Deep South Paranormal

 

I met Benny Reed at my first book signing.   He was a fan of my writing, so I loved him immediately.  I would have liked him even if he hated my writing, but I do love fans.   Interestingly, Benny was also part of DOA paranormal   http://www.doa-paranormal.com/.  He and his group were involved in a plethora of interesting investigations which had me intrigued.  He invited me to join his group several times and I am utterly depressed that each time he invited me I was always doing something else.  I had to work or have a baby or something distracting like that.   However, I was honored to be invited and I watched his group and their investigations from afar knowing they were awesome.

 Apparently, I wasn’t wrong about Benny being awesome because the SyFy network recently cast him to be part of their new show, Deep South Paranormal.  I love this show not only because it has Benny in it, but because it has a little bit of that Southern charm that makes Southern ghost stories so beautiful.   The South positively crawls with folklore and fables and old history filled with tragedy and plantations and white ladies and dark stories.  For example, episode 2 of Deep South Paranormal was filmed during an investigation of an old plantation rich with Southern history that couldn’t have happened anywhere else.   Episode 3 featured the investigation of a cotton gin in Prattville, Alabama.   The episode started with an old Southern remedy used to drive off evil spirits involving sucking the breath from frogs and storing it in glass vials.  I love these little Southern traditions and they make the show much more engaging.  The show does tend to play to Southern stereotypes, but stereotypes are what makes parts of the South fun. 

I don’t watch that many television shows.  I watch American Horror Story, The Walking Dead, Parks and Recreation,  Dr. Who, and Vikings.  I’m not a television fan overall, but I know I’ll be adding Deep South Paranormal to my list this season.  The show is great fun for any lover of Southern folklore and ghost stories.  Deep South Paranormal is on at 9 central time and 10 eastern time on the SyFy channel on Weds nights. 

http://www.syfy.com/deepsouthparanormal/about

Stumbling Upon a Haunted Pizza

I have been meaning to go to Sam and Greg's Pizza in downtown Huntsville, Alabama for sometime.  It is notoriously haunted.  It has been investigated by paranormal investigators and proven to be haunted using all the ghost hunting gadgets such folk use.  It has been featured on the local news.  Psychics have declared it haunted. Yet, for some reason I haven't stopped by.  I even love pizza and their pizza is wonderful. 

Last week a lovely young writer named Stephanie contacted me to do an interview for a local magazine. I was delighted when she invited me to meet with her at Sam and Greg's.  I assumed she knew it was haunted and invited me there because of its haunting, but it was just a wonderful coincidence.  I had heard that all of the paranormal activity associated with this cute little restaurant takes place in the upstairs room, so we sat upstairs.  I believe the activity actually happens in the forbidden region of the restaurant just beyond the lock door, but it was still nice to sit and talk about ghosts next to such a haunted place.

 

On my way out of the restaurant, I asked one of the employees about the stories associated with the restaurant.  She says that the rumors that circulate amongst the staff state that the ghost that haunts Sam and Greg's was once a maintenance man in the old building.  His boss used to like to play practical jokes on him and he was always being laughed at.  Nobody can say for sure if it was all the jokes, or if the maintenance man was just lost in all his melancholy, but, according to the oral tradition, he killed himself in the building on the second floor.  His ghost still wanders Sam and Greg's making mischief to this day.  The staff who talked to me about this says she's not sure she believes all this, but she still finds the story fun and so did I.  

The Haunted Upstairs Area Can Be Seen From the Upstairs Dinning Area

The Upstairs Dinning Area

The Ghosts of the Rawls Hotel

The Rawls Hotel is in the Southern most part of Alabama.   It is located in Enterprise, Alabama far from the larger cities like Birmingham or Mobile.   Its history doesn't seem to be marred by murder or tragedy.   Its story is the story of a normal historic, small town hotel.   Japheth Rawls was a developer who had made some profit from turpentine plants.  He decided to invest his money in a small hotel.   He and his wife built the Rawls Hotel in 1903 and named it the McGee Hotel.  It was a small building in the Spanish Mission style.  In 1928, when Japheth passed away,  Jesse Rawls took over the hotel and began remodeling it.  He added two three-story wings to the structure and the Rawls Hotel evolved into a town center.  It was elegant and pretty and  many gatherings and meetings were held in the building.  The Hotel was conveniently placed next to the railroad so travelers to Enterprise could enjoy a pleasant night in a luxurious hotel.  In the 1970s, the hotel fell into disrepair and may have been forgotten if it weren't for Hayden Pursley.  Pursley purchased the building and renovated it.  The Rawls is now a bed and breakfast that is famous for its hauntings and ghosts.

