ТРАНСКРИПЦИЯ 🔗
WEBVTT
00:00:00.910 --> 00:00:06.070
They never learn to die Names buried in the silence
00:00:06.070 --> 00:00:12.210
Still calling from the night Down a road where
00:00:12.210 --> 00:00:16.489
the cold wind moans Past the places nobody goes
00:00:16.489 --> 00:00:21.269
Every secret leaves a mark Every shadow knows
00:00:21.269 --> 00:00:28.550
the dark The evidence fades The questions remain
00:00:28.550 --> 00:00:34.289
and somewhere in the dark The story is still
00:00:34.289 --> 00:01:13.120
calling your name Monstrous Every shadow has
00:01:13.120 --> 00:01:23.400
a name. This is Monstrous. Monstrous covers true
00:01:23.400 --> 00:01:25.500
crime, violence, and other unsettling subject
00:01:25.500 --> 00:01:37.700
matter. Listener discretion is advised. Hey y
00:01:37.700 --> 00:01:40.540
'all, I'm Carrie. I'm Momo. And welcome back.
00:01:41.989 --> 00:01:48.349
is another spooky bonus. You get used to it living
00:01:48.349 --> 00:01:52.049
with her. Okay, so for this one, we're going
00:01:52.049 --> 00:01:54.430
to head into the mountains of West Virginia for
00:01:54.430 --> 00:01:56.750
a story that has survived for more than a century.
00:01:57.909 --> 00:02:00.730
It's a story about a newlywed, a suspicious husband,
00:02:00.930 --> 00:02:03.769
a mother who refused to accept an easy explanation,
00:02:04.129 --> 00:02:06.530
a grave that had to be opened, and depending
00:02:06.530 --> 00:02:09.210
on what you believe, a woman who came back from
00:02:09.210 --> 00:02:11.770
the dead to name her own killer. This is the
00:02:11.770 --> 00:02:16.389
story of Elva Zona Hester Sue. Most people simply
00:02:16.389 --> 00:02:19.650
called her Zona. So her husband was Edward Sterbling
00:02:19.650 --> 00:02:22.129
Sue, though he was widely known by the nickname
00:02:22.129 --> 00:02:24.210
of Trout. Nothing like having the nickname of
00:02:24.210 --> 00:02:28.110
Fish. And I feel like that says a lot about who
00:02:28.110 --> 00:02:33.370
he was. And according to one of America's most
00:02:33.370 --> 00:02:36.389
famous ghost legends, Zona did not remain silent
00:02:36.389 --> 00:02:39.530
after she died. In fact, she came back and she
00:02:39.530 --> 00:02:42.629
appeared to her mother. She told her that Trout
00:02:42.629 --> 00:02:46.069
had murdered her. And when authorities finally
00:02:46.069 --> 00:02:48.530
looked again, they found evidence that something
00:02:48.530 --> 00:02:51.389
violent had in fact happened to her. This is
00:02:51.389 --> 00:02:54.569
the story of the Greenbrier Ghost. This one takes
00:02:54.569 --> 00:02:56.789
us to Greenbrier County, West Virginia in the
00:02:56.789 --> 00:03:00.129
winter of 1897. At that time, Greenbrier County
00:03:00.129 --> 00:03:02.770
was rural, close -knit and shaped by mountain
00:03:02.770 --> 00:03:06.099
roads, farms, churches. small communities, and
00:03:06.099 --> 00:03:08.479
families who often knew more about their neighbors
00:03:08.479 --> 00:03:10.979
than their neighbors realized. In a place like
00:03:10.979 --> 00:03:13.379
this, a sudden death does not stay private for
00:03:13.379 --> 00:03:16.280
long. People talked, they watched, they noticed
00:03:16.280 --> 00:03:18.460
who was grieving, they noticed who was avoiding
00:03:18.460 --> 00:03:20.800
questions, and they noticed when something did
00:03:20.800 --> 00:03:23.860
not feel quite right. Zona Hester, I think that's
00:03:23.860 --> 00:03:25.780
how you say it. I could be mispronouncing it.
00:03:25.840 --> 00:03:28.120
I'm sorry if I am. Had already experienced hardship
00:03:28.120 --> 00:03:31.840
before she married Edward Shue. Her first marriage
00:03:31.840 --> 00:03:34.330
had ended badly. and she'd returned home to live
00:03:34.330 --> 00:03:36.449
with her mother, Mary Jane Hester. She had also
00:03:36.449 --> 00:03:39.849
given birth to a son in November of 1895 before
00:03:39.849 --> 00:03:43.210
her marriage to Trout, who is Edward. Okay, we're
00:03:43.210 --> 00:03:44.370
going to go back and forth between those two
00:03:44.370 --> 00:03:46.969
names. I'm sorry. Now, later, Zona had met Trout.
00:03:47.069 --> 00:03:49.669
Some versions of this story describe him as a
00:03:49.669 --> 00:03:53.930
stranger who drifted into Greenbrier County from
00:03:53.930 --> 00:03:56.479
somewhere else. But the truth is a little more
00:03:56.479 --> 00:03:58.719
complicated than that. His family did, in fact,
00:03:58.719 --> 00:04:01.000
have ties to the region, including a homestead
00:04:01.000 --> 00:04:03.620
near Droop Mountain along the border of Greenbrier
00:04:03.620 --> 00:04:06.360
and Pocahontas counties. He had lived and married
00:04:06.360 --> 00:04:10.060
locally before, and he was not simply an unknown
00:04:10.060 --> 00:04:12.599
man who appeared out of nowhere. But after Zona's
00:04:12.599 --> 00:04:15.620
death, people began looking closely at his past.
00:04:15.900 --> 00:04:18.319
So Trout had been married twice before he married
00:04:18.319 --> 00:04:21.540
Zona. His first marriage to Allie E. Cutlip ended
00:04:21.540 --> 00:04:24.300
in divorce. His second wife, Lucy Ann Tritt,
00:04:24.639 --> 00:04:28.339
died suddenly in 1895. There's no confirmed record
00:04:28.339 --> 00:04:31.339
explaining exactly how Lucy Ann died, and there's
00:04:31.339 --> 00:04:33.399
no proof that Trout had actually harmed her.
