Categories
Mysterious America

Most Haunted Plantations in Virginia

Hidden away down tree-shaded lanes, stately manors remind passersby of a bygone era when parasol ladies in bright dresses strolled past enslaved workers tilling the fields. Today they are historic sites, museums, or private homes, but something from the past remains. Perhaps you can catch a glimpse of a smokey figure at one of these most haunted plantations in Virginia.

Elmwood

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

Elmwood Plantation in Essex County, Virginia was established in the late 18th century by the Wickham family, who were prominent landowners in Virginia. The Wickham family lived in a large brick mansion on the plantation, which was likely built in the late 18th or early 19th century. The mansion still stands today and is a private residence. It was unoccupied for much of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, leading to widespread rumors of ghostly activity. The most notable occurrence is that of a spectral couple wearing extravagant clothes who appear in the midst of parties, dancing obliviously to the perplexed crowd. Their waltz takes them down the main staircase and into the garden, where they disappear.

Blandfield

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

Blandfield is a Georgian-style plantation house in Essex County, Virginia. It was built around 1750 for William Beverley (1696–1756). As the house has been in possession of the Beverley family for over 250 years, it comes as no surprise that several family members are believed to haunt the grounds. An unknown male entity has been seen in the library, and the specter of a woman wearing a long dress appears upstairs.

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Categories
Gaming

HOI IV: Germany Speed Run Land Grab

Note: This article requires a basic knowledge of the game Hearts of Iron IV, its interface and mechanics. Watch some tutorials here or here.

A few years ago, I posted playthroughs and strategy guides for minor nations in the historical game Hearts of Iron IV. I’ve been a fan of the series since its inception and even though IV came out in 2016, it’s still hugely popular. Paradox Interactive updates it often and new DLC comes out fairly regularly. Every once in a while I’ll come back to it and there’s always something new to discover.

Part of the fun is to imagine alternative histories. What if communism was overthrown in Russia? What if the Kaiser returned to Germany? What if India became independent and sided with the Axis? What if Germany annexed Austria in 1936 instead of 1938? With HOI4, you can do it.

HOI4 outlines many of these alternative histories in a branching decision tree called a Focus Tree, where you can guide your nation’s development more or less along a historical path or forge your own way. If you play as Germany, you have a whole branch devoted to territorial expansion. You need to reach certain military thresholds to unlock decisions in this branch to reflect the slow buildup and expansion of Germany from 1936 to 1939.

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Categories
Historic America

Who was Isabelle Scott?

Isabelle Scott lived in Mattoon, Illinois from 1902 until her death in 1907. She died of tuberculosis at the young age of 30-32. In those short years, Isabelle was the notorious madam of a brothel on what was then called Railroad Street/Cottage Avenue. She rubbed elbows with notorious figures in Mattoon’s underworld, even a city alderman.

But who was she, really?

I came across this fascinating figure while researching Mattoon’s history for my book, Tales of Coles County, and later developed it into an essay for a nonfiction writing class at George Mason University.

Unfortunately, I don’t live in Illinois anymore and am only able to visit once a year, if that, so my time to visit Mattoon to conduct research is severely limited.

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Categories
Commentary

Nikki Haley Gets an ‘F’ in History

Can the fumbling Republican presidential hopeful get anything right about our nation’s history?

Earlier this week, former South Carolina governor and UN ambassador Nikki Haley told Fox News viewers that the United States is “not a racist country” and has “never been a racist country.” While her first statement is debatable, her second is not. Even the most generous reader of U.S. history would come away with the understanding that, yes, historically we’ve been a pretty racist country.

Just to name a few examples: The Naturalization Act of 1790 exclusively limited naturalization to “free White person(s)” and the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and Immigration Act of 1924 combined to bar entry to a majority of Asian immigrants. These were matters of national public policy.

Is the racism charge true everywhere and at all times? Of course not. Individual opinion is never monolithic, and the degree of social or legal discrimination against certain groups of people varied. But over all, the predominance of laws targeting nonwhite people (for lack of a better term), especially prior to the mid-twentieth century, is well documented.

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Categories
Commentary

Newsweek Goes Off the Rails

Hyperbolic headlines are not exclusive to news about Donald Trump–even local elections get the clickbait treatment.

Over the years, I’ve written many, many articles about bias, sloppy reporting, and outright lies in the news media. Usually it comes from journalists with a left-wing bias, but this article in Newsweek is absurd in the opposite direction.

“Republicans Annihilate Democrats in Virginia Election Sweep,” it proclaims. “Republicans scored massive victories in elections held in Virginia on Tuesday, returning two GOP politicians to local legislature following the departure of the incumbents.”

Um, no, that’s not what happened.

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Categories
Historic America Photography

The Confederate Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery

The Confederate Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery. Photo by M.A. Kleen

Slated for removal before the New Year, you may soon only be able to see this memorial in photographs.

Dedicated in 1914, the 32-foot Confederate Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery was designed and sculpted by Moses J. Ezekiel (1844-1917), the first Jewish graduate of the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington. Ezekiel fought alongside his fellow cadets at the Battle of New Market, which is depicted in the film Field of Lost Shoes (2014). Until recently, nearly every U.S. president since Woodrow Wilson has sent a funeral wreath to be laid at the memorial, as a gesture of reconciliation and respect for the Confederate veterans buried there. After 109 years, it is slated to be removed. There are 32 bronze figures, including soldiers and civilians and two black slaves, one wearing a uniform accompanying his master to war. It is topped with a female statue representing the South. An inscription on the north face reads:

“Not for fame or reward, not for place or for rank, not lured by ambition, or goaded by necessity, but in simple obedience to duty as they understood it, these men suffered all, sacrificed all, dared all–and died.”

Randolph Harrison

Moses Ezekiel is buried nearby, as well as 264 other Confederate veterans. The memorial is supposed to be removed before the New Year. Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin offered to move it to the New Market Battlefield, but its ultimate fate is unclear.

Categories
Fiction

The Case of Mrs. Crabapple’s Cursed Candy

When four daring friends defy neighborhood legend by trick-or-treating at mysterious Mrs. Crabapple’s house, they must confront a spooky curse and discover a Halloween night full of eerie surprises, hilarious escapades, and one unforgettable flying candy.

Please enjoy this horror short, part of a series experimenting with artificial intelligence. I fed the location, characters, scenario, and mood into ChatGPT and asked it to craft a story, then used Stable Diffusion XL to create illustrations. How did it turn out? Well, you be the judge.

In the sleepy little town of Willowbrook, trick-or-treating was the most awaited event of the year, especially for the tweens. This Halloween, Charlie, Sophie, Lucas, and Mia, all 12, had been given the most precious gift they could imagine: the permission to go trick-or-treating unsupervised for the first time. It was a sign, a rite of passage, that they were becoming gasp teenagers.

Charlie was dressed as a wobbly jelly, his wiggly arms often knocking things over, causing the gang to chuckle. Sophie wore a flowing witch robe with a hat so pointy it could have poked a hole in the sky. Lucas, obsessed with robots, had cobbled together an outfit from aluminum foils and blinking Christmas lights. Mia, always the dramatic one, went as a ghost with flowing white drapes and dark, exaggerated eye makeup.

Willowbrook was a peaceful neighborhood, the kind where all houses had white picket fences, manicured lawns, and neighbors knew more about each other than they’d like to admit. There was only one house that all children whispered about and dared each other to approach: the abode of old Mrs. Crabapple.

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