Richmond, KY: White Hall hosts its annual ‘Scandals and Ghost Stories’

Richmond Register: White Hall hosts its annual ‘Scandals and Ghost Stories’

RICHMOND — Apparitions, weird lights and unexplained sounds have long been a part of White Hall State Historic site in Richmond for years, according to many ghost hunters and writers. The mansion also has seen its share of scandal.

For the next two weekends, anyone wanting to find out all about it will have the chance.

The historic house will be the site of “Scandals and Ghost Stories,” a guided tour designed to entertain guests with tales of the home’s fabled history.

Ghost hunter Patti Starr devoted an entire chapter of her book “Ghosthunting Kentucky” to White Hall.

She has experienced encounters with children and a woman dressed in black who wanders the hallways, she said.

A photo of a newly married couple at White Hall that is shown on Starr’s website, www.ghosthunter.com, shows a weird light on the wall that resembles a human form. Starr claims it is an apparition.

In his novel, “Cassius M. Clay: Freedom’s Champion,” author Keven McQueen details some of the strange occurrences in the house.

He writes of mysterious lights being turned on in unoccupied rooms.

“The ghosts of White Hall appear to have a certain fondness for playing tricks with the lights,” McQueen wrote. “When restoration began on White Hall in the later 1960s, a trailer was placed near the house for the guards to stay at night. Reportedly, almost every night, the guards would watch a single ball of light moving from window to window in the second-floor master bedroom.”

The guards investigated the lights but could never find their source, according to the book.

McQueen also wrote of strange odors and mysterious sounds coming from White Hall.

“Often the strong smell of pipe smoke or perfume will come seemingly out of nowhere, fill only a particular room or two, then abruptly disappear without fading away,” McQueen wrote.

The mansion was the former home of Cassius Clay, a 19th century emancipationist, politician and newspaper publisher.

Cassius Clay married Mary Jane Warfield Clay and had 10 children, according to White Hall’s website. Until the 1860s, the home they lived in together was called Clermont. After a renovation that included such updates as adding central heating and indoor plumbing, they renamed it White Hall.

After the couple divorced in 1879, Cassius remarried at the age of 84 to a 15- year-old, causing a lot of scandal, according to the website. They divorced a few years later.

Cassius resided in the big mansion until he died in 1903.

Visitors will be led on a tour throughout the home while the tour guide delivers the stories, said Lashe Mullins, White Hall curator.

This is the third year of the event, and the first year to offer three nightly tours, she said. The past two years tickets have sold out.

“It’s a very popular event,” she said.

The three nightly tours are scheduled for 8 p.m., 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. July 15 and 16 and July 22 and 23. Admission is by paid reservation only and is $7 for adults and $4 for children. For more information, call 623-9178.