Southern Spirit Guide

If you’re a frequent visitor here, you may have noticed that I introduced “A Haunted Southern Book of Days” about six months ago. It has taken me some time to realize that I wasn’t satisfied with the initial calendar, so I revamped it. Like so many good ghost-blogging ideas, I first saw this on Theresa Racer-Cheshire’s blog, Theresa’s Haunted History of the Tri-State. It has taken some time to implement, and I hope it’s worth it.

This is a calendar of dates that can be associated with various haunted locations throughout the South. Included here are dates of events that have produced hauntings, dates of people who may have remained in spiritual form, and important dates for haunted locations all in one place.

The calendar can be accessed through the directory page on the right hand side of the blog titled “A Haunted Southern Book of Days,” or here.

Explore this month through the lens of Southern spirits with this haunted book of days.

1 September

 

2 September

 

3 September

 

4 September

 

5 September

 

6 September

 

7 September

• 1997 – Human remains are found near the Stony Point Picnic Area in Candler, North Carolina, and identified as Judy Smith, believed to be a possible victim of serial killer, Gary Michael Hilton.

8 September

 

9 September

 

10 September

•  Blount College, a predecessor to the University of Tennessee, is established in Knoxville, Tennessee.

11 September

 

12 September

•  1873 – The Big Bend Tunnel opens in West Virginia. It was supposedly the scene of the death of folk hero John Henry.

13 September

 

14 September

 

15 September

 

16 September

 

17 September

•  The Battle of Antietam is fought just outside Sharpsburg, MD.

18 September

•  1870 – Joseph Emory Davis, brother of Jefferson Davis, dies at Anchuca Mansion in Vicksburg, Mississippi.

19 September

 

20 September

 

21 September

 

22 September

•  1850 – Dr. James Nissen dies and he becomes the first person buried in Atlanta’s Oakland Cemetery.

23 September

 

24 September

 

25 September

 

26 September

•  1907 – Si Conner is hanged at the Noxubee County Jail in Macon, Mississippi. The old jail has been transformed into the Noxubee County Library.

27 September

•  1903 – Locomotive Old ’97, pulling a mail train, jumps the rails and crashes in Danville, Virginia.

28 September

 

29 September

 

30 September

 

Explore this month through the lens of Southern spirits with this haunted book of days.

1 October

 

2 October

 

3 October

 

4 October

 

5 October

 

6 October

 

7 October

•  1780 – Patriots defeat the British at Kings Mountain in present day Upstate South Carolina.

8 October

•  1862 – Confederates under General Braxton Bragg are defeated at Perryville, Kentucky.

9 October

 

10 October

 

11 October

 

12 October

•  1896 – University of Montevallo founded in Montevallo, Alabama.

13 October

 

14 October

 

15 October

•  1859 – John Brown and his fellow raiders stay at the Kennedy Farm in Sharpsburg, Maryland prior to their failed attempt to seize the Federal Armory in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.

16 October

 

17 October

 

18 October

 

19 October

 

20 October

 

21 October

 

22 October

 

23 October

 

24 October

 

25 October

 

26 October

 

27 October

•  1927 – The Trunk Murders occur at 715 Ursulines Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana.

28 October

 

29 October

 

30 October

 

31 October – Halloween

• 1927 – Carolina Theatre in Greensboro, North Carolina opens.

Explore this month through the lens of Southern spirits with this haunted book of days.

1 November

• 1905 – Fire destroys several buildings in Pensacola, Florida on Palafox Street between Garden and Romana Streets, precipitating the construction of the Blount Building.

2 November

 

3 November

 

4 November

 

5 November

 

6 November

 

7 November

 

8 November

 

9 November

 

10 November

 

11 November

 

12 November

 

13 November

•  1913 – Hales Bar Dam in Haletown, Tennessee begins operations.

