall from him was Mrs. Noonan. The only thing that was interesting about Mrs. Noonan was that she was the wife of Amelia Earhart's navigator. Most people don't even realize that Amelia Earhart had a navigator!"

This unassuming plot of land proves that we often pass right by a mystery and never know it - in this case the site of Jackson's worst disaster to date.

The Most Appalling Disaster

Jackson, Mississippi Arsenal Explosion

November 5, 1862

Copyright 2001 by H. Grady Howell, Jr.

We are all more than familiar with the recent disasters in New York and Washington, D.C., caused by terrorists who wish to destroy our way of life. This is really not a new phenomenon in the history of mankind. We here in the State of Mississippi had our own similar disaster in November 1862, in the midst of a war which we fought to declare our independence from the folds of the beautiful banner we all hold so dear today. Our disaster, however, appears to have been the result of a grievous accident rather than the work of saboteurs, incendiaries or madmen.

Jackson, the State Capital of Mississippi, was the scene of much military activity between the years 1861-1865. It's primary importance during this period of war, aside from the fact that it was the crossroads of railroad traffic through the State and Deep South, was that it was a city of executive and military authority, a military stockpile depot, behind-the-lines hospital area and a crucial center of the state's manufacturing and munitions production.
Like the rest of the Confederacy, Jackson relied on ersatz to supplement its over-taxed resources. Its medical facilities ranged from open and tented lots, private homes, empty warehouses, churches and a precious dew actual hospitals; smelly tanneries turned to leather for shoes and accouterments; mills produced clothe for uniforms and tents; quartermasters gleaned the area of subsistence crops to support the army; and a small munitions plant moved into a vacant school for boys.

The public schools of Jackson were situated on the northern outskirts of the city on a site known as "College Green." This area was bounded on the North by High Street, South by Mississippi Street, East by Jefferson Street and West by North Street. Two brick two-story structures were erected in this area before the war. The northernmost building was for the boys and the one on the southern end of this "Green" was for girls. According to one historian: "In 1862, the boys school building was concerted into an arsenal and occupied by about eighty men, women and children, manufacturing cartridges for the Confederacy."

Jackson had been a relatively quiet provincial town in 1860. The U.S. Federal Census for that year tabulated its population at 3,191. This figure mushroomed to many thousands with the coming of the war. Most of the increase was due to soldiers either stationed in the vicinity or passing though. The largest stationary increase, however, was due to the many country people who flocked to town to secure jobs on the home front.

For all its importance to the Confederacy, Jackson was certainly no fabled fortress-city like Troy. Even though it was a massive encampment, hospital and staging area, the defenses protecting the city were described by one foreign observer as, "a mild trench?dignified by the name of fortifications of Jackson."

In 1862, there was no need for bristling field works in central Mississippi. The war was distant to many Jacksonians, especially those with no loved ones away at the battlefront. Evidence of how serious the war was reached Jackson first-hand in early April, 1862, when numerous, bloody trainloads of dead and dying men were suddenly dumped into the city sand surrounding area in the wake of the horrific Battle of Shiloh, Tennessee.

The news on everyone's lips by early November of '62 centered on Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's and Union Gen. George B. McClelland's armies hammering each other to a standstill at Sharpsburg, Maryland, in what would also be called the Battle of Antietam and September 17, 1862, being forever known as the bloodiest single day's fighting of the war. Closer to home, on October 4th, Confederate Gen. Earl Van Dorn's Confederate Army was likewise bloodily repulsed by Union Gen. William Rosecran's Army in the Battle of Second Corinth, Mississippi. After the latter, more casualty trains steamed into Jackson day and night, delivering the quick and the dead. With the constricting of its national borders and collapse of resources to its north, Jackson became even more important for its small plants and manufactories. Despite these catastrophes, by November 1862, the war was still pretty much a distant affair to its citizenry.

