Mid 19th-century era illustration of the attack on Fort Mims. Courtesy of Wikipedia.
In the hot, humid August air of a Deep South summer in 1813, the stench of blood mingled with smoke at Fort Mims. A pall of shocked silence hung over the bodies of men, women and children; a mix of races, Muscogee Creek, white, enslaved Africans; all laying together among the burning ruins of the frontier stockade where they sought shelter. The Red Stick Creeks who attacked the fort had been victorious and still exclaimed their glee in war cries as they disappeared back into the thick scrub forest surrounding the forest.
As the town of Athens, Alabama was sacked by Union troops in May 1862, 16-year-old Nannie Donnell lay in her bed suffering from scarlet fever. On the lawn of her family’s house, now known as the Donnell House, the noisy soldiers drank and caroused despite pleas from the family to allow the child to sleep in peace. Nannie Donnell soon left this world accompanied by Yankee music, but does she still return to the room where died?
The Donnell House, 1935, by Alex Bush for the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), courtesy of the Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.
On December 1, 1888 Richard Hawes took his daughter, Mary, to East Lake in Birmingham. A few hours later he left without his daughter. Her limp, lifeless body was discovered a few days later under the cool waters of the lake. Her father was arrested not long after for her murder as his train pulled into the city with his new bride. After it was discovered that his wife and other daughter had been murdered as well, Birmingham exploded in outrage. Hawes left this world from the end of a rope, but his daughter’s frail spirit may still linger by the lake.
State Attorney General-elect Albert Patterson left his office in the Coulter Building in downtown Phenix City on the evening of June 18, 1954. Known as “Sin City, USA,” Phenix City had been rife with corruption and organized crime for years and Patterson had pledged to clean it up. He walked to his car in the small parking lot between his office building and the Elite Café. Shots rang out and Patterson stumbled to the sidewalk in front of his office building where he collapsed and died.
With each of these events they entered not only the annals of the history of Alabama but the state’s folklore as well. Folklore speaking of ghosts and spirits has developed around each of these historic sites and many others throughout the state. My first book, Southern Spirit Guide’s Haunted Alabama: A Gazetteer to Ghostlore, Legends and Haunted Places, explores, county-by-county, location-based ghostlore throughout the state of Alabama. Each entry is based on the most reliable sources including interviews with eyewitnesses to paranormal activity at many locations. Explore haunted Alabama with Southern Spirit Guide and get your copy today! Available on Amazon!
In recent years, the sightings of the supernatural have spread by word of mouth among those seeking a genteel visit with those who have crossed over. — Steve Wong
The Oaks Bed & Breakfast 339 Greenville Street Saluda, North Carolina
Steve Wong’s delightful article in the October 5th, 2015 Tryon Daily Bulletin, “Hoping for ghosts in an old Saluda B&B,” is a charming description of one reporter’s search for the supernatural at The Oaks Bed & Breakfast. Admitting that he really wants to believe, Wong spends a night prowling the halls of this late 19th century inn in search of some of the genteel specters that remain here.
The railroad that built the town of Saluda still runs through the center of town, 2012. Photo by Bigskybill, courtesy of Wikipedia.
Saluda was built by the railroad that arrived in 1878. The town is located at the top of the Saluda Grade, the steepest mainline railway grade east of the Rockies. Nearly ten years after the railroad’s construction, almost 3,000 visitors per year were arriving in this tourist town. Many private homes, including this 1895 house, were transformed into inns to host the visitors. This turreted home, originally built for a physician, became an inn in 1906.
Wong’s marvelous article provides some of the first documentation of the inn’s spectral activity that had previously only been spread by word of mouth. While the article doesn’t hint at a possible identity for the spirits, but it seems that it may be a past innkeeper. A woman has been seen ascending the staircase apparently checking to make sure that guests are well taken care of. One of the innkeepers admitted that some guests have been overcome with “a strange feeling about the house that compelled them to tidy up their rooms.” Overall, this inn and its spirits seem to be the epitome of Southern hospitality.
The Myrtles 7747 US Highway 61 St. Francisville, Louisiana
Despite my own misgivings (see my entry here) about the stories that have been told for years about The Mytles, which is often described as “America’s most haunted house,” I still believe there is an excess of paranormal activity here. In conversation with a friend last night, she sent me two very interesting photos that she took.
The Myrtles, June 2012, by Lyna Howells. All rights reserved.
My friend, Lyna Howells, loves visiting haunted places and took a trip in June of 2012 with friends to check out The Mytles. During their tour of the house the group saw the famous mirror in the home’s foyer. Howells took a series of pictures of the mirror. After the group returned to the hotel, she was shocked to discover that someone appeared sitting on the stairs. The first photo shows the empty stairs, while the second photo, taken from a different angle, shows a woman sitting on the stairs.
Howells stated that the stairs were roped off to keep visitors off them while none of the group members were dressed like the mysterious figure on the stairs. When asked if there was anything at the time that could have indicated the presence of a spirit, Howells replied that the lights in the foyer were flickering.
