The Martha Washington Inn

Hi, I'm Holly. And I'm Hailey. Welcome to Mountain Mysteries, Tales from Appalachia. Welcome back.

Hello. We had to take a brief pause to drink some water this week. Why were you click-frying that it was water? I don't know.

Somebody who had the whole water. Somebody who told me a really funny thing recently. I think it was our friend, Doug, who let us know that he was our gun expert guy. Oh yeah.

Well he was dead, he was no expert, but that he would be more than happy to assist us with our gun questions. So it's Doug, by the way. But he did clarify some stuff on my story, my story, from the couple killed in Jefferson Park about the guns and we chatted about that. But he also said, what did, let me see here, he said, been meaning to reach out to you with some advice after listening to your Waverly Hills episode.

Drink the wine during your after recording, not before. Thanks for just kidding. No, I mean that's a solid point. I was like, we actually didn't in that episode because that was during the daytime when we recorded that.

Right, so that's even worse. We weren't even drinking. You're welcome. That was just our natural.

Our natural chaos. Yeah. I'm so glad you joined us for it. Thanks, Doug.

No, so we're drinking water tonight, personally because my liver is still freaking out. But I mean, you know, Jesus could come in anytime and turn that into wine. Right. He's done it before.

He's done it before. He could do it again. No. Yeah.

Actually, I had some coffee tonight because I'm a little, a little on the tired side. Yeah. I'm still dealing with some liver stuff. So, yeah, I told her I said, well, I would offer you some wine, but I feel like that would just kill you.

Right. And Dr. does not recommend it currently, which is fine. And I still, I know we talked about where I bought my favorite beer before I got all the sickness.

It's still in the cases. And yet she did not bring me any time. I get it. I'm hoping at some point maybe this will all resolve and I'll be able to, you know, really enjoy those because they're just sitting on my kitchen floor and I just have to look at them.

But if you can never drink again, I would say just go ahead and bring them over. I'll just pack it all and bring them over. I'll just pack it up. Bring them over.

Yeah. It's kind of where we're at. Well, the good news is I have the story. I haven't been drinking.

I'm nothing but coffee and water. Stone cold sober. Yeah. And ready to bring you this story.

I'm ready for it. Okay, Haley. We are headed to Virginia. Hey, Abingdon, Virginia, to be exact.

Yes. We are going to talk about the Martha Washington Inn. Cool. Yeah.

It is actually now referred to as the Martha Hotel and Spa. Nice. I know. I like that.

Cool. Yeah. Anytime I hear hotel and spa, all I think of like massages and pedicures and just, I mean, things I can't afford, but it sounds really nice. Spa's kind of freaking me out.

Why? I just feel like it's a walking staff infection. I mean, probably, but you've heard everything. Well, you're probably going to get some terrible disease and die, spread throughout your body and just die one day.

Great. Thanks. Is that where you got your stuff? Did you go to a spa?

I just not. It was nothing fun like that. I don't know how I got mine. Um, now I just don't, I don't know.

Like other people like touching me. You know, I was listening to, so one of the podcasts I listened to is, she's called Pod Meath World, which is the Boy Meath World Re-Watch podcast. Anyway, so they were saying something about one of the actors said that he does not like massages because he really doesn't like being touched. And I am very similar in that it hurts actually.

Massages hurt me physically. Like I feel like I had one on my birthday, several, this was well before my son was born. So I don't know, like four years ago. And it actually awoke something in my back that was very painful.

And yeah, since then I'm like, no, thank you. But I feel like spa's you're just, it's always kind of steamy, you're a little sweaty. It's not bad that you just got people touching you sweat and just, I'm like an orgy. I just sweat, just, but none of the fun stuff.

No. Everybody's sweat just mixing together. Yeah, I'll just watch what. Oh, I don't like that.

Um, just really freaked me out. Oh, yeah. And I feel like I only have the, I'm never been to a spa. I don't know.

Maybe it's lovely, but I just keep like, I guess it's maybe the Japanese spa's where everybody's just fully naked. I think we can Korean spa. I think you need to go to other spa's. Everybody's naked and the koi fish are like eating nature.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm fine with, you know, bodies or bodies and whatever, but like I just don't really want to walk around naked.

