Haunted Houses and Family Ghosts of Kentucky

by William Lynwood Montell

  I dismissed it from my mind at the time, but when he came in that evening, I asked him if he had been home that day. He said that he had been in another county all day.

  There have been other times that I have heard these steps, along with the other family members, and we never knew for sure if someone was coming in or not. We would usually holler and ask who it was. We all got used to this happening and didn’t get excited when it did.

  Another time, a different type incident happened one evening, again while I was by myself. My daughter had gone out and I heard someone at the door. I thought it was her trying to get the key in the door. I ran to the door, but no one was there. No one was in sight, and they certainly would not have had time to get away. Still, I wondered if she had been in a great big hurry and had driven away very fast. That night I asked her if she had been back home after she left, and she hadn’t.

  I haven t heard anything unusual now for months. Whatever it was, evidently doesn’t stay around now, or at least I haven’t heard anything. I don’t believe in ghosts, that is, the departed persons spirit staying around. However, I do believe there are spirits here, as mentioned in the Bible.

  107. “A Ghost’s Satisfaction with Her House’s New Owners”

  Carroll County

  [Here in Carrollton] out on Mason Street between Sixth and Seventh, stands the big Victorian home once owned by Geoffrey and Nellie G. Lee. Nellie continued to live there following her husbands death and was very particular that everything be just so.

  In her later years, rather than climb the stairs, she put a daybed in the dining room, and there she drew her last breath, leaving no will. Eventually seventy-eight relatives were rounded up for settling her estate. Meanwhile the house stood idle.

  In 1978 Louis and Sue Westrick bought the home and lot at auction. Sue says it looked ready for Halloween, inside and out. She and Louis began cleaning and painting before moving in.

  One evening she was painting the bricks around the big fireplace in the dining room and realized that something or someone was breathing on the back of her neck. She broke out in goose pimples and left pronto.

  When they first moved in, there were many strange noises, doors slamming, the TV would go off, then on, then off, then on. They checked the electric outlets and found nothing amiss. Her daughter was visiting one afternoon, and while they were chatting, the TV suddenly blared on, but no one had turned it on. More goose pimples!

  As the months passed, these unusual occurrences all stopped. She believes that Mrs. Lee is happy with the way they are keeping her house, and has just very quietly gone to rest.

  108. “Strange Sounds in the Johnny Graves House”

  Rockcastle County

  My great-uncle Fred heard many stories from other people saying that at night strange sounds could be heard in the old Johnny Graves house on Long Branch in Rockcastle County. The sounds of chains could be heard being drug down the steps and around the house. Others claimed to have heard the sound of a jar of money being busted open and coins rolling around on the floor.

  Uncle Fred never heard anything like this, but he and some friends stayed there one night on their way to do some coon hunting. He said that the dogs they had with them kept barking and carrying on. Several times that night they did hear someone knock at the door, but when they opened the door, no one was there. And the dogs couldn’t find anyone lurking around.

  According to Uncle Fred, this was a place where there had been a lot of violence, evil, and meanness in that area in times past. There was also a lot of bootlegging. People who used to live there claimed to have heard moaning and groaning sounds coming up from under the floor that sounded as if someone was under there and had been hurt really bad. However, when they looked, they could never find anyone or anything that would have caused the moaning.

  109. “Cousin Rick’s Ghost”

  Warren County

  “Anne, are you coming to the party that we’re throwing?” Cindy asked. “It’s today at twelve o’clock.”

  “Sure,” Anne responded, “and I told Rick I’d be there, too.”

  “Great,” said Cindy, “can’t wait to see you. After all, you’re his favorite cousin.”

  After hanging up the phone, Anne had a really strange feeling about this get-together.

  At the party, everyone was cutting up, having a great time. Of course, Rick was drinking his favorite beer, like always.

  “Don’t you think he’s had enough?” Anne asked a friend.

