The Greenbrier Ghost story is a fascinating tale of murder, the afterlife, and a Mother’s love. An incident of which the case has been in people’s minds for more than a century and is still used as the subject of books, plays, and even operas.
It all started in 1897, during the spooky happenings of Greenbrier County, West Virginia. The bride was a 23-year-old girl named Elva Zona Heaster, married only a short time previously to a local blacksmith, named Erasmus Stribbling Trout Shue. After just a few months of marriage, Zona was found dead in her house, and her death certificate reads “childbirth.
But Zona’s mother Mary Jane Heaster suspected that her daughter had not died of natural causes. He then went on to introduce himself and told her the ghost of Zona had come back last night, letting him find she had been killed by Erasmus. Zona’s ghost told Mary Jane as it was being seen in the eye of his mind and he could not see her with only physical eyes how Zona had lost her life by Erasmus twisting again, right!!
Initially, Mary Jane’s claims were regarded with suspicion, but the autopsy showed that Zona had suffered a broken neck. The coroner assembled an inquest jury over 1st to hear evidence in Zora’s murder done by her husband.
Erasmus Shue was arrested and tried for the murder of Zona. Mary Jane’s story of her daughter visiting a ghost so that she could help the prosecution was an incredibly odd and polarizing piece of evidence. However, Erasmus was convicted by a jury and sentenced to life behind bars.
The Greenbrier Ghost case is the only time in American legal history that a testimony from a ghost helped convict such an act. The film stands as a testament to the power of lands haunted by Ouija-dealing spectres and one mother’s unquenchable thirst for vengeance, The post The Curse Of La Llorona Continues To Haunting appeared first on Give Me Neither.
The Tragic Death of Zona Heaster
The story of the Greenbrier Ghost started with a murder that took place in West Virginia, in 1897. In October 1896, Zona met local blacksmith Erasmus Stribbling Trout Shue and the two fell fast in love. The couple was married three weeks later, and Zona took full use of Erasmus’s family name as she became Mrs Shue.
The newly married couple set up housekeeping near Erasmus’s forge, and there was some peace in Georgia. Her death, however – on Jan. 23, 1897 – tumbled down the stairs of their home with an outstretched neck and broken limbs was deemed accidental by mutual arrangement between mother-in-law and coroner at some unspecific point after midnight when her husband couldn’t bring himself to cry anymore. Zona died during childbirth according to the official statement, although she was not pregnant.
The day after the body was discovered, Zona’s funeral took place in Soule Chapel Methodist Cemetery. Zona’s death left her mother, Mary Jane Heaster (who lived with Zona and Richard), grief-stricken to the point of being convinced that what had killed her daughter was anything but a natural event.
The Appearance of the Greenbrier Ghost
In the weeks after Zona was buried, Helaster said her daughter’s ghost visited Heaster in visions four times Mary Jane said Erasmus had killed Zona’s ghost, as the legend indicates.
Zona’s “ghost” was said to have then somehow described how Erasmus had snapped her neck in a fit of rage, leading to Zona’s death. Zona’s ghost also accused Erasmus of having faked the scene so that Zona would have appeared to have died from natural causes.
At first, no one believed Mary Janes’s claims at all as had personally testified that a ghost gave her testimony. But she kept pushing, and finally, Zona’s body was exhumed so that a thorough inquest into what led to her death could be carried out.
The Exhumation and Inquest
The process of exhuming Zona’s body was a very controversial and heated one. While Erasmus Shue “energetically protested” the exhumation, in a similar way that human rights can be argued today with vaccinations and other matters of forced medical treatment, he was eventually made to go on trial.
Zona’s neck had been broken and forensic examination determined that Zona was murdered by her husband Erasmus. What she bore witness to, they agreed was an essential piece of evidence in the matter: a testimony from Mary Jane Heaster that her daughter visited as a ghost.
Erasmus Shue was arrested and tried for the murder of Zono. On the Brier testimony Mary Jane Green, which sounded an unusual and very controversial witness evidence was relied upon by the prosecution. Erasmus was ultimately convicted, as I said above, with a sentence of life imprisonment.
The Legacy of the Greenbrier Ghost
But The Greenbrier Ghost is a story that has captivated Americans for over a century, among the source material for books and plays as well as an opera.
One of the more famous is probably Katie Letcher Lyle’s book: The Man Who Wanted Seven Wives, – a literary analysis of historical events dealing with the tale.”Greenbrier Ghost and the Famous Murder Mystery of 1897″. Lyle offers another theory in her book – that Mary Jane Heaster may have invented the tale of how a ghost led to her daughter’s body, perhaps as testimony during an appeal concerning Zona.
Still, other scholars and historians believe this to be a real example of ghostly justice done right and known as the only case in American legal history where a ghost’s testimony helped to convict of this type.
No matter where you stand on the paranormal side of things, one way or another, The Greenbrier Ghost will forever be a twisted horror tale dressed up in murder and tragedy with just enough Merrick magic to pull at any heartstrings that do not belong in this world. It is a tale that still manages to captivate and spook today.
Conclusion
The Greenbrier Ghost is a compelling and terrifying story, one that has been talked about for over 100 years. The essence of Mom and so much else: a tale of crime, ghosts and a mother’s fight to honour her daughter.
The Greenbrier Ghost, one of the most technically successful ghost stories in American history, has sparked decades of debate and controversy since its inception; but at heart, it is a story about how an unearthly entity helped enact justice on behalf everyone wronged by Zona Heaster Shue all those years ago. This is a story that continues to mesmerize and horrify generations of people, which will never get old.