Howells’ first photograph with an empty staircase. All rights reserved.
Howells’ second photograph with the odd figure on the stairs. All rights reserved.Closeup on the figure on the stairs. Is this one of the host of spirits who inhabit The Myrtles? All rights reserved.
Night creatures call And the dead start to walk their masquerade… –Michael Jackson, “Thriller” (1983)
Charlotte Jane Memorial Park Cemetery 3650 Charles Avenue Miami, Florida
The scene is iconic of the early 1980s and plays a bit part in my own childhood: Michael Jackson donned in classic red leather dancing with a host of zombies outside a cemetery. Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ album was the first pop album I owned and I’m sure my own interpretations of the song and video in my parents’ basement playroom hinted at my future interests in theatre and the supernatural. In 2009, this video was considered important enough to be preserved as part of the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.
As I was searching out an article on ghost tours being conducted at Miami’s Deering Estate, I happened on a 2012 article on creepy Miami from TheHuffington Post. While I was familiar with most of the locations, Charlotte Jane Memorial Park stood out. The articles notes that neighbors of the cemetery claim that it was where the graveyard scenes in the ‘Thriller’ video were shot here. According to the excellent Wikipedia article on the video as well as later in the Huffington Post article, the video’s director John Landis has stated that the video was shot entirely in Los Angeles.
After looking at the music video, the cemetery does bear some semblance, especially in the fact that both cemeteries appear to be old, crowded cemeteries. A page from a website called Miami for Visitors, claims that Charlotte Jane Memorial Park provided the inspiration for the cemetery. But there is no real evidence behind this tenuous connection between the cemetery and the music video.
A further glance at the history of this cemetery, however, brings one into the mists of the early history of South Florida. Miami was a scrappy collection of settlements at the mouth of the Miami River when the city was incorporated in 1896. Henry Flagler, the railroad magnate who was instrumental in the creation of the modern state of Florida, had begun expanding his Florida East Coast Railway through the area the previous year. Coconut Grove was a well-established town by this time and continued to grow with the influx of immigrants from the Bahamas who enjoyed the South Florida climate that closely resembled that of their island homes. After Miami’s incorporation, wealthy families from the northeast began flooding into Coconut Grove and began erecting mansions such as the Deering Estate. In 1925 Coconut Grove was annexed by the City of Miami, though it remained a Bohemian and Bahamian enclave.
Charlotte Jane Memorial Park was established as the second Bahamian burying ground in the city, the first was located a little ways up Charles Avenue just after the turn of the 20th century. Named for the wife of community leader E.W.F. Stirrup, Charlotte Jane Memorial Park was originally called the Coconut Grove Bahamian Cemetery and founded around 1913. The cemetery features above ground tombs that painted silver and white. According to Alex Plasencia’s thesis examining the history and race relations in Coconut Grove, the graves are traditionally painted during the Goombay Festival, which is held annually to celebrate Bahamian culture.
This historic cemetery has been noted for odd occurrences for many years. A 1990 article in the Miami New Times explores the city’s historic cemeteries and mentions an incident at Charlotte Jane Memorial Park that had taken place in 1983. On a night of a full moon, a brown paper bag with flies swarming around it was discovered just inside the cemetery’s gates. When investigators opened the bag, the decapitated carcass of a chicken was discovered inside. After it appeared that a nearby mausoleum had been broken into, investigators discovered that a casket had been pried open and the corpse inside had been decapitated. A rusty hunting knife lay on the floor of the crypt. An investigator with the medical examiner’s office concluded that the head had possibly been taken as a part of a Santeria ritual. Sadly, a similar incident was reported earlier this year and a local man was arrested on charges of burglary, disturbing the contents of a grave and vandalizing a grave.
According to a variety of sources, there is some spiritual activity here including shadow figures and disembodied voices; activity which has been witnessed in many cemeteries. Those same sources also claim that the Michael Jackson, who may or may not have been inspired by this cemetery, has been seen here following his unexpected death in 2009. If, while exploring this historic cemetery, you encounter spirits, you may want to have some killer dance moves prepared.
Plasencia, Alex. A History of West Coconut Grove from 1925: Slum Clearance, Concrete Monsters, and the Dichotomy of East and West Coconut Grove. Clemson University Thesis. 2011.
Rowe, Sean. “Boneyard Ramble.” Miami New Times. 24 October 1990.
My earlier articles on the haunted plantations of Louisiana’s River Road are among the most visited articles on my blog. Therefore, I’ve decided to revisit and update some of these articles.
The plantation is one of the most iconic images of historical South and Louisiana has preserved many of these cherished places. Some of these grand homes are run as museums while others host guests as bed and breakfasts. Others still have been reduced to ruins.
What is often forgotten, however, is that these plantations were built on the backs of enslaved labor, mostly African. While these grand estates served as paradises for the ruling class—which in Louisiana included people of French and Spanish origin as well as occasionally mixed race people and even freedmen—these same estates were often pure hell for the enslaved. It’s no wonder that these hellish paradises have been imprinted by all the tragedy and triumph they have been witness to. These are some of their stories.