  “Oh, he loves his beer,” the other responded. “I know that everyone thinks that he’s an ‘alchy.’” But he’s not hurting anyone. Yeah, I guess you re right, but Rick is really enjoying himself.”

  Rick’s friends Billy and Ken decided to join him over in a lawn chair. “How’s your wife, Cindy?” Ken asked Rick.

  “Oh, she’s fine; you know, doing wife stuff at home. But I wish she’d associate more with our friends.”

  Suddenly, Rick’s son Trevor yelled out, “Daddy, Daddy, come play ball with me.”

  Rick said, “Not now, son. I’m visiting with some friends. We’ll play tomorrow. Okay?”

  “Okay, I love you Dad.”

  As Trevor hurried along to play with other kids, Billy and Ken pulled out some kind of small bag containing some pills. “Hey, man, you should really try some of these,” Ken said to Rick.

  “What are they?” Rick asked.

  “Just some little pick-me-uppers; nothing that will hurt you,” Billy told him. “We take them all the time.”

  “Here, put them in your beer,” said Ken. He then slipped them into Rick’s drink, and Rick chugged his beer down. After talking for a while, Ken and Billy got up and moved around some. Anne came over and talked with Rick for a while. She looked at him sort of funny, and said, “Hey, Rick, are you okay? You don’t look so well?”

  “Oh, it’s probably too much sun,” Rick responded. But it wasn’t long until Rick passed out while sitting there in his chair, his head slumped over. It had become dark, and everyone had left the party. While Cindy and Trevor were cleaning up, Cindy looked over at Rick and saw that he was passed out there in his chair. “Trevor, go wake your dad up and tell him to go inside and go to bed. I’m going to clean up inside.”

  “Okay, Mom. Dad, wake up, it’s time for bed,” Trevor said to his father, Rick, as he shook his arm.

  Rick didn’t budge. “Come on Dad, wake up. Wake up! Wake up!” Rick shook his dad, but there was still no budge, no movement. With tears streaming down his face, Trevor ran inside the house. “Mom, Mom, Dad won’t wake up,” he screamed. “He’s so cold and pale.”

  Cindy then went outside and ran over to her husband and tried to wake him. Still no movement. “Oh, my gosh. Call the ambulance. Let’s take him to the hospital.”

  At the hospital, the doctor came to them with the news, “I’m sorry Mrs. Lane, but your husband suffered from a heart attack. We found drugs in his system.”

  She screamed back at the doctor, “What? That’s impossible. He doesn’t do drugs.”

  “Well, ma’am, he must have today, and he had an allergic reaction to them.”

  After being telephoned, Bill and Ken confessed to putting the pills in his drink. Cindy and Anne were furious that night. When Anne, Rick’s cousin, went to bed she was awakened by a red light and a sound so very terrifying. It like to have scared her to death. She raised up and looked down at the foot of her bed and there was Rick’s ghost calling out to her, “Anne, please help me, Anne; please help me.”

  Anne froze and watched in horror while Rick was reaching out to her, pleading, “Help me, Anne; please help me.”

  All she could do was cry. Finally he disappeared out of thin air. Anne wiped her eyes and could think of nothing but being terrified.

  On the day of Rick’s funeral, Anne was so very upset. She also could see how upset and sad Cindy was, so she didn’t say a word to Cindy about seeing Rick’s ghost at the foot of her bed, and him begging for help.

&nb
sp; That night after the funeral, Anne was so worn out and tired. She crawled into bed and was almost asleep when she heard Rick’s voice again. She raised up and again saw Rick, only this time he was in a coffin. He sat up in his coffin and screamed out again, “Anne, please help me, Anne,” as he reached out his hands toward her. She started crying and started to reach out toward him so as to help him, but he disappeared again.

