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Hey weirdos, I'm Ash. And I'm Alayna. And this is Morbid.
We have a fun, crazy, old-timey case. Whose could it be?
It's mine. Wow. But guys, this one is really wild.
It's got ghosts. It's got Moida, as Spencer Henry would say.
And it's also got the first and only time in U.S. history that spectral evidence was actually entered into like an official court document before.
Or like, you know, we're talking like Salem Witch Trials for sure had all that craziness.
Yeah, yeah. this is when testimony from a ghost was actually entered into. into a legal document for a murder trial pretty fucking iconic if you ask me it's it's a wild one It is a wild one.
Should we just go right into it? Yeah, I think we should just get into this It's long.
It's crazy. It's so interesting. This takes place in West Virginia.
So all my West Virginians out there. You're in a place of West Virginia lately.
I don't know what's going on. I'm in a place of West Virginia.
So I don't know if you guys all just like...
Something about your vibes just brought me there the last few weeks, but I don't know.
I think this one was actually, I saw it suggested a bunch of times, like people were asking for it.
I looked into it. I had heard it before.
Actually, I'd heard it on Lore. With Aaron Minky.
And as soon as I saw the name, I was like, wait a second, where have I heard that?
And I went right back and listened. So go listen to the lore episode because it's really good.
And I believe it's one that he remastered too.
Aaron Menke, friend of the pod. Friend of the pod.
So yeah, so go listen to that after you listen to this because it's great.
So we're going to be talking about the Greenbrier Ghost.
This has a lot of stuff in it. Okay. There's a lot going on.
All right. This is talking about a woman named Elva Zona Historia.
Yes. We are going to call her Zona because that's what everybody calls her. called her.
And it just is much easier. Exactly. For time purposes.
It's a very long name. But Elva... Elva Zona Heaster is like a very pretty name.
I even just like Zona, all of it, but I like really like Zona.
Yeah, that's what everybody called her. She was born in 1875 in Greenbrier County, West Virginia.
Everyone loved her. She was a very sweet girl.
I loved Sona. Jacob Hedges Heaster and her mother was Mary Jane Robinson Heaster.
They were farmers. She grew up on a farm.
She was a little farm family. Their family traded and sold goods from the farm in town, like eggs, corn, other necessities. they could provide in town and then they could also get things in return for what they were providing the town.
So Mary, the mother, was very religious, but she was like known to be a very honest person. very hardworking, very kind and just like fair woman.
Like people really liked this family. Cool.
She also made sure all her children attended church at the sole Methodist chapel.
Mary and Zona in particular were very close.
Like people always thought they were sisters.
Oh, cute. It's really cute. They had a bond that was super unique.
Kind of like... Gilmore Girls. Kind of like Gilmore Girls.
We can always bring it back. Lorelei and Rory, baby.
Baby. So Zona was the second oldest of seven children, and she had all brothers.
Oh man. So you, and also that's kind of probably why the bond with the mom kind of came about because it was like, hello.
Yeah. Right. But yeah, they just like had something.
It was just one of those relationships, like you said, like Lori, Lorelai and Rory.
Like Lori. Just like like Lori. Their bond name.
Yeah. But they just like really loved each other.
They were best friends. Um, everyone who knew her said she was a super sweet child.
She grew up to be a very sweet woman. She just like threw and threw as a kind person.
Sweet. Her brothers really looked out for her and they were very protective of her, which is kind of adorable.
I love it. This family was super nice to each other.
They were nice to everyone around them. The kids were very happy and healthy.
Seemed like the only thing going against them was the 1800s of it all.
Yeah, that'll usually work against you. And eventually a man that would be named Trout.
Trout? Yes, Trout. Given name. No, but he is a smelly fish man, so we'll go with that.
Or at least that's what I refer to him as.
Grossy. know why they called him Trout.
So when... Really? Yeah, I really don't.
There was no... In these cases, you can get like bits and pieces of information, but...
To be expected. No one explained why he was called Trout, but I just assume it's because he smelled like shit.
Gross. Yeah. So when Zona was 16 years old, she was finally allowed a bit more freedom because, again, they were very overprotective of her.
Yeah. But her, you know, her brothers were like, all right, she can come into town with us and like start doing the trading in town.
Like we'll bring her in. Yeah. But she's not going by herself.
It's really cute. She could go in the wagon. and all that.
So one day when she was heading to the general store with her brothers, like a couple of her brothers, she ran into a boy named George Wooldridge. who is working at the Liver Seas Mill.
So they hit it off immediately. She said, swoon, swoon, swoon.
She did. They started making special trips into town to see each other.
Oh my gosh. And soon after, dates were being planned between the two.
And then a romance, like a full-blown romance blossomed.
Oh. I love it. So this was when she was 16.
In 1895, Zona became pregnant. Now, the couple ended up not getting married or anything like that because... the families both decided that they were not in a position to be a successful family unit.
Oh. So instead, George agreed to pay support for the baby and to have visits.
It was all very amicable, very... And this was allowed back then.
That's interesting. Yeah. So November 29th of that year, she gave birth to a son, but he died shortly after birth oh no he wasn't even named like um I have a book that I want you guys to read and I'm going to look it up right now and Ash is going to vamp, vamp, vamp, vamp, vamp. this is your summer reading reminder we just have to pull up the list of approved books and we are doing We're doing so right now.
So you should read. It's on Amazon. It's a really quick read.
The Haunting of Zona Heaster Shoe, The Greenbrier Ghost Chronicles.
It's by Nancy Richmond and Misty Murray Walkup.
Okay. It's a really good book. They have a ton of documents that I searched and they are hard to find.
So it's nice to have them in like. that little book.
But you can see that there is like a birth certificate for this baby boy, but there's no name given to him.
So it's very clear that he died right after.
That's so sad. I know, it's really sad. He was buried on the Heaster family farm because he was not being... able to be buried in a church cemetery since zona and george were not married lame seems totally fair No, it doesn't.
No, it doesn't. Just in case you couldn't tell that was sarcasm.
I saw that twinkle of sarcasm in your eye.
So George married another woman only a year later.
Wow. Yeah, because they didn't stay together.
They just everything got. I wonder what happened.
It was so lovely at first. Yeah, it's too hot and heavy in the beginning.
I was just going to say, I think it was one of those like too quick... puppy love.
Like, wow. And this was also, I think, Zona's, like, really first like relationship, you know, seeing a guy and like feeling that feeling.
And I think it happened very quickly, you know?
So I don't think they were especially equipped together to deal with the grief of losing a child either.
I think this was just too fast, too quick. and it burned out really quick.
And maybe that's why George moved on so quickly, because he was kind of like it is in his own grief.
I think the grief kind of took them apart instead of bringing them together.
Yeah. And of course, Zona was deeply entrenched in grief just from losing a child, but also now from losing her partner.
That was really sad and seeing him move on really quickly.
That's a lot on your plate all at once. That's a lot.
So the next year, while recovering from the tragedy she had just dealt with, she started venturing out into town again, finally, because she really pulled back. for a while.