Oak Alley Plantation 3645 Louisiana Highway 18 Vacherie
Of Louisiana’s plantations, Oak Alley is certainly the most iconic with its alley of 14 majestic oaks that frame the view of the house from the river. When viewed from the river, the main house appears tiny, but up close, the home’s 28 peripteral columns seem to translate the trunks of the oaks into classical architectural terms. The oak alley was planted some years prior to the construction of the grand, colonnaded house which was begun in 1837 and was completed two years later. Jacques Telesphore Roman, for whom the house was constructed, owned the house until 1866 when it was sold and passed through the hands of a number of landowners. When Andrew and Josephine Stewart purchased the property in 1925, the house was in a state of serious decay. With the help of architect, Richard Koch, the house was returned to its former glory. It was the restoration of this plantation that started the movement to preserve other plantations in the area.
The house and its majestic grounds have been used in a number of films including 1964’s Bette Davis thriller, Hush…Hush Sweet Charlotte, Interview with a Vampire and Primary Colors. Additionally, the music video for Beyoncé’s 2006 song, “Déjà Vu,” shows the singer dancing under the canopy of the oaks in front of the house.
Oak Alley Plantation. Photo 2012, by Emily Richarson, courtesy of Wikipedia.
Among the shadows of the oaks and the house’s massive colonnade numerous spirits have been reported. At least two female spirits have been seen in and around the house including one that appeared in a photograph in 1987. A couple from Texas was taking pictures in the master bedroom of the house. A dress form that stands in that room appeared in one of the photographs to have a head on it. Oddly, the “head” is not reflected in a nearby mirror. Perhaps, Monsieur Roman’s wife, Celine has returned to have her photograph made.
Jeff Dwyer in his 2007, Ghost Hunter’s Guide to New Orleans, describes the sound of a carriage, complete with the rattle of chains and the neighing of horses, has been heard on the drive leading to the house. The Oak Alley website features a page of ghost stories including a note from a pair of tour guides who recall witnessing billowing dust and sound of horse’s hooves upon the gravel driveway when there was nothing to be seen.
A view of the main house at Oak Alley Plantation. Photo 2011, by Emily Richardson, courtesy of Wikipedia.
One of the home’s staff members related a story to author Jill Pascoe which she included in her 2004 book, Louisiana’s Haunted Plantations. The staff member had begun securing the house for the night and was waiting on the final tour to finish. She took a seat in the parlor to wait. As she was sitting there she saw a woman dressed entirely in black and wearing a black veil approach the bottom of the staircase. The staff member stood to confront this visitor when the figure turned towards her and disappeared.
Investigations by Louisiana Spirit Paranormal Investigators have produced EVPs and many recorded personal experiences. In 2008, Oak Alley was investigated by the The Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS) as part of the Syfy Channel series, Ghost Hunters. The investigators came up with some interesting evidence. One piece of thermal imaging video shows something with a heat signature moving outside of a window. When Jason Hawes asked Grant Wilson (the main investigators) to step outside on the veranda outside of the window, nothing can be seen. Other evidence include a flashlight coming on by itself and hits on a K2 meter in response to questions.
Sources
Dwyer, Jeff. Ghost Hunter’s Guide to New Orleans. Gretna, LA: Pelican Publishing, 2007.
Episode 408, “Oak Alley Plantation.” Ghost Hunters. Syfy Channel. Originally aired 8 October 2008.
“Ghost Tales.” Oak Alley Plantation. Accessed 31 January 2015.
Goeldner, Paul. National Register of Historic Places nomination form for Oak Alley Plantation. 3 July 1974.
National Park Service. “Oak Alley Plantation.” Southeastern Louisiana: A National Register of Historic Places Travel Itinerary. Accessed 6 September 2010.
Oak Alley Plantation. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Accessed 30 Janurary 2015.
Sillery, Barbara. The Haunting of Louisiana. Gretna, LA: Pelican Press, 2001.
San Francisco Plantation 2646 Louisiana Highway 44 Garyville
It’s not hard to imagine that San Francisco Plantation was designed by a deranged carnival clown. The house is representative of Steamboat Gothic architecture, a style the National Park Service describes as a “potpourri of architectural designs.” A dozen highly skilled slaves were purchased to aid in the construction of this brightly painted home. The immense cost of the house’s construction in 1849, may have led to the name of the house, a bastardization of “saint-frusquin” or “without all that one possesses.” Edmond Marmillion started off in enormous debt after he purchased the land from a free man of color, Elisée Rillieux, for nearly $100,000, a huge sum of money in the early 19th century.
Facade of San Francisco, 2011, by Elisa Rolle. Courtesy of Wikipedia.
Marmillion created an extensive sugar plantation and eventually found financial success in the 1850s. But a pall of sickness hung over this successful period. Marmillion’s wife contracted tuberculosis and died in 1843. The couple’s eight children also contracted the dread disease and six of them died over a period of about 20 years. The marvelous plantation remained in the family until the late 19th century when it passed out of the family. Following the disastrous Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, many riverside plantations, including San Francisco, were threatened with destruction as the Army Corps of Engineers constructed a levee to contain the river. Some plantations were saved and the levee was rerouted to save San Francisco. The house remains, though a massive petroleum plant looms behind the house museum.
