Kentucky Haunted Times
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Kentucky Haunted Times
Introduction
The Meade County Messenger would like to welcome you to the very first annual edition of Kentucky Haunted Times Magazine! The Bluegrass State is rich in history, paranormal events and urban legends that will fascinate you, make you check underneath your bed before going to sleep, and perhaps make you question whether ghosts exist. With the help of five writers, we have compiled some of these stories of thrills and chills for your enjoyment.
Table of Contents Here Lies Leah Smock—Most of the Time.................................................................................1 The Pope Lick Monster.............................................................................................................4
The Haunts of Jailhouse Pizza....................................................................................................7 The Hillbilly Beast.....................................................................................................................12 Investigating the Ghost of Sue Mundy...................................................................................15
Waverly Hills Sanitorium......................................................................................................18 Doe Run Inn............................................................................................................................21
2020 Kentucky Haunted Times Sponsors Index Allen Blanc Roofing ...................................11 B&L Plumbing ............................................6 Brandenburg Telephone Co./BBTel ...........13 Bud Peiffer’s Jewelers ..................................17 Graham Family Care ....................................8 Meade County Bank ..................................23 Miguels............................... inside front cover Rays Ford ...................................................20 Stonegate Realty ...........................................8
Kentucky Haunted Times
Allen’s S&T ................................................22 Brandenburg Guns .......................................9 Broadbent Wildlife Sanctuary ....................14 Doc’s BBQ Smokeshack...............................3 MCKY News ................................ back cover Meade County Messenger............. back cover Nucor..........................................................10 Ship N Print .................................................5 Webb’s Butcher Block ................................13
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Here Lies Leah Smock — Most of the Time
GERALD W. FISCHER There is one ghost sighting that’s the most documented in Meade County. It is also the most repeated in Meade County folklore, and that is the legend of the ghost of the beautiful witch Leah Smock. There are diverse opinions about whether Leah was really a witch. It is a debatable issue. Most of the old people who knew first-hand reports of Leah, like Cowboy Bennett, think she was a very intelligent, beautiful girl who knew the magic of herbs and natural cures. She was also thought to possess powerful intuition and maybe had the second sight or was able to predict through natural or supernatural reasoning things yet to be. She was very intelligent. Among other things, she was accused of driving two boys who teased her to go out of their minds. She supposedly cursed and caused the death of two fine horses when their owner forbade her petting them and caused the death of an infant whose mother refused to let Leah hold the child. Causing crops to fail and other calamities were attributed to her. A posse visited her father’s farm when she was alone, locked her or tied her in a smokehouse, and set it on fire, burning her to death. She is the only known person to have been burnt as a witch in the United States. Salem witches were hanged or
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stoned to death. Shortly after she was burned, her ghost appeared to her mother at the remains of the smokehouse. Her body was taken to a remote place and became the first burial in what is now called the Betsy Daily Cemetery. Not long after she was buried, a hunter saw her ghost standing at her grave, looking down. In both instances, her apparition was dressed in a white garment with cords at the sleeves and waist. She had long black hair and was very pretty. Her form did not touch the ground, and she was invisible below the knees. She was surrounded by a purple haze or aura. The town’s folk were so afraid they carried a wagon load of rock to the grave and dug down into it, filling the grave with stones to keep her spirit from rising. It didn’t work. She has been seen many times, and people who visited her grave sometimes became confused and could not find their way back to their cars. The walk to the cemetery is a long hard one, of a mile or more. Sometimes, even today, cooper’s tools are found on her grave. Her father made barrels, and she helped him. Its worth noting that these days it’s the ghost of Leah that draws our attention, but little work has been done to determine if she was a practitioner of witchcraft or ritual magic, other than some research and a book published in 2016 by this author. I was
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schooled at the University of Louisville, in the field of anthropology. My focus was in archaeology with a specialty area of Eastern United States Prehistory. However, my degree was in Cultural Anthropology, which was required before one became an archaeologist. In pursuit of this undergraduate degree, my studies included comparative religion and an elective area: Western European Civilization, including medieval history. As life often does, one thing led to another, and I spent a year or more involved with the middle ages and later with the resurgence of witchcraft since the 1930s, defined as the remnants of a Neolithic fertility cult. Anthropologists Margaret Meade, Lucy Mair and a little-known Anthropologist named G.B. Gardner all wrote concerning this area of study. Since that time, I have come to believe the myths of witches and witchcraft have indeed been related to a polytheistic pagan religion dating back 30,000 years or more. While this is impossible to prove, certain legends, traits and practices have parallels with the legend of medieval witches and those prehistoric times. Some things witches were supposed to do and tools they were supposed to use may have their roots deep in antiquity. And, from the legend of Leah Smock, she seems to have exhibited the tool use, knowledge and traits of the “old ones” three hundred years or more before her time. For example, Leah was known to walk the fields and forests carrying a snake-like “serpentine staff.” The medieval witches who were tried and burned as heretics from 1300 A.D. through the late 1500s A.D. were known to carry staffs carved with occult and astrological signs and magical symbols. Today, the only remnants of this are found in magic shows and relegated to the little white tipped magician’s “magic wand,” but the old witches were said to ride these poles in hobby horse fashion to make the crops grow better. Leah’s staff may have been used by her to perform a dance these medieval witches did to make the crops grow higher. One of her witch-like deeds was to make the crops of those she liked and her family grow higher and produce more. While this is not evidence, it is tantalizing. Leah has made herself known even recently by causing computers to malfunction or reverse images to occur when people are writing about her or copying photographs of her grave. A film crew’s equipment failed to operate at her grave after it was repeatedly tested and found to function elsewhere. Remarkable and beautiful Leah is Meade County’s most famous ghost and witch. Witches were also known to keep familiars, an animal given to them by the devil to aid them and do their bidding. Leah was known to have a way with animals and was often seen wandering the forests, carrying her staff, followed by a parade of animals including wild cats, panthers and wolves, as well as others less fearsome. 2
Leah Smock’s headstone in the woods where she is buried on private property. The owner does not like trespassers. Photo submitted by anonymous person.
