Hey everybody it’s colin brown here from The paranormal files and welcome to Scary story Saturday where we’re going to bring you Some of the scariest stories from the United states and the world We tend to focus on true crime and Paranormal activity That middle ground between the two of Them and today’s story is the perfect Example of that if you enjoy the way That i’m narrating these stories and you Want to hear more of them Please be sure to give this video a like Leave me a comment letting me know a Story you’d like to hear me tell and Above all be sure to subscribe to the Channel and turn your notifications on So you can see when i post new videos Anyways this is a very very crazy story I don’t think you guys are gonna believe What you’re about to hear but uh Let’s just get right into it now Back in 1873 there was a young woman Born in greenbriar county west virginia Named elva zona hester She went by zona there isn’t a lot of Information on zona’s early life Available online but According to historians familiar with This case she had a pretty average Upbringing Now back in the late 1800s having a Child when you were not married was very
Frowned upon And unfortunately for zona she gave Birth to a child out of wedlock in 1885. She was left alone to raise the baby Stressed out and under a lot of pressure To succeed and give her baby a great Life Then along to the small town of Richland’s west virginia came erasmus Shoe Erasmus stribbling trout shoe was a Handsome young man who at the time that He arrived in greenbrier county was Going by the name Edward he was a drifter who picked up Work where he could and he traveled Frequently When edward arrived in this new Community he began working in a Blacksmith shop owned by a local Businessman James crookshanks only shortly after Edward got into town he met zona and the Two fell Deeply in love it’s interesting to note That zona’s mother A woman named mary jane hester expressed Her distrust in edward to zona Immediately But she couldn’t put her finger on why She didn’t like him but nonetheless Zona and edward were soon married on October 20th 1896 Moved away from the area to the
Community of livisay’s mill and began Building a new life with one another But there were a lot of alarming things About edward’s past that he had never Told his new wife For example obviously his name was not Edward and it was in fact Erasmus he had previously served out a Prison sentence in the penitentiary for Stealing a horse And he had already been married twice Both of these previous marriages had Ended in some sort of tragedy The first marriage fell apart when Edward’s wife took his son and abandoned Him Fleeing from edward to escape the years Of physical abuse that she had endured At his hands Edward’s second wife died a sudden and Unexplainable death Apparently she was helping her husband Fix a chimney standing beneath him while He was up on the roof working when a Brick Fell from the rooftop and struck her in The head killing her instantly Edward was never charged with her death And it was soon afterwards when he Arrived in richland’s and met zona On the morning of january 23 1897 edward Was working in the blacksmith shop when He took a short break and headed to a Home of a neighbor who lived close to
The shop He asked the young son at the house who Often times did chores for zona and Edward If he could run over to his house and Ask his wife zona if she needed anything From the store as she had been feeling Sick that day so The young child runs over to edward’s House and is met with a grisly discovery At the bottom of the stairs in the log Cabin laid zona dead She was face down with one arm Outstretched and her legs sitting Straight Her other arm was tucked beneath her Chest and her head tilted slightly The child ran back to the blacksmith Shop to inform edward about what he had Found and Hearing that his wife was presumably Dead edward rushed home as fast as Possible Edward then called for the local doctor And coroner george knapp to come out to The home to try help bring zona back to Life But by the time dr knapp arrived at the Log cabin he was met with a peculiar Sight Edward had already dressed zona’s corpse For burial and was wailing in grief He addressed her in a maroon dress Placed a high collar and scarf around
Her neck and wrapped and tied a veil Around her neck as well Obstructing all views of her neck and Making it almost impossible for doctors To really tell how she died After a brief examination dr knapp Concluded that zona had died of quote Unquote everlasting faint Aka a heart attack he would later go on To record that she had died due to Complications stemming from pregnancy But zona wasn’t pregnant at the time of Her death after the brief examination of Zona’s corpse edward asked the doctor to Make no further examination of the body And the news was spread into the Community that one of their own had Randomly died A wake was held for zona before her Burial but according to mary jane’s own His mother Edward was acting bizarre the entire Time he stood at the head of the casket For almost the entire event shielding People from touching zona’s neck or head He had even covered up the neck even Further with another veil and messed With the scarf And he had propped zona’s head up on Some pillows claiming that he wanted her To be comfortable To marry jane edward’s cries of grief Seemed very ingenuine And she would soon find out why mary
