Kentucky After Dark Trail

Kentucky After Dark in Oldham County

Spooky Stories, Unsolved Mysteries, Creepy Crimes, and Haunted Happenings

The Unsolved Death of Verna Garr Taylor

To this day, no one knows exactly what happened on the night of November 6, 1936 when Verna Garr Taylor was found deceased in a ditch in rural Kentucky with a gunshot wound to her heart. Known as a beautiful widow who came from a good family and ran a successful laundry and dry-cleaning business in Oldham County, she had a reputation as “the most beautiful woman in three counties.”

Was it a result of suicide? Rage? Jealousy? Many blame her fiancé, former Kentucky Lieutenant Governor (1923-1927) and Brigadier General Henry Denhardt. He was a lawyer, fought on the western front in WWI, and unsuccessfully ran for governor, but remained in local politics. On Election Day in 1930 at a polling venue, a political rival shot him in the back- possibly a clue to his violent nature he tried to hide. When his term as Kentucky’s Adjutant General ended in 1935, the recently divorced Denhardt retired to an 800-acre farm in Oldham County. He then began romancing the much younger and lonely Verna Garr Taylor who had no idea what lay in store for her.

Although life began as a bed of roses, Verna’s life took many twists and turns over the years. In her senior year of high school, she married Barclay Taylor. He became manager of a laundry in La Grange and the couple had two daughters. But one year later, Verna became a grieving widow at the young age of 35. Her husband died as a result of a ruptured appendix.

Along came 61-year-old Henry Denhardt in 1936, who appeared to be successful, wealthy and intriguing. He only dated Verna, who was 40 by that time, briefly before asking her to marry him. He even gifted her with a $20,000 ring while she considered his proposal. But her answer was to be one that he did not want to hear.

Verna made up her mind to tell Denhardt of her refusal on a planned trip to Louisville, KY to have dinner with friends on Nov. 6, 1936. They were to return to La Grange to chaperone Verna’s daughter at a dance. What she said, how he took it, what really happened on that fateful night – the very same night she died – no one knows. Many have speculated, but the only two witnesses are long since dead. Verna breathed her last ragged breath that night on a dark, deserted road as terror gripped her while staring into the end of a .45-caliber pistol.

Only hours before, when Verna had complained of a headache, she canceled her appearance at her daughter’s dance. She then asked Henry to take her for a drive to get some fresh air. On Hwy. 146, just over the Oldham/Henry County line, the car stalled at about 9 pm. Denhardt claimed he drained the battery trying to restart it, he and Verna being the only two people on that lonely stretch of highway. He then complained he wasn’t feeling well. Verna walked to a nearby gas station and returned with a farmer and his wife who used their own car to push Denhardt’s down the road and into their driveway. Another neighbor offered to get a new battery, no one suspecting foul play was close at hand.

The farmer and his wife went home, while Denhardt and Verna waited with the car, both oddly declining to go into their house. Perhaps Verna saw this as her last chance to talk break up with Denhardt, had she not already broached the subject. The farmer and his wife then heard a loud gunshot. When the farmer cautiously ventured outside, Denhardt was walking toward his car and made a remark about the gunshot. Verna was nowhere in sight. He said she had walked up the road to look for her glove; that’s when he had discovered the revolver in his glove box was gone. Then there was an ensuing gunshot that everyone clearly heard. The good Samaritan who had gone in search of a battery returned with another person and they all unsuccessfully searched for Verna in the close darkness. Someone found her still body lying 200 yards away in a ditch, with a bullet hole through her heart, Denhardt’s gun lying four feet away.

Denhardt got his justice at the hands of Verna’s three brothers. A “cursory” medical exam and an autopsy revealed that she had been sexually assaulted as well, according to Punnett. Denhardt went on trial in April 1937 and the all-male jury deadlocked 7-5 for acquittal; a mistrial was then declared. On September 21, 1937, Denhardt was in Shelbyville with his attorney, Rodes K. Myers, preparing for his retrial. Less than 12 hours before jury selection was to begin, Roy, Jack, and E.S. Garr waited outside the Armstrong Hotel, where Denhardt was staying, to avenge the murder of their sister. They fatally shot him in a Kentucky style “code of honor” killing. Only one brother, Roy Garr, was tried. The jury acquitted him after deliberating for an hour. Verna’s brothers got off scot free, incidentally, and to this day no one can say for sure whether Denhardt was guilty or innocent of Verna’s murder.

A visit to Oldham County will reveal the historical town and its tales of Verna Garr Taylor and Henry Denhardt, but not reveal the truth of what happened that dark night. You might ask her about it on a visit to her grave…

Verna Garr Taylor  PASSPORT STOP

The old Peak Funeral Home is where Verna’s body was taken when found on the side of the road and where her funeral was held. Now a private residence on Main Street in La Grange, it’s closed to the public, but is still a spooky spot on a dark night. STAMP CLUE: On the slate tiles of the roof you can see the word “Hotel” from when it was known as the Waide Hotel, built in 1863.  You may experience cold chills down your spine as you stand in front of the place where, at first, Verna’s body was taken, then where Verna’s casket lay.  Look for the Kentucky After Dark sign for your selfie photo, then upload to our Facebook or Insta!  *This building is currently a private residence and is not open to the public. Trespassing is not permitted.

Valley of Rest Cemetery (not a Passport Stop) is located on Highway 53 in La Grange and is where you’ll find the grave of Verna. In addition to Verna’s place of rest, you will also find the grave of Rob Morris, Freemason and founder of the Order of the Eastern Star. 

More Oldham County Creepies…if you dare!

Zombie Apocalypse Escape Room – year round

Immerse yourself in the Zombie Apocalypse: solve puzzles, outsmart the undead, and fight for survival! Can you escape before it’s too late? Escape rooms are not for people who would rather watch someone else have all the fun; escape rooms are for those who enjoy adventurous story lines and immersive 60-minute escapades. Follow the clues, crack the codes, and work together at solving the puzzles to escape the room. It’s a heart-pounding adrenaline rush with non-stop fun from beginning to end.

Bitter Blood Murders

In the mid-1980s, three prominent families were swept up in a wave of violence known as the Bitter Blood murders. Pride, paranoia, obsession, and savage revenge brought about the horrific deaths of 9 people in Kentucky and North Carolina. But what connected these three doomed families? Marriage. Delores Lynch was murdered outside the side door of her home as she returned from church on Sunday, July 22, 1984. When her body was found two days later, police went inside the home and also found the body of Delores’ daughter, Janie Lynch. It was later determined that the Lynch women were murdered by Susie Sharp Newsome Lynch (the ex-wife of Delores’ son Tom) and her cousin/lover Fritz Klenner, both of North Carolina. On June 3, 1985, several law enforcement agencies in North Carolina were pursuing Fritz Klenner and Susie Sharp Lynch to arrest them for the murders. Tinted windows prevented police from knowing that Susie’s two sons were in the vehicle. Following a police chase and shootout, Fritz detonated an explosive inside the vehicle, causing it to explode, killing Fritz, Susie, and Susie’s two young sons Jim and John Lynch. The story of the Lynch murders was the subject of the book “Bitter Blood” by Jerry Bledsoe. There was also a movie about the murders in 1995 starring Harry Hamlin and Kelly McGillis, also titled “Bitter Blood”.

The Duncans at Duncan Memorial Chapel

When Alexander E. Duncan’s first wife, Flora, died in 1936, he decided he wanted a peaceful setting for her final resting place. They lived in Baltimore at the time, but he remembered their marriage in 1900 when they had spent the first three years as husband and wife in Crestwood, KY.

