Friday, October 7, 2011

The Old Slave House – Equality, Illinois

NOTE:

In honor of October being the month of Halloween - and other things spooky - all of my blogs this month will deal with a haunted location and the cemetery that ties into the story.
Enjoy and make this a spook-tacular autumn!! ; )

~
Sign posted at drive

In the 1800’s it was formally called Hickory Hill.  It’s now known as the old Crenshaw Place, or the Old Slave House. And it’s claimed to be one of the most haunted places in the southern part of Illinois.


Located near Equality, Illinois, in Gallatin County, the large, two-story pseudo Greek Revival 

John H & Sinia Crenshaw

Hickory Hill - also known as
the Old Crenshaw House
style house is situated on top of a windswept hill, overlooking the Saline River.  John Hart Crenshaw had the house supposedly built for his wife, Sinia Taylor Crenshaw and their five children.  But research has revealed the most important function of the house was to aid as a place to stash kidnapped free blacks before sending them into slavery, a reverse Underground Railroad.


Old Shawneetown Bridge
over the Ohio River
John Crenshaw became deeply involved in the slave trade during the 1820’s.  He was charged several times with kidnapping, and became a slave trader in 1827.  The first documented case against his involved a black indentured servant named Frank Granger that Crenshaw kidnapped and took to Kentucky in 1828.  The second kidnapping case followed right on the heels of the first and involved a free black woman named Lucinda and her two children.  Crenshaw kidnapped the three and took them to Barren County Kentucky in 1828 to be sold into slavery. Crenshaw was also known as John Granger, (pronounced more like Cringer) due to regional dialects and accent.

Hickory Hill
In 1829, Crenshaw and his brother, Abraham, bought the land where Hickory Hill would be built.  It would be almost five years, in 1834, before ground was broken for the house, and another four before it was completed in 1838. The lavish house was furnished with European artwork and furnishings located on the first and second floors, where the family lived.  
A Whipping Post

The third floor was constructed of thicker walls with over a dozen cells, about the size of horse stalls, all equipped with heavy metal rings and chains.  A whipping post was located at either end of the hallway.  Windows at each end of the hall provided the only light and air to the attic.  It would only be after Crenshaw’s and his wife’s deaths, when new owners took over that the true secrets of the attic would come to light.

Map of Southern Illinois
Meanwhile, Crenshaw bought his first salt works in Gallatin County. Few men were interested in the harsh work and brutal conditions required to mine salt, so Crenshaw used slave laborers and indentured servants. 



Although Illinois was a ‘free state’ where slavery was not 
Only Surviving Record
allowed, an exception had been granted to Crenshaw for slaves to be leased for one-year terms for use in the salt mines in Gallatin, Saline and Hardin Counties. Illinois also allowed indentured servitude; the contracting of work for a specific period of time in exchange for food, shelter, and sometimes passage.  Crenshaw owned over 30,000 acres of land and leased numerous salt mines from the government.  He had over 700 slaves working for him in 1830.  At one time it was said that Crenshaw had made so much money he paid 1/7 of all taxes collected in Illinois. It is from his illegal trafficking of humans into slavery that much of his vast fortune was made. 

Crenshaw is best known for creating a reverse Underground Railroad in Illinois. He and his hired men would capture free blacks from the North and smuggle them across the Ohio River into Kentucky where they would be “sold down the river” and into slavery in the southern states.

Hickory Hill
Runaway Slaves
When the house at Hickory Hill was built, a secret wagon entrance was constructed in the back of the house.  Covered wagons carrying kidnapped blacks and indentured whites would go directly into this entry. Then the kidnapped would be taken up the back stairs to the third floor attic of his home.  There they were imprisoned in cells, tortured, raped, whipped, and sometimes murdered. According to local legend, there was also a secret tunnel from the basement to the Saline River so that the kidnapped could be put on boats quickly and inconspicuously. 

Slave Auction
Crenshaw then devised a plan to begin a slave-breeding program in the attic.   A slave named Uncle Bob was used as the stud breeder to provide Crenshaw with cargo to sell off to the south.  A pregnant black woman would bring more money at auction in a slave state. An adult able-bodied slave could bring $400 or more.  A child could be sold for around $200. It was said that Uncle Bob sired more than 300 children in that upstairs attic.

John H. Crenshaw
Crenshaw was finally indicted in 1842 for the kidnapping of Maria, his cook, and her seven children.  Because of his clout and financial standing in the community, he was found not guilty.  (If he had been found guilt, no jail time would have been served; the only penalty was a fine of $1,000 allowed by the Black Code of 1819.)  But people in the area talked and suddenly Crenshaw’s methods were being questioned.  His mill was burned and his standing as an upright and moral man in the community was waning.  Business in the salt works began to decline as more profitable salt was discovered in Ohio and Virginia. Crenshaw was now watching his empire dissolve.

