Sarah’s Unlucky Soldier

By 1862, the Civil War had left a trail of tears and blood across the state of Missouri. After the Battle of Pea Ridge in Arkansas the Confederate resistance in Missouri, except for a few individual fighters, had ended.

After this battle, Federal forces (Union troops), under the command of General Henry Halleck, occupied the City of Columbia—to the chagrin of most of the residents.

Columbia Baptist Female College, today it is called Stephens College, sits at the center of this city. It was initially a finishing school for young southern women.

The fate of two doomed lovers at this college in 1862, has resulted in a popular ghost story—with actual sightings.

Sarah June Wheeler, one student at this college, entered her room one evening to see a ragged soldier come it through a window. Sarah was shocked to see he wore a Confederacy uniform and not one of the occupying forces.

He staggered across the floor, and as she went to call for help, he grabbed her and covered her mouth with his hand. As she struggled to get free, he collapsed upon the floor.

Sarah’s roommate, Margaret Baker entered the room but was not afraid. She was a loyal southerner, born and raised in Arkansas, she attended the college--without payment—for her father had sent two slaves to work in the college laundry, to pay for her tuition.

The two girls discovered the soldier was wounded and bleeding. They tended to his wounds, and then called for two servants to send up food. They warned these servants not to say anything about their guest.

This soldier, Corporal Isaac Johnson, from Mississippi, told the two women he had fought in the Battle of Pea Ridge, and had been captured. He managed to escape and had traveled at night and hidden during the day.

He intended to exact revenge on General Halleck, by assassinating him, because his father had been killed in Grant’s attack on Nashville.

The roommates agreed to keep his presence secret. Sarah spent hours in conversation with this young soldier, often bringing him food. The two fell in love in just a few days.

But the girl’s secret leaked, and General Halleck’s staff heard a Confederate soldier was being sheltered at the school’s dormitory. Halleck approached Dr. Herbert Williams, the president of the college. He warned him if the rumors were true he would close down the school.

Dr. Williams gathered the students together and demanded if anyone knew something, they should come forward. Sarah rushed to her room to request Johnson surrender.

The corporal had another plan. He had stolen a suit from Dr. Williams closet, and he told her he intended to escape to Canada, using this disguise.

But before the two lovers could even leave the room, a crowd gathered at the door. Hearing this commotion, the general and his men with Dr. Williams approached. Halleck was informed the soldier was inside.

Furious, he told the president that the college was closed, and all his female students should pack and exit the premises by the next morning. Hearing this, the corporal surrendered.

Dr. Williams was able to convince Halleck the college did not know about the soldier’s presence and managed to keep the school open. But Corporal Johnson did not fare as well.

Being found in civilian clothes behind enemy lines, he was considered a spy. Three days later he was shot by a firing squad on the street near the college.

One legend states Sarah June Wheeler distraught, jumped from a window—unwilling to live without her lover.

The Haunting

Since her death, many stories have been told, Sarah haunts,—Senior Hall—the only dormitory on campus until 1918. Her apparition has been seen and heard in this building. The legend states she is looking for her lost love.

The Bell Tower

Students have gone up to the college's bell tower in this hall and held séances, to communicate with Sarah. This bell tower was actually built after the Civil War years.

In 1971, a reporter by the name of Gassaway, hearing some of the unusual stories that surround this haunting visited Senior Hall on Halloween.

A group of instructors and students made their way up the bell tower, without the reporter—entered the room and placed their candles on the floor.

Within seconds the door slammed shut, and the candles went out. One female student became hysterical and fainted. In the meantime, Gassaway was outside trying to open this door.

He stopped when he saw a man in uniform and a woman in a long dress. He wrote an article where he describes what he experienced that night.

“There was the sound of slow steps at first. When they stopped, deep breathing became audible. I waited for the person to come through the door. And waited. And waited.

Finally, I took the initiative, hauled myself from the floor and moved to the hallway’s mouth.

Halfway down the hall . . . I see the figure of a man. Then the swish of a woman’s long skirt caught my eye as the man dropped into a half crouch, his left hand outstretched as if to ward something off.

Then both figures disappeared down the stairs—quickly.”

During one renovation.

In the 1990s Senior Hall was renovated, it is used today for dance and music classes.  Ghost sightings are still experienced.

Ozark Ghost Folklore

The Ozark people who live in Missouri and Arkansas were descended from pioneers who came West from the Southern Appalachians, at the beginning of the 19^th century.

They mostly came from British stock many of their families had lived in America since colonial days.

They had very minimal contact with the outer world for more than a hundred years. At the turn of the century--1900--they still were not influenced by the progress that shaped the rest of the country.

These “hillbillies” as they became known, clung to the old customs of their ancestors. Because of this their old songs, sayings and stories are still shared today.

Hand in hand with their traditional beliefs came a firm belief in superstitions and ghosts.

During pioneer times the old-time hillfolk would invite people to their cabins for the express purpose of swapping supernatural tales. In a society where people didn’t hold with “dancing” and “card playing” ghost stories were a cherished form of entertainment.

