Real Haunted Houses: Drish House

Drish House was built in 1837 by Dr. John R. Drish. It was built in the centre of a 450-acre plantation. Dr. Drish, who was a widower himself at the time he built the mansion, married a wealthy widow, Sarah Owen McKinney.

The house features Ionic columuns in the front and rear, and two-story pilasters dividing each bay on all four sides. It is a mixture of Greek and Italian styles, and a three-story brick tower in the center of the house.

Just a few decades later, in 1867, Dr. Drish fell down the stairway (alledgedly he was drunk and quite unsteady, which caused him to fall down the stairs). His wife, Sarah, became quite obsessed with planning her husband’s funeral. According to the legend, Sarah saved the candles from the funeral in order to use them at her own funeral someday.

Sarah Drish died in 1884. Alledgedly, Sarah’s family frantically searched for the special candles, but could not find them. This caused Sarah to be angry at her family, and this is why she started haunting the Drish House. The most common sign of the haunting is people witnessing fire on the third story of the house, although there’s never been evidence of any fire. According to the story, the flames are supposed to be coming from the candles that were to be used at Sarah’s funeral. There are some other ghost stories as well, involving Katherine, the daughter of Drish, who supposedly lost her mind after being forced to marry a man she didn’t love.

Ghosts or not, after Sarah’s death, the house changed hands several times, and was eventually owned by the Tuscaloosa Board of Education. They opened the Jemison School in the house in 1906 and it was used as a school until 1925. In 1940, it was purchased by the Southside Baptist Church, which added a sanctuary on the one side and a detached Sunday school building on the other. The church became defunct in 1995 and stood empty for quite some time, until it was deeded to the Tuscaloose County Preservation Society in July of 2007. They had the church additions demolished in 2009.

The house was renovated and re-opened in 2016 as an event venue.

Real Haunted Houses

Previously in this series:

• Real Haunted Houses: Franklin Castle
• Real Haunted Houses: Villesca Axe Murder House
• Real Haunted Houses: The Sallie House
• Real Haunted Houses: LaLaurie House
• Real Haunted Houses: The Bell Witch Farm
• Real Haunted Houses: Ann Starrett Mansion
• Real Haunted Houses: Sturdivant Hall
• Real Haunted Houses: Whaley House
• Real Haunted Houses: House of Seven Gables
• Real Haunted Houses: Woodruff Fontaine House
• Real Haunted Houses: Cedar Grove Mansion
• Real Haunted Houses: Sauer Castle
• Real Haunted Houses: The Pink Palace
• Real Haunted Houses: House of Death
• Real Haunted Houses: Joshua Ward House
• Real Haunted Houses: The Lemp Mansion
• Real Haunted Houses: Los Feliz Murder Mansion
• Real Haunted Houses: Winchester Mystery House
• Real Haunted Houses: Bliss Mansion
• Real Haunted Houses: Croke-Patterson Mansion
• Real Haunted Houses: Thornewood Castle

Enjoyed this article? Read Fractured!

When Piper discovers an old antique mirror on the attic of her new home, she has no idea what terror she unlocked.

Eerie shadows lurking in the night and estranged voices crying out for help are only the beginning. As Piper’s world comes crumbling down, she realizes everything that she believed was imaginary, might have been real all along.

Something is very wrong with that mirror. And if she doesn’t find out what, the mirror might end up killing her.

With some help of old and new friends, Piper tries to get to the bottom of the mystery. One thing is for certain: the mirror preys on the guilty. But what exactly is she guilty of?

Release Date: September 16, 2013

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