{"id":1472,"slug":"waverly-mansion-west-point-mississippi","story":[{"heading":null,"paragraphs":["Waverly is the rare haunted house whose hauntings were an occupational hazard of the rescue. The antebellum mansion between Columbus and West Point — distinguished by an octagonal rotunda rising through its roofline and named a National Historic Landmark in 1974 — stood empty for nearly fifty years before Robert and Donna Snow found it in the early 1960s and began a restoration that became a life's work.","The spirits, per the guide's account, announced themselves early: a loud crash woke the family their first nights in the house. Neighbors contributed their own versions — the sounds of parties drifting from the ruined manse, an Indian on horseback in the nearby fields."]},{"heading":"The little girl","paragraphs":["Donna Snow's account is the file's center. For about five years she heard a little girl crying, usually between two and four in the afternoon, and an impression of a small figure would appear on an upstairs bed. Per Alan Brown's retelling, records surfaced in 1997 identifying two girls who had stayed in the house during the Civil War and died within a single week — one of diphtheria, the other after her head caught between the staircase spindles.","The crying reportedly stopped after those five years, though the girl is still said to be seen. Since Donna Snow's death in 1991, the newer report is of Mrs. Snow herself, sitting on the third-floor stairs, smoking. A paranormal group's investigation turned up only a small amount of evidence — the file's last word on the matter."]}],"name":"Waverly Mansion","aliases":["Waverly"],"type":"HISTORIC_HOUSE","type_label":"Historic House","cats":["HAUNTED_PLACE"],"groups":["hauntings","historic-sites"],"desc":"Historic house in West Point; research record.","full_desc":"Waverly Mansion is a historic house in West Point, Mississippi. Historic house in West Point; research record. HauntHunt files it with haunted places. Ask the file who haunts it and it answers: Unnamed child; Donna Snow. The dossier holds 1 reported claim, 1 legend and 1 named or described presence — all telling, no verified spine yet, and the file says so plainly. Access details are unverified — research before visiting.","address":"1852 Waverly Mansion Road","city":"West Point","county":"Clay County","state":"Mississippi","postal":null,"region":"South","lat":33.606236,"lon":-88.657568,"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":"Separate Mississippi mansion from similarly named places elsewhere. Child identities and deaths in guide remain unverified; no current opening hours inferred.","stage":"SOURCE_RESEARCH","quality":{"level":"LOW","score":40.6,"dims":{"location_confidence":0.75,"identity_confidence":0.65,"historical_confidence":0,"source_quality":0.3999999999999999,"paranormal_claim_provenance":0.8,"coordinate_confidence":0,"current_access_confidence":0,"freshness":0.65}},"claims":[{"id":700,"type":"CRYING","description":"The guide recounts a child’s cries and Donna Snow apparitions. Unnamed child; Donna Snow is the name the reports keep returning to. The house's rooms are where the accounts concentrate — old houses keep their stories in the walls they were built around. 'The haunting of Columbus, Mississippi' preserves the telling; the record keeps it filed where it belongs, as lore. Heard rather than seen: the report that keeps the file open.","evidence":"DOCUMENTED_LEGEND","evidence_label":"Documented legend","entity":"Unnamed child; Donna Snow","where":null,"first_report":null,"approx_date":null,"confidence":0.5,"conflict_notes":null,"source":{"name":"The haunting of Columbus, Mississippi","url":"https://www.southernspiritguide.org/haunted-columbus-mississippi/","publisher":"Southern Spirit Guide","type":"BLOG","authority":4},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]}],"history":[],"legends":[{"name":null,"summary":"The guide recounts a child’s cries and Donna Snow apparitions. Waverly Mansion in West Point, Mississippi is the kind of old house where every sound eventually gets a name. The story is documented as legend — recorded and retold, never verified as fact. The report is preserved in sources like 'The haunting of Columbus, Mississippi'. It's the version the place will be remembered by, whether or not it's the true one.","earliest":null,"evidence":"DOCUMENTED_LEGEND","source":{"name":"The haunting of Columbus, Mississippi","url":"https://www.southernspiritguide.org/haunted-columbus-mississippi/","publisher":"Southern Spirit Guide","type":"BLOG","authority":4}}],"entities":[{"name":"Unnamed child; Donna Snow","claimed_identity":"Unnamed child; Donna Snow","verified":null,"summary":"The guide recounts a child’s cries and Donna Snow apparitions. Unnamed child; Donna Snow is what the reports name it. Waverly Mansion in West Point, Mississippi is the kind of old house where every sound eventually gets a name. Sources including 'The haunting of Columbus, Mississippi' keep the claim in circulation. A named spirit outlasts an anonymous one; the file's name is Unnamed child; Donna Snow.","behavior":"The guide recounts a child’s cries and Donna Snow apparitions.","area":null,"first_ref":null,"source":{"name":"The haunting of Columbus, Mississippi","url":"https://www.southernspiritguide.org/haunted-columbus-mississippi/","publisher":"Southern Spirit Guide","type":"BLOG","authority":4}}],"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":"The haunting of Columbus, Mississippi","url":"https://www.southernspiritguide.org/haunted-columbus-mississippi/","publisher":"Southern Spirit Guide","type":"BLOG","authority":4}],"conflicts":[],"wiki":null,"counts":{"claims":1,"history":0,"legends":1,"entities":1,"sources":1}}