Marshall County Historical Museum Research

This post is full of research notes for Kudzu Paranormal on the Marshall County Historical Museum in Holly Springs, MS.

Unless otherwise stated, the majority of the history came from:
Knecht, Phillip.  "Holly Springs:  Marshall County Historical Museum (1903)"  Hill Country History. 07 Apr. 2016. Web. 04 Jan. 2017.  https://hillcountryhistory.org/2016/06/25/holly-springs-marshall-county-historical-museum-1903/

Unknown Photographer.  Hull House.  1855-1945. Photograph. Marshall County Historical Museum, Holly Springs.  Holly Springs Mississippi Architectural Treasures of Holly Springs, Mississippi with Suggestions from Her Kitchens.  Holly Springs, Mississippi:  Marshall County Historical Museum. 2002. 89. Print.


Hull Place
1855- Hull Place was built for John Hull and his family.
1871- Hull Place went to daughter Elizabeth H. Finley.
1903-Hull Place was moved and a new building was built on top of its basement. This new building is what we now know as the Marshall County Historical Museum.  The Hull Place was not moved far (still on the same lot) and provided extra classrooms to the College.
Around 1945 - Hull Place (also known as the "Annex") was demolished.

People that lived at Hull Place:
John Hull (1818-1859).
Ann Crump Hull (? - 1871?).

Children of John Hull and Ann Crump Hull:
Jenny Hull (died 2 years and 6 months).
Mary Porter Hull (died at 4 years and 4 months).
Susan Hull Lea (1846-1936) married William Lea (1840-1909) and had seven children.
                           John Hull Lea (1870-1954).
                           Sarah Lea Lea Taylor (1874-1936).
                           Elizabeth Herndon Lea (1875-1952).
                           William Lea (1877-1942).
                           Dabney Hull Lea (1880-1954).
                           Nathaniel Wilson Lea (1885-1956).
                           Lucy Borland Lea (1887-1974).
Elizabeth H. Finley (1847-1920) married John S. Finley (1844-1889).
                          Brodie Hull Finley (1873-1920).
                          John Samuel Finley (1886 - 1944).
Brodie S. Hull (1850-1917) married Edna Dean Hull (1866 to 1947).

Note:  Elizabeth H. Finley owned Hull Place from 1871 to 1896.         

T.W. Raymond bought Hull Place  in 1896:
1896- T.W. Raymond (president of North Mississippi Presbyterian College) bought Hull Place from the Finleys.  T.W. Raymond might have lived here.
1903- The Hull Place was moved and used as a classroom for many young ladies.



 "Mississippi Synodical College," PI/COL/1984.0002, JPEG, Colonial Dames of America Collection, Mississippi Department of Archives and History, 2009, <http://catalog.mdah.state.ms.us/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=99088L> (February 11, 2017).

Watson House & College (with many names, like Synodical College):
1853- Watson House was built for Judge John William Clark Watson.  Today, the "Marshall County Office Building" sits on the site of the Watson House.
1864 -  Ms. Lizzie Watson opened up a girls school in the back parlor of Watson House.  It was called "Fenelon Hall".
1883- Ms. Watson's school was renamed as "Maury Institute" and went from being a day school to a girls' boarding school.
1891- Ms. Watson retired and sold her house and Maury Institute to the Presbyterian Church. This complex was renamed "North Mississippi Presbyterian College".
1903- The College was given the name Mississippi Synodical College.  A new building was built on Hull Place's basement.  This new building is what we now know as the Marshall County Historical Museum but back during this time it was used as dormitories and administration offices.
1916- The Mississippi Synodical College became the first two-year college in our state to receive full accreditation.
1920's - The school expanded further and bought Linden Terrace (for more dormitory space) and as the home of the headmaster.  They even added a tennis court between Linden Terrace and Coopwood.
1939- Mississippi Synodical College was closed down.  The students were sent to Belhaven College in Jackson, MS.
Around 1945 - Watson's House and Hull Place ("Annex") were demolished.

Note:   According to Ms. Jo Wyatt-Ashmead and Ms. Gwen Wyatt, one of the students at Mississippi Synodical College was William Faulkner's daughter.  William Faulkner visited his daughter (picked her up on weekends) at this college.  While he waited he was known to people watch, walk around town, and visit friends.


People that lived at Watson House:
Judge John William Clark Watson (1808-1890) was a senator from the Mississippi in the Confederate Congress and after the war was a Circuit Court Judge from 1876-1882.  Judge Watson fought to abolish slavery and educate former slaves.

Elizabeth "Lizzie" Davis Watson (1832-1912).  She started teaching young ladies in her parlor during the Civil War.

Captain William "Willie" or "Will" Taylor Watson (1840? - 1863) married Cora E. Harris (1843-1911) in 1861.  He died in the Civil War.