Duncan knew about Floydsburg, where one of the state’s oldest cemeteries lies. So as a memorial to Flora, he built Duncan Memorial Chapel in 1936-37. He also enlarged and landscaped the cemetery as a memorial to his grandfather, William Wesley Duncan. Flora Ross Duncan was buried in the Chapel’s chancel. Upon his death in 1972, Mr. Duncan was buried beside her. So when a couple stands there to be married, they are standing upon the graves of the Duncan’s. Creepy. Add the cold Gothic feel of the inside of the chapel – thick cut Indiana limestone lining the Chapel walls; slate roof and floor; stark sandblasted white oak forms the pulpit, benches, rafters, arches and porches (can you see pale ghosts emerging from?); a carving representing Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” on the altar (significant of the wedding couple’s Last Supper?); stained-glass windows reflecting dearly departed souls, no doubt ghoulish at night when seen by candlelight and lanterns, and the electric organ with vibrato echoing throughout the chapel in addition to the Schulmerich Carillon, which sounds the Westminster Chimes each hour 8 a.m. – 8 p.m. daily, then strikes the hour (like a heartbeat, or heartbeat no more, pounding in your ears).

Floydsburg Cemetery

Floydsburg Cemetery is the grounds of Duncan Memorial Chapel and was established in 1799 when William Boulware set aside three quarters of an acre for this purpose. The Boulware family was of the oldest settlers in the area that eventually became Oldham County (1824). In those early years, Floydsburg was an important stop on a stagecoach route from Frankfort to Louisville and many travelers and shiftless drifters filtered through the area no doubt. Nineteen years after William and his wife, Charity, donated land, they added another acre. They and other members of their family are among those buried in the Cemetery’s older section.  It has been said that a young woman who lived in the home across from the cemetery entrance had 2 suitors. They lived during the Civil War era. Torn between the two, she couldn’t decide who to marry. One was away at war (presumably dead?) and one came back. She was caught with one, while the other suitor shot her. The girl’s bright red blood stained her polished wooden bedroom floor in the upstairs of her home as she lay dying. Her spirit haunts the cemetery, as she carries a lantern, calling for her lover, dressed in a long white flowing gown.

Sleepy Hollow Road

With a tree line which becomes a canopy in many places, at night there’s nothing but headlights to light your way, as even the light of the full moon never finds its way to the pavement. Sleepy Hollow Road might just be one of the most haunted places in Kentucky, yet many people still choose to visit this paranormal hotspot, hoping to catch a glimpse of the supernatural for themselves. It’s a 2-mile curvy stretch of road that is steeped in so much lore, your heart can’t help but race as you round every turn in full anticipation that you are about to become part of its story!

There’s the mysterious black hearse, first spotted as headlights in your rear view mirror, coming up fast and close. At first you think it could be friends of yours. But the car keeps coming, closer and closer and you’re forced to speed up to keep it from ramming your back bumper. And it’s with horror that you realize as it pulls up beside you that it’s a hearse, its windows tinted black, just before it presses sideways into you, forcing you off the road and down the embankment. As you pass Dead Man’s Curve, you make it to a clearing. The ghostly hearse has completely vanished – no trace of the vehicle remains. You decide to pull over next to the bridge to try to slow your racing heart before crossing Harrods Creek.

*There is ONE ATTRACTION on Sleepy Hollow Road – Sleepy Hollow Golf Course

Cry Baby Bridge on Sleepy Hollow Road

Out of nowhere, you hear what sounds like an infant shrieking. The hair on the back of your neck stands up as you try to figure out where it’s coming from. The ghostly crying continues. It seems as if it’s emanating from the bridge itself. Those brave enough to walk down Sleepy Hollow Road are said to hear babies crying in that location, yet no babies are in sight. Drivers with their windows down have also heard the cries and sounds of women mourning. If you find yourself here, you might just experience the same disembodied sounds countless others have. on Sleepy Hollow Road, where the pavement crosses Hite Creek, there once stood a covered bridge, crossing the meeting of the creek and Sleepy Hollow Lake. It is said that from an even earlier bridge, mothers once tossed unwanted, crippled or otherwise burdensome babies, perhaps born from incestuous relationships into the deep pools which formed below, which eventually wash into the nearby Ohio River. When the moon shines down on the bridge from above, and the night is still, you can still hear the screams and cries of these hapless victims, as well as the mournful wails of their doomed mothers. Having enough, you put your car into gear and speed across Cry Baby Bridge, winding back up the hills, up and out of the hollow.