Rumor has it that it was during this period of time that Crenshaw brutally beat several female slaves.  In retaliation, a group of male slaves attacked Crenshaw and during the assault Crenshaw’s leg was severed with an axe.  Following this attack, most of the slaves were sold off.


Equality, Illinois
The Crenshaw’s left Hickory Hill in 1850 and moved to Equality, Illinois.  Crenshaw continued farming, but also became involved in railroads and banks. The Hickory Hill house was sold in 1864.





Crenshaw died December 4, 1871, his wife, Sinia, in 1881.  Both are 
Hickory Hill Cemetery
Toppled Crenshaw Stone
buried in a tiny, forgotten cemetery down a lonely dirt road.  The cemetery is also known as Hickory Hill and is located to the northeast of the house.  It is said to be the oldest cemetery in Gallatin County.  It is fitting note that Crenshaw’s stone has been toppled off of its pedestal, now laying flat on the ground

Old Slave House in the Fifties
In 1906, the Crenshaw House was purchased by the Sisk family.  The true horrors of what had occurred on the third floor were then unmasked.  The slave quarters were dismantled soon after but talk spread and by the 1920’s tourists from around the country were arriving to see the attic and hear the stories of the Old Slave House.  George Sisk decided to capitalize on the history and by the 1930’s, was advertising that you could tour the house where “Slavery existed in Illinois,” for only 10 cents for adults and a nickel for children.

Third Floor Attic
It was during these tours that people began to report odd occurrences on the third floor; unseen fingers touching passersby, strange noises, rattling chains, whispering voices, hushed sobbing, and the feeling of being watched.  Legend has it that the Crenshaw House is haunted by those who were held captive there. 




Old Slave House in the '90's
From the thirties to the mid-90’s, the Old Slave House was visited by many ghost hunting groups, psychics, and paranormal investigators.  Many reported feelings of unrest and agony trapped up there.  It was on October 31, 1996 when the Sisk’s closed the house due to their age and declining health.


Courtesy Saluki Times
In December 2000, the State of Illinois acquired the house and two acres of land from George Sisk, Jr.  And in 2004 the National Park Service declared the Crenshaw house, aka the Old Slave House, as a station in the ‘Reverse Underground Railroad Network to Freedom’ program, thus acknowledging the sadistic part that John Crenshaw played in condemning free blacks and indentured servants to lives of slavery.  But no plans were made to reopen the house.

Courtsey Saluki Times
Earlier this year, the Center for Archaeological Investigations at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale began doing digs at the house.  Working with the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, the group has a three-year grant to undertake historical, architectural and archaeological research on the site. The archaeological excavations ended August 1, 2011.  The state says there are still no current plans to reopen the house to the public.


Hickory Hill - The Old Slave House
Crenshaw's Tombstone
It remains to be seen what more is discovered about the house and property with these investigations.  One thing is for sure, while John Hart Crenshaw was not the only slave trader in the state of Illinois; he became the most notorious, known as one of the most ruthless men in this state’s history.



~ Joy

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Cemeteries Worth the Visit – Richmond Cemetery, Richmond, KY



Richmond Cemetery is located in Richmond, Kentucky is the largest cemetery in Madison County.  The city originally had a graveyard located on a knoll near town, but it had reached capacity and another location was needed. Unfortunately the history of this cemetery and the Richmond Cemetery, up to August 1862, were lost when Confederate soldiers broke into the courthouse and stole the original cemetery records during the Civil War.

In January 1848 the Kentucky General Assembly incorporated the Richmond Cemetery.  An additional 18 acres were purchased in the early 1850’s.  The cemetery was dedicated on May 31, 1856.  The next day, June 1st the first burial took place.  The first to be interred was Jane Todd Breck, wife of U.S. Representative Daniel Breck, and aunt to Mary Todd Lincoln.


The cemetery now consists of over 70 acres located in the middle of town.  The rolling hills and winding roads add to the peaceful feel, even though you can hear traffic (and the EKU marching band) throughout the cemetery.  Trees and flowers are prolific throughout the cemetery, giving it a true Rural Cemetery feel.  Stones range from simple to extremely ornate obelisks, statues and sculpture.  There are no mausoleums, but a public vault was added in 1900.


Cassius M. Clay
Clay Memorial
Kentucky governors, and members of Richmond’s prominent families: the Clays, Chenaults and Tribbles are buried here, along with Kentucky abolitionist, Cassius M. Clay.  Clay grew up the son of one of the wealthiest landowners and slaveholders in Kentucky.  Clay became an ardent anti-slave crusader and served three times in the Kentucky House of Representatives. Clay is whom Muhammad Ali was named for.