She didn't want to go anywhere. Like her mom said, she was a totally different human being.
So she's venturing out with her brothers again to pick up supplies at the mill or the general store, drop stuff off from the farm.
And it was just a way to get herself back to who she was.
Like she was just trying to get out there again.
But her family said she was starting to come back But she never really bounced back after the loss of her baby.
It just, she wasn't the same Zona. That will change anybody.
Oh, I'm sure. Now in 1896, she met the new blacksmith while she headed into town.
Oh, the blacksmith, you know, is a zaddy.
He's a blacksmith. He's a zaddy. You just, you know, you're like, oh, I know this.
Now his name, or what he said his name was, was Edward Trout Shoe.
Okay, so he's not a zaddy because I spoke too soon because I know that he is Trout now.
Here's the thing, though. I can understand why she was physically attracted to him.
He seemed like he was a physically attractive man.
I wish you had said saddy. But he seemed like he was a physically attractive man.
I get why Zona was immediately drawn to him.
Unfortunately, sometimes bad people are good looking.
It just happens. It happens a lot. Yeah.
So she was immediately attracted to him.
Again, he was good looking. He was loud.
He was outgoing. He was just kind of like...
You know, something different. Something different.
She had never been around that kind of thing before.
He drew people to the blacksmith shop with his charms and his tales, which were often embellished or just plain bullshit.
She and her brothers began to go there regularly on their trips into town and it seemed like Zona's personality was starting to shift and the weight of grief was lifting a little bit.
So her family was like, I don't know who this guy is she's going to see in there, but like he's doing something to her.
Let's get it. So Mary and Jacob, Zona's parents, they went into town one day and they were like, you know what, let's go see what this new blacksmith is.
And they met Edward for the first time. They had heard again about the new blacksmith, his charming personality.
They knew that Zona was kind of into him, but Mary... literally hated him the moment she spoke to him.
And your mama, she always knows. She always knows.
She said he was an egomaniac. He was inappropriate.
And in fact, she thought he acted entirely too flirty with girls that were barely above the that it is even slightly appropriate.
Disgusting. Yeah. So he was a man that likely had a lot of secrets and Mary knew it.
She was like, I just feel it. She had his number.
I literally wrote after this, she had his number immediately.
We are on the same wavelength. And she just knew.
She was like, I knew he was hiding something.
Yeah. like this where were you before this blacksmith shop i don't know i don't like this are you even a blacksmith who are is your name even edward it's not
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That's prettylitter.com slash morbid to save 20% on your first order. prettylitter.com slash morbid Now, Mary and Jacob found out that Zona had been indeed taking trips into town to meet Edward.
And after they met him, they were like...
Stop those trips. They forbid her. But she kept meeting him behind their backs because you know how that works.
And it was probably even more fun. Well, and he seemed to take pride in the fact that he knew he was not what her parents wanted for their precious daughter.
He took it as kind of a challenge not to make them like him.
Yeah. He basically just wanted to own Zona and to take her from them.
We all know this dude. We've all dated that guy.
We have all unfortunately dated this man.
And if you haven't, you're very lucky. Yeah.
So soon, briefly into their doomed romance, he said they would run away.
You know, let's run away and get married.
No. Let's just... Fuck everybody. Fuck your family.
Who gives a shit? Let's get out of here.
That's what he basically said. Lame. I don't have it like, I didn't find a record of him saying that, but I know that's what he said.
He said, fuck your family. He said, fuck your family, let's leave.
So she agreed immediately because she was very wrapped up in this like.
You know, I dated a guy like this. That's all I could think of this entire time.
I knew that's exactly what you were thinking.
And I wasn't going to throw you under the bus.
No, it's okay. I'll throw myself under the bus.
Like, I've dated this man. And Mama knew.
And Mama knew. Mama knew right from the second.
She met him. She tried to sabotage that.
A lot of people knew. Deborah, Deb Deb also knew the second she met him.
I would have known. I was just a bit young.
You were a child. I didn't like him. Yeah.
It was fine. Yeah. So I get like Zona got very wrapped up in the like, you know, You know, he's good looking and he's charming and he treats me nicely when no one's around.
And like, you guys just don't see him when we're alone.
That's always a bad thing right there. Yeah.
Like my standards are in high school. We're like, is he hot?
Do my parents like him? Yes. No. Perfect.
There you go. So it's like, and when you get older, it's like, it just becomes, oh, it's just bad.
So like, I was like yelling at Zona here.
I was like, no, Zona, listen to me. I know.
I know. Now, she immediately agreed to marry him.
She packed her bags and they ran off together to get married.
October 20th, 1896. October 20th? Yeah.
That's my wedding date. There you go. I'm not 18 something something. this isn't great.
So I don't know if we want to connect those two things, but.
I mean, I'm just thinking of my wedding date.
I'm not even, I'm just like being selfish here.
This is a very doomed marriage. That's fine.
Mine's not. That's why I'm saying let's not connect.
Yeah, whatever. So none of their family attended.
None of them knew about it. She wore a deep red dress she had made herself.
Oh, honey, in a horror movie, there's the warning sign.
Yeah, there it is. They then went back to town and moved into the home that Trout was renting at the time.
That's when all the families found out that they had gotten married.
Nobody was happy. Wow. And it turns out Mary and Father Jacob were absolutely correct about trout.
Mary knew it. They had seen who he was the second they had met him.
And again, they had that number. He was a pretty terrible person with a very questionable past.
One that they had, had they known the details about, even Zona probably would have run from the hills.
Run to the hills from him is what I meant.
Yes, yes. But she didn't know any of this.
So Edward's name was actually Erasmus Stribalus.
Oh, Trout was a nickname. Interesting. So his name was Erasmus Stribling Shoe.
Which like, all right, that's a name. That's not Edward, but okay.
I wish he was a cobbler. Right? Shoe, collar.
Feels right. So he was going by Edward because he was trying to pretend he wasn't a felon and a dickhead.
Which she was. Oh good. So he was basically trying to start a new identity in that town.
He was born in 1861. And his parents, Jacob Thomas Shue and Elizabeth Virginia, spoiled him rotten, even though he was one of nine siblings.
Damn. They all referred to him as Trout.
Again, I like to think of it because like maybe he was just like a smelly fish man, but who knows?
We don't know. That reminded me of Kim Possible.
Okay. I knew you wouldn't get it. I just want to say it for the listeners.
For the Kim Possible heads out there. I mean.
They're there. There you go. Christy Carlson Romano.
I remember Kim Possible being on. because I remember you watching it, but it was right out of my head.
Because we love a Christy Carlson Romano moment.
Yeah, we do. We love her tic. I was an even Stevens gal because that was right before that.
And I like just missed it. I was there for the movie.
There you go. Now, Trout's father was a Confederate soldier.
I'm just gonna not. So there's that. Just putting that out there.
Yeah. And he was also a blacksmith when he returned home from the Civil War.
He taught Trout the ways of the blacksmith trade, and he eventually became very successful financially.
The father or? Yeah, the father. Okay. So the family was like doing well.
