Like so much of the Deep South, Lowndesboro, Alabama can seem to be a city that exists outside of the normal passage of time. The place is filled with old houses, old memories, and old ghosts. Some of all three exist within the halls of the city’s most famous house, which is named “Marengo”.
One of the funny things about Marengo is that it wasn’t always located in Lowndesboro. It was originally built across the Alabama River just north of the city by Dr. John Howard. By the mid 1840s, however, his medical practice was floundering at the location, so he decided to have slaves dismantle the house and relocate it by barge to the city of Lowndesboro proper.
The next owner of the house, Dr. Charles Edwin Reese, of credited with saving the entire town of Lowndesboro during the Civil War, when he went into a nearby Union camp and convinced General James T. Wilson that he should pass by the next town on his rampage, because it was suffering through a smallpox outbreak. In reality, the doctor was only treating a man with a bad rash, but the ruse worked and Lowndesboro was spared as General Wilson moved on to sack Montgomery.
Dr. Reese had issues back at home, however. His wife, Sarah Dudley Reese was a nervous person, especially when her husband was away. Local legend has it that he bought her a big brass lock with which she could seal herself in Marengo while he was gone. Naturally, in the story she proceeds to have the key cursed by a gypsy so that it upon contact it would burn anyone but she and her husband.
Tragedy would find Marengo while under the care of the family who gave it a name. In 1925 L. James Powell bought the house and named it after Marengo County, the place of his wife’s birth. L. James Powell, Jr. inherited the property in 1959, and tragedy followed not long after. Powell’s wife, Kathleen, was in poor health, and spent most of her time confined to a wheelchair.
Much like Sarah Dudley Reese before her, Kathleen Powell feared her time alone in the house, so Mr. Powell bought her a small pistol and taught her how to defend herself. She was left alone on fateful evening in 1961 as her husband left in his truck to take some guests home after a party. When James returned, he found Kathleen in her bed, killed by a bullet from her own pistol. It was ruled a suicide, even though her crutches were on the side of the room opposite where the gun was kept, calling into question as to how she, with her handicap, was able to retrieve it.
The house didn’t find another consistent owner until 1974, when it was bought by Colonel Jerry Doherty. Along with his wife Alison, the two opened the Marengo Tea House, a business which catered and hosted private parties. Almost immediately upon moving into Marengo, the Dohertys started hearing the disembodied laughter of a woman inside empty rooms of the house.
During a dinner party in 1975 this voice was identified by a visiting psychic as that of a woman named Kathleen who had once lived in the house. The psychic indicated that Kathleen was very pleased with the efforts that the Dohertys had made to restore and maintain the beauty of her house. The psychic also said that Kathleen was born in February, died in February, and that her spirit would leave the house in February. Later that evening, Colonel Doherty produced a large brass key that he had found in the house, and the psychic would have nothing to do with it, saying that it had an “evil charge”, and belonged to a very unhappy woman.
The psychic seemed to be correct so far as the history of the house concerning Kathleen Powell and Sarah Dudley Reese, but her prediction of the future turned out to be correct, as well. The Dohertys went on vacation in late 1975 and returned to Marengo in February of 1976. After their return, they never again heard from the ghost of Kathleen Powell.
That didn’t mean that there were no more ghosts left in the house, however. The 1990s saw Marengo converted into a bed-and-breakfast by a new owner, one Mark Moody. His first paranormal experience in the house came as he was having a conversation with a friend in the basement. He noticed out of the corner of his eye that he saw the reflection a woman in a nearby mirror. She wore black boots, a floor-length charcoal dress and a high-necked blouse. The friend saw that Moody was distracted and turned to look in the mirror. He screamed. When pressed, it was learned that he had seen the reflection of the woman as well, even though it was obvious that the two men were alone in the basement.
Other visitors to the house have also reported seeing this woman in different places – even the front porch. Psychics who have visited seem to agree that this is the ghost of Dr. Howard, the man who originally moved the house across the river. They say that she might well have been a victim of abuse, and that her time in the house had been marked by anguish and misery. He current owner of the house admits that he has heard female laughter in the halls, and has even heard a woman call out his name, when subsequent searches of the house have revealed an empty place.
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