Leah had a love and a sense about animals and could control and gentle even dogs that were known to bite. Her grave is described as an area where hunters cannot bring down game, as if it were charmed. More than one account of snakes seen sunning themselves on her grave, slither deep within the stones when people approach too closely. One story is about two boys who teased Leah when they saw her walking the woods with her retinue of beasts. It states she ordered the animals to chase the boys. One was later found out of his mind and the other dead. Is this a case of Leah having familiar spirits? Medieval witches made use of cords when they practiced magic. These cords were tied at the wrists, neck and waist, probably to control blood flow and encourage the second sight by depriving or restricting blood flow to the brain. Leah’s ghost is always described as having cords at her wrists, neck and waist. Is this an indication she knew the old arts? Some witches were supposed to have the “evil eye” and could curse someone by looking at them. Leah was known to have been treated rudely at times, and she would turn her head with a curious look on her face and look at the person. Soon after, some dreadful thing happened to whomever it was. Is it possible she had the evil eye ability? Today we pooh-pooh the idea any of these things
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are possible, but 600 years ago, these beliefs were a common part of life. It is possible that Leah’s mother, reputed to be a powerful Kentucky witch, may have taught Leah some of the old charms and dances. She could have known about the use of cords and the magician’s staff. Today, who can say with any certainty, but maybe, just maybe Leah was simply a very intelligent woman who scared the hell out of her neighbors, and they reacted by burning her to death. On the other hand, maybe they were right. Gerald W. Fischer is the President of MCHAPS (Meade County Historical and Archaeological Preservation Society). He graduated from the University of Louisville in 1981 with a BLS in History and Anthropology and later obtained a Masters degree in Education. He is a former teacher of the Archdiocese of Louisville and a substitute teacher for the Meade County School District and also writes for the Meade County Messenger & MCKY News. Fischer is the author of two published titles: Battletown Witch and Guerilla Warfare in Civil War Kentucky. He lives in Meade County and is constantly fascinated by the rich history of the Bluegrass State. You can reach him at: fischer@bbtel.com.
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The Pope Lick Monster
The Pope Lick trestle bridge photographed by Seth Dukes.
BY SETH DUKES As a youngster, I was always intrigued by the Mothman. Something about a human somehow fused with another creature was really terrifying to me. How’d they get that way, and why? Little did I know that there was a similar legend right here in Kentucky called the Pope Lick Monster or the Goat Man. As legend has it, the monster is part man, part goat, and part sheep, and it lives below a railroad trestle bridge over Pope Lick Creek (hence the name Pope Lick Monster) in Jefferson County. The creature supposedly has the upper body of a man and the lower torso of a goat or sheep, a curved nose, sharp horns, an alabaster face, and allegedly travels with a pack of wild goats. It’s been a local legend since at least the 1960s. This isn’t some benevolent creature that one might find at a petting zoo, however. Legend has it that the monster hypnotizes visitors so that they’re struck by an oncoming train. It can allegedly mimic the voices of others, as well. Some say the creature wields an axe and uses that to kill victims, while others contend that the
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simple sight of the monster is enough to force the victim to jump off the bridge to their death just to escape. Is this monster a circus freak who vowed revenge after being mistreated? Some tales say a circus train was crossing the bridge and derailed, letting loose one of the circus freaks. Perhaps it’s a reincarnation of a farmer who sacrificed livestock for Satanic powers, as some legends claim. As part of the deal with the devil, his physical appearance changed into the horrifying beast. Regardless of its origin, the myth of the monster has actually resulted in people dying. In 2016, the Washington Post reported on the death of an Ohio woman who traveled to the Louisville area to visit the Waverly Hills Sanatorium. While there, she and her boyfriend heard of another legend—the Goat Man—and decided to investigate. While on the trestle, instead of finding the Goat Man, they were brought faceto-face with an oncoming train. The boyfriend avoided death by clinging to the edge of the trestle. Roquel Bain, 26, was not so lucky, however. She was struck by the train and died.