Now growing up, Trout was known to be an asshole.
He had a fiery temper. He was very aggressive.
He was just a little shithead. He lied all the time.
He loved to be the center of attention, even if it meant he was lying and spinning tails to do it.
He kind of sounds like a Gemini man. Uh, when was he born?
Do you have the date? Like the actual date?
I don't think I have the actual, I'm going to look it up.
I'll look it up on the side while you talk.
I want to see if there's an actual, I couldn't find one, but there has to be one somewhere maybe.
But this all carried into adulthood with him.
Okay. And he was soon a ladies' man as well because, again, unfortunately, he was handsome.
And his ability to bullshit. mixed with his family wealth.
Like, sometimes bullshitters, like, they just can draw people in.
Now, he first dated and married a woman named Ellen, who they called Allie, Esteline Cutlip. who is a sweet and beautiful girl from Greenbrier County.
Okay. They married in 1885 on Christmas Eve and immediately following the wedding, Trout started physically and verbally abusing Allie.
Of course. He also cheated on her constantly and just wouldn't be home for weeks at a time and then show up without the need to explain where he was.
Wow, I literally hate him. Unfortunately, they had a daughter together in February 1887 named Gertie.
And he continued to abuse his wife. And by all accounts, it got even worse until one day.
In March 1888, when Gertie was still in fact an infant, he suddenly told Allie to take the baby, take her shit. and get out of his house.
What the fuck? He then threw all of her belongings and the babies outside of the house and was like, get out.
What is wrong with this man? He turned even more chaotic at this point and was struggling financially because he knew his father. would just be disappointed in his loser-ass son.
So he wasn't asking his family for any help because they would have told him to get fucked.
Because in the end, his family literally tells him to get fucked.
I love that. They don't support him at all.
They should. So in 1888, after he had thrown his infant child and his wife of like barely any time out of his house, He was arrested for stealing a horse.
He got two years in prison for the crime and he spent the sentence at Moundsville Prison, which he would come to know and love.
He continued blacksmith work as part of his incarceration.
And that's how he got like kind of good at it.
And that's when he came out, he was able to get a job.
You weren't able to find his birthday? I couldn't find it.
It just says circa. Yeah, that's the thing.
So on November 5th, 1889, Allie divorced his ass while he was locked up.
Good. In the record, it states that she said, quote, He without any cause abandoned and deserted me.
He moved out when he moved out when Gertie was about a year old.
He never visited his child again. That's so disgusting.
Kicked her out of the house, never to see her again.
Like, how do you have a whole baby and just not care?
Now, there are some sources, if you read this, that say that Ellen died... as a result of falling off a haystack and breaking her neck.
And that people thought he might have murdered her.
But from what I saw, I think that's like added into the story later to make it even Which they don't need to, because as we'll see, there's more shit in his past that you really don't need to make it worse.
But I think they like the like, oh, he might have murdered this one as well.
Yeah. No, she just divorced him by all records that I could find at least.
Okay. I couldn't find any like kind of death certificate for Allie at all.
Now, when he was released December 20th, 1890, he started blacksmith work again in Pocahontas County.
There he met another woman in 1894. Her name was Lucy Ann Tritt.
Now, Trout was about 33 years old at the time, and Lucy was reported in a lot of case sources to be 16.
Oh? But when I found her marriage record, she's listed as 24.
When I looked up her death records, they state she was born in 1871.
So this would line her up with 24 years old.
Oh, okay. Or actually more 23, I think based on her, her date.
Do you think that there's a possibility that they lied on the marriage license and then it carried into the death certificate?
I wonder, but that did happen. Yeah. I'm not sure which one's correct.
Yeah. Yeah. Because you would think that you would go by the birth certificate when you're doing the death certificate and not like the marriage license.
Which is like, I don't know. So it could be either one.
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That's betterhelp.com slash morbid. So they were married, unfortunately, June 23rd of that same year.
And apparently the winter weather that year, between like 94 and 95, I think it was, was super crazy.
They just had like a really bad winter. And, um, So on February 1st of 1895, I believe, only eight months into their marriage...
Trout claimed he went on the roof of his home he shared with Lucy to repair the chimney because the snow had messed up all the bricks.
That is very normal. He was tossing old bricks off as he replaced them.
And he said Lucy came up with some water for him.
He threw a brick. and it hit her head in the head accidentally.
Convenient. She died from the trauma, bone force trauma to the head, The sheriff did question him because immediately they were like, that's fishy.
Yeah. And her family was pretty sure that there was more to this story.
They were like, I'm pretty sure this is foul play and not an accident.
Yeah. But the case was dropped because there was no witnesses outside of Lucy and Trout, and Trout said that's what happened.
Wow. He showed literally no sadness or remorse for any of it.
Like, told people... It's really not a big deal.
Like, you know... Your whole ass wife just...
Well, he said he was planning on having seven wives at least.
So on to the next one. All right. And that was how he reacted.
Throughout his lifetime or at the same time?
No, throughout his lifetime. What? So he's good.
He's like, I'm two down. I'm moving on to that seven.
Whose goal is that? Trout's. Was there some kind of like, was there some kind of like religious motive behind that?
Like he thought he would like make it to heaven or something with different wives?
Oh, no, no, no. He just wanted seven. No, because he didn't want like seven at once.
Right. He wasn't looking to like have this whole thing.
I didn't know if he like tried to find a loophole and was like, I can have this. separately.
He literally was like, I would just like to have seven different wives throughout my life.
Yeah. So back to Zona. He has now tricked Zona into marrying her.
Remember, this was his past. Yeah. Now we have one dead wife.
We have one wife who he divorced or didn't even divorce, just abandoned with his infant daughter.
Yep. That's his past. And now he has tricked Zona into marrying him.
Zona's his third wife. Third wife. Third into the seven.
Now, again, she's completely unaware that he abused his first wife, abandoned her infant baby.
Dead wife. She has no idea. And Trout showed himself, unfortunately, right away to Zona once they were married, too.
That seems to be his M.O., is he gets them to marry him and then he flips the switch. just like he had to Allie and just like he had to Lucy.
So he was an abusive prick. He was demanding.
He wanted his wife to cook and clean and pamper him.
Gross. If he didn't get what he wanted, he would lash out into terrifying rages.
Do it yourself then. Now, this was terrible in about a million ways for Zona.
But there was an added complication where she was not speaking to her family because they didn't approve of this marriage to Trout.
Oh, so she's just completely isolated. She's super lonely.
And she's just dealing and like she's dealing with this, especially without her mom.
Yeah. Like I stated, she's super close to her mom.
Right, and she's going into this just having lost a baby, just having gotten out of a relationship, you know?
And now this guy has bamboozled her and, like you said, isolated her away from everyone she loves and knows.
Which was his plan, you know. Oh, of course.
Now, shortly before her death, because unfortunately this does end with Zona dying.
Zona thought she might be pregnant. Oh. So according to Trout, she wasn't feeling well January 23, 1897.
Now, at this point, they had only been married for three months.
Trout said he normally would walk home during the day to have lunch when he was working at the black shop.
