At first glance this serene house is the picture of southern comfort. It is surrounded by drooping tree branches which give you that "Tara" plantation feel. This home, located at 138 East Fulton Street, in Canton Mississippi is a beautiful home with a secret. Its an elegant ante-bellum home that was built in 1852 by Dr. James Priestley and his wife Susan Priestley. The house remained in the Priestley family until the mid 1990s until it became a Bed and Breakfast.

The house was purchased by Roger and Frankie McMillin. It was featured on Home and Gardens television in a program called 'If Walls Could Talk'. Roger is a state Court of Appeals judge. The house is open to visitors on special occasions and tours.

When they bought the house they didn't know anything of its history. Mrs. McMillin now states that she is living with spirits, but that they are friendly spirits. It seems that Dr. Priestley died in the house from a Yellow Fever outbreak. His wife also died there but some time later. Dr. Priestley had been the town doctor and postmaster. Confederate Soldiers used to hide in the root cellar of the house, gaining entrance through a door in the living room floor. Just the fact that the house survived the Civil War and that the Priestley family was able to hold onto it is amazing, since most of the houses in the area didn't survive.

Mrs. McMillin says that everyone asks her about the ghost. She suspects that it is Susan Priestley the wife of Dr. James Priestley the original builder. It is said that when you drive by the house at night you can see her in the bedroom window. Everyone in the McMillin family has said they have seen the ghost. They all said that they encountered her in the bedroom. The bedroom is also the room where it is said Susan Priestley died.

"Oh yeah, you can hear her all the time slamming doors ... She even played the piano one night," Frankie McMillin said. "I was skeptical when we first came, but then you hear her, and I decided it really wasn't so stupid." She first met the ghost when she went into her bedroom. She looked up and the ghost was standing there, looking at her. She says she was startled but went around her and into bed and nothing happened.

Enlisting the help of a physic, Bruce Baldwin, further investigations pursued. Mr. Baldwin was not familiar with the history of the home. When he entered the living room he immediately felt a presence. Neighbors have said that they have sometimes seen the figure of a woman looking out of a window. Mrs. McMillin explained that candles often fall out of their holders and she has heard the piano playing when no one was there. Without knowing about the piano, Baldwin stated he felt the piano had played by itself.

When Baldwin went to the second floor bedroom he was overwhelmed with sadness. It was so bad he had to leave the bedroom. He stated he never wanted to go there again and he had the feeling that many people had died there. The McMillin family stopped sleeping in the room prior to this.

A funny thing, or should I say a strange thing, happened when Baldwin tried to set up a digital camera in the bedroom. The battery discharged immediately. It was replaced with a new battery but the same thing happened. The camera had been in perfect working condition. Baldwin stated that the electrical field set up by an apparation can drain batteries and this has happened before. Next he set up a tape recorder to try and get an 'EVP' (electronic voice phenomenon ) but the tape recorder wouldn't record. He said it was like the tape had been erased. He had used a Tri-field Meter in the room, this is a device which detects changes in electro magnetic frequency, and it went off several times.

Mrs. McMillim believes that Mrs. Priestley became so attached to the house through the years that she just can't leave it.