Depiction of his murder
Captain James Estill
Kentucky frontiersman, Captain James Estill has a memorial that commands attention.  Estill, one of the first Madison County settlers, was killed by Indians in 1782 in the Battle of Little Mountain, near Mount Sterling, Kentucky.  His monument depicts his murder as a Wyandotte Indian prepares to stab him in the chest.  Atop the monument, Estill stands, dressed in a fringed coat, holding his rifle and gazing out over the town.


Civil War Monument
Confederate Monument
In 1862, a portion of the Battle of Richmond was fought in the cemetery with soldiers using tombstones for cover!  The Confederate troops pushed the Union soldiers into the graveyard where they proceeded to defeat them.  Over 240 Union troops are buried here.  Over 175 Confederate soldiers are buried in a mass grave marked with a small stone that says “The Southern Dead.”  A new monument was later erected and dedicated to all Civil War soldiers buried there.
The cemetery also is the burial site to a Revolutionary War captain.

Vandalism
Over 100 gorgeous old monuments and stones were toppled and damaged in April 2010 when vandals broke into the cemetery.  Many were irreplaceable.





The Richmond Cemetery is located on East Main Street in Richmond, Kentucky.  It is open from 8:00 A.M. until 4 P.M.  You may reach them at (859) 623-2529 for information on genealogical research.  The cemetery does not have a web site or Facebook presence.






The Richmond Cemetery is well worth an afternoon, even a day, to explore.  The older part is a treasure trove of statues, monuments and stone bearing interesting and informative symbols and epitaphs.

~ Joy





Friday, September 30, 2011

Psychopomps - Guides of the Soul into the Afterlife


Grim Reaper

Psychopomps is an odd word we don’t really use much, but do recognize the mean of –a guide who escorts souls to the afterlife.  The word originates from the Greek words pompos, which is a conductor or guide, and psyche, which means breath of life, or soul.  When you think of a pyschopomp, you may think of angels, ancestors, owls, even the Grim Reaper! These are just a few of the many ‘soul guides’ that have been mentioned throughout history.

Psychopomp
The main role of these spirits is to provide safe passage for a newly departed soul to the afterlife, or the next level of being. The psychopomp helps guide the deceased through the veil in a calm and peaceful manner.





Hermes
In ancient times, the Greeks believed that Hermes was a spirit guide.  An Olympian god, Hermes was a guide to the Underworld and assisted souls in getting to the River Styx, the boundary between earth and the Underworld. If a coin had been placed in the deceased’s mouth, the ferryman would transport their soul on to the Underworld. If not, they could not cross the Styx, and were forever doomed to wander.


Anubis

For the Egyptians, Anubis was the guide through death.  Anubis, the jackal-headed god, was viewed as the protector of the dead and their tombs. He represented mummification and the afterlife in Egyptian religion.



Valkyries
The Norse soul guides were represented by the Valkyries – winged female warriors who decided who would die in battle.  They would then claim their chosen and take them to the Hall of the Slain where they would prepare daily for an immense battle, and feast nightly on the resurrecting beast, Saehrimnir.  Valkyries could also be represented by ravens or swans.




Defeating Satan
Michael
The Archangel Michael is viewed as the Christian Angel of Death.  At the time of death, Michael gives each soul the chance to redeem itself before passing on. Michael is then the guide who takes the soul to heaven, where each is weighed on his perfectly balanced scales. Michael is depicted as the ultimate enemy of Satan.



Angel
Angel
Other angels are often regarded as psychopomps, guiding and protecting mankind, while interceding for him in heaven.   Angels act as messengers of God.





Owl
Native Americans considered Muut to be the messenger of death.  Muut would take the form of an owl.  He or death was said to be close when owls hooted at the same time and place on consecutively nights.




Ankou
The Celts believed the Ankou was a soul gatherer and guide.  The Ankou was said to be the spirit of the last person who died in the village the previous year.  The Ankou, or Graveyard Watcher, drove a creaking cart, piled high with bodies.  He usually wore a wide hat over long white hair, and his head revolved completely around so he could survey all.  His task was to collect lost souls so that he could pass on to the other side. If the cart stopped in front of a home, all inside would die.

Grim Reaper
In modern times, it is the Grim Reaper that we recognize as a psychopomp, directing the recently dead to the afterlife.  This specter of death is shown as a skeletal figure, which may or may not wear a long black, hooded robe.  The Grim Reaper carries a scythe used to harvest souls.  Some believe that the Grim Reaper can actually cause a person to die.



Psychopomps are portrayed in many ways on tombstones, as dogs, ravens, owls, horses and various birds.  But all have the same mission, to escort the newly dead, in a calm transition, into the next chapter of the unknown.


~ Joy