Time to act fast to nab tickets to see angels in Natchez

This story was first published on Weird, Wacky and Wild South blog and has been edited for this year’s event.

Tickets go on sale every year on Aug. 1 for the annual Angels on the Bluff, the long-running candlelit tour of the Natchez City Cemetery. And folks in the know have this date circled on their calendar — this year Nov. 7-9, 2019. Tickets sell out quickly and it’s easy to understand why. Local actors and musicians in period costumes channel historical figures from beyond the grave — and the town has its fair share of colorful people who have passed. 

Lilly Ann Eliza Granderson

We visited in 2017 and there were 16 shuttles the evening we participated, meaning 16 busloads of ticket holders being shuttled from the Natchez Visitor’s Center to the cemetery on the north side of town. We were the 6 p.m. group and we filled the school bus to capacity. Once at the cemetery, we followed our leader dressed in a jacket with reflector tape and holding a flashlight and in the distance were two other large groups already in progress. The trails we were meant to follow were lighted by luminaries and several of the live oak trees were lighted from below, casting eerie shadows about. Some of the angels atop gravestones, including the famous “Turning Angel,” (more about her later), were also illuminated and stood out in the darkness as if serving as our protector.

First up to tell her story was Katherine Grafton Miller, the founder of the Natchez Pilgrimage, who described how she saved the town with tourism in the 1930s. We then met cabinetmaker Robert Stewart who once also served as one of the city’s undertakers.

L.S. Cornwell, a local merchant and brief publisher of The Eagle newspaper in Concordia Parish, Louisiana, was played by an Angels veteran, a humorous actor accompanied by the dead man’s wife, who also gave a humorous tone to the storytelling.

 

Robert Stewart

Lilly Ann Eliza Granderson was an inspