The Restless Spirits of Rotherwood

“Ghosts bridge the past to the present; they speak across the seemingly insurmountable barriers of death and time, connecting us to what we thought was lost. They give us hope for a life beyond death and because of this help us to cope with loss and grief. Their presence is the promise that we don’t have to say goodbye to our loved ones right away.””

— Colin Dickey, "Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places"

One Home, Two Very different Spirits…

On the west side of Kingsport, Tennessee is Rotherwood, an old antebellum mansion overlooking the spot where the two forks of the Holston river come together. Today this red brick structure is privately owned, but according to local lore, it is home to more than just the living.

For the last half a century, stories have placed at least two spirits on the ground of Rotherwood Mansion. First is the beautiful “Lady in White,” Rowena Ross who is forever searching for her lost love who died before they had a chance to marry. Second is the notorious Joshua Phipps who is said to have delighted in the torture of his enslaved workforce and ultimately died a horrifying death. But what is the truth behind the legends of Rotherwood, we may never know.

Additional Links From This Episode:

• Purchase the Feminine Macabre, Vol. 3.

• Listen to Brandon’s Interview on the Me & My Friends Podcast

• Watch current owner Dr. Lenita Thibault discuss the history of Rotherwood (2016)

Sources:

Barton, Steve. “Cold Spots: Rotherwood Mansion.”Dread Central. July 15, 2019. https://www.dreadcentral.com/cold-spots/12474/cold-spots-rotherwood-mansion/.

Brown, Alan. Haunted Tennessee: Ghosts and Strange Phenomena of the Volunteer State. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2009. 

Dickey, Colin. Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places. New York: Viking, 2016.

Dugan, Nick. “Haunted Tri-Cities: Tales from Kingsport’s Rotherwood Mansion.” WJHL News. October 29, 2021. https://www.wjhl.com/haunted-tri-cities/haunted-tri-cities-tales-from-kingsports-rotherwood-mansion/ 

Dykes, Pete. Haunted Kingsport: Ghosts of Tri-City Tennessee. Mount Pleasant, SC: Arcadia Publishing Inc., 2008. 

Hendricks, Nancy. Haunted Histories in America: True Stories Behind the Nations Most Feared Places. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2020.

Leonard, Austin. “The Legends of Rotherwood Mansion.” The Kayseean. March 11, 2021. https://thekayseean.com/life-and-culture/the-legends-of-rotherwood-mansion/. 

Ross, Rev. Frederick Augustus. The Story of Rotherwood from the Autobiography of Rev. Frederick A. Ross., D.D. Edited by Charles C. Ross. Knoxville, TN: Bean, Warters & Co., 1923. Google Books. https://books.google.com  

Rotary Club of Kingsport, Tennessee. Kingsport: The Planned Industrial City. Kingsport, TN: Kingsport Press, Inc. 1946. Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/kingsportplanned00rotarich/.

Scoggins, Katherine. “History on display at Rotherwood’s bicentennial celebration.” Kingsport Times News. September 16, 2018. Updated July 6, 2020. https://www.timesnews.net/.

Simmons, Shane. A. Legends and Lore of East Tennessee. Mount Pleasant, SC: Arcadia Publishing Inc., 2016. 

“Will of Joshua Phipps.” Hawkins County Genealogy & History. Updated March 10, 2014.  https://tngenweb.org/hawkins/phipps-joshua-will/

Bayou St. John Submarine

A Submarine of Unknown Origins

In 1878, a dredge crew working near the mouth of Bayou St. John in New Orleans uncovered a twenty-foot-long iron submarine.  For years people thought the sub was the CSS Pioneer, the first of three submarines built by Horace Hunley, but in reality, the ship’s origin is still unknown to this day. Join us as we explore some of the theories and facts behind this Civil War mystery.

This minisode is a companion to The Mystery of the Confederate Submarine H.L. Hunley.

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ADDITIONAL LINKS FROM THIS EPISODE:

• View images of the Bayou St. John Submarine on the Louisiana State Museum’s Online Exhibit: Civil War Era Submarine.

• Check out the history behind the Old Spanish Fort in New Orleans in the video Lost Amusement Parks.

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Sources:

Haines, Matt. “Today a picturesque waterway, Bayou St. John once harbored a Civil War Submarine.” The Advocate (New Orleans, La), May 14, 2019. https://www.nola.com/entertainment_life/article_3f3c6e2b-e7d1-588c-bf35-237196179342.html. 

Lambousy, Greg. Monster of the Deep: The Louisiana State Museum’s Civil War Era Submarine. Lafayette, LA: Center for Louisiana Studies, 2006.

“Civil War Era Submarine.” Copyright 2018. Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation, and Tourism. https://www.crt.state.la.us/louisiana-state-museum/online-exhibits/civil-war-era-submarine/.

Mystery of the Confederate Submarine

“Accounts of the Hunley’s sinking had assumed horrific scenes of the men trying to claw their way through the thick iron hatches, or huddled in the fetal position beneath the crew bench in their agony. Sinkings of modern submarines always resulted in the discovery of the dead clustered near the exits in their desperate efforts to escape their cold metal coffins, because to sit silently and await one’s own demise simply defies human nature. The crew of the Hunley, however, looked quite different. Each man was still seated peacefully at his station.””

— Rachel Vance, In the Waves

The First Combat Submarine to Sink a Warship

On the night of February 17, 1864, an immense explosion took down the USS Housatonic, a massive warship that was part of the Federal forces’ twenty vessel blockade of the Charleston harbor. Yet the destruction came seemingly out of nowhere, as eyewitnesses in the crew claimed their only warning was the sight of a dark cigar shaped vessel headed straight towards them. What they soon found out was that this sloop-of-war was the victim of the first successful submarine attack in modern warfare.

Unfortunately for the crew of the H.L. Hunley, who carried out this historic mission, the Confederate submarine did not make it back to shore, giving way to a century old mystery– what happened to the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley and why did it go down in the fight?

Additional Links From This Episode:

• Visit the H.L. Hunley on weekends in Charleston, South Carolina.

• Check out the 1999 Made for TV movie, The Hunley on IMDB.

• Watch Drain the Oceans: Season 2, Episode 5 - Secrets of the Civil War on the Disney Plus.

Sources:

Brimelow, Benjamin. “The first submarine to sink a warship was more deadly for its own crew than for the enemy.” Business Insider, February 17, 2021. https://www.businessinsider.com/confederate-civil-war-submarine-hunley-first-sub-to-sink-warship-2021-2.  

Curry, Andrew. “A Civil War Time Capsule from the Sea.” June 24, 2007. U.S. News & World Report. https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2007/06/24/a-civil-war-time-capsule-from-the-sea 

Duncan, Ruth H. The Captain and the Submarine CSS H.L. Hunley. Memphis, TN: S.C. Toof & Company, 1965.

The Friends of the Hunley. “The Friends of the Hunley.” 2021. https://www.hunley.org/

“H. L. Hunley (submarine).” National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. Washington DC: US Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 1978. Accessed at https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/ 

Hicks, Brian. “One-Way Mission of the H. L. Hunley.” January 2014. U. S. Naval Institute. https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2014/january/one-way-mission-h-l-hunley 

Hicks, Brian. “Rewriting history: Discovery alters legend of doomed sub Hunley.” Updated December 8, 2016. The Post and Courier. https://www.postandcourier.com/archives.  https://www.postandcourier.com/archives/rewriting-history-discovery-alters-legend-of-doomed-subhunley-submarine-lifted/article_ebecd2a4-9288-51c7-b6e2-5f26ade4090b.html

Hicks, Brian and Schuyler Kropf. Raising the Hunley: The Remarkable History and Recovery of the Lost Confederate Submarine. New York: Ballantine Publishing, 2002.

Lance, Rachel. In the Waves: My Quest to Solve the Mystery of a Civil War Submarine. New York: Penguin Randomhouse LLC, 2020.

Lance, Rachel M., Lucas Stalcup, Brad Wojtylak, and Cameron R. Bass. “Air blast injuries killed the crew of the H.L. Hunley.” PLoS One, 12 no. 8 (2017). Accessed December 1, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0182244 

Roberts, Nancy. Ghosts from the Coasts. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press, 2001.

Spence, Edward Lee. Treasures of the Confederate Coast: The "Real Rhett Butler" & Other Revelations. Miami, FL: Narwhal Press, 1991.

Stewart, Charles W. Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion: Series 1 - Vol. 15. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1902. Google Books. https://books.google.com https://www.google.com/books/edition/Official_Records_of_the_Union_and_Confed/Bl1AAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1#spf=1584657754154

Still, William N., Jr. “A Naval Sieve: The Union Blockade in the Civil War.” Naval War College Review 36, no. 3 (May-June 1983): 38-45. JSTOR.

Walker, Sally. Secrets of a Civil War Submarine: Solving the Mysteries of the H.L. Hunley.  Minneapolis, MN: Carolrhoda Books,  2015.

Whipple, John. “The Birth of Undersea Warfare - HL Hunley.” Undersea Warfare, 2006. Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20121016165452/http://www.navy.mil/navydata/cno/n87/usw/issue_32/hunley.html

Frank the Library Ghost

Now Entering Frank’s Study

Although the Red Lady may be Huntingdon College’s most well known ghost, she is certainly not the only one!

It’s believed the Huntingdon College's Houghton Memorial Library is home to a mysterious, and mischievous spirit named Frank. Perhaps most unsurprising for a library ghost, is Frank’s has a particular fondness for playing with books.

Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your favorite podcasts!

Sources:

Brown, Alan. Haunted Alabama. Haunted America. New Orleans, LA: Pelican Publishing, 2021.

Huntingdon College. Library: Ghosts. Houghton Memorial Library. Accessed January 14, 2022. https://libguides.huntingdon.edu/website/ghosts 

Mitchell Bennett Houghton (1844-1925). Find a Grave. Accessed January 14, 2022. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/65121276/mitchell-bennett-houghton 

Rankin, M. (2020, October 30). Hauntings at Huntingdon: Frank, the Library Ghost. CBS 42 Birmingham. Accessed January 14, 2022. https://www.cbs42.com/news/hauntings-at-huntingdon-frank-the-library-ghost/ 

Serafin, Faith. Haunted Montgomery, Alabama. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2013.

Swancer, Brent. “The Mysterious Lady in Red and Other Hauntings at Huntingdon College.” Journal Online, March 22, 2021. https://journal.com.ph/the-mysterious-lady-in-red-and-other-hauntings-at-huntingdon-college/.

Walking tour. Huntingdon College. Accessed January 14, 2022. https://www.huntingdon.edu/admission-aid/learn-more/walking-tour/

The Red Lady of Huntingdon College

““Nearly all colleges have ghosts, legends that have grown up around some supernatural occurrences generations of students tell to each other [...] but the finest of those ghost stories, those college ghost stories, is told here at Huntingdon College in Montgomery.””

— Kathryn Tucker Windham

One of the most Iconic College Hauntings in America

Huntingdon College of Montgomery, Alabama regularly makes the lists of ‘most haunted’ universities in America as generations of students have claimed the ghost of a young woman haunts the fourth floor of Pratt Hall--an apparition that has become known as the Red Lady.  Legend claims that this young woman named Martha left behind her home in New York to attend the institution, but upon her arrival, she was overcome by homesickness and the loneliness of being misunderstood by the other girls in her dormitory.  As a result, Martha did something drastic that students continue to whisper about to this day.    

But did Martha actually exist or is this just another tall tale to frighten freshmen?  We will explore this question and more on this week’s episode of Southern Gothic….

Additional Links From This Episode:

• Watch Kathryn Tucker Windham tell the story of the Red Lady of Huntingdon College on Dr. Poppy Moon’s YouTube Channel.

• Listen to Wolfgang Poe on Season One of Ghost Tour.

• Check out Astonishing Legends: The True Story Behind the Exorcist - Episodes 219-221.

Sources:

Barefoot, Daniel W. Haunted Halls of Ivy: Ghosts of Southern Colleges and Universities. Winston-Salem, NC: J.F. Blair, 2004.

Brown, Alan. Haunted Alabama. Haunted America. New Orleans, LA: Pelican Publishing, 2021.

Brown, Alan. The Haunting of Alabama. Gretna, LA: Pelican Publishing Company, 2017.

Crider, Beverly. “Strange Alabama: The Red Lady of Huntingdon.” AL.com. Advance Local Media LLC, April 17, 2012. https://www.al.com/strange-alabama/2012/04/the_red_lady_of_huntingdon.html.

