Other

Urban Legends in America: Part 1, Some from Alabama

Dead Children's Playground, Huntsville

Adjacent to Maple Hill, Huntville's oldest cemetery, the playground was designed to entertain kids while their parents visited graves of their loved ones. The first grave was dug in 1822, and legend has it that the spirits of children long dead come out to play at night. Sightings include orbs of light going down the slide, swings moving on their own and even the sound of giggling out of thin air. Some say that the apparitions include victims of a rash of child murders that happened in the 1960's.
The playground itself wasn't opened until 1985, making it understandable why the spirits are restless. In 2007, the city razed the park to make more room for graves and removed the slides and swings overnight. After public outcry, it was replaced with more modern equipment.


Sally Carter's grave, Huntsville

According to legend, Sally was a teenager visiting her sister Mary Ewing at Cedarhurst Mansion in 1837 when she was taken ill and died. She was then buried in the family cemetary in their south Huntsville estate with her tombstone bearing the following:
"My flesh shall slumber in the ground
Till the last trumpet's joyful sound
Then burst the chains with sweet surprise
And in my savior's image rise."
In 1919, a teenage boy staying at the mansion dreamt of Sally's spirit informing him that her tombstone had fallen. The next morning, the young man had visited the cemetary to discover that it had, in fact, been knocked down.
Since then, dozens of people have reported seeing Sally's ghost, either in the mansion or at her grave. The site was often vandalized and Sally's remains were exhumed in December 1982 and re-interred in an undisclosed location. The mansion is now the clubhouse for a gated community.

Urban Legends in America: Part 1, Some from Alabama


Hell's Gate, Oxford

An abandoned bridge on Old Boiling Springs Road has a legend that states if you stop on the bridge and turn around, the road behind resembles the fiery gates of Hell.
Many years ago on that bridge, a young couple lost their lives. On a dark night, if you stop on the bridge and turn off all the lights, a member of the dead couple will get into the vehicle, leaving a wet spot on the seat, leaving evidence that the couple had lost control of their car and drowned in the water below.
Unfortunately, the rusting bridge has been deemed unsafe and is blocked with cement barriers, making it impossible for cars to drive onto it.

Urban Legends in America: Part 1, Some from Alabama


The curse of the river serpent, Tennessee and Alabama rivers

Farmers reported giant serpents in the Tennessee River as far back as 1822, when Buck Sutton was fishing in Van's Hole in a branch of the river across the Tennessee line. Then he saw it, an undulating 25-foot-long creature and told friends: "The thing was monstrous. It was the creature. I could see the thing as clear as day."
Sutton panicked, for as legend foretold, anyone that spotted the serpent would meet an untimely demise. Three days later, he died.
In 1877, reports appeared in The Gadsden Times of sightings of serpents in the Coosa River, a tributary of the Alabama River. A fisherman reported seeing a 20-foot-long creature with large fins slithering near the banks at Ball Play Creek before it slipped beneath the surface.

Urban Legends in America: Part 1, Some from Alabama


The vanishing of Orion Williamson, Selma

One hot July afternoon in 1854, a farmer named Orion Williamson was walking on his farm near Selma. Williamson's wife and family were on the front porch of the farmhouse. Then, neighbors passed by and waved to Williamson, who was walking in ankle-deep grass. Orion waved back before vanishing right before the eyes of his family and neighbors.
The party ran to the site, frantically searching, but found no sign of Williamson. Soon, a search party was formed, and 300 men are said to have combed the fields well into the night. In the days to come, people came from far and wide to see where the farmer vanished.
According legend, Mrs. Williamson and her son could still hear Orion's voice calling for help for weeks until finally stopping.

Urban Legends in America: Part 1, Some from Alabama
Urban Legends in America: Part 1, Some from Alabama
Post Opinion