And he would do this several times a day.
He would have lunch. He would stop by for a snack.
He would... It was just like all throughout the day.
He's also probably trying to keep tabs on her.
Uh-huh. Exactly. Now this day, this particular day, he swore he did not, not once. yeah just randomly decided not to go home to no reason although no one could corroborate that except for Zona and she was obviously never able to Or so we think.
So instead of going home at all that day, he walked across the street during lunchtime. or early in the morning.
It's like early, I'd say probably around like 9am, maybe 10am.
Okay. He walked across the street from the blacksmith shop to where a man named Reuben Jones and his wife Martha Jones were living.
Martha, they were like a beloved couple around town, and they had this sweet 11-year-old son named Anderson Andy Jones.
Cutie. He was like a helper to everyone and he had done some chores and errands for Trout and Zona before.
People called Martha Jones Auntie Martha.
Cute. Trout asked them if Andy could check on Zona that day because she was feeling sick. uh-huh they said he had some he so they were like yeah sure he can but he has some some some things to do for a couple of other people first so he'll He'll get to yours after he does that.
He said that they did say that Trout was very annoyed by that.
But he said later he immediately knew something was off, Andy did, when he arrived at the home. because he did his things and I think it was about an hour later that he went to zone his house.
Okay. He said he immediately knew something was off.
Just like the vibes. Yeah. He said, and he's 11.
Oh, wow. And he was like, I showed up at this house and something was wrong.
And he said when he was walking up to the door, he said he spotted what looked like blood droplets on the front steps.
And why would they be on the front steps?
And when he knocked, he got no answer. So he pushed open the door, and he said he went inside.
He saw more blood droplets that led into the dining room, where he found... the body of Zona Heaster.
Now he checked her despite his absolute terror because he said he was like paralyzed with fear.
She was cold and stiff. Her eyes were wide open.
And he ran home to tell his mother, Martha, and they ran over to the blacksmith shop and got Trout.
So apparently Trout freaked out. He was like all upset.
What do you mean something's wrong with her?
He ran to his home and he just ran straight to Zona. now he immediately according to Martha and Andy grabbed her in his arms when he found her And he told Andy and Martha, go and get George, Dr. Knapp, who is Dr. George Knapp.
And he was the like, county physician and coroner.
Okay. So they ran out. He's crying, holding Zona.
So Dr. Knapp actually ended up coming around 2 p.m.
So there was a little bit of time because I think he was in the middle of something else.
Yeah, he was in the middle of something.
He's the county physician. And when he got there, he didn't see anybody.
What? Not downstairs. So when he walked upstairs, he found that Trout had carried Zona upstairs. washed her entire body, and changed her into a dress with a high collar. and placed a black veil over her face.
The fuck? He had literally washed her body.
Why though? Why though? Why though? Why?
Why? Why would you do that? Because you are getting rid of evidence, but what evidence is even to be found at that point?
Well, the initial thought was that she, so when they walked in, he was like, this is strange, but okay.
And the doctor was like, oh, I imagine she died of everything.
Everlasting faint. I don't think so. Which is a heart attack back then.
No, I think that we need to figure out why the blood is on the front steps.
So he came in here pretty quick and he's like, okay, this seems like that is probably because a lot of people died of everlasting faint back then.
But then he learns that she may have been pregnant.
And he thought, okay, maybe this is a complication with the pregnancy or a miscarriage that like, went to Rye, but he couldn't check for sure.
He went to go check, but Trout wouldn't let the fucking physician check. touch her.
And it's like, so why did you call him here anyway?
That's the thing. Why did he have him come?
He then pushed her. He pushed him away. Like she went to he was like, I need to check her.
And he was like, don't touch her. And then when he came near her neck, because he was like, can I just see her head?
I need to see if there's any injuries. Nope, can't touch her.
Literally couldn't check her. It's also like, dude, at some point this... You said because he's the coroner as well.
Yeah. So it's like he's going to have to take her at some point.
You can't just like call Panzram. Or no, not Panzram.
Who is the guy that... Karl Panzram? No, no.
Wait, was it him that kept his wife? No.
No, you're thinking of a... Was it Carl?
I think it was Carl. Panzer. Panzer. Panzer.
There it is. Boom. So it was close. See, there you go.
Yeah, exactly. You can't just be that. No.
But, you know... Both of us are like, yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's fine. You can't do that. But, you know, back then it was, like, different, though.
It's not like... You could keep the body in view for a while.
It was very different. But he grabbed the upper body.
He wouldn't let the physician touch her. at all.
So he was like, okay, I guess I just have to guess. at the cause of death because I don't want to upset this fragile man in front of me who can't let me touch this dead body to find out what happened.
Now, in fact, I looked it up. Her original cause of death is listed as childbirth.
Oh. She did not give birth through a child.
I'm like, where's the kid? Now, when her family was informed, they were devastated, obviously.
Yeah. Her mother was said to have yelled immediately, that devil killed her.
Oh. And just imagine like on top of how they already felt like losing her.
They were estranged. They were estranged at the time.
Exactly. Like, that's horrible. And she's like, I wasn't there.
Like, I couldn't save her from him. And I'm sure the last words they exchanged weren't great either.
Exactly, because they were probably aggravated talking about him.
That sucks. Now, they did have her body taken to the Heister family farm, and there was a funeral procession the next morning.
And Trout would not leave her body. He touched her the entire time.
I hate it. He wouldn't let anyone up at the head of the casket.
No one could come near her head. And there's a reason for that, my friends.
And that evening they did, you know, the ceremonial sitting up with the dead.
That was very common and it was common in a lot of places, but in... the Appalachian area at this time, it was like, that was what you did.
You sat up all night with the dead. You would make like offerings.
People would make food. I mean, it was a whole thing.
I kind love that. I think it's nice. It's like a wake.
And you spend time with them. And you're all probably sitting there like sharing stories about them.
It really is like a wake. I think it's kind of nice.
I like it. I think it's like I feel like people like I feel like like America especially got way too like precious with like what is appropriate and what isn't with death.
And it's like, just teach their own. And it's like, that seems like a nice...
Ceremony. I like it. Who gives a shit? Let people mourn how they want to mourn.
Preparing the body for burial was a whole different thing.
Trout insisted on helping. And not just helping, but really taking control of preparing the body for burial. and not letting anyone else touch her.
She was not embalmed, which was not a strange thing back then.
It was kind of new back then. It was very common that you weren't going to be embalmed.
But what he wanted to do, he was like, I want to dress her.
I'm the only one that's allowed to touch her.
No one else's. Because I don't want you to see where I killed her.
Exactly. He also put a knotted and folded up sheet on one side of her head and clothing on the other to keep it straight and steady.
He said he believed this would help her rest easier.
Yes, definitely. And he insisted on putting a very thick scarf around her neck.
Yeah, you know, keep her warm. And when people were like, hey, it's June.
Why are you doing that? He said, this is Zona's favorite scarf, and she had asked to be buried with it specifically.
Remember, they were only married three months.
I don't know why that would have been in the discussion.
