The Greenbrier Ghost: The Only Time a Ghost Helped Convict a Killer

The Greenbrier Ghost: The Only Time a Ghost Helped Convict a Killer

The Only Time a Ghost's Testimony Convicted a Murderer By USA 360| True Crime & Paranormal History I n the modern legal system, we rely on DNA, fingerprints, and video surveillance. But in 1897, in a small courthouse in West Virginia, a prosecutor relied on something else entirely: the word of a ghost. This sounds like a campfire story, but the legal records confirm it. The Greenbrier Ghost is the only known case in American history where the testimony of a spirit was accepted as part of the evidence that sent a man to prison. The Sudden Death of Zona Heaster The story begins with Elva Zona Heaster, a young, vibrant woman who fell in love with a stranger named Erasmus Shue. Despite her mother's bad feeling about him, Zona married Shue. Three months later, on a cold January day, Zona was found dead at the bottom of the stairs in her home. When the local doctor arrived, the husband, Shue, was acting strangely. He had already dressed Zona’s body in a high-necked dress and a stiff c…