A Walk Through Natchez's Haunted History

An Evening with Natchez Ghost Tours

SRI Selfie
by Kaysee

Any time I visit a big city on vacation, I immediately look to see if they have a ghost tour available! Ghost tours are an easy way to get a good overview of the haunted history of an area in an entertaining (and often pretty humorous) way. In recent years, I've been to ghost tours of a few 'southern' locations, including Wilmington NC, Charleston SC, and even New Orleans. But, when I found myself in Natchez, Mississippi with some time to kill, the idea of a ghost tour didn't even cross my mind. Surely, this little town, while being steeped in history and having quite a few local haunts, wouldn't be offering ghost tours in the middle of winter. Luckily, as I was waiting in the lobby one day, I wandered over to my hotel's display of brochures and pamphlets for nearby attractions. My eyes immediately landed on a rack card for...Natchez Ghost Tours! The best part was...these tours were advertised as being offered year round, 7 days a week!

The night before we were to return to West Virginia, Dan contacted tour guide and owner, Scott McCoy, and reserved us four spots for that evening.

Tour Guide, Scott
in front of the
Eola Hotel

 It was a brisk, yet not cold (by WV standards!) evening when the three SRI ambassadors to the south, with my husband tagging along, met Scott in front of the historic, but unfortunately closed, Eola Hotel on the corner of Main St. and Pearl. After a brief introduction and what to expect on the tour, we learned that the Eola was in fact, the first haunted building we'd be hearing about. The Eola, which had its grand opening on July 1, 1927, was made possible by the Natchez Investment Corporation. Isidore Levy, who was President of the Board of Directors, had the hotel named after his daughter, Eola. 

I don't want to give too much away in this blog as Scott has curated some great stories and history for his tour, and I highly encourage you to go hear them from HIM if you get the chance. But, I will say that if the Eola Hotel, which has struggled for quite some time, despite being an extremely prosperous hotel and mecca of local social functions, ever opens back up for business....you're going to want to explore the 7th floor. The seventh floor, which was built to house an auditorium, banquet hall, and kitchen, is the heart of the haunting, and the hotel's three reported ghosts (a young woman in white, and two older men) like to hang out mainly in that area, interacting with staff and visitors alike.

Prentiss Club

Our next stop was the Prentiss Club, which opened in 1905 as an elite gentleman's fraternal organization of wealthy businessmen, named after Sergeant Smith Prentiss. It served various functions over the years, including a speakeasy during Prohibition, and was considered a total loss after a 2018 fire. The building was restored, but as of right now, sits empty, awaiting a new purpose. It's also a favorite location of a colorful local named Buzz, who passed away in 2011. Buzz has been spotted walking along the sidewalk by the building, immediately recognizable by his fashionable attire. Buzz has been reported to interact with those he encounters, communicate via K-II, and even be photographed. Unfortunately for us, it may have been a little too cold for this southern gentleman during our trip, as we didn't receive any sign that he was willing to talk.

King's Tavern

Our approximately two hour, one mile long tour took us to other parts of downtown, where we learned about a devastating night club fire, and the small museum dedicated to it that may have some lingering spirits. We also learned much about the town's early history and Civil War-era history with a stroll through the local park...a park that also serves as a cemetery. In addition, we made a stop to the historic King's Tavern. I've already dedicated a blog post to the King's Tavern (read it HERE!), but that was one of the locations that repeatedly came up as being the most haunted place in the area, so it was definitely a top priority for me to see before heading home. The tavern, which boasts being the oldest building in the state's oldest town has a long history of serving both the town and the riverboat community...and may have even been the site of a terrible murder that left a young woman named Madeline bricked up in the chimney. Madeline is still around, most often showing herself through a series of bare footprints traipsing through recently mopped floors.