On November 5th, an independently minded young man measured off the distance between his home and job in the Jackson Arsenal. The day was clear and relatively warm. It had been unusually dry and leaves and twigs crushed and snapped underfoot as he walked along. He did not even know at the time, but miles to northeast in Washington, D.C., President Abraham Lincoln, his avowed enemy, was replacing Gen. McClelland as commander of the Union Army of the Potomac with Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside who would later lead his army to severe defeat in the Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia. Simultaneously, a skirmish was taking place near Jumpertown in northeast Mississippi, and Union forces were jockeying into position at LaGrange and Grand Junction, Tennessee and the swamps north of Vicksburg, Mississippi, for gen. U.S. Grant's Autumn Campaign of 1862 to capture that prize fortress-city on the Mississippi River.

All that did not bother him as he paced himself on this fateful day. What did bother this young man, however, and played constantly on his mind was the carelessness he witnessed in the day-to-day operation of his place of employment, the Arsenal.

His job was that of a "cartridge maker" and part of the process was "dipping." He dipped the ball-end of the prepared cartridge, which consisted of a ball and powder wrapped in paper wadding, into a pan of melted, mixed wax and tallow. He visualized the process, "to keep this mixture melted a small lamp placed in an iron frame upon which rested a copper pan containing the wax and tallow was kept burning. Occasionally, it would be necessary to remove the pan so as to be able to draw up the wick of the lamp. Loose powder was usually scattered about the table and frequently stray grains would adhere to the bottom of the pan and flash when placed over the lamp. I have repeatedly complained of this to the foreman," he thought, "but he takes no steps to remedy this problem.

When he reached the arsenal, the boy noticed a fresh barrel of powder had been opened that morning, "and there was probably a half pound more loose in cartridges." Increasingly irritated, the boy continued to work. At about 11 o'clock A.M. on replacing the pan after rearranging the wick, there was such a flash that I came near jumping out the window," he later recalled. He protested the danger to his supervisor once again, who snubbed him.

Aggravated the youth angrily quit his job and returned home. He was the last known individual too leave the building alive.

About 3:30 P.M. he heard and felt a terrific explosion and raced back to the arsenal. He noticed that "the little Gem Engine" was quickly brought out from the fire house, but the continued detonations of shells and cartridges made it unsafe to go near. The explosion was heard as far to the East as Brandon, in Rankin County.

On the following day, November 6th, The Weekly Mississippian, a Jackson newspaper reported:

"A Dark Day For Jackson"

Yesterday afternoon, about three o'clock, a terrific explosion took place at the Arsenal in this city, blowing up the Magazine and producing a fearful shock throughout the city and its suburbs, killing all the hands engaged in making cartridges and completely destroying all the vast army stories that had been gathered there. The scene after the explosion is described as heart-rending. Mangled bodies of men, women and girls who had been employed in making cartridges were scattered in every direction!

Many bodies were so terribly lacerated as to render recognition wholly impossible. We are not able to-day to give the names of that ill-fated band - about thirty-four - who were so hurriedly ushered into eternity, or the extent of the loss sustained in the munitions of war, but will do so tomorrow. The sight was dreadful in the highest degree, and the loss of ammunition heavy. Jackson will long remember and mourn the sad occurrence."

On November 7th, the Mississippian reported more fully:

About half past three o'clock on Wednesday afternoon, (the day before yesterday) our city was the scene of one of the most appalling disaster that it was ever our misfortune to witness, the results of which are heart-rendering. At the above hour one of the building, about three squares back of the Bowman House, used by the Ordinance officers for the manufacture of ammunition, exploded with an awful crash that shook every house in the city, and caused the greatest alarm and excitement - in an instant astonishment and horror was depicted in every face, and soon hundreds were running with breathless haste to the locality of the sad occurrence. A scene her met the eye that caused the stoutest heart to quail! Two story brick building used as the laboratory was blown to the smallest atoms, and the debris were scattered several hundred yards around. All the men and women employed in the building at the time, had been hurled to instantaneous destruction. Shockingly mangled bodies of both sexes lay around in the most frightful and horrible position, besides blackened and disfigured so as to almost defy identity as human beings! One man had a leg torn off and his brains literally blown out. The body of a poor girl was hanging by one foot to the limb of a tree, she was evidently dead, but her clothes were still burning. Other bodies were blown to the distance of from fifty to one hundred and fifty yards, and presented a mutilated and most shocking appearance. The packages of powder and the shells were yet continually exploding as the fire of the burning ruins reached them, and many who attempted to go near, in order to render assistance, if needed, were thus warned to desist until the danger was over.