Oblique view of San Francisco, 2011, by Elisa Rolle. Courtesy of Wikipedia.
With the dearth of complex and rich history at San Francisco, it is surprising that descriptions of the plantation’s spirits only amount to a few paragraphs. Most sources mention that the spirit of Charles Marmillion, one of Edmond’s sons, has been seen in the house. Psychics with one investigation team noted his sickly form in the office and one of the bedrooms. The apparitions of two young girls have been encountered playing under the trees around the house.
Sources
Brown, Alan. The Haunted South. Charleston, SC: History Press, 2014.
Dwyer, Jeff. Ghost Hunter’s Guide to New Orleans. Gretna, LA: Pelican Publishing, 2007.
Goeldner, Paul. National Register of Historic Places nomination form for San Francisco Plantation. 17 January 1974.
Malone, Paul and Lee. The Majesty of River Road. Gretna, LA:Pelican Publishing, 1991.
National Park Service. “San Francisco Plantation House.” Southeastern Louisiana: A National Register of Historic Places Travel Itinerary. Accessed 6 September 2010.
“Plantation History.” San Francisco Plantation. Accessed 31 January 2015.
Sexton, Richard. Vestiges of Grandeur: The Plantations of Louisiana’s River Road. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books, 1999.
The Cottage Plantation River Road at Duncan Point Baton Rouge
On the 18th of February 1960, firefighters battling the lightning-caused blaze that destroyed The Cottage Plantation reported that they saw a man looking out one of the upper windows of the grand home. The firefighters yelled at him trying to encourage the gentleman to jump, but the man didn’t seem to notice the firefighters on the lawn or the flames that were engulfing the house in which he stood. Shortly after the man’s appearance, the roof collapsed. Human remains were not found in the smoldering ruins of The Cottage. Perhaps this may have been the same man whose visage was captured on film just ten years earlier peering out of the moldering house through a broken window.
Only forlorn columns standing in a weedy privately owned field mark the site of The Cottage alongside River Road just south of Baton Rouge. The home was constructed in 1824 as a wedding gift from Colonel Abner Duncan to his daughter, Frances and her husband, Frederick Daniel Conrad. It was under Conrad’s ownership that a certain Ezra Holt was brought to work at the plantation, though stories differ as to what his function was. All stories, however, point to Mr. Holt’s dedication to the Conrad family and The Cottage Plantation.
Legend speaks of Mr. Holt returning to the house after the Civil War to maintain it for the Conrad family. Living alone in the huge house, Holt became a recluse and is said to have grown a long, white beard. After he passed, he was buried in a family cemetery on the site, though stories emerged describing his spirit as continuing to wander the house and grounds. There is some indication that these stories may have been produced to keep vandals and curiosity-seekers away from the decaying house. The house was restored by members of the Conrad family in 1920 and was used as a museum, even appearing in a few films including the 1957 Clark Gable vehicle, Band of Angels.
Even before it was destroyed by fire, visitors and staff reported seeing a man with a long beard wandering the halls of the house. Even now, many years after its destruction, stories of a man seen among the ruins persist. Some, who have trespassed beyond the electric fence that now surrounds the ruins (I cannot recommend anyone breaking the law to see the ruins up close), have reported hearing voices and the sounds of a spectral party among the decrepit columns of the once grand home.
Sources
Duvernay, Adam. “Several Baton Rouge sites said to be haunted.” The Daily Reveille. 27 October 2009.
Dwyer, Jeff. Ghost Hunter’s Guide to New Orleans. Gretna, LA: Pelican Publishing, 2007.
Franklin, Wade. “Ghostly Thought—Haunted House Tour.” Waukesha Daily Freeman (Waukesha, WI). 21 April 1977.
Sloss Furnaces 20 32nd Street, North Birmingham, Alabama
Perhaps one of the most iconic haunted places in the state of Alabama, this National Historic Landmark site is reminiscent of Birmingham’s history. Birmingham was built on industrial facilities like this producing iron during the latter half of the 19th and into the 20th centuries. While the facility opened in 1882, nothing remains of the original furnaces. The oldest building on this site dates to 1902 with much of the equipment installed and added in later years. This facility closed in 1971, and local preservationists began work to save the facility soon after. Their efforts paid off, and the facility is open as a museum and events facility.
Sloss Furnaces, 2011, by Matthew Gordon. Courtesy of Wikipedia.
There is always a chance for death in industrial sites, even more so around molten metal in a furnace. In 1887 Theophilus Jowers assistant foundryman at the Alice furnace (one of the first furnaces on this site), fell to his death into the molten iron in the furnace. Some of his remains—his head, bowels, two hip bones and some ashes—were fished out of the molten iron. Jowers’ death remains one of the most spectacular and grisly, though many more men died throughout the time that the furnaces were in operation.