Ferri, Jessica. “A Crimson Vision: The Red Lady of Huntingdon College.” The Lineup. Open Road Media, August 17, 2016. https://the-line-up.com/the-red-lady.

Hauck, Dennis William. Haunted Places: The National Directory. London: Penguin, 1997.

Huntingdon College. Accessed January 6, 2022. https://www.huntingdon.edu/. 

Huntingdon College's Red Lady. YouTube. Dr. Poppy Moon, 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsinhmsF4gA&t=48s.

Kazek, Kelly. “Let's Look at the Real Sites From '13 Alabama Ghosts'.” AL.com. Advance Local Media LLC, October 26, 2018. https://www.al.com/life-and-culture/erry-2018/10/4e9023658d7208/lets-look-at-the-real-sites-fr.html.

“Lady in Red (Ghost).” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, November 25, 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_in_Red_(ghost). 

Schexnayder, Brandon, Alicia King-Marshall, hosts. “Wolfgang Poe of the Birmingham Historic Touring Company” Ghost Tour (podcast), September 10, 2021, accessed January 5, 2022, https://www.southerngothicmedia.com/blog/gt001

Serafin, Faith. Haunted Montgomery, Alabama. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2013.

Swancer, Brent. “The Mysterious Lady in Red and Other Hauntings at Huntingdon College.” Journal Online, March 22, 2021. https://journal.com.ph/the-mysterious-lady-in-red-and-other-hauntings-at-huntingdon-college/.

“White Lady.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, January 5, 2022. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Lady. 

Windham, Kathryn Tucker and Margaret Gillis Figh. 13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press, 2016. 

The Peyton Randolph House Hauntings

The Most Haunted Building in Williamsburg?

In our first minisode we travel back to historic WIlliamsburg, Viriginia…

The home, first constructed in 1721, is today one of the most original surviving structures in Williamsburg; the buildings longevity is believed by many to be the reason why many believe it to be so paranormally active.

In it’s 300 year history the Peyton Randolph house served as a meeting place for American Revolutionaries, and a hospital during the Civil War. With the numerous individuals who lived and died within its walls, its perhaps unsurprising that the accounts of strange occurrences of disembodied noises are said to date back to the late 1700s.

It’s even said that Revolutionary War hero and French General Marquis de Lafayette, experienced something he couldn’t explain when staying at the house in 1824. He was one of many to have an encounter in the Peyton Randolph House.

Ghosts of the Williamsburg Public Gaol

Some Prefered the Gallows…

In 1638, English colonists established their first significant inland settlement on the high ground of the Virginia Peninsula, between the James and York Rivers.  In 1699 Middle Plantation was renamed Williamsburg and given the honor of serving as the new capital of the Virginia Colony.  As a result Williamsburg has had a truly unique place in American history. It has been witness to practically every aspect, from the Colonial era through the American Revolution and Civil War, to its present state as a modern city with a population of over 14,000.  

One of Williamsburg’s most infamous historic structures is the Public Gaol-- a place where the accused once awaited trial. Each prison cell was designed to hold six inmates shackled to the wall, and although allowances were made for the accused to spend time in the exercise yard, the overcrowding and lack of sanitation made illness a real and likely possibility.

Conditions that are said to have been so bad the some would prefer the gallows over incarceration there.

Today eerie shadows have been seen moving about the cells on the first floor without explanation, and the balls and chains on display at what is now a museum have been known to move and swing by themselves.  Some have even reported hearing the disembodied sounds of prisoners banging on the wall from inside, despite the building being empty. 

The Curse on Barnsley Gardens

It would be the deepest disrespect to disturb the area…

In 1837 Godfrey Barnsley purchased 3,645 acres of land that had recently been opened for settlement by the state of Georgia. This and however, was taken by the state from the Cherokee people through the coercive Treaty of New Echota.

Legend says that the land Barnsley purchased and planned to build on was sacred ground for generations of Cherokee. Despite being warned of possible consequences, Barnsley built his family a grand mansion, known first as Woodlands, and later as Barnsley Gardens.

This unwillingness to respect the beliefs of the Cherokee people would be a tragic mistake that would lead to a series of unfortunate events for all of the Barnsley family who lived in the home.

