A Murder of Crows

Recently,  I blogged about the many ghosts of The University of North Alabama.   It is the most beautiful university in the state and it is also one of the most haunted locations in the state.   It is a place with a long history that seems to occupy some kind of magic space.  

This morning I found an article about the university that only seemed to add to the atmosphere of  mystery and shadow that circles this old university.  Apparently crows have been dying in swarms around the UNA campus.    According to the Times Daily,  15 crows were found dead on the streets on Thursday alone.   The Times Daily had the following to say about the odd occurence:

FLORENCE - A rash of crow deaths in Florence has caught the attention of health and wildlife officials.

Stevens said Vinny Grosso, animal control director for the city, alerted the Alabama Department of Public Health about the dead birds. Dr. Karen Landers, regional health officer for the agency, said her office is aware of the situation and has asked city officials to report any additional bird deaths.
"Any time there is an unusual occurrence with animals, we look into it to see if we need to do any further analysis," Landers said. "If needed, we will collect a specimen and send it to a testing lab for analysis."

The article went on to say that there is no known cause for the deaths at this time.   All of this got me thinking about locations and the power of certain locations.  Some places seem to draw energy in and are magnets for odd occurences.  I have to wonder, is Florence and UNA one of those places?  What brings such dramatic and odd events to this location?

Sleeping with Jesse James' Ghost

For the last few nights my family and I have been traveling off the beaten path looking at strange haunted places that we might normally miss.  We've thrown ourselves into the middle of things and slept with ghosts and found ourselves in places without internet and places that my GPS can't find.   Our first stop on our travels was the historic St. James Hotel in Selma, Alabama.

The St. James Hotel in Selma Alabama seems haunted before you even pull up to it. Just driving through downtown Selma to the steps of the hotel makes you feel as if you are driving through a ghost town. The once splendid down town speaks of better times, but has been mostly abandoned so that as you pull up to the St. James, you feel like the only person on earth.


We were the only people staying at the St. James the night we arrived. It was cold outside and the legendary courtyard fountain outside was frozen. The painting of Jesse James’ mistress seemed to follow us with her eyes as we entered. The young man who stood alone behind the desk, Josh, happily pulled out the pictures of ghosts that had been taken throughout the hotel. He also took us on a tour through the elegant dinning room and historically perfect saloon. You could almost imagine yourself stepping backwards in time and seeing Jesse James himself seated in the back corner with his gang.

The St. James was once owned by a slave who became the first black congressman. Many of the white locals avoided the hotel because they were racists, but this didn’t stop Jesse James who made the hotel his headquarters in the 1880’s.Since that time, the hotel has been sitting empty.  The hotel was abandoned for over a hundred years and has only recently been rennovated and returned to it's original state.  Many visitors have seen Jesse and his mistress wandering the corridors of the St. James. Others have heard Jesse’s dog barking. A group of psychics reported seeing an entire group of ghosts in the courtyard.

Our stay at the St. James was unnervingly quiet. The hotel groans at night and the doors open and close on their own, but we saw nothing else of the multitude of ghosts that haunt this hotel. Since the hotel was empty, we were able to roam about the place freely and explore every nook and cranny of it. Except for Josh up front, it was just us and the ghosts.

As we wandered the old hotel, we took dozens of pictures, did EMF readings, and asked questions using the EVP recorder. There was no evidence of ghosts in any of this. However, my son’s photos were again filled with orbs and odd shapes.

We slept in Jesse James’ room. Josh explained to us that it was the only room in the hotel with a window in the closet because the famous outlaw needed to have a view from all angles. Josh also told us how Jesse checked out of the hotel. He slid out the window in our room and jumped in the river just behind the hotel fleeing from the law. We slept well in his old bed, but we were all awakened on a few occasions by what sounded like a dog. We checked out early after we ate our continental breakfast at Jesse James’ old table and I must say that this old hotel was definitely one the creepiest places I’ve ever slept.

The Haunted University

According to many, The University of North Alabama is one of the most haunted universities in the country.  The ghosts here seem as common as the trees and many of the buildings have haunted histories.  UNA is Alabama's oldest four University and was founded in 1830.  It's history stretches into the dark parts of the civil war and back to desegregation.  It has seen all of Alabama's history and stood the test of time, but not without it's ghosts.

Among the many haunted locations on this campus, is Guillot University Center.  Long ago this old  building was a girl's dormitory.  Apparently,  a young woman who lived there wasn't very happy because she hung herself from an elevator shaft.  Since that time, the building has changed function but students report seeing her ghost wandering the halls.  Norton Auditorium is also said to be haunted by a ghost named George.  George was working on Norton auditorium as a construction worker.  He fell from the scaffolding and died, but his ghost lives on haunting students and visitors alike and adding his ghostly presence to the numerous phantoms that haunt the halls of UNA.

The Wesleyan Building is also said to be haunted by a civil war general's son who drown himself in a river not far away.   His ghost must have formed some attachment to the old building, because his footsteps can still be seen and heard walking the halls at night.   Additionally, the off campus bookstore is haunted by the ghost of a little girl who died of rabies.

So if you like to be surrounded by ghosts, UNA is the place to go to school.

The Bookstore Ghost

The University of North Alabama in Florence has several ghost stories associated with it.  It's old halls are littered with ghosts and phantoms.  One of my favorite ghost stories from this University comes from the off campus bookstore.  This bookstore wasn't always a bookstore.  It was once a house and a family lived there.

It was a typical family.  There was a mother, a father, and a little girl.  They were a happy family, but the little girl was lonely. She spent her days playing alone in her room with her dolls.   The little girl's father was particularly worried about his baby's loneliness, so he went out and purchased an adorable, little puppy for her.  Of course, the girl was delighted.  It was love at first site.  She loved the puppy so much she put it in bed with her that night and the two little ones nestled up next to each other in the soft, evening light.

It wasn't long before the parents heart their little girl scream.  The wail cut through the night awaking both parents and sending them running into their daughter's room.   The puppy had bit the little girl.  Things returned  to normal, but it wasn't long before the dog and the little girl began to show signs of illness.  The parents took the little girl to the doctor and both she and the puppy were diagnosed with rabies.   Both died shortly after.

Time went on and the building was turned into a Fraternity House.  The house was remodeled and the fraternity members reported seeing a phantom girl sitting in the second story window gazing out.  It wasn't just the frat boys that saw her.  People walking by the house reported seeing her as well.   The building is an off campus bookstore now and people still see the little girl looking longingly out the window.  The women that work at the bookstore don't deny her presence.  They say she still makes her appearances, sometimes alone and sometimes with her dog.