Jackson Grimes Writes A Ghost Story
This is something Mr. G. wrote & had me submit to Fate Magazine for him.
by
TheGothicWitch
in non-fiction> religion &
philosophy
on Jan. 05, 2009 at 11:01am
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Fate Ghost Story
fate@fatemag.com
To the Editor:
When I was a boy, we lived in Zanesville, Ohio's historic Putnam district, which is one of the oldest settlements in Ohio; established around 1800, then annexed to the city of Zanesville in 1872. Once in a while as we were driving home, I would point to a house and say, "that looks like a castle", "that's a fancy one" or "my, that's a big house". My mother, Mabel Grimes, would then tell me it was built by a man named Dr LaRue or Horace Nye and his wife lived there a long time ago. She also told me the story of how many of the rich folks, whose families built these mansions, were noted abolitionists and several of the houses, were used as a part of the Underground Railroad to hide runaway negro slaves, trying to make their way to Canada prior to the American Civil War. Some of mom's stories dealt with these old houses, many of which were abandoned ruins by the late 1950's or early 1960's, being haunted by ghosts of runaways who were in such bad shape that they died in these houses. As hiding escaped slaves was illegal in the 1830's and 1840's if you were harbouring a Negro, who died on your property, you walled up his corpse in the basement and hoped nobody ever discovered the bones.
Family members claimed my mother had been born with a cowl over her face. According to Irish folklore, babies born with this deformity have psychic gifts that include the ability to see ghosts. As I came into my teen years, mom told me and some other youths how when she was about our ages she saw a ghost in one of these dilapidated houses. Supposedly, back in the 1930's a group of young adults, my mother amoung them, broke into one of these wrecks with some bootleg booze, with the intention of having a moonshine party. No sooner had the drinking got hot and heavy than they heard a mournful sound and chains started rattling. Soon, footfalls were heard in the hall just outside of the room where the partiers were, then an etheric black man, who must have looked like something out of Dickens' Scrooge novel, appeared in the doorway. Seeming to take no note of the living spectators, he went to a window in the hallway, peered out, and then vanished. You might chalk these events up to drunkenness. Be that as it may, I record it for Fate Magazine as it's a quintessential ghost story told the world over.
Whatever my mother's condition or state of mind at the time may have been the historic record proves the story bears heeding. Stone Academy, one of the houses she pointed out to me, was built around 1809 and used by the Ohio Abolition Society in the 1830's. George Guthrie's Greek Revival home on Woodlawn Avenue, circa. 1841, was used as a station house along the Underground Railroad where Guthrie often hid black refugees. The LaRue apartments, built as a swanky estate for a doctor, then converted to apartments later, was slated for demolition, in the 1980's, after which a dispute erupted with the Historic Preservation Society of Muskingum County that claimed it was a landmark because of it's use in aiding persons of colour fleeing from the CSA. In addition to these facts, we know that noted abolitionist Theodore D. Weld addressed conventions of the Ohio Abolitionist Society in the Putnam area. Furthermore, Frederick Douglas and William Beecher also addressed anti-slavery enthusiasts in Putnam during this period. Given these documented facts it's safe to assume that there's more than a grain of truth to mother's ghost story.
Mr. J. Grimes
fate@fatemag.com
To the Editor:
When I was a boy, we lived in Zanesville, Ohio's historic Putnam district, which is one of the oldest settlements in Ohio; established around 1800, then annexed to the city of Zanesville in 1872. Once in a while as we were driving home, I would point to a house and say, "that looks like a castle", "that's a fancy one" or "my, that's a big house". My mother, Mabel Grimes, would then tell me it was built by a man named Dr LaRue or Horace Nye and his wife lived there a long time ago. She also told me the story of how many of the rich folks, whose families built these mansions, were noted abolitionists and several of the houses, were used as a part of the Underground Railroad to hide runaway negro slaves, trying to make their way to Canada prior to the American Civil War. Some of mom's stories dealt with these old houses, many of which were abandoned ruins by the late 1950's or early 1960's, being haunted by ghosts of runaways who were in such bad shape that they died in these houses. As hiding escaped slaves was illegal in the 1830's and 1840's if you were harbouring a Negro, who died on your property, you walled up his corpse in the basement and hoped nobody ever discovered the bones.
Family members claimed my mother had been born with a cowl over her face. According to Irish folklore, babies born with this deformity have psychic gifts that include the ability to see ghosts. As I came into my teen years, mom told me and some other youths how when she was about our ages she saw a ghost in one of these dilapidated houses. Supposedly, back in the 1930's a group of young adults, my mother amoung them, broke into one of these wrecks with some bootleg booze, with the intention of having a moonshine party. No sooner had the drinking got hot and heavy than they heard a mournful sound and chains started rattling. Soon, footfalls were heard in the hall just outside of the room where the partiers were, then an etheric black man, who must have looked like something out of Dickens' Scrooge novel, appeared in the doorway. Seeming to take no note of the living spectators, he went to a window in the hallway, peered out, and then vanished. You might chalk these events up to drunkenness. Be that as it may, I record it for Fate Magazine as it's a quintessential ghost story told the world over.
Whatever my mother's condition or state of mind at the time may have been the historic record proves the story bears heeding. Stone Academy, one of the houses she pointed out to me, was built around 1809 and used by the Ohio Abolition Society in the 1830's. George Guthrie's Greek Revival home on Woodlawn Avenue, circa. 1841, was used as a station house along the Underground Railroad where Guthrie often hid black refugees. The LaRue apartments, built as a swanky estate for a doctor, then converted to apartments later, was slated for demolition, in the 1980's, after which a dispute erupted with the Historic Preservation Society of Muskingum County that claimed it was a landmark because of it's use in aiding persons of colour fleeing from the CSA. In addition to these facts, we know that noted abolitionist Theodore D. Weld addressed conventions of the Ohio Abolitionist Society in the Putnam area. Furthermore, Frederick Douglas and William Beecher also addressed anti-slavery enthusiasts in Putnam during this period. Given these documented facts it's safe to assume that there's more than a grain of truth to mother's ghost story.
Mr. J. Grimes
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