Case 18 Philip Folleys House

Claims of activity: shadow figures, disembodied voices, items being moved, green mist floating through a room.

History:
The Philip Folley home is one of the first large mansions built in Maysville (1831), which was used for holding slaves to be auctioned. Many Slaves worked for the mansion, but many were mistreated, even killed. To see the slave quarters at first hand how they lived, cooked for the owners of the home was just a moment of shock and sadness. Than to go even further into the basement area and see where the slaves faced darkness day in and day in small rooms shackled to the walls waiting for their fait to be delievered was well in a few words (brought me to tears). But later the new owner of the home (3rd Mayor of Maysville) used to help slaves escape using tunnel systems beneath the home which is known as the Underground Railroad. There also was a murder or suicide in one of the rooms upstairs. Some say Phillips' Folly is haunted: by a former owner and his dog, a guest of the house who died while staying there or the ghosts of slaves who were kept in a makeshift jail in the basement of the building. Phillips' Folly is not only home to the Underground Railroad Museum but also serves as the private residence of Underground Railroad historian Jerry Gore. Construction started on the house in 1825, Gore said, although it was not completed until 1831. Gore said he learned much of the history of the house from his grandmother, including how a portion of the house was used as a slave jail Gore said the traditional stories of hauntings, however, are those of former owner John Armstrong, who is sometimes seen on an upper porch with his Newfoundland dog. Armstrong was an early mayor of Maysville and successful businessman, Gore said. The other ghost haunts a back parlor, Gore said, identifying the man only as "Pierce." Gore said the story with Pierce is that he was a guest who was killed in a duel, or perhaps committed suicide.

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