14 November

 

15 November

 

16 November

 

17 November

 

18 November

 

19 November

 

20 November

 

21 November

• 1920 – Eldad Cicero Camp, owner of Greystone Mansion, now WATE-TV studios, in Knoxville, Tennessee, dies.

22 November

• 1955 –  Mayhayley Lancaster, noted fortune-teller and seer, dies in Franklin, Georgia and is buried at Caney Head United Methodist Church in nearby Roopville. 

23 November

 

24 November

 

25 November

 

26 November

 

27 November

• 1863 – Sam Davis, who was born and raised in the Sam Davis Home in Smyrna, Tennessee, is executed as a Confederate spy in Pulaski, Tennessee.

28 November

 

29 November

 

30 November

•  1966 – Fire breaks out at Crystal City Caves, now the Raccoon Mountain Caverns in Chattanooga, Tennessee, resulting in the death of the night watchman. 

Explore this month through the lens of Southern spirits with this haunted book of days.

1 May

 

2 May

• 1862 – Union troops under Colonel Basil Turchin sack the city of Athens, Alabama. Their spirits have been reported near the intersection of Clinton and Washington Streets. 

3 May

•  1929 – A tornado strikes the community of Rye Cove, Virginia destroying its schoolhouse.

4 May

 

5 May

 

6 May

 

7 May

 

8 May

 

9 May

 

10 May

 

11 May

 

12 May

 

13 May

 

14 May

 

15 May

•  1941 – Murderer Grady White is executed in downtown Philadelphia, Mississippi, possibly leading to a haunting at Marty’s Blues Cafe.

16 May

 

17 May

 

18 May

 

19 May

 

20 May

 

21 May

• 1870 – John Walter Stephens is murdered in a storage room in the Caswell County Courthouse in Yanceyville, NC. 

22 May

 

23 May

 

24 May

•  1830 – The first set of railroad tracks, between Baltimore and Ellicott City, Maryland, is opened. The B & O Ellicott City Station Museum, a National Historic Landmark, pays homage to this event.

25 May

 

26 May

 

27 May

 

28 May

 

29 May

 

30 May

 

31 May

Explore this month through the lens of Southern spirits with this haunted book of days.

1 March

 

2 March

 

3 March

•  1887 – North Carolina State University is founded in Raleigh. Among the haunted locations on campus is an old gymnasium turned theater, Frank Thompson Hall.

4 March

• 1866 – Alexander Campbell, founder of Bethany College, Bethany, WV, dies at his home and is buried in God’s Acre Cemetery. 

5 March

 

6 March

 

7 March

 

8 March

 

9 March

 

10 March

 

11 March

 

12 March

 

13 March

 

14 March

•  1862 – Federals capture the city of New Bern, North Carolina, home to the colonial Tryon Palace and the Attmore-Oliver House.

15 March

 

16 March

 

17 March – St. Patrick’s Day

•  1862 – The Irish have played a tremendous role in Southern history. During the Battle of Antietam, fought near Sharpsburg, Maryland, the 69th New York Infantry, known as a the Irish Brigade, was sent into the nadir of battle along the Sunken Road. The heroism of these troops has since entered the realms of legend and ghost stories.

18 March

• 1919 – The night of the “Axeman’s Passover” when the self-described Axeman of New Orleans announced that he would pass through the city killing the occupants of any house not playing jazz. 

19 March

•  1865 – First day of the Battle of Bentonville in North Carolina. The nearby Harper House serves as a field hospital. 

20 March

• 1788 – A fire breaking out in the Bosque House on Chartres Street in New Orleans spreads to destroy much of the city. 
• 2015 – Two young men are fatally shot in the 700 block of New Orleans Chartres Street. Echoes of this murder are still heard to this day.

21 March

 

22 March

 

23 March

 

24 March

 

25 March

 

26 March

 

27 March

• 1814 – The Battle of Horseshoe Bend is fought near modern-day Dadeville, Alabama, pitting American forces under General Andrew Jackson against a Muscogee village of Tohopeka.  

