Haunted Houses and Family Ghosts of Kentucky

by William Lynwood Montell

  Aunt Bessie said, “The Glenns.”

  Danny was so startled because he had heard me tell the story many times, he almost fell out of his chair. Aunt Bessie went on to tell that later on in years the old log cabin had burned down. None of the Campbell family knew of or had heard anyone speak of any log cabin being located right on the same site where their home is now located. There have been many other happenings at the Campbell house that would be of interest to anyone. As the old saying goes, “Good things come to those who wait.”

  185. “The Confederate Soldier”

  Lyon County

  The year was 1963, when Sandra Lockhart, her husband, and their two children lived in this old house located near the Cumberland River. It was also near a place called the old McCormick house. Sandra had put her children down for the evening, while her husband was still working. She then sat down to write her twin sister, Rita, a letter. While writing and waiting for her husband, Sandra heard a horse galloping right in front of the house. She got up from her couch to see who it could be. She opened the door, and what she saw was beyond anything she had ever seen in her life!

  Sitting straight and tall, with one arm folded on his chest and the other arm holding the reins of his white horse s bridle, there sat a man dressed in Confederate clothing. He had on a gray uniform, black boots, and his hat was one that appeared as neat as a state trooper s hat of today. The soldier gave no hint of movement as Sandra turned on her porch light in order to see better. The soldier and his white horse began to trod up and down her driveway with very precise formation. The horse pranced as if trained his whole life to do it. The soldier never missed a beat along the ride. Together, they rode back and forth in the driveway without the soldier ever looking anywhere but forward.

  Sandra then looked and saw her husband coming down the far end of the driveway in their car. She was sure he would not see the soldier on the horse, and would thus hit him because the banks of either side of the drive were much too high to climb, even on a horse, and the road was too narrow for both of them to pass by each other safely.

  When Sandra’s husband arrived, she asked him excitedly, “Did you see the soldier on that white horse?”

  “What horse and soldier?” he asked.

  Sandra never saw the soldier again, or anything like that. However, other people reported numerous sightings of him along about that same time. Hearsay tells of a Confederate soldier being buried by that old McCormick house with his wife and children. Some people turned the soldier’s marker over on purpose during a period of mischief about the same time that Sandra saw him. After his stone marker was set back up, he has never been seen again.

  186. “The Ghost Man”

  Woodford County

  On October 3, 1987, in this house we had moved into on Scott’s Ferry West, near the Kentucky River here in Woodford County, at exactly midnight I was awakened by a voice going “Ohhh, rhaaa, oooh, rhaaa, raah.” The noise was coming from the living room where my invalid mother lay in her hospital bed. I thought to myself whether my mom had died, or whether this was the devil. Then I felt a presence coming down the hallway. I continued to lay on my stomach, but I put my right hand on my pistol under my pillow. This thing came into my room and stood at my bed staring down at me. All I could think of was to pray, “Lord, let him think I’m asleep; dont let him touch me, and please don’t let him go into my sons room. As he walked away, I saw a man walk into my son s room. But he left and walked back towards the living room.

  He was stocky built, and his boots and hat made him look a good six feet tall. His face was gruff, his hair shoulder length and in a page-boy fashion. The hat he had on had a very wide brim, and was flat. The head part extended a little higher in the back than front. He wore a riding cape that had flat shoulder pads with tassel hanging all around the edges of the pads. His pants looked like that of riding britches. His boots came up over his knees and were folded down at the top. He had a weapon on his left side, like a long, black powder pistol or a saber—probably both.

  That morning, my son, who was then twelve years old, said “Mom, I seen a ghost.”

  When I asked him what it looked like, he gave the same descriptions as to what I saw. He then said that he couldn’t move his body, only his eyes.

  Neither my mother nor my daughter Sheila, then with child, were awakened. I wondered if this ghost had been looking for someone buried in the little cemetery that my kids had discovered in a patch of weeds in the yard. Or could he have been the fiancée of the young school teacher, Ann, who hanged herself in a shed that once stood behind the old house just a little over a hundred years ago? Could he have been associated with the old Indian trading post down near the river? Or was he a military man looking for his regiment?

