The "Ghost of Greenbrier": The Death of Elva Heaster Shue Zone, in 1897

The story of the "Ghost of Greenbrier" may simply be one of the most original stories, which is known until the present day. This strange story, which took place in rural Virginia, is not only a part of the history of the so-called "supernatural," but of the history of the United States Judiciary. This is one of the few cases in which the word of a supposed "ghost" helped solve a crime and, moreover, condemn a person.

Elva Zone Heaster was born in Greenbrier County, West Virginia, United States, around 1873. Little is known about the early years of his life in the small community of Richards (now Richland, about 10 km north of Lewisburg, seat of that county), as well as about his adolescence, except for the fact of having impregnated and given birth to an illegitimate child, that is, conceived outside a formal marriage, at least by the standards of the time, in 1895 , when he was only 22 years old. About a year later, in October 1896, she met a man named Erasmus, better known as Edward Stribbling Trout Shue, who for simplicity will just call it "Shue", combined?

Picture showing the map of Greenbrier County in the US state of West Virginia in 1887. Recent picture of the Greenbrier County Court of Justice in the city of Lewisburg in West Virginia. Well, Shue had no fixed residence, and by that is said to be a traveler who does not maintain permanent ties wherever he passed. However, he moved to Greenbrier and went on to work as a blacksmith, sort of to try to stabilize and thus start a new life. He eventually went to work in the shop of a man named James Crookshanks, who was located next to the old Midland Railroad.

All public roads were not paved at that time, and since the county was located very close to the hills, it was the perfect place to find many horses and also herds of other animals. Whichever person was willing to work as a blacksmith, he would find a lot of work in Greenbrier County. That's exactly what Shue did.

Antigo Map of the Midland Railroad, being able to see that it cut
the city of Lewisburg, county seat of GreenbrierElva Heaster Zone met Shue shortly after it had moved to the county. It was practically a love at first sight. Both were hopelessly in love, and soon married. However, Elva's mother, Mrs. Mary Jane Robinson Heaster, almost in proportion to her daughter, but in the opposite direction, had created a very great dislike for Shue. In fact, Mrs. Mary Jane Robinson Heaster felt that he was hiding something from his family.