Theresa's Haunted History of the Tri-State

This section of the site is devoted to some of my favorite haunted hot spots around Kentucky.  Aside from a general summary of reported activity, I've tried to include historical profiles and links for more information.  If you see the HPIR logo, please click on it to see our investigation results of that location!

If you have a haunted spot in KY that you'd like to see featured on this page...or if you have any corrections or updates, as always, feel free to email me at theresarhps@yahoo.com

Coming soon!

Bobby Mackey's Music World

Waverly Hills 

John Rowan is one of Kentucky's most prominent politicians.  His impressive resume includes such positions as: State Judge, 7 terms in legislature, US Senator, Kentucky Secretary of State, Chief Justice for the Court of Appeals...and cousin to Stephen Foster.  Foster is most famous for penning the popular song, "My Old Kentucky Home," after his stay at Rowan's stately mansion, Federal Hill.

However, such greatness grew out of humble beginnings.  Rowan was a sickly child, not expected to live through childhood.  As a desperate attempt, Rowan's father moved the family west to Kentucky for the dry country air, and the boy thrived, physically, and intellectually.  He studied law in Lexington, becoming a lawyer by 1795, and married Ann Lytle.  Lytle's father deeded the couple the land on which was built the famous mansion.

Rowan died on July 13, 1843 and was interred in the Bardstown Cemetery.  Before his death, he made it clear that he did not want any stone marker or monument erected over his grave site.  Both of his parents had never received any grave marker, and he felt that it would disrespect their honor to have one himself, especially since his beautiful and famous mansion was monument enough.

However, friends and family did not feel these final wishes were fitting to a man of his prominence.  Shortly after internment, he was relocated to the Rowan Family Cemetery, otherwise known as Federal Hill Cemetery, closer to his home, and a tall, obelisk monument was erected in his honor.

Within days, the monument mysteriously tumbled and fell over.  Stonemasons were called in immediately, and skeptically and dubiously blamed the collapse on tree roots or settling ground, and fixed the monument.  Less than two months later, stonemasons were again called in; the gravestone had toppled once more.  By this time, rumors were being spread, and several workmen refused to work on the project.  Nevertheless, the stone was once again repaired...only to topple over again shortly afterward, landing directly on the grave.

By this time, stonemasons were sure that the spirit of John Rowan was responsible for knocking over the monument he never wanted, and refused to do any further work on the stone.  Cemetery caretakers took over the responsibility of repairing and righting the stone, an issue that allegedly, they still are plagued with today.

Rowan Bio

The Jailer's Inn in Bardstown, KY, is located at 111 W. Stephen Foster Avenue, and has been listed by the Travel Channel as being one of the top 10 most haunted sites in America.  The property this limestone structure sits upon has been used as the Nelson County Jail since 1797, and saw its last inmates in 1987.

The original jail, which sat in front of the current structure, was torn down in 1819 when the new jail was built, with the aid of architect John Rogers.  New is a relative word, as this part of the structure is now known as the "Old Jail."  It contained two cells, and an upstairs "Dungeon", where the most violent and dangerous criminals were shackled to the floor. 

In 1874, a back addition was made, and the front part of the jail became the jailer's residence until 1987. A wall was also added around the property.  The 30 inch thick limestone walls were meant to keep prisoners in...perhaps even in death.   In 1988, the McCoy family purchased the building at a public auction, restored it, and converted it into a bed and breakfast, opening up in 1989.

According to co-owner Paul McCoy, the inn earned its reputation as one of the most haunted places in Bardstown and the country honestly.  A host of paranormal activity has been reported over the years, from guests and staff alike.  Whispering and people talking throughout the inn is common, as are disembodied footsteps walking up and down the stairs, the cries of a baby, and a few piano notes scattered while no one is around.

The Colonial Room is said to be haunted by a red globe light that mysteriously turns itself on.  While it may simply be a short in the wiring, that does not explain why the light only comes on between the hours of 3 and 4am.  One guest staying in the room had awakened in the night to use the restroom, when the friendly light came on by itself, lighting his way through the dark room.

Perhaps the most haunted part of the building is the old dungeon room.  Several tour guides have had experiences there,  including seeing an apparition in a mirror, and hearing a woman screaming.  Research has shown that a man was once hung from the hanging tree out front.  This man was described as having a high-pitched scream, identical to that of a woman's.