And also her family was like, no, that's not a thing.
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I'm dead. Now later, according to the Greenbrier Independent newspaper, they wrote this about it.
He, quote, assisted in dressing the body and in doing so put around the neck a high collar. and a large veil several times folded and tied in a large bow under the chin. that the head was observed by a number of witnesses to be very loose upon the neck and would drop from side to side when not supported.
Did he strangle her? I don't know. Yes, you do.
Now, throughout the night of setting up with the dead, Trout, he wouldn't stray away from her head.
Like I said, he would not let it go. And according to the book that I am going to link here, They said that everybody was kind of like nodding off and falling asleep.
Of course. He was vigilantly staying up.
He would not leave the room. And I imagine it's because he didn't want anybody to touch her and find anything else.
So he had to watch everybody. He had something to hide.
Yeah. Yeah. So that's who he is. And the next morning, she was buried at the Sewell Chapel Cemetery, which is the church that the family attended.
Now her mother kissed her one last time on the cheek and then removed all the pillows and sheets from the casket.
Fuck, yeah. So she said that, like, her head, like, I think she was on a pillow, so her head did kind of, like, fall, but, like, it wasn't... so much that she was like super alarmed.
Well, and she probably expected it moving the pillow anyway.
Yeah. And she doesn't know what to look for.
Now, she offered the pillow and sheet to Trout.
That was very kind of her. Which was very nice of her.
Like, do you want to keep these? He seemed annoyed at the offer.
He was like, ew. Like, why would you offer those to me?
And he was like, no, I don't want those.
I was like, cool, I didn't want you to have them anyway.
And then she said he ran out of there as soon as the grave was filled in.
He literally... She was like, I watched him.
And a bunch of witnesses said they watched him watch that last thing of dirt go over her.
And then he went... And he just left. Like he wanted to make sure like she is underground.
No one's going to find what I did and I can get out.
Yeah, I'm on my way to find my fourth wife.
I'm on my way to seven. Now later... When the mom, Mary, washed that sheet because she was like, I just feel like I need to like wash it and put it away.
Yeah. Yeah. It turned the water pink like blood.
Of course it did. Now she would testify to that fact later.
Soon, Mary started having dreams. Or what she said were hallucinations.
She was like, I was awake. They were not dreams.
These were essentially waking nightmares, and there were four of them, four nights in a row.
They all had Zona appearing to her and telling her that her husband, Trout, had murdered her.
Now, on one of the evenings, Mary was laying in Zona's bed in her bedroom.
Wow. And she because she would go in there and just lay in her bed and she said she would just like pray to God that like. she would find out what happened to her and that like everything was okay.
And she said she was laying in Zona's bed in her bedroom.
And she was pleading with a higher power to tell her what happened to my daughter.
This is when Zona appeared to her she said and she went on to explain in great detail how Trout had murdered her.
And what did she say? She said The day she died, she was in fact not feeling well, but she spent the morning getting ready for trout. because she said otherwise he would hurt her and fly into a rage.
So she said, even though, mom, I felt like shit, She was terrified.
She said that she was like, I had to get up and I had to at least prepare him a meal because if he came home and it wasn't there, he would have hurt. me oh yeah so he came home she had prepared a meal she had prepared a meal of like fruit Jellies and bread, I think she said.
He came home. He was... pissed that there was no meat with his meal and he flew into a fucking rage.
He choked her until blood poured from her mouth Oh, my God.
And she said that he had also taken all of her... I think the way she says it is like...
He had taken all my pretties and he ripped them off the wall and out of things and he ruined them like he threw them in a basket. like everything she loved, like he just took them and destroyed them.
And later, And the letter that the mom writes to a researcher, she wrote, like, we discovered that was true.
Like we found that basket that he had like destroyed all of her things.
She then told her mother that he hid her dress that had blood on it over around Martha Jones's home.
And she said you should check, like, in the house.
There's going to be blood in the house. And she also said check in a field near a fence, right? but she didn't give her exactly what she would find there.
Now, one of the last times she visited her mom in her dreams, because Mary's now in her room every night being like, come back to me, tell me more.
Now, one of the last times she said Zona turned to walk away, but turned her head completely around to look back at her showcasing her completely broken neck.
Oh my goodness. She looked at her and then disappeared.
Yeah. So it was literally her being like, this is what happened.
Holy shit. Now she finally, so Mary at first was like, what the fuck just happened to me?
Am I losing my mind? And I was just going to say, she's probably terrified to even tell anybody. that she's having she's like they're gonna throw me in like the place where they throw their wives when they say crazy shit they're gonna burn me at the stake like what the fuck's gonna happen right No, but she finally, so she brings it to Jacob, her husband.
And Jacob knows. And her sons. She's like, I have to tell you guys something.
You're going to think I'm crazy. Like, please.
Please don't throw me anywhere. Jacob and her sons were like, we believe you.
Of course. We know it. And Jacob was like, no, you saw Zona.
And they all knew what an asshole Edward was.
Exactly. So then she tells them and they encourage her, you have to tell some of the neighbors and our friends because they're going to back you too.
We know it. Oh my god, she was so scared.
Right? So she tells her her friends around the area what zona had told her and they all were like yeah we believe you Like, we believe you.
They all thought Trout was a horrible man. like you have to be like the shittiest person for like your 1800s neighbors to believe that a ghost came to you in the night and said what this man did.
Like you have to be the shittiest person for them to be like, yeah, yeah, I'm not going to question that. all because like if you were like a little shitty they'd be like okay i think she's like you know she had one too many she's grieving like maybe she's just having a moment Like you're a piece of shit if everybody believes this with no questions asked.
And as we'll see most people in his life. agreed that he was a piece of shit.
It seemed to be everybody's consensus here.
No, they all were like, oh, yeah, he was a horrible man.
We are not shocked that he had murdered Zona, that he murdered a wife.
I'm sure, like, then, like, Ali got brought up and his other wife as well, who he actually probably did kill.
Uh-huh. Or you definitely abused her. Yeah. that now they all told her that they were like you need to tell authorities and we will back you up Like they were like, we'll back you up with whatever you need.
I love this. We're going to be here to like.
If you need dates, we'll tell them dates like we will help you.
They were like, we will motherfucking rally.
Exactly. So Mary Heaster went to Lewisburg prosecutor John A. Preston.
And she knocks on his door and she's like, I gotta tell you a story.
He was like an older guy apparently. And he sat down, he listened to her.
At first he was like, Girl, what? So he was like, let me just ask you.
So he starts speaking more with her. He's interviewing her, asking her questions.
And according to her, he never acted judgy to her.
Like he was never like, bitch. Like he was literally, he was like.
What now? Like, are you kidding? So then when he was asking questions, he was really asking questions like he wanted to know more.
Yeah. She tells him the whole story again after hours.
He's like, I believe you. Okay. Uh-huh.
So he called the deputies in the county, and he tells them, I want you to go out and I want you to question neighbors.
And I want you to question anyone who knew this guy Trout.
What they hear, what they see. I want you to get Dr. Knapp.
