THE UNFAMILIAR GUESTS

Located in Decatur near the Tennessee River is the Burleson/McEntire house. It has been around for almost 175 years and has had its share of misfortune. The columns are riddled with bullet holes from the Civil War when it was occupied by both the north and south forces. It is best known for its two ghosts that have been seen since then adding to the history of the plantation manor.

It was built in 1824 by Jesse Whorton and has changed owners several times until the Civil War when it was owned by Mr. & Mrs. A.A. Burelson. Most of its not notoriety came from the war, when it was used as a hospital and command center by both the Union and Confederate troops. It was around the home's dining room table that Gen. Johnston planned the Battle of Shiloh. After the fall of Vicksburg, Union generals Grant, Sherman, and Blair had meetings there and Gen. Dodge used it for his headquarters in 1864.

One of the hauntings could be a Union soldier that had been mortally wounded by a barrage of bullets from the Rebel soldiers near the First National Bank Building. He was taken to the Burlson house and died shortly after. With the Confederates taking control of the city they couldn't give him a proper burial, so they temporarily buried him under the floorboards of the parlor. Within a few days the Union had got back the city, including the Burleson house, and they were able to take his body out for a proper interment.

LeRoy McEntire related a myterious tale that had happened to him. "I was walking home from grammar school," he told a newspaper reporter, "and when I got to the earth bridge, it's paved now, I looked up at the top of the house and saw Papa. At least I thought it was him."

He ran inside to ask his mother why his father was on the roof of the house. She said he wasn't home at all, but working several miles away. LeRoy went to the attic but all the doors and windows leading out to the roof were locked. He never did find out what it was that he had seen.

There are two other possible causes of the male apparition.

The Burleson house one of only five buildings that survived the devastation from the war. Because of where it was located and the condition it was in, the carpetbaggers used it for most of their political meetings and speeches.

Judge Carlton stayed there for awhile and was a carpetbagger and very anti-Klan, which caused the people of Decatur to detest him. There were many threats against his life which made him plan to take off for Mexico. After going to the bank to get money for the trip and was going back to the house to pack. His body was found half-way between the town and the house, which was only a few blocks. The money was missing. His murderer was never caught, but the Ku Klux Klan was thought to have been to blame.

The third possible cause of the haunting is a paymaster that was killed in front of the gate. He was on his way to pay the troops that were stationed at the house.

The second ghost is a woman in a white gown that hasn't been identified.

It was the daughter of Jerome Hinds who had the first sighting. She stated that her parents bedroom has haunted for many years. One night her mother woke up see a dark-haired woman looking at them from the foot of the bed.

Several years later, Mrs. Frank Brown said that after they had rented the house the ghost had come back. When they were children Mrs. Brown and her sister stayed in the same bedroom and had the same experience of a woman in white staring at them. They promptly traded bedrooms with their brothers. The brothers didn't stay in the room for long as they saw the same ghost.

A visitor reported seeing a lighted candle moving back and forth above the door to the hallway. It came toward her and exploded near her face.

Even though the bedroom is above the parlor where the soldier had been buried, there is no indication that the spirits are connected in any way.

The house seems to be tough enough to stay standing for another century, and the occasional spiritual guest with it.