The Haunted History of William Faulkner's Rowan Oak

In the 1930s, Southern literary lion William Faulkner purchased an 1840 primitive Greek Revival home that had seen better days and set about restoring it. The antebellum house and its 4-acre manicured grounds—nestled into nearly 30 acres of woodlands—lent themselves to imagination, especially in the mind of Faulkner, who enjoyed telling ghost stories to his daughter, Jill, and other children in the family. Among the spooky tales he invented was that of Judith Sheegog, lovelorn daughter of the original owner, who hurled herself from a balcony and was buried beneath a magnolia tree on the property. In the 1970s, Faulkner's daughter sold Rowan Oak to the University of Mississippi, which opened it for tours. Visitors have reported sightings of another ghost—the author himself. Keep a lookout and you might see the great one roaming the grounds or writing on the walls of his office.