So they got Dr. Knappen. Dr. Knappen was like, yeah, that was hella weird.
Dr. Knappen was like, yeah, I literally didn't get to do my job.
And he was questioned. He was eager to say like, I've been this because he was like, this has been bothering me.
I was actually surprised that he didn't call the police.
I think it was, I don't know if it was like... Things just worked differently.
I know one of the things was he didn't, he said he was worried that he was interfering. with grief by pushing.
Okay, what a nice man. So he was like, I didn't want to push too hard.
And I think maybe he's just like, I'm assuming he's very open.
So he was probably like, I'm just tired and I didn't know what I should do here.
And I'm sure in his career he learned to like maybe not ask questions all the time.
Yeah, hopefully that's like, yeah, exactly.
So, but he told them, he said, I felt intimidated by him and I felt very uneasy about his actions towards Zona's body.
I felt like. something was wrong here, but I didn't know how far to push this.
And he told them and he had also heard that Trout was kind of an aggressive guy.
And I'm sure he was like, I don't want to in the fucking middle of this.
True. But he told them, he said, I didn't get to conduct an autopsy because I was not allowed to even go near her body.
So he was like, I just said she died of that.
I'm assuming she did. That's all I know.
I don't know anything else. They declared, she needs a fucking autopsy.
And we need to know how she died. Because they were relying on the, like, I guess she died from this. cause of death, like that's not good.
And well, and it's like, there's nothing to show that she did have a child or, you know.
Exactly. Now, this is when they also started digging into his past.
Because now they're like, why does everybody think he's an asshole?
What's going on? Once they saw the stints in prison, the previous marriages, and him being an asshole, they were very intrigued.
Then they found out that one of his previous wives had died strangely not long ago, and it was... taking the investigation into the next level.
They were like, okay, we might have something here.
Yeah. So, of course, a coroner's inquest was assembled and an exhumation was ordered by Mary.
Wow. Mary was like, oh yeah, let's go. Like, bring her up.
I want to see what's going on. Trout was pissed.
Of course. She didn't say that. Yeah, because he walked away and he took that little sigh of relief.
And now he's stressed. And he wasn't even going to go to the coroner's inquest, which you're supposed to.
Of course. Like, loved ones are supposed to show up at this inquest because they want answers.
Answers, yeah. No, he was like, I'm not going.
And I guess one of the sheriffs was like... have to.
It would be in your best fucking interest to show up at this.
Like I guess the sheriff was like, we have your number fucker.
Like you better show up here or we're going to use this against you too.
Right. And so I guess he was like, they'll never be able to prove I did it.
Wow. Which automatically means you've killed someone.
Obviously. he knows she was murdered and he just willingly let that information out the first time with that statement.
So he's a dumbass on top of being a murderer.
So prosecutor John Preston secured a warrant to disturb a body, which is the exhumation. and to keep Trout behind bars until the autopsy was completed.
Hell yeah. Hell yeah. So he can't flee. So she was exhumed on February 22nd and they did the autopsy.
I found this fascinating. In a tiny log cabin schoolhouse named Nickel Schoolhouse next to the chapel cemetery.
Yeah, so like, I don't know about that. Gets better.
Literally had to cancel classes for the tiny children that day so they could autopsy a potential murder victim in their classroom.
They used school tables pushed together to to perform the autopsy.
All righty. And then the kiddies went back to school the next day and did their stuff on those tables. there's a little wipe down a little magic erase 1800s uh wild crazy yeah I feel like a conversation that we're having more frequently is like, how do we do sustainable fashion?
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So the autopsy was performed by Dr. George Knapp, Dr. Lorenzo Houston McClung. and Dr. Lency, I think it is, Rupert.
They were the three doctors who performed the examination and autopsy, they were chosen, like, specifically chosen because of their, like, expertise.
Credence. Now, there was also the five men of the jury and just of the jury inquest.
There's obviously 12 members of jury, but there was five men for the inquest.
And Justice Helen McClung was there. And of course, Trout Shoe was there under the watch of a constable because he was told by the constable...
I'm going to be fucking watching you. He was like, I'm literally on you, bitch.
Yeah. Now... He literally wouldn't stop talking the entire time.
Like, Trout was just babbling. And he kept saying, she fell down the stairs.
And they were like, well, how do you know that you weren't there?
I thought, weren't you not home? the whole day?
And he was like, yeah, she died of everlasting faint, I think.
Isn't that what they said? And he was like, I thought she fell down the stairs.
And he was like, I don't know. She fell.
And he kept saying that. And they were like, you never said that, bro.
Yeah. You told us you weren't home. Right.
So how would you know this? Exactly. Now, the winter weather had preserved the body.
Oh, shit. We love a perfect storm. We love it.
We love when the universe helps us out. We love when the universe says to Edwards, who are shitty, honey.
You got a big storm. You got a big storm coming and it's going to preserve your not embalmed murder victim's body in the ground.
Thank you. She was in remorse. Remarkable condition.
And that has something to do with her. I just know it.
It does. She's remarkable. Now, she was found not to be pregnant.
Good. She was not pregnant. They then removed the collar around her neck and her head fell to the side like a bowling ball.
So when the mom had removed the sheet and the clothing, it had moved slightly, but in a very natural way, like I said, so it didn't alarm her.
When they removed that collar and that thing that was tied like a bow under her chin, bowling ball just fell right down.
Oh, my God. So they also noticed immediately bruises in the shapes of fingers were very visible around her neck as well.
The doctors, finally being able to touch the neck, found that the neck was indeed broken. between the first and second vertebrae, which were the C1 atlas and the C2 axis, which are at the base of the skull.
Can I ask you like maybe a dumb question?
Why did blood pour out of her mouth when she was strangled?
Because her windpipe had been crushed. Oh, my God.
Her ligaments were shredded and ruptured and her windpipe was crushed.
Or as they later described it, mashed. Oh my gosh. they said could have been him strangling her with his hands and then maybe even kneeing on her neck or stomping on her neck. jesus christ yeah so it was a very very brutal death They stated in no uncertain terms that she had been murdered by manual strangulation And he immediately screamed when they said that.
They can't prove I did it. I'd be like, why don't we just bring your hand over here and just match it right up?
I'd also be like, that proves you did it.
Yeah, exactly. That right there, you saying that proves you did it.
Right. Well, Trout was arrested immediately by Sheriff Hill Nickel. and was charged with murder in the first degree.
Yeah, I'd say so. He was placed into Lewisburg Jail until trial in June.
Now in March 9th, they released a statement and they said, quote, The discovery was made that the neck was broken and the windpipe mashed.
On the throat were the marks of fingers indicating that she had been choking.
The neck was dislocated between the first and second vertebrae.
The ligaments were torn and ruptured. The windpipe had been crushed at a point in front of the neck.
Wow. Now April 22nd, 1897, the evidence was presented to the jury And they found that he had likely caused the death of Zona.
So he was held for trial for more until June.
Now, June 22nd, 1897, the trial began with Judge Joseph Marcellus presiding.
Mary was going to be called to testify and was taking this so seriously that she rented a room to stay by the courthouse for the trial.