00:04:33.540 --> 00:04:36.439
However, after Zona's death, rumors spread that
00:04:36.439 --> 00:04:38.660
he might have also been responsible, or that
00:04:38.660 --> 00:04:40.980
he might have been responsible. So it is important
00:04:40.980 --> 00:04:43.639
to say this clearly. Rumors are not evidence.
00:04:44.040 --> 00:04:46.519
Lucy Ann's death was never legally connected
00:04:46.519 --> 00:04:49.240
to Trout's shoe. Still, people remembered it.
00:04:49.550 --> 00:04:51.490
and it shaped the way that many in the community
00:04:51.490 --> 00:04:54.290
looked at him after Zona's
Load full transcript
death became suspicious.
00:04:55.910 --> 00:05:00.310
One part of Trout's past that is documented is
00:05:00.310 --> 00:05:02.269
that he had been convicted of stealing a horse
00:05:02.269 --> 00:05:04.750
and had served time in prison. He was the horse
00:05:04.750 --> 00:05:07.230
thief? Yep. He would later admit that during
00:05:07.230 --> 00:05:13.310
his own murder trial. So on October 21st, 1896,
00:05:13.550 --> 00:05:15.730
Zona and Trout were married. Their marriage would
00:05:15.730 --> 00:05:18.720
last a little over three months. Then... Zona
00:05:18.720 --> 00:05:21.180
was dead. Now, the exact date of her death is
00:05:21.180 --> 00:05:23.920
unclear, but her official death record lists
00:05:23.920 --> 00:05:28.639
January 23rd, 1897. Now, some contemporary newspaper
00:05:28.639 --> 00:05:30.860
accounts say that she had actually died on January
00:05:30.860 --> 00:05:34.459
24th, but in the official records, it's the 23rd.
00:05:34.459 --> 00:05:37.579
So it just kind of depends on the record and
00:05:37.579 --> 00:05:39.959
which one you read, really. So Zona died either
00:05:39.959 --> 00:05:43.360
on a Saturday or a Sunday in late January 1897.
00:05:43.560 --> 00:05:45.379
So that might sound like a small difference,
00:05:45.459 --> 00:05:47.920
but it tells us something important. From the
00:05:47.920 --> 00:05:49.959
beginning, the official story of Zona's death
00:05:49.959 --> 00:05:53.339
was confused, incomplete, and inconsistent. Now,
00:05:53.360 --> 00:05:55.060
on the day that Zona was found, a young black
00:05:55.060 --> 00:05:57.279
neighbor named Anderson Jones, usually called
00:05:57.279 --> 00:05:59.839
Andy, was sent to the Shue home. Accounts say
00:05:59.839 --> 00:06:02.360
that Trout had asked Andy more than once to stop
00:06:02.360 --> 00:06:04.819
by the house. In some versions, Andy was supposed
00:06:04.819 --> 00:06:07.139
to collect eggs. In others, he had been told
00:06:07.139 --> 00:06:09.680
to see whether Mrs. Shue needed anything. Now,
00:06:09.680 --> 00:06:12.000
when Andy arrived, the house was quiet, a little
00:06:12.000 --> 00:06:14.480
too quiet. He called out for Zona, but there
00:06:14.480 --> 00:06:16.740
was no answer. In a later retelling of the case,
00:06:16.819 --> 00:06:18.660
Andy described seeing something else before he
00:06:18.660 --> 00:06:20.680
had found her. A trail of blood that appeared
00:06:20.680 --> 00:06:23.300
to lead from the steps and across the house toward
00:06:23.300 --> 00:06:25.899
the room where Zona was found lying. That detail
00:06:25.899 --> 00:06:28.480
does not appear consistently across all surviving
00:06:28.480 --> 00:06:32.980
accounts. So can't really count it as a certain
00:06:32.980 --> 00:06:35.720
detail, but it is in there. Now, according to
00:06:35.720 --> 00:06:39.540
the version attributed to Andy, it was the first
00:06:39.540 --> 00:06:41.920
sign that something inside the shoe home was
00:06:41.920 --> 00:06:44.420
terribly wrong. So he went inside looking for
00:06:44.420 --> 00:06:48.379
Zona. and he found her. Now, most accounts place
00:06:48.379 --> 00:06:50.839
her body at the bottom of the stairs. She was
00:06:50.839 --> 00:06:53.420
motionless, and she was dead. In the days and
00:06:53.420 --> 00:06:55.000
years to come, people would question whether
00:06:55.000 --> 00:06:57.339
the position of her body had been staged. Andy
00:06:57.339 --> 00:07:00.519
then ran from the house, and he told his mother,
00:07:00.600 --> 00:07:03.800
Martha Jones, and the word spread quickly. People
00:07:03.800 --> 00:07:06.560
came to the shoe home, and Trout's shoe was there.
00:07:06.939 --> 00:07:09.079
Witnesses later described him as deeply emotional,
00:07:09.279 --> 00:07:12.379
but strange in the way that he acted around Zona's
00:07:12.379 --> 00:07:15.100
body. He reportedly held her head close to him.
00:07:15.199 --> 00:07:17.699
He did not want others to touch her. He made
00:07:17.699 --> 00:07:19.720
it difficult for people to get near her. And
00:07:19.720 --> 00:07:21.959
when the doctor arrived, Trout's behavior reportedly
00:07:21.959 --> 00:07:24.720
made it harder for a proper examination to take
00:07:24.720 --> 00:07:26.920
place. Okay, now to play devil's advocate here,
00:07:27.040 --> 00:07:29.139
there's two things. He could have either been
00:07:29.139 --> 00:07:31.639
distraught because it's his wife. You know what
00:07:31.639 --> 00:07:33.899
I mean? Yes. He could be holding her just like
00:07:33.899 --> 00:07:37.000
in emotional distress, like a lot of people would.
