Residents of Christiansburg have probably heard the story of the Three Black Sisters.
Oceana Wardlaw Martin Snead, also known as Ocey Snead, was an American woman who was drugged and drowned in East Orange, New Jersey, by her own family to collect $32,000 (equivalent to $970,000 in 2021) in insurance money. The mystery and subsequent murder trial centered around Snead’s mother and her two aunts.
Originally established in Christiansburg in 1853 as the Montgomery Collegiate Institute, Montgomery College was founded and owned by the Christiansburg Presbyterian Church and operated out of the old church building on the corner of First and Franklin Streets.
In 1860, a new school was built on the present site and renamed Montgomery Female Academy. Oceana Seaborn Goodall Pollock, Martha Eliza Wardlaw’s sister, purchased the school in 1876, when it was sold at public auction, and while she was a teacher at the school. The 1880 Census shows Pollock and her niece Virginia Wardlaw, and their nephews, John B. and Albert G. Wardlaw, all living at the school with Virginia listed as a teacher there. Within a year, John and his wife Lizzie, both in their 20s, would be dead.
Ocey’s death was identified as a drowning with starvation as a contributing cause. Suspicion for the death quickly focused on her family, particularly her mother and two aunts. The deaths of John and Lizzie Wardlaw were also considered suspicious.
While at the Christiansburg school, the three sisters would be known to roam the halls checking on students. During the trial in upstate New Jersey, the women wore black dresses and black veils at the Christiansburg school to hide their faces. Thus arose the image that many people have learned about in the New River Valley. The tale that they still haunt the school exists as local residents have reported strange happenings in and around the old school such as doors slamming and lights turning on and off.
The story has become a play performed almost annually by actors of the New River Stage. Occasional sightings at Sunset Cemetery where one of the sisters is buried have also been reported.
Now this local tale is headed to the movies as production is underway at several locations in Southwest Virginia.
Christiansburg native Rick Maitri is the producer and director of the project titled “I, Miss Virginia,” a true crime psychological thriller based on actual events.
He said the movie and its script is “ripped from the headlines” of 1909 and 1910 and gleaned from an assortment of historical documents.
“For the feature, some facts have been changed for dramatic impact, and some blanks have been filled in just as Norman Zierold did for his book, Three Sisters in Black,” Maitri said.
Maitri graduated from Christiansburg High School in 1983 and attended New River Community College where he developed his love for the visual arts. He is currently the media specialist at the school and is pursuing a masters in filmmaking at Akira Kurosawa School of Film, Anaheim University
Having attended Christiansburg Middle School on the site of Montgomery Female College, he has heard all the tales of the sisters, their alleged murders, and the hauntings.
“As a kid, it’s fun to think your school is haunted and to share those fantastic stories. It’s common to hear the narratives I heard then retold now almost verbatim. I wanted to set the record straight in my writing, so I approached it in non-judgment, giving the sisters the benefit of the doubt and trying to bring humanity into the characters by discounting rumors that seemed utterly absurd,” Maitri said.
“There is so much that has been hidden, some of it in plain sight,” Maitri said. “On a lighter note, bringing the story to life for so many people who have grown up with it is a blast. This project has become my life. I go to bed thinking about it and dream about it, and it wakes me up in the morning.”
So far, production has taken place in Pulaski and Lynchburg because of the proximity and low cost. Maitri said local governments in both locations have been very supportive and have worked to make sure everything is legally and logistically in order.
“It’s difficult to say where it will ultimately shoot and to maintain a sense of ownership for the communities, it would be great to recreate some of the imagery in Murfreesboro, Christiansburg, and East Orange where the story has its roots,” Maitri said. “The reality is that there’s not much reason to shoot in the places where the events happened. Virtually no structure of that period related to the story is still standing.”
For the actors, Maitri has dipped in the local play arena.
“I started looking locally, and that’s where I met Dan Leary, (Dr. Herbert Simmons) who had done work with New River Stage and The Long Way Home. I’ve known Makala Vest [Witten] (Mary Snead) since high school. Locals may know her as an actress and CHS drama teacher. I initially contacted Makala in hopes of acquiring student actors for another project. She responded to a casting call before the last shoot to play Virginia, but scheduling conflicts became insurmountable,” Maitri said.
“I expanded the search to multiple actor and filmmaker groups throughout the state and that’s where I encountered Suzanne Jennings, the consummate professional and perfect Virginia. Suzanne is so deeply involved in the psychology of the character,” Maitri said.
Thirteen-year-old, Abigail Baldwin, who plays Ocey Snead, has acted in multiple stage productions in central Virginia, most notably perhaps as Hellen Keller in The Miracle Worker.
So far, the response to the movie has been enthusiastic among residents and former residents of Christiansburg.
The hope is to conclude production by April 30 with editing possibly extending into June.
Supporters of the venture will be allowed viewing during a limited release sometime in the summer. “I still haven’t decided what form the premiere may take; however, I’ve discussed the idea with a prominent Christiansburg innkeeper,” Maitri said.