The fire engine was promptly on the ground, but could no do much owing to the want of water.

In a short time many of the friends and relatives of the unfortunate victims were on the spot, and scenes of the most affecting heart-rendering character took place as the awful fatality was known. Several surgeon and humane gentlemen endeavored to find some who had not been killed outright, but the only one we saw who seemed to have any chance of recovery was the sentinel! - his thigh was broken and he was otherwise wounded, he was carefully placed on a cot and borne off by friends. Another sentinel, about one hundred yards or more from the explosion, was hit in the back by a flying brick - and but slightly injured. James, Carnes, a carpenter was also slightly hurt in the side. These were the only one outside the building who were hurt.

The officers in charge of the Arsenal are we learn, Colonel A.P. Stockton, Captain W. Tams, Lieutenant R.S. Kinney, and Captain H. Fisher. Col. Stockton had fortunately banned called always. Captain Tames and Captain Fisher were not in the immediate vicinity of the explosion luckily, and Lieutenant Kinney was providentially absent, sick in his room. (Which explains the problem, all of the officers, save one superintendent, were not on duty at the site at the time of the accident.) At the time of the explosion, the laboratory held only a few hundred rounds of fixed ammunition, and about two hundred pounds of powder, so that the pecuniary loss is quite inconsiderable. The cause that led to this tragical occurrence must like others of a similar nature, remain, a mystery. It is most positively known that there was no fire within several hundred feet of the laboratory, and no satisfactory account can ever be given of the cause of the direful calamity. The officers mentioned, are well known to be skillful, experienced and cautious, and the employees had often been warned of the dangerous character of the materials they worked with-only two out of twenty one young woman are known to be saved - twenty-nine bodies through the humane exertions of the Mayor and his attendants, have been gathered together for burial. Some of them have not been recognized, so severely have their features and bodies been distorted. The other buildings of the Arsenal were comparatively injured, but some of the dwellings in the immediate vicinity, were considerably damaged. Their occupants had a wonderful escape, and were terror-stricken for hours after the occurrence. While our community mourns over the sad reality of the frightful destructions of life, we are all seriously reminded of the great uncertainty of human affairs. We trust, that we may never again have to related such agonizing details of the loss of human beings - The unparallel fact, of the greater potion of the victims being helpless women is dreadful indeed, and serves to make this the most truly melancholy record we ever penned. - Owing to the confusion and excitement in the city, we are unable to give our readers anything like a definite statement of this sad and lamentable affair. We are indebted to the courtesy of Capt. Henry Fisher, military store keeper, for the following lists of the killed, those who are known to be safe and those not heard from - the latter we have hope will yet report themselves safe.

KNOW TO BE KILLED

Thomas Halley, laborer

John Corcoran, "

John Blake, "

P. Somers, "

J. Tiernay, "

Charles Little, "

William McCook, "

A.W. Moore, superintending laboratory.

Louis Divine, cartridge-maker

John Wall, "

Ed Wall, "

John McNeil, "

F. Olin, "

W. Stowers, "

Geo. Stowers, "

A.J. Patterson, "

John Tafley, "

Laura Hickey, "

Lucy Gray, "

Nancy Gray, "

Leona Head, "

Sarah E. Jones, "

Adela Hurd, "

Caroline Muller, "

Emily Grey, "

Sarah James, "

Cammie March, "

Mary Powers, "

Letitia Shannon "

Mary Burns "

Thomas Wallace, laborer.