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According to theparklands.org, teenagers are the most common victims to the legend. “In February, 1987, Jack Charles Bahm II, a 17-year-old Spalding University student, was struck and killed by a train while walking on the trestle. In May, 1987, 19-year-old David Wayne Bryant died of injuries suffered a year earlier when he jumped from the trestle to avoid getting hit by a train. In November 2000 Nicholas Jewell of Mount Washington, 19, died after falling from the trestle. Four friends who were with him told police that Jewell had attempted to cross the trestle and was about halfway across when a freight train approached. Police said that Jewell had moved to the side and attempted to hold onto a railroad tie, but the train’s vibration eventually shook him off,” the website says. In 2019, the Courier Journal reported on the death of Savanna Bright, a 15-year-old girl who was also hit by a train while on the bridge at Pope Lick. A train engineer gave his perspective to the Courier Journal about his time driving on the bridge. “The Courier Journal reported in 2016 that a retired train engineer who regularly drove down the old track, Wayne Gentry, was involved in 43 collisions during his 34-year career with Norfolk Southern, only one of which was a suicide,” said the article from
2019. Various emergency personnel have told journalists their recollections of accidents there, many involving teenagers. Searching for the Goat Man and walking on the bridge is a local rite of passage, and it even draws teens and college students from the surrounding area towards the bridge’s ominous tracks. The Goat Man has also inspired a short film titled “The Legend of the Pope Lick Monster” that premiered in 1988. Some officials and parents, were not impressed, insisting the film would actually encourage
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more people to go out to the location, and thereby cause more deaths. Interestingly, the Pope Lick Monster has his own Facebook page with almost 2,000 followers. The page’s posts range from humorous updates like “Fall is close…even more so when I’m around” and more ominous messages like “My favorite thing is to look in my victims’ eyes when they realize they are trapped between me and a train.” Whether the Goat Man actually exists or not, the mere legend has resulted in death and injury, which is a claim not many mythical creatures can make. Should you decide to investigate for yourself, do so in a safe manner with both feet planted firmly on the ground and off the tracks. Maybe you’ll be the first to get verifiable footage of the evil creature. Seth Dukes is the Newsroom Coordinator for the Meade County Messenger and MCKY News. He graduated from Western Kentucky University in 2015 with a BA in English. He has been a journalist in five counties in western Kentucky and covered everything ranging from feature stories to court happenings. A native of Muhlenberg County, Seth now resides in Brandenburg. He may be reached at mcmeditor@meadecountyky.com
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The Haunts of Jailhouse Pizza BY ALICIA TYREE Every town and place has a story, but the stories of Jailhouse Pizza still continue. This building has remained strong since the early 1900s, even after surviving a devastating tornado in 1974. During its operation as the Meade County Jailhouse, it had 14 cells and could house up to 25 prisoners. Hangings and executions took place in this exact building. Some say they believe the ghosts of these inmates still linger. That didn’t stop Brian Stich from buying the historical spot and continuing to run it as an Italian restaurant known as Jailhouse Pizza. He has experienced several unexplained occurrences in this place, along with quite a few of his employees and customers, from sounds of footsteps walking upstairs, seeing apparitions, and temperature changes. The silence alone can be just as eerie, however. One morning before opening for the day, Brian kept hearing footsteps upstairs, which is where the jail cells that housed male inmates used to be located. When he went to check out what was causing the disturbances, nobody was there. He has heard these sounds on several occasions. Apparently, he is not the only one who has heard footsteps along the halls in the morning hours. Another employee, Micah, who just started working as a cook at Jailhouse Pizza roughly two months ago, heard footsteps around 9 a.m. one morning and again went to checkout this disturbance, and nobody was there. Zoe, who is a server/hostess at Jailhouse Pizza, stated that a couple had come in and were the first customers of the day. When she went to seat this man and woman, the lady said there was a man already sitting in that booth. Zoe explained to the lady that there was not anyone sitting there, and no one else was in the dining area other than them. Later, the woman explained to her server that she was a medium, and she had seen a man sitting in the booth. During dinner, the couple decided to investigate and tour the remainder of the Jailhouse. When she came down from touring the cells
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Photos in this article were taken by Alicia Tyree. Orb sighted on the street in front of Jailhouse Pizza.
upstairs, Zoe said this woman was shivering and was just as pale as a ghost. Another occurrence Zoe experienced was during her first week on the job when she was cleaning all the cells downstairs by herself. Those cells used to house the female inmates. When she came back from getting a vacuum, all the tables and chairs were shuffled and moved around. She explained that this just gave her a weird vibe, and she did not like the feeling. Tristan, a cook at Jailhouse Pizza, had an experience where the hair stood up on his arms and the back of his neck. He stated he has worked at Jailhouse Pizza for roughly four years, and this one incident just did not sit well. About a week prior to the interview, around two or three in the morning, he was making dough, and suddenly, he started hearing noises near the printer area as if something was being moved around. It was similar to the sound of something being slowly pushed and vibrating on a table. When he went near the printer area, he could have sworn the printer was slightly turning. When he looked back at it again, the printer had stopped moving. Immediately, this gave him an
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unsettled feeling. It was an experience he is hoping not to go through again. Another occasion that did not sit well with him was when, one evening, he decided to spend the night and slept in a booth underneath the television, which is located in the dining area. That morning when he woke up, he had four scratches on the back of his neck. It just gave him an eerie feeling. At the time of the interview, he still had faint scratches on the back of his neck. Another incident that Tristan shared was when a coworker, who no longer works at Jailhouse Pizza, was washing dishes around 11 p.m. and swore that something had hit him in the back of the neck. He said it felt like a fork. He was the only one left in the building that evening. This gentleman had been working at Jailhouse Pizza for about 12 years prior, and this is one story that scared Tristan enough that he felt it needed to be shared. Are these footsteps and apparitions coming from an inmate by the name of Dubbed Gigsby? There are legends that Dubbed Gigsby, an inmate from this exact jail, still lurks the hallways of Jailhouse Pizza to this day. Or could it be about the legend of the little girl who passed away during the destructive tornado that came through Brandenburg, KY on April 4, 1972? A little girl who is just looking to reunite with her doll? The story has it Is this a forgotten babydoll in the basement or the possession of a that the baby doll in the basement belonged to her and little ghost girl? remains there till this day.
