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
Rebekah Esquivel
I personally really like to read about murder cases. Although it is a sad and sometimes frustrating situation they all have their own unique cases and stories. This one is a pretty interesting story because they actually took Hester’s mothers testimony about her visions. In todays legal system those kind of things would never be used as there is no proof that these visions are reliable sources. It makes me wonder how many crimes were unsolved or people were wrongly accused due to a lack of technology and rules on what can be used in court.
Marco Picardo
This was a very interesting article that. drew me in quite well. I am one to believe that paranormal forces and ghosts do infect exist. And in this case the paranormal force helped solve the death of Mary Jane’s daughter. I find that violent deaths are more likely to bring out paranormal activity rather than peaceful deaths. Overall good article.
Briana Myers
It is really interesting to read about how this case was solved because Heaster’s mother had visions. It is not something that I had ever heard about, but the murderer was found. It is very surprising how the mother was even feeling physically ill due to the things she was seeing. It is unfortunate that she died but at least justice was achieved. This was a very well written and interesting article.
Richard Navarro
This is a pretty interesting article. I’ll never understand why someone would murder their spouse. Why not just leave them? Anyways, its crazy how a ghost proved this murder. I would like to see a case like this in modern day to see how far it gets dragged out. Imagine how the mother felt after the ghost went and spoke to her, did she have PTSD after that?
Eduardo Foster
This is a very interesting article! I have never heard the story before the article. The story is very shocking. I have never read a story so impacting in which the husband kills her wife and in such way. The case if it was held today it would be solve very quickly in comparison to back at the time. Great article!
Lisa Varela
Wow, what a story! According to accounts Zona Heaster and Erasmus Stribbling Shue were “known to be inseparable”, so what could have caused him to kill his wife? We may never know the answer to that, however, thanks to Mary Jane her daughter was able to get justice for what happened to her. This story makes me wonder if it was a mother’s gut feeling and the need for justice for her daughter’s death or was the paranormal involved? Great article!
Veronica Spryszynski
I do agree that Shue was acting very odd by not letting anyone carefully examine her body or be too close to it. When he dressed her in a “stiff collared” dress it foreshadows he was covering up the bruises on her neck. Although I still do think that there is a possibility that Shue did not murder Zona due to lack of sufficient evidence.
Robert Rees
What I found fascinating about this article were the events following Zona’s death. As a political science major, learning about old criminal justice practices is exciting. While I understand that the same understanding of forensic science did not exist in the 1800’s I find it interesting that Shue did not receive any repercussions after he moved her body. I also found Dr. Knapp’s actions to be particularly intriguing, why would he not conduct an actual examination of Zona’s body before declaring the cause of death? Overall this article does a fantastic job of providing insight on outdated criminal justice practices.
Amanda Figueroa
I usually don’t like reading stories about ghosts and paranormal activities because I get scared easily and start to overthink, but this was a very well written article. I had never heard of this mystery and it is crazy to think that someone could kill their spouse. Also, the boy must have been dramatized from seeing the body. The weirdest part is that Shue carried her up the stairs and dressed her.
Grace Bell
This article was very interesting to me, I love a good ghost story and reading about one is so cool. I have never heard of the Greenbriar ghost story, so I really liked getting informed on the story and the situation that was at hand. You did a great job on this article, and I think this will inform a lot of people on the story and get a better understanding of it.