  I mentioned this ghost to the farm’s caretaker, who then told me that he sometimes sees a white horse running across a field and into the woods….

  When I mentioned this ghost to a neighbor lady, she told me that she had seen this ghost in Lexington while she was doing private duty and getting ready to exchange shifts with a black lady who also saw him. She told me that while standing in front of a mirror combing her hair, she saw him standing there right behind her, and just about froze.

  She described him exactly as my son Eddie and I had seen him, but one better. As she looked into his gruff face, she saw his eyes were flames of fire. None of us ever figured out just what the ghost of that man was all about, but we did see him.

  187. “Anne’s Curse”

  Montgomery County

  According to the story that has been passed down from generation to generation, the results of a stifled love affair carried into the lives of many persons for several generations. A beautiful young woman named Anne Mitchell fell in love with her tall, broad-shouldered neighbor, John Bell Hood. He was the son of Dr. John W. Hood, who lived near the Mitchell place at Mt. Sterling. John Bell eventually went away to West Point in 1849, and while home on furlough, he and Anne fell in love. They often met in the garden by the Hood home.

  Shortly thereafter, a Mr. Anderson began visiting Anne’s brothers, became interested in Anne, and wanted to marry her. Her parents wanted her to marry him, since he was a man of wealth. After being pressured, Anne agreed to marry him provided she could first write a letter to John Hood. In her letter, Anne told Hood that she would love him forever, whether in this world or the next one.

  John wrote her secretly and asked her to meet him a few nights later near her home. He would have an extra horse saddled for her, and they could ride away together. On that night, a slave girl noticed that Anne was not in her bed, so she told the Mitchells. They caught up with John and Anne just as John was helping Anne mount her horse. They took Anne back home, locked her in her room, and did not let her out until the day of her wedding to Anderson.

  Anne and Anderson exchanged vows, but her bitterness over the forced marriage did not lessen. She continually refused to leave her room in the Mitchell house. Even when she learned she was to have a child, she turned her face to the wall and refused to talk with her husband or her parents. She even banished her husband from the room.

  When she finally did talk after the birth of her son, Anne uttered a curse on all who had played a part in forcing her to marry Anderson. She vowed that her heart would always belong to John Hood. It is said that a few hours later, a violent, local thunderstorm struck the Mitchell house. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning struck the corner of the house where Anne was lying. Three people in the house were killed by a bolt of lightning, including Anne, one of her brothers who had supported Anderson’s suit, and the slave girl who had warned Anne’s parents of her intended elopement with Hood.

  Known as “Anne’s Curse,” it continued for years. Numerous relatives died as the result of brutal homicidal and suicidal activities across the years.

  Many persons have told of seeing Anne’s restless ghost roaming through the garden of the Hood home. She never tries to frighten anyone, appearing for only a momen
t and then disappearing. A servant woman reported having seen her on many occasions, walking along the garden path. The ghost would stare at the servant woman, then suddenly disappear.

  Later, a tenant at the Hood home said that one night after he had gone to bed, he was awakened suddenly by what felt like a presence there in the room. He looked up to see a woman dressed in gray, standing at the foot of his bed. At first he thought she was real, but she suddenly vanished into thin air.

  It is wondered if Anne’s ghost was restless because her curse had perhaps spread out to also include John Hood, the man she so loved. His career seemed doomed for tragedy and failure. He went on to become a lieutenant colonel under General Robert E. Lee and became commander of the Texas Brigade. He lost the use of an arm in the Battle of Gettysburg and had a leg amputated after the Battle of Chickamauga. He was minus half his limbs, when at the age of thirty-three, he became full general. His demise came soon thereafter. He was driven out of Atlanta by Sherman’s army, and in 1864 his army was virtually destroyed at the Battle of Nashville—the worst defeat suffered by a Confederate general. Until the end of the war, Hood was in disgrace—a general without a command.

