There’s a house at the end of Harrison Street in Vicksburg filled with stories.
Beyond the black gate at the entrance of the property, there’s a brick-lined walking path surrounded by trees, plants, and other greenery that leads to the two-story, 2,400-square-foot house.
Once called “a time capsule of the South” by National Geographic magazine, the McRaven Tour Home is a house that represents three distinct time periods of the past.
The first portion of the house was built in 1797, — before Mississippi was a state or Vicksburg a city — the second in 1836, and the third portion in 1849.
Not just filled with stories from the past, McRaven Tour Home is a place where the past makes itself known in the present.
According to the owners, the tour guides who work there, and different visitors throughout the years, McRaven Tour Home is the most haunted house in Mississippi.
The home, purchased by current owners Kendra and Dr. Steven Reed in 2015, hosts history tours, haunted tours, and ghost investigations.
When asked if she believes in ghosts, Kendra Reed answered this way.
“There are things here we can’t explain,” she said.
Brian Riley, a McRaven tour guide and member of the Mississippi Paranormal Society, was a little more specific.
“I think McRaven is the most haunted house in Mississippi because of the number of spirits there, and the activity that has been witnessed over the years. I do know of at least 15 spirits residing on the whole property,” Riley said.
One of those spirits could be Andrew Glass, the home’s first resident and a highwayman who robbed people on the Natchez Trace. McRaven was Glass’ hideout. He used blueberry and buttermilk plaster for the walls in his two-room brick structure in the 1700s, Reed said.
Glass was later attacked by Spanish soldiers on the Natchez Trace following a robbery. Mortally wounded, he somehow made it back to McRaven where his wife killed him to put him out of his misery, Reed said.
The second part of the house was built in 1836 by Sheriff Stephen Howard. Howard added a stairway, a bedroom, a dining room, and a two-story covered porch. Howard’s wife, Mary Elizabeth Howard, died in her bedroom after childbirth. Reed said Mary Elizabeth is the most active spirit in the house.
She said one of her favorite stories is when a mom and her toddler were visiting and touring the bedroom. The mom put the toddler down for a minute.
“The little girl was just learning how to walk. She put her hand in the air, and it was grabbed by an invisible finger. She walked across the room. Then the girl was playing peak-a-boo with someone behind her mom. But there wasn’t anybody behind her mom,” Reed said.
As the mother and daughter left the empty room, the girl waved goodbye to someone or something.
The third part of the house was built in Greek Revival style by John H. Bobb in 1849. A brick manufacturer and sawmill owner, Bobb built a parlor, master bedroom, men’s changing area, flying wing staircase, and some pillars.
Bobb was killed by Union soldiers on May 18, 1864 — exactly one year after Union General Ulyssess S. Grant surrounded the Mississippi city in the Siege of Vicksburg.
Later, William Murray lived at McRaven with his daughters. He died in 1911, but his daughters lived in the home for 70 years. During that time, the sisters lived in the house without electricity or running water.
“The kids in the neighborhood would call the sisters witches because they would be out on the front porch wearing all black and stirring a cauldron making lye and doing their laundry,” Reed said.
Riley, who leads the ghost investigations at McRaven, said he had a recent encounter with a spirit.
“Just the other night when one of my team members from the Mississippi Paranormal Society was there doing some investigating. We had put three EMF (Electromagnetic Field) detectors on the main staircase. We had asked if a spirit that was upstairs wanted to come join us. About 20 seconds later, we witnessed the three EMF detectors light up. The first at the top, the second in the middle, and then the one towards the bottom. Like someone had actually come downstairs,” Riley said.
WJTV news anchor, storyteller, and Today in Mississippi columnist Walt Grayson experienced his own weird incidents at McRaven.
While at McRaven filming a story, Grayson said he was standing outside the front door and was about to turn the doorknob to go inside when he heard the door latch unlock.
“But there was no one in the house,” Grayson said.
Another time Grayson was at the house for filming, the lights in the middle bedroom were off after he left. When he got downstairs and outside, he looked up and saw the lights in the room back on.
Both Grayson and Reed said McRaven’s previous owner — Weyland French — experienced unexplainable occurrences.
“All the experiences Weyland had there…if only 1/10th of what supposedly happened there actually happened, McRaven is Mississippi’s most haunted house,” Grayson said.
French, who sold the home to the Reeds, was the last person to live in the house. He moved out in 2008. French, a Civil War enthusiast, offered history tours of his home to the public to show them how people lived during the different eras of the house.
Reed said French was on his knees picking up a piece of gum from the floor when someone or something stepped on his back. He was alone in the room at the time. Another time, when French’s hands were in a drawer, something slammed the drawer down and smashed his fingers.
Reed said not only is the house haunted, but the city of Vicksburg is as well.
The house and the city were a field camp and field hospital during the Civil War,” Reed said.
She said her husband was using a metal detector one day outside and came across an amputation pile.
“He found a cut femur.”
Reed also said she was inside the house once when the piano in the parlor started playing even though there’s wasn’t anyone at the piano.
When asked how he responds to people who tell him there’s no such thing as ghosts, Riley said he has two answers for them.
“I tell people two things: One is that just because they don’t believe in something doesn’t mean it’s not real. Second, sometimes, when the time is right and I know someone is able to take a joke, I will tell them, ‘Ghosts probably don’t believe in you, either.’”
FOR MORE INFORMATION about McRaven history tours, haunted tours, ghost investigations, and the upcoming Halloween Candlelight event slated for the last two weekends of October, visit mcraventourhome.com or call 601-501-1336.
