Greenbrier County, West Virginia was a densely populated area. Nothing out of the ordinary ever occurred there until 1897, when a shocking death created an outburst and made headlines. Elva Zona Heaster was victim to a horrible murder that had originally been judged as “death by natural causes.”1
In 1895, Heaster gave birth to an illegitimate child. The next year she met Erasmus Stribbling Shue, and the couple soon married and were known to be inseparable. Despite the love the couple had for one another, Mary Jane Robinson Heaster, Zona Heaster’s mother, was not very impressed by Erasmus Shue, and disapproved of their marriage. Despite this, the couple continued to live together.
Erasmus Shue had initially moved to Greenbrier County to work as a blacksmith. Months went by and the couple seemed to live a normal life. On January 23, 1897, Shue sent a young boy that worked with him in the blacksmith shop to run an errand for him. The young boy obliged and walked to the couple’s house to do as he was told. Upon entering the house, the boy found Heaster lying at the bottom of a stairwell. Knowing that Heaster was dead, the young boy ran to his mother and notified her of what he had seen. The local doctor, police, and Shue were notified. Shue was the first to arrive on the scene; he carried his wife up the stairs and laid her on their bed, where he proceeded to dress her. His actions were very out of the ordinary considering the custom was for the ladies of the community to dress her in appropriate burial wear. Shue dressed her in a stiff-collared dress and a large veil. The local doctor, Dr. Knapp, was sent to examine the body, but was having difficulties since Heaster’s husband refused to let go of her, cradling her head and hysterically crying. As a result, Dr. Knapp declared her cause of death to be “an everlasting faint,” but then changed his statement to “childbirth.” What was particularly interesting was that Heaster had told no one that she was pregnant, nor did she appear to have signs or symptoms of pregnancy. Soon after, Heaster’s mother was notified and she immediately blamed Shue for Zona’s death.2
Mary Jane, Heaster’s mother, began praying and asking God to give her the name of the person guilty of her daughter’s murder. About four weeks after the death of her daughter, Mary Jane claimed to have had visions of a ghostly appearance telling her that Shue had killed her daughter. This occurrence happened four nights in a row, and began to make Mary Jane very ill. She decided to take her testimony to a prosecutor, John Alfred Preston. The prosecutor was hesitant about taking her case, but decided to do research on his own before believing Mary Jane. He went around the town asking for testimonies on the matter and found that Dr. Knapp admitted to not having been able to conduct a complete examination of the body. Neighbors noticed that during the viewing of Heaster, Shue never left the side of the coffin and didn’t let anyone look at her closely. As the pieces of the mysterious death finally fell into place, the prosecutor decided to take on the case. The prosecutor was able to obtain a warrant that allowed the body to be exhumed for re-examination.3
After a complete autopsy was performed, doctors found that Heaster’s neck had been broken and the bruising around her neck indicated that her windpipe had been severely crushed, as if she had been strangled. After the autopsy had been concluded, Shue was arrested and taken into custody for a later trial.4
The trial started on June 23, 1897, and lasted for eight days before the jury decided on a verdict. During the trial, the prosecutor tried to avoid using Mary Jane’s testimony due to the misunderstanding the jury might have. Regardless of these allegations, Mary Jane went ahead and revealed how she knew that Shue had murdered her daughter. Shue’s attorney immediately rejected the idea claiming that Mary Jane was crazy and unstable. The jury, however, found her story credible but did not mention it again after the first statement. The evidence against Shue was overwhelming and on the last day of the trial the jurors finally decided on a verdict. Ten of the twelve jurors voted on execution, but since it was not a unanimous decision, Shue was eventually sentenced to life in prison for first degree murder of Elva Zona Heaster.5
After the sentence, Shue was sent to prison, but the overwhelming disagreement on behalf of the community caused an outraged. Greenbrier County citizens felt that Shue should be hanged for his crime. On July 11, 1897, an angry mob gathered and threatened to lynch Shue, but the sheriff heard what was happening, and hid Shue in the woods before the mob could reach him. The Sheriff calmed the mob and eventually everyone went home.6
On July 13, 1897, Shue was placed in the state penitentiary where he eventually died of natural causes on March 13, 1900.7
The ordeal of the Greenbrier Ghost has sparked interest in many paranormal investigators and has made West Virginia a popular tourist attraction. No real evidence has been found on the Greenbrier ghost that Mary Jane claimed revealed her daughter’s murderer. The case is particularly interesting because at the time, investigators could not have revealed the murderer, due to the obvious lack of technology or forensic evidence. The only person that could have any other reliable testimony on the case would be the young boy that found Zona Heaster dead. From what was uncovered, the case can only be concluded as “Murder Solved by Ghost.”