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On the night of September 12, 2020, I got to have the honor of touring, listening to stories, and investigating this beautiful historical landmark all night. The experience was extremely intense and an exciting reward. I took several photographs and recordings off and on till about 3 a.m. that night. I had the opportunity to sit in a jail cell and walk the hallways with no lights for a couple hours, listening to some of these stories and many more. I did not really experience anything personally other than the flash on my camera acting erratically around 1 a.m., the feeling of temperature changes and cold chills, but I can tell you that the silence and darkness alone creeped me out. I did, however, capture a few unexplained anomalies in some of my photography. I even went back to do a debunk video and could not explain what or how these anomalies showed up. Even some of the employees at Jailhouse Pizza could not explain what showed up in these images or why they showed up in some of my photos and not others. I have one final thing to say, and that is this place does make you want to come back for more. Therefore, I would like to thank Jailhouse Pizza, Brian, Tristan, Zoe, Bradley, and Micah for giving me this exciting experience and telling your stories, stories that could go on for days. It was an experience I will never forget.
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Apparition captured on film inside Jailhouse Pizza.
Alicia Tyree is the Creative Content Stringer & one of the Ad Sales Executives for the Meade County Messenger & MCKY News. She is a proud Meade County native whose goal is to bring light and positivity to the county she loves so much. You can reach her at: mcmsales3@meadecountyky.com.
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Honoring the Past. Building for the Future. As we put down roots in Meade County, we are grateful to be part of a community with such a rich history and vibrant culture. With a planned $1.7 billion investment and 400 full-time careers, we look forward to building an even stronger future, together.
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Allen Blanc Roong and Home Improvements “Restoring your home and your faith.”
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The Hillbilly Beast BY CRYSTAL LEO There’s something lurking in the woods of Hill Country. Imagine you are home alone. Night has fallen, and the subtle sounds of the forest that surround your house reach your ears through the open windows as you enjoy the cool night air. An owl hoots; the bushes rustle from some small creature moving in them, probably one of the wild rabbits you love to watch; and a coyote howls in the distance. Everything is peaceful on this gorgeous Kentucky night. Suddenly, your peace and quiet is shattered by a terrible, distorted shriek. Not quite a howl, nor like a roar. Your heart starts to pound like a drum in your chest because you have never heard a sound like that from an animal before. Now, instead or bushes rustling, you hear a few birds
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squawk in panic as the thuds of a large animal lumbering nearby become louder. Panicked and scared, you rush for your open windows and start to shut and lock them. Only, when you get the last one open, slam it shut and secure the lock, you make the mistake of looking out into that forest you love so much ‌ and see unnaturally large eyes that glow an orangishyellow in the dark staring back at you. Those unnerving eyes watch you for long minutes until finally, a deer runs through the forest nearby and distracts whatever it is that is standing in your woods. The beast tears his gaze from yours, grunts like an oversized bear, and disappears back into the night. That is close to what a few eyewitnesses in the state of Kentucky have claimed to see when they have stumbled upon the Hillbilly Beast. From Henderson to Geneva, the Hillbilly Beast has
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made his presence known. Allegedly eight to ten feet tall, three feet in width, and up to eight hundred pounds, with matted long brown fur from head to toe described to be up to a foot long in length, these are all characterizations described about what must be Kentucky’s very own “Sasquatch.” It is said the man-like ape, super humanoid in size and stature, uses secluded creeks and waterways as his pathways to get to places so others cannot easily track him. It is also believed the beast has an appetite for flesh and uses Kentucky’s ample wildlife, such as deer, to stay alive. With the many heavily wooded forests and lush vegetation, there is no shortage of places that the Hillbilly Beast could find his prey or hide from civilization. Stories and sightings such as these have been told for decades, but an employee from the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife is skeptical to say the least. In an episode of Monsterquest that aired on the History Channel in 2010, Tom Farmer states he has a hard time believing that in this day in age, with as many trail cameras that are out in the woods set up by hunters, any beast of that size could escape detection. He went on to state that he thought the sight-
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ings were probably black bears who were originally thought wiped out in these parts back in the 1900s. However, with time, the black bear population has not only come back to Kentucky according to Kentucky’s Department of Fish and Wildlife’s website, but is also, “experiencing considerable increases in both numbers and range.” Black bears are powerfully built animals that normally range four to six feet in length and weigh one hundred and twenty pounds to three hundred and fifty pounds. There was one male captured in the Bluegrass State, however, that weighed four hundred and eighty pounds as a research animal in the summer of 2008. Based on those facts, one might think that it would be easy to tell a black bear apart from the much heftier Hillbilly Beast. That might be the case if it were not for the strange but true sighting of a black bear in North Carolina in the fall of 1998 that was reliably documented to be approximately ten years old and eight hundred eighty pounds. Since bears can stand on their hind legs and walk in that manner for a while, that might give reason to doubt sightings of the Hillbilly Beast. But what if I told you the famous pioneer and explorer Daniel Boone claimed to kill one?