28 March

 

29 March

•  1883 – Western Carolina Insance Asylum, now Broughton Hospital opens in Morganton, North Carolina.

30 March

 

31 March

Explore this month through the lens of Southern spirits with this haunted book of days.

1 June

 

2 June

 

3 June

 

4 June

• 1804 – Harriett Mackie, the supposed ghost bride of St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, in Charleston, South Carolina dies.

5 June

• 2005 – A tree falls on and severely damages the Salem-Shotwell Covered Bridge in its original location on Wacoochee Creek precipitating its move to Opelika Municipal Park.

6 June

 

7 June

 

8 June

 

9 June

•  1863 – Battle of Brandy Station, the largest cavalry battle fought on American soil, occurred in Virginia. Wounded and dying soldiers were taken to a house near the battlefield where many scratched their names into the plaster walls. Now known as Graffiti House, the house,  the names and inscriptions, and perhaps the spirits there have been preserved as part of a museum.

10 June

 

11 June

 

12 June

 

13 June

•  1935 – “Miss Nellie” Weaver Tucker, resident of Errolton in Columbus, Mississippi dies. She may be one of the spirits in residence in the home.

14 June

 

15 June

•  1888 – Voodoo priestess Marie Laveau dies at her home in New Orleans and is buried in the Glapion family crypt in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 on Basin Street. Ever since, her spirit has been encountered near the cemetery.

16 June

•  1888 – Sue Howard Hardy, a Charleston socialite, passes away and is buried in the churchyard of St. Philip’s Episcopal Church. Her spirit has been captured in photographs and video more than a hundred years later.

17 June

 

18 June

 

19 June

 

20 June

 

21 June

 

22 June

 

23 June

 

24 June

 

25 June

 

26 June

 

27 June

•  1864 – Confederate troops try to halt General Sherman’s movement towards Atlanta, north of the city at Kennesaw Mountain in Cobb County, Georgia. The battle leaves an untold number of spirits and spiritual activity across the landscape.

28 June

 

29 June

 

30 June

 

Explore this month through the lens of Southern spirits with this haunted book of days.

1 July

• 1981 – A fire, possibly intentionally set, kills a 47-year-old woman inside the Carolina Theatre in Greensboro, North Carolina. Her spirit is believed to continue haunting the building.

2 July

 

3 July

 

4 July

•  1980 – The Carousel at Glen Echo Park in Glen Echo, Maryland is listed on the National Register of Historic Place.

5 July

 

6 July

•  1962 – Author William Faulkner, whose home, Rowan Oak, is now preserved as a museum, dies.

7 July

• 1865 – Four conspirators including Mary Surratt, found guilty in the plot to assassinate Abraham Lincoln, are hanged are executed in Washington, D. C. This group was suspected of having planned much of the assassination at Mrs. Surratt’s Boarding House, now occupied by Wok and Roll Chinese and Japanese Restaurant.

8 July

 

9 July

•  1850 – President Zachary Taylor dies in office at the White House.

10 July

 

11 July

 

12 July

•  1913 – Asheville, North Carolina’s popular Grove Park Inn opens.

13 July

•  1862 – Confederate troops break into the Union occupied Rutherford County Courthouse in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
• 1862 – A skirmish is fought on the lawn of Oaklands, now Historic Oaklands House Museum, in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

14 July

 

15 July

 

16 July

•  1790 – The District of Columbia is established.

17 July

 

18 July

 

19 July

 

20 July

 

21 July

•  1861 – First Battle of Bull Run is fought just outside of Manassass, Virginia. 

22 July

 

23 July

 

24 July

•  1826 – Thomas Jefferson dies at his home, Monticello, in Charlottesville, Virginia.

25 July

 

26 July

 

27 July

• 1826 – General James Winchester dies at his home, Cragfont, in Castalian Springs, Tennessee.

28 July

•  1854 – USS Constellation is commissioned.

