HAUNTED HOUSES FOURTH EDITION HAUNTED HOUSES CHILLING TALES FROM 26 AMERICAN HOMES NANCY ROBERTS CONTINUED BY TARYN PLUMB GUILFORD, CONNECTICUT An imprint of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Blvd., Ste. 200 Lanham, MD 20706 www.rowman.com Distributed by NATIONAL BOOK NETWORK Copyright © 2020 The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Roberts, Nancy, 1924-2008., author. | Plumb, Taryn, 1981- author. Title: Haunted houses : chilling tales from 26 American homes / Nancy Roberts continued by Taryn Plumb. Description: Fourth edition. | Guilford, Connecticut : Globe Pequot, 2020. | Summary: “Ghostwriters Nancy Roberts and Taryn Plumb spin fascinating tales about 26 haunted houses all over America. Based on stories told by first-hand witnesses, these stories of ghostly goings-on will keep you on the edge of your seat-and possibly up all night! Read about San Diego’s Whaley House, whose former residents maintain an active presence, as does Yankee Jim, a hanging victim over whose gallows the house was built. Learn about the house in Massachusetts that once belonged to eccentric millionaire and brilliant inventor John Hammond, Jr.-whose practice in spiritualism, say some, continues long after his death. And relive the terrifying battle that claimed the lives of 1,700 Confederate soldiers whose battlefield became their final resting place on Tennessee’s Carnton Plantation”— Provided by publisher. Identifiers: LCCN 2020008095 (print) | LCCN 2020008096 (ebook) | ISBN 9781493047130 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9781493047147 (epub) Subjects: LCSH: Ghosts—United States. | Haunted houses—United States. Classification: LCC BF1472.U6 R634 2020 (print) | LCC BF1472.U6 (ebook) | DDC 133.10973—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020008095 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020008096 The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 CONTENTS Cover Half Title Title Copyright Contents PREFACE CALIFORNIA A Shot in the Dark, Hotel del Coronado, Coronado, California The Haunted Hotel, Hotel Ione, Ione, California Return of the Hanged Man, Whaley House (Museum), San Diego, California The House the Spirits Built, The Winchester Mansion, San Jose, California SOUTHERN US A Plea from the Grave, Cedarhurst Mansion, Huntsville, Alabama The Ghostly Greeter, Lucas Tavern, Montgomery, Alabama The Pirate’s House, Savannah, Georgia The House of Spirits, The Myrtles, St. Francisville, Louisiana House of Tragedy, Carnton Plantation, Franklin, Tennessee The Free Spirit, Ashton Villa, Galveston, Texas NEW ENGLAND The North Room, Red Brook Inn, Old Mystic, Connecticut The Governor’s Haunted Mansion, Woodburn, Dover, Delaware The Romantic Inn by the Sea, Inn by the Sea, Cape Elizabeth, Maine Where You Never Dine Alone, John Stone’s Inn, Ashland, Massachusetts Where History Comes Alive, The Old Manse, Concord, Massachusetts The Hatchet Murders, The Lizzie Borden House, Fall River, Massachusetts John Hays Hammond Jr.—Peculiar in Death Just as in Life? Hammond Castle Museum, Gloucester, Massachusetts The Ghost Lover, The Alexander–Philips House, Springfield, Massachusetts MIDDLE AND SOUTH ATLANTIC STATES How to Kill a Spy, Seven Stars Tavern, Woodstown, New Jersey The Thing in the Well, Old Fort Niagara, Youngstown, New York The Dreaded Meeting, White Oaks, Charlotte, North Carolina The Phantom Lady, Mordecai House and the Andrew Johnson Home, Raleigh, North Carolina Beware the Lights of Loudoun, Loudoun House, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania The Hermitage, Near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina A Drum for the Dead, Berkeley Hundred, Charles City, Virginia The Tramping Feet, The Gaffos House, Portsmouth, Virginia ABOUT THE AUTHORS i ii iii iv v vi vii viii 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 Guide Cover Half Title Title Copyright Contents PREFACE Start of Content ABOUT THE AUTHORS PREFACE THERE ARE HOUSES that you and I should, perhaps, never enter—houses that can be lived in with only the greatest understanding and tolerance. Within them we may encounter ghostly presences, soft touches from invisible fingers, eerie sounds, the echoing footsteps of unseen inhabitants, pervasive fragrances, or even vile stenches. There are those of us who are skeptical, but there are others who would not mind saying that, perhaps, these houses are haunted. Where are they, and what is it like to live in one of them? How do the owners adjust to curiosity seekers, to the skepticism of their friends, and, most of all, to sharing their home with an apparition? The pages of this book contain stories written in a style that not only will be easy to read but also especially suited to being read aloud. They are accounts of hauntings, presences, and spectral appearances obtained from interviews conducted across the country. If you were to ask me what sort of people I talked with, I would have to describe them as ordinary people. They were down-to-earth, intelligent, and, probably, very much like yourself. In this book, I have let them tell their own unique stories. There is often an impression perpetuated—intentionally, I believe, by so called “ghost hunters”—that spirits return because of violent circumstances or for revenge. I would say this is not necessarily true and is entirely too limiting and unimaginative. As a writer who probably has researched more ghost stories based on personal interviews than any other author, I have become convinced through conversations with those who claim supernatural encounters that there are as many reasons for the appearance of a ghost as there are kinds of people—or should I say spirits? Nor do I believe that these ghosts are necessarily tragic spirits trapped somewhere in space, unable to enter either heaven or hell. Rather, I believe that they are sometimes the recipients of an occasional and very special dispensation. I have just returned from the most recent in a series of excursions that have taken me all over the United States in search of special houses with memorable ghost stories. Tonight, I sit writing by the light of a small brass-and-emerald-glass student lamp that belonged to my great-aunt. It is a reminder of the many times I lay beside her in bed at night as a child and coaxed, “Aunt Jess, tell me a story.” From her prodigious memory she would hold forth, and I was enthralled. Not all of the narratives herein are suitable for bedtime, but that will be up to you to judge. Here
