Past Residents Still Haunt Florida Museum

tampabay.com - Spirits don't take vacations. At least that's what Bonnie LeTourneau thinks.

Although the May-Stringer Heritage Museum has been closed for the past month for its annual cleaning and maintenance, the woman who hosts the celebrated ghost tours at the museum says things inside the Victorian mansion remain as spooky as ever.

"I don't think it's possible to chase away the spirits that reside there," LeTourneau said. "They've been there too long."

As a weekend volunteer guide, LeTourneau leads groups of visitors in search of the many mysteries that surround the four-story, 12-room museum. Legend has it that the 151-year-old house, originally built by Brooksville pioneer John May, is inhabited by the spirits of long-deceased family members, including May's 3-year-old daughter, Jessie.

All of which, in the minds of LeTourneau and others, explains some of the strange occurrences that go on there. In addition to numerous odd noises, museum staffers have reported encountering images of people moving through darkened hallways, cold spots and mists that suddenly appear in areas of the house, and glowing orbs of light that hover over the house's tin roof.

LeTourneau said her own encounters with these "entities" have been fairly frequent. She has often heard footsteps coming from the upper floors of the house and has felt the touch of something or someone on her shoulder when no one else is around. And then there's the soft wail of a small child that LeTourneau and many others believe belongs to Jessie May.

"It sent shivers down my spine the first time I heard it," LeTourneau said. "It was very unsettling.

LeTourneau admits she was a skeptic when she first set foot inside the door of the house near downtown Brooksville 3 1/2 years ago. Nevertheless, she felt a strange attraction to the history of the edifice, which through the years also served as a boardinghouse and a doctor's office. At the behest of museum caretakers, she began conducting special group tours on weekend nights for those interested in exploring the home's deepest secrets.

Although the museum's paranormal activity can be somewhat inconsistent, LeTourneau claims there is enough going on that the house has earned "hot spot" status from such supernatural investigative groups as Paranormal Seekers and Florida Ghost Hunters.
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The May-Stringer Heritage Museum

The May-Stringer Heritage Museum, also known as the Hernando Heritage Museum, is located at the May-Stringer House in Brooksville, Florida. It contains over 10,000 artifacts in the War Room with items from the American Civil War to the Vietnam War, The Doctor’s Officer with vintage medical items, Kitchen and other Living Area with antique household items, and the School Room which replicates an old school.

In 1855, a man named John May purchased a large parcel of land in what would become Brooksville for himself and his wife, Marena. It took a year to complete the home. When finished, May donated fifteen acres of his land to the county for use as a county seat. May, however, didn't live in his home for too long as he died of undisclosed causes. His wife, Marena, remarried a man named Frank Saxon. Life was fine for a while, but Marena died giving birth to Saxon's daughter, Jessie May. He was heartbroken, but consoled that his child still lived. Tragedy struck, however, when little Jessie May died at the age of three. By some accounts, there was another daughter, either with Marena or from a previous relationship, who also died. Jessie May was buried in the front yard in an unmarked grave, next to her mother. Saxon remained in the house for a short time before moving away.

The house was bought by Dr. Sheldon Stringer, who not only lived there, but treated patients in the downstairs room he added. He also used the home for a period as a sanatorium, treating diseases such as smallpox and yellow fever in the home's bedrooms. Why the Stringers left the house is unknown, but the house sat empty and abandoned for many years. Looters destroyed much of the home before letting it sit and decay.

A fire in 1877 destroyed all the records of the home, including documents pertaining to whom the house belonged. It was adopted by Hernando County, and the new courthouse was built next door. After a period when no one knew what to do with the home, the decision was made to turn the Stringer House into a window back onto Florida's frontier days, and the Hernando Heritage Museum was born.

Though there are believed to be at least eight resident spirits that haunt the museum, most of them are remnants of the time when the home was used to treat those dying of disease. Believed to be former patients of Dr. Stringer, their presences felt by way of feelings of being watched, general heaviness, and the occasional tortured cry. At least one ghost was caused by Hernando County's first "drive by" shooting, which was actually committed on horseback. A seventh, reputed to be a World War II soldier who hung himself in the master bedroom after his fiance married another man, has never been proven. But of the eighth, there is no doubt.

She's been seen, heard, felt and experienced by countless visitors, employees, and guests. She is one of the most tragic ghosts in the world, always sad, and just wanting her mommy. She is Jessie May Saxon. Though she never knew her mother, she longed for a mother's touch. According to reports, she would wake in the middle of the night and walk around the house crying out for her mommy. According to some, she willed her own death so she could follow her mother into the world beyond.

While everyone who has encountered her claims she's mostly harmless, she does have her moments. Toys that have been moved from her favorite spot have been found scattered, moved, or rearranged. She also has a favorite doll, and is reputed to throw tantrums if anyone removes it from the crib, hers, in which it lays.

One year, while setting up for a Mother's Day celebration, volunteers set up a display of several teacups. When they returned the next day, there was one extra teacup added, though no one had entered the house. The next day, another was discovered, and another the next day. The cups were left on the table after it was discovered that unseen hands were moving them from the china cabinet. Some theorize that Jessie May wanted to add as many teacups as she could maybe her own mother would have a place.

The most disturbing, and frequent, phenomenon attributed to Jessie May is the sad child's voice calling out to her mother, followed by sounds of her crying. Heard by visitors from all over the world, the sound is reputed to be heart-wrenching to any who hears it.

Sources:
http://wikipedia.com
http://www.dreadcentral.com/
http://www.tampabay.com/

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