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How The Murderer of Elva Zona Heaster Was Brought to Justice By Her Ghost
In the late 19th century, the killer of a young West Virginia woman was brought to justice in large part because of her alleged ghost
When a young woman named Elva Zona Heaster died in 1897, it was initially believed that she had passed away due to complications from giving birth. She was buried and life in her community eventually resumed as normal. However, the appearance of what was alleged to be her ghost (known as the Greenbrier Ghost) led to an official inquiry into her death, and the subsequent trial and conviction of her husband as her murderer.
Heaster occupies a very unique place in criminal justice history as a key figure in a murder trial was her alleged ghostly appearance that provided crucial evidence against her husband. Born in 1873 in Greenbrier County, West Virginia, her tragic death and the subsequent trial of her murderer proved to be a strange chapter in American history.
Little is known about the early life of Heaster, but she was described as an affable and attractive woman, who ultimately married a local blacksmith named Erasmus Stribbling Trout Shue in 1896. He was a recent widower who had moved to Greenbrier County from neighboring Pocahontas County…