While the dungeon may be the most haunted room, the most famous resident ghost is said to be that of Martin Hill.  Hill was convicted of murdering his wife in 1885.  He shot her while she was at a neighbor's house, and was subsequently sentenced to hang from the gallows.  Before his execution date, however, Martin Hill became very ill and passed away.  In his pain and fever delirium, it is said he cried out in agonizing pain, but also constantly spewed a string of vile, obscene blasphemies.  After his death, many prisoners over the years, and later guests and staff claim to have heard his cries and pleadings for mercy.  He is also blamed for many of the nondescript paranormal occurrences throughout the building, and one guest even claims to have possibly seen and actually spoke with the apparition of Hill for over 15 minutes!  The ghost of Martin Hill has been around for many years, and was even featured in a 1909 article about hauntings at the jail.  This article, as well as a set of original shackles, is on display at the inn.

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The Paramount Theatre's opening night was September 5, 1931.  It was originally intended to show silent films made exclusively by Paramount Studios, but early during the planning stages, "talkies" replaced the silent films.  As a result, plans changed, and the Paramount was slated to be a model transitional theater, again showing exclusively Paramount's films.

The Great Depression set construction back, and Paramount wanted to scrap the project.  An Ashland based company picked up the project, and used Paramount craftsmen to provide the interior furnishings.  The original plans called for the building to be at least one-third larger, but again, the Great Depression caused plans to change.  The building was then leased to the Paramount Publix Corporation.  

The original contractor of the building was Ashland citizen, Wade Gates.  The designers were Rapp and Rapp, who utilized the popular Art Deco style.  Seating was for 1309 people, and for a time, the Paramount was the only theater in the area that showed talking movies.

The theater was closed in 1971, and was picked up a year later by  the Greater Ashland Foundation for use as a community theater.  It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. 

The following story and photograph are from the History section of the Paramount Arts Center homepage: 

It is said that during work on the Paramount Theatre, in its early stages, a death occurred there and the man's ghost has forever since haunted the Paramount. A group of construction workers who were working inside the auditorium had gone to lunch except one man, a guy named Joe. When the others returned they found Joe hanging from the stage rafters, dead. It is not known whether his death was an accident or suicide. But since then, sounds have been heard, things have gone missing, cold drafts have been felt, and some folks even claim to have seen the image of a man appear on occasion.

However, it is by all means a "good ghost" - one who seems to look out for the benefit of the theatre and its occupants. When Billy Ray Cyrus was here filming his video for "Achy Breaky Heart", he was told about the legend of Paramount Joe. Between breaks, Billy Ray would talk to Joe, laughing and joking with him, sometimes even asking for his help.

It is customary to get 8 x 10 photographs signed by each performer that appears at the Paramount and then hang the photo on our 'Wall of Fame' in the box office. Well Billy Ray personally autographed large color posters to each of the female employees working here at the time - and one to Paramount Joe, whom he now had a fondness for. Each lady put her poster near her desk and Joe's was hung in the box office, near all the other performers.

As time passed and the walls in the box office became too full of 8x10's signed by other performers here, the executive director felt that some of the pictures and posters needed to come down. Since there were so many of Billy Ray, she asked the women to remove their posters since they were all so similar. Nobody wanted to take their personally autographed picture of Billy Ray down so they took down the one he had signed to Paramount Joe.

The next day, when the ladies came to work, every single 8x10 and poster that had been hanging neatly on the walls the night before was now lined up against the wall on the floor, their glass frames still intact! It was as if someone had carefully removed each one. To this day, Paramount Joe's poster still hangs in the Paramount, in a very special part of The Marquee Room.

There is another story about the time two new employees wanted to investigate the basement in the Paramount and some old items that had been stored there. To reach the basement, you must go through a door that is located just inside the lounge outside the ladies restroom. This brings you to the top of the stairs. At the top of the stairs is a lightswitch which will light the first section of the stairwell for you. As you progress, there is a switch that will light each area in front of you. And, there is no partner switch. In other words, you must turn the light off at the same place you turned it on.

The marketing director had offered to take the two new female employees into the basement and turned on the lights at the top of the stairs. The ladies hurried down the steps. At that moment the marketing director was called to the phone by someone inside the office. He told the other two employees to hold on, he would be right back. In their excitement however, they did not hear him and they continued on. Recounting the story later, it was at this point they called up to him to turn on the next light for them.

As it turned out, he was on the phone longer than expected and met the ladies as they were coming back up the steps. "Thanks for turning on the light for us," one of them said, "but we can't get it to turn off." Puzzled, he explained that he had not turned on the light for them. The expression on their faces revealed that they were not kidding with him.

They lead him back into the basement, only to met by darkness. 'Someone' had turned the light off again as well. "Well, thanks Joe," called out one of the ladies, as she shivered.

