The Greenbrier Ghost Case
The Greenbrier Ghost case is considered one of the most unusual murder trials in American history.
In 1897 Edward Shue was convicted of murdering his wife Zona Heaster Shue.
This trial and verdict would go down in history as the first and only murder trials that hinged on the legal testimony of a ghost.
Only a few months prior to her death, 23 year old Zona Heaster was running errands around her home town of Lewisburg, WV when she ran into the tall, handsome, strapping 37 year old Black Smith named… Erasmus “trout” Shue….he went by Trout
Despite the age gap the two hit it off immediately and fell madly in love and would actually get married only weeks later.
Zona’s Mother, Mary Jane Heaster..not too happy about this. She did not want this marriage to happen.
The couple then immediately moved into a house on the edge of town not too far from the blacksmith shop that Trout owned, and by all accounts were a loving and happy couple.
At one point about a month or so into the marriage… Zona had become ill and wasn’t feeling well and Trout was Johnny on the spot with whatever she needed.
He called the town doctor Dr. Knapp, right away and had him come check on her to make sure everything was fine.
So, A+ for an attentive husband.
A couple of months later in January, Trout was hard at work..another long day of blacksmithing… and he was worried about his wife..She hadn’t been feeling well and he just wanted to make sure that she had everything she needed.
So, he hires a local boy named Andy Jones to go over to the house and ask Zona what errands, chores, or odd jobs she might need help with.
So, Andy goes over to the house. Knocks on the door but there’s no answer. So, he cautiously pushes open the door and you know is calling out “hello Mrs. Shue” But he doesn’t get an answer….
And Andy testified in court that he immediately knew that something was wrong..And here is a quote from Andy’s testimony…
"Once more, I knocked. And, getting no answer, walked in. I stumbled over Mrs. Shue's body. There she was, stretched out on the floor, looking right up at me through wide-open eyes. She seemed to be laughing.
"I was frightened but still able to reach down and shake her. She was stiff and cold. Running from the house, I called across the field to Aunt Martha, 'Mrs. Shue is dead!'
So Andy takes off running making a bee line for the blacksmith shop to tell Trout that Zona’s dead and then Trout sends Andy to get the town doctor… Dr. Knapp.
And this is when Trout’s behavior goes from doting, loving, husband…to just really strange.
When Andy and Dr. Knapp got to the house Trout moved Zona’s body from the foot of the stairs up to the bedroom upstairs and had changed her clothes into her burial dress which had a stiff high collar.
He was weeping hysterically and wouldn’t let Dr. Knapp fully examine Zona…So he was trying to determine the cause of death but like around this huge weeping man who was just cradling Zona’s upper body.
So Dr. Knapp finally just goes..welp, it’s natural causes…probably a heart attack.
Mary Jane, Zona’s mom, not buying it…doesn’t believe it for one second.
And when they had the visitation where they had the open casket for the viewing, Trout was again right there. Standing vigilant at the head of the casket where he placed a sheet on the side of Zona’s head to kind of prop it up a bit and then he put this scarf around her neck, that already had this stiff high collar… and managed to eek out through his sobbing that this was her favorite scarf.
And at Zona’s funeral again Trout was just being super weird..Not only did he dress her, he watched over the body 24/7 and even assisted in preparing the body for the burial and actually placing his dead wife’s casket in the ground.
No one does that…especially not back then.
So, they have the funeral, the casket is buried and that was that..a very tragic death but now is the time to mourn and move on.
But not for Zona’s mother Mary Jane….She was livid pissed
She did not believe for one second that her daughter died of natural causes, and she did not buy Trout’s over the top emotions at all.
Zona’s mother was very worked up over this and she would say over and over again to herself and out loud..Zona please tell me what happened, who did this to you..just begging her deceased daughter for some kind of sign.
About a few days after the funeral, she got a sign.
Mary Jane claims that the spirit of her daughter Zona had come to visit her at night in her room.
The first night Mary Jane claimed that her daughter's spirit appeared to her and tried to speak but nothing came out and she disappeared.
The next night though Zona’s spirit came back and told her mother that she did not die of natural causes and that trout had actually killed her.
And it took a couple more visits, I think there were 4 total but Zona managed to get the whole story of what happened..she talked about how her marriage was not sunshine and rainbows as it appeared.
That Trout was very abusive and had actually been married 2 times before and both of his previous wives had died under mysterious circumstances.
She then told her mother that Trout had killed her by breaking her neck.
Armed with this new information Mary Jane grabs her brother-in law and they head down to the prosecutor's office and lay it all out..and it must have been pretty convincing because the prosecutor calls up old Dr. Knapp and is like..
Well her mother is saying that her neck was broken..you examined the body did you find any evidence of a broken neck?
And Dr. Knapp was like…ummm well I actually didn’t do a full examination because Trout was really emotional and he was kind of in my way and wouldn’t let me get anywhere near her head and neck..so I actually don’t know.
This gave them what they needed to exhume Zona’s body and Dr. Knapp did another exam, he did indeed find that Zona’s neck had been broken.
Trout was arrested and went to trial…
During the court hearing it was the defense attorney's that called Zona’s mother to the stand and asked her to tell them what Zona’s spirit had said to her…and they thought that this would discredit her. Everyone would think it was ridiculous and the trial would be over.
So, from the court transcripts Mary Jane testified that Zona’s spirit had told her:
"He came that night from the shop and seemed angry. I told him supper was ready, and he began to chide me because I had prepared no meat. I replied, there was plenty—bread and butter, apple sauce, preserves, and other things that made a good supper. He flew into a rage, got up, and came toward me. When I raised up, he seized each side of my head with his hands and by a sudden wrench dislocated my neck."
Zona’s mother then went on to explain Zona told her other details of the home, and the surrounding area that she Mary jane would not have been privy to or would not have known at the time.
She also told them Zona had told her that Trout was very abusive and had actually been married 2 times before and both of his previous wives had died under mysterious circumstances.
The jury deliberated for 1 hour and came back to find Trout guilty of first-degree murder. He was sentenced to life in prison, where he died 8 years later.
So, what do you think? Do you think Zona’s ghost actually came back to tell her mom what happened….or do you think Mary Jane just pieced it all together from mother’s instinct to the bizarre behavior and even him covering her neck?
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