No, me neither. No, no, outside of my own home. No, I'm really gloved. Yeah.

Yeah. I don't know. I sound like it, but maybe this one's lovely. I mean, it could be and this hotel has quite a long history.

It's actually on the historic hotels of America list. Um, I didn't know there was a thing either, but that's cool. And the National Trust for Historic Preservation. So this means cannot be torn down.

You can't alter the outside outside of it. Yeah. Like I think, because I'm trying to think you can't, you can't alter the outside because I worked in a building that was on historic registry. And it was awful because you can't alter the building at all.

Yeah. Outside the building. You can inside a little bit, but you can't like expand onto it, which is kind of annoying. I'm really sorry.

It sounds like that broke your heart. Well, fact was that, like my, um, I didn't have an office there. I shared my desk with high school students, and all weird loft situation. And then my supervisor's office was a gender closet at one point.

So then we do what we do. It was a good time out of last for a while. I taught a class on a dark dingy basement that was flooded. It did flood.

And it eventually became mildewing. And it was pretty rough stuff. Yeah, it did. Like go ahead, Holly.

Good luck with that black mold. You could teach a class. Go on. Have fun.

We had a blast. Oh yeah. All right. So let's talk about the history of this building.

All right. So in 1832, General Francis Preston decided that he wanted to build a lovely little home for his family. Oh, sweet. Yes.

Rather than making a nice little cottage, which was typical at the time period, he invested a whopping $15,000, which today would be like close to a million to build an all brick mansion. Okay. I like brick. I like mansion.

All right. Once completed, the family lived in the home for the next 26 years until General Preston and his wife, you know, kicked the bucket. At that point, the family sold the mansion to Martha Washington College for $21,000, okay, enabling the family to make a $6,000 profit, not too shabby for 1858. Not at all.

Yeah, not at all. Martha Washington College was an all girl school. And it was started in the mid 1800s and it actually ran through the Great Depression. And it was at that point where I put him out of business.

Yeah, it did most things. Exactly. That'll do it. So I could never imagine my family home being used for a college, like maybe a little whore house.

Homeward for a wayward youth, obviously. Yeah, nursing home. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. My family home, same. Or not. Maybe not.

We were to use a paper to use a prison. Maybe an office. Mental health. Mental health.

Not feeling college though. Yeah, no, me neither. Although my childhood bedroom actually was the dining room. Oh, it's fun.

Yeah. So cool. Eat and sleep. Yeah.

There you go. Anyways, it was a little rough sleeping on that dining room table. Yeah. I mean, I can see.

All right. So it was used for the college until the 1860s when the Civil War broke out. And I'll also do it. Yeah.

At that point, the mansion was being used as training ground for the Washington Mounted Rifles. And this was a Confederate unit. And if you all know your Civil War history, you know that Virginia was one of the last four states, including Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee to secede from the Union. Right.

So many other southern states, South Carolina was the first to be like, Baphalicia and North Carolina and Tennessee were actually two of the last. Yeah, they were kind of like, I don't really know how we feel about this, but North Carolina had a lot support for the Union. It did, which was interesting because even like Western North Carolina, which you would think would be more Confederate is what's pregnant. But you know, people slavery is bad.

No matter what. Yeah. It's just don't do that. So this is the large part, you know, this was due to location, the secession.

So location and fears about committing to the Confederacy, but ultimately Virginia did secede and became a Confederate state back to our story. Okay. So after several skirmishes, both Union and Confederate soldiers were brought back to the mansion for care and treatment. The mansion got a cool nickname around this time, and it was simply called the Martha.

Cool. But anytime I think of this term, the Martha, I think of Handmaid's Tale, I don't know if you've ever seen that show. No, no. It's dark.

But and the Martha's are the cooks and the caretakers. So it kind of takes on that term, you know. Gotcha. So the women who were attending this college were now working as volunteers.

So some chose to go back home when the college closed and some chose to work as volunteers to take care of these wounded soldiers. Essentially became like nurses. Right. So so much for your teaching certification.

