The Maple Hill Cemetery Stroll

Maple Hill Cemetery is one of the largest and oldest cemeteries in the Southeast. It contains the remains of some of the most important people in Southern History and every year the dead rise to share their stories in the Maple Hill Cemetery Stroll.  I enjoyed a lovely day of history and ghosts this Sunday on this cemetery stroll.  Here are some images of the walk.

Sally Carter  is one of the most famous ghosts in Huntsville, Alabama.  Here she tells her tragic tale of woe.

Talula Bankhead starred in numerous films, including Alfred Hitchcock's famous "Lifeboat".   She remembers her last words at the cemetery walk.  They were, "I need more bourbon."

Huntsville's Gypsy Queen reminds locals that she was buried with her treasure and any who dare touch it will be haunted by her for the rest of their lives.

The famous cow, Lily Flag, that won the 1982 World's Fair trophy, shares its mooooving story.

The Cemetery in the Snow

It rarely snows in the South.  It snows so rarely that all of life seems to freeze when the first snow flake hits the ground.  School stops, work stops, the stores are quiet.  The snow casts a strange silence in the South and I couldn't help but wonder what the cemetery would look like draped in quiet white.   So I went to Huntsville's most famous cemetery to take pictures and explore a little in the snow.  Maple Hill Cemetery is the oldest and largest cemetery in Alabama.  It was begun on two acres of land and those acres were sold to the city for 200 dollars.  The cemetery has grown to over a hundred acres.  Its oldest grave stone is from1812 and it is of a little girl. Like many cemeteries, Maple Hill Cemetery boasts many ghosts.  Its long history and many stories stretch as far as the imagination. Ghosts and stories hide behind the tombstones like shadows waiting to spring out.  

The most famous ghost said to live in the cemetery is Sally Carter.  She is Huntsville, Alabama's most famous ghost and she is best  known for haunting the carter mansion.   After her grave was moved away from the carter mansion, her ghost has also been seen in Maple Hill cemetery where her grave now resides.  Sally Carter was an unfortunate young woman  who died of an unexpected illness while staying at the mansion.  Her ghost has been seen numerous times at the mansion and at the cemetery.

One of the crypts at Maple Hill Cemetery is also home to the ghost of an elderly lady.  Her body rests in one of the large above ground crypts in the cemetery.  According to legend,  in life the woman loved sitting on the front porch in her rocking chair.  She loved it so much her beloved chair was placed in the crypt with her after she died.  People say that if you push your ear up to the door of the crypt you can hear her chair gently rocking inside the crypt.  I tried this and heard nothing but the wind, but the story is wonderful none the less.