Good for her. Because the farm was like kind of far away.
And the whole family couldn't come every single time.
They had to tend to the farm. They couldn't leave it.
So she stayed in a rooming house like near the courthouse.
She's a bad bitch. She was like, if you call me, I'm there.
Is there a movie about this? I feel like there has to be.
I don't know if there is, actually. I got to look that up.
Well, if not, TM. TM, we're going to make a movie about it.
Now, she was eventually brought up to testify, but the prosecutor Preston, John Preston, didn't ask her about the dreams or visions of seeing Zona because he was worried.
He was like, I don't want to make her seem off her rocker.
So I'm just going to ask her the very clear questions.
Dance around it. Yeah. Now, instead, the defense came up and they did.
Oh, and do you think they're trying to make her look off her roster?
100%. They were trying to make her look foolish.
I don't even know why I said that. Do you think that's Or do you think they were trying to help?
No, they were definitely trying to make her look foolish.
And since newspapers at the time were going wild for this case since the excavation had happened, There was a transcript of this exchange printed in the Greenbrier Independent and a discussion about how Truly, like, fucked that trail was on July 1st, 1897.
Now, first in the newspaper, they stated, quote, The evidence of medical experts Dr. Knapp and others who conducted the post-mortem examination makes it quite clear that Mrs. Hsu did not commit suicide. the post-mortem made it clear that her neck had been dislocated, but there was not mark upon her or other evidence to show that she had subjected herself to any sort of violence.
They also pointed out that she was in like a really good mood after her death.
They wrote, quote, he showed no proper appreciation of the loss he had sustained.
Wow. So again, he's just like, I don't care.
Yeah. On to seven. So here's the questioning that was given to Mary on the sand.
Okay. Here's the question from the defense.
I have heard that you had some dreamer vision which led to this postmortem examination.
So she answered. They saw enough themselves without me telling them.
It was no dream. She came back and told me that he...
It told me that he was mad that she didn't have no meat cooked for supper.
But she said she had plenty and said she had butter and apple butter. apples and named two other or three other kinds of jellies, pears and cherries and raspberry jelly.
And she says, I had plenty. And she says, don't you think he was just mad and just took down all my nice things and packed them away and just ruined them? and she told me where I could look down back of Aunt Martha Jones's in the meadow in a rocky place. that I could look in a cellar behind some loose planks and see.
It was a square log house, and it was hued up to the square.
And she said for me to look right at the right-hand side of the door as you go in and at the right-hand corner as you go in.
This is talking about their home that this happened in.
Okay. place just exactly as she told me, and I saw blood right there where she told me.
And she told me something about that meat every night she came. just as she did that first night.
She came four times in four nights, but the second night she told me that her neck was squeezed off at the first joint.
And it was just as she told me. Now later, she said the same exact thing and said there was a clear sign of a scuffle in blood where she where she was directed to go right they never found the dress oh that's interesting yeah Now, the next question was, now, I would like if I could to get you to say that these were four dreams and not four visions or appearances. appearances of your daughter in flesh and blood.
And she said, I'm not saying that. She said, I am not going to say that, for I am not going to lie.
So this defense guy was like, defense attorney, defense guy.
Yeah. You know, the defense attorney was like, I would really just like you to say that that.
Like, what a dick. I'm like, no, she's not going to say that.
She's like, I'm not going to lie. And also, do you really think that she's going to say it for you, defense attorney?
Oh, I'm sorry. her of course these were no like she's like let me help you out brother no Now, this testimony was allowed into the record and not argued as inadmissible by anyone in the Wow.
It was the first and only time in the United States in a murder trial that a ghost testimony was entered into the record and used as evidence.
That's incredible. Yeah. Now later, Mary Heaster put together a list of eight names of people she told about Zona's visit. all the neighbors and all that.
And like the testimony before the autopsy.
Now, she had told them exactly what Zona had told her before the autopsy was conducted.
So she said her neck was broken. said all that.
They all wrote, all eight of these people wrote official letters testifying to the fact. that she had indeed told them about Zona's broken neck before that autopsy was done.
Wow. And it's crazy. So apparently Trout ended up taking the stand as well.
Like, why though? Yeah. No, I guess it didn't go very well.
He looked like a dick. Yeah. Crazy. Before sending the jury to deliberate, the judge told them that they really needed to look at the facts. and not the circumstantial and truly spectral evidence in this case.
He wasn't trying to be a dick. He was just being like, He's just doing his job.
You can't really base it on the spectral evidence.
You have to like go with the actual facts.
Yeah. Maybe, like, think about it. Yeah, just it's there.
No, he said... quote, wholly upon circumstances connecting the accused with the murder charge.
So the connection of the accused with the crime depends entirely upon the strength of the circumstantial evidence introduced by the state.
There is no middle ground for you, the jury, to take.
The verdict inevitably and logically must be for murder in the first degree or for an acquittal.
So they were like, no second degree, get out there. so like I said spectral evidence was largely frowned upon since the Salem witch trials that whole thing yeah that little moment in time I think that maybe we've touched upon it before?
We might have touched on it. I might have mentioned it every once in a while, but...
So this was interesting that it was even being admitted into evidence.
It was actually Reverend Cotton Mather. whose name you might recognize from the Salem Witch Trial hysteria.
I do. He was the one who argued that it was totally fine to admit spectral evidence into legal proceedings back in the 1600s.
To fit his whole narrative. He also said it should not be the sole reason for conviction.
And his reasoning for that was because the devil can take the shape of an innocent person.
So that's when it gets hairy. Not, like, because that's, like, wild cuckoo to, like, completely convict someone based off of spectral activity. evidence yeah but he was like well no the devil can just take the shape of an instant person that's why good okay okay cotton mother all right He had a lot going on.
He had a lot going on. It was later thought to be bad to even admit it. at all into evidence, like it changed, because demons can shapeshift.
Yeah, they can. Not because people can lie about seeing ghosts, because like in the witch trials.
But, you know, just because demons can shapeshift.
They're shapeshifting. The process of taking it out of proceedings started in 1692 with Massachusetts Royal Governor William Phipps telling the court of...
Coit. The Coit. Telling the Coit. Telling the court of Oyer and Terminer to stop admitting spectral evidence at all.
So that's very, it's just very interesting that like late 1800s, we now have it.
I know. But I think it's kind of a similar thing where they're saying this can't be the conviction based on it.
Yeah. Yeah. It can be admitted into evidence because this ghost had a testimony.
But don't like only sit with that. Yeah.
With my schedule and how I am just constantly go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go and then go some more.
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Now, after an eight-day trial, the jury found Trout...
Guilty. Guilty. After deliberating for only one hour and 10 minutes.
I was surprised you even took that one, y'all.
They claimed that actually Mary's ghost story had very, like, really nothing to do with the verdict.
I mean, his handprints are on her neck, guys.
They were like, honestly, it was the facts that we looked at.
And then he like screamed out in the courtroom, you can't prove I did it.