Massacre at the Sultan's Palace

Blood Seeped Under the Door, Down the Steps, and into the Street…

On the corner of Orleans Avenue and Dauphine Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans is a stately three and a half-story mansion that is said to be the site of a massacre so significant that blood flowed from the building and into the street.

It is the tale of a mysterious Turkish gentleman, perhaps even the brother of a Sultan, who arrived in New Orleans, threw wild parties, and was then viciously murdered. But is this story true or is it like the city of New Orleans— the product of an ever-changing cultural landscape that merges the past and the present; evolving and intersecting with other well-known legends like that of Pere Antoine’s Date Palm, or The Tree of the Dead.

The Spirits of Sloss Furnaces (Revisited)

“We felt like we were in hell…”

Built in 1881, Sloss Furnaces was the first of many blast furnaces in Birmingham, Alabama to manufacture pig iron.

The furnaces aided in catalyzing an Industrial Revolution in the postwar south. It was in Alabama, that the iron industry took off, providing the rest of the country with the material necessary to build everything from country bridges to the first skyscrapers.

But this lucrative new economy came at a high cost to the men who toiled to keep the furnace fed. A majority of furnaces workers were formerly enslaved men, willing to take any work away from the fields they were once forced to labor in. With extreme and hazardous working conditions at the best of times, it is no surprise that accidents resulting in injury or death occurred

Today, many believe that echoes of the tragedy experienced by past workers still reverberate through the tunnels and catwalks of this icon of American industry.

The Ghost Town of Rodney, Mississippi

Lost to time and the shifting currents of the Mississippi River…

It was in 1828 that the town of Rodney, Mississippi was formally incorporated. Located near the Mississippi River, the town would grow to become an essential port for steamboats traveling up and down the river. Rodney became known as a bustling town and thriving entertainment center, even building the state’s first opera house.

The city survived a devastating yellow fever epidemic and was occupied by Federal forces during the Civil War. Yet the death knell first sounded in 1869 when Rodney, Mississippi was almost entirely consumed by fire. Though the town tried to recover, it was unable to.

In 1870, A large sandbar formed in the Mississippi River, causing the river’s flow to shift westwards away from Rodney. Where once Rodney was a port town, an ideal stopping point for steamer ships, just yards from the river, it was now roughly two miles away. The town had lost its port.

And without its port, Rodney lost its residents. Today, all that remains of the once thriving town are the damaged shells of several buildings.

The Premature Burial of Octavia Hatcher

She Awoke trapped in her Coffin…

In 1891 Octavia Hatcher was twenty years-old. She was married to the most successful businessmen in the state of Kentucky and was awaiting the birth of her first child. There should have been nothing but excitement and hope for a bright future for the family, but that was not to be.

After the devastating loss of her child, Octavia became despondent, eventually becoming bedridden. She was pronounced dead on May 2, 1891.

Yet just days later, an odd sleeping sickness struck the town, during which the afflicted seemed dead for a time before reviving. Octavia’s husband, James Hatcher, fear she too may have afflicted with the illness. When the coffin was disinterred she discovered the horrifying truth— Octavia Hatcher had been buried alive.

Most legends are a mixture of fact and fiction, but in the the story of Octavia Hatcher the line behind history and legend is much more difficult to spot.  For many in Pikeville, Kentucky, the story of Octavia Hatcher’s tragic death is complete fact, but as skeptics of the story point out, there is no known documentation to support such an event occurring.

The Surrency Family Poltergeist

Ghosts on the Rampage in Georgia…

In October 1872, a small Georgia community was bursting with visitors and curiosity seekers in an attempt to discover the truth behind mysterious happenings at the family home of Allen Powell Surrency.

In what many consider to be one of the most documented ghost story in American history, the Surrency family home seemingly became the epicenter of a destructive entity. From the benign—doors slammed open and closed and objects floated above the ground, to the life threatening—a child thrown from bed and another beaten by unseen hands.

Today, proponents of the paranormal say that the events in 1872 have the marks of poltergeist activity. The cause of such activity at the Surrency House remains a mystery.

Hilton Head Island's Haunted Lighthouse

The Blue Lady of Palmetto Dunes…

Hilton Head Island’s Leamington Lighthouse was erected in 1880 to help guide ships away from the island and safely into Port Royal Sound; but according to local lore, the now decommissioned structure is home to the apparition of a young women in a blue dress.