  After that happened, the ghost of her cousin Rick never bothered her again. But after all that happened, Anne never really felt like herself again for a long, long time. The first time he had appeared, Anne felt like it may have just been a bad dream. But she knew by the second time that it was really real, that Rick’s ghost had made an appearance. Even now, when Anne goes back to that house, she is fearful that Rick’s ghost will show up again.

  110. “The Old McKinney House”

  Casey County

  In Casey County, seven miles north of Liberty, there was once a haunted plantation house. This old house burned to the ground in July 1988. Even though the house is no longer there, except for the two large stone chimneys, the grounds are. And they are haunted to this day. As for the house, it was the most haunted place I have ever known. It was a large two-story plantation house with two staircases, large Victorian windows with red shutters, and outside on the roof was a large bell tower with a red roof that matched the red shutters. A large yard surrounded the old house, and beyond that yard were some of the creepiest trees I ever saw. They were large, twisted and knotted, just as if they were in agony, and the limbs towered high into the heavens.

  This house had two names. Its real name was the Mays house, but its nickname was the McKinney house. The original McKinney house was located in McKinney, Kentucky, and was an old slave house that burned during the 1960s. This slave house, located only six miles across country from the Mays house, was rumored to be extremely haunted. Probably when this slave house burned, its ghost came to the Mays house, thus giving the latter its new name—the McKinney house. The new ghost united with the ghosts that were already there in the old Mays house. Many interesting, unexplainable things have happened to me and others who have been there.

  The first night I went to the McKinney house was when me, my brother, our girlfriends, and some of their brothers and sisters went there to spend the night. We barely did! Ghostly footsteps were heard on the spiral staircase that led upstairs to our room. We’d open the door to see who was there, only to discover that no one was there. The air was unusually stuffy, with an abnormal chill for a warm June night. These ghostly footsteps were often heard during the night and were accompanied by the sound of a ghostly hand sliding on the banister railing adjacent to the spiral staircase. We were actually too scared to leave our room to get to our car which was stashed some 250 feet away.

  As morning came, the early morning summer sun began to peek over the eastern treetops, but we were still awake. Then we heard something that seemed unreal. It was the sound of a baby giggling in the room next to ours. No crying, just giggling and chuckling. Not long afterwards, we packed up and left the plantation house. As we exited the driveway, we looked back to say, “No way will we be back. This has been the scariest night of our lives.” However, the very next night, when the sun dropped over the western horizon and nightfall set in with its long eerie shadows, we’d be setting around with nothing exciting to do. “Well, what about it gang?” someone would say. “The house, right? Yeah, let’s go back in the house again.” And we did just that. In fact, we spent a total of nine nights in the McKinney house that summer…. But each night we stayed, we’d be too scared to leave. And each morning, we’d say, “This has gotta be the last time. It’s just too scary.” But each night we’d get our nerves up and go back.

  During the remaining eight nights of our stay, incredible things happened. Ghostly whispering voices were heard, something called my name only several feet from my face. We watched as a door opened without the assistance of any kind of draft, a plank mysteriously flew across a downstairs hallway, ghostly coughs were heard periodically, violent knocks, just like someone kicking with a boot, were occasionally heard downstairs, and the house actually shook one night as if a mild earthquake had come. And on two separate occasions, we saw two ghostly apparitions. Both of these ghosts were seen outside of the plantation house out in the yard.

  The first was seen early at night. It looked like a white pulsating smoky mist about the size of a small lady. It altered in shape as it floated out of sight behind the north corner of the house. Like scared fools, we ran to our car and hurriedly left. Afterwards, we regretted doing so, for if we had stayed, who knows what would or could have happened.

  Several nights later, the misty form appeared again. This time it was much larger than the first and much closer to us. We watched as it drifted toward us at about the speed of someone walking at a fast pace. As we watched, we could see it symmetrically forming into the shape of a large-framed man, but it didn’t have a head.

