Day #4- Black Velvet

...in that slow Southern style.  Mississippi.   Black.  Southern.   Those are all words to describe Vicksburg.  It is an ominous town where nothing feels quite right.  Even as advid watchers of TVs Ghost Adventures,  we did not remember the show being asked by the town's mayor to come and investigate.  We ended up here 3 days ago because I had seen it in a ghosts of the Civil War book.  Just a little blurb.  Originally,  this was going to just be a place to sleep for the night and maybe poke around a bit before heading on to our next stop.  It has become so much more than that. 
Today we wanted to explore historic downtown Vicksburg.  Situated right along the mighty Mississippi  River, the downtown is made of old brick streets, cute little shops,  and stately mansions.  One shop we had really wanted to go in was antique doll shop.  After being reminded of the series of episodes Ghost Adventures had filmed in Vicksburg, we were especially interested in the doll museum.  Sadly, the elderly owner passed away since the filming of the show.  Her husband tried to keep the store running  but as he was also elderly- in his 90s, the shop was just too much.  The dolls were all actioned off and the shop that had been a part of historic Vicksburg landscape for many years sat vacant.  
We walked thru an area of town with old mansions that had gone from private homes to field hospitals and are now potentially haunted B&Bs.  Some offered tours, but for whatever reason, I was only interested in one.  Mcraven Mansion.
Google maps sent us on a wild goose (ghost?) chase through the same neighborhood over and over until we finally found the home.  The path leading up to the home was truly ominous.   Behind an old rusted wrought iron fence, down a brick path darkened by the heavy moss from the archway of trees, sat Mcraven Mansion. 
I could be here all night retelling the stories of what this home saw since it was built in the late 1700s.  I wont get into the history, but it is impressive.   What I will say is this place is 100%, without a doubt, haunted.  While in the bedroom of a young bride who died during childbirth, we watched the heavy wooden door of her chest swing shut.  This happened 3 times!  Loren pushed the door all the way open, jumped on the floor near it,  and did anything he could think of to try to debunk the experience.  Nothing he did would budge that door of the chest. 
This has been such an exciting few days!  If the rest of our trip is even a fraction of the fun we have already experienced, we in for one helluva ride!  We are off to Alabama tomorrow,  so stay tuned!