{"id":1280,"slug":"merrehope-meridian-mississippi","story":[{"heading":null,"paragraphs":["Merrehope is the house Sherman missed — the 1859 Greek Revival cottage in Meridian that was General Johnston's headquarters, then General Polk's, and one of only six houses left standing when Sherman declared 'Meridian no longer exists.' The cottage is in the back; the mansion grew around it.","The house was the headquarters — the wedding-gift cottage that hosted two Confederate generals, the fighting bishop Polk who evacuated when Sherman came with 10,000 men. Union officers sheltered in the house while Sherman burned the rest of Meridian and bent the rails into 'Sherman Neckties.'","The house is still there — the 20-room Neoclassical mansion that grew around the cottage, the five women who saved it from demolition in 1968 for a club meeting place, the only historic home in Meridian open to the public. The file keeps the survival: the 1859 cottage, the two generals, and the house that's the city's Civil War survivor.","Merrehope is the archive's Meridian file — the cottage that hosted two Confederate generals, survived Sherman, and is the only historic home left in the city."]},{"heading":"Why this file matters","paragraphs":["Merrehope is the archive's Meridian file — the generals' headquarters, one of six houses Sherman left, and the survivor that's the city's landmark.","A house that outlived Sherman keeps its cottage — the file's suggestion being that Merrehope's hold is the survival: the 1859 wedding cottage in the back, the generals who used it, and the house that outlasted the city that 'no longer exists.'"]}],"name":"Merrehope","aliases":[],"type":"HISTORIC_HOUSE","type_label":"Historic House","cats":["HAUNTED_PLACE"],"groups":["hauntings","historic-sites"],"desc":"Historic house in Meridian; research record.","full_desc":"Merrehope is a historic house in Meridian, Mississippi. Historic house in Meridian; research record. WTOK identifies the house among buildings spared in Sherman’s 1864 Meridian campaign. Reported lore and claims include: WTOK reports Alan Brown’s research into alleged human and cat spirits, including Eugenia.","address":null,"city":"Meridian","county":null,"state":"Mississippi","postal":null,"region":"South","lat":32.38417,"lon":-88.689448,"coord_kind":"CITY","status":"UNKNOWN","access":"UNKNOWN","access_notes":null,"ownership":null,"website":null,"phone":null,"year_built":null,"year_opened":null,"year_closed":null,"year_demolished":null,"designation":null,"current_use":null,"research_notes":"Discovery pass. Precise location, historical chronology and current visitor conditions require independent enrichment. Confidence concerns provenance only.","stage":"SOURCE_RESEARCH","quality":{"level":"MEDIUM","score":53.1,"dims":{"location_confidence":0.75,"identity_confidence":0.65,"historical_confidence":0.8,"source_quality":0.6,"paranormal_claim_provenance":0.8,"coordinate_confidence":0,"current_access_confidence":0,"freshness":0.65}},"claims":[{"id":550,"type":"HAUNTING","description":"WTOK reports Alan Brown’s research into alleged human and cat spirits, including Eugenia. Merrehope wears the claim the way old houses do: visibly, and without comment. Media accounts carried the story further than the evidence ever did. The haunting is unproven and unfired: it keeps showing up for work anyway.","evidence":"MEDIA_REPORTED","evidence_label":"Media reported","entity":"Eugenia","where":null,"first_report":null,"approx_date":null,"confidence":0.65,"conflict_notes":null,"source":{"name":"Merrehope Haunted?","url":"https://www.wtok.com/content/news/Merrehope-Haunted-397614361.html","publisher":"WTOK","type":"LOCAL_JOURNALISM","authority":3},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]}],"history":[{"description":"WTOK identifies the house among buildings spared in Sherman’s 1864 Meridian campaign. A house in Meridian, Mississippi with this much documented history gives the dossier substance underneath the lore. The fact is historically verified — the part of the file that doesn't need hedging. The record appears in 'Merrehope Haunted?'. The entry's timeline holds it; the lore holds the rest.","evidence":"HISTORICALLY_VERIFIED","date_start":null,"date_end":null,"confidence":null,"source":{"name":"Merrehope Haunted?","url":"https://www.wtok.com/content/news/Merrehope-Haunted-397614361.html","publisher":"WTOK","type":"LOCAL_JOURNALISM","authority":3}}],"legends":[],"entities":[{"name":"Eugenia","claimed_identity":"Eugenia","verified":null,"summary":"WTOK reports Alan Brown’s research into alleged human and cat spirits, including Eugenia. A house with Meridian's history behind it gives the reports a setting that needs no exaggeration. Sources including 'Merrehope Haunted?' keep the claim in circulation. The name travels further than the proof; the sightings keep renewing the lease.","behavior":"WTOK reports Alan Brown’s research into alleged human and cat spirits, including Eugenia.","area":null,"first_ref":null,"source":{"name":"Merrehope Haunted?","url":"https://www.wtok.com/content/news/Merrehope-Haunted-397614361.html","publisher":"WTOK","type":"LOCAL_JOURNALISM","authority":3}}],"events":[],"investigations":[],"encounters":[],"media":[],"persons":[],"visitor":{"tour_availability":"Verify before visiting","notes":"Access details are unverified; research before visiting.","last_verified_at":"2026-09-18 11:32:55","source":{"name":"HauntHunt generic access guidance","url":"https://haunthunt.com/about#access-guidance","publisher":"HauntHunt editorial","type":"DIRECTORY","authority":2}},"sources":[{"name":"Merrehope Haunted?","url":"https://www.wtok.com/content/news/Merrehope-Haunted-397614361.html","publisher":"WTOK","type":"LOCAL_JOURNALISM","authority":3}],"conflicts":[],"wiki":{"title":"Merrehope","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merrehope","desc":"Historic house in Mississippi, United States","extract":"Merrehope, a 26-room Victorian mansion that currently serves as a historic house museum, was originally built in 1858 by Richard McLemore for his daughter Juriah Jackson. After changing ownership several times, with small alterations from each owner, the house was eventually bought by S.H. Floyd in 1904, who remodelled it into its present appearance. The building was one of few spared by General William Tecumseh Sherman on his raid of the city in the Battle of Meridian, and has served many functions throughout its history, including time as a residence, a shelter for Union officers, a Confederate General's headquarters, an apartment building, and a boarding house. The building was listed on ","img":"https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/26/Meridian_December_2018_37_%28Merrehope%29.jpg/330px-Meridian_December_2018_37_%28Merrehope%29.jpg?utm_source=en.wikipedia.org&utm_campaign=api&utm_content=thumbnail","score":108,"lat":32.36694444,"lon":-88.72638889},"counts":{"claims":1,"history":1,"legends":0,"entities":1,"sources":1}}