Hester Rogers Carter

It happened in Bellton, Georgia. After the Great Depression in 1931 my great aunt, Hester Rogers Carter was depressed. Her husband, Ira, had blown her money and saved his own. Nothing was ever said but it is believed that Ira was on the brink of leaving Hester. That would have left a penniless former "belle." She would have had to "beg" from her rich uncle Dank Carter. Hester was a hard worker not to mention her pride. Hester's niece, Mable Whitworth, was summoned and told to go to the Hardware Store for Hester. She was told that she needed rat poison because of warfrats in her house. Mable did as her aunt had instructed and left. After dark and before Ira came home, Hester's plan was carried out. She swallowed the rat poison. It was told over the years that folks clear down to Lula could hear her screaming from the posion eating away at her innards. Uncle Ira came home and found his wife...dead. After calling the authorities and his daughter he called his niece, Florine Garner to tell her about her aunt and to tell her to come get Hester's trunk with all of her prized possessions enclosed. He told Florine that his daughter Susan Carter Dunbar, from a previous relationship, would be coming in from South Carolina and take Hester's things. He wanted Florine to have them. It has been told throughout the years that from the upstairs bedroom, in the deep of the night that a faint scream could be heard. It has also been told that an owner of the old mansion has seen a drop of blood seeping from Hester's upstairs bedroom to the kitchen below.

STORY BY

Iris Thompson Fry great grandniece of Hester Rogers Carter