Local History
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Airdrie ghost searches for her head
On a hillside near the banks of the Green River about a mile west of what once was the town of Paradise, in Muhlenberg County, lie the crumbling remains of an iron foundry built in 1855.
Named “Airdrie” by its founder Robert Sproul Crawford Aitcheson Alexander, the iron smelting operations were abandoned after only three runs, never to be reopened.
The hand-hewn stone buildings and fortification-like walls resemble a deteriorating medieval castle and have been the inspiration from which have arisen many stories and superstitions.
Tortures of convicts working the coal and iron mines near the foundry, murders and the sightings of ghosts are a few of the more colorful tales about Airdrie. Some historians claim the stories are not true. Others, claiming firsthand knowledge, just as adamantly claim they are true.
Possibly none of the tales recounted of happenings in Airdrie in the days of its prosperity is more thrilling or more gruesome than the story of a young woman said to have been murdered in the old hotel there.
A journalist who in 1922 visited the now nonexistent hotel, have this account of the event:
“The hotel is a rambling old structure, neglected and falling into ruins. Leading to the second floor is a rickety old stairway and the visitor with temerity to rish his neck may ascend to the second floor and see the room where the murder took place.
“It is a bare and musty place and an indefinable air of mystery seems to linger in the dimly lighted interior. It was here that a young woman, traveling unescorted through stress of circumstances stopped for the night. It was bitter cold and a roaring fire burned in the big fireplace. The weary traveler had slept only a few hours when two robbers entered the room. The girl was given no chance to make an outcry, being throttled by the larger of the men while she slept.
“Not content with killing their victim, the murderers cut off her head and threw it into the fire, where it was partyly consumed before the burned-down embers sunk down into ashes and caused her head to roll out on the floor. A hole in the flooring, the edges charred and black, still remains to show where the head rested after rolling out of the flames.”
It is reported that people who pass through the Airdrie area between sundown and dark, can see a woman in an evening gown, with a shawl over her arm, walking through the canyon without her head.
Another tale about Airdrie relates that, on certain nights, one can hear the sounds of iron chains being dragged over the stone steps as the ghosts of convicts who slaved in the mines relive their unfulfilled past.
Still other residents of the area insist that prisoners were held there during the Civil War. The prisoners were said to be an unruly lot, and legend has it that a prisoner was thrown into the furnance as an example to the others.
Some present residents claim that at various times, screams from the dead man can still be hear.
Source: Montell, W.L. “Airdrie Ghost Searches for Her Head.” Ghosts Across Kentucky. Lexington, KY: UP of Kentucky, 2000, pp. 143-144.
Updated July 13, 2022