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In an excerpt taken from Daniel Boone – The Life and Legend of an American Pioneer, by John Mack Faragher, it states, “Another tradition said that Boone visited Limestone about that time, staying with his cousin Jacob Boone, a prominent merchant in that town. Boone had supposedly come downriver after visiting his son Jesse at Greenupsburg and was honored at a gala dinner that included all of the distinguished local citizenry. After the meal one of the men asks Boone for a story, and he begins a tale but is interrupted by a man who claims that his story is ‘impossible.’ With this remark Boone shuts up and despite urgings that he continue, he refuses to speak further. Later that evening, when he has retired to the room he shares with the son of the tavern keeper, the boy asks him about his silence. ‘I dislike to be in a crowd,’ Boone explains, and ‘would not have opened my lips had that man remained.’ Well, we are alone now, says the boy, and he presses the old man to tell the story. ‘You shall have it, honey’ says Boone, who has taken a fancy to him, and proceeds to tell of killing a ten foot, hairy giant he called a “Yahoo.” The Yahoos were giant beasts in human shape from Boone’s favorite book, Gulliver’s Travels. It was a tall tale that Boone repeated to a number of people during his last year, one such as he would have told in a winter camp.”
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The world will never know if Daniel Boone actually killed a Yahoo, otherwise possibly known as the Hillbilly Beast. Those times are long past, and the likelihood of evidence ever being found is slim. But according to several individuals throughout Kentucky in the last few decades, the Hillbilly Beast is very much real. And possibly dangerous. So, be careful when you are out in the backwoods of Kentucky that run along the waterways. There might be a carnivorous beast out there with you, too.
Crystal Leo is the General Manager for the Meade County Messenger and MCKY News. She graduated from Kaplan University in 2010 with a degree in Business Administration and Human Resources. Crystal is also a bestselling indie author of 20+ titles under an anonymous pen name. Although she now calls Meade County her home, she has lived on two continents, five states in the USA, and fervently hopes to travel the world one day. She may be reached at mcmsales2@meadecountyky.com.
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Investigating the Ghost of Sue Mundy BY GERALD W. FISCHER During the Civil War, Kentucky was a dangerous and desperate place to live. There were Home Guard units, Confederate Guerrillas, detached Confederate soldiers, and roaming outlaw bands preying on innocent civilians. The Home Guard and Confederate Guerrillas were sometimes hard to tell apart, and the outlaw bands were often confused and occasionally rode with both. The most famous of the Confederate Guerrillas was a handsome youth of 20, named Marcellous Jerome Clarke. He wore his black hair long, shoulder length, which was a style favored by the Kentucky guerrillas, and his face was as fair as any young maid. His hands were long with the slender delicate fingers of a pianist, and his look was effeminate, sporting no facial hair. Only his athletic 6-foot height belied his sex. The editor of the Louisville Daily Journal, a local newspaper, dubbed him Miss Sue Mundy, the lady guerrilla the Union Army couldn’t catch. It was rumored without basis that he occasionally donned female attire and rode into Union camps, charming the officers and men to collect intelligence before his next raid. Within his guerrilla band, he was known as Jarome or Romey. To everyone else, he was the outlaw Sue Mundy. Sue wore a dashing Confederate Uniform he’d had hand tailored, grey with brass buttons and cavalry yellow trim. His hat was a dark grey cavalry garrison type with a black Ostrich plume tied in the hatband and a silver crescent moon on the front. His pistols were Colt revolvers, and he carried six, four on his person and two on his saddle. They each held six rounds of .31 or .45 Cal. lead shot, thirty-six harbingers of death. He and the men with whom he rode were will-of-the-wisps who hit Federal patrols fiercely, inflicting heavy damage, only to disappear into the landscape. They were like “grey ghosts,” rising
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Marcellous Jerome Clarke, aka “Sue Mundy”
from out of nowhere, inflicting injury and death, only to disappear before the dead or dying eyes. Those unscathed or only wounded feared battling these phantom fighters a second time. Sue rode with Bill Magruder, Henry Medkiff, Bud and Donnie Pence, Lt. Porter, and 8 others when in late February they were attacked by a Union patrol on a hill overlooking the town of Patesville, Kentucky. In the battle the guerrillas were outmatched, and Bill Magruder was badly wounded. The guerrillas were scattered, and Sue Mundy and Henry Medkiff held Magruder in the saddle until they arrived at a cousin’s of Magruder’s, Elizabeth Cox, who resided with her husband John in Meade County. They hid in the Cox barn for a few days and were captured on March 12th, 1865. They were taken to Louisville on the 13th, and Mundy was tried on the 14th and hanged on the 15th at the common in Louisville. When he climbed the steps to the gallows, some 10,000 spectators gathered to see this handsome young man have justice meted out to him. Even so the ladies wept to see him face his doom. The sentence of the tribunal was read, a signal given, and the props were knocked from under