Get out there and stop the bleeding. Maybe, you know, cut out a bullet, even learn how to amputate a limb. It's like, you know, I really know you wanted to be a Marine biologist, but how many do you cut off as guys like Robast? You know, when I think going to college as a woman in the mid 1800s, Marine biologist is not the first thing that comes to mind.

You know, I'm aspiring for greatness here. I appreciate that. I love that. And teaching is not a great profession.

It's a lovely. Yeah. But I feel like that was kind of the standard quote for women at that time. I'm like, I want to know which one of these women was in there that's like, no, I don't want to deal with children.

I want to deal with fish. I mean, quite possibly. There's one in there. Not one who was going to say, all right, it's time that we get that saw and chop off that leg.

Yeah. Yeah. Never going for it. So a post-war mark, you know, post-war Martha went back to being an all girls college that didn't teach real life experiences of removing shrapnel.

One of the valedictorians of the 1880 class was Nelly Nugent Somerville, who went on to be the first woman ever elected to the Mississippi legislature. No, they were doing big things. Yeah. I was super impressed.

So they were producing successfully educated women who could actually do get out with these men. I love that. I'm sure there were lots of teachers in there who were just like getting it done. The teachers, I mean, Marine biology biologists who were getting it done.

Teachers that are just like, I mean, I could never be a teacher. Sure. Thank you, Dale. I wouldn't be a marine biologist, but I get seasick.

Actually, I went, yes, this was, I really wanted to be a Marine biologist as a kid. Even in high school, I really wanted that, but I don't do well with boats. I felt like that was going to be a downslap, downslap, and I'm not great at science or math. I felt like that was also really needed.

Yeah, that's important for that. So no idea what's unique, I also feel like sharks sometimes. Yeah. And you have to have a dream, I mean, patch behind a year.

Still, I mean, yeah. Oh, blessed. I know. But maybe you could have, you know, back in the day, you could have attended this college, chopped off some limbs and then, you know, been a part of the legislature.

Maybe, I'm like, I'm so tired at this point, but I'm not saying that teaching is not a very noble profession or bad ass because it is. I was a teacher for many years. I work with a lot of teachers and you all are phenomenal. I just, I can't even imagine what your day today is.

I just, I can't, I can't do it. I'd rather, I'd rather be with the sharks. Well, while Haley is swimming with the sharks, I'll tell you more about this. The scare in the story.

All right. So by 1932, the college fell in hard times and like most of America, it had a closed down. It was eventually sold and reopened in 1935, this time as a hotel and it was named the Martha Washington Inn in honor of the college that had been a pivotal part of its legacy. Since the 1935 grand opening, the Martha has continued to be a fully operational Inn with improvements made over the years.

In 1984, a group of investors bought the Inn for $8 million and gave it a more modern update while maintaining the 1830s charm and character. And I'm actually glad to hear this because if they had come in and updated it to reflect a 1984 feel, I don't think it would still be open. I mean, could you imagine like early 80s decor, you know, like what that might look like? No, I'm more for the 1800s.

But I'm also thinking like what was 1800s decor like? I think in lots of like drapes and like deep colors, you know, like deep purples, deep greens, that kind of thing. That's more for mice and things stuffed with hay. Oh, but this is a mansion.

Like, well, I didn't say it didn't have mice, which you know what I'm saying? Like that's not part of the decor. Right. I should put some masks over there.

Like feather pillows and fancy quilts. Fancy quilts. Yes, fancy quilts. As opposed to, you know, when I was thinking for like 1984, which would be like red or poop brown carpeting and pink wallpaper, maybe rotary telephones with long cords and you know, televisions that were as big as a kitchen table.

Nice. Yeah, when I was a kid, we had a television that was huge and the speakers were like built into it and it was, it was a piece of furniture. Like eventually when it stopped working, we put another TV on top of it. Like it was like a piece of furniture.

It was pretty cool. So they could have even had a poster of Michael Jackson, maybe Cindy Loper on the walls very of its time. Yeah, however, they chose to go with that cool trendy mice build 1830s name, which was perfect. And the original living room of the press and mansion is used as the lobby.

