A young woman is found dead. Her husband insists nothing suspicious happened. Her mother says her daughter came back from the grave to tell a very different story.

And then the body is dug up.

In January 1897, Elva Zona Heaster Shue was found dead in her home in Greenbrier County, West Virginia. Her husband, Erasmus "Trout" Shue, reportedly interfered with the doctor's examination, and Zona was buried.

But her mother, Mary Jane Heaster, refused to accept that her daughter's death was natural.

Mary claimed Zona's ghost appeared to her four times, revealing that her husband had killed her and describing the injuries that caused her death.

What happened next turned a small West Virginia community into the setting for one of the most extraordinary murder cases in American history.

Authorities exhumed Zona's body. Doctors discovered devastating injuries to her neck. Trout Shue was arrested, and the case went to trial.

Then came the twist that made the Greenbrier Ghost a legend.

The defense brought up Mary's alleged ghostly encounters in court.

And Mary insisted it wasn't a dream.

This week on Yore Town, Matt and Meg investigate the strange, dark, and unbelievable true story behind the Greenbrier Ghost.

IN THIS EPISODE:

• The mysterious death of Elva Zona Heaster Shue in 1897
• The suspicious circumstances surrounding her husband's behavior
• The doctor's interrupted examination
• Four alleged visits from beyond the grave
• The disturbing account of an argument over supper
• The exhumation that changed the investigation
• The medical evidence of homicide
• Erasmus "Trout" Shue's past
• The extraordinary murder trial in Lewisburg, West Virginia
• Why the defense introduced the ghost story in court
• Mary's testimony and the jury's decision
• The difference between documented history and supernatural legend

One thing is certain: a young woman was murdered, her mother refused to let the matter rest, and a jury convicted the man responsible.

The haunting remains a mystery.

ABOUT YORE TOWN

The strange, dark, and unbelievable true stories of real places.

Join Matt and Meg as they uncover the history, mysteries, disasters, and extraordinary events that make places unforgettable.

Follow Yore Town on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you listen.

Watch the video version on YouTube.

THE QUESTION OF THE WEEK:

If you had been on the jury in 1897, would Mary's story about her daughter's ghost have made you more likely to believe her, less likely, or would you have focused entirely on the medical evidence?

Share this episode with someone who loves strange history, true crime, or unexplained mysteries.

Content advisory: This episode discusses murder, domestic violence, death, and exhumation.

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THE ALIEN BURIED IN TEXAS: THE AURORA UFO CRASH OF 1897

Welcome to creepy season on the Yore Town Podcast!

More than 125 years ago, something extraordinary supposedly happened in the little town of Aurora, Texas.

On April 17, 1897, a mysterious flying machine reportedly appeared above the community, lost altitude, and crashed into a local judge's windmill.

According to a newspaper report published two days later, the wreckage contained strange metal, mysterious documents, and the remains of a pilot who was believed to have come from Mars.

And what did the people of Aurora supposedly do?

They gave the alien a Christian burial.

Yes. An alien funeral in Texas.

In 1897.

But there's a fascinating twist.

The original newspaper article really exists. Aurora Cemetery really exists. And people have spent decades searching for evidence of the supposed extraterrestrial burial.

However, historians have raised serious questions about whether the entire event was invented.

At the time, Aurora was struggling. Disease had driven residents away, and a proposed railroad connection had bypassed the community.

Could a bizarre story about a crashed Martian have been an attempt to put the town back on the map?

THIS WEEK ON YORE TOWN:

• The mysterious airship reports sweeping America in the 1890s

• The alleged April 17, 1897, crash in Aurora, Texas

• The supposed discovery of a pilot from Mars

• Strange metal, mysterious writing, and an extraordinary newspaper report

• The alleged Christian burial of an extraterrestrial visitor

• The historical circumstances that may have inspired the story

• The possibility of an elaborate newspaper hoax

• UFO investigators searching for evidence decades later

• The mystery surrounding Aurora Cemetery

• Ned, the alleged alien who became a Texas legend

Matt and Megh examine the claims, question the evidence, and explore how one extraordinary story became part of a small town's identity.

Was Aurora the site of an extraterrestrial encounter decades before Roswell?

Or did somebody create a legend so unforgettable that people are still investigating it more than a century later?

One thing is certain.

Aurora, Texas, will never be remembered as just another little town.

ABOUT YORE TOWN

The strange, dark, and unbelievable true stories of real places.

Hosted by Matt (Beard Laws) and Megh, Yore Town explores the bizarre events, forgotten disasters, historical mysteries, and unbelievable legends connected to real locations.

New episodes every week.

Listen, follow, and share Yore Town wherever you enjoy podcasts.

QUESTION OF THE WEEK:

Do you believe the Aurora alien crash actually happened, or was it an elaborate hoax?

We want to hear your theories!

Remember, sometimes the strangest stories aren't about what happened.

They're about why people never stopped believing.

Rest easy, Ned.

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On October 17, 1814, a 700-pound iron hoop fell from a massive wooden vat inside London’s Horse Shoe Brewery.

The vat held more than one million pints of porter.
The workers noticed the problem. They reported it. But hoops had slipped before, and nothing catastrophic had happened.

About an hour later, the vat exploded.
The resulting flood tore through the brewery, brought down a wall, and poured into the neighboring St. Giles area, where families lived in cramped homes and basement rooms directly in its path. Eight people were killed, including children and a 14-year-old girl working at a nearby pub. Pasted text
But that's only part of the story.

Over the next two centuries, the London Beer Flood became a legend filled with stories of people rushing into the streets with buckets, drinking free beer and turning the disaster into a giant drunken party.

The contemporary historical record tells a very different story.
This week on Yore Town, Matt and Megh dig into the true story of the London Beer Flood of 1814, including the enormous wooden vats used by London breweries, the warning that came before the disaster, the people caught in the flood, the myths that developed afterward, the bizarre legal verdict, and the financial relief eventually granted to the brewery.

In this episode:
00:00 The London Beer Flood
01:57 Why London Built Enormous Beer Vats
04:36 The 700-Pound Warning
08:01 The Vat Explodes
10:59 A Neighborhood in the Path
13:50 Eight People Are Dead
16:55 The Legend vs. What Really Happened
19:46 Nobody Is Held Responsible
22:54 What the Beer Flood Left Behind

Eight people died.
Nobody was held responsible.
And somehow, the brewery eventually received tax relief for the beer it lost. Pasted text
Sometimes history doesn't need help being weird.

Yore Town
The strange, dark, and unbelievable true stories of real places.

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