Memorial Park

We wrapped up the tour with a special treat; we were allowed to go inside the old county jail! While the building is still used mainly for city offices, the old converted Victorian house still has the original jail cells in the back...including the 'death row' section, complete with what is believed to be the original indoor gallows. But, it's not the prisoners' ghosts who have most often been reported in the area; the spirits behind the hauntings are said to be the former guards, still on duty after so many years. We got to spend a little time exploring the jail and attempting to communicate through both the K-II and the flashlight method. 

Guard's Walk
Old City Jail

This was a great tour, and fairly priced at $25 per person. Scott was a great storyteller, and any 'down time' between stops was spent with personable conversation, us telling him about ourselves and our own paranormal experiences, and vice versa. And, while Scott notes that he is a storyteller/historian and NOT a paranormal investigator, he did bring along a few ghost hunting gadgets to help enhance the spooky experience. 

The Natchez Ghost Tour was a great way to wrap up our week down south and have one final spooky sendoff before heading back to the cold, snowy mountains of Appalachia. If you're ever in the area, please make this a part of your itinerary. It's a fun, informative way to see the downtown Natchez area and get a glimpse into its haunted history.  Find them at:

Natchez Ghost Tour Website

Natchez Ghost Tour Facebook

Phone-- (225) 772-0525

Further Reading:

National Register Application for Eola Hotel

Historic Natchez Foundation: Prentiss Club

A Christmas Story from Fairfield County Infirmary

The Spectral Research and Investigations team has had a busy, busy year, which we wrapped up this weekend with a small holiday get-together. After a period of food, fun, and friends, with our buddy Raymond Newsome from Newsome Paranormal and his family joining us, the SRI team went back to work, planning for another great year in 2024. One thing that was decided was to make a return trip to the Fairfield County Infirmary near Lancaster, Ohio. The team has investigated this location once before on our own, and once as guests of WVPI (check out the FCI video HERE). But, since we have several new members that hadn't been a part of those investigations, we felt this was a location that we needed to revisit. 

That got me going on another research spree, and as I perused the newspaper archives, I started noticing a pattern. Throughout the 1910's, 1920's, and even into the 1930's, every December the local newspaper ran little features by 'The Santa Claus Club,' asking citizens to help make the Christmas season a little brighter for both the children at the Children's Home, and the mostly elderly residents of the Fairfield County Infirmary. Fruit, candy, magazines, interesting books, and tobacco products were among the most wished for items at the infirmary, as these were nice little extra luxuries to supplement the already well taken care of needs of the patients. 

In an effort to further humanize these poor souls and appeal to the charitable side of the readers, these articles often contained some human interest-type stories from infirmary residents. Most of the time, these were just short blurbs featuring a brief rundown of the circumstances which led to the patients being admitted to the infirmary, or even a short quote about their feelings on the place. However, in 1922, the local paper really outdid itself with its featured Fairfield tale.  The following is an excerpt which appeared in the Lancaster-Eagle Gazette on December 16, 1922:

WONDERFUL XMAS STORY

Comes from Fairfield County Infirmary---Read It and Then Help

Truth is stranger than fiction, so runs the old adage, and a story that came from the Fairfield County Infirmary last week tends to confirm the ancient saying. 

A high powered car with a chauffeur at the wheel stopped at the institution, while a gray haired gentleman of apparent refinement stepped from the car and making his way to the office made known his errand. He asked if he might be permitted to look about the premises, stating that he was raised there as a child seventy years ago. The matron Mrs. Hummell escorted him about the building and he inquired for the room in which he had been raised. Being unable to find it, he was finally ushered up to the attic, which by the way is a finished one, and in recent years has been used for storage only.

The infirmary was built eighty years ago and for a long time was used both as Infirmary and Children's Home. Upon entering the attic the aged man exclaimed, "Yes, this is the room in which I was raised," and then he told the following remarkable story to the matron:

"Seventy years ago this Christmas, my mother took me covered over in a basket into the railway depot at Lancaster and she said to another woman sitting there, will you kindly watch this basket  for a few moments while I step across the street. My mother never returned and all that I know about her is that she was well dressed and apparently a woman of refinement. I was warranted to the County Infirmary, and at ten years of age I was adopted by a good family. Today I own two of the largest shoe stores in Dayton and I am a man of wealth, but I would gladly give every dollar that I possess if I could but find my mother.