00:07:38.060 --> 00:07:40.980
Or he could be trying to keep the onlookers.
00:07:41.939 --> 00:07:44.779
Looking too close. Looking too close and seeing
00:07:44.779 --> 00:07:47.360
something suspicious. It could be either one.
00:07:47.500 --> 00:07:50.959
So we got to account for both. Now, Dr. George
00:07:50.959 --> 00:07:52.920
Knapp was called to the home. But by the time
00:07:52.920 --> 00:07:55.220
he arrived, Trout had already changed Zona's
00:07:55.220 --> 00:07:57.199
clothes. Let you ponder on that for a minute.
00:07:57.319 --> 00:07:59.639
Kind of hard to think of a positive side of that
00:07:59.639 --> 00:08:03.069
one. The man was weird. Now, later accounts said
00:08:03.069 --> 00:08:05.250
that he had dressed her in a high -collared garment
00:08:05.250 --> 00:08:07.709
and placed cloth around her neck. He reportedly
00:08:07.709 --> 00:08:10.430
objected when Dr. Knapp attempted to examine
00:08:10.430 --> 00:08:13.430
Zona's throat and neck. Some retellings say that
00:08:13.430 --> 00:08:15.370
Dr. Knapp had been treating Zona for an illness
00:08:15.370 --> 00:08:17.389
in the weeks before her death, but there are
00:08:17.389 --> 00:08:19.470
no surviving medical records that have been found
00:08:19.470 --> 00:08:21.769
to confirm that without a doubt. Now, this may
00:08:21.769 --> 00:08:23.970
explain why illness was initially considered
00:08:23.970 --> 00:08:28.310
to be her cause of death, or it may just be another
00:08:28.310 --> 00:08:30.430
detail that grew as the story was passed down.
00:08:30.779 --> 00:08:33.059
What is clear, though, is that the examination
00:08:33.059 --> 00:08:35.799
was incomplete. The cause of death had been reported
00:08:35.799 --> 00:08:38.980
differently in different versions of the story.
00:08:39.139 --> 00:08:41.440
Some accounts say that Dr. Knapp believed Zona
00:08:41.440 --> 00:08:43.519
died of heart disease, while others say that
00:08:43.519 --> 00:08:46.220
he used the phrase, quote, everlasting faint,
00:08:46.379 --> 00:08:48.919
which was an old -fashioned term for sudden and
00:08:48.919 --> 00:08:51.500
unexplained collapse. But the official Greenbrier
00:08:51.500 --> 00:08:55.580
County death record lists another cause, childbirth,
00:08:55.700 --> 00:08:58.159
which is odd, because if she died in childbirth,
00:08:58.379 --> 00:09:00.649
where's the child? What's that look for? I'm
00:09:00.649 --> 00:09:03.309
just listening. Now, this explanation does not
00:09:03.309 --> 00:09:06.450
fit in the known timeline because Zona had given
00:09:06.450 --> 00:09:09.950
birth to her son, the only child that we're aware
00:09:09.950 --> 00:09:14.690
of, in November of 1895, nearly an entire year
00:09:14.690 --> 00:09:17.309
before she ever married Trout. The death record
00:09:17.309 --> 00:09:20.309
didn't even clearly list her name. It identified
00:09:20.309 --> 00:09:24.110
her only as Mrs. Shue. It also did not contain
00:09:24.110 --> 00:09:27.299
Dr. Knapp's signature or his medical note. So
00:09:27.299 --> 00:09:29.259
before anyone ever spoke of a ghost, the official
00:09:29.259 --> 00:09:31.740
account of Zona's death was already deeply flawed.
00:09:31.960 --> 00:09:34.659
A woman had been found dead. Her husband had
00:09:34.659 --> 00:09:37.200
reportedly interfered with the examination. Her
00:09:37.200 --> 00:09:39.620
neck had not been properly inspected. And the
00:09:39.620 --> 00:09:42.740
death record offered an explanation that didn't
00:09:42.740 --> 00:09:45.340
make any sense. But still, nobody officially
00:09:45.340 --> 00:09:48.740
called it murder. So Zona was buried. Zona's
00:09:48.740 --> 00:09:51.360
funeral did not ease Mary Jane Hester's fears.
00:09:51.580 --> 00:09:54.049
In fact, it made them worse. So like I said before,
00:09:54.169 --> 00:09:56.509
Mary Jane was Zona's mother. She had some concerns
00:09:56.509 --> 00:10:00.269
about Trout. And she apparently had some doubts
00:10:00.269 --> 00:10:02.289
about their marriage. And after watching him
00:10:02.289 --> 00:10:04.549
at the funeral, she began to believe that something
00:10:04.549 --> 00:10:07.409
terrible had happened to her daughter. According
00:10:07.409 --> 00:10:09.649
to later accounts, Trout would not allow people
00:10:09.649 --> 00:10:11.990
to get too close to Zona's head or neck during
00:10:11.990 --> 00:10:14.490
the viewing. He had reportedly placed a pillow
00:10:14.490 --> 00:10:17.330
inside the coffin. He covered Zona's face with
00:10:17.330 --> 00:10:21.919
a veil. And, uh, did that? He kept a scarf or
00:10:21.919 --> 00:10:24.320
some kind of cloth around her neck, and he stayed
00:10:24.320 --> 00:10:27.139
very close to her body as though he was guarding
00:10:27.139 --> 00:10:29.360
her. Some people later said that Zona's neck
00:10:29.360 --> 00:10:32.279
looked unnaturally loose or even wobbly, as though
00:10:32.279 --> 00:10:34.620
it needed to be supported. Others remembered
00:10:34.620 --> 00:10:37.419
a bruise appearing across her cheek. These details
00:10:37.419 --> 00:10:40.059
were repeated after Trout became a suspect, so
00:10:40.059 --> 00:10:42.460
they need to be treated with caution as we talk
00:10:42.460 --> 00:10:46.460
about this. And they also help explain why Mary
00:10:46.460 --> 00:10:49.360
Jane and others around her felt that something
00:10:49.360 --> 00:10:53.179
about Zona's death had been missed. Mary Jane
00:10:53.179 --> 00:10:55.100
did not believe that her daughter had died naturally.