29 July

 

30 July

•  1676 – Bacon’s Rebellion begins, see Bacon’s Castle in Surry, Virginia.

31 July

Explore this month through the lens of Southern spirits with this haunted book of days.

1 January

• 1955 – Two more dogs found mutilated in Bladensboro, NC leading locals to blame the Beast of Bladensboro.

2 January

• 1863 – The Battle of Stones River ends outside Murfreesboro, TN. See Stones River Battlefield.

3 January

 

4 January

•  1867 – The traditional date of brakeman Joe Baldwin’s death in a train accident just outside the town of Maco, NC, leading to sightings of the Maco Light.

5 January

 

6 January

 

7 January

 

8 January

• 1815 – Forces under Andrew Jackson defeat British troops in the Battle of New Orleans fought in Chalmette, LA.

9 January

• 1913 – The James T. Staples sinks after a boiler explosion on the Tombigbee River near Bladon Springs, AL.

10 January

 

11 January

 

12 January

 

13 January

 

14 January

 

15 January – Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

•  1865 – Fort Fisher in North Carolina, deemed the “Gibraltar of the South,” falls to Union forces.

16 January

 

17 January

 

18 January

 

19 January

 

20 January

 

21 January

• 1819 – Centre College in Danville, KY is established.

22 January

 

23 January

 

24 January

 

25 January

•  1819 – University of Virginia is established in Charlottesville, VA. See Alderman Library.

26 January

 

27 January

•  1795 – University of Georgia is chartered. It will be a number of years before the university actually opens in Athens, GA.

28 January

 

29 January

 

30 January

 

31 January

Explore this month through the lens of Southern spirits with this haunted book of days.

1 February

 

2 February

 

3 February

 

4 February

 

5 February

• 1891 – Henry B. Plant opens his Tampa Bay Hotel in Tampa, FL. The hotel would be transformed years later into Plant Hall, the central building of the University of Tampa. See also “Encounter at Plant Hall.” 

6 February 

•  2019 – Demolition begins on Kuhn State Memorial Hospital, Vicksburg, MS.

7 February

•  1856 – East Alabama Male College (now Auburn University) is established in Auburn, AL. See Auburn University Chapel, Ralph Brown Draughon Library, and Samford Hall.
• 1867 – West Virginia University is established in Morgantown, WV.
• 1967 – Fire destroys Dale’s Penthouse Restaurant on the top floor of Capital Towers Apartments in Montgomery, AL killing 26 people.

8 February

•  1878 – A tornado hits Augusta, GA destroying the city’s market house leaving one column standing, now known as the “Haunted Pillar.”

9 February

•  1944 – Elijah Parker is executed in Mississippi’s mobile electric chair in the basement of the Hinds County Courthouse in Jackson.

10 February

 

11 February

 

12 February

 

13 February

 

14 February – St. Valentine’s Day

 

15 February

• 1919 – Sarah Louisa “Sis” Linn, an early graduate and owner of a boarding house on the site of the current Clark Hall, Glenville State University, Glenville, WV, is found bludgeoned to death in her rooms. She continues to haunt Clark Hall and the campus beyond.
•  1938 – The Pensacola, Florida Public Library opens inside Old Christ Church.

16 February

 

17 February

 

18 February

•  1861 – Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as president of the Confederate States of America at the Alabama State Capitol Building, Montgomery, AL.

19 February

 

20 February

•  1864 – Battle of Olustee is fought in FL.

21 February

•  1871 – The Springer Opera House opens with a benefit concert in Columbus, GA.

22 February

 

23 February

 

24 February

• 1926 – Capt. Hiram Peters is fatally injured while fighting a fire in Athens, GA. His spirit has returned to haunt his old firehouse which is now the Classic Center.

25 February

 

26 February

 

27 Febraury

 

28 February

• 1943 – USS Kidd is launched during World War II. It now serves as the centerpiece for the USS Kidd Veterans Memorial in Baton Rouge, LA.

29 February – Leap Day