Devil’s Point on Sleepy Hollow Road

What kind of person would drive a hearse? Satanists of course, or some other practitioner of the black arts. From the 1970s to 1980’s, an area just off Sleepy Hollow Road, known as Devil’s Point was supposed to be the site of Satanic rituals and the dreaded black mass. People who lived in that stretch of woods would report ominous chanting and the screams of their sacrificial victims, breaking the stillness of the night. Other, more brave souls who investigated spoke of bonfires in the woods, with people in black robes carrying on it the firelight. There also have been multiple sightings of a soldier on horseback up on the ridge. Some have mentioned lights flying beside their car or moving through the trees, while others have even claimed the pass is a time warp, where they may enter the hollow at a certain time and, after what seems like a five-minute trip through the pass, come out on the other side and discover that hours have gone by.

Oldham County 2023 Spooky Events & Haunted Happenings

There are many Haunted Happenings in Oldham County, especially in the cooler fall months. Ghost tours, cemetery tours, pumpkin car shows, “halloweenie” pet walks, scary drive-in movies, and trick or treat events have a way of creeping in to Oldham County’s landscape. You’ll want to plan the perfect fall visit to Oldham County…. if you dare!

Day of the Dead Celebration

Spend the day in La Grange, starting at the Farmers’ Market to pickup some goodies then head to the Oldham County History Center for Barnyard Fun AND the Day of the Dead Opening Celebration!  Create an altar to honor a loved one from the past, paint a portrait at Utopia Studios for display, hear the Bluegrass Death Doula, Lauren Hunter speak about the culture of death & dying and end the day listening to Haunting Tales.  Plus, activity booth for kids including skull face painting, monarch butterfly activities & paper mache art. Activities start Saturday, September 23rd – November.

Spirits of La Grange Ghost Tours

Whether you are a history buff, ghost hunter, or thrill seeker, you won’t want to miss the Spirits of La Grange Ghost Tours. Discover the strange things that happen in the historic town of La Grange, a town founded in 1827 and known for the train running right through the middle of Main Street. Be alert for sightings along this candlelit outdoor walk that takes you inside some of the oldest buildings in town and down the famous Alley Loop, recently featured on HGTV. *Tour not intended for children 12 and under. 90 mins – 2 hours

Candlelight Cemetery Walks

Take a historic Oldham County Cemetery tour by candlelight to learn the history, genealogy AND hair-raising stories of those who reside there. Hosted by the Oldham County History Center, participants will hear interesting stories of people from Oldham County’s past that include WWII soldiers, love stories and stories of people that changed the world’s history. Recommended for ages 9 and up. 2 hours tours

Haunted Hike at Creasey Mahan Nature Preserve

Creasey Mahan Nature Preserve’s Haunted Hike is the most popular event of the year and should not be missed! This is a great day to debut your family’s Halloween costumes, collect A LOT of candy, and have a blast of a time in a beautiful setting. First Sunday in October, 3-7pm

Halloweenie Walk at the Maples Park

Get you & your doggie’s costume on for Maples Park for their annual leisurely walk through the park!  Collect treats (no tricks!) along the path from event sponsors and enjoy the food trucks in attendance.  October 15th, 12:30-3pm

Oldham County Parks Skeleton 5k run/3.2k walk

Join the FUN at Oldham County Parks and Recreation for the 18th annual Skeleton 5K run/ 3.2k walk. The run will start and  finish at Wendell Moore Park. October 21st, 8am

Pumpkins & Cars Car Show

You don’t want to miss the 3rd annual Pumpkins and Cars Car Show by C&W Automotive at The Maples Park in Crestwood! Trunk or Treat, food trucks, pumpkin painting, music and more!  Event is FREE to the Public. October 21st, 9am-2pm

Halloween MAINia

Meet Your Maker at Hermitage Farm

Boo Dell at Yew Dell