Duff
Green Mansion, a tour
home and
elegant bed&breakfast, stands majestically on First East
Street in
Vicksburg,
Mississippi.
The home was constructed in 1856 by local businessman Duff Green for his new wife
Mary Lake Green, and
features a huge ballroom and dining room, and was known to be the site of many extravagant parties for the
elite of pre-
War Vicksburg.
When the fighting in the Civil
War turned to
Vicksburg, the
Greens made a prudent decision to offer their beloved
home as a hospital. The
Union wounded were kept on the top floor, the Confederate solders were on the main floor, and
the basement was
used for an Emergency Room and Surgery. Because of the bloody
battle,
the house was filled with soldiers from both sides, and some of the blood
stains are still on the floors today.
Because there wasn't
time, knowledge, or tools to
save limbs during surgery, amputation was very
common.
One basement room was
used for that purpose, and because Duff
Green Mansion was
built on a
hill it had a window that was above
ground. As the
story goes, amputated limbs were tossed out of the window to be taken and buried later, and often there were
piles of arms and
legs that were
man feet
tall before they were taken away. When the
current owners were remodeling in the 1980's, they reportedly
found several skeletal limbs buried
just below the surface of the ground under that window - they called
the police, who had
the local funeral
home inter the civil
War era bones. Visitors to
The home that have a medical background often back out of
the room, siting the smell of
ether and other medical smells, even though no
one else can
pick up that scent.
In an adjoining room
downstairs, guests of the Bed & Breakfast sleeping in the
Dixie room sometimes
wake up to see a Confederate
soldier either standing by the mantle, or rocking in a chair. He's missing
One leg, so apparently he's been a guest of
the hospital at some
point.
There are no "bad" things that happen at Duff Green - simply the memories of a time in its history that sometimes resurface in our world. The haunting has been well-documented, and more can be found at local TV station WJTV's website.
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