After Jowers’ death, his spirit was observed by co-workers. Kathryn Tucker Windham quotes one former employee, “We’d be getting ready to charge the furnace, and we’d see something, something like a natural man walking around on the hearth. Just walking slow and looking around like he was checking to make sure everything was all right.” Windham describes the first time that Jowers’ son saw his father’s spirit in 1927. The grown son took his own son for a drive over the First Avenue Viaduct and there, while watching the action at the furnace, they observed a man walking through the showers of sparks and flames.
Two more spirits are believed to be in residence at this site, but their stories are less historically based. A white deer that has been seen on the grounds is believed to be the spirit of a pregnant girl who committed suicide by throwing herself into the furnace. The other “apocryphal”—as Alan Brown describes him—spirit is that of a fiendish foreman named James “Slag” Wormwood. Like Jowers and the pregnant girl, Wormwood supposedly fell to his death into one of the furnaces, though it is suspected that he was really pushed by an angry employee. It is Wormwood’s angry spirit that is responsible for pushing employees and visitors even today.
The furnaces are known as a hotbed of paranormal activity and were investigated for the first time in 2005 by Ghost Chasers International out of Kentucky. They were joined by psychic Chip Coffey who would soon make his name working on the A&E show, Paranormal State. During the investigation, Coffey made contact with the spirit of a man who had lost a limb in an accident there. Moments after losing contact with the spirit, team members noticed blood on Coffey’s hands. After investigating him for scratches or another injury that could have produced blood, nothing was found. Over the past 10 years of paranormal investigations at the site, a slag heap of evidence has been captured here.
Sources
Brown, Alan. Haunted Birmingham. Charleston, SC: History Press, 2009.
“History.” Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark. Accessed 12 June 2015.
Parks, Megan. “Sloss Fright Furnace: The haunts heat up in Alabama.” USA Today. 14 October 2014.
Windham, Kathryn Tucker. The Ghost in the Sloss Furnaces. Birmingham, AL: Birmingham Historical Society, 2005.
‘Tis now the Halloween season. As the days shorten and the leaves begin to change, we begin counting down the days until the thinning of the veil between the physical and spiritual planes. Within the Christian Church this time is marked with reflection and celebration for all souls who have passed from the physical realm. The Church officially has named November first as the Feast of All Saints or All Hallows, a time to celebrate those saints of the church. The following day is the Feast of All Souls when all the dead are celebrated. As the celebration of the Feast of All Hallows begins on the previous evening, that day has been named All Hallows Eve, which has become Halloween. To celebrate this season, I’m celebrating some of the Southern souls who remain here among us throughout the days leading up to the Feast of All Souls.
“All Saints’ Day in New Orleans–Decorating the Tombs” by John Durkin. Published in Harper’s Weekly, November 1885.
For centuries these days were celebrated with family gathering in cemeteries and decorating the graves of their loved ones who had passed on. This was especially practiced in Catholic areas of the region. Unfortunately, many of these practices have fallen out of favor since the Victorian era leaving many cemeteries, and graves therein, neglected.
An article from the New Orleans Times-Picayune November 2, 1882, describes the scene in the cemeteries of that city.
IN THE CEMETRIES.
Celebrating the Festival of the Dead.
Tombs of Great Men in Louisiana History—Scenes and Episodes.
The scenes usual on that great Sacred Festival, All Saints’ Day, were enacted yesterday in the cemeteries of the city. While the crowd of visitors was probably as numerous as ever, it was remarked that the floral offering were not so profuse as on some former occasions. A detailed description of the decoration of the tombs would certainly prove monotonous to the general reader, since it would be but a repetition of what has been written year after year from the earliest time at which the custom was adopted. These tributes to the dead, taking the form of harps, lyres, crosses, anchors, crowns, garlands, wreaths—symbols of profoundly tender religious sentiments—were to be seen everywhere upon the resting-place of the rich man and the poor.
The air was redolent of sweet perfumes, and rich huses of vivid blooms were displayed on the white beauty of polished marble, the gray rough granite, or contrasted with the dark green of luxuriant grass and clustering vines. The exquisite taste of women, combined with the art of the florist, to produced the lovliest designs expressive of affectionate remembrance.
Notwithstanding the hot and sultry weather, immense numbers of people visited the cemeteries during the day. Between ten and fifteen thousand persons went to the Canal street cemeteries, the cars being well filled at an early hour, and densely packed in the evening with passengers. But had the entire population of the city thronged the graveyards the dead would have been more numerous than the living. During the period from 1817 to 1878, sixty-two years, 342, 000 persons died in the this city, and reckoning from the date of the foundation of New Orleans, 160 years ago, it may be asserted that more than 400,000 human bodies have been laid within the precincts of her cemeteries. This is an impressive statement of a tremendous fact, which must arouse in thinking minds somber reflections concerning the brevity of human existence.
