It’s the beginning of October, and what better way to kick off the best month of the year than with a Georgia mystery? The unexplained event of the “Atlanta Blood House” is still discussed among paranormal and mystery buffs. Located in the historic Just Us neighborhood, this 1945 three-bedroom brick home was the site of an odd event: the walls and floors were covered in human blood.
On Tuesday, September 8, 1987, Minnie Winston (1910-2015) stepped out of her shower and immediately noticed red splotches on the floor. The drops were all over the house-kitchen, living room, bedroom, hallways, and basement. She woke her husband, William (1908-1989), to show him. He had already fallen asleep in their bedroom.
The couple did not immediately think it was blood. When police arrived, they assumed it must be an animal because the splotches were all over the floor and walls. The next theory was that it might be William’s blood since he was on a dialysis machine. After testing the blood, it returned as O, and William’s blood type was A. Minnie’s blood was tested, too. It did not match, either.
Unfortunately, the crime analysis technicians were called twelve hours after the initial call from the Winstons. According to Ted Staples, a state criminologist, fresh blood would have allowed them to identify sex and race. (Remember DNA was not a tool that crime scene techs had at their disposal at the time.)
This story was picked up nationally. I found articles in newspapers as far as Hawaii. The New York Times even picked up the story. The notoriety of the story exhausted the Winstons. Minnie shared that their phone rang constantly, and people stopped by the house. Interestingly, I found an article in the September 24, 1987, Orlando Sentinel where Mr. Winston denied it was ever blood and said the spots were rusty water stains. I assume he was sharing this to limit interest in the story and to prevent lookyloos from stopping by the house. Alas, almost forty years later, the mystery lives on, and there are still people like me interested in the story.
What’s a possible explanation? My friends, Archive Atlanta and Tomb with a View Podcast, and I discuss theories that don’t involve the paranormal. What do you think the explanation could be?
Chamblee – Archive Atlanta
