by Rhetta Akamatsu

Created on: February 05, 2009   Last Updated: February 21, 2009

Alabama, like most of the South, is filled with ghost stories.

Huntsville certainly has its share of those stories.

For instance, a ghost named Sally haunts the Carter Mansion in Huntsville. Sally is said to have died a violent death at the age of 16, although I could find no details of her death.

She used to be buried on the grounds of the mansion, but her body was moved to an unmarked grave at Maple Hill Cemetery. While she was buried there, she was said to topple her gravestone from time to time. Even though her body has left the premises, Sally still tosses pillows around and even moves furniture in the house, and some people claim to have seen her walking around.

The cemetery where Sally is now buried, Maple Hill Cemetery, also has another well-known ghost. An elderly lady is buried in a family crypt there. She had an antique rocking chair of which she was very fond, and the family placed it in the crypt with her as a gesture of respect. Now, people claim that almost any time you stand outside the crypt, you can hear the creak.. creak..creak sound of the rocking chair swaying back and forth.

Next to the cemetery is a playground where ghost children have been seen swinging late at night, when all living children should be home asleep. The swings also sometimes swing by themselves, even when there is no wind.

Another haunted Huntsville site is the old Dallas Mill, which was built in 1891. It was a working mill until 1949, and then home to the Genesco Shoe Factory until 1985. It was vacant then until it burned down in 1991. The story goes that a man was killed while cleaning the smoke stacks not long after the mill was built, and his spirit still haunts the place. Another ghost who seems to wander about the ruins of the mill is a homeless man who lived in the ruins for a while after the mill burned down.

There is a large pair of black gates at Green Mountain in Huntsville, which have earned the nickname "Hell's Gates" among the locals. The gates guard the entrance to an imposing mansion located on the mountain. Legend has it that if you park your car in front of the gates and wait, another car will appear from nowhere, force you away from the gates, and then disappear. This author was told by a Huntsville native that he had experienced this phenomena not once but many times.

One final possibly haunted location in Huntsville is the Space Camp. Camps always seem to have ghost stories attached to them, and this one is no exception. Evidently, when the camp was being built, they were using large explosives to blow giant holes in the ground for the below-grounds quarters. One day the explosives went off early and a man was buried alive by the blast. He was dead before he could be rescued, and counselors and camp-goers report still hearing his screams and cries for help in the halls and around the grounds of the camp.

Just a word of caution: These sites are not necessarily open for investigation. No investigation should be undertaken without permission at any time. Ruins are notoriously dangerous for many reasons that have nothing to do with the paranormal. Cemeteries are resting places for the dead, and should be treated with respect. Enjoy the stories, but tread cautiously and courteously.

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