In the afternoon the Canal street cemeteries presented a singular spectacle. Long lines of vehicles—carriages, buggies, carts laden with flowers—almost blockaded the roadway. Along the banquettes were ranged all manner of refreshment booths, the proprietors of which made great clamor in their efforts to attract patrons.
At the entrance to the cemeteries the orphans from various asylums appealed to the benevolence of the charitable. Within the cemeteries themselves, there was the continual movement of the crowd of promenaders passing to and fro; a hum of voices, and sometimes the unseemly laughter of the frivolous or thoughtless.
Approaching the ancient St. Louis Cemetery, one beheld on high the draped folds of flags—French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese—over the tombs of the societies of those nationalities. The white sepulchers at a distance seemed like so many tents and over them were the banners. The army of the Dead slept in this marble camp.
This is the site of the Richelieu Apartments in Pass Christian, Mississippi. This is a place where 23 people laughed in the face of death. And where 23 people died.
–Walter Cronkite, CBS Evening News, August 1969
Richelieu Manor Apartments Site Northwest Corner, Intersection of Henderson Avenue and US-90 Pass Christian, Mississippi
Considered among the most trustworthy journalists of his time, Walter Cronkite added substance to fiction as he intoned the above statement. Standing at the former site of the Richelieu Manor Apartments, a three-story apartment building that had been swept off its foundation by the storm surge from Hurricane Camille, he opened the CBS Evening News, with this tale of hubris.
Alongside the screaming headlines tracing Camille’s destructive path through the Gulf Coast was this tragic tale of 23 people partying in the face of death until the storm ripped apart their building, killing everyone. There are reports of people near this site still hearing sounds of a party, though it never really happened.
The Richelieu Manor Apartments prior to Hurricane Camille’s arrival. Courtesy of NOAA.
Today is the 46th anniversary of Hurricane Camille’s dreaded arrival on the Gulf Coast. The category 5 storm swept into Waveland, Mississippi, just west of Pass Christian, in the early morning hours of August 18, 1969. Shrieking winds heralded the arrival of what would be deemed the third most destructive hurricane to hit the country in the 20th century. It would continue its destructive path inland bringing heavy rains and destructive flooding to western and central Virginia that would result in more than 150 deaths there.
In the historic town of Pass Christian, Camille roared ashore accompanied by a massive 24.7 foot storm surge that obliterated many of the buildings facing the Gulf, including the Richelieu Manor Apartments. In the very next block, the beautiful Gothic-Revival Trinity Church sheltered 16 members of the church sexton’s family. As the surge swept in, the 1849 church collapsed under the strain of water and wind. Only three of the family members who had sought shelter there survived.
The surge left just the concrete pad and in-ground swimming pool of the Richelieu apartments covered in debris punctuated by the occasional body of a former resident and seeds of a legend.
On August 20th, the front page of Greenville, Mississippi’s Delta Democrat-Times published this story from the UPI wires:
20 out of 23 revelers died
PASS CHRISTIAN, Miss. (UPI)—A police official said today that there were three known survivors in a group of 23 persons who chose to throw a party during the approach of hurricane Camille.
Assistant Police Chief Tom Ruspoli made the disclosure in telling how he pleaded in vain for everyone to evacuate the Richelieu Apartments before Camille hurled ashore with 190 mile an hour winds.
“Sunday evening three of us went in and told everybody in the Richelieu to get out,” Ruspoli said. “We went to the Richelieu I can’t say how many times, probably three or four.”
“We talked to the manager and told her to have all the people evacuated.”
Ruspoli said the second time he went to the sturdy three-story brick building the people were moving all the furnishings to the top floor.
“There were 23 of them waiting it out on the third floor. They didn’t think they would be harmed. But we explained to them that even if the water got only to the second floor they would be cut off.”
Of the 23, Ruspoli said, 14 were known to have died, six were missing and three were rescued from clinging from the apartment.
“I imagine there was a little bit of drinking that did take place,” the officer said.
Much of this story was pieced together from the account of a young lady who was the lone survivor. According to her story, this young lady tells of partying in a well-stocked apartment on the third floor of the apartment building. Copious amounts of alcohol and drugs fueled the party. The young lady went to sleep with her husband only to be awakened as the walls of the building began to rend and peel away; she survived by clinging to furniture.
The site of the apartments after Hurrican Camille’s destruction. Courtesy of NOAA.
Sadly, this young lady’s life unraveled over the years since her miraculous survival. She was involved with alcohol and drugs and in 1982 she was found guilty of murdering her 11th husband. She was sentenced to life imprisonment, though she was paroled in 1992. Throughout her trial, her lawyers argued that her survival during the hurricane led to her mental unraveling. Of course, the other survivors from the terrible night began to surface and they’re stories were very different.
According to blogger Margie Kieper who has researched the story in depth, there were only 14 people total in the building. Eight died and six survived. Those staying in the apartments had spent the previous day securing the building against the storm. At least one elderly couple was part of that group and many of the younger people stayed in order to watch over them. While the police had told the landlord that everyone in the building should evacuate, those staying believed that the building was strong enough to survive. It had been deemed a fallout shelter and little did they know that the apartment building’s shoddy construction would not withstand the power of Camille. Those remaining were too tired from their preparations to party; they were simply guilty of making the bad decision to remain.