John Heaply, cartridge-maker

Chas. Herr, "

W. Brey, "

M. Stafford, "

J. Harrigan, "

Mary Hnederson, "

Nelly Powell, "

Emma Moddy, "

Martha Patterson, "

W.T. Millett, "

E. Monahan, "

H. Donald, "

F. Muller, "

A.S. Langley, "

L. Boston, "
James Carnes, laborer, slightly injured in the side.

"Another Victim - We learn this morning, that a deaf and dumb boy by the name of Joel Crane, who was not mentioned in our list of the casualties yesterday, was killed by the explosion of the ordnance building, Wednesday morning."

As is the case with most disasters, confusion reigned and is evidenced by the following news article:

"In the list of casualties attending the explosion of the Ordnance building on Wednesday evening, the fate of Henry Donnell and W.S. Millet, was put down as unknown; the facts were far different. Henry Donnell and W.S. Millet, were the first discovered and removed, and were consigned to the tomb the following evening.

We also would make this correction- instead of F. Olin, it should have been Oliver H. Oliin who was killed. F. Olin was not hurt.

E. Monahan and Emma Moode were also put down as "fate unknown," but both bodies were found, and as in the case of all who were in the ill-fated building, their sad fate is too well known. Not one of that ill-starred band is left to tell of the awful disaster."

Luther S. Braechtel, a State Treasury Department Clerk, penned in his daily journal that night:

"terrible accident today at 31/2 P.M. Government Arsenal (North School House) blew up causing death of between 35 & 40 personnel - All inside were killed so that no one can account for the explosion supposed to be accidental - the exact number of lives lost cannot be ascertained."

"Before our city recovered from the shock caused by the explosion of the magazine, a fire broke out on Main Street, (South State Street) occupied by Mr. Goodman as a jewelry and dry-goods establishment. This occurred about 10:30 P.M. The win blew in a northwesterly direction and owing to the extremely dry weather and the difficulty of getting water it was seriously feared that the whole city would be swept into the general conflagration. The fire raged northward from the building occupied by Mr. Goodman, and destroyed the house occupied by Mrs. Evans as a millinery establishment and continued its ravages to Mr. Weirs, next to John Martz, next to Mr. John Robinson's where the progress of the flames was arrested. Also destroyed was the depot of the Southern Railroad with several surrounding buildings. Several bales of cotton and considerable quantity of goods were destroyed, the extent of which we have not yet been advised."

Clerk Braechtel recorded in his journal that, "many goods were stolen after being removed" from the depot. He also noted that on the 6th he, "Attended the funeral at 4 P.M. (and) saw 11 of the explosion victims lowered in their graves in 1 ? hours."

The girl's school survived the blast and stood for a number of years after the war. The devastation of war, however, wiped away many records of this, the most tragic and blackest day in Jackson, Mississippi; and despite The Mississippian's prediction that "Jackson will long remember and mourn the sad occurrence," it was forgotten by succeeding generation to the point that not even the location of the mass burial sites within the confines of Greenwood Cemetery (the Old City Cemetery of Civil War times) is noted and can be found!

On February 11, 1863, a scant three months after the explosion an appropriately named Jackson newspaper, The Daily Southern Cross, carried the following article, which had a sad correction to the arsenal disaster:

"We regret to learn that an accident occurred on the Southern railroad, on Monday last, by which a citizen of this city lost his life. Mr. David Gray was killed at the crossing of the bridge over Black River. He was a brakeman and was standing on top of the cars at the time the train struck the bridge. The joists above were so low as to require a man to sit down to safely cross. Not observing this precaution, either from inattention on his part, or from the failure of the engineer to give the proper signal, he was struck in the back of the head by the joist and instantly killed. The blow tore off his upper part of the head, and subsequently one hand was cut off, and his leg broken both above and below the knee. This is the ninth accident of a similar character that has occurred at that bridge with in the past few months.