John Staige "Stagy" Davis Watson (1841 - 1864).  Died in the Civil War.

Jane Watson (? - ?).  Married James H. Anderson.  She and her infant died soon after childbirth.

James H. Watson (? - ?). married Anna Robinson  in 1870. Anna was an author and poet whose work was read around the world.

Edward Minor Watson (?- ?). lawyer.
James Henry Watson (?- ?). lawyer.
Joshua Watson (?-1878).died of yellow fever.
Richard L. "Dick" Watson (?- 1878). died of yellow fever.

Note:  Cora was born Cora E. White which was changed to Cora E. Harris by her aunt when Cora's mother died.  After marrying William, Cora stayed at the Watson House during the war.  She assisted "Lizzie" Watson in running the female academy and became friends with Katherine Sherwood Bonner (Ms. Bonner was a student at this academy).  Cora married Samuel E. Carey in 1869 who was a general manager and later president of the Mississippi Central Railroad. Mr. Carey later worked as a general passenger and ticket agent for the Illinois Central Railroad before moving his wife to New Orleans.  When Mr. Carey died in 1880, Cora moved back to Holly Springs with her two daughters Nell "Nellie" (1874) and Elizabeth "Bessie" (1879).
Cora's civil war diary is a big portion of the book "Civil War Women:  The Diaries of Belle Strickland and Cora Harris Watson:  Holly Springs, Mississippi July 25, 1864-June 22, 1868."




 "Mississippi Synodical College, Holly Springs, Mississippi.," PI/1992.0001, JPEG, Cooper Postcard Collection, Mississippi Department of Archives and History, 1992, <http://www.mdah.ms.gov/arrec/digital_archives/series/cooper/detail/20606> (February 11, 2017).

Marshall County Historical Museum Building
1903-  Mississippi Synodical College, what we now know as the Marshall County Historical Museum, was built on top of Hull Place's basement.  During this time the Museum building was used as dormitories and administration offices for the college.
1948 to 1972- The North Mississippi Hospital (first Hospital of Marshall County) was built where Watson's House had been located.  According to Ms. Jennifer Bone (Researcher at the Museum) the first floor of our current Museum was attached to this hospital.  The nurses and doctors lived in what we now know as the Museum.  The nurses slept on the second and third floor and the doctor lived on the first floor.  The attached hospital was where the patients were located (what is now known as "Marshall County Office Building").
1972- The Hospital Closed.
After 1972- Marshall County Historical Society was formed to stop the city from destroying this building. They were turned down four times by the aldermen to save this building. The ladies did not stop and on the fifth time the society was able to convince the aldermen to give them this building. These first members of the Marshall County Historical Society were able to stop their history from being destroyed.
1998-2002 Sometime between these years the Museum building was being repaired.  The Museum was still running with some artifacts put on display on the Square.
2002- The ladies and the artifacts moved back to the Museum.



Museum Directors
Museum directors included Lois Swaney-Shipp, Mary Eleanor Kerr Wyatt, Chelius Carter, and currently Merideth Gray.

Current Workers and Starting Year:
2002 - Jennifer Bone
2012 - Merideth Gray
2012 - Martha Fitch
2017 - Jim Moore


Paranormal Activity started in the 1990's:
Personally, I (Alexa Ashmead) believe that the Museum was not haunted until sometime in the 1990's. My grandmother, Mary Eleanor Kerr Wyatt, never talked about any odd occurrences happening here and she worked for free at the Museum for 10+ years.  During those 10+ years, she worked 6 days a week for 8 hours or more alone (and sometimes during Sunday afternoons). Working at this Museum alone for 10 years I believe that she would have sensed something or at least told us a story.  Not even her daughter (Ms.Wyatt), who helped occasionally, remembers anything paranormal or unusual at the Museum.

Ergo, I believe that the paranormal activities are tied to the artifacts donated to the Museum.  In addition, spirits attached to the building might have "woken up" during renovations.

In the early 2000's, the Oxford Paranormal group visited the Museum.   The Oxford Paranormal group only toured the Museum. After the tour, this group asked Ms. Lois Swaney-Shipp if they would be allowed to investigate the Museum for paranormal activity.  Ms. Swaney-Shipp said "No" for fear that if the society found out they had ghosts no one would dare to step into the Museum again.  Before they left, one of the Oxford Paranormal member's asked Ms. Jennifer Bone, "Tell me the truth.  This place is haunted."
"Why?" Ms. Bone asked.
"I sensed it on the third floor."

One day in 2011, Sandy Buford (Kudzu Paranormal Team Leader) and Ms. Gray walked around the Museum with K-2 meters.  The only meter hits were from the wood handles in the farm tool room.