For many years I have advertised and searched through many Infirmaries, hoping against hope that I may find her. While my life has been crowned with success in a business way, still I feel that it has been a great failure on account of not being able to find my mother. I have gone through life with an aching heart. I have never married as I feared that that step might interfere with my search."

The stranger's card read James G. Randolph.

How we found our REM
Pod. No one had been in this
section of the building. This was the
attic space said to house the 
children. 

I couldn't tell you how much of this, and other stories posted in these features was true, and how much was made up to tug at the heartstrings. It's certainly plausible, though. We do have documentation that the infirmary was home to many children during its early years, as a dedicated Children's Home for the area wasn't established until the 1880's. And, during our last trip there, we were told that a portion of the attic space was where the youngest patients (or inmates, as they were often called) were housed. In fact...it was in this space where we may have actually interacted with a child spirit. And, it was the location where we found a piece of our equipment  with the back battery compartment removed and the battery on the floor...despite the fact that no one had been in that area. 

As we get closer to the big day, I'll be posting more information and other interesting tidbits about this really cool location, which served as Fairfield's 'poor farm' and home for those who could not care for themselves between 1848 and 1985. That long of a stretch means there's plenty of opportunity for some crazy stuff to have been documented. But, I wanted to get this little Christmas story out in time for the holidays and to act as a little teaser to the new year ahead. SRI looks forward to investigating some great locations in 2024, and sharing our adventures with you! Please subscribe to our YouTube Channel and follow us on Facebook for more information. 

Have a wonderful holiday season, a very Merry Christmas, and as always...Stay Spooky!

Beware of Frau Perchta

Christmas is full of weird, spooky witches and monsters. From Krampus, to Hans Trapp, to Gryla and her demonic kitty and Yule Lads (more on those traditions in a later post!), there's plenty to keep one scared straight during the holiday season. However, the majority of these yuletide terrors are designed to keep children in line. While here in the modern USA, parents threaten their kids that if they don't behave, Santa Claus will NOT bring them presents. That's pretty tame compared to the European folklore of Krampus, who will either beat them with birch sticks or stuff them into his sack and drag them off to Hell. 

But what happens when its the adults who are naughty...particularly the lady of the house?  Enter Frau Perchta.

Frau Perchta is an interesting character. She goes by many names, arrives in various forms, and her tradition can be linked to a number of different legends and tales. She's most known, however, for being absolutely terrifying. 

Hailing from the Alpine areas near the Austrian and German border, Frau Perchta or "Spinnstubenfrau" (The Spinning Room Lady), acts as a warning for the womenfolk to make sure their house was not only spotless during the 12 Days of Christmas--from December 25 to January 6--but to ensure that they had all their spinning finished before the holidays. 

If a household heard a knock on their door on any of the three Thursdays leading up to Christmas (known as Berchtle or Knocking Nights), or on any of the 12 days of Christmas, the maternal head of home had better have it together. If the above-mentioned conditions weren't met, or if Frau Perchta had not been honored with a feast of porridge and fish, she may angrily set fire to one's unfinished fiber arts. If she was in a really bad mood, she might just withdrawal the long knife concealed under her skirt and slit you open, replacing your organs with rocks, straw, and even garbage. But, if you had been a good girl and got all your chores done, you might find a nice, shiny silver coin left for you.

In her 'evil' form, Frau Perchta appears as an old crone dressed in rags. You know its her by her large, beaked nose made of iron and her one non-human foot, often described as a goose, or swan foot. In her 'good' form, she shows up as a beautiful maiden dressed all in white, sometimes going by the moniker of Holle. Another interesting characteristic of Frau Perchta is that she is often accompanied by an unholy posse of unbaptized babies and the Perchten, which are a bunch of Krampus-looking demons. Any thunder or windstorms during this time are attributed to this band of creatures, and link the Frau Perchta legend to the Wild Hunt. 

