The Return of the Ruined BankerThe setting of this ghost story was Sturdivant Hall, in Selma, Alabama, in 1860.Sturdivant Hall had been built in 1852. This stately mansion had six tall white columns in the front. There were many living rooms downstairs and numerous spacious bedrooms upstairs. There were large fig trees, shrubs and scuppernong vines on both sides of the house. A group of visitors had gathered to take a tour of this beautiful home; then, the guide revealed something truly remarkable. (Windham and Figh, 79) The guests were admiring the gracious proportions of the downstairs living rooms and had made their way to an upstairs bedroom. The guide was describing the roped pull-out bed and other old furniture to the tourists when she suddenly stopped mid-sentence and turned very pale. One of the men in the group tried to help her into a chair, but before he could reach her, she took a deep breath and continued her interrupted story. (Windham and Figh, 79) After the tour ended and the visitors had left, the guide ran to her friend who kept the guest register. (Windham and Figh, 79) “It's here again!” he exclaimed. “He brushed past me in the upstairs bedroom. I've never felt anything like it: his touch was suffocating and scary. (Windham and Figh,79,80) She continued to explain to her friend about John Parkman's ghost. She told her friend that her ghost usually appeared when there were tourists in the building. She wasn't sure if her ghost didn't like strangers in her house, or if her ghost was just a reminder for her to tell people about her amazing success story and what a good person she was. John Parkman lived in the white columns. ..... half of the paper ...... d seeing him he believed that he was buried near the scuppernong harbor and that his restless spirit wandered from that grave. Even when they were told that Parkman had been properly buried in the family plot in Live Oak Cemetery, they continued to insist, “Mr. Parkman is right there. He is buried under the fig tree near the arbor. And he is troubled and restless. Very restless. (Windham and Figh, 85) It must indeed be the restless and restless ghost of John Parkman who wanders the spacious rooms and gardens of the house he loved, appearing only when crowds of people are present. Do you object to the intrusion of these strangers into your home? Is he trying to play the role of gracious host of a gay gathering of guests again? Or is he looking for an advocate, someone to cleanse him of the stigma that has ruined his good name? (Windham and Figh, 85)