- Katie Lyle, Man Who Wanted Seven Wives: The Greenbrier Ghost and the Famous Murder Mystery of 1897 (Charleston, W. Va: Quarrier, 1999), 6. ↵
- Katie Lyle, Man Who Wanted Seven Wives: The Greenbrier Ghost and the Famous Murder Mystery of 1897 (Charleston, W. Va: Quarrier, 1999), 6. ↵
- “EDITORIAL: West Virginia ghost stories recounted in new book,” Charleston Gazette, The (WV), November 01. Newspaper Source, EBSCOhost (accessed October 10, 2017). ↵
- Mike Conley, “Mike Conley’s Tales of the Weird: Ghost brings murderer to justice,” McDowell News, The (NC), August 27. Newspaper Source, EBSCOhost (accessed October 10, 2017). ↵
- Katie Lyle, Man Who Wanted Seven Wives: The Greenbrier Ghost and the Famous Murder Mystery of 1897 (Charleston, W. Va: Quarrier, 1999), 6. ↵
- “EDITORIAL: West Virginia ghost stories recounted in new book,” Charleston Gazette, The (WV), November 01. Newspaper Source, EBSCOhost (accessed October 10, 2017). ↵
- Mike Conley, “Mike Conley’s Tales of the Weird: Ghost brings murderer to justice,” McDowell News, The (NC), August 27. Newspaper Source, EBSCOhost (accessed October 10, 2017). ↵
96 comments
Evian-loren Salgado
This was a very well written and interesting article. The author included a lot of detail regarding Elva’s mysterious death. I think its interesting how due to the lack of technology they never truly found murderer but I also think its interesting how they took the mother’s “dream” as a viable testimony. The convicted her daughters husband based on a dream that she could have made up, after all she never approved of her daughters husband. Overall this was a very interesting and mysterious article.
Caroline Bush
Creepy article! The second I read that this article involves ghost I was interested. This article was interesting because of the circumstances surrounding the murder. Its a shame that well never know who really committed the murder and that Elva will never truly get the justice she deserved. I also found the ghost angel interesting because no one could prove whether the ghost Mary Jane saw was real or not. Overall this was a very interesting article that I really enjoyed reading.
Reese Lujan
Wow, this article was very interesting and wasn’t what I thought it was going to be. At first, I got the impression that Elva was killed by paranormal activity but the plot twist that she was killed by her beloved husband Shue caught me completely off guard. He played the role very well of a mourning husband but little did everyone know his “mourning” was just his cover up to not raise suspicion towards himself. Very well played the way he used the little boy as a pawn in his murder plot.
Arianna Kennet
This story is an interesting one, and it is creepy in a way how someone had came in Mary Janes dream to tell her that Shue was the murderer. It is also sad to think how due to the lack of technology before they could solve the case or find out the truth behind Heaster’s death. I guess some stories are meant to be left a mystery.
Timothy ODekirk
This article intrigued me simply by the title. Anything that has the word ghost or paranormal in it has my attention. I found this article interesting, simply because of the uncertainty of the situation. The murder was deffintally a strange one, and it seemed unclear if Shue actually committed the crime. The murder of Heaster was a truly horrific indeed, but it was not the most gruesome murder throughout history. This murder was interesting to do not truly knowing who did, or if it even was a ghost. Due to the lack of technology during the time, I guess we will never truly know who committed the crime of Heason.
Miranda Alamilla
This article struck me as something not seen very often. Most times, when someone mentions a murder plot, we think of gruesome killings. However, this article is unique in that it has paranormal activity. Mary Jane (mother) claims to know for a fact that Shue killed Elva Heaster. It was also interesting to read that only 10 out of 12 people voted for the death sentence for Shue-although it would have been the easy way out for him. Overall, the article was very good and I really like that the author tied in how the case could only be identified as “Murder Solved by Ghost.”
Alexandra Lopez
As I was reading this article, I couldn’t help but to think of it as a movie. The events that unfolded due to a ghostly vision leaves me thrilled and ready to read more. As a highly visual reader, I saw what this article was describing. Aside from the thrilling aspect of the article, I found the evolution of trials and examinations to be quite terrific. The way this case was handled was completely different than how cases today are handled. If this mystery had occurred during this century, it would’ve solely relied on evidence and not ghostly accusations.
Joshua Castro
This article was written extremely well providing a ton of information as well! Halfway through reading this I completely forgot that I was reading about something that actually happened. This story was so interesting and almost seemed like something you would make up to tell around a campfire. It’s tragic what happened to Elva, but it was good that eventually the authorities found out the real reason for her death from a GHOST out of all things. This has been one of the most fascinating articles I have read on this site!
Cheyanne Redman
I honestly had no prior knowledge before jumping into this article, but what caught my attention was the idea of the supernatural solving murder cases. The supernatural is so powerful, and personally I do believe they exist. I personally have had my own encounters with ghosts as well. I find this article very interesting because it tells such a sad and tragic story, while also giving you that nice reward at the end, which would be the ghost solving the impossible murder they were placed with.
Monica Avila
This article was a quite fascinating read, simply because you don’t read many murder mysteries being solved by ghosts. The supernatural is an indescribable phenomenon on its own, but to go hand in hand with an actual murder is unbelievable. I do happen to believe in ghosts, and feel that we as a society focus too much on scientific evidence to have faith in the supernatural to see it as a credible source. However, in this case the only evidence that was available to obtain was through Zona’s mother and her encounter with a ghost to solve her daughter’s murder.