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Patti Starr Investigation Article

Alice Lloyd College is located in Pippa Passes, KY. Here's a quick background history from the school's website:

Alice Lloyd College is named for its founder, Alice Spencer Geddes Lloyd, who came to the Eastern Kentucky mountains from her native home in Boston. Early in her career, she was a writer for local newspapers and periodicals. In 1902, Miss Geddes was publisher and editor of The Cambridge Press, the first publication in America with an all-female staff.

Eastern Kentucky was sorely lacking in educational opportunities when Alice Lloyd arrived at Ivis, Kentucky, in 1916. She saw the need for regional uplift and felt that through education, the Appalachian people could have a brighter future. Armed with an invitation from a local resident, she came to Pippa Passes to teach the children. Mrs. Lloyd knew that she was among some of the brightest and best students that could be found anywhere. To ensure that no student would be turned away because of financial difficulty, she instituted a mandatory student work program. Mrs. Lloyd secured the success of her mission through generous financial support of her friends on the east coast, voluntary teachers, and "faith as firm as a rock and aspirations as high as the mountains."

Mrs. Lloyd’s initial efforts at the Ivis Community Center in Knott County, Kentucky, were to provide health care, educational services, and agricultural improvements to the region. In 1917, Mrs. Lloyd, accompanied by her mother, moved to Caney Creek at the behest of local resident Abisha Johnson, who offered her land on which to build a school.

Alice Lloyd’s dictum, "The leaders are here," became the inspirational impetus for what is now Alice Lloyd College. She was joined three years later by June Buchanan, a native of Syracuse, New York. Sharing Alice Lloyd’s mission, Miss Buchanan served the College until her death in 1988 at the age of 100. Together, Alice Lloyd and June Buchanan chartered Caney Junior College in 1923.

Following the death of Mrs. Lloyd in 1962, William Hayes became president and served until 1977. Under his leadership, the College launched a capital improvement campaign, which included construction of a water-treatment facility, three student residence halls, an administrative office building, a science building, and an athletic facility.

Jerry C. Davis was appointed president in 1977. His eleven-year tenure was marked by the creation of an accredited four-year, liberal arts college; the founding of The June Buchanan School (grades K-12); the expansion of a number of campus facilities, including a new library, classrooms, and a performing arts center; and the augmentation of campus programs, student enrollment, and institutional endowment. Since the College became a four-year institution in 1980, hundreds of students have earned baccalaureate degrees, and many alumni have completed graduate and professional programs at little or no personal cost through the continued support from Alice Lloyd College. Many of these graduates have returned to the mountains as teachers, physicians, attorneys, and other leaders of their communities.

In 1988, M. Fred Mullinax was named president. Campus expansion continued under President Mullinax's direction with the construction of two student residence halls and a student center, enhancement of faculty salaries and benefits, recruitment of high-achieving students, and enrichment of the College’s endowment.

Timothy T. Siebert assumed the presidency in September 1995. He came to the College with a thorough understanding of the college enterprise and with seven years’ experience in development work. Dr. Siebert left the College in December 1998 to return to his home state of Missouri.
Joseph Alan Stepp was named President in April 1999. He is the first native Appalachian to assume the President's position at Alice Lloyd College.

The community of Pippa Passes derives its name from the verse drama Pippa Passes, written by the British poet Robert Browning. The character of Pippa is a little girl who works in the sweat shops of Italy in the mid-19th Century. On her only holiday of the year, she "passes" through the villages of her countryside, singing the now popular refrain:

The year's at the spring,
And day's at the morn;
Morning's at seven;
The hill-side's dew-pearled;
The lark's on the wing;
The snail's on the thorn:
God's in his heaven--
All's right with the world!

Through her song, Pippa inspires troubled lives toward good purposes. The poem reflects "the influence of unconscious good on the world." Service to the community follows this philosophy as it seeks to expand the scope of the total learning experience. The College maintains, as in the early days, that the purpose of an education is world service; therefore, the College continues to seek avenues of service for staff, faculty, and students.

The College offers experiences in and out of the classroom so that learning may become balanced and healthy. Human growth may proceed in all directions, like an expanding sphere rather than a straight line. It is for this reason that the education of an Alice Lloyd College student takes into consideration "all the dimensions of human life which truly matter, and which left unattended lead to a fragmented and absurd existence."