Mr. Gray was quite a young man and was the only support of a widowed mother. Two of his sisters were killed last fall, at the explosion of the arsenal in this city. - His father was killed a year or so ago."

As late as 1953, Anabel Powers, a Mississippi columnist described the trail of residue left where the disaster November 5th had taken place, 91 years after it had happened:

"The Arsenal occupied a large part of what is now the 500 block of North Street and on the site now stands the home of the late Mr. And Mrs. T.P. Barr, and their family. Their daughters, Mrs. Ida Bar, Hannah and Mrs. M.R. Barr Martin and Mr. Martin still occupy the home which Mr. Barr bought in 1897. On taking possession of the property Mr. Barr immediately had the back part excavated for a garden; workmen struck brick foundation of the old arsenal and all the bricks were removed and stored for further use. Numerous flower beds in the yard are outlines with these relics of Jackson's greatest tragedy at that time. A splendid oak tree still stands in the yard and into its branches were blown mangled bodies during the explosion. A cannon ball is imbedded in its trunk and we are told that even now, after ninety years, following unusually heavy rains, minie balls and fragments of shell are brought to the surface and, until a few years ago, an occasional cannon ball would be found. A tree in the yard of Mr. And Mrs. Tom Spengler, adjoining the residence carried a cannon ball in its trunk as a reminder of the tragedy."

Jim Henry, of Jackson, remembered that as a younger newspaper delivery boy in 1950, his route covered this area. According to Jim, "A little old lady" lived in one of several old homes that then stood on this block and she invited him into her home one day. He remembered that the "whole front parlor was filled with Minie' balls and bits and piece of artillery shells." The lady told him that she hand members of her family had found all of them around in her yard over the years. Jim also remembered that around this same time period he was delivering his papers one day and the block was sealed off by police and the military. Later, the lady told him that they had "dug up some unexploded cannon balls and taken them to Camp Shelby to be blown up!"

As stated earlier, the horrible tragedy was, regretfully, largely forgotten with time. The words penned by J.L. Power in the Jackson City Directory of 1860, two years before it happened, strike an al-too-familiar cord concerning the short memories of many in the old capitol city both then and now:

"As 'one of the oldest inhabitants' has yet furnished me with an 'authentic sketch' of the early times of Jackson, I will not attempt anything of kind myself. The list of Inscriptions in out Cemetery, however, will prove a silent, though sad history, of the place. While it may be regretted that the graves of many of departed citizens are without designation, yet their silent resting places are recognized by those few who were more near and dear to them in life. For them.

----

'There is no stone

To sanctify the dead;

O'er them the willow droops alone,

With only wild flowers spread."

Willie Mae Brister Murder Case

2001-12-27T13:09:00.012-05:00

Written by: Greg Fetzer
Case Filed: 12/27/01 - Mount Olive, Mississippi
Executive Producer: Rick Garner

Willie Mae Brister and her husband had three daughters. He died in 1989. She continued to operate the store after his death. Her customers were her neighbors and she knew them well, giving many of them food and dry goods because they didn't have the money to pay.

She was well respected by most everyone in the community. She stood about 5' feet 2 and was the typical southern lady. Her life was simple. She didn't drive. She grew her own vegetables and stayed around her home which was just a few feet from her grocery store.

Family members say she saved just about every penny she earned. Those pennies grew into a small fortune: a fortune worth a little over a million dollars.

That fortune is what two of her daughters say killed her.

Brister was last seen on Sunday, May 7th, 2000 by her best friend Sara Fleming. Family members say that Brister had been depressed and worried for about a month - but they weren't sure why. Brister wouldn't talk about her problems - problems that apparently ended Brister's life.

