A Ghostly Guest Makes Her Presence
Known in Current Residents’ Home
48 OCTOBER 2020 | TheJournalNJ.com
BY LORI DRAZ
Are ghosts real? Lifelong journalist, historian and author of
says they are not only real, but a part of the family. Smith
her son, Jim, and his wife, Stacey, moved into their new home
called Linden Hill, the research began shortly after the visitations
began. Linden Hill is a charming antebellum Greek Revival-style
home in western Mississippi and the home of Beulah Cawthon.
The Smiths were not really believers, but they purchased the
house sight unseen after seeing it was advertised with a ghost.
Both say that they immediately felt all kinds of signs that an active
Beulah was in the house with them.
of NW and Beulah Burke Cawthon. She was in her late 20s, still
living at home, when her parents said she had mental problems.
They had her committed to the Mississippi State Insane Asylum
in Jackson after she was diagnosed with circular manic depression,
or bipolar disorder. She showed enough improvement that
she returned home in a few months, but in little time, her mental stress
returned and she was once more hospitalized, where she would spend
the rest of her life. For 40 long years, Beulah moved to different facilities,
never to taste freedom again.
Beulah died in 1968, and even in death, she did not have love or family.
Her brother, William, buried her in Hill Crest Cemetery with her father’s
father had a stone erected in another part of the cemetery commemorating
his parents and his brother, but Beulah was laid to rest with strangers.
In 1935, the home has been sold to a woman who knew the family.
She lived there alone, noticing all kinds of unexplainable occurrences for
years. She assumed the spirit of the elder Beulah was still in residence.
Later, the now-grandmother welcomed her granddaughter, Charlotte,
into her home. Charlotte grew up in the house, living peacefully with
Beulah’s frequent visits. In a recent interview, Charlotte said, “Something
was always happening. Drawers opened and closed on their own, but
1968, the activity picked up dramatically. The women were convinced the
elder Beulah had been replaced by the spirit of her daughter.
The younger Beulah had become a prankster, letting the residents
know with playful reminders that she was a spirit happy at last to be
Linden Hill around Halloween
in the house with happy people. There are knocks on the door with no
visitors, chandeliers sway and their crystals tinkle with no breeze, lights
The Smiths learned more strange things that happened at Linden
Hill. There were stories about the sounds of boots with spurs on them,
like those of a Confederate soldier. Could they belong to one of the soldiers
who destroyed Union supplies when General Ulysses S. Grant was
encamped there? Another woman had spent the night in the house in
1968, the year Beulah died, and felt someone grab her arm while she
was sleeping, hard enough to awaken her and have her cry out. There
was no one around, but there was a distinctive handprint on her arm.
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Her visits became so frequent, they said, that they just agreed to become
comfortable with her. They’ve even made some adjustments to make
life a little more peaceful. For instance, Beulah opened and closed the windows
so much, so Jim nailed them all shut; they don’t answer the door
every time they hear a knock, but their dogs rush forward, only to whimper
and cower in a corner. They had to remove many of the doors between
rooms because of the constant opening and closing. It’s still hard to ignore
the horrible aroma of castor oil they smell occasionally. Stacey sages the
house and has rosary beads hanging of every door still standing.
The Linden Hill hauntings are so frequent it has attracted national
attention. Mississippi’s Clarion Ledger’s award-winning journalist Jer-
Press International, appeared in US News & Report and close to 1,300
other outlets. The home was also investigated by a paranormal team
on the Travel Channel’s “Haunted in the Heartland,” whose staff determined
the hauntings were real.
We wonder if Beulah comes along with Jim and Stacey when they
visit Muriel in New Jersey. We’ll ask if Muriel is willing to answer a
knock on her door.
Beulah Cawthon’s grave
/TheJournalNJ.com