The Dancing Lady of Harrodsburg

7 min readFeb 10, 2023

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The Grave of the Dancing Lady of Harrodsburg

According to the local legend in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, a beautiful woman in her mid-20s arrived at the Graham Springs Hotel some time in the 1840s. She checked in under the pseudonym Virginia Stafford, claiming to be the daughter of a Louisville judge.

The night she arrived the woman went down the stairs from her room to dance the night away in the ballroom. She danced with various partners and eventually died in her final partners arms.

Soon after her death, the staff searched her room. The only items that were found were her suitcase and the clothes she arrived in. It was discovered that there was a Judge Stafford in Louisville, but he did not have a daughter named Virginia.

After waiting a week for her to be identified, the staff and guests of the hotel ended up holding a service and burial for the unknown woman on the hotel grounds.

The Graham Springs Hotel

A little background of the hotel where the Dancing Lady was staying. The hotel was located on a mineral spring that was said to have healing properties. It was opened by Dr. Christopher Columbus Graham some time between 1814–1820. It was, as the article said, referred to as the “Mecca of Southern Society”. The hotel had its heyday between the 1830s to the 1840s.

Historian Jerry Sampson is quoted as saying “It was a huge place in its time. They would gather there typically from May to October to partake in the waters”.

In 1853 the hotel was sold to the United States government to be used as a veteran’s hospital. The main building burned down in 1856, and two subsequent fires in 1864 and in the 1880s destroyed the remaining buildings.

The area is now Young’s Community Park and still houses the grave of the Dancing Lady. The grave has an inscription that reads:

“Hallowed and Hushed be the Place of the Dead. Step Softly, Bow Head”

Solved? But Not Really…

In 1938 Joe Sewell from Tazewell, Tennessee claimed that the Dancing Lady was his estranged wife Mollie Sewell. This was widely believed to be the solution and is still believed by some to this day.

However, a stamp collecting group found an interesting clue. They found letters with Mollie’s name with Confederate stamps. Indicating that they had been sent/received in the years the Confederate States of America existed (between 1861–1865). This would mean that Mollie was alive twenty years after the Dancing Lady died, meaning that they cannot be one and the same.

New Research

Now the story of the Dancing Lady was first told by Dr. Graham in the 1850s, but there are no records of it from the time it happened, and the story does not seem to have been questioned at the time.

Various researchers have taken interest in this case in recent years. Todd Matthews, the program director of the Doe Network, began to take interest in this case after reading an article in 2002. Dr. Lynne Smelser, a Michigan researcher, also became interested in the case after noticing the grave on a trip to Kentucky to visit family.

Smelser found stories that the Dancing Lady actually did not arrive alone, but her companion abandoned her after she collapsed. Another story said that a man asked to be alone with the Dancing Lady then fled out the window after she died.

Rumors were unearthed about the nephew of Dr. Christopher Columbus Graham, Dr. Robert Graham who was staying at the hotel at the same time as the Dancing Lady. This is significant because Dr. Robert Graham was a well-known alcoholic who was known to be extremely violent, which is why he came to the hotel in the first place to “heal” in the mineral spring. Additionally, Dr. Christopher Columbus Graham actually paid all the expenses for Dr. Robert Graham to go to New Orleans, Louisiana around the same time the Dancing Lady died. Dr. Robert Graham even married a Mary Waterman there in 1845. Later, on a trip to New York City, Dr. Robert Graham killed Colonel Charles Loring at the St. Nicholas Hotel by running him through with a sword. He was convicted of second-degree murder, but he was later pardoned by the governor.

An article about Dr. Robert Graham’s murder trial

There were also suspicions that the Dancing Lady could have died of cholera. Now there were several cholera pandemics throughout the 1800s, none specifically talked about Kentucky but that does not mean that cholera could not have made it there.

So why would they hide a woman’s death from a common and deadly illness?

Well, cholera typically originates in the water supply. This would hurt Dr. Christopher Columbus Graham’s business, as a “healing spring” infected with cholera would not encourage people to stay there.

However, this theory does not seem to hold much weight. Cholera was not connected to water until John Snow made the connection in England in 1854, which is after the Dancing Lady’s death. Also, cholera tends to spread throughout populations. It seems unlikely that the Dancing Lady could have it and no one else in the area caught it as well.

Paranormal Experiences

A created image of the ghost of the Dancing Lady of Harrodsburg

Like many urban legends or old tragic tales, the ghost of the Dancing Lady has been reportedly seen by many people.

First Hand Account:

A woman was approached by a figure in Young’s Park who asked “can you help me, please? You see, I was dancing at the Harrodsburg Springs and I’ve lost my way.”

When the woman informed her that the hotel had burned down around 100 years before, the figure began to cry and then disappeared.

Dr. Lynne Smelser:

Dr. Lynne Smelser has actually had a few paranormal experiences surrounding this case as well.

When Smelser initially came upon the grave, she took a picture of it because she thought it was strange. Around a year later the picture kept coming up whenever she opened her phone. She called tech support, deleted the image, but the image still kept coming up.

Smelser also had a dream of a woman in a field asking “are we going home now?”

Smelser visited Dr. Christopher Columbus Graham’s grave and heard a voice saying “It was a mistake. It wasn’t supposed to happen.” Before leaving the graveyard she got a sharp pain in her neck, the discomfort only decreased when she called Todd Matthews and theorized that the Dancing Lady’s neck had been broken.

Modern Updates

In March of 2021 Matthews and Smelser were rejected by the Harrodsburg City Commission in their bid to exhume the grave of the Dancing Lady. They did have a possible solution of digging a parallel shaft, but the city has made it clear that they are not interested in pursuing it any further. They are hoping to ask again when the current City Commission moves on to other endeavors.

They had also got in contact with Dr. David Mittelman at Othram Inc. to possible get DNA from the Dancing Lady to perform genetic genealogy to possibly lead to her identity. But without bones to test, this is kind of at a standstill.

However, Smelser and Matthews are hoping to create a documentary about the Dancing Lady in the near future.

The new mural in Young’s Park by Laura Sullivan

On July 9, 2022 a new mural was unveiled in Young’s Park painted by artist Laura Sullivan to honor the history of the Graham Springs Hotel for the 250th Anniversary of Harrodsburg. The story of the Dancing Lady was told by historical storyteller Marian Bauer.

Conclusions

While unlike most of the cases that I look into, there is probably no one alive who is missing the Dancing Lady. But as Todd Matthews put it “she’s a missing leaf on a family tree.”

The mystery of her identity has fascinated modern sleuths and continues to be a local legend to this day.

Sources

The Dancing Lady of Harrodsburg

Written by Madison Tramel