Bulloch Hall’s Sobbing Well

Bulloch Hall

Bulloch is a ten-acre antebellum plantation located in Roswell, Georgia.

Major James Bulloch, a wealthy coastal planter had this Greek revival style home, Bulloch Hall, built by African American slaves in 1839.

Bulloch Hall is where President Theodore Roosevelt’s mother, Martha Bulloch lived as a child.

This plantation grew cotton, and the Bulloch’s owned thirty-two house and field slaves.

It is believed one of these slaves, a young girl, aged 14, has haunted the plantation for over century.

The Union Army made Bulloch Hall their headquarters, in 1864 during the Civil War. The family fled their home. 

Teddy Roosevelt visiting
Bulloch Hall in 1905.

The president’s mother died before the war ended, but while Roosevelt was president, he visited the plantation in 1905, to see where Martha grew up.

The plantation passed through various hands after the war, including a period of two decades where it stood abandoned.

In 1977, the city of Roswell bought the land and turned the hall into a house museum that highlights exhibits about pre-Civil War life and culture.

The young African American slave who is believed to haunt Bulloch plantation died in an accident. She was drawing water from the well behind the house when she fell in. She drowned.

Soon after this tragic death, witnesses reported they heard a young girl’s voice coming from the well. They heard her pleading for help, then her sobs.

This crying sound is still heard today. The well has been investigated numerous times, but no logical reason has been discovered for these sounds.

This girl’s apparition has been seen in the house, and since her death, another strange phenomenon has occurred for many years.

The candles and oil lamps throughout the house will not stay lit, for any length of time. At other times the entire house will light up, while no one is inside.

Even during the two decades the mansion lay abandoned, witnesses who walked past at night would report seeing candle and lamplight glowing from the mansion’s windows.

Today, visitors and staff have reported seeing the period lamps in the home, light up and extinguish when no one is standing near them.

One visitor captured this odd
figure when no one was
standing at the front of the house.

All this strange activity is attributed to the young ghost for it is believed one of her primary duties while alive was to light and extinguish all the homes' candles and lamps.

Evelyn Carter and Gaineswood

Gaineswood in 1860.

Gaineswood a southern plantation was built in southwestern Alabama, in Demopolis on the eve of the Civil War.

General Nathan Byron Whitfield designed his mansion to reflect the Greek revival style and had highly skilled artisan slaves build it. Today it is considered Alabama’s finest neoclassical home. It reflects three ancient Greek architectural orders: Doric, Ionic and Corinthian.

General Whitfield

It was used as a private residence until the late 1960s. The house is beautifully preserved and still has beautiful Chippendale furniture throughout.

It is on the National Register of Historic Places and is listed as one of 150 mansions in the U.S. that are must-visits. Today it is run as a house museum.

Tragically, soon after the mansion was completed, General Whitfield’s wife died. He was left with small children to rear. He hired a young gently bred lady, a Miss Carter to be his housekeeper, and a companion for the children.

Miss Carter’s nearest relatives were in Virginia, and her father was in Europe serving as consul to Greece. Despite her duties keeping her busy, the General noted Ms. Carter was lonely. He gave her permission to invite her sister Evelyn to Gaineswood for the winter.

Evelyn was a merry addition to the home. She loved to play the piano. The General also a musician often accompanied her. He enjoyed tunes from Scotland and would play duets with Evelyn on his bagpipes.

Despite it being one of the coldest winters on record, Evelyn’s presence brought happiness to everyone.

Tragically, Evelyn became ill. The General called in the best doctors, but after several weeks Evelyn died. Depending upon which account one reads, Evelyn died of a severe attack of malaria or pneumonia.

In a more dramatic version, it is stated she died of a broken heart.

Lantern domes are
above several rooms to
provide extra light.

A handsome French count—an exile from the Napoleonic Wars—was visiting Demopolis. He became attached to Evelyn. He bought her an engagement ring, but the couple quarreled. He snatched the ring from Evelyn’s hand and threw it into the bushes.

He then left and never returned. Grief-stricken, Evelyn succumb to illness.

Her last wish was to be returned to Virginia for burial. It being winter, the roads were covered in ice and snow, it would also take Evelyn’s father weeks to return from Greece for the funeral.

So a decision was made to place Evelyn’s body in an airtight pine box sealed with rosin. It was then placed below the stairs in the cellar. When spring arrived, it would be taken to Virginia.

The residents of Gaineswood came to believe because of this decision, Evelyn’s spirit could not rest in peace. They decided she did not like being kept in a cold, dark cellar.

Soon after being placed in the cellar, people in the household began to hear footsteps coming up the cellar stairs. They would listen to someone tiptoe into the drawing-room where the large piano stood.

Faint sounds of music would float throughout the mansion. Most of these tunes were Scottish ballads.

On several occasions, when braver souls would venture down into the cellar, these sounds would stop. But once they returned upstairs, the musical sounds would begin again.

These footsteps and music were so persistent they would wake the entire household. So when spring arrived, everyone was happy. They believed their sleep would no longer be interrupted. But they were wrong.

Even though the activity was not regular, Evelyn’s ghost continued to haunt Gaineswood. Apparently, she was still protesting; she was kept in the cellar for several months.

