PHASM

McRaven Tour Home

Vicksburg, Mississippi, United States

Historic house · established

The Story

McRaven’s rooms belong to three different building periods, and its ghost stories follow the same passage through time. In Vicksburg, guides recount Mary Elizabeth Howard’s playful presence, Andrew Glass in the oldest rooms and John Bobb on his balcony. Private investigations may be arranged through the operator.

The Hauntings

A visit to McRaven moves from a compact early dwelling into increasingly elaborate rooms. Instead of replacing the older house entirely, successive owners extended it, leaving different domestic worlds beside one another. That layered interior shapes the haunting tradition: the stories attach to particular people and portions of the house, rather than to a single anonymous presence. The regular history tour and the haunted tour offer different ways of meeting the same building. Mary Elizabeth Howard is the figure most often emphasized by the property’s guides. They associate her with the nineteenth-century family rooms and describe a spirit who sometimes appears to visitors or plays small pranks. Her story is told alongside the Howard household’s expansion of the house in 1836, giving this part of the tour a distinctly domestic character. The oldest rooms belong to the Andrew Glass tradition. McRaven’s account remembers him as a highwayman who used the small dwelling as a refuge. In the later wing, the operator places John Bobb’s lingering figure on his balcony. Together, the guides’ stories give the house a succession of presences, each associated with a different part of its interior. The property also presents material attributed to visiting paranormal teams, including an audio recording credited to Smoke and Mirrors investigators. Organized ghost hunts make the building available for a different kind of visit, while private groups can request exclusive investigation arrangements. An ordinary tour ticket and a private session are separate experiences.

The History

The operator dates McRaven’s earliest brick rooms to around 1797, followed by an 1836 addition for the Howard household. That middle phase added more formal domestic space, including a dining room, bedroom and stairway. The later work associated with John H. Bobb dates to 1849 and introduced a grander parlor, master suite and Greek Revival features. The building’s appearance therefore reflects accumulated work rather than one construction campaign. McRaven opened to visitors in 1961. Furnished interiors interpret different periods of household life, making the house’s accumulated alterations part of the visitor experience.

Visitor Experiences

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This future chapter will bring together stories from the PHASM community. An unexpected encounter, a lingering feeling, or a quiet visit—your experience will be welcome.

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Sources & further reading.

Plan Your Visit

Use the official site for guided history tours, haunted tours and separately ticketed ghost hunts. The operator explicitly accepts inquiries about private investigations; advance agreement is required and an inquiry does not reserve the property. The published visitor address is 1445 Harrison Street. Do not assume that a late-night investigation includes sleeping accommodation.

Official visitor information

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