Where guests come and check in. Is there indoor plumbing? I'm also thinking chamber pots. Sorry.

I they were able to take care of that. They were able to put that into a plumbing. Thank goodness. In the East parlor of the end, standing nine foot tall grandfather clock that once belonged to the Preston family, it was discovered in England when one of the Preston's daughters was visiting and she had a ship back to the US.

That seems scary. I'm just gonna say, could you imagine the shipping cost on that sucker? And then like, you know, rough they are with luggage. Like, right?

That's just it. I mean, I think like all I think is the cost, like, especially if it was by the weight, like I get nervous and you know, chilies gift card in the mail. I'm like, Oh my God, I'm gonna have to double stamp this. Exactly.

Like what tone does send? Could you just imagine the clock that weighs? I can't imagine. So today, the Martha Washington Inn has expanded to be a hotel in spa where they offer self care treatments to make you feel pampered.

Okay. Cool. And you know, any kind of staff in the picture? It sounds very luxurious.

And if you're planning to stay there, there are a few things that you may want to know. I'm sure it's very clean. Oh, it is clean, but also it's sort of kind of haunted. Of course it is.

How could it not I mean, we wouldn't do an episode about it if it wasn't. Right. I was like, what a cool thing. Wow.

What a neat building. Thank you for telling us that. Remember how I told you that college students would step in and provide medical care to wounded soldiers, both Union and Confederate? Well, when a Union captain named John Stoves was severely wounded, his troop carried him from the battleground through a cave system that was underneath the city of Africa.

It was state out of caves. It was a whole underground like tunnel. Nothing good to come out of that. Okay.

Nothing good. There's spooky stuff in caves. That's like portal to another to hell. I mean, I just stay out of caves.

And the woods and the woods caves and woods stay out of caves. So caves alone. So he's taken through the cave under the city of Abingdon and then up a secret stairway to the third floor of the Martha out of the cave. Yes.

Oh, because they were underneath the streets and we'll get into a story about that. I'm thinking about doing one because it's fascinating. Yeah, I like that. Yeah, it's so creepy.

So he was placed in what is now known as room 403. And most people did not think that he would survive his injuries. They were pretty severe. So a young student turned to nurse, maybe hoping to be that, you know, marine biologist.

Her name was Beth. She began taking care of him. All right. Let's get it.

In order to help him forget about his pain, she would lovingly play the violin for him. And eventually, you fell in love. Oh my God. I kind of like this.

This sounds like a lifetime movie like he was a Union soldier. She was a Confederate nurse who played the violin and opened up his heart after he came from the depths of the cave. Squirting blood. And then it turns into like a terrifying horror movie of like the devil's inside him.

From the cave. I got you hot. It's a beautiful story. It's a beautiful story.

And you know, she had that admiration and crush on him and vice versa. And it's kind of unlikely because obviously she's in the south. She's probably more pro-competency. But she lovingly cares for him.

Sadly, they were never able to embark on their love. As one day, John blurted out. I'm trying not to laugh at this because it's kind of funny. This is funny.

Okay. Because it's kind of funny and I have to say it correctly. Play something for me, Beth. I'm going.

Going where? I'm going. I'm dying. All right.

Maybe it. Okay. I'll do it this way. Hey, it's going.

Is that better? That's not like something straight from the experience. Well, I mean, it once was a love story. It's coming from the cave.

Exactly. So he's saying he's dying. Play something for me. I'm hitting the bricks.

I'm dying. I'm like, what do you know? A doctor? But he himself knows his body.

He knows that this is it. I think he's being dramatic. He wasn't actually. He's being any man with a cold.

He had slightly more than a cold. So before Beth could, you know, round up her violin and get going. John bit the dust and succumb to his wounds. So clearly he knew he was going.

My bad John. Sorry. Hey, if I say play some for me, Haley. I'm going.

I'm going. I'm going. I'm going to be like, nah, I'm going to be right. She does it all the way up.

Oh, man. Hey, at least I call a man. I don't even play an instrument. I'm playing maybe your armpit.

