In 1880, a man named Daniel Keith was charged with raping and killing a young girl in Rutherford County, North Carolina. While in jail, Mr. Keith steadfastly maintained his innocence, denying being anywhere near the scene of the crime. He was, nonetheless, found guilty and sentenced to hang. On more than one occasion, he told Sheriff Noah Walker, "I am absolutely innocent, but am going to hang for someone else's crime.  The soul of an innocent man shall not rest". 

This troubled Sheriff Walker, and, indeed, family renditions of this true story often have Uncle Noah somewhat troubled at the prospect of taking Mr. Keith to the gallows; it is said Sheriff Walker was not totally convinced of his guilt.

Still, the sheriff was bound to carry out the sentence, and Mr Daniel Keith was duly hanged.  Shortly after the hanging, Sheriff Walker heard a commotion outside the small jail on S. Main St.  He went out to see what the fuss was about, and, there, on the side of the jail was a shadow of a huge, burly man hanging by a rope, and quite a few town citizens pointing and talking loudly about it!  Mr. Walker was not the only one who had heard Mr. Keith's protestations of innocence. 

Quickly the sheriff found himself alone in his small office because the spooked citizens who used to drop by for a cup of coffee no longer came!  People would cross to the other side of the street rather than pass by the jail with what was was obviously Daniel Keith "hanging" on the side of the jail! 

The commotion this "ha'nt" was causing would never do, so Sheriff Walker whitewashed the side of the jail to cover it up.  Well and good, except.......the shadow returned!   Which made the townspeople more convinced that the jail was "ha'nted"!  Mr. Walker, anxious to calm people's fears and get his morning coffee group back together, whitewashed the jail again.   And again.  And AGAIN!  Each time the shadow of a large man hanging by a rope returned.  In desperation, Noah Walker planted a fast growing ivy vine which, eventually, covered up the ghostly "image".

 As a child of 7, I heard this story from my mother's family while living in Rutherford County.  On a dare--a dee double dog dare, which is just about the most "dare" a child can receive, I peeked in between this vine and beheld the dark outlines of what "seemed" to be a huge man and a rope extending to the top of the eaves.   It scared the living crap out of me, and I had nightmares for weeks!  This was in 1954.  The old jail was torn down around 1960, and there is a vacant lot there now.  Interestingly, and maybe concidentally, every business that ever located on the place where that jail sat went bankrupt!

Notes:  This part of Rutherford County History is well documented in Rutherford archives and was once in a book called "North Carolina Ghost Tales" which, I understand, is out of print.  Noah Walker was my g-g-g-g-uncle on my mother's side (Walker) and is buried in the cemetary of Green Hill Baptist Church, where the Walkers have attended since it was founded.

I hope you enjoy this tale because, whether or not the story contains a "ghost," the incident is true.

Jerry Walker Oxendine
Gastonia, NC