  After the war, Hood moved to New Orleans, became a cotton broker, married, and fathered ten children, including three sets of twins. His business went bankrupt, and he and his wife both died in 1879 due to the yellow-fever epidemic. His orphans were scattered about in foster homes.

  It is not known what happened to Mr. Anderson. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he volunteered into a Texas regiment that, a few months later, was under the command of General Hood. How Anderson fared with General Hood remains a mystery. As far as formal records go, he seems to have just vanished from the earth.

  188. “The Shaker Museum Ghost”

  Logan County

  What I’m about to describe happened to me and my son in the mid-1980s, when my son was about six years old. My wife and I, along with our son, were on a short vacation and ended up at the Shaker Museum, just west of Bowling Green. We were having a good time exploring the old buildings and reading the many stories about that old place. My son and I were on the top floor in a large open room when I noticed an opening in one end of the room. It resembled a window, but I could see it was not on an outside wall. As we peered into the darkness, our eyes began to adjust and we could see that there had been a fire in this part of the building. All the exposed wood showed signs of burn damage.

  Quite suddenly, something seemed to reach out from the opening and touch us. We could both feel a presence all around us. We stepped back and looked around. There was no one else in the room. I put on my best “I’m not afraid of nothing” face, and again looked into the other room. Again, I could feel something touching me all over my body. Needless to say, that ended our visit to the museum, and I am not sure that I will ever go back.

  189. “The Clock That Kept Ticking”

  Hickman County

  This happened in a part of Hickman County that is called Haunted Hill by the locals. It was somewhere around 1910-15 that a young married couple decided to move from the eastern section of the county to the little community of Oakton, located several miles west of Clinton. There was no house available in town, so the couple arranged for one by Scott’s School, a one-room school a short distance away.

  They had been told that the previous owner of the house had been murdered and his body found in a cistern in the yard. Also, his prize racehorse Lightning was missing. Racing horses had been a longtime sport in this part of Kentucky.

  In spite of the cloud which hung over the house the couple had been renting, they set out for the house with a wagon and team and their few household possessions. Moving for them was an all-day journey and they were very weary on arrival. Not long after they got there, they blew out the coal-oil lamp and fell into a deep slumber on their treasured feather bed mattress, which was a wedding present.

  The moon had set and the night was dark. Only an occasional plaintive hoot of an owl broke the silence, which was as intense as the darkness. Just after midnight, the young woman stirred and realized she could hear the steady ticking of a clock. But they had no clock! She waited and listened.

  The ticks grew louder and louder, so she woke her husband up. He patiently listened and they agreed the sound was coming from within the walls. When they searched for the source of the ticking, the sound abruptly stopped. They eventually went back to bed. But the ticking started again. They roused themselves from the warm bed and again went in quest of the clock. Once again, the ticking stopped. The process repeated itself without explanation.

  When daylight came, the terrified couple hastily gathered their belongings into their mule-drawn wagon and could be seen rattling toward Oakton, confident that the husband s relative would take them in.

  For many years afterward, it is said that no one would travel at night on the narrow road that went past that place.

  190. “Where is This?”

  Fayette County

  The Lexington correspondent of the Commercial-Gazette has a penchant for ghost stories, and his productions in that line have established the reputation of this city as a ghost center. The following blood curdling narrative from his pen appears in the Sunday Commercial-Gazette, and whether true or untrue it is readable enough to bear reprinting in The Leader. Following is the story:

  Lexington, Ky., March 7—One of the most costly and at the same time most noted residences in Lexington, is declared to be haunted, by the people who have lived in it for fifteen months. They moved out three months ago. The house contains twenty-two rooms and belongs to a wealthy lady now living in another city. She formerly lived here, her first husband belonging to one of Kentucky’s most noted families. Several years after his death the owner of the house married a prominent gentleman, but he only lived a few years, when he died very suddenly. His remains were buried close to the house. Nearly two years ago his widow left the city, with her interesting family.