In my post entitled, Kentucky Ghostlore I share one version of a ghost story entitled Dividing Up the Dead often told in the Ozarks.

Many of the ghost stories told were not only scary but also humorous. Here is a prime example from 1899.

A Lost Relationship

A young man had been visiting his sweetheart. As he rode away from her gate at midnight, she called, “I’ll be with you all the way home.”

Soon he noticed something white floating in the air behind him. He kicked his horse into a trot, but the white object stayed close.

Just before he reached home the young man’s hat flew off, but he was too scared to stop and look for it.

Next morning he told his mother that the girl he was courting must be a witch. He announced that he intended to never see her again or have anything to do with her.

His sweetheart had no idea what was wrong. She wrote him several letters but never received a reply. A few months later she married and moved to Oklahoma.

The young man never saw her again. In the fall of that year, he was walking through the woods where he had lost his hat.

He spotted something sticking up out of the brambles with a roll of cotton attached to it. He spotted a familiar snakeskin hatband. It was his hat.

His sweetheart and her mother, on the last night he visited them had been carding cotton.

The long roll of cotton, streaming from his hat, was the “white thing” that had floated behind as he raced home.

Published 1947

Haunted Jesse James Farm

It is said that the James farm in Kearney, Missouri where the notorious outlaw Jesse James grew up is haunted. Jesse James’ parents moved from Kentucky to Kearney in 1842. 

His father was a Baptist minister who wanted his boys to be well educated. However, during a trip to the California gold fields he died leaving his sons without a father, Jesse was just 3 years old. 

His mother, Zerelda lived on this farm for the rest of her life, through three marriages and eight children. 

At the time of the Civil War in 1863, the James’ farm was brutally attacked by Union soldiers. Shortly afterward Jesse age 16 and his older brother Frank became Confederate guerilla soldiers, riding with William Quantrill and “Bloody Bill” Anderson.

Quantrill’s Raiders as they later became known operated out of Missouri. They ambushed Union patrols and supply convoys. They seized the mail and occasionally struck towns on the Kansas-Missouri border. Their primary focus though was against the local pro-Union civilians-- which they tried to drive out of the territory. 

At the end of the Civil War the James brothers, Jesse and Frank, were now officially outlaws. They began to attack trains, banks, and stagecoaches that were controlled by the Northern side, which had instated brutal control to the Missouri legislation.

Jesse and Frank

From 1860 to 1882, the James gang was the most feared band of outlaws in America. Responsible for 20 bank and train robberies they murdered countless individuals that stood in their way. They stole an estimated $200,000. Despite their ruthlessness, they became folk heroes to some. They literally became “legends in their own time.” 

The local citizens of Kearney kept quiet when they were home on the farm during this time. Clay County where the farm is located was in a part of Missouri called "Little Dixie," the entire state was 75% southern sympathizers. 

Both Jesse and Frank were devoted husbands and fathers who spent a lot of time with their families. They were not modern Robin Hoods though, for they kept the money they stole.

Jesse James Dime Novel

In 1869, the gang robbed a bank in Gallatin, Missouri. Jesse shot the banker through the heart feeling he was responsible for the callous murder of Bloody Bill Anderson. 

The James Gang lost some public favor after this. Local newspapers started to call for the capture of “this blood thirty gang.” 

Frustrated at how the locals protected them, Governor Crittenden had the railroad place an enormous price on the James brother’s heads. 

Pinkerton detectives hired by several bankers raided the James farm in 1875 thinking the older brothers were there. They threw a bomb in the window, killing Jesse and Frank’s younger half-brother, Archie as their mother watched. She lost part of her right arm and hand during this struggle.

In one bank robbery, several members of the gang were killed. After this, the Youngers, a part of their group, were sent to prison for 25 years. 

In 1882, the brothers planned one last robbery with Charley and Bob Ford. They did not know these brothers intended to betray them for the hefty price on their heads. 

On the morning they were to commit this robbery Jesse ate breakfast with the Ford’s, he then placed his gun on one of the farmhouse beds and stopped to straighten a picture that hung on the wall. 

Bob Ford shot Jesse in the back of the head. He died instantly and was buried in the side yard of the James’ farmhouse. His remains were later moved to the family plot at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Kearney.

James Farm 

The locals did not appreciate what the Ford brothers had done. Bob Ford, who was pardoned by Governor Crittenden was driven out of Missouri known as the coward who had shot Jesse. He traveled around in a Wild West show ironically about the James gang. 

He was shot and killed in Creede, Colorado in 1892. His older brother Charley stayed in Missouri but was shunned. He committed suicide ten years after his brother was murdered.

Frank James gave himself up after Jesse was killed. He was tried several times, but there never was enough evidence to convict him. He lived peacefully for the rest of his life at the farm. In later years he charged tourists money to give them a tour of the place.

The James farm and house has been considered haunted for over 100 years. Located off James Road in Kearney, Missouri the farm is a museum today. Employees at this farm still report odd occurrences. 