00:10:55.840 --> 00:10:58.759
And according to Mary Jane, Zona came to her.
00:10:58.919 --> 00:11:01.139
Mary later said that Zona appeared to her at
00:11:01.139 --> 00:11:04.220
night, not once, not as a passing shadow, and
00:11:04.220 --> 00:11:06.379
not as a dream that she would forget by morning.
00:11:06.580 --> 00:11:09.919
Mary Jane claimed that Zona visited her on four
00:11:09.919 --> 00:11:12.620
consecutive nights. She said her daughter appeared
00:11:12.620 --> 00:11:15.139
in her bedroom and that she spoke to her. She
00:11:15.139 --> 00:11:17.580
said that Zona told her she had been murdered.
00:11:18.009 --> 00:11:19.750
According to Mary Jane's account, Trout became
00:11:19.750 --> 00:11:22.370
angry because Zona had not prepared meat for
00:11:22.370 --> 00:11:24.909
supper. An argument began. That argument became
00:11:24.909 --> 00:11:27.950
violent and Trout attacked her. Mary Jane said
00:11:27.950 --> 00:11:31.950
that Zona told her that Trout had broke her neck.
00:11:32.169 --> 00:11:34.370
The most famous part of the legend is what comes
00:11:34.370 --> 00:11:37.049
next. Mary Jane said Zona's spirit turned her
00:11:37.049 --> 00:11:40.029
head completely around, demonstrating the injury
00:11:40.029 --> 00:11:42.389
to her mother. This is one of the most chilling
00:11:42.389 --> 00:11:44.850
images in Appalachian ghost lore. A grieving
00:11:44.850 --> 00:11:47.279
mother sits awake in her bedroom. Her dead daughter
00:11:47.279 --> 00:11:49.700
appears, and her ghost tells her that the man
00:11:49.700 --> 00:11:52.200
who should have loved her is the man that killed
00:11:52.200 --> 00:11:55.000
her. Mary Jane said Zona told her more than just
00:11:55.000 --> 00:11:57.179
how she died. She claimed her daughter described
00:11:57.179 --> 00:11:59.639
the shoe home and the land around it in detail,
00:11:59.820 --> 00:12:03.980
even though Mary Jane had never visited the property
00:12:03.980 --> 00:12:06.779
before. Zona also allegedly directed Mary Jane
00:12:06.779 --> 00:12:09.600
to search specific places, including an area
00:12:09.600 --> 00:12:12.480
near a fence and rocky section of land, as well
00:12:12.480 --> 00:12:16.879
as behind a loose plank in the cellar. and a
00:12:16.879 --> 00:12:19.080
search was reportedly made, but nothing was found.
00:12:19.220 --> 00:12:21.379
Now, that does not prove Mary Jane's story was
00:12:21.379 --> 00:12:23.779
false, but it is important to remember that even
00:12:23.779 --> 00:12:26.480
within this ghost story, not every alleged clue
00:12:26.480 --> 00:12:28.759
led to physical evidence. And when the defense
00:12:28.759 --> 00:12:31.039
later suggested that Mary Jane had only dreamed
00:12:31.039 --> 00:12:34.139
about Zona, she rejected this completely. She
00:12:34.139 --> 00:12:36.279
said that she had been wide awake, that she had
00:12:36.279 --> 00:12:39.100
prayed for Zona to return and tell her what happened.
00:12:39.279 --> 00:12:41.419
And when she was pressured to call the four visits
00:12:41.419 --> 00:12:44.700
dreams, she reportedly answered, quote, If I'm
00:12:44.700 --> 00:12:47.320
going to say that, I am going to lie. There is
00:12:47.320 --> 00:12:49.759
no way to prove that a ghost did appear in Mary
00:12:49.759 --> 00:12:52.059
Jane's bedroom. There's no scientific test for
00:12:52.059 --> 00:12:54.820
visitation, no recording, no photograph, and
00:12:54.820 --> 00:12:58.779
no independent witness standing in that room.
00:12:58.879 --> 00:13:01.259
There's only Mary Jane's story, but she believed
00:13:01.259 --> 00:13:04.159
it, and she acted on it. She went to local prosecutor
00:13:04.159 --> 00:13:06.779
John Alfred Preston. She told him that Zona had
00:13:06.779 --> 00:13:09.539
appeared to her, and she said Zona told her Trout
00:13:09.539 --> 00:13:12.570
killed her, and she begged the authorities. to
00:13:12.570 --> 00:13:15.129
look again. A ghost story alone could not convict
00:13:15.129 --> 00:13:18.509
someone, but Mary Jane's concerns existed alongside
00:13:18.509 --> 00:13:21.309
some other troubling facts, like the fact that
00:13:21.309 --> 00:13:23.490
the examination was incomplete, the death record
00:13:23.490 --> 00:13:26.210
was contradictory, witnesses had concerns about
00:13:26.210 --> 00:13:29.129
Trout's behavior around Zona's body, and Mary
00:13:29.129 --> 00:13:31.990
Jane's determination helped trigger renewed attention
00:13:31.990 --> 00:13:35.409
to this case, and so authorities agreed to exhume
00:13:35.409 --> 00:13:39.529
Zona's body. On February 22nd, 1897, Zona's body
00:13:39.529 --> 00:13:41.850
was removed from her grave. Her remains were
00:13:41.850 --> 00:13:44.090
taken to a local schoolhouse. Of all fucking
00:13:44.090 --> 00:13:46.470
places. Well, back then, they didn't really have
00:13:46.470
--> 00:13:48.490
morgues, honey. You know what I mean? Of all
00:13:48.490 --> 00:13:51.110
places, you could pick a school. It's just like,
00:13:51.149 --> 00:13:53.389
I love it. I love it so much. That would be awesome.
