Cahill House News Article

In the above photo there appears to be a ghostly form of a woman standing next to the fireman. She is on his right side. She has on a long dress and seems to be looking out onto the area below. Her features are visible in detail as are her hands.

Cahill House Destroyed in Fire:

Spirits Free?

By Nanci Campbell

Daily Herald Staff Writer

The state fire marshall has been summoned to investigate a fire which destroyed an old residence on Kimball Drive, a once elite three story house long suspected by many to be haunted. Flames erupted in the second story of the frame structure about 1;20 p.m., where ironically a seance had been held the night before. Owned by Dr. Kandall Gregory of Gulfport the home had been unoccupied since June 1969. The seance was held with the Gregory's permission. Gulfport Fire Superintendent Haynie said at the scene that the "fire was suspicious". Numerous groups most of them having the Gregory's consent have visited the home in recent months to delve into the supernatural mysteries which have been reported there.The Reverend David Bubar a former Baptist minister from Memphis, a para-psychologist, visited the home last fall and predicted the structure would be destroyed by fire before it could be demolished.

"Small fires have appeared unaccountably for years in the building and Bubar said "spirits" inhabiting the home could not be set free until a fire destroyed the house. Vacant for over a year the house was scheduled to be torn down in the near future and the properly subdivided. Hurricane Camille had delayed the demolition of the house. The unexplained fires have occurred time and again and some were discussed by Mrs. Gregory at Dr. Barbars investigation.

"My son walked into his bedroom one afternoon and his school jacket, laying across his bed burst into flames. It was partially destroyed before he could put out the fire. That was Nov. 17,1963."

"I came in from shopping one day," she recalled, "and upon opening the cabinet under the kitchen sink, saw a little red candle burning there. I called my maid, accusing her of trying to burn the house down. The maid said she had found a candle earlier in the same location."

A generation of of coast people have grown up under the whispered rumor that "the old Cahill House is Haunted." Since Hurricane Camille, several windows in the home were boarded up and rain damaged the flooring on the third level. During the Gregory's occupancy of the home they were plagued by numerous occurrences that could not be explained.

"My feeling on moving here was simply one of not being alone. I felt like I was always being watched," Mrs Gregory said. "We were often awakened to hear what sounded like footsteps running through our room. In the same room my son awoke to what looked like a little boy about 4 years old coming out of the closet. The child continued on through the bedroom and out the door. My son ran after him and there was no one there." Reporting another instance she said, "My son was sleeping on the den sofa and at 4:30 a.m. was awakened to see a luminous figure flowing in the darkness. It moved across the room until as it reached the far window it disintegrated."

"On the day President Kennedy was assassinated , my children awoke in the morning to see what appeared to be blood dripping down their draperies and smeared on the window pane. None of us had an injury. Dr. Gregory took samples of the substance and examined it at his office. It was type RH positive human blood. The owners of the house have heard footsteps on the stairs, terrible moaning sounds and screams. Mrs. Gregory said she started wearing ear plugs so she couldn't hear the sounds as well. The Gregorys related other strange events that happened while others resided in the house. The son of former owners met accidental death on the grounds in a tractor mishap. The spirits speaking through Babar told of murders, of bodies of women and children being butchered in an upstairs bathroom, of young women "brought over from Louisiana" being abused and of abortions at the house. The "spirits" claimed to be of those people who met violent deaths while the house was in use as an NCO Club during WWII. The structure built in 1915 by William Stewart was a subject of interest in April 1969 to Susie Smith, noted parapsychologist, ghost hunter and author. A chapter of her most recent book is devoted to the Cahill House.