This bizarre case happened in the United States in the last century.
How could a young, healthy woman suddenly pass away, falling into an “eternal sleep”?
That question haunted a woman named Mary Jane Heaster, from Greenbrier County, West Virginia, during the winter nights of 1897 after her daughter Zona died in January of that year.
Dreams of a Mother
At that time, Mary kept dreaming of her daughter. Zona appeared beside her bed and tried to climb up, according to Mary’s account. Zona’s body felt very cold, and she tried to tell her mother:
“It wasn’t a heart attack that took my life. I
was murdered.”
Later, official documents recorded this case as one of the rare instances solved thanks to the dreams of a victim’s family member.
A Strange Marriage
In October 1896, Zona, then 23 years old, met Edward Shue, a 37-year-old blacksmith, while running errands in town. A few weeks later, the couple married despite Mary’s strong objections. They settled in a house near Edward’s blacksmith shop.
Just three months later, on January 23, 1897, Zona was found lifeless at the bottom of the stairs by a neighborhood boy named Andy Jones.
Andy rushed to inform Edward at the shop, while his mother called Dr. George Knapp. By the time the doctor arrived, Zona’s body had already been moved to the bed and dressed in a high-collared funeral gown.
Rumors and Suspicions
Soon, rumors spread across the community. People whispered that Zona had given birth to an illegitimate child, and that Edward had already been married twice.
From his first marriage (to an unknown woman), he had a child named Girta, but the couple divorced in 1889.
His second wife, Lucy, had died mysteriously. Some said she slipped while walking on the snowy road while pregnant. Others claimed she had been struck in the head with a brick or poisoned to death.
Mary, who had never liked Edward, believed her dreams confirmed her suspicions. Zona came to visit her mother in dreams for four nights in a row, confessing that Edward had killed her.
Zona even revealed that on the night of her death, Edward became furious because she refused to eat meat for dinner. He beat her and broke her neck.
The Truth Revealed
The next morning, Mary went straight to Prosecutor John Alfred Preston, who agreed to reopen the case. He spoke with Dr. George Knapp, who admitted he hadn’t carefully examined Zona’s body and noted bruising on her neck at the time of death.
Locals also reported Edward’s strange behavior at the funeral—he wouldn’t let anyone near the coffin and had placed a pillow under Zona’s head.
With this evidence, Preston ordered the exhumation of Zona’s body. The autopsy revealed:
Her neck was broken, dislocated between the first and second vertebrae.
Her windpipe was crushed, indicating strangulation.
Edward was arrested soon after.
Trial and Sentence
The trial lasted eight days. On the sixth day, Edward defended himself but rambled on, blaming others for framing him.
After just over an hour of deliberation, the jury found him guilty and sentenced him to life imprisonment. He was sent to the state penitentiary in Moundsville.
Legacy of the “Greenbrier Ghost”
Today, along Route 60, a historical marker stands to remind passersby of the strange case—one that was solved by none other than the “ghost” of the victim herself.
