58. The Real Ghosts Of... Centreville, MS: Part 2

The Real Ghosts Of...

In this second installment of our Centreville investigation, we step beyond the quiet decay of Moonshadow Manor and into a far more unsettling shadow: the alleged mass killing of Black soldiers at Camp Van Dorn.

Join us as we walk the place where the camp gates once loomed...an unremarkable roadside clearing today, but a site tangled in decades of rumor, grief, and contested memory. We trace the history of the camp, sift through research, and explore the story that has circulated.

This episode is an honest conversation about difficult history. We approach this topic with deep respect for those whose lives and legacies may be bound to this story, while also questioning how folklore, fear, and conspiracy sometimes entwine with fact.

You can view all the sources we referenced in our own research listed below. If you find other resources you'd like to share, please email them our way!

1. African American Registry: Black Soldiers Die on Mississippi Army Base https://aaregistry.org/story/black-soldiers-die-on-mississippi-army-base/
2. Van Dorn Museum – History (Web Archive from Oct 14th 2010) https://web.archive.org/web/20101014183935/http://www.vandornmuseum.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13&Itemid=37
3. Town of Centreville – About Us https://townofcentrevillems.org/about-us
4. Washington University St. Louis – Oral Histories Project, Centreville, MS page – Collection of data and articles about local history, including Carroll Case’s accounts of Bill Martzall and Luther Williams recollections of the alleged slaughter: https://libguides.wustl.edu/c.php?g=1312985&p=9653828
5. Wikipedia page on Camp Van Dorn Slaughter: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Van_Dorn_Slaughter#cite_note-clifford-3
6. Were Blacks in Troubled WWII Regiment Sent to Front as Punishment? By James O. Clifford, LA Times Archive, February 14th 1999 (Anthony Snively is quoted in this article; a quote from a letter he wrote in the early ‘40’s to the Philadelphia Tribune is printed on the back of Case’s book on the alleged slaughter): https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-feb-14-me-7949-story.html#:~:text=The%20all%2Dblack%20364th%20regiment,and%20even%20taking%20on%20civilians.&text=Meanwhile%2C%20the%20rest%20of%20their,already%20beaten%20back%20the%20Japanese.
7. Carroll Case’s Book, Slaughter: An American Atrocity: (there are used copies for way cheaper, and some in online libraries) https://www.amazon.com/Slaughter-American-Atrocity-Carroll-Case/dp/0966649907
8. Wikipedia Page on Major General Earl Van Dorn, after whom Camp Van Dorn was named: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Van_Dorn
9. American Battlefield Trust – Earl Van Dorn Biography https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/earl-van-dorn
10. Mississippi Encyclopedia entry on Camp Van Dorn: https://mississippiencyclopedia.org/entries/camp-van-dorn/#:~:text=On%2030%20May%201943%20Private,the%20rest%20of%20the%20war.
11. BlackPast, They Mystery of the 364th Regiment: https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/the-mystery-of-the-364th-infantry-regiment-1943-1945/
12. Camp Van Dorn Museum webpage, current day: https://www.vandornmuseum.org/index.php?option=com_easyfaq&task=cat&catid=16&Itemid=53
13. Camp Van Dorn Historical Marker web page: https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=96276
14. Army website on Camp Van Dorn – Environmental Restoration Program for Formerly Used Defense Sites: https://www.sas.usace.army.mil/Portals/61/docs/FUDS/A04MS002402%20Camp%20Van%20Dorn%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf?ver=5JJVKdDcCOe-CQt6bxM6Fw%3D%3D#:~:text=The%20Corps%20found%20three%20potentially,2037%20and%20be%20monitored%20indefinitely.
15. Mississippi Massacre, or Myth? Army Tries to Put to Rest Allegations of 1943 Slaughter of Black Troops https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1999/12/23/mississippi-massacre-or-myth-army-tries-to-put-to-rest-allegations-of-1943-slaughter-of-black-troops/2f11afc2-4b4c-4488-ac04-71722b7aa58e/?
16. Interview records with Congressman Benny Thompson who investigated this case alongside the Army, Justice Department, NAACP, and more https://www.unexplainedcases.com/2001/08/camp-van-dorn-new-developments.html?

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Do you have any stories you'd like to share for a Wine & Spirits episode or somewhere you'd like us to investigate? Send us a message and let us know!

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