By Jessica Gorman

Sallie Baker is the subject of what is the best-known ghost story/legend in Webster Parish and yet, we will probably never really know her true story. This article will not focus on the rumors about this lady whose memory has been tormented for decades after her death, her grave desecrated and vandalized over the years. Previous attempts have been made to explain the life of Sallie Baker, but even those stories don’t always ring true.

Sallie Ryan Carruthers was born to George W. Carruthers and Francis M. Gertman sometime between 1867 and 1870. There is almost a complete lack of consistency concerning her age on all available records. However, the 1900 U.S. Census reports her birth as occurring in June 1867.

There seems to be little information available about Sallie’s early life. A number of her siblings died young, as indicated by census records. A newspaper article from 2000 tells that Sallie hated her mother. We have no way of knowing if this is true but the story that is provided as an explanation doesn’t quite add up. It is claimed that the family moved from the Carolinas to Louisiana by way of covered wagon. Along the way, they were forced to dump all their possessions when the horses tired. This included “their China from England.” Reportedly, Sallie was broken-hearted.

The problem with this story is that Sallie seems to have been born in Louisiana as all records indicating her place of birth corroborate this fact. So far, I have been unable to locate the family on the 1870 census in order to confirm their residence. However, her father is mentioned in a Shreveport newspaper in November 1868 as being a visitor to Brooks House and his residence is given as Bossier Parish. Even if Sallie had been born in Georgia, she clearly would not have been old enough to cry over the loss of the china.

Another part of the story that is incorrect is the claim that the family came from the Carolinas. Her parents were married in Pulaski County, Georgia in 1856 and came to Louisiana sometime after the Civil War. The story also includes a Logan family that accompanied them on their trip, but the Logans were in Louisiana long before the Carruthers. This story of the two families is told by a member of the Logan family, identified as a niece to Sallie Baker. No family relationship has been found between the two.

In December 1896, Sallie was married to John Thomas Baker. She was somewhere between 27 and 30 years old. He was about ten years her senior. The couple never had any children. This fact may fuel part of the legend that says she killed all her children and buried them under the house. Mr. Baker died in 1925, reportedly of a heart attack. He is said to have leaned over and fallen off the porch, later sparking rumors that Sallie had pushed him. Other versions say she poured hot lead in his ear. And while the stories always give some varying number of husbands that she killed, usually somewhere between three and seven, she was only married once. She lived out the rest of her life a widow.

After the death of her husband, Sallie lived alone on Bellevue Road. She owned a large amount of land and records reveal many financial transactions involving that land, including oil and gas leases, timber deeds, and transfer of mineral rights. The blame for the stories told about her is often placed on those who may have been seeking to take advantage of her. The Bodcau Flood Control Project began in the late 1940’s. As were others, Sallie was forced to sell her property to the federal government.

Sallie Baker died on 15 July 1952 at her home in Cotton Valley, the home she had moved to after the sell of her property. Her obituary indicates burial in the Carruthers Cemetery. This implies the existence of other burials and not simply what has become known as a single, lonely grave.

It would seem that every known story about Sallie Baker has holes in it. Even those that she is supposed to have told about her own life. As I look closer, I seem to come up with more questions than answers, but mostly a sense that we owe it to Sallie to make sure it is known that the worst parts of her legend simply are not true. 

(Jessica Gorman is Executive Director of the Dorcheat Historical Association Museum, Webster Parish Historian, and an avid genealogist.)