Musical - Tammy Oberhausen

We see through a glass darkly. But what lies behind the pane?

Sexton House is an original folk-country musical based on the haunted legend of the Girl in the Window at Sexton House in Russellville, Kentucky.

Locals as well as travelers to the small town of Russellville have heard the legend explaining the white-painted upstairs window at the Maple Grove Cemetery sexton’s house. Long ago, a girl sat at her window, looking forward to a carriage ride to a dance with a distinguished young man, believing that he would propose marriage. When a terrible thunderstorm blew in and her parents forbade her to go, she cursed God and was struck by lightning, which etched her image into the glass. Though the window was repeatedly painted over and even replaced, her image returns, to this day, on dark, stormy nights.

But what really happened?

Now, the legend gets a spooky, lively, and moving retelling in this musical by Russellville native Tammy Oberhausen.

In a small Kentucky town in the 1890s, Levina, the cemetery caretaker’s teenage daughter, has a passion for attending barn dances with her new friend, Izzy, but her parents have other ideas about how she should spend her time. Delbert, the deadly serious local undertaker, is, in their opinion, the perfect match for their daughter, who is a bit too wild and free. When tragedy strikes the family, Levina, facing her own sorrow and questions about the beyond, and communing with the spirits that reside outside her window, must choose between staying in a life that feels like death and seeing for herself what’s on “the other side.”

Tammy Oberhausen was born and raised in Russellville, Kentucky, and now lives in nearby Bowling Green. She is the author of The Evolution of the Gospelettes: A Novel, published in 2024 and named a Foreword Reviews book of the year. She wrote the book, lyrics, and music for Sexton House: A Musical.

If you are interested in staging a production and would like to read the complete draft of Sexton House, please contact tammyoberhausen@gmail.com.

Girl in the Window

Music & lyrics by Tammy Oberhausen