Leehaven

This isn’t folklore. This is the real deal. We’ve had a lot of things going on. The house was built in the 1850’s by Col. Edward Lee. He was Robert E. Lee’s cousin. One of the ghosts that’s been seen here is Edward’s. Another ghost is that of the lady who lived in the house—Bessie Lee. I think she was a descendant of Edward’s—his granddaughter.

At one time, this place was awesome. She was a gardener, and she planted about 20 acres of flowers. Those azaleas behind the house were hers.

We’ll be sittin’ in here watchin’ T.V., and all of a sudden, the T.V. will turn off, or the lights will go off.

The house was a mess when we stared leasing the place. I first came here three years ago. There was a Ouija board in the house. They threw it in the truck with the rest of the trash and came back, and there it was, back in the house again. Finally, they burned it. It didn’t show up anymore after that.

The wildest ting happened upstairs. This is Edward Lee’s room. A Friend of min and his brother came here in the middle of the night. Just two guys and a little about two or three years old. And they hadn’t told him anything about the ghost. They were sleeping right here. And some time in the middle of the night, the Dad woke up, and the little boy wasn’t in bed. He [the Dad] popped up, and he heard the little boy crying in the bathroom. He said, "What’s wrong?" The little boy said, "That lady won’t let me alone." There were no ladies in the house at the time. That must have been the ghost of Bessie Lee.

Several ghost stories deal with Colonel Lee. When you’re sleeping here in the middle of the night or the wee hours of the morning, you’ll wake up, and it will seem like someone’s holding your leg, and you can’t get up. It will start with your feet, and it will feel like someone’s sitting on them. Then it will move up your leg. You’ll be fully awake, and you won’t move. It usually happens to people who are religious. It happened to Bobby Cole just this past fall, and he hasn’t been back.

Spence Bonjean and his wife were here on Saturday. T hey had been here long in the afternoon. Spence was out working on his truck, and his wife was downstairs reading a book, and she comes outside and says, "Spence, what are you looking for?" And he said, "I’m not looking for anything." And she said, "You have been up and down those steps and opening and closing closet doors. If I can help you find something, let me know." And he said, "I’ve been out here the whole time."

This is Bessie’s room here. One time, Spence told me that she really liked gospel music. Nobody had been in the house, and he came in, and the radio was playing gospel music.

Last updated 07/24/01