Category: Mysterious America

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Mysterious America

Most Haunted Plantations in Virginia

Hidden away down tree-shaded lanes, stately manors remind passersby of a bygone era when parasol ladies in bright dresses strolled past enslaved workers tilling the fields. Today they are historic sites, museums, or private homes, but something from the past remains. Perhaps you can catch a glimpse of a smokey figure at one of these most haunted plantations in Virginia.

Elmwood

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

Elmwood Plantation in Essex County, Virginia was established in the late 18th century by the Wickham family, who were prominent landowners in Virginia. The Wickham family lived in a large brick mansion on the plantation, which was likely built in the late 18th or early 19th century. The mansion still stands today and is a private residence. It was unoccupied for much of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, leading to widespread rumors of ghostly activity. The most notable occurrence is that of a spectral couple wearing extravagant clothes who appear in the midst of parties, dancing obliviously to the perplexed crowd. Their waltz takes them down the main staircase and into the garden, where they disappear.

Blandfield

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

Blandfield is a Georgian-style plantation house in Essex County, Virginia. It was built around 1750 for William Beverley (1696–1756). As the house has been in possession of the Beverley family for over 250 years, it comes as no surprise that several family members are believed to haunt the grounds. An unknown male entity has been seen in the library, and the specter of a woman wearing a long dress appears upstairs.

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Mysterious America

Who Murdered Amy Warner?

The following is an excerpt from my book Tales of Coles County, a collection of history, folklore, and true crime from one of the most interesting counties in Illinois. Order it in paperback or Kindle today.

At approximately 10:20 a.m. on Tuesday, June 29, 1999, a friend of 23-year-old Amy Denise Warner became concerned that he hadn’t seen or heard from her since the previous day. He went to her home at 17 7th Street in Charleston, just north of Jefferson Elementary School. There he found Amy, a single mother and a manager at Elder-Beerman in the Cross County Mall in Mattoon, lying half-way on her couch in the living room, blood covering the floor.

Her two children, a 4-year-old girl and 7-month-old boy, were home but not physically harmed. Investigators said there was no sign of forced entry. Amy died from a stab-wound to her neck, and she had defensive wounds on her hands. Investigators estimated her time of death at around 12 hours before her body was discovered.

Amy, a 1993 graduate of Charleston High School, was well-liked, an avid reader, and quick to smile and laugh. She worked tirelessly to provide for her children. Who would do this to her, and why? Her friends and family, and the broader community, struggled to make sense of the senseless brutality.

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Mysterious America Photography

Azariah Sweetin Home

Ruins of the Azariah Sweetin Home in Greene County, Illinois.

Otherwise known as “the old stone house,” the remnants of this Greene County, Illinois manor were, at one time, part of a mansion built in 1848 by a stockman named Azariah Sweetin. Though nothing but a shell today, a grand ballroom once occupied the third floor, a ballroom that was the scene of murder. During a farewell gala for newly enlisted Union soldiers, two farmhands, Henson and Isham, got into an argument that ended with one thrusting a knife into the back of the other. The wounded man fell down by the fireplace and bled to death. According to legend, his blood seeped into the stone floor and formed an outline of his body. The stain could never be removed.

As the war raged, Azariah Sweetin didn’t want to take any chances, so he stuffed all his gold coins into jars and buried them around his property. Unfortunately, an equestrian accident in 1871 rendered him without any memory of where he had buried his money. After his death, his ranch was purchased by Cyrus Hartwell, who also lived there until he died. Treasure seekers soon tore the mansion apart, but no one has ever found Azariah’s gold. Storytellers say Azariah’s ghost—alongside snakes—now guards his lost loot.

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Announcements Mysterious America

‘Bunnyman Cometh’ Available for Pre-Order

Pre-orders are now available on Apple iTunes! “Bunnyman Cometh”, a new folksong written by myself, performed by Dying Seed and released by Secret Virginia based on northern Virginia’s legendary Bunnyman, is finally available to preorder on Apple iTunes. The single will be released on December 6, 2021 for all other music platforms and streaming services.

Visit the iTunes store to listen to a preview and order now!

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Mysterious America

The Strange Death of Andy Lanman

The following is an excerpt from my book Tales of Coles County, a collection of history, folklore, and true crime from one of the most interesting counties in Illinois. Order it in paperback or Kindle today.

At around 12:30 a.m. on Wednesday, February 23, 1977, 29-year-old Andy Lee Lanman was last seen leaving the house of Dr. Andrew Griffiths, a local dentist, on 18th Street in Charleston and getting into a car with several unidentified people, saying he was going to a party. He was wearing a green, military-style coat. Lanman, a senior theater major at Eastern Illinois University and student art teacher at Mattoon High School, belonged to a local family and served as a parachute rigger in the U.S. Air Force in Vietnam. He lived in an apartment building at 1624 University Drive in Charleston, was 5-feet 5-inches tall, weighing 150 pounds, with brown eyes and curly brown hair.

Harold Lanman reported his son missing on March 2, over one week after Andy allegedly got into an unidentified car and disappeared into the night. On March 5, Les Easter and Mike Lanman, Andy’s cousin, and their fraternity brothers from Sigma Pi led a wide-ranging search coordinated with local law enforcement involving two airplanes and a boat. After several days, the volunteers came up empty handed.

Then, at approximately 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, March 20, 1977, two hunters stumbled upon Andy’s body 150 to 200 feet from the road in tall grass near a wooded party spot known as “The Cellar” five miles south of Charleston between the Embarras River and 18th Street (S. Fourth Street Road). His green jacket was missing, and the only things in his pocket were a set of keys and a nickel. The Cellar was an old concrete storm cellar north of the intersection of 18th Street and E. County Road 420 N. Today it is on private property, but in the 1970s it played host to numerous keggers and wild parties.

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Mysterious America Photography

Emma Jones Home

Emma Jones Home in Rockford, Illinois.

Emma Pauline Jones was a Norwegian immigrant who lived at this home (built in 1856) in Rockford, Illinois from the 1920s into the 1950s. Her husband Frank was often away on business, and she spent much of her time with her two beloved Dalmatians, Moxie and Channing. After her husband died in 1941, Emma—who was 66 years old—continued to live with her faithful dogs, but after they passed on, she began to descend into loneliness and dementia. She spent her twilight years sitting in a rocking chair, waiting for loved ones who would never return.

Emma finally sold her home and moved in with a relative, where she died in 1964. According to local legend, she returned to her house on North First Street in her afterlife. Owners of the home have reported strange noises, moving furniture, and even seeing the ghost of an elderly woman in the attic windows. One newlywed couple reported that an old woman appeared in their living room and asked what they were doing in her home, then vanished.

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Mysterious America Photography

Headless Horseman Bridge

Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” is an iconic American short story. First published in 1820, the story has been retold and re-imagined for 200 years. It was set in the Hudson River Valley in North Tarrytown, New York. North Tarrytown changed its name to Sleepy Hollow to capitalize on the story’s notoriety in 1996. The original bridge over the Pocantico River where the Headless Horseman pursued Ichabod Crane has been replaced with a modern concrete and steel bridge, but visitors flock to this community every Halloween to retrace the steps of this famous American tale.