Exactly. I'd be like, it And they said, you know what, the defense didn't prove that he was innocent and actually gave them no reason to believe he was innocent.
And in fact, had pushed them further into believing that he was a murderer.
So did they get new jobs after that? So they were like, woof.
Yeah, you're disbarred now. Actually, 10 of the jurors voted to have him executed.
Wow. So... They didn't have a unanimous decision with that, so he was sentenced to life in state prison.
I'd rather that. In the Greenbrier Independent, they said, quote, taking the verdict of the jury as ascertaining the truth. then we must conclude that Shu deliberately broke his wife's neck, probably with his strong hands. and with no other motive than to be rid of her that he might get another more to his liking.
That's what they wrote in the newspaper.
That's a lot. Now, on July 9th, the Pocahontas Times from his hometown basically roasted him yes in the paper they wrote at the end of the article and i quote She was a bad man and he has no sympathy from the neighborhood in which he was raised.
Amazing. Boom. Roasted. They were just like, you're a bad guy, and the place where you were born doesn't give a fuck about you they're like we don't claim you we do not claim you we do not receive you no we don't claim you i don't receive you and we're sorry we unleashed you onto the world In the papers following the verdict and the sentencing, there were actually rumors printed that mob violence was going to be planned to take Shu from the jail he was being held at and hang him.
Yeah. A lot of people were mad he didn't get sentenced to be executed. especially after all the information came out about him being abusive to all of his wives.
And the fact that one of them had died strangely, that he abandoned and threw his infant daughter out of the house.
A few days later... an angry group of over 30 men met in a campground, hatched a plan, and they were going to attempt to hang him.
Oh, dang. Rip him out of the jail. Now, it was stopped by law enforcement, who were alerted. about these plans from farmers who had actually heard the meetings.
Going on, the farmers agreed that they thought Shu got out too easily with life in prison, but they didn't want people dying during the commission of a vigilante.
Antioch like they were worried about like everybody else things going really awry and they were like we can't they will Exactly.
And they said, like, we can't in good conscience allow this plan to happen and know people might die and not say something.
Yeah. Wow. What good farmers. I love this commune.
Yeah. So they ended up stopping it. And actually, I guess the law enforcement was able to convince... the mob till they calm down, but some of them did get charged for like planning this.
It was probably the ones who wouldn't settle down.
Yeah. Now, so Shu was actually taken out of the jail for a short time because they were worried.
But they brought him to Moundsville Prison to stay.
None of his family ever visited him. Good.
I hope nobody visited him. No one ever visited him at all.
I'm glad I got my wish. And they all like, they didn't claim him after that.
They were like, no. Why would you? Now, apparently at some time in prison, Shu started drawing.
He, like, took up drawing as a, you know...
How else are you going to do? He would draw for hours.
And at one point, he drew a picture of himself and Zona. beneath a really shitty drawn tree.
He was not a good artist. And he is sitting in this like nice chair and she's standing.
Of course. And then also in the same picture, on top of the picture, on top of them, like sitting in this tree or under this tree.
He drew them both in coffins. I never explained this.
He then asked the guards to mail this picture to the owner of the blacksmith shop where he had worked and originally met.
What? The picture, which we will post a copy of. is now property of the Greenbrier Historical Society, and it's displayed at the North House Museum in Lewisburg, West Virginia.
Because it's just an interesting, like, what did that mean?
Because people think, was this him admitting it?
Yeah. Or was this, like... Why was he in a coffin, too?
Well, that's what... Because he's being, like, sentenced, I guess, like, terminally sentenced.
Yeah. I don't know. That's the thing. I think that's why it's historical.
It's like, we need to know why he drew this.
I want to know why he drew that. What was the meaning behind that?
Was that a confession or was it not? that people have to look at his artwork.
It's shitty, so it's funny to roast it. So he actually stayed in that prison until he died in March 1900.
He was only in prison for three years. Oh, wow.
He fell to a flu epidemic that had spread across the area and had really like... I hope it sucked.
It had like gnarled through prison communities and like killed a lot of inmates.
Now, no one came and claimed his body when he died.
So he was buried in Whitegate Cemetery, which was specifically made for prisoners whose bodies were not claimed by their families.
There is a plaque up where Zona Heaster Shoe is buried.
And it says, interred in a nearby cemetery is Zona Heaster Shoe.
Her death in 1897 was presumed natural until her spirit appeared to her mother to describe how she was killed by her husband, Edward.
Autopsy on the exhumed body verified the apparitions account.
Edward, found guilty of murder, was sentenced to state prison, only known case in which testimony from ghosts helped convict a murderer.
That is so crazy. And that is the tale of Zona Heestershoe.
And she never, her mother never saw her again.
Her mother said she never came to her again.
Yeah. But she said it was I think it was because at least that's what I read that she that she had told her what she needed to tell her.
She believed she was happy and that justice was served.
And that's why she was able to move on. Wow.
What a wild case. And the mom, Mary, she maintained this for... And everyone who knew her said she was not this, like... woman who is prone to fanciful exaggeration.
She's a very logical, down to earth, level-headed, very fair and very honest woman.
Yeah. And she testified to it. And she was right.
I mean, I believe her. Yeah. Just the fact that like she knew everything before the body was exhumed.
It's wild. That's crazy. And it's true. It's all true.
And I also just love a mother-daughter bond like that.
I do too. Or just like even like a sisterhood bond.
Because, yeah, like I feel like Zona came back and was probably like...
Because they had that estranged relationship at the end.
They had unfinished business. was only months that they had been apart from each other.
So it's like, you know, those months were probably fucking terrible.
Harrowing. And she just, and on top of that, like the mom had never been in their home.
Because she had never come to the home because they were estranged.
She wouldn't come visit her. Right. So when she said...
She told me in this corner of the house, this is what it's going to look like.
You're going to find blood and they found it.
Right. She had never been in that house.
That's crazy. Like, that's insane. Yeah.
Crazy case, Elena. That's the story of the Greenbrier ghost.
And we hope you loved it. And we hope you keep listening.
And we hope that you keep it weird. weird but that's the way that you do anything that i were trapped to because he's a horrible person and i don't even know about like his whole entire life like what were you even doing you're stupid and you suck and I don't like you but do keep it so weird that in the afterlife if your murder is unfortunately unsolved like appear to your mom or someone you love and tell them what happened and then like maybe it'll happen again in the U.S.
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The town of Agde in France is famous for sun, sand, sea and sex.
But lately, life on the coast has taken a strange turn.
The town's mayor, a respected pillar of the community, has been arrested for corruption.
His wife claims he's been bewitched by a beautiful clairvoyant.
Then there's the mysterious phone calls that local people have been getting.
I am the Archangel Michael. The whole town has been thrown into chaos.
As the mayor is unable to carry out his duties, I would like to address you all.
Legal proceedings have been initiated. Join me, Anna Richardson, and journalist Leo Schick for The Mystic and the Mayor as we investigate a story of power, corruption, Binge all episodes of The Mystic and the Mare exclusively and ad-free right now on Wondery+. start your free trial in apple podcasts spotify or the wondery app