On the morning of May 8th, she was found hanging in a small shed. She and her husband had built the small wooden structure over 40 years ago. Her death was meant to look like she committed suicide -- but investigators quickly determined it was murder.

A long time friend of Brister's - Willie Creer - found her body hanging. Creer and Brister's son-in-law, Gene Keen, went to her home after Keen said he couldn't reach her by phone. However, according to information obtained from investigators, telephone records of Keen's residence and the residence of Brister fail to reflect any telephone calls to the Brister home.

According to police and autopsy reports, she was choked to death, dragged through her home, and hanged. Two of her daughters, Linda Burrow and Debbie Sullivan, say their mother was brutally murdered because someone wanted her money. They believe their oldest sister, Joyce Keen, and her husband Gene had something to do with it. According to Burrow and Sullivan, their sister had taken her mother to the bank just days before she was murdered. They say bank accounts were transferred over into Keen's name and that a large sum of money was missing.

The Simpson County Sheriff's Department continued the investigation. On August 7th, 2001, a little over a year after the murder, Simpson County Sheriff J.C. Dillon thought he had four people responsible for Brister's death. The arrest came after a 16 year-old confessed to the murder and implicated three family members. Clint Butler III, the grandson of one of Brister's neighbors, was picked up and taken in for questioning after he allegedly bragged to a friend about "killing the old bitch for her money."

According to the sheriff, Butler told him he was given a hundred dollars to help kill her. He said that Joyce and Gene Keen were there and that Brister's grandson, Ricky Burrow was also present. Dillon arrested all four people on capital murder charges and placed them in the Simpson County jail - but the evidence on the four didn't stick and after a few weeks a judge ordered them to be released because of lack of evidence.

For now, the murder of Willie Mae Brister remains unsolved. The Attorney General's Office has stepped in and they continue to investigate.

Willie Mae Brister's death continues to be a hot topic in Simpson County. But there are still a lot of questions unanswered. Below are documented pieces of evidence in the case.

================================================

State of Mississippi

County of Simpson

Circuit Court

CONFIDENTIAL NOT TO BE REPRODUCED

Underlying Facts and Circumstances In Support Of An Affidavit For An Arrest Warrant

Personally Appeared Before Me, The Undersigned Officer Of Said Court_______________, Who Stated Under Oath That The Facts And Circumstances Relied Upon In Establishing The Grounds For Issuance Of An Arrest Warrant For GENE KEEN & JOYCE KEEN, On The Charge Of MURDER Are As Follows:

1. This case involves the death by homicide of WILLIE MAE BRISTER, female Caucasian on or about the 8th day of May, 2000.

2. The body of Mrs. Brister was discovered in a barn, located approximately sixty (60) feet to the rear of her red brick home.

3. The residence and barn is located approximately seven (7) miles West of Magee, Mississippi. Both the residence and barn are located in Simpson County, Mississippi.

4. The body of Mrs. Brister was discovered approximately 20:30 hours of the morning of May 8, 2000, by Willie Creer, a long-time yard man and friend of the deceased and Gene Keen.

5. Willie Creer was directed to the scene by Gene Keen, a son-in-law of Mrs. Brister.

6. The circumstances surrounding the discovery of Mrs. Brister's body are suspicious at best. Keen arrived at the residence of Creer around 09:20, May 8th and requested that Creer assist Keen by driving with Keen to pick up a vehcile that needed window repair.

Creer stated that the window has been broken for several weeks and questions why Keen picked this particular day to have it repaired. While enroute to pick up the vehcile, Keen stated that he ha repeatedly tried this date to contact his mother-in-law at her residence, by telephone, without success, Adding that he has called at least five (5) times.

At the intersection where a right turn would take you to the machanics shop, Creer insisted that Keen turn left in order that they might see if Mrs. Brister was alreight or if something was wrong.