00:13:53.629 --> 00:13:55.610
What did you find on your desk today? Oh, I found
00:13:55.610 --> 00:14:01.549
a femur. That's great. Dr. Knapp, alongside other
00:14:01.549 --> 00:14:03.669
doctors, conducted a post -mortem examination.
00:14:04.110 --> 00:14:06.549
And this time, the examination was thorough.
00:14:07.950 --> 00:14:11.210
and no one was there to keep them away from Zona's
00:14:11.210 --> 00:14:14.029
neck. This time around, they found evidence of
00:14:14.029 --> 00:14:16.570
violence. Her neck was probably broken. Zona's
00:14:16.570 --> 00:14:20.009
neck was in fact either broken or dislocated.
00:14:20.850 --> 00:14:24.470
Ow. Her windpipe was crushed, and reports described
00:14:24.470 --> 00:14:26.730
serious damage to the ligaments in her neck.
00:14:26.909 --> 00:14:29.070
Some accounts described an injury involving the
00:14:29.070 --> 00:14:32.490
first and second cervical vertebrae high inside
00:14:32.490 --> 00:14:34.710
her neck. Other descriptions indicated marks
00:14:34.710 --> 00:14:36.990
believed to be consistent with strangulation.
00:14:37.500 --> 00:14:43.320
Her having those damaged ligaments and it being
00:14:43.320 --> 00:14:45.720
broken and her windpipe crushed, that would have
00:14:45.720 --> 00:14:49.480
given her ghost the ability to completely turn
00:14:49.480 --> 00:14:51.320
her neck around because there's no ligaments
00:14:51.320 --> 00:14:54.179
holding it in place. Ow. And Zona's ghost told
00:14:54.179 --> 00:14:57.620
her mother that her neck had been broken. Isn't
00:14:57.620 --> 00:15:00.000
that wild? Ow. What do you think? Anything's
00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:02.139
possible. You think it's mother's intuition or
00:15:02.139 --> 00:15:04.820
Zona's ghost really did come back to her? I believe
00:15:04.820 --> 00:15:08.149
the ghost did come back. is a wild isn't it the
00:15:08.149 --> 00:15:10.129
post -mortem findings strongly supported the
00:15:10.129 --> 00:15:13.049
conclusion that zona had died violently but it
00:15:13.049 --> 00:15:15.590
is important to be precise the autopsy supported
00:15:15.590 --> 00:15:18.190
the core accusation that zona had in fact been
00:15:18.190 --> 00:15:21.350
murdered it did not completely verify every day
00:15:21.350 --> 00:15:24.190
every detail of the ghost story exactly as later
00:15:24.190 --> 00:15:27.769
retellings told it but it did back up the ghosts
00:15:27.769 --> 00:15:30.250
saying she was killed the reported medical findings
00:15:30.250 --> 00:15:32.370
were more specific and more complicated than
00:15:32.370 --> 00:15:35.000
the legend alone a damaged neck Torn ligaments,
00:15:35.120 --> 00:15:37.379
a crushed windpipe, and signs consistent with
00:15:37.379 --> 00:15:39.899
strangulation. Whatever happened to Zona, it
00:15:39.899 --> 00:15:42.620
was not an everlasting thing. It was not an ordinary
00:15:42.620 --> 00:15:45.759
natural death. And it was definitely not childbirth.
00:15:45.940 --> 00:15:48.220
After this autopsy, the case changed completely.
00:15:48.600 --> 00:15:51.399
Edward Trout Shue was arrested. Zona's death
00:15:51.399 --> 00:15:53.960
was now being treated as a murder. And the story
00:15:53.960 --> 00:15:56.179
of the Greenbrier ghost had moved from a grieving
00:15:56.179 --> 00:15:58.899
mother's bedroom into the criminal justice system.
00:15:59.309 --> 00:16:00.929
Now, while trial waited in the Greenbrier County
00:16:00.929 --> 00:16:03.690
Jail for a trial, a newspaper report in May of
00:16:03.690 --> 00:16:06.230
1897 claimed that he had threatened suicide.
00:16:06.610 --> 00:16:09.149
Now, whether that was a genuine attempt, a threat,
00:16:09.250 --> 00:16:11.769
or simply a jailhouse rumor, that's unclear.
00:16:11.950 --> 00:16:14.750
But it did add another layer of drama to an already
00:16:14.750 --> 00:16:17.129
sensational case. Now, the murder trial began
00:16:17.129 --> 00:16:20.129
in Greenbrier County in June of 1897. The case
00:16:20.129 --> 00:16:22.029
was heard in Greenbrier County Circuit Court
00:16:22.029 --> 00:16:25.750
before Judge J .M. McWhorter. Prosecuting attorney
00:16:25.750 --> 00:16:28.350
John Alford Preston led this state's case, assisted
00:16:28.350 --> 00:16:31.149
by Henry Gilmer. Child was defended by Dr. William
00:16:31.149 --> 00:16:34.149
Rucker and James P .D. Gardner. Gardner was later
00:16:34.149 --> 00:16:36.450
reported to have been the first black lawyer
00:16:36.450 --> 00:16:39.370
to practice in Greenbrier County Court. How cool
00:16:39.370 --> 00:16:42.529
is that? That is cool. The trial drew major attention,
00:16:42.710 --> 00:16:46.529
as you could only imagine. A newlywed had died
00:16:46.529 --> 00:16:48.929
suddenly. Her death had first been treated as
00:16:48.929 --> 00:16:51.710
natural. Her body later examined. Doctors found
00:16:51.710 --> 00:16:53.870
fatal neck injuries, and the victim's mother
00:16:53.870 --> 00:16:56.549
said that the victim herself had returned from
00:16:56.549 --> 00:16:59.370
the grave to identify her killer. That is the
00:16:59.370 --> 00:17:02.070
part that people remember. Right. But here's
00:17:02.070 --> 00:17:04.630
the important distinction. Zona didn't testify
00:17:04.630 --> 00:17:06.970
in court. A ghost didn't appear on the witness
00:17:06.970 --> 00:17:12.230
stand. What? That's just funny. The way it was
00:17:12.230 --> 00:17:15.670
said. The court did not formally accept paranormal
00:17:15.670 --> 00:17:17.789
evidence as proof that the dead could speak.