Oh, I can't even do that. That's a skill. No, I play nobody's going to. But you have that line.

Play some for me, Beth. That's over. You going to the other side. Meet you there, baby.

Beth was devastated that she couldn't play one last song for him. And around the same time, a Confederate soldier came in saying that he needed to take John in as prisoner. John said that. Well, wait for it.

Beth got very upset and stated that he, John, had been pardoned by an officer higher than General Lee. And that it didn't matter anymore because he was dead. So who pardoned him? Jesus.

Exactly. He had been pardoned by Jesus. First, Jesus came to us and turned our water into one. And then he pardoned John and allowed him to go to the other side with peace.

Yeah. That's kind of beautiful. She then began playing a sweet southern melody while he lay on the bed dead as a tribute to him. All right.

Come on. I can see it. That's the emails and be like, you were lying. You were drunk as I'll get out.

All right. So she was playing the beautiful music for him. Several weeks later, Beth herself would die of typhoid fever. I got to think though.

Sorry. It's probably more broken heart in a way. And typhoid fever. I got to like come back from typhoid fever at the time.

I think like once you get it, it's like, you know, yes. But I mean, it's hard or not. I think if it's typhoid fever, you're trying to just do it. But I also think, you know, they were, their souls were maybe kind of meant to be together.

So she had to hurry up and bite the dust so that they could reunite in heaven. Typhoid fever was the answer. Heaven had no union or Confederacy. Heaven brings us all together.

It doesn't matter. That's, that's the reality. I don't, I mean, slavery's bad. Just throw that in there.

She had typhoid fever, but also a broken heart. So over the coming years and decades, students teachers and eventually guests of the Martha N have stated that they have heard a violin play, particularly in room 403. That's some maintenance person is just like in the next room, but just who drops the broom and pulls out of island. No, I'm saying they're just walking around with it on like a, like a portable speaker and they're just like playing it randomly.

That's what that is. So Beth's ghost is known as the Yankee sweetheart. I like that. It's kind of fun.

The Yankee sweetheart. Okay. So that's one. Another weird phenomenon is the reappearing bloodstang.

This is a good one. So story goes that a young Confederate soldier was an Abingdon to deliver important papers from generally. He went to the Martha of the hospital to meet up with his girlfriend, who was a student slash nurse there slash marine biologist. When two union soldiers found him, he tried to escape through the Abingdon caves, but he was caught before he could do so and killed in front of his lady love.

Oh man. It is said that. Wait, was she in the cave? So no, he was trying to get to the cave, but they were still in the hospital.

And so yeah, it is said that you can still see the blood stains on the floor. And obviously they've cleaned them up, but they keep reappearing. We did an episode about the chapel of rest. Remember that?

We got weird blood there too. Yeah, that just kept reappearing. Yeah. And they also were like, you know what, enough of this.

Let's just cover it with that cool 1984 red carbon to what happens. And holes started to appear with the blood stains. It feels like maybe he was radioactive. I'm not like, like maybe he had something I'm not afraid of.

Like, I don't think this is the time of mustard gas, but like we might want to look into that. I mean, what is the point? Like, I mean, I get it. It was horrible.

You died so tragic. But why you have to keep ruining our carpet? Take your blood with you and get out of here. Take your holes, take your blood and just move on.

Get out. Yeah. It's very sad. Stop it.

So that's another story. This other one is of the Phantom Horse. So a Phantom Horse waits for its master outside the front steps. And so they say that a Union soldier was actually shot in front of the Martha in around 1864.

And on moonless nights, the horse has been seen roaming the grounds searching for its owner and awaiting the call to ride home. So did the horse also get you out? No, but see, the horse died at the later time and then came back for the owner. Apparently.

Sorry, just trying to follow this whole it's it's something. Okay. The other one is the basement wall. So the basement just again, I'm fine with basements.

I mean, my basement, my house is kind of creepy. And that's where you were living for a while. No, I have my new house. Oh, I've been down there.

Spooky. We'll have to go down there. Yeah, it's something. Hold my hand.