7. Creer states that Keen refused to turn left towards the residence of Mrs. Brister and only after Creer demanded that they check on Mrs. Brister, did Keen turn the vehicle in that direction. Creer further states that after turning left, he, Keen, attempted to stop twice and reverse his direction. By this time, Creer observed that Keen was visibly shaken and upset.

8. As they rounded a sweeping curve approaching the Brister residence, suddenly Keen announced, "The barn is open". At this point Creer and Keen are over ? mile away from the residence. Keen then added, "That door is never left open."

9. Arriving at the scene, Keen refused to leave the vehicle and directed Creer to proceed to the barn and shut the door.

10. While Keen remained in the vehicle, located at the front of the residence, Creer attempted to enter the front entrance and found it locked. Creer then observed the back door standing open and then proceeded to the barn, hoping to see Mrs. Brister.

11. While attempting to close the two (2) barn doors, Creer initially failed to see the body of Mrs. Brister, which was partially concealed, due to limited light. The body was hanging several feet to the rear of the door.

12. On viewing Mrs. Brister's body hanging from a rope attached to the third, inside rafter, Creer initially panicked and ran screaming back to the vehicle containing Keen. Creer then shouted to Keen, "She's hanging". Keen's only response was, "Cut her down". Keen then retired to the front porch and remained there the entire time, never attempting to approach the scene. During this time, he was observed to be very emotional.

13. Keen has stated that he had repeatedly attempted to contact Mrs. Brister, the morning of May 8, 2000. This simply is untrue. Subpoenaed telephone records of Keen's residence and residence of Mrs. Brister fail to reflect any telephone calls to the Brister residence.

14.The rope used in an abortive attempt to emulate suicide has been identified by four (4) persons as belonging to Gene Keen.

On April 7, 2000, Gene Keen was questioned by Simpson County officers regarding a fire, identified as arson, at the Keen residence. During the interview Keen was shown a piece of rope and when asked by the Sheriff, "Do you know what this is? Keen responded, "That's the rope that was used to hang my mother-in-law". Note: Keen never went to the murder scene. He at no time had any opportunity to view this rope. As attested by Coroner Bobby Williams, the rope was bagged by Williams prior to leaving the barn and was never available for anyone except sworn personnel to see. Keen, without any hesitation, made his statement.

15. Gene Keen attempted to use Willie Creer as a "Time alibi" in order to have the body of Mrs. Brister discovered.

16. Keen, when questioned by Chief Deputy Dillon regarding the telephone calls he claimed to have made, stated, "I guess I am in serious trouble."

17. On Saturday night before the murder, Sunday night or early Monday morning, both Gene and Joyce dined with Mrs. Brister.

18. Since the interview of Gene Keen, his wife, Joyce Keen, has kept him secluded, making it impossible to interview him.

19. In February of 1997, Joyce Keen was granted power of attorney by Mrs. Brister. A preliminary examination of bank records reflect that between 1997 and 2000, Joyce Keen withdrew large sums of money from the accounts of Mrs. Brister.

20. As the amount of money mis-spent by Joyce Keen grew, the chance of Mrs. Brister discovering the shortage also increased. This problem was resolved when Joyce elected to move the majority of the money to her sole control.

21. Telephone records clearly show that Joyce Keen and Mrs. Brister were on a collision course. In the seven (7) days before her death, Mrs. Brister spent over nine (9) hours talking to Joyce Keen on the telephone.

22. An interview with Mrs. Sarah Fleming, Mrs. Brister's closest friend, revealed that Mrs. Brister was distraught, constantly crying and, "Ringing her hands". Each day of the week before her death, the situation deteriorated. Mrs., Brister would declare, "I must get to the bank and get my business straight, something is wrong." Additionally, Joyce and her daughter-in-law Kim Lander planned to put Mrs. Brister in an after care facility, located in Hattiesburg, where Kim Lander is a supervisor.

