The Dillon herald. [volume] (Dillon, S.C.) 1894-????, 1911-08-10
A GREENwooD COUNTY GHOST.
Story of the Voice That Haunted
the Old Isaac Burnett Place

.
the Old Isaac Burnett Place.
After leaving the old DeVore
! place We come to a house, the site
OF the old home>of an early settler,
! Isaac Burnett, where in the year
1879, almost one hundred years ago
was observed by hundreds one OF
the most peculiar phenomena in this
or any other country. This place
was referred to as the Haunted
House" of the House with the
Spirit" etc. In early childhood the
tales of what had happened here
used to make the writer's hair
stand on end, especially when told
by rainy nights with other ghostly
tales. This thing or that thing" !"
as 1t was generally referred to
was voice that spoke from out of
space, recognized human beings by
name, told their history, and made
the house a point of interest to
hundreds of visitors while it last
ed. The writer has one or two old
newspaper clippings about it and
has heard of it, as has every one
else in that and neighboring sec
tions, as far back as he can re-
member almost.
Mr.. ]. H. Burnett, here in Green
wood, is a grandson if the Isaac
Burnett who owned the place then
and from him a short statement
was secured.
The voice was first heard in
1929. He only knows what his
father, S. ]. Burnett, told him of it.
1t was first heard as a whistle in a
plum thicket near the house 1t
attracted attention because it was
Kept up and the family thought it
was some of the boys in the neigh
borhood hiding in the thicket and
trying to get someone to look for
them. The whistle left the plum
thicket and gradually drew near
the house, that it would be heard
at intervals, not all the times, but
each time it would be nearer than
before. When it had aimsto reach
that 1t was forming words with a
whistling sound. Soon what was
said could be distinguished very
clearly, though it was always with
this whistling or wheeling sound.
The family not being able to see
any one and not being able to solve
the mystery, became greatly annoy
ed and some of them more or less
alarmed. The voice apparently rec
oznized this, for it said frequently
that 1t would harm no one, that it
was useless to move out of the
house, that it would follow them,
and several times it said that it
was 125 years old. People from
miles around came to hear it. The
Rev. Nichols w. Hodges, the pioneer
Baptist preacher, the one who is
buried at Mt. Moriah, came to hear
1t and talked with it, The voice
seemed to get angry with him and
Ilnally refused to answer questions.
The voice seemed to get nearer a
daughter of Mr.. Isaac Burnett,
Martha by name, than any one else
and greatly annoyed her. At the
suggestion of the Rev. Mr.. Hodges
she repeated to it the New Testa-
ment verse, 1 Tim. lis. This is
a faithful saying, worthy of all ac-
ceptation; Christ Jesus came into
the world to save Sinners" and it
left her. Whereupon Mr.. Hodges
pronounced it an evil spirit The
voice was heard in two other places
In the neighborhood for a short
time once or twice only, one time
at Mr.. Rogers and another at
Mr.. Shettleworth's house. Once
a man named Wash Hall came from
Georgia to hear it. He had lived
in the neighborhood. The voice
recognized him and told him what
had happened to him since he left.
The voice left the house at it had
come, after time being heard on
ly in the yard, then little farther
away, a little farther each time un-
til it had disappeared entirely. 1t
lasted almost year.
This then is the statement at first
hand from a member of the fam
lily. This remarkable thing" ex-
ercised itself in 1929, What it was
at that late day and time is a prob
lem we will not attempt to solve.
The easiest explanation is that
there was a ventriloquist in that
neighborhood or in the immediate
radius of the house and that the
owner of that voice used it as
above described. The older people
light around it would not admit of
this solution, as no person could be
round who had such a voice or at
least it was never exercised around
there anywhere, and II such was
the case the owner carried the mys-
try with him or her to the grave.
Mr.. j. H. Burnett does not believe
1t was ventriloquist, though he
says he cannot offer any explana-
tlnn. - Greenwood Index