There are way too many fine points and rabbit holes associated with Frau Perchta, so I'll let you run off to do your own research if you'd like to know more. But, just take this as a warning: make sure you have all your chores completed by Christmas. It might just save your life. 

Stay Spooky!

Links of Interest:

Bone and Sickle

Boroughs of the Dead

Ghosts of King's Tavern (Natchez, MS)

King's Tavern
Circa 1920
Source: Mississippi State University Libraries

On a recent trip down south, I stayed just outside of Natchez, Mississippi while working on a film project with the Uncovering History Crew. Sitting in my hotel doing some research one night, I decided to be nosy and see what haunted locations were in my area. Natchez, being such an old and historic town on the Mississippi River, had quite a few places with a ghostly reputation, but one in particular kept popping up: King's Tavern.

Located on Jefferson Street in Natchez's On-Top-Of-The-Hill Historic District, The King's Tavern is the oldest building in the state's oldest city. The tavern dates back to 1769 when it was built by the British as a blockhouse for nearby Fort Panmure. The construction of the building is pretty interesting in and of itself. Aside from the sun-dried bricks used, the wood for the three-story tavern came from two main sources. First, wood was recycled from scrapped sailing ships in New Orleans, which were brought in via mules. But, the majority of construction materials came from the flat riverboats that sailed down the Mississippi, loaded with supplies. Since these types of boats couldn't go back UP river, they were dismantled and sold, and their captains and crew returned north via the Natchez Trace.

After the Revolutionary War, the British left the area, and the old blockhouse was sold to Richard King in 1789. King, originally from New York, moved his family down south and opened the place up as a tavern and inn catering to the riverboat men and those taking the stagecoach. Comfortable accommodations could be found on the third floor, while good drink and food could be found in the tavern. During this time, King's Tavern also served as a social center for locals, as King acted as the town's postman, receiving and sending out the residents' mail. The family was held in high regard throughout the community...but that may have just been their outward impression. More on that later...

King's Tavern, December 2023
Photo by Theresa
Natchez Ghost Tour

Riverboat men and other travelers weren't the only ones who stayed at the inn. During this time, the Natchez Trace was the main route back up north, and thus, was the route that many of the riverboat owners, now with their pockets stuffed with the cash from the goods unloaded and boats scrapped, traveled to go back home. Outlaws and highwaymen were known to frequent this route, robbing and often brutally murdering travelers. Some of the worst of these criminals were the Harpe Brothers, who were regulars at the tavern. In one story, it is said that Micaja 'Big' Harpe even killed his own daughter when she wouldn't stop crying! He was hunted down by a posse and killed in Kentucky in 1799. His head was displayed on a pike--a warning to other criminals that the good citizens were through with this type of behavior.

It wasn't long until steamboats replaced the old riverboats, and these vessels COULD travel UP the Mississippi, lessening the need for an inn at this location. In 1817, the property was sold to the Postalwaith family, and from 1823 to 1973, the old inn was converted into a private residence passed down through the family for several generations. That year, it was sold to an investor and became a restaurant. After a brief closure, it reopened as a farm-to-table style restaurant, but is currently closed and up for sale. Perhaps like many local restaurants and similar establishments, King's Tavern couldn't recover from the Covid-19 closures. Or maybe, people weren't too sure about having a meal in the state's most haunted restaurant!

There's been quite a bit of reported activity at King's Tavern over the years. Objects moving, shadow figures, and mysterious sounds have all been documented. On the third floor, people have even heard the sounds of a baby crying, accompanied by a wailing mother. One story to explain this was that Big Harpe (remember him?) was staying at the inn one night and a mother and infant were staying in another room. The baby wouldn't stop crying, which kept the infamous outlaw awake. He calmly barged into the woman's room, grabbed the crying child from her arms, dashed it against the wall, then calmly handed the now silenced (and deceased) child back to its mother. Without an ounce of regret, he went back to his room and finally fell asleep. As seen earlier, there was a story that Harpe had killed his own daughter for crying....could this unnamed child actually have been his own?