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the trap. Something went terribly wrong. Sue Mundy dangled, kicking and struggling, for agonizing minutes until the rope mercifully strangled the life from him. At this point, the story of the Ghost of Sue Mundy begins. Because of the gruesome nature of the last few executions, more especially Sue Mundy’s, the General in charge moved the gallows from the commons to the prison yard eight blocks or so to the east, and only a few selected witnesses and reporters were allowed entry. By early April the common was relegated once again to growing grass, although it was often considered haunted and avoided especially at night. The common was located between Broadway to the south and Magazine Street to the north. The street to the east was 17th and to the west 18th street. On the sides of the street away from the common were businesses and residences. The street was sparsely lit by gas lamps situated on the sidewalks in front of the businesses with apartments above them, usually residences of the store owners. The illumination barely lit the sidewalks and certainly did not reach the grassy area used in pioneer times to feed the livestock which grazed on the cityowned pastures called the common. At one time city dwellers with livestock drew lots for grazing rights. The common now had a reputation for a place where ghosts of men hanged there, such as Sue Mundy, now walked. Stories of ghosts and their sightings and
strange goings on made the common a place to avoid after darkness fell. And so it was… until five years later. In 1870, in the fall of the year, when sunsets arrive early and the leaves of trees turn color and fall, thoughts turn to fanciful and scary tales to be recounted each year on All Hallows Eve. It was about this time of year when coats are required to guard against the chilly breezes blowing in from the river that two young women were walking down the dimly lit streets abutting the common, and they witnessed the apparition of a tall soldier dressed in dark clothing and wearing a cavalry garrison hat adorned with ostrich plumes, standing at the location where the gallows stood when Sue Mundy was hanged. As they stood, transfixed by the apparition silhouetted against the dim haze of a gas lamp, a block west suddenly from the ground a white female form arose and took the arm of the guerrilla specter, and together they walked away arm in arm. Very soon, the girl disappeared and seconds later the soldier vanished. These two young ladies, in great distress and terror, reported the vision to Louisville Police Lieutenant Shelly, who happened to live near the area. Shelly looked into the background of the two young women and found they were beyond reproach and of high character, so he launched an investigation. He began by questioning the storekeepers and residents bordering the common and found many who had seen
A public hanging that took place in 1865. This is not “Sue Mundy’s” hanging, but an example of one that took place the year he was hanged. 16 Kentucky Haunted Times meadecountyky.com
the same apparitions. Other people who frequented the area also came forward, and all believed the soldier to be the ghost of Sue Mundy. Shelly, decided to surreptitiously surveil the area and see if he could fathom the depths of this mystery. The Lieutenant began his surveillance and continued it to include several days before the day of the week the women had seen the ghosts and several hours before the time. One week after the original sighting, Shelly, hidden from view, witnessed the soldier’s apparition standing silhouetted as the ladies described him. He was wearing a cavalry hat festooned with Ostrich plumes. Shelly carefully moved in the shadows where he was behind the apparition and quietly closed the distance as he moved closer. Then, as if on cue, the white form of a woman arose from the grass, and the soldier pulled her up by hand, and she instantly disappeared. Shelly, amazed but unafraid, stepped quickly and quietly up and grabbed the soldier’s arm. He found it was made of flesh and bone! He also found the woman had not vanished, but had donned a black coat, which in the surrounding darkness made her appear to disappear. The policeman interrogated the couple and found they were courting and had chosen the common for a meeting place. They were there for their privacy, and the reputation of the grounds being haunted kept the
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curious and fearful away, ensuring they would not be disturbed. Shelly did not arrest them, for as far as he could tell, they had broken no law. He did, however, strongly suggest and advise they find another place to meet because they had attracted attention and frightened some local citizens. Continuing to frighten the citizens would be cause for arrest, and so they took the Lieutenant’s advice and were seen no more. On reflection, Lieutenant Shelly proved himself unafraid of anyone, living or dead. Gerald W. Fischer is the President of MCHAPS (Meade County Historical and Archaeological Preservation Society). He graduated from the University of Louisville in 1981 with a BLS in History and Anthropology and later obtained a Masters degree in Education. He is a former teacher of the Archdiocese of Louisville and a substitute teacher for the Meade County School District and also writes for the Meade County Messenger & MCKY News. Fischer is the author of two published titles: Battletown Witch and Guerilla Warfare in Civil War Kentucky. He lives in Meade County and is constantly fascinated by the rich history of the Bluegrass State. You can reach him at: fischer@bbtel.com.
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Waverly Hills Sanitorium
A picture of Waverly Hills Sanatorium from their Facebook page.