Mrs. Brister was adamant about not going to the home. At the time of her death she was in generally good health, and was known to have had a good outlook on life. Her despair surfaced only after she learned on the 28th of April that Joyce had withdrawn all the money and planned on putting her away. It was then that she became despondent.

23. The fire at the residence of Gene and Joyce Keen has been identified by investigators as arson. This has been confirmed by laboratory analysis.

24. Material identified as the accelerant, found at the font and rear of the residence, was matched with diesel fuel contained on a can located in the rear of a pickup belonging to Gene Keen.

25. On the evening before her death, Mrs. Brister was so despondent that Mrs. Sarah Fleming called Mrs. Brister's brother, Truman, asking that he check on his sister. After visiting with Mrs. Brister, Truman called Joyce Keen and related her mothers mental condition. Truman states that Joyce's response was, "I am not going over there, she only has one more night to spend alone".

26. Since the death of Mrs. Brister, her daughter, Joyce Keen, has made no effort to assist in the identifying of those persons responsible for her mother's death. Two other daughters have spent a considerable amount of monies and untold hours of personal time assisting authorities. Gene and Joyce Keens' response was to employ a criminal Attorney who has instructed both to remain silent.

27. Joyce Keen, while at the scene of the crime, responded to a request by authorities searching for Mrs. Brister's keys by reaching in her purse and producing the keys. This was done prior to Mrs. Keen entering the home. How could she have had possession of keys that should have been in the residence?

28. J.C. Dillon, Simpson County Sheriff, stated to us on May 24, Thursday that Eddie Bowen, DA told him that he could no arrest Joyce and Gene Keen and that he (J.C.) had to do what Eddie said.

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Cut Off My Feet

2001-11-30T23:00:00.005-05:00

Written by: Darren Dedo
Case Filed: 11/30/01 - Lumberton, Mississippi
Executive Producer: Rick Garner

"I wanna make sure it goes through on the first whack!"

Meet Paul Morgan, aka "Freck." He wants to do something very out of the ordinary. "We could make money, chop your feet off with a train over the internet." Luckily, Paul didn't take his friend's advice, but he is going to cut his feet off. For $20, he'll let you watch him do it "live" on the internet.

"The feet have to come off anyway to have the amputation. I'm going to take my feet off this way to raise the money I need to get the prosthetics."

Yes, you heard right. Paul is going to chop his feet with a homemade guillotine. Paul injured his legs in a car crash back in 1986. He can walk but barely. He says his insurance company won't pay for an operation. That's why he's selling internet subscription for $20, so people can watch him amputate his feet. "They regard this as unnecessary surgery, because even though my feet and my lower legs are total debilitated, they're not a danger to my health."

Paul says he needs to raise over $100,000 to pay for the prosthetics and future surgeries. You have to admit, Paul seems a little crazy. Especially since the Attorney General's office offered to get him some help. "They offered a surgeon in Jackson, who would cut off my legs for free. Now, they didn't offer any kind of rehab or amputation or prosthetics." Paul says he needs extra money for post-surgery procedures.

The AG's office could stop Paul's plans. Officials refused to comment on camera, but they told us Paul might be violating the state's Mayhem Statute. The one passage that pertains to Paul: "Mutilating or destroying a limb." If convicted, a person could face jail time. The law aside, what about the safety issue? Paul says he'll receive a sedative and wear tourniquet on his legs, "I've already secured the efforts of EMT's locally as well as around the country who will be there on site." Paul will to go the hospital immediately after the cut.

As morbid as it sounds, Paul is looking forward to dropping the blade. "To me, this is going to be much more of a celebration. People say, 'you seem too much excited.' For me, it's going to be a celebration. This is beginning of a whole new way of life for me." Paul is scheduled to chop off his feet on November 30th. If he doesn't raise enough money, he says he'll give his voyeuristic fan club members a rebate.

This just in, it looks like Paul's fans will have to wait another month to see Paul do "his duty." Because of construction and web delays, the event is now scheduled for January 5 at an undisclosed location on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.