Sure. So this basement holds the spirits of black slaves and they were kept in an underground chamber and some were buried within its stone walls. Oh, that's not terrifying. They saw their vengeance.

Yeah. And then another one is the Trail of Mud. So numerous accounts of a soldier hobbling with a help from a crutch and leaving a trail of mud in his wake has been reported from the hallway of the inn. Why was he money?

How's he money? Well, I guess from the trenches, maybe he was bringing the mud in with him as he was hobbling. Yeah. And long past medical help, there is only speculation why he is there at the old hospital.

Yeah. Okay. He apparently leaves a hideous mangle of bone in, you know, flesh and he has a split in his head. Is he just a blob?

Oh, like, blobbing it up. Watch the mud. I don't know. I don't like that one.

Yeah, that's kind of creepy. And last but not least, the angry spirit in the tunnel. Remember how we talked about the caves in the tunnel? No, a tunnel once connected the martial martial Martha Washington Inn with the barter theater.

So I don't know if you know much about that. I know a lot about the barter theater. Have you ever been there? I've been the barter theater.

I've danced at the barter theater and I was in college on the dance team. We dance there every year at Christmas or at Christmas time. You know, I lived in Edmonton. Beautiful theater.

It is really beautiful. Barter has some fantastic shows. Old, legendary, that kind of thing. Yeah, beautiful, spooky.

Also spooky. 100%. Maybe we'll talk about that. So the entrance on the ends side has been closed off for many years, but the section below the theater is still used to run electrical cables and actors who use the tunnel to walk in between the inn and the theater in the 1930s and 40s have reported encountering a malevolent spirit.

No, thanks. Yeah, it's never been seen, but it's been sensed as a strong evil presence. I don't like that. The spirit is believed to have been either a man who was killed when the tunnel collapsed in 1890.

We've got to do a story about that. Or a Confederate soldier who used the tunnel to smuggle ammunition out of the inn's basement during the Civil War. No matter what. I mean, still, I mean, both of those are, I mean, so what, you're smuggling ammunition?

So why are you an evil spirit? Yeah, I don't know. Something's weird about that. So like I said, we're going to talk about the tunnels maybe in another episode because that's just crazy.

So I mean, here you got this inn that is still functioning really, really beautiful. I'll post a photo of it for the episode and a great place to go and get your massage and also see some terrifying shit. Yeah. I'll try to borrow Ali actually.

I tell this, I think we can skip this ball part and just go for the scary stuff. Could we do both? I think that, you know, if I give a little bit to you, you need to give a little bit to me. We can, as long as no one touches me.

Can they look at you directly? Questionable. Maybe. We'll see how that goes.

What if the ghost is like, ready for you, massage? I'll be playing some violin. I do love the violin. I think it's beautiful.

I love the violin. It's so classy. It's my favorite. I've always thought though that it would create that double chin.

You know what I'm saying? Kind of a weird neck thing. I would think, I would look very unsexy playing the violin, even though I love the sound of it. I would not look attractive.

But anyway, so that's my story on the Martha Washington Inn and the fact that it's haunted and has such a storied history. I do too. Definitely. That was a list.

Absolutely. We'll do it. So if you all have any experiences at the Martha Washington Inn or Tails or you live in around Abington and you know more about this, please just let us know. You can do that by emailing us at mountainmysteries.appletchen at gmail.com.

You can find us on Facebook at mountainmysteries. You can send us a message via Instagram or just support us on Instagram. Follow us. That's it.

Follow. Yeah. Something. Exactly.

Well, I think that's Facebook. Yeah. Because Instagram has a little heart. Click the heart.

At mountainmysteries.appletchen.com. And last but not least, you can get extra content. That's right. Bota's content from Haley and I.

Extra episodes, you know, episodes where we flub, I can't believe that. We never do something like that. And that is patreon.com slash mountainmysteries. Haley, you got us a shout out.

Sure. Let's go to Jenkins Kentucky. Oh, hey, Jenkins Kentucky. Thank you for listening.

All right, y'all. We will catch you next week. Let us know how your stay was at the Martha. Bye.

Bye y'all.