Jodi Smith

Blood pouring from the walls and soaking the floors is a horror movie trope often used to portray a home as evil. But in 1987, Minnie and William Winston allegedly experienced this phenomenon in real life.

Although no body was ever found, testing proved the substance was, in fact, blood. Police, the Winstons, and other witnesses still wonder about the supernatural event that plagued the elderly couple in their humble Atlanta home.

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• In September 1987, Minnie Winston Stepped Out Of The Bath And Noticed Blood Seeping Up Through The Floor

Minnie Winston was 77 years old in September 1987. She lived alone with her 79-year-old husband, William, and had acted as his caretaker since his healh had begun to decline. Minnie soaked herself in a bathtub on the evening of September 8 to relax, but she found nothing but a headache when she emerged.

Minnie stepped out of the bath and into something wet and sticky burbling up from between the tile. Blood soaked her feet and the floor. She rushed to call for her husband, who was asleep in their room, and it seemed that the bloody substance wasn’t confined to the bathroom.

• • As Minnie’s Husband Searched The Rest Of The Home, He Found Blood Everywhere

William joined his wife in the search for the source of the blood, finding instead more droplets and puddles. Their living room, kitchen, crawl space, one bedroom, a hallway, and the basement all had the same rust-colored liquid spattered in them from seemingly nowhere. The pair first thought perhaps a small wounded animal found its way into their house, but they did find any other evidence of this in their search.

There was no source or reason for the liquid that Minnie described as “like a sprinkler,” spraying up from the floors and all over her home. The dialysis machine that cleaned William’s blood in lieu of functioning kidneys was even checked for a leak, but none was found.

• • The Winstons Decided To Call The Police

After exhausting all of their own leads and theories about the liquid, the Winstons decided to call 911 for police assistance. The first emergency service to arrive at the house were EMTs, meticulously checking the elderly couple for missed wounds or cuts on their bodies. Next to arrive were the police and Brenda Dipple, a lab technician tasked with collecting the blood.

The police asked whether there were other people in the home and found that Minnie and William were honest in their insistence that it was only the two of them. The couple had locked their doors at 9:30 that evening and then set their security alarm, preventing any intruders. It was around 11:30 that night when the first droplets of blood began to appear. Police had no idea how to help or what was happening, finding no homicide or crime of any kind.

• • Lab Results Confirmed The Blood Was Human

Brenda Dipple collected samples from the home that she admitted gave her the creeps. Surprising everyone except for the Winstons themselves, lab testing showed that the liquid was indeed human blood. In fact, it was type O blood. Testing proved that Minnie was type A and her husband’s precarious health meant his blood type was already known – also type A.

Police informed the press they did not intend to investigate further if there was no evidence of a crime. The idea of a hoax was also posited, and the state crime lab concluded no murder had taken place in the home. The theories had dried up as quickly as the blood in the Winston home. The public’s fascination with the phenomena, however, was anything but waning.

• • Paranormal Enthusiast Curt Rowlett Decided To Investigate Further

Curt Rowlett was a rocker and researcher of paranormal activities and became fascinated with the story unfolding at 1114 Fountain Drive. Unlike other reporters and curious parties, Curt waited six months to sit down with Minnie and attempt to find out what was really going on inside their home. According to his book Labyrinth 13: True Tales of the Occult, Crime & Conspiracy, he called up Mrs. Winston and asked her several questions.

According to Minnie, the Winstons had lived in the home for 22 years without any previous strange occurrences, and she now either believed or wanted others to believe the blood that appeared in her home was just rust and mud. Minnie claimed the hot water heater in her basement busted and the steam, mixed with rust and mud, shot through the ductwork to cover her home. This is, of course, refuted by the crime lab testing that identified the substance as type O human blood.

Curt concluded that Minnie did not want the substance that propelled her and her husband into the annals of paranormal lore to be blood, so she simply refused to believe it. After all, she wouldn’t stay in a haunted house.

Unsurprisingly, the interview did nothing to conclude the cause of the event.

• • Authorities Decided To Look Into The History Of The Home

Police decided to investigate the previous occupants of the house on 1114 Fountain Drive, as they were absolutely stumped. Before the Winstons moved in, Albert Thompson and his wife were the residents. Albert was Black, just as the Winstons, and worked for the Federal Housing Authority. One day in 1950, Albert was T-boned by a white driver who suffered no injuries. Albert was treated and sent back to the house on Fountain Drive with internal bleeding. The man responsible for Albert’s injuries was not charged with anything and was let off with just a warning.

Some believed the house bleeding was connected to Albert’s fate, as the blood appeared to the Winstons when the anniversary of the car accident – and Albert’s death on Halloween – were less than a month away. Others pointed to the death of another Black man at the hands of a police officer who shot at the wrong suspect, an event that transpired just days before the blood begean appearing in the Winston home.

Was the house on Fountain Drive a portal for the pain of these victims and the deep-rooted racism in the Atlanta area where they lived?

• • Some People Speculated The Blood Was Supernatural In Origin

When questioned by Curt Rowlett, Minnie insisted that nothing even close to the blood dripping from their home had ever happened before. Some people, like lab tech Brenda Dipple, did find the home to be creepy. Later, Dipple told detectives there were rumors about the Winston home being a hub of supernatural activity and occurrences.

Police were not eager to jump into these types of theories and reminded the press that no crime had occurred for them to investigate.

• • There May Have Been Tension Between The Winstons And Their Adult Children

Rebecca Long of the group Georgia Skeptics published a piece about the home, claiming an investigator shared his belief that the whole thing was a hoax. This Lieutenant Walker allegedly said there were tensions between the Winstons and their grown children, leading to the blood being thrown about the house.

One theory stated the Winstons wanted more attention from their children and that somehow William’s reliance on a dialysis machine meant he had access to human blood. However, the blood in the machine would be type A if taken from the machine in their home.

Another theory was that the Winstons’ daughter was a nurse and stole the blood from her workplace and flung it about the house. The reason was to have her parents declared incompetent and take over their finances. No one seemed to care that the Winstons had no previous run-ins with police or any similar history.

• • A Media Circus Surrounded The Home At 1114 Fountain Drive

From the moment police arrived at the Winston home, so too did onlookers. William was frail and stayed in bed for a majority of the day, leaving Minnie to answer the door and the telephone when nosy neighbors and reporters came calling. Filming took place inside of the house, showing the large spatters of blood throughout.

A parapsychologist named William George Rolle Jr. showed up with a reporter and asked for access to the home. He was turned away but vowed to keep trying. The Associated Press reported that Minnie stated on September 10,

I still don’t know where the blood came from, and I’m tired of all these people asking me all these questions. If anybody comes here today, I’m not going to open my door. The phone rang all night, people asking me questions. I’m fed up with all this.

• • The Winstons Ultimately Stayed In Their Home, But The Case Was Never Solved

Minnie and William remained in the home until they both passed. William died a couple of years after the blood appeared in their home. Minnie lived to be 104 and died in the home in 2015. The case remains unsolved to this day.

Minnie was only able to stay in the home by convincing herself the verified blood was muddy rust water, telling Curt Rowlett “that if the substance had actually been blood that she would not be willing to stay in the house anymore.” Apparently, she was able to hold on to that small self-delusion.

Graveyard shift

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