00:17:18.089 --> 00:17:20.890
Instead, Mary Jane testified about what she said
00:17:20.890 --> 00:17:23.170
she experienced. She told the court about her
00:17:23.170 --> 00:17:25.490
daughter's appearance. She said Zona told her
00:17:25.490 --> 00:17:27.990
that Trout had broke her neck. The defense questioned
00:17:27.990 --> 00:17:30.349
her about those visions, likely hoping that the
00:17:30.349 --> 00:17:32.710
jury would see her as a mother who was overcome
00:17:32.710 --> 00:17:35.849
by grief, sucked into superstition, or even just
00:17:35.849 --> 00:17:39.329
drugged down by emotion. But Mary Jane didn't
00:17:39.329 --> 00:17:41.710
back down. She said she'd been wide awake. She
00:17:41.710 --> 00:17:44.450
said the visits had been real. And she said that
00:17:44.450 --> 00:17:47.019
her daughter had told her the truth. The ghost
00:17:47.019 --> 00:17:49.500
story made this trial unforgettable, but the
00:17:49.500 --> 00:17:52.640
prosecution's case didn't rest on a ghost. The
00:17:52.640 --> 00:17:55.160
evidence against Trout was circumstantial. It
00:17:55.160 --> 00:17:57.599
included the suspicious and inconsistent handling
00:17:57.599 --> 00:18:00.000
of Zona's death, the incomplete first examination,
00:18:00.460 --> 00:18:03.140
the injuries found after her exhumation, the
00:18:03.140 --> 00:18:05.519
damaged neck, her crushed windpipe, the testimony
00:18:05.519 --> 00:18:08.079
about Trout's behavior, and the questions surrounding
00:18:08.079 --> 00:18:10.980
what happened inside the shoe home. Trout took
00:18:10.980 --> 00:18:13.619
the stand in his own defense. Contemporary newspaper
00:18:13.619 --> 00:18:15.599
reporting described him as speaking at length
00:18:15.599 --> 00:18:18.319
and focusing heavily on small, unimportant details.
00:18:18.660 --> 00:18:21.319
He denied killing Zona. He claimed that the prosecution
00:18:21.319 --> 00:18:24.619
was motivated by spite. He insisted that he loved
00:18:24.619 --> 00:18:26.640
his wife. He admitted that he had served time
00:18:26.640 --> 00:18:28.839
in prison for horse theft, and he reportedly
00:18:28.839 --> 00:18:31.099
asked the jurors to look into his face and decide
00:18:31.099 --> 00:18:33.720
whether he looked like a guilty man. Newspaper
00:18:33.720 --> 00:18:36.039
coverage suggested that his testimony did not
00:18:36.039 --> 00:18:38.079
make a favorable impression on the people who
00:18:38.079 --> 00:18:40.420
heard it. The jury had the evidence. They heard
00:18:40.420 --> 00:18:42.960
Mary Jane's account, the medical findings, They
00:18:42.960 --> 00:18:46.480
heard Trout deny killing Zona, then they deliberated
00:18:46.480 --> 00:18:50.019
for only one hour and ten minutes. On July 1,
00:18:50.220 --> 00:18:53.619
1897, the jury returned with its verdict. Edward
00:18:53.619 --> 00:18:56.440
Trout Shue was found guilty of first -degree
00:18:56.440 --> 00:18:59.019
murder. He was sentenced to life in the West
00:18:59.019 --> 00:19:01.839
Virginia State Penitentiary at Moundsville. For
00:19:01.839 --> 00:19:04.440
some people in Breyer County, a life sentence
00:19:04.440 --> 00:19:07.259
was too much. After the conviction, a lynch mob
00:19:07.259 --> 00:19:09.740
reportedly formed. They intended to take Trout
00:19:09.740 --> 00:19:12.369
from the county jail and hang him. Accounts say
00:19:12.369 --> 00:19:14.849
that they arrived armed with Winchester rifles,
00:19:15.069 --> 00:19:17.509
revolvers, and a new rope. Sheriff Nickel and
00:19:17.509 --> 00:19:19.789
George Hurrah confronted the crowd. The sheriff
00:19:19.789 --> 00:19:22.890
persuaded them to disband, but by then, Deputy
00:19:22.890 --> 00:19:26.109
Sheriff John G. Dyer had already moved Trout
00:19:26.109 --> 00:19:28.849
somewhere safe outside of Lewisburg. The mob
00:19:28.849 --> 00:19:31.849
had arrived too late. That jail cell was already
00:19:31.849 --> 00:19:34.089
empty. Now, Trout was eventually transferred
00:19:34.089 --> 00:19:36.630
to the West Virginia State Penitentiary in Moundsville,
00:19:36.750 --> 00:19:38.789
and he would die there in the late spring of
00:19:38.789 --> 00:19:41.779
1900, reportedly during a per - tuberculosis
00:19:41.779 --> 00:19:44.500
outbreak. He had served less than three years
00:19:44.500 --> 00:19:47.019
of his life sentence. Now before we close out,
00:19:47.039 --> 00:19:49.440
it is important to say this clearly. The surviving
00:19:49.440 --> 00:19:51.559
historical record of the Greenbrier ghost case
00:19:51.559 --> 00:19:54.680
is incomplete. Some original documents are missing.
00:19:55.059 --> 00:19:57.019
Newspaper accounts conflict with one another.
