HAUNTED PORTRAIT
ADELICIA ACKLEN
I performed in a play as part of the Buffalo Bill Wild West exhibit at the Tennessee State Museum. a stage was shipped from London where the play written by Willam Cody himself was first performed. I performed as both Buffalo Bill and Captain Johnson Huntley. I was fortunate enough to be asked to work 3rd shift security at the museum after the exhibit ended. And, I became fascinated with this portrait of Adelicia Acklen. Adelicia was the real life Scarlett O'Hara and the basis for the character in the movie Gone With the Wind. Adelicia was 17 and severely depressed at the time of the portrait made a short time after the untimely death of her fiancee. She later married a rich plantation owner who died and left her two plantations in Tennessee and Louisiana. She built hospitals and schools on her plantations considered models. She founded a women's college now Belmont University and had secret tunnels aka the underground railroad during the war to help slaves escape. She had immense power of men and enlisted both confederate and union soldiers to transport and guard her cotton which she sold in Louisiana to european buyers for 960,000 in gold making her one of the richest women in the world outside of royalty. There are many stories of the "Lady in White" apparitions at the University. I personally think this portrait looks like a particular modern actress. Do you see the resemblance? Also, check out the orbs in the last photo.