Jane was a very religious woman and After her daughter died she prayed for Nights Asking for a sign that zona was all Right begging for zona’s spirit to Return so that she could say goodbye And apparently eventually zona did Return after many nights of praying one Night after she said her words to god Mary jane laid down in her bed to rest But was suddenly awakened by a strange Phantom light that entered her room This glowing light began to take a human Form and suddenly her daughter Zona was standing in mary jane’s room But this ghost didn’t just appear as Some sort of silent omen It spoke zona’s spirit told mary jane That the night that she died she had Cooked edward at dinner at home while he Was at work and had had it prepared by The time he arrived that evening However she served good bread preserves And apple butter and didn’t prepare any Meat The fact that there was no protein on The table seemingly sent edward into a Rage And he attacked zona placing a hand on Each side of her neck Before she could react his large hands Had twisted her neck and dislocated it An action that would quickly end her Life she also told her mother that
Edward had often times been physically Abusive towards her and beat her Frequently Zona’s ghost would go on to visit mary Jane every night for the next three Nights This would make four nights of ghost Sightings in a row for mary jane On zona’s spirit’s second visit she told Her mom once again that edward had Popped her neck specifically at the First Joint and during her last visit Apparently zona’s ghost twisted her neck Around 180 degrees to illustrate to her Mother Just how broken her neck really was and After that she Vanished and was never seen again i Can’t imagine seeing that that would Really freak me out to see my daughter’s Ghost Spinning its neck in a 180 degree circle Leave me a comment below if that would Freak you out i’m assuming most of you Are gonna say yes Armed with a testimony from her dead Daughter’s ghost mary jane headed into Nearby lewisburg to pay prosecuting Attorney john preston A visit initially john laughed off mary Jane’s story of paranormal activity But he did make contact with dr knapp And after learning that dr knapp had
Performed a rush examination on zona’s Corpse at the request of her husband Edward and following up on a gut feeling Jon ordered zona’s body to be Disinterred so that investigators could Take a second look After taking her body out fresh from the Grave in which she had sat Three doctors examined zona’s body and In a weird twist Edward was actually present in the room For this examination he showed no fear When they were looking over her lower Body but became visibly nervous and Anxious as the doctors approached her Neck As soon as they removed the scarf and Collar the doctors were met with a truly Shocking sight Zona’s corpse had finger-shaped bruises On the neck her windpipe had been Crushed And most surprisingly her neck was Fractured at the first and second Vertebrae Precisely as zona’s spirit had claimed To her mother it would be Only days before edward was quickly Arrested and charged with zona’s murder After a brief but intriguing trial in June of 1897 Edward was found guilty of murdering his Wife and was sentenced to life in the Moundsville state penitentiary
Where he died three years later at a Young age it should be noted that the Moundsville penitentiary is known to be One of the most haunted locations in the Entire united states And it’s a dream location for me to Investigate one day at the trial Mary jane zona’s mother told the jury it Was no dream This is a direct quote from mary jane She came back and told me that he was Mad that she didn’t have no meat cooked For supper But the second night she told me that Her neck was squeezed off at the first Joint And it was just as she told me after Edward was arrested and the truth about Her murder came to light Zona was reburied and her ghost was Never seen again but her legend has Taken hold of the small county of Greenbriar And it seems like it will never let go This case at the end of the day Was extremely important in the world of Crime and justice Because it’s one of the only known cases Of a victim coming back from the dead To solve their own murder Now everybody if you want me to keep Doing scary stories saturdays I will gladly keep telling you these Stories they’re really fun they’re kind
Of short little snippets that i can add Onto the channel remember if you like This stuff be sure to like the video Leave me a comment on it Uh letting me know a story that you’d Like to hear me tell and subscribe and Turn those notifications on Um thanks for listening everybody i hope You have a great weekend or a weekday if You’re listening during the week And we will see you next week on the Brand new episode of the paranormal Files with some extremely crazy evidence So Yeah enjoy the rest of your weekend Everybody and stay spooky Hello