  I’m not sure who made the first move to my car that was parked close by. It all happened so fast. We dove into the car and tore out of there like a bat out of hell! As we left, the headless ghost was actually rushing toward us and was less than ten feet away when I floored the accelerator, thus speeding away. We did not return for a good while after seeing that thing.

  I’ve done some research on the history of that old house. In its beginning the house was used during the Civil War for lodging high ranking soldiers, and the owners of the house also had slaves. In the years to follow, there were numerous deaths in and around the house. A child drowned in a nearby pond, there were at least three miscarriages in the house that could be related to frequent wife beatings that were said to occur there, and an old man died from food poisoning. In addition to all of that, there were two counts of cold-blooded murder. First, a black man accused of raping a white woman was lynched just beyond the houses front yard. Second, two men used a hammer to kill an old man and lady prior to robbing them. These men were caught soon afterwards. I feel sure that other things happened in the old house across the years. One thing for sure, even though the house is gone, the grounds are still there and haunted, and very mysterious things still take place. It may be that the ghost slaves are also still there. I recall one morning driving to the haunted grounds where the old house once stood. I got out of my car and walked along the creepy tree line that borders the yard. Suddenly, I smelled this odor, a very pleasant odor like that of a woman’s perfume. The scent was sweet and strong and remained in the air for several minutes. In my mind s eye, I could see an elderly, heavyset black lady who was a former slave that did household chores for the house’s mistress. Likely, the mistress was very fond of the slave lady and had given her a bottle of perfume.

  I talked with a man who lived in the old McKinney house for most of his life, and who still lives just three miles from that old house. In addition to what happened to me, I got much information from him. This man is of sound mind, but he seemed disturbed about something. In fact, he had crucifixes all about his home, and on nearly every wall. It was as if he is protecting himself from some uncanny entities. At the time I interviewed him, the old McKinney house was still standing.

  In my mind, that house will live on forever.

  111. “A Woman’s Presence Felt”

  Taylor County

  My sister Charlotte bought a house in Campbellsville which was built back in the late 1700s. It was a big, old house, and she had it renovated. Really a neat old place. This house was once owned by a woman whose family lived there for many years. I guess you could say that she was sort of the grand lady in charge of the family and the house.

  Since moving in, Charlotte has frequently felt the presence of this long-deceased woman. She often hears the creaking of the rocking chair and sees the rocker moving to and fro, but no one is in it. The old lady’s spirit rocks there quite often, and her presence is felt when she comes into any of the rooms.

  112. “A Haunted Apartme
nt”

  Fayette County

  Upon my arrival in Kentucky in March 1981, my husband and I stayed with my mother in her apartment on Alexandria Drive in Lexington, until Nick and I got our own apartment. While there, I slept on the couch and could hear a man come in the front door of the building, then go up the steps, knock on the door to the apartment directly above my mother’s. His voice would then call out, “Melody, Melody.” The door never opened, and then the man’s footsteps could be heard coming three-quarters of the way down the steps, then disappear. This went on time and time again. Both my husband and my mother heard this man, yet we never saw him.

  Several months later I confronted the young woman who lived above my mother. I asked her about how much her boy friend really loved her. She said, “I’m sorry, I don’t have a boyfriend; don’t have time. My job takes up all my time at the office and at home.” I told her about the man we had been hearing. She told me that she doesn’t hear anything. But she did say that her two cats will often stand hunched, hair standing out, and growling toward the door.

  My husband and I were able to get an apartment in the same building. The first night was the beginning of a nightmare for us both. We thought someone was in our apartment. We heard this noise like someone scraping the heater vent in the living room, slamming the kitchen cupboard doors, then making the noise on the vent again. The noise sounded like what a child makes while taking a stick down a picket fence. My husband got out of bed but found no one.

  This went on night after night. We laid there and watched our bedroom door swing back and forth about five times, then slam shut with great force. I said, “I think we have a ghost and it wants us to leave.” After the third night of the door swinging and slamming shut, a white figure (not human shape) jumped over both of us there in bed.