00:19:57.240 --> 00:19:59.779
Many details have been repeated, embellished,
00:19:59.799 --> 00:20:02.119
and reshaped for more than a century. So when
00:20:02.119 --> 00:20:03.940
we tell this story, we have to separate what
00:20:03.940 --> 00:20:06.500
is documented from what belongs to legend. What
00:20:06.500 --> 00:20:09.119
we can say with confidence is this. Elvazona
00:20:09.119 --> 00:20:12.160
Hester Shue died after only a few months of marriage.
00:20:12.380 --> 00:20:15.140
Her death was initially treated as natural. Her
00:20:15.140 --> 00:20:17.599
body was later exhumed, and medical examiners
00:20:17.599 --> 00:20:20.519
found fatal neck injuries. Her husband, Edward
00:20:20.519 --> 00:20:23.259
Trout Shue, was then convicted of first -degree
00:20:23.259 --> 00:20:26.099
murder. Everything beyond that exists in a space
00:20:26.099 --> 00:20:28.599
between history and haunting. The blood trail,
00:20:28.839 --> 00:20:31.480
the ghost message, the exact motive, or not,
00:20:31.640 --> 00:20:34.000
the four -night visitation. the ghost turning
00:20:34.000 --> 00:20:36.579
its head, whether Zona truly appeared to Mary
00:20:36.579 --> 00:20:39.720
Jane. Those details could be history. They could
00:20:39.720 --> 00:20:42.339
be fact. They may just be folklore. They could
00:20:42.339 --> 00:20:44.579
be grief transformed into something powerful
00:20:44.579 --> 00:20:47.859
enough to make people listen. So did a ghost
00:20:47.859 --> 00:20:50.819
help convict a murderer? Maybe. Did a ghost testify
00:20:50.819 --> 00:20:53.500
in court? Definitely not. Did the court accept
00:20:53.500 --> 00:20:56.279
the paranormal evidence as legal proof? Of course
00:20:56.279 --> 00:20:59.019
not. Was Trout convicted only because Mary Jane
00:20:59.019 --> 00:21:01.619
said Zona appeared to her? No. The conviction
00:21:01.619 --> 00:21:04.160
rested on circumstantial and medical evidence,
00:21:04.319 --> 00:21:07.039
especially the injuries discovered after Zona's
00:21:07.039 --> 00:21:09.980
body had been exhumed. But did Mary Jane's story
00:21:09.980 --> 00:21:11.799
help change the course of this investigation?
00:21:12.180 --> 00:21:15.640
Most definitely. She refused to accept the official
00:21:15.640 --> 00:21:18.140
explanation. She demanded that authorities take
00:21:18.140 --> 00:21:20.160
another look. She insisted that Zona's death
00:21:20.160 --> 00:21:22.400
could not be explained away. And after the grave
00:21:22.400 --> 00:21:24.960
was opened, doctors found evidence that a violent
00:21:24.960 --> 00:21:27.859
death had, in fact, been missed. So maybe Mary
00:21:27.859 --> 00:21:30.440
Jane truly did see her daughter. Maybe Zona's
00:21:30.440 --> 00:21:32.900
spirit really did come home and tell her mother
00:21:32.900 --> 00:21:35.460
what happened. Maybe grief, fear, suspicion,
00:21:35.539 --> 00:21:38.000
and a mother's instinct came to Mary Jane in
00:21:38.000 --> 00:21:40.519
her dreams. Maybe she noticed things that others
00:21:40.519 --> 00:21:43.240
ignored. The scar from around Zona's neck, Trout's
00:21:43.240 --> 00:21:45.880
strange behavior, the inadequate medical examination,
00:21:46.240 --> 00:21:48.539
the impossible explanation written on the death
00:21:48.539 --> 00:21:51.339
record. Whatever Mary Jane experienced, she did
00:21:51.339 --> 00:21:54.660
something that changed everything. She refused
00:21:54.660 --> 00:21:56.740
to let her daughter's death disappear into a
00:21:56.740 --> 00:21:59.460
grave without answers. Today, Zona Hester Shue
00:21:59.460 --> 00:22:01.859
was buried near Stan Black Church in Greenbrier
00:22:01.859 --> 00:22:04.619
County, West Virginia. A West Virginia historical
00:22:04.619 --> 00:22:07.680
marker commemorates the case and describes it
00:22:07.680 --> 00:22:10.599
as the only known case in which testimony from
00:22:10.599 --> 00:22:13.839
a ghost helped convict a murderer. That is commemorative
00:22:13.839 --> 00:22:16.240
language, not a statement that a ghost formally
00:22:16.240 --> 00:22:18.960
testified in court. But it captures why this
00:22:18.960 --> 00:22:21.619
case has endured for so long. The Greenbrier
00:22:21.619 --> 00:22:24.019
ghost is not only a ghost story. It's a warning
00:22:24.019 --> 00:22:26.160
about what can happen when a suspicious death
00:22:26.160 --> 00:22:29.140
is not properly investigated. It's a story about
00:22:29.140 --> 00:22:31.940
the limitations of early forensic medicine. It's
00:22:31.940 --> 00:22:34.200
a story
about how difficult it could be for a
00:22:34.200 --> 00:22:37.500
grieving woman in 1897 to make authorities listen.