Paranormal Activity that happens at the Museum:


Often, the lights switch on by themselves.  Ms. Jennifer Bone is usually the first one to arrive at the Museum.  She does not turn the lights on but goes through the front room and then to her office.  She drops her personal items by her desk and turns on her desk light.  Only then does she go off to turn on the other lights.  A lot of times she turns around and the dark front room is no longer dark.  The lights have been turned on by themselves.

The following is a list of several events that happened in 2002:

2002 - All of this happened within the same six months.

Footsteps Above the Library:
Ms. Bone was unpacking some of Kate Freeman's Clark's boxes in the library.  The museum was locked.  All of a sudden she got chills as she heard stomping above her head like a man wearing boots.  It sounded like he was walking in the room above her on the second floor.


Footsteps on Third Floor:
Later that year, Ms. Bone heard high heels clicking across the third floor and she had the feeling of being watched.


Working in the War Room at Night:
Workers on the museum will not stay here once the sun goes down.  One worker (downstairs in the war room) was working late at night and heard water go on and off, the elevator open and close, and stomping sounds on the floors above.

The following is a list of several events that happened in 2016:

2016 - A lot of paranormal activities have started.

The Hull Place Basement:
The Hull Place basement is full of soil and boxes.  Most of the workers refuse to go down there.  One day Ms. Bone went into the Museum and saw the alarm light flash.  It said someone had broken into the Museum through the basement.  Ms. Bone left and called the police from her car.  The police officer arrived and joked around saying "One shot, I'm probably shooting a varmint.  If you hear more than one shot, I'm running for my life."  Luckily, no shots were fired.  All was peaceful in the basement.   There was no sign of a break-in by human or varmint.

A friend came over and put white soil on the stairs.

The next morning, Ms. Bone saw the alarm light flashing saying someone was on the basement stairs.  Again, she called the police.  Again, no sign was found.  No footprints of any kind were found on the stairs (no mice, raccoons, or humans).  The soil was not disturbed. No tracks were left.  Everything was like it had been before.

Yellow Fever Display on the Third Floor:
Robert (who is deaf) was working on the Yellow Fever display on the third floor.  Robert went to leave and saw a ghost of a man run at him.  He did not see the entire figure.  No head or torso. Simply the waist down, and this ghost was wearing boots.  Robert ran downstairs and stopped when he saw Ms. Bone.
Ms. Bone recounts that moment, "You know how you have a feeling like someone is behind you?" Asks Ms. Bone.  "Well, I turned around and Robert was at that doorway, out of breath, and white as a sheet.  I asked him, 'Oh, you've seen her then."
'Her?' he replied 'I met him!'
And Robert refused to work on the display unless another person was in the room with him.  I believe he got his sister to come.  Yes, we have a hard time getting workers to stay here after dark."

Third Floor:
Ms. Martha Fitch was on the third floor when she heard someone shout her name "Martha! Martha!"  Annoyed Ms. Fitch goes downstairs to ask what the ladies wanted and why they interrupted her since she was busy.  The ladies in the office were on the first floor and never called Ms. Fitch.  No visitor came by and no one was on the second floor.  Ms. Fitch was the only one on the third floor when she heard the call.

Dancing Mannequins:
During Halloween the ladies like to turn the lights on the second floor and leave them on for the night.  This causes an effect that, when seen from the street, looks like the mannequins are dancing around having a party. [Note: Jim (a new worker) said he saw mannequins dancing one day on the third floor facing Randolph sometime around  February 1st or 2nd 2017].



Christmas Coloring Books:
Right before the Christmas Home Tour the Museum was given a donation of five Christmas coloring books.  It is unclear where this donation came from.  Ever since the Museum got these books, one has been strange.

They placed the coloring books on top of their display cases to sell.  Every morning the same coloring book would be found across the room on the front room carpet.
Ms. Bone is usually the first to arrive at the Museum.  For at least six or seven times she has picked up this book and put it back up by the display case.

The Museum closed for Christmas and when they came back Ms. Bone did not see the book on the floor.  She asked the other ladies that had arrived earlier if anything strange had occurred with a coloring book.  Ms. Fitch said she had no idea what she was talking about.  Ms. Merideth Gray had been the first to arrive and said "Yes!  There was a coloring book in the middle of the floor when I came BUT it wasn't just a coloring book.  There was a white cap too!"
Before Ms. Gray and Ms. Bone could start thinking about paranormal activities,  Ms. Fitch took the "spooky" items and packed them up.

Now, the book and hat both sit innocently on the bottom shelf.


Photos and Descriptions:

Please go to Phillip Knecht's lovely Hill Country History Blog to learn more about this site and the neighboring buildings.


Knecht, Phillip.  "Holly Springs:  Marshall County Historical Museum (1903)"  Hill Country History. 07 Apr. 2016. Web. 04 Jan. 2017.  https://hillcountryhistory.org/2016/06/25/holly-springs-marshall-county-historical-museum-1903/