  Four months later a Catholic family, consisting of man, wife and two children, took charge of the house at the owner’s solicitation, rent free. They were to keep the house from going to rack and to take good care of the premises. All went well for two weeks after they moved in, when uncanny doings are said to have commenced. But let the recent occupants tell their own story:

  The man—Yes we moved away about three months ago. I would not stay there if the place was deeded to me. We had been there but two weeks when my wife began to grow alarmed over peculiar noises she heard, but I paid no attention to them at first. Finally the rackets became of almost nightly occurrence, and it was with difficulty we slept. Lock and bar the doors ever so tight, we could hear the walking through the great rooms every night. We slept in an up-stairs room, the door of which opened to a back porch, and the noises the nocturnal visitor would make on the porch was frightful. My wife is a courageous woman or she never would have staid as long as she did, for whatever it was it seldom missed a night without annoying her. One day I went to the orchard, and, putting a ladder against an apple tree, started to climb up after some apples. Just as I got about half way up I distinctly felt the ladder lifted out from the bottom and I fell and broke my leg. My brother came to see me, but after hearing the noises in the house for two nights he refused to stay any longer with me and went home. While my leg was healing, one night I felt something take hold of my me by the foot of my sound leg and it pulled me out of bed. After this, however, the ghost never came into our room, for my wife sprinkled holy water all around it and the spirits were afraid to cross the line. My wife can tell you more about the doings of the ghost than I can, so you had better see her.”

  Accordingly, I called on the woman whose husband appeared to have been so thoroughly frightened. I found her in a little cottage. She is over forty-five years old, has black hair, with a few gray hairs around the temples; rather small of stature, and features somewhat pinched, but her great black eyes, sunk deep in a rather small head danced and sparkled as she
told her weird story as follows:

  “The first time I heard the walking I thought it was my husband fixing something. It was a little after 7 o’clock at night. The front door which I had carefully locked opened, and I heard some one walk in. Whoever it was went from room to room, opened and slammed the doors, seeming to make all the noise possible. Finally, I heard the footsteps ascending the stairs and the thing come to the door and stopped. I took the lamp, and, going to the door, opened it to let in, as I thought, my husband. What was my astonishment to see nobody there, and I although I looked in every room and pantry on the place, not a thing could I see. A few nights after this I heard the footsteps again ascending the stairs, and suddenly my door was opened a few inches, and the thing made a noise similar to that made by a goose braying when mad. Not long after this my youngest boy saw a man on the stairs wearing a Derby hat, but while looking at him vanished. Some six weeks after this occurrence a neighbor woman called to spend the evening with me. I let her out through the back gate, and while we were going toward it she and I both saw something that looked like a small black heifer. It came close to me, and having a lantern in my hand I got a good look at the mysterious something. It had the face and hand of a human being, although it walked on all fours like a big dog. It scampered off and quickly disappeared. I was wildly frightened, and my visitor received such a shock that she came near fainting. Three weeks later my husband and myself prepared a lunch for our landlady, who was here attending the Chautauqua. We set the table in the large dining-room and had it nicely arranged with china and silverware. We expected her next morning. When we retired to our room we heard a tremendous noise in the dining-room as if the dishes were being broken into a thousand pieces. My husband was afraid to go into the dining-room, and so was I. We didn’t sleep much that night, I can tell you. The next morning, when we summed up enough courage to enter the dining-room, we found everything on the table just as we had placed the twelve hours before. What bothers me is to account for the noise as if the dishes were breaking. One night during the time my husband was suffering with his broken leg I had to sleep in a room adjoining mine. About 12 o’clock I awoke with a start, and a cold, clammy hand had hold of my neck and partially dragged me from the bed. I kept the evil spirits out of my room by sprinkling holy water around it. I feel sure that had it not been for the holy water the spirits would have annoyed us much more.