It is my hope to travel down to the Rawls some time in the next several months to learn more about the ghosts that are said to linger in its halls.   The stories say that there are many children ghosts in the old hotel, but I don't know where they come from.  None of the stories seem to explain the presence of so many children ghosts in the hotel.  There is a little girl who has been seen by many visitors and the voices of children are said to come from the wine cellar.  Orbs are frequently seen in photographs and visitors describe feeling a presence in the hotel.  

Mr. Rawls is also said to haunt this old hotel and many have described seeing him in the halls.  He is said to stand by and watch decoration and renovation of the building and his spirit is thought to be interested in the well being of the hotel.   Many of the apparitions of the Rawls are said to linger on the third and forth floor.   The Rawls is listed as one of the most haunted hotels in Alabama.   Hopefully, I will discover why some day in the near future.

The Athens/Limestone County Courthouse

The Drive to Athens, Alabama was petulant today.  Tornadoes are expected and a vicious storm is heading our way.   It is preceded by shadow and wind so strong I had to cling to the steering wheel to keep the car on the road.   It was worth the drive.   Athens, Alabama is that kind of quiet, small, Southern town that belongs in old movies and books.   The old courthouse sits surrounded by a square of historic buildings and old churches.  Even in the shadow, it is alive and is the hub of life in Athens, Alabama.

I couldn't find much on the history of the old courthouse.   Athens was one of the first counties in Alabama to get a courthouse and claims to be the oldest county in Alabama.  The land for Limestone county was ceded from the Cherokee Nation in 1806 and from the Chickasaw in 1816.  For obvious reasons, for many years settlers had to fight off the Natives of the area.   Athens was made county seat in 1818 and during the civil war it was the first county in Alabama to be occupied by union forces.   Athens and the courthouse were sacked and burned.   The Col. responsible for the sacking was court marshaled the behavior in Athens was so terrible.

According to courthouse staff, there used to be a prison on the third floor of the Athens/ Limestone County courthouse.  This is where all the haunting activity is usually said to take place.   Locals say that one of the prisoners hung himself in his jail cell many years ago.  They don't know if he was sorry for what he did or just sorry to be paying the price for it, but he couldn't see the point in living any longer.  He hung himself on the third floor of the county courthouse and his ghost has never left.   Employees didn't have any specific stories for me.  They just knew the story and knew the third floor was haunted.

Ghost Dogs of the South

It doesn't take too much to get me really excited.  I love the little things in life.  I find immense joy in a good meal and a good book.  Everything else can fall apart, but if I have the little things, I'm happy.  The little thing that brought a huge smile to my face today is the book Ghost Dogs of the South by Randy Russell and Janet Barnett.  I love ghosts, dogs, and the South so this book was made for me.  It is a collection of dog related ghost stories.  There are 20 Southern, ghost tales in this charming collection and I enjoyed them all.

My favorite one is from Mississippi and is a little bit scary.  It is the story of a charming little girl.   She is so sweet she takes a cake to her elderly neighbor for his birthday.  Her neighbor loves animals and has a house filled with cats.  When the girl delivers the cake,  the neighbor tells her there are puppies in the back yard.  She picks out a puppy and names it Buddy and the two are inseparable from then on.  The dog even sleeps with the little girl every night.  Time passes as it always does and the girl's mother notices that the bond between girl and dog are fading.  She asks the little girl why the dog isn't going with her into her room or sleeping with her at night.  The girls says that "Mildred"  hates Buddy.

The mother asks about Mildred.  The girls tells her mother that Mildred used to live in the house and she left her locket behind.  The mother was concerned.   She asked her daughter who Mildred was and the girl laughed and said that Mildred was standing behind her.   Chills went up and down the mother's spine.  She knew something had to be done and she asked her little girl for the locket.  It took some coaxing.  The girl didn't want to part with the trinket and she liked her friend Mildred, but the mother was firm and took the locket.   She took the locket out to the backyard.  Buddy followed her and together the two buried the locket far from the house where the little girl could never find it.  She dug deep.  The treasure would never be found.  Mildred was never heard from again and Buddy returned to his position on the little girl's bed and in her heart, but if it hadn't have been for Buddy the mother never would have noticed her daughter's unnatural friendship with Mildred.

I think I will post a few more of these little stories because they are so wonderful, but if you want to read all of them you may have to buy the book :).