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A History of Ghosts

7. The Tell-Tale Ghost

Duration: 14 minutes

First broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 LWLatest broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 FM

Available for over a year

Illustration by Seonaid Mackay

‘In Greenbrier County, West Virginia, USA, there is a trail marker with the following emblazoned on it. ‘Interred in nearby cemetery is Zona Heaster Shue. 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 apparition's account. Edward, found guilty of murder, was sentenced to the state prison. Only known case in which testimony from a ghost helped convict a murderer.’

Kirsty tells the story of The Greenbrier ghost, and explores why tales of murder victims coming back to seek justice have always loomed large in the history of ghost lore. Show less

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