Author Bud Steed notes in his Haunted Mississippi Gulf Coast that stories of paranormal activity at the site began to circulate in the 1970s and 1980s. He spoke with one woman who reported hearing the sounds of a party in the early 1980s. She heard laughter, music and the clinking of glasses which evolved into screams and the sounds of glass breaking. Steed posits that it’s very difficult to know if this is truly paranormal or the product of overactive imaginations. Regardless, the activity and legend still stands as a testament to the many lives that were tragically cut short here.
The site was later developed into a strip mall which was destroyed by the powerful storm surge from Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Sources
Hurricane Camille. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Accessed 18 August 2015.
I know dark clouds will gather round me, I know the pathway is rough and steep, But beauteous fields lie just before me, Where God redeems, his vigil keeps.
–“Poor, Wayfaring Stranger,” Traditional American Folksong
Five years ago this evening I was sitting in my local Starbucks, my favorite place to write, preparing to hit the publish button to launch this blog. I said a little prayer and hit the button that started me on this wonderful journey. Like the folksong’s “poor, wayfaring stranger,” I was setting off towards the horizon with no specific goal in mind but to write about Southern ghosts and hopefully make a better situation for myself. As one who has always had trouble completing things, I wasn’t sure how long I’d keep up with blogging, so reaching this fifth “blogiversary” is quite an achievement. But outside of the blog, my writing has taken me to other places: I’ve written for the local newspaper, interviewed people throughout the South, been interviewed for The Daily Beacon at the University of Tennessee and on Columbia, SC’s “Evolve with Tzima” on The Point Radio. I was published in a Southern horror anthology and I have plans to write some books.
I’m sitting here in Starbucks again and my writing almost caused me to miss this blogiversary. This past weekend I had copies of my first book printed and those have distracted me. These are just for editing, but it’s very exciting to see my book in print for the first time. My book, Southern Spirit Guide’s Haunted Alabama: A Guide to Ghostlore, Legends and Haunted Places in the Heart of Dixie, will be published, God forbid and Creeks don’t rise, as an eBook next month. I’ve been dreaming of writing a “ghost book” since I was a kid collecting books of ghost stories, so, this makes this anniversary ever more poignant.
Along the way, I’ve had help and support from a number of other bloggers: Jessica Penot of Ghost Stories and Haunted Places, Courtney Mroch of Haunt Jaunts, Sharon Day of Ghost Hunting Theories, Pamela Kinney of the Fantastic Dreams of Pamela K. Kinney, the indomitable Theresa Racer of Theresa’s Haunted History of the Tri-State, and recently Faith Serafin, investigator, writer and blogger at Haunted Haven. Countless authors and their wonderful books about the South have been my constant companions on this journey as well, sitting cozily on my bookshelf or nightstand, piled on the floor next to my bed, stacked on my desk, thrown in the back seat of my car and jammed in my computer bag. I owe a deep debt of gratitude to all these people and my readers as well. Thank you!
I don’t know what’s next for my blog, there will be more posted, hopefully, and I have no intention to stop blogging. Please join me as a journey on though the haunted South!
I know dark clouds will gather round me, I know the pathway is rough and steep, But beauteous fields lie just before me, Where God redeems, his vigil keeps.
-–“Poor, Wayfaring Stranger,” Traditional American folksong
N.B. This article was edited and revised 18 May 2019.
Alabama’s state capital, Montgomery, appears to play second fiddle to Birmingham, the largest city in the state. But Montgomery has a complex history that has put it often at the forefront of many historical movements in the South. Starting as a frontier trading post, the city served as the first capital of the young Confederacy until the rebel government moved to Richmond, Virginia.
After the Civil War, the city became known for technological achievements in the form of an electric trolley system, and in 1910, a flying school opened by the Wright brothers. In the mid-20th century, the city’s sad racial history placed it at the forefront of the Civil Rights movement presenting us with a mighty lion in the form of a petite seamstress named Rosa Parks.
1887 Bird’s Eye View of Montgomery by H. C. Davidson.
Paranormally speaking, the city has a fascinating panoply of spirits, many of which have been covered in two recent books: Faith Serafin’s Haunted Montgomery and Shawn Sellers and Jake Bell’s Montgomery: A City Haunted by History, both published in 2013.
Capital Towers Apartments
7 Clayton Street, private
On February 7, 1967, fire ravaged the swanky restaurant on the top floor of this building. Dale’s Penthouse restaurant was one of the most fashionable dining options at the time in Montgomery. As the fire broke out on this frigid February night, rapidly moving flames blocked the elevator and the stairwell, trapping and killing 26 patrons including several well-known politicians and local personalities. While some conspiracy theories exist as to the origin of the fire, the official explanation points to a lit pipe left in a coat pocket.
The headline of the Montgomery Advertiser on 8 February 1967 report the fire at Dale’s Penthouse.Capitol Towers Apartments in October of 2016. Photo by Lewis O. Powell IV, all rights reserved.
