Imagine for a moment that you were relaxing, taking a bath late at night, after your husband had gone to bed, and when you step out of the tub, your feet land in a pool of blood.

I’m going to let you ponder that for just a minute.

It may seem like a random hypothetical situation, but this is exactly what happened the night of September 8, 1987 to Minnie Winston at her home at 1114 Fountain Drive in southwest Atlanta, Georgia. That night, after tidying the house and setting the security alarm around 9:30 pm, the 77 year-old former schoolteacher decided to take a bath after her husband, 79 year-old William “Willie” Winston, went to bed. He was in poor health, and being his caretaker, she needed that self-care time.

As Minnie stepped out of the tub around 11:30 pm, she felt her feet squish in something sticky, and when she looked down, she saw something that shocked and bewildered her- what appeared to be blood was coming out of the floor, as she put it- “like a sprinkler”. Concerned her husband was injured, she called to him, and when he didn’t answer, she went to find him. It was then that she discovered it was not only the bathroom floor, but the whole home, oozing blood.

After rousing Willie, the two searched for the source of the blood. No one was in the house. They couldn’t find any indication of an animal in the home. Neither of them had any wounds. Unable to think of any explanation, they called 911 for help.

Shortly thereafter, EMTs arrived, and they checked the Winstons for signs of injury. Willie is quoted as saying “I’m not bleeding. My wife’s not bleeding. Nobody else was here.” The EMTs also inspected Willie’s dialysis equipment and found no issues that could cause this event.

The police also investigated the scene, looking for indications of a break-in or any kind of crime that had occurred. They found nothing. In interviewing the couple, they learned that no one had entered the house after the alarm had been set, they’d had no recent visitors, and had no pets. The investigators were stumped.

As part of the police investigation, a blood tech named Brenda Dipple from the APD went to the scene and took photos. When accessing the basement, she said “this house gives me the creeps.” In addition to taking photos, she took samples of the blood which were sent to the hospital for immediate testing. The tests showed that the substance was, in fact, blood. Not only was it confirmed to be blood, but it didn’t match either of the Winstons. They were both type A, while the samples of the substance from the house were type O.

The property managers for the home were called, and they came out to assist by inspecting the house alongside the authorities. As far as they could tell, everything was in order. They also let the investigators know that the Winstons had rented this brick three-bedroom home for twenty-two years. The house had been built in 1945 and no other instances like this were reported- not prior to the Winstons, not in the two decades they were there, and never again.

The press got wind of this mystifying event while the first responders were still on the scene. Naturally, a story as strange as this garnered a lot of attention. It hit newspapers locally, bringing this private, elderly couple a lot of unwanted publicity. They were soon overwhelmed by people visiting, calling at all hours, and badgering the Winstons for more information. The story became so well-known it even appeared in news outlets around the world.

The police continued to investigate, even checking into potential missing specimens at blood banks, but that turned up nothing. They released a statement to the press that “we have not stopped looking because we know houses don’t bleed, but we haven’t determined that a crime was committed, and that is our primary concern.” This let the public know that they clearly didn’t believe it to be a hoax, or they wouldn’t have wasted their resources. But with no evidence that there was a homicide or other incident, it gave them little to go on.

One of the theories surrounding this case was that Willie created this hoax to get the attention of their children. To believe this, one has to not only believe that there was motive, but that Willie had access to blood simply because he was a dialysis patient, and that he had the ability to seemingly make blood pour from every surface of a home. That’s a lot of blood and a lot of skill and planning to pull that off. Willie being an elderly man of poor health would have a hard time making that happen.

Other folks who believed this to be a hoax instead put the blame on the Winstons’ daughter, a hospital employee. They said that she could have access to blood based solely on her working in a healthcare facility, and they claimed the motive was to have her parents declared mentally unwell for her own financial gain. Whether the Winstons had any actual tensions with their children isn’t clear, as various reports have given conflicting information.

Considering no one- not the Winstons, not the police, not EMTs, no one- could explain this absolutely horrifying event, naturally many believed this could be supernatural or paranormal phenomena. Many religions and spiritual beliefs involve the miraculous appearance of blood, some believing it to be a positive, divine sign, and others, well… not so good. This drew the attention of the paranormal community and religious fanatics along with the general public who were simply interested in seeing a house with bleeding walls.

The publicity wasn’t only a nuisance to the Winstons, but with Willie’s poor health, it caused legitimate concerns about their well-being. With a constant swarm of people around their home, they worried how they’d be able to get medical help if they needed it. Beyond that, they weren’t able to get any much-needed rest and they spoke out about their disdain for the attention.

*Photo from:* obscurban-legend.fandom.com

The police were having a hard time with the case as well. They were overwhelmed by crime in the Atlanta area, and recently had some unwelcome publicity after a white officer had shot an unarmed black man who was driving in the area where the officer had been searching for a suspect to serve a warrant. The officer had fired into the moving vehicle, striking the man- Lamar Montgomery- in the head. He ended up dying, and this sparked outcry in the community.

When only days later the police received the Winstons’ call, they had hoped it’d be a straightforward case. The media circus that followed was a complication they did not need. When talking to the press, they tried to downplay the mystery of it all, and to stick to the facts. With no answers, various players within the law enforcement community began to point fingers at one another.

For instance, the State Crime Lab was not called in until 1 pm, once the samples sent by Brenda to the hospital for testing were determined to be human blood. By then the blood was dry, making it harder to get results. They stated that with fresh blood, they could not only reveal gender and race but also could tell if there were any substances such as alcohol or drugs in the blood. This insinuated that the botched investigation might not be able to produce any satisfying resolution, and it attempted to redistribute some of the fault on others.

Eventually, with more questions than answers, and no evidence that there was a crime committed, the police closed the case, though it remains unsolved to this day. The media frenzy died down, and things began to go back to normal.

The Winstons remained in the home, and whenever they were asked about the events, they gave a variety of responses (red dye from a rug, rust and mud, or “contaminated water from leaky pipes”, for example). One writer and paranormal researcher named Curt Rowlett spoke with Minnie later on, and she denied the substance to be blood. He believed that she did so to avoid any further publicity. The Winstons just wanted to live their golden years in peace.

Willie died two years after the event, though Minnie passed away decades later, in 2015. The house, however, lives on in infamy as The Atlanta Blood House, still drawing the attention of those, like us, who are fascinated by the strange and unusual happenings of that September night, nearly forty years ago.

Until next time, paranormal pals, keep seeking answers, stay curious, and of course-

KISS

Keep It Spooky Sis :)

----------

*Sources used:

https://medium.com/the-mystery-box/the-bleeding-walls-in-atlanta-c92a0bc53833

https://theghostinmymachine.com/2021/08/02/unresolved-what-caused-the-atlanta-blood-houses-mysterious-mess/

https://www.trulyadventure.us/blood-house

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-atlanta-constitution-bleeding-house/78120243/

https://vocal.media/horror/the-atlanta-bleeding-house

https://unmyst3.blogspot.com/2014/05/mystery-of-atlantas-house-of-blood.html#google_vignette