After the museum closes for the night many have spotted lights going on and off in the farmhouse. Others report that doors have slammed shut in front of them without cause.

Several witnesses have reported hearing horse hooves stomping outside on foggy nights. When investigated nothing has been found. 

Others have reported hearing whispered conversations inside the house when no one is there. Some have even heard the bomb going off or cries and gunshots as if a Civil War battle is happening outside. 

Many staff at the museum today will not go into the house alone. They state that they feel an unnatural intense presence in the home that scares them.

Haunted Lemp Mansion

In 1980, Life Magazine proclaimed this mansion located in St. Louis, Missouri to be one of America’s Most Haunted. 

Lemp mansion has been infamous ever since. 

This home has four stories and 34 rooms. It was built for William Lemp, president of Lemp Brewery in the 1860s. William was the son of Johann Adam Lemp, who was a German immigrant who came to America in 1838. 

Adam a brewmeister opened a small brewery that made German lager--which became an instant success.

Adam Lemp

When Adam died in 1862, his son William took over the family business. Within a short time, William, a shrewd businessman, turned the brewery into the largest in the world. 

The business produced over 900,000 barrels a year that were sold around the world. The Lemp plant now covered eleven city blocks. 

Family Home

William’s new home overlooked the family brewery. William and his wife had seven children. 

His oldest son Frederick was shrewd like his father, so he was groomed to run the business. But Frederick tragically in 1901 while visiting California had a heart attack at the age of 28 and died.

William overwhelmed with grief at his eldest son’s death never recovered. In 1904, he went into the Mansion’s marble office and shot himself in the heart. 

Another son William Lemp Jr. took over the business. Unfortunately, he was not as astute at business as his deceased father and brother. 

Bill Jr. and his wife Lillian lived an extravagant lifestyle. Wearing the most elegant clothes, furnishing the mansion with only the best and collecting costly art.

Bill Jr.

Prohibition was passed in 1919, this law forbid the sale of alcohol. The Lemp Brewery, unlike other breweries of the time, didn’t adapt. Many started to make ice cream or a low alcohol drink called “near-beer.” 

Inept, Bill Jr., instead of changing with the times watched as his families’ fortune slipped away. He was forced to sell the brewery in 1922 at a fraction of its original value. 

Six months later, now despondent Bill Jr entered the marble office in the mansion and shot and killed himself--just like his father.

The Lemp family during the same time lost Bill Jr.’s eldest sister, Elsa. Unhappily married, Elsa who ironically was one of St. Louis’ wealthiest women, also shot and killed herself. 

Years later, the family had one last suicide. Charles Lemp another one of William Sr.’s sons realized as a young man he was not suited to work in the brewery, so he took his part of the inheritance and announced he needed no more money. 

He lived with a menagerie of animals on the grounds of a large home he built.

In 1929, he returned to live in the mansion. Charles was the oddball of the family. He had a life long fear of germs and often wore gloves because of this. 

In 1949, at age seventy-seven and in ill health Charles took his pet dog early one morning to the basement. He shot his dog in the head, and then he shot himself.

Another son, Edwin, moved out of the mansion in 1917. He stated at the time that he was relieved to escape the mansion’s “oppressive atmosphere of doom.” 

He never married, but he kept a constant companion by his side. Some state he did this because he too feared that he might commit suicide. He died at the age of ninety in 1970.

Lemp Mansion was used as a boarding house for years--during this time it fell into disrepair. 

Unusual Activity

In the mid-1970s the present owner Dick Palmer Jr. renovated the building and turned it into a restaurant and Bed and Breakfast. 

Most feel the mansion is haunted because of all of the Lemp family suicides. The paranormal activity first became noticeable as the building was being renovated.

Photo: Matt Hucke

Palmer and various workmen lived in the mansion during this time. 

One night when Palmer was in the home alone, he heard a door slam violently as he lay in bed. A workman heard horse’s hooves strike cobblestones below his window--no cobblestones were in this area. 

Later as Palmer was digging up grass under this same window, he found an old cobblestone path.

Several workmen complained that their tools disappeared. 

Others admitted to being very nervous--they stated invisible eyes seemed to follow them as they worked. This caused more than one man to quit before they finished their work. 

One particular television in the mansion would turn on and off by itself. And doors and drawers were heard slamming shut in vacant rooms.

This strange activity continued after the mansion opened for business. Lights turn on and off without cause, and a piano plays by itself. 

Glasses have been seen floating above the bar and then crashing to the floor. Voices are heard in deserted areas, and transparent apparitions are seen that appear and then disappear quickly throughout the mansion.

Lillian

One specific ghost that is seen is that of Lillian, Bill Jr.’s wife. While alive she became known as “The Lavender Lady” because she always wore lilac colored clothes. Lillian is seen wearing her favorite color. 

One odd occurrence happens often. Employees and guests of the inn state that buttons pop off their clothing. 

When people enter the mansion’s front dining room they often state they feel a great deal of sadness--this room was once the marble office where William Sr. and Bill Jr. committed suicide.