More Publicity
A story in today's Daily Egyptian offers a glimpse of some other research into the Old Slave House, though the lead paragraph once again downplays the history calling it "wild rumors." Once again I will point out that it isn't a wild rumor that Crenshaw kidnapped free blacks and sold them into slavery. Letters from the 1820s and 1840s exist telling the stories of Crenshaw's victims, how they were once in Illinois and later sold into slavery.

Crenshaw Mansion on Hickory Hill near Equality, also known as the Old Slave House, has been the site of speculation and controversy for many generations. Old tourist brochures say the former owner of the 19th century home kidnapped freed slaves, keeping them on the third floor of his mansion until he could sell them into slavery in the South. Wild rumors endorsed by the owners of the house until it was bought and closed by the state in 1996 fuel an image of terror.