Appreciating ‘Murder Mansion’ this Halloween

Published 6:00 am Saturday, October 31, 2026

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“Murder Mansion” in 2019.
(DAILY NEWS FILE)

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Wes Swietek

Tis the season of scary stories and gruesome ghouls, and no I’m not talking about all the campaign ads …

There are many fascinating ghost stories in southcentral Kentucky, but a personal favorite spooky location has long been Bowling Green’s so called “Murder Mansion.”

Site of the infamous 1948 double murder of Charles and Martha Martin, the still-standing home was a focal point of my 2020 book, “The Cemetery Road Murders,” about the fascinating case.

As the house sat vacant for some time in the 1950s and early 1960s, it garnered a reputation as being haunted. Here are a few excerpts about the house after the murders from my book:

“Surrounded by soaring weeds and trees with limbs scraping the ground, and with paint peeling off window sills like dead skin, Murder Mansion looked exactly as you would expect your neighborhood haunted house to look like. It had been two decades since the crime inside the house had gained national attention. For the kids growing up in the neighborhood that had sprouted on what once had been the Martin farm, Murder Mansion was a place to talk about but avoid. Yes, the house was vacant, but who knew what — or who — lurked inside?

Still, the front door appearing to be slightly open that day was an invitation for the group of young boys to prove their bravery to each other and to explore the most infamous house in Bowling Green. They went up the three steps, passed between two of the massive columns on the front porch, and peered through the ajar front door. They waited. Nothing but the sound of the cars passing on Cemetery Road broke the silence.

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Emboldened, they entered the grand home. In the dim foyer, they saw the dust-covered staircase, a long center hall fading into darkness, and a grand front parlor with sunlight struggling to filter through the dirty windowpanes. Cobwebs drifted down from the tall ceilings. The boys weren’t sure which way to go. Some people had been murdered here back before they had been born, but that’s all they knew. They took some more hesitant steps forward, when the tense stillness was shattered: “Look!” one of the boys yelled. The other boys followed his downward gaze to the large dark stains on the old wooden floors. No one had to state the obvious: they had found the bloodstained site of the massacre. They scrambled out the front door, through the brushy backyard, to the safety of their homes. Most never returned.

… In 1959, three Bowling Green businessmen purchased the home and surrounding 200 acres at auction for $240,000, reportedly a Warren County record for a farm tract. The seller was a charitable trust formed by the Odd Fellows to manage the money left by Stoney (Martin). The buyers said they purchased the land for future development, and the Martin home remained vacant.

The home was finally purchased around 1961 by Ralph and Romanza Johnson. The bullet hole above the staircase and bloodstained floor were still there when they purchased the home, Romanza Johnson told a reporter in 2006. She said that some friends declined to stay in the house because of the murders, while area children would often come by asking if they could see the spot where the infamous crime took place. Jo and Edward Di Bella then purchased the home in 1966.

Much of the surrounding land had been bought by developers who built the current subdivision. Norm and Jimmie Lou Johnson purchased the 5,400 square-foot brick home in 2001. The home and its contents were auctioned off in May of that year by the Di Bellas, drawing large crowds of would-be buyers, as well as countless curious spectators who took advantage of the auction to wander through the infamous house … one of the most frequent questions the Johnsons hear regarding Bowling Green’s Murder Mansion is whether the ghosts of the Martins — literally or figuratively — haunt the halls — ”everybody asks that,” Jimmie Lou Johnson said. Jimmie Lou said that she has a friend who has vowed never to stay in the house overnight because of its bloody past.

The home’s previous owners, Jo and Edward Di Bella, had lived in the house for thirty-five years. Jo Di Bella said they never experienced any paranormal activity. “It’s just a good Halloween gimmick that we use sometimes,” Jo Di Bella told a reporter in 2001. “I think it’s just too friendly a house to be upset by a couple of murders … .”

Norm Johnson likewise said they have now lived in the house for twenty years with no sign of supernatural activity. “It’s an inanimate object,” Norm Johnson said of the house .. “

The Johnsons sold the home in 2023. While I was doing the research for the book, and took part in many Unseen Bowling Green tours at the location, I spent a fair amount of time there. I can’t say I ever saw or felt a ghost there, but if you drive by the house this Halloween weekend, you might want to take a peek in the windows. You never know when the spirits might make themselves known.

Happy Halloween!

—Wes Swietek is the Daily News managing editor.