SETH DUKES Every year my girlfriend, Alexa Helton, her family and I visit Waverly Hills Sanatorium in Louisville. My first trip there a few years ago was with them, and it was quite the experience. First let’s talk a bit about the history of Waverly Hills Sanatorium. According to their website, the facility sits on land that was originally purchased by Major Thomas H. Hays in 1883, who was in need of a school for his daughters to attend. The name comes from a woman he hired to teach at the school named Lizzie Lee Harris. She was fond of Sir Walter Scott’s “Waverly Novels,” and so the school was named Waverley School. Hays also applied the name to the property itself, calling it “Waverley Hill.” The name eventually changed to omit the final “e” An outbreak of tuberculosis, a contagious disease that was also called consumption, ravaged Louisville in the 1900s. The original sanatorium was much smaller than it is today, only being built to accommodate
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40-50 patients safely. However, due to the number of those infected, as many as 140 people were crammed into the facility, and it was obvious that a larger hospital was needed, according to Waverly’s website. The facility could fit more than 400 patients and was five stories tall in 1926. Something that I was always fascinated with about Waverly’s history was that it was a selfcontained community. Their website refers to it as a “city in and of itself, complete with its own zip code.” There was never any reason for anyone— patients or otherwise—to leave. Medicine was quite different then than it is today. Patients often underwent extreme procedures in an attempt to cure the disease or at least limit its symptoms. They didn’t get put to sleep; all they had was morphine to numb the pain. Many went mad. Thousands of individuals died in the building. After a cure for tuberculosis was discovered, case numbers diminished, and the facility closed in 1962. Though it was repurposed as a geriatric facility called Woodhaven Medical Services, that
Kentucky Haunted Times
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too would be closed in 1981 by the state. There were reports of misconduct and patient neglect. It would go through various hands before ending up with paranormal enthusiasts Charles and Tina Mattingly in 2001. They put the money earned from tours and the haunted house towards restoration of the property. You can even stay overnight … if you’re brave enough. The facility has gotten worldwide attention, being featured in a variety of television shows and writings. I’ll be honest in saying that, when I pulled up there for the first time, I was awestruck. The building is truly massive, and even at night, you can’t help but be mystified by its sheer size and presence. Organizers have spooky lighting displays running across the building. What really intrigued me was how open the building was. This was an intentional design in part—apart from the windows that have long since been broken. It was thought that lots of fresh air would help treat tuberculosis. The night always starts with the haunted tour, which is by far my favorite part. You’re taken around parts of the facility, with no light or electricity I might add, by an expert tour guide who tells you stories about each area, including what spirits are said to roam and some of the most famous paranormal legends about the facility. The story that was most impactful to me was the story of room 502, which is a hotspot for paranormal activity. Allegedly, a pregnant nurse committed suicide in this room. The nurse was supposedly impregnated by a doctor in the facility, who wanted nothing to do with her once he learned she was pregnant. One of the tour guides told us that they had come up to the area once and felt extremely cold. It was summertime, so it couldn’t have been the weather. This was a really cool part of the tour, too, because on this same floor there is a giant balcony that’s completely open. Stories have been
told about at least one person jumping from here, but some contend that many have done just that. It’s hard not to get an ominous feeling while standing out there at night. There’s another story about a young boy ghost named Timmy. Ghost hunters will often bring toy balls with them and place them on the floor, hoping Timmy will come out to play. A guide told our group that there had been multiple instances of balls moving on their own. Some might say it was simply caused by a draft, but the guide insisted the air was still when it occurred. We had a guide one year who was a self-proclaimed skeptic. He told us he had heard laughing once on the floor where Timmy allegedly roams, and he said he was the only one in the building at the time. Participants have also reported feeling tugging on their pant legs while on this floor, with no living human taking credit for the act. Probably the most unsettling part about the entire tour is just how quiet it is. This massive structure was once probably filled with moans, groans, sounds of anguish, maybe even laughter and jubilation at some points. Today, the only sound you’ll hear is the wind rushing down the halls. I won’t ruin all the stories for you, because there are many more, and the tour guides really know the history and legends of the facility like the back of their hand. I can’t recommend the haunted tour enough. Even if ghosts and the paranormal activity aren’t your thing, you’ll still appreciate learning about the history of the building, and I’d almost guarantee you that you’ll still probably get a chill down your spine. Following the tour, you’re brought into a haunted house. This isn’t like your typical haunted house, though. The actors are very good and also very scary. Even being a returning visitor and knowing the route/what’s to come, I still jump. I once lost my shoe while trying to
Two pictures of Waverly Hills Sanatorium during their time in operation as a Tuberculosis Hospital.
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escape from a man with a chainsaw there, and none of the actors broke character while I was looking for it, nor did they help me. Bravo. For those of you planning a visit there, and I truly believe every Kentuckian should go at least once, I’ve got some tips to make it a better experience for you. Come with an open mind. You don’t have to walk away a ghost hunter, but at least open yourself up to the experience. On a more practical level, bring a jacket and some warm clothes. Waverly is up on a hill, and you’ll be glad that you dressed appropriately. Bring a group with you; don’t go by yourself. This is both because it will be more fun and also because you’ll be able to talk about it with them on the drive home! You also won’t have to continually check the rearview mirror to make sure something wicked didn’t hitch a ride with you in the back seat. Seth Dukes is the Newsroom Coordinator for the Meade County Messenger and MCKY News. He graduated from Western Kentucky University in 2015 with a BA in English. He has been a journalist in five counties in western Kentucky and covered everything ranging from feature stories to court happenings. A native of Muhlenberg County, Seth now resides in Brandenburg. He may be reached at mcmeditor@meadecountyky.com
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A picture of myself with my girlfriend and some of her family members at Waverly Hills Sanatorium after a tour.
You can find out more information about
Waverly Hills Sanatorium and their tours on their website at:
www.therealwaverlyhills.com
Kentucky Haunted Times
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Say Your Prayers Before Going In Doe Run Inn BY CHAD HOBBS
It was the first weekend of fall when I found myself passing through the gate at Doe Run Inn just before sunset. I had fond memories of eating there with family and friends for most of my life until it shut down several years ago. It was always a beautiful setting to spend a Sunday afternoon. A much different motivation had brought me there this time. My assignment had put me in search of the paranormal. I found myself on the trail of ghosts. After the inn closed, Broadbent Animal Sanctuary bought it and a large track of land that surrounds it. It has been closed to the public since. As I drove down the tree lined road that leads back to Doe Run, I quickly remembered how beautiful the area including the creek and inn were, but as the sun was quickly fading, I couldn’t help being a little anxious about what the night would have in store for me. Doe Run Inn has a long history of hauntings and paranormal experiences. When the restaurant and inn were still operating, there were many stories revolving around shoes. There were reports of guests claiming they would stand up from their chairs, only to find their shoes had been tied together while they had been sitting. Another group claimed they woke up after spending the night to find three sets of shoes missing. Upon reporting this to the person at the front desk, they were informed that the kitchen staff had found three sets of shoes in the freezer when they had opened that morning. One of the guest rooms was said to have numerous sightings of an elderly lady ghost sitting in a rocking chair. There have also been reports of a female ghost walking the creek just below the inn. As a result, when night fell, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was doubtful I was ready to encounter a dark shadow, as a former cook did years ago when she got out of her car one morning to begin her shift. Armed with prayers recited prior to arriving, along with a pocket full of St. Christopher and St. Anthony medals, a rosary, and a small bottle of holy water, I prepared to enter the inn with my wife and
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Doe Run Inn pictures taken by Chad and Kelly Hobbs.