King's Tavern in Daylight
Source: Haunted Houses

Arguably, the tale of the crying baby ghost is the most horrific from King's Tavern...but the story of Madeline is a close second. Madeline was a beautiful young girl who worked for the King family. An affair began between Mr. King and Madeline, and eventually Mrs. King found out about it. The perfect family wasn't so perfect after all. One day, Madeline went missing. She wasn't seen alive ever again. But, it is believed that she WAS found.  In the 1930's, work on the brick chimney revealed a hidden wall. Behind the wall were three skeletons; two men and one woman. Along with the remains was found a bejeweled dagger. It's not known who exactly the men were, but the woman is thought to obviously be Madeline. It is theorized that Mrs. King either killed her herself, or had her killed and bricked up her remains and murder weapon behind the wall. The two men who joined her in death may have been the hitmen, killed to cover up the crime, or two additional witnesses/accomplices who knew the truth behind Mrs. King's evil smirk.

Madeline is the main ghost of the King's Tavern, and is blamed for the majority of activity. Although no longer in service, the fireplace where her remains were found always seems much warmer than the rest of the room, as if there's a fire burning. Things around the bar are moved around, and a woman wearing old-fashioned clothes has been spotted throughout the building. But, Madeline's favorite 'calling card' is her footprints. Many employees have been vexed by a line of bare footprints traipsing through the wet floor that they JUST mopped, even though they know for sure no LIVING person could have passed through. 

Unfortunately, this place was closed during my stay, but we did get to see it AND hear about its haunted history from Scott McCoy of the Natchez Ghost Tour! This was a really awesome tour, full of anecdotes and scary stories from the town's most haunted hot spots. I'll be doing a blog post dedicated to that tour soon, so keep an eye out. And as always....stay spooky everyone!

*Haunted Houses has a wonderful summary and plenty of pictures of this location. Please check the link provided for more information!*

The Christmas Eve Hitchhiker

Route 310 across from
Valley Falls Road

Being from the Huntington area, and working with investigation teams based in that city, the most (in)famous phantom hitchhiker that I'm familiar with is the ghostly woman in white who haunts the 5th Street Hill area, begging cabbies and bus drivers to give her a ride to the bottom of the hill, where she promptly vanishes around Ritter Park.

I'm not sure of exactly when it was, but several years ago, I started seeing the story of another phantom hitchhiker in the state. Up in the northern part of West Virginia, between Grafton and Fairmont, was a woman in red. The Lady in Red has been seen along Old Grafton Road (WV-310) near Valley Falls Road. Drivers have noted a woman with long, dark matted hair wearing a matted gown, walking alongside the highway. She appears to be sopping wet, with her gown closely clinging to her skin, and her hair dripping down her back. Whatever the weather, she appears to be hunched over, struggling against a strong wind that may or may not be present.

Occasionally, she frantically waves down a passerby, and occasionally, a Good Samaritan will stop and offer her a ride. Those who have notice the woman emits a scent of old fashioned perfume---and death. She struggles into the vehicle, and then softly asks the driver to take her to Cook Hospital in Fairmont. Unfortunately, Cook Hospital hasn't existed since 1938-9, when a bigger hospital, Fairmont General, was built. Nevertheless, the drivers take the woman to the Gaston Avenue address. As they pull up in front of the NON-hospital site and go to open her door for her, they find her seat empty. She has vanished. 

Former Cook Hospital
Fairmont, December 2019

The most well-known sighting of the Lady in Red comes from a truck driver in what I'm guessing was the 1960's or very early 1970's. It was Christmas Eve, a little before midnight. The truck driver, working for the Owens-Illinois Plant was carrying a load of powdered glass to the Fairmont factory along WV-310 when he was flagged down by a woman in a red dress.