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Hauntings Information from StrangeUSA:Cushing Hall, Andersen Science Center, Grady Nutt Athletic Center, Many students and staff have encountered many strange happenings throughout campus such as Ripped bed sheets, heartbeats coming from the vents in the showers, books falling off shelves, Locked dorm rooms suddenly unlocking, nightmare involving an old lady, sightings of an old lady, voices coming from empty rooms, bathroom stalls opening and closing without anyone being in them and a lot more. Campus police have also reported strange occurrences this place really seems to be a hot spot.

Lilly Hall Second Floor Suite Strange and unusual noises have been heard from this room. There is a mechanical room in the back where scratching and moaning take place at night. The girls that live there have saw shadows of an unknown figure.

Reader Experiences from StrangeUSA (Click Here):

"I can`t believe no one has talked about the closed down building where the girl lived at that the jacobs man raped and killed there. I visited sum friends one night and somehow it got unlocked we went in and it was the most bizarre experience i have ever had in my whole life. There were wallet sized pics of the murdered girl lying on the floor u couldnt step anywhere without stepping oh her pic also we pried a boarded up closet open and there was a huge bucket with what looked to be blood in it I was so freaked out by this time i didnt bother to look anymore also there was a meat grinder setting on the girls desk for some odd reason and the word misery wrote on the wall in what looked like blood also the pics was the most freaky though this building was 2 stories and know matter where u went there where pics of her everywhere i have heard that 2 girls snuck in one night with a ouija board when the girls came out they had been scratched from head to toe this was backed up by a professor at the college he siad he was their the night it happened and saw the girls come out afterwords I was always a sceptic of hauntings but after that night i was convinced that things like this really do happen."


"I attended the college when my freshman and part of my sophomore year (2002-2004), and I heard about the things mentioned in the previous comment. Regarding Cushing Hall- it was a favorite pastime of students to sneak in and explore the building at night. Having done so, I and my buddies encountered many unusual things, such as dark shadow figures, strange noises, etc. This building has since been renovated, and I haven`t been back to see if any weird phenomenon has been occurring since.

Other buildings on campus were haunted as well- the Brown& Green building was, according to tale, although I never saw anything there. Lilly Hall was supposed to be haunted by a student that committed suicide, but I never saw anything there either. However, Geddes Hall, which was the dorm I resided in, was a hotbed. Multiple people reported seeing figures run by, hearing people in the hallways, hearing names called out with no one there- objects moving on their own, etc.

This place is a hotbed of activity- and it`d be nice if it were investigated. "


"9/4/2007
I go to Alice Lloyd. And I live in Lilly Hall Dorm. Let me tell you all the rumors and stories that you have been told are true. Yes all of the floors are haunted, but the second is the worst of all of them. My roommate lived on the second floor last year, and she saw not only the shadow that haunts that floor, but also things began to get misplaced or just disappear for days."

This story is sometimes referred to as the Russellville Girl.

In Kentucky and throughout the south, a sexton is the outdated term for the caretaker of a cemetery. This particular home, belonging to a local sexton, located at the edge of Maple Grove Cemetery, was built in 1870.

Around the turn of the century, the caretaker's daughter was preparing to go to a dance. While she was in the tub, she was struck by lightning, which in turn, etched her portrait into the glass of a second story window.

There is speculation about those exact events...some believe that the girl was forbidden to go to the dance because of the storm, or that her date was late or stood her up...all resulting in her cursing God, and thus being struck down.

In any event, by the 1920s, the window was drawing in so many visitors, that the owners decided to paint over the window...and then to board it up. Years later, caretaker Kelly Williams decided to remove the paint and see for himself. He never finished because it was such an undertaking. However, he apparently died mysteriously of a heart attack in the kitchen not long after.   (Photo property of Roadside America)

Information from Roadside America

Russellville Ghosts

 Isabel (Belle) Harris Bennett (b.1852) founded the college for minorities in 1897 and named it the Sue Bennett Memorial School (later Sue Bennett College) in honor of her deceased older sister, Sue Bennett.

Belle was big in the woman's suffrage movement, and also in Methodist education. She also helped found the Scarritt Bible and Training School in Missouri, which later relocated to Tennessee. She also helped found a few more schools, and even had one in Rio de Jinero named after her. She died in 1922 in Richmond, KY.

The school closed in 1997 after it lost accreditation and funding due to financial and administrative problems (despite a fundraiser by Oprah Winfrey, hehe). Part of it is now the Bennett Center, which houses a branch of the local YMCA among other things. Its also been added to the National Register of Historical Places.

Shadowlands Description of Hauntings:
London - Sue Bennett College - they say the dorms and the theater are haunted and that Bell Bennett roams the halls all night playing the piano’s turning off and on lights and watching people sleep that still stay there if you go in your sure to find something. 

Bennett Center