00:22:37.720 --> 00:22:40.059
And it's a story about a truth that refused to
00:22:40.059 --> 00:22:42.640
stay buried. So whether you believe Zona Hester
00:22:42.640 --> 00:22:45.059
Sue returned from the grave or not, there is
00:22:45.059 --> 00:22:47.640
one thing you can believe for certain. Her death
00:22:47.640 --> 00:22:50.940
was nearly dismissed. Her body was nearly left
00:22:50.940 --> 00:22:53.170
in the ground. And without Mary Jane's refusal
00:22:53.170 --> 00:22:55.849
to accept an easy answer, Edward Trout's shoe
00:22:55.849 --> 00:22:58.250
may never have been held accountable. So if you
00:22:58.250 --> 00:22:59.869
ever find yourself driving through Greenbrier
00:22:59.869 --> 00:23:02.589
County, surrounded by mountain roads, old cemeteries,
00:23:02.589 --> 00:23:05.130
and the deep quiet of West Virginia, remember
00:23:05.130 --> 00:23:07.369
Zona. Remember the mother who would not stop
00:23:07.369 --> 00:23:09.789
asking questions. And remember that some truth
00:23:09.789 --> 00:23:12.369
refused to stay buried. And that's the Greenbrier
00:23:12.369 --> 00:23:14.910
ghost. What do you think about that one? That
00:23:14.910 --> 00:23:16.750
was wild. Have you ever heard of that one before?
00:23:16.970 --> 00:23:18.970
Uh -huh. It was pretty cool, wasn't it? It was.
00:23:19.190 --> 00:23:21.990
Like to imagine a ghost, like... she came back
00:23:21.990 --> 00:23:24.609
and told her mom that she did not die of natural
00:23:24.609 --> 00:23:27.369
causes. How wild would that be? Okay, so, right.
00:23:27.509 --> 00:23:30.630
So I have a picture of the historical marker,
00:23:30.789 --> 00:23:34.329
right? Okay, so it says Greenbrier Ghost. Interred
00:23:34.329 --> 00:23:37.369
in nearby cemetery is Zona Hester's shoe. Her
00:23:37.369 --> 00:23:40.410
death in 1897 was presumed natural until her
00:23:40.410 --> 00:23:42.470
spirit appeared to her mother to describe how
00:23:42.470 --> 00:23:44.910
she was killed by her husband, Edward. Autopsy
00:23:44.910 --> 00:23:46.930
on the exhumed body verified the apparitions
00:23:46.930 --> 00:23:49.109
account. Edward, found guilty of murder, was
00:23:49.109 --> 00:23:51.579
sentenced to the state prison. Only known case
00:23:51.579 --> 00:23:54.359
in which testimony from ghosts helped convict
00:23:54.359 --> 00:23:57.400
a murderer. How wild is that? That is wild. Yeah,
00:23:57.420 --> 00:23:59.380
I thought that was a fun one. Like, it's sad,
00:23:59.539 --> 00:24:03.180
obviously, but I thought it was a fun, like...
00:24:03.180 --> 00:24:06.460
Fun little ditty. Right, like, it's not really
00:24:06.460 --> 00:24:09.619
lighthearted, but it's not, like, the gory...
00:24:09.619 --> 00:24:11.720
Stuff we're used to. True crime stuff that we
00:24:11.720 --> 00:24:13.380
normally do, yeah. A little bit lighter than
00:24:13.380 --> 00:24:18.599
normal. Yep, that's your bonus. Yay! Yay! I'm
00:24:18.599 --> 00:24:21.279
excited for the next bonus. That one's a good
00:24:21.279 --> 00:24:24.400
one. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. You got anything
00:24:24.400 --> 00:24:28.160
to end this one? Nothing? Nope. All right. With
00:24:28.160 --> 00:24:31.140
that, guys, make sure you come back for the next
00:24:31.140 --> 00:24:35.720
one. I know this one is late also. And the next
00:24:35.720 --> 00:24:38.240
one we're going to release is also late. So make
00:24:38.240 --> 00:24:40.440
sure you have those notifications on. So that
00:24:40.440 --> 00:24:42.720
way you get notification when the next couple
00:24:42.720 --> 00:24:46.700
ones that are late come out. Socials and email
00:24:46.700 --> 00:24:48.569
are in the email. Are in the episode description.
00:24:48.890 --> 00:24:52.009
Give us a rate. A review. Follow. You can follow
00:24:52.009 --> 00:24:54.029
us on TikTok. That's in the social links. Also
00:24:54.029 --> 00:24:56.029
inside the link tree. You can find everything.
00:24:56.730 --> 00:24:59.609
And that's all I have. So with that. We hope
00:24:59.609 --> 00:25:01.430
y 'all keep listening. And remember to. Watch
00:25:01.430 --> 00:25:03.829
out for monsters. Don't kill people. And we'll
00:25:03.829 --> 00:25:05.970
catch y 'all next time. Bye y 'all. Bye y 'all.
00:25:06.670 --> 00:25:14.829
There are stories in the dark. That never learn
00:25:14.829 --> 00:25:20.380
to die. Names buried in the silence Still calling
00:25:20.380 --> 00:25:26.180
from the night Down a road where the cold wind
00:25:26.180 --> 00:25:31.400
moans Past the places nobody goes Every secret
00:25:31.400 --> 00:25:36.940
leaves a mark Every shadow knows the dark Hear
00:25:36.940 --> 00:25:41.039
the footsteps count to three Something's waiting
00:25:41.039 --> 00:25:52.950
patiently Monstrous Monstrous Where the truth
00:25:52.950 --> 00:25:56.589
wears someone else's face From the graveyard
00:25:56.589 --> 00:26:01.630
to the crime scene From the legend to the scream
00:26:01.630 --> 00:26:08.970
If you listen close enough You'll hear the monstrous
00:26:08.970 --> 00:26:25.500
things Photographs and a crooked smile Missing
00:26:25.500 --> 00:26:30.019
pieces mile by mile A locked door and a midnight
00:26:30.019 --> 00:26:36.519
call A whispered name behind the wall The evidence
00:26:36.519 --> 00:26:42.740
fades The questions remain And somewhere in the
00:26:42.740 --> 00:26:52.650
dark The story is still calling your name their
00:26:52.650 --> 00:26:58.069
trace Monstrous Where the truth wears someone
00:26:58.069 --> 00:27:03.750
else's face Murders, mysteries, secrets untold
00:27:03.750 --> 00:27:08.269
Hauntings hiding in the cold If you listen close
00:27:08.269 --> 00:27:28.750
enough Every shadow has a name This is monstrous