Even in more recent years, when Gaineswood was still a private residence, visitors would insist their dreams were interrupted by the sounds of soft footsteps on the cellar stairs—followed by the melodious sounds of songs long forgotten.

Oak Alley Plantation

Jacques T. Roman had a stately mansion on this southeast Louisiana sugarcane plantation built between 1837-39, using all slave labor. This mansion is a beautiful example of Greek Revival architecture.

Oak Alley
Click to enlarge 

Oak Alley is known for its almost 300-year-old 28 oak trees that evenly line the entrance to the home. This home and its surrounding grounds are a National Historic Landmark.

Today this plantation is a popular destination for both American and European tourists. It is one of the few plantation homes in Vacherie in St. James Parish that has been restored to its original splendor.

It is also known to be haunted.

Some attribute this ghostly activity to Jacques and Celina Roman’s first daughter, Louise Josephine Roman. She became the caregiver for her mother for many years after her father died.

Louise never married. When a drunken sailor visited the mansion unannounced, Louise, a young woman at the time, was home alone. She was forced to attend him. This sailor tried to kiss her at which point Louisa fled. In her hasty retreat, she tripped over her iron-framed hoop skirt.

Her leg was severely cut and later gangrene set in. Her leg had to be amputated. Louise then became a nun.

Widow's Walk
on roof.

An apparition that has been spotted by many is seen on the mansion’s widow walk on the roof—where the Roman women watched boats return from New Orleans. This ghost is believed to be Jacques’ wife, Celine.

The Oak Alley web site has a page devoted to the ghostly sightings that have occurred at this plantation. Several staff and visitors have noticed mysterious activity over the years.

The plantations assistant house manager, Denise Becnel was leaving the plantation one evening with her daughter and two tour guides, Connie Donadieu, and Billie Jo Bourgeois when they noticed a light on in the Lavender room.

Lavender Room

Mrs. Stewart at the plantation.

They were surprised for they had checked to make sure all the lights were out. As they looked up at this window, they spotted a figure of a woman. She looked like Mrs. Stewart, who was the last resident of the mansion.

The lights blinked, and they all rushed to their cars. Looking back, Becnel saw all the windows were now dark.

A maintenance worker, Mitchell Boone had his arm touched when he was the only one in the mansion, and an office assistant, Louise Boone found items mysteriously moved.

Another tour guide, Juliette Temple saw a female figure sitting on one bed in the Lavender room, and on another occasion she saw the apparition of a man wearing dark clothing and boots fade away in the kitchen area.

Witnesses over the years, including tour guides Helen Dumas and Theresa Harrison, have heard the sounds of a horse-drawn carriage traveling up the plantation’s graveled road. These two guides had also seen dust billow in this area when they heard this carriage.

Yet another tour guide, Peggy Rodrigue has heard this carriage as well as a baby crying in the mansion.

Thirty-five Grey Line bus passengers while touring the home saw a candlestick fly across the room.

Oak Alley after the Civil War, like many southern plantations, fell into disrepair. A series of owners tried to restore it but failed.

Slave quarters at Oak Alley

In the mid-1920s a couple, Mr. and Mrs. Stewart succeeded in restoring the mansion and its' surrounding buildings, slave quarters, etc. to their former condition.

When Mrs. Stewart died in 1972 she endowed the plantation as a non-profit to maintain the home and the 25 surrounding acres. Tours are offered year-round.

Boone Hall: The Sunset Ghost

The Avenue of Oaks

Boone Hall Plantation was established in 1681. It was given as a land grant to Major John Boone. It originally was 17,000 acres, today it is located in the Mount Pleasant suburb near Charleston, South Carolina. The plantation first was used to grow rice and later cotton.

Two brothers, John and Henry Horlbeck, bought this plantation in 1817. They converted the back of the farm near the Wampancheone Creek into the Horlbeck Brickyard.

The soil near this creek contains clay that is ideal for making earthenware, bricks, and tiles. The Horlbeck’s brickyard quickly evolved from a few kilns used by some of the plantation’s 225 slaves into a thriving enterprise that served all of Charleston.

In the decade before the Civil War, it is estimated that the brother’s brickyard produced 4 million bricks each year. The plantation’s slaves made all of these bricks by hand.

Most of the buildings and churches that still remain standing in downtown Charleston today were made with bricks from the Horlbeck Brickyard. The slave quarters on this plantation were also made from these bricks.

Slave cabins along  Slave Street

The Horlbeck brother’s had large pecan groves planted on their land-- this is the reason why Boone Hall is one of the last remaining active plantations in America today.

In 1843, they also planted a spectacular mile-long drive called The Avenue of Oaks that leads to the entrance.

The Ghost of a Slave

Brick Kiln

Witnesses today, report seeing a strange sight near the creek and one of the brickyard’s kiln chimneys.

At sunset, these witnesses all describe seeing a strange woman standing in the grass nearby the road. She is seen moving her hands in a repetitive thrusting motion. *

She wears ragged dark clothes, and her face is tilted downward toward her jerking hands. Because of this, no one has ever seen her face for her loose hair covers it.

Many witnesses have stated they saw the pale light of dusk pass right through this figure. Since she is always seen in the same area, it is believed that she is the ghost of a slave that worked at the 18th-century brickyard. 

* The above sightings are a classic example of a residual haunting.