Disembodied screams, bloody curtains and spontaneous flames. Was Cahill Mansion really haunted?

The Mississippi Coast is full of creepy tales and haunted estates, but Cahill Mansion, once in Gulfport, still sends chills down the spines of those who were around prior to the 1970s.

Cahill Mansion, once situated on Kimball Drive overlooking Bayou Bernard in Gulfport, was constructed around 1915 by William Stewart.

For the following two decades, several families called it home, though historical information about the residents and the mansion during this period remains scarce.

The creepy history

During World War II, Keesler Air Force Base took possession of the mansion, converting it into a Non-Commissioned Officer’s club. In a disturbing turn, a certain sadistic sergeant introduced gambling and prostitution to the premises.

According to local legend, the sergeant presided over a torturous, dungeon-like system where many women were coerced into prostitution and even subjected to forced abortions. After his superiors learned of these horrific activities, the NCO club was closed down.

Only a few years later, a local figure, Dr. Cahill, acquired the mansion and relocated his family there. Tragedy struck soon after when Dr. Cahill’s 14-year-old son lost his life on the property while operating a tractor, likely prompting the family to move out a few years later.

In 1957, Dr. Gregory and his family moved into what was now referred to as Cahill Mansion. Within days of their arrival, they sensed they were not alone. Mrs. Gregory reported feeling as if they were constantly being watched from the moment they moved in.

Soon, they began hearing disembodied voices, footsteps and eerie sounds coming from various rooms. These unsettling occurrences escalated into violent screams and chilling cold spots throughout the entire mansion.

The family reported instances of light fixtures unexpectedly falling from the ceiling. Mrs. Gregory even resorted to wearing earplugs to drown out the disturbing screams.

Allegedly, the mansion’s walls seemingly resisted being painted, as if they were determined to remain as they always were. One of the children claimed that the apparition of a young boy would emerge from the closet and stand beside her bed at night.

One day, one of the kids returned home from school, casually tossing a jacket on the bed, only for it to spontaneously burst into flames.

The most unsettling incident, however, allegedly occurred on Nov. 22, 1963, the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. The family returned home that morning to find the curtains drenched in blood, with handprints and streaks smeared across the windows. Allegedly, tests confirmed that the blood matched President Kennedy’s blood type.

After Cahill Mansion suffered damage during Hurricane Camille, the Gregory family boarded up windows, sealed doors and moved out.

Psychics and seances

Although Dr. Gregory contemplated demolishing the entire lot, this never happened and Cahill Mansion became famous as possibly the most haunted location on the Mississippi Coast.

This notoriety eventually drew the attention of Dr. David N. Bubar, a Baptist minister from Tennessee with supposed psychic abilities. In late 1969, he conducted a seance in the house and purportedly communicated with the spirit of a girl named Flossie, who had been coerced into prostitution in the house and ultimately met a tragic fate.

During the seance, Bubar acted as a medium for Flossie, conveying her words: “He shot me. I’m sick. I’m corroded. My body is full of holes.”

Other voices purportedly revealed that they were brought to the house from New Orleans to serve as prostitutes during WWII.

A Daily Herald reporter, a witness to the event, stated that tables moved and no obvious tricks or gimmicks could explain what they had witnessed. Interestingly, Bubar predicted that the house would burn down, possibly due to a pyromaniac spirit.

On July 18, 1970, firefighters arrived at 10 Kimball Dr. to find Cahill Mansion fully engulfed in flames. The fire began upstairs, precisely where another seance had taken place the previous night.

Upon learning of the fire, Bubar allegedly expressed his excitement, believing the spirits were finally free.

Just five years later, Bubar was convicted of four federal charges related to a fire that consumed a rubber-products plant in Connecticut, a place where he had previously worked and predicted would be destroyed. Although he was never tied to the fire at Cahill Mansion, many people speculate Bubar and the Gregorys fabricated everything and that the mansion was never haunted.

Though Cahill Mansion has been gone for half a century, its historical spookiness and eerie legends continue to unsettle residents of Coastal Mississippi. To this day, some people believe Bubar set the fire and that previous owners were implicit in inventing the haunted stories. Meanwhile, many others remain convinced that the mansion was genuinely haunted and was burned down by a vengeful spirit.