THE BLEEDING HOUSE

[Breaking News Breaking News]

By JIM MILES


In 1987 Minnie and William Winston had been married forty-four years. For the previous twenty-two years they had rented a six room, red brick home at the corner of Fountain Drive and Morris Street in southwest Atlanta.

It was just before midnight on September 8 when Minnie, 77, stepped out of the shower and found the bathroom floor covered with splotches of blood. Mrs. Winston immediately woke her 79-year-old husband, saying, “Come look at all this red stuff coming out of the floor.”

Spots of blood, ranging in size from a dime to a silver dollar, were found on the floor and lower walls in the bathroom, bedroom, kitchen, basement, and every hall. The substance was also located under a television and in narrow, nearly inaccessible crawl spaces in the basement.

Homicide Detective Steve Cartwright agreed, said that in his ten years of service, “I’ve never seen anything like this.” He called it “an extremely strange situation.”

“I’m guessing it was an animal,” stated Homicide Detective Richard Price. “Hope that’s all it was,” but it wasn’t. The couple had no pets, and there were no rodents in the house.

Police were not terribly concerned because William, retired from the National Screen Service Company, was often in bed attached to a dialysis machine, which cleanses the blood of people suffering from kidney failure.

However, Mr. Winston seemed to reject his blood as the solution to the mystery, saying, “I don’t know what the stuff is.”

The “bleeding house” immediately captured the fancy of Atlanta, drawing crowds from across the metro area. Prying visitors became such a problem that police declared the house a crime scene to prohibit inquiring minds from trespassing.

By September 11 it was known that the blood type of the house was O, and William and Minnie’s was A. No match

Atlanta homicide detectives grew frustrated as their work progressed. “We will continue a routine investigation,” stated Homicide Commander Lieutenant Horace Walker, “and if we find that no crime was committed, we’re through with it.”
Detective Price stated, “We’re still trying to figure out where the blood came from…we plan to check with the State Crime Lab today about other possibilities.”

Police handling of the bloody evidence had come under criticism from the lab. Believing an animal might have deposited the splotches, police had sent fresh samples to Grady Memorial Hospital to determine if it was human or animal blood. Only then, thirteen hours after Mrs. Winston called police, was the State Crime Lab notified.

Crime Lab Director Larry Howard stated that they could have learned much more-sex, race, traces of drugs or alcohol-more easily from fresh blood.

The only semi-relevant fact discovered by the Crime lab was that it “looked like the blood was projected out of something or shaken off something.”

As the police investigation continued, public and media interest intensified. The offices of the Atlanta Journal Constitution, radio and television stations, and the police department were flooded with inquiries from across the Atlanta area and as far away as California and New York.

“Are the walls of that house really bleeding?” people generally asked. They weren’t.

“We were swamped with calls,” admitted police spokesman Charles Cook. “This place was a madhouse. Some people wanted to know if the radio stations were joking.”

“We get lots and lots of calls,” an employee of radio station WVEE said. “Several were from psychics saying they could get the blood out of the house.” .

The Winston’s found themselves besieged in their home by throngs of curious spectators. “The phone rang all night,” Mrs. Winston stated on September 10. “I’m fed up with it.” Further, she said, “I’m tired of all these people asking me questions.” Mrs. Winston declared that she did not want to have anything to do with the controversy. “People are coming out here to see it and troubling us.” She was getting little sleep.

The passage of another day left the Winston’s even testier than before. From inside the house Winnie was heard to shout, “What they’ve said about all this is lies. Just leave us alone.” From the bedroom William yelled, “There’s no blood in this house. Now get away from here.”

One intrepid reporter who gained entrance found spots of blood on the floor and lower walls of the living room, and a quarter sized splotch on the back door.

These paranormal mysteries usually just slowly fade away and such was the case with Atlanta’s bleeding house. The Homicide Bureau and the State Crime Lab never identified the source of the blood nor did they detect any indication of a hoax or crime. “It troubles me that we don’t have any answer,” Crime Lab Director Howard summed up.

Law enforcement personnel were disappointed by their lack of results in the investigation, but the supernatural does not tend to stick around for scientific analysis. With the next bloody slaying in Atlanta the bleeding house was forgotten.

From Weird Georgia (Cumberland House, 2000)

To order autographed books or contact me, please email [email protected]

Jim Miles is the author of two Weird Georgia books and nine books about the Civil War. Read more about Jim Miles and his books.

http://brownsguides.com/weirdgeorgia/201...ing-house/

[NobleSy]

I wonder what it could've been.