Lady in Red
Howdy!! And welcome to this weeks HHS blog!! So I was listening to Episode 180 and Tracey said “the hotel burns down and there’s a Lady in White” so I was like “hey let’s do a blog on The Lady in White!” because every culture and region seems to have one and a legend that goes around with it. So I start my research and I find something so much more interesting than a Lady in white. I found the mythology of The Lady in Red!! I feel like everyone’s always talking about the Lady in White and I’ve never heard of a Lady in Red and from conducting research, The Lady in Red sounds a hell of a lot more interesting, so lets get to it.
Similar to the White Lady, The Lady in Red is the ghost of female who has passed away however instead of having a “pure” death where the passing is linked to a father or husband or daughter, the Red Lady is linked to a prostitute, a jilted lover killed during a fit of rage and passion or a woman who was vain in life. The Lady in Red is normally seen wearing a blood red dress and is linked to areas around hotels, theatres, old brothels and some public places. She is most commonly seen around areas with higher rates of prostitution, such as locations of Old Western town and mining communities. She is considered to have friendly and definitely has a story linked to the history of the place they are seen.
Stories of the Lady in Red include the Wrexham Hall in Chesterfield Virginia where the lady is seen sitting on the porch, along with hearing her footsteps in the hall, rocking chairs which appear to move on their own and doors which open and close by themselves. It is believed this particular lady is Susannah Walthall, the daughter of the original owner.
It is also The Red Lady of Huntingdon College in Montgomery Alabama. It is believed she is Martha (no last name has been confirmed) who was forced to attend the college by her father because he had strong ties to The South and that was the college his mother attended. Legend has it that when she arrived, she was dressed in red, along with all her bedding, window dressings and other accessories were the same red as her dress.
Being a kind hearted but shy girl, who was suffering from homesickness, she found it hard to connect with her peers. Because she came from a very wealthy family, her peers thought she was being snobby than just shy and this caused them to be cold towards her. It is said she had various roommates, who just couldn’t connect with her due to her being so reserved. It was decided that Martha should stay in a room alone, which only made things worse as others left her alone more and she fell more into depression. It is said she was found one day, dressed in her red robe, in her red bed, covered in red blood as she had committed suicide by slitting her wrists. It is said students can still she her in the halls and flashes of red light come from her room on the anniversary of her death.
There is a ghost of prostitute Nettie Dickerson who haunts the area near the Dock Street Theatre. Legend has it, she used to work as a clerk at the Episcopal Church but would moonlight as a prostitute at the Planters Hotel. One night, she was hit by lightning while on one of the balconies of the hotel and died in a red dress.
Sightings of the Red Lady are not limited to the United States. Sightings of them occur all over the world, such as the Little India district of Malacca, an area which is common for people to commit suicide by jumping. In Thailand there is an apparition of a Lady in Red driving her car into the Bang Pakong River. Canada has a few such as the FirstOntario Concert Hall which has a Lady in Red who weeps red tears and the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver who died in the 1940s in front of the hotel.
So overall, I think the Lady in Red is super interesting and very creepy!! I would love for Jerry and Tracy to do an episode on this!!