The building itself only received slight damage and the penthouse that once housed the restaurant is now a private residence. Former residents of the building have reported hearing screams of “help,” while residents in the penthouse have spotted misty, black forms. Shawn Sellers notes that passersby near the building have smelled smoke and heard screams coming from near the top floor.
Sellers, Shawn & Jake Bell. Montgomery: A City Haunted by History. Shawn Sellers, 2013.
Serafin, Faith. Haunted Montgomery, Alabama. Charleston, SC: History Press, 2013.
Chris’s Hot Dogs 138 Dexter Avenue
While the hot dogs are legendary around these parts, the good food is not the only reason Montgomery citizens still flock to Chris’ Hot Dogs, it’s the atmosphere; an atmosphere still punctuated by spirits. Founded in 1917 as the Post Office Café, this restaurant has become an institution in its 98 years of business. For three decades, this café was a popular late night hotspot serving hot dogs and liquor and attracting the likes of country singer, Hank Williams.
Chris’ Hot Dogs, 2016, photo by Lewis O. Powell IV, all rights reserved.
Shawn Sellers and his investigation team explored the restaurant and discovered that the staff has countless stories about employees still working their shifts from beyond the grave. Perhaps Hank Williams can be heard still singing under the green and white striped awning?
Sources
Cumuze, Greg. “My Immutable Heaven.” Chris’ Hot Dogs History. Accessed 26 May 2015.
Sellers, Shawn & Jake Bell. Montgomery: A City Haunted by History. Shawn Sellers, 2013.
Downtown Montgomery’s Lady in White
Montgomery’s main street, Dexter Avenue, from the fountain looking up towards the state capitol on Goat Hill, 2016. Photo by Lewis O. Powell IV, all rights reserved.
The identity of this mysterious woman is unknown, but her apparition is quite frightening. Seen throughout downtown Montgomery, the Lady in White is dressed entirely in white with long and dark hair and animal-like, ferocious teeth. In a 2013 article, Shawn Sellers is quoted as saying, “She’s actually the most reported ghost of anywhere in downtown Montgomery. She’s always seen outside. She’s never looking at anybody. She’s just always walking up the street, and people say they feel her before they see her. She’s just a creepy, creepy energy.”
Sources
Sellers, Shawn & Jake Bell. Montgomery: A City Haunted by History. Shawn Sellers, 2013.
Sutton, Amber. “Ghosts, curses and more: Take a walk on the supernatural side with Haunted Montgomery Tours.” AL.com. 2 Oct 2013.
F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum
919 Felder Street
In Fitzgerald’s classic novel of the Jazz Age, The Great Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan remarks on the birth of her daughter, “I’m glad it’s a girl. And I hope she’ll be a fool—that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.” Some suspect that Fitzgerald’s Montgomery-born wife, Zelda, may have made a similar remark on the birth of their daughter. Zelda, whose zest for life strongly influenced her husband as well as legions of young women, lived her life as the epitome of the “foolish” Flapper.
Zelda and her husband lived in this house for a scant five months—October 1931 to February 1932—but during that time F. Scott Fitzgerald completed his novel, Tender is the Night, while Zelda outlined her one and only novel, Save Me the Waltz. The house was saved from demolition in 1986, and later opened as a museum to the literary couple. The upper floor of the house now has several private apartments, and residents there have reported hearing faint jazz music and disembodied footsteps. The museum’s director has reported that Zelda’s “foolish” spirit has remained active in the house and is believed to be the spirit responsible for flinging a painting from the wall while a staff member watched.
Sellers, Shawn & Jake Bell. Montgomery: A City Haunted by History. Shawn Sellers, 2013.
Serafin, Faith. Haunted Montgomery, Alabama. Charleston, SC: History Press, 2013.
Montgomery Riverwalk Stadium
200 Coosa Street
Home to the Montgomery Biscuits, the city’s minor league baseball team, Riverwalk Stadium is located on the site of a former Civil War prisoner of war camp. During the war, this site was occupied by a cotton warehouse. After the Battle of Shiloh in April of 1862, Union prisoners were housed in the warehouse in reportedly deplorable conditions until they were moved to Tuscaloosa in December of that year. Faith Serafin notes that some 200 prisoners died while in captivity at this site.
The field at Riverwalk Stadium, 2008. Photo by markcbrennan, courtesy of Wikipedia.
According to Shawn Sellers, before groundbreaking took place for the ballpark, this site was occupied by a hotel. Maids would sometimes find rooms disturbed after they had cleaned them, while guests observed mysterious figures in their rooms. After the hotel closed, the building was occupied by offices where similar activity was reported. The stadium may host activity including shadow figures, the sounds of weeping and screaming, and the occasional apparition.
Sources
Sellers, Shawn & Jake Bell. Montgomery: A City Haunted by History. Shawn Sellers, 2013.
Serafin, Faith. Haunted Montgomery, Alabama. Charleston, SC: History Press, 2013.