Legends say that the woman is the daughter of a lighthouse keeper who tragically met his fate during a massive hurricane. As a result, she purportedly returns to warn of pending storms.

John Henry: Steel Driving Man

With A Hammer In My Hand…

When the Civil War drew to a close, the United States’ railway networks, particularly those in the Southern states, were in shambles. During the Reconstruction era, the rehabilitation of the southern rails and expansion of transcontinental railroads became a major undertaking, and as the importance of the railroad rose.

In the three decades after the Civil War over 170,000 miles of track were added to America’s railway system; it opened the western states for further settlement and reestablished the accessibility of the southern states. The accomplishment required a considerable workforce, and railway companies became a significant employers of thousands of men finally freed from enslavement.

The work was dangerous, physically intensive, and time consuming.  It's unknown exactly how many men lost their lives to injury or illness while expanding the nation’s railroad system during Reconstruction, but the legacy of these men lives on in one of the most enduring folk heroes in American history...the ballad of John Henry, the steel-driving man.

Refuge in the Great Dismal Swamp

The dreariest of places…

It was in 1619 that the first enslaved Africans arrived on the shores of Virginia Colony. Over the next two and a half centuries, as the colonies expanded, so too did the number of enslaved persons. Also on the rise were the number of men and women willing to risk everything in an attempt for freedom.

In Virginia, many of those men and women who fled enslavement took refuge in the Great Dismal Swamp. From as early as 1700, those men and women, known as maroons, established settlements within the seemingly inhospitable swamp.

Knowledge about what life was like in the Dismal is uncertain. But it is certainly a place of duality, where freemen escaped to, but companies brought enslaved men to work.

Although little physical evidence remains today, it is believed that prior to the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, more than 2,000 people lived in the Great Dismal Swamp.

The Mysterious Death of Meriwether Lewis

American Explorer’s Unsolved Death

On May 14, 1804 Meriwether Lewis and William Clark set out on what would become a two year expedition across the western half of the United States.

Yet for all the successes of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, there lies a shadow over the legacy of the famed Meriwether Lewis-- for as this daring explorer was able to survive the treacherous journey into the vast wilderness of North America, his life came to an end not long after his return-- a tragedy with mysterious circumstances that over two centuries later remains unsolved.

Madame Félicité Chretien

A Real Life Scarlett O’Hara

Just north of Lafayette, Louisiana -- in the small town of Sunset -- is Chretien Point, a beautiful creole style two-story mansion that once served as the centerpiece to a vast cotton plantation known as Chretien Point.

Today, the enduring legacy of Chretien Point is not in its bricks or furnishings, but in the story of its mistress, Félicité Neda Chretien. Commonly referred to as a ‘real-life’ Scarlett O’Hara -- Madame Félicité Chretien was confident, strong-willed, intelligent, and beautiful.

Félicité learned how to successfully run a plantation from her father, and it was she who saw Chretien Point Plantation through its most prosperous days, and it was Madame Chretien who saved it from its darkest.

Legend of Peter Dromgoole

A UNIVERSITY DISAPPEARANCE

For almost two centuries the legend of the disappearance of Peter Dromgoole has been told by the students of the University of North Carolina.      

In 1833 Peter Dromgoole arrived to study at the University, and although he initially failed the entrance exam Peter remained to prepare to retake the test.  Yet before he could do so, Peter Dromgoole vanished without a trace. 

The oft-told legend of Peter Dromgoole is one of a love story that ends in a tragedy.  There is another version of the tale, one that looks at Dromgoole family letters, in an attempt to discover Peter’s path from North Carolina. 

Today, centuries later, the mystery remains unsolved.  What actually happened to Peter Dromgoole? 

The Waverly Hills Sanatorium

MOST HAUNTED PLACE ON EARTH

On July 26, 1910 the Waverly Hills Sanatorium opened outside Louisville, Kentucky; the hospital on the hill was dedicated solely to the treatment of those infected with the highly contagious and often fatal disease, tuberculosis.  During its forty years in operation, thousands would pass through the hospital doors, though most would survive, hundreds would not.  Although modern medicine has largely made tuberculosis an illness of the past, the stigma of it lingered.     

In the decades since the sanatorium closed and the site deteriorated, it gained a new reputation, as one of the most haunted buildings on Earth.