He helped her into the passenger side of his truck, and since she was shivering violently in the cold, December air, he draped his coat around her shoulders. As she always did, she quietly asked him to take her to Cook Hospital. Being local to the area, he tried to reason with her that Cook Hospital no longer existed. But, he pitied the poor thing, alone and shivering on the side of the highway, and so he drove her the 10 miles into Fairmont to the site of Cook Hospital. As expected, when they arrived and he went to help her down out of the seat, she had vanished, leaving only his own coat lying in the seat where she had once sat.

The trucker was already running late when he stopped to pick the woman up, and the side trip to the hospital was another several miles out of his way. Therefore, his bosses weren't happy and he was fired for his tardiness. It is said that he contacted the well-known folklorist and collector of ghost stories, Ruth Ann Musick, who was then able to contact his employers and get his job back!

To this day, no one knows who the fancily dressed woman in red is, or why she was so desperate to get to Cook Hospital. Was she a nurse/nursing student trying to get back home after a night of partying, yet met a terrible accident along Old Grafton Road in the rain? Was she involved in an accident on the way to or from a Christmas party and trying to make it to the hospital to receive treatment? We may never know for sure. 

Cook Hospital, 1906
Source: WV History on View

In December of 2019, my husband and I did try to see the lady in red for ourselves. We waited until nearly midnight, then drove up and down the area where WV-310 meets with Valley Falls Road. Valley Falls Road leads directly to Rock Lake; could this lake have something to do with why the woman appears to be sopping wet...or was she simply caught in a storm, fighting against both rain and wind? The night my husband and I went out searching, the weather was unseasonably warm and mild. To our disappointment, despite next to no traffic, no woman in red was observed either. We went ahead and drove into Fairmont to take a look at the old Cook Hospital. At the time, it was being converted from office space for the Marion County Board of Education to low-income apartment space. Nothing spooky was noted there, either. 

Obviously, this story contains a lot of the same phantom hitchhiking tropes that are found around the world---a mysterious person, usually a woman, and usually dressed inappropriately for the weather, asks motorists to take her to an address that may no longer exist (or when they get there, find out that the woman did live there, but has been dead for many years). When the motorist goes to let her out of the car, they've found she has mysteriously vanished without a trace. We don't get that closure that many of these stories have, however. We never get her back story. We never know why she was out, and why exactly it was the hospital she was desperately trying to return to.

What we do get is even MORE mystery. This story has elements borrowed from a few other West Virginia tales. For example, in Ruth Ann Musick's book, Coffin Hollow and Other Ghost Stories, there's a story called 'Vision in the Snow' about a cab driver during the Great Depression who was fired after picking up a disappearing woman in late December. The rationale was that the cab company couldn't afford to be picking up customers that didn't pay their fare, despite their status of being alive or dead. (I read this story on my TikTok if you're interested!)

So there's at least two stories from WV where someone was fired after picking up a phantom hitchhiker, and both have a direct connection with author and professor, Ruth Ann Musick. Further, our lady from this story isn't the only Lady in Red out hitchhiking West Virginia roads. As seen in the book, Cry of the Banshee, by Susan Sheppard, Rt. 50 (the road between Salem and Clarksburg) is home to a ghostly woman in red. When the moon is full, motorists have said to have spotted a woman wearing a red hooded coat, walking along the side of the road. Those who stop to ask the woman if she needs help are shocked to discover that under the scarlet hood, the woman has no face. Allegedly, this woman is also said to follow motorists home, pacing outside of their home, peering into their windows with her faceless visage.

Clarksburg is not far from Fairmont at all, so it seems strange that despite the huge disparity between these two ghostly hitchhikers, they both appear in RED, as opposed to the classic white. The Route 50 hitchhiker doesn't actually hitch a ride...unless you count following people home ::shudder::...which makes me prefer an encounter with the Fairmont ghost any day, especially around the Christmas season! 

For more on this story, Haunted West Virginia is the place to go!