Andy Rogers, a Broadbent employee, who along with Zach Willet served as my guides as we explored the property that night. Now all the extras (medals, rosary and holy water) we had with us that night may seem a bit much, but I wasn’t taking any chances, especially after receiving a picture a day before my arrival from Rogers. He had taken it at the Coleman House, which was the home of a former owner of the inn at the turn of the century, and it appeared to have caught a demonic looking face looking out the window at him. The paranormal has always left me with mixed feelings. At the end of the day, I was brought up in a church that held the Holy Spirit in the highest regard. The Bible has countless accounts of Jesus driving demons and evil spirits from people he encountered. So, if Jesus bestowed the Holy Spirit upon his followers and believed in demons and evil spirits, who am I to say they don’t exist? The essence of being Christian is believing in such things when you get down to the tenets of religion. As we explored the basement and four stories above it that make up the inn, I can’t say I saw a ghost definitely. I am no paranormal expert by any stretch of the imagination, but we did have several
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things occur that were unexplained. One was a picture Rogers took of me while I was exploring a room. Though the picture was clear, there is a distortion right behind me that resembled a human form. What it was, I cannot say. It could be argued it was a spirit unclearly defined, or maybe it was just something weird that happened when the picture was taken with the light. Many of the pictures we took that night had what are referred to as orbs flying around the room. I feel confident that some were just dust particles caught with the flash; others—well, I’m not so sure. Then there was what is referred to as the attic. We explored what was essentially a big open room with a few open stud walls, as they are remodeling the inn. We did this with both the lights on and off. As we started down the steps with only my head still in the room, something sounded like it was drug across the floor in that dark attic that I could not explain, and it stood the hair up on my neck. It wasn’t just the creaking floors of a historic building that I heard. Something moved across that room that had nothing or no one in it that could explain what I heard. After we finished exploring the inn, we took a gravel road deeper into the woods to the Coleman House, which had an eerie feel to it at midnight. The house is a two-story colonial that must have been something special in its day, but explor-
ing it and a couple of old wood barns that lie behind it in the depths of the night did little to set one’s heart at ease. Thankfully, we were unable to locate the demon face that Rogers had caught in a photo of the house or the growl that was caught on a video from the cellar. To be honest, nothing of great importance happened in the time we spent back there, outside of being in awe at what that homeplace would have been like in its heyday. Later, when going through the hundreds of pictures and videos that I had taken that evening, I would find something that stood out while exploring the backyard around the Coleman House. There are a series of three live photos that all have the same glowing green light wisping around the field of view. In one, it hovers and zips from one end of the roof to the other. In another, it hovers at roof level then zips down to the ground. I took six or seven of these pictures while standing there. The ones before and after do not have the anomaly in them. So, it wasn’t something wrong with my camera or something funky going on with the light source. It’s too big to be a bug (plus, it glows) but small enough that it went unnoticed to us at the time. It is something I have no explanation for to be honest. So, is Doe Run haunted? Though I may not be able to definitely answer this with my time spent there that night, I can say that between the large amounts of sightings that have been reported there over the years along with some of the oddities that took place that night I spent there,
We will help you turn your home from
spooky to spectacular!
Top picture: A phenomenon that I could not explain in my pictures. Possibly an orb of a spirit haunting Doe Run Inn? Bottom picture: The Coleman House. 22
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344 Broadway Brandenburg, KY 40108 270-422-2824 www.facebook.com/AllensSandTHardware meadecountyky.com
I would have to put my money on yes. Maybe my prayers, rosary, and the holy water provided more of a shield than I even realized they did. I hope that someday I may be able to return to Doe Run to continue exploring this phenomenon with less constraints on time. Regardless, I would like to extend my gratitude to everyone with Broadbent Wildlife Sanctuary for helping make this experience possible. I can’t thank Mary Ann Tobin enough for allowing me access. I would also like to thank Scott Hornback, Steve McMillan, Andy Rogers, and Zach Willet for all their help in making it an evening I won’t soon forget. Chad Hobbs is a Reporter for the Meade County Messenger and MCKY News. A Meade County native, he graduated from Meade County High School in 1997. Originally an English major at Bridgewater State University where he played football, he eventually transferred back to Kentucky and obtained a degree in Nursing. Hobbs resides in Flaherty with his wife, Kelly, and son, Cole. He may be reached at mcmreporter2@meadecountyky.com.
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The picture Rogers took of me while I was exploring a room. Can you spot the distortion behind me?
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