Shortly after marrying drifter Edward Shue, Elva Zona Heaster of Greenbrier County, West Virginia, was found dead. Her cause of death was listed as “everlasting faint,” but this was soon changed to “childbirth.” Her physician, who was also the county coroner, had been treating her for “female trouble” for two weeks prior to her death, but it cannot be confirmed that Zona was pregnant.

Four weeks later, in February 1897, Zona’s mother, Mary Jean Heaster, claimed that her daughter’s spirit appeared to her over the course of four evenings. Mrs. Heaster said an entity first developed as a bright light before gradually materializing into her late daughter’s form. Mrs. Heaster also said when the spirit spoke, she spilled the beans.

The being, speaking as Zona, said that Shue had broken her neck in a fit of rage because she had not cooked meat for dinner. The ghost, according to Mrs. Heaster, turned her head around until it was facing backwards.

After her “visions,” Mrs. Heaster convinced the local prosecutor to reopen the investigation into her daughter’s death. Zona’s body was exhumed and an autopsy performed. The results showed that her neck had been broken and her windpipe smashed, findings consistent with what Mrs. Heaster said her daughter’s ghost had told her.

Zona Heaster Shue

Whether or not the prosecutor believed Mrs. Hester’s claims of being visited by her late daughter is unknown, but the evidence gleaned from the autopsy was enough to charge Edward Shue with Zona’s murder.

As the defense had introduced the issue of the ghost at the trial, the judge found no basis to disregard it as evidence. As far as I could determine, this was the first American case since the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 to allow “Spectral Evidence,” i.e. that based on dreams and visions.

The spirits, however, were never mentioned by the prosecution in any of the known reports of the case. The unusual evidence was not needed as Edward Shue put his foot in his mouth. On the witness stand, he spoke of wishing to wed seven women and berated the state for having no evidence against him.

Shue’s sordid past also came to light. Zona was his third wife, and his previous two brides had accused him of beating them. Shue’s first marriage ended in divorce while his second wife died under mysterious circumstances less than a year after they were wed.

Edward Shue was convicted of Zona’s murder and sentenced to life in prison. He died in 1900 after serving nearly three years.

Zona And Edward

Mary Jane Heaster never liked Edward Shue and was opposed to her daughter’s marrying him. Some believe she concocted the story of the ghost in order to have her daughter’s remains exhumed and an autopsy performed. If so, her unusual plan worked to perfection.

Mrs. Heaster died in 1916, never wavering in her account of seeing her daughter’s ghost during those four evenings after Zona’s murder. She never claimed to have heard from Zona’s spirit again.

Mary Jane Heaster

Zona’s Mom

 

The late Zona Heaster Shue, AKA the Greenbrier Ghost, was apparently content that justice had been served.

Zona Can Rest 

Painting By Misty Murray-Walkup 

The Home Where The Murder Occurred

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/5015852/zona-shue#

SOURCES:

• Baltimore American
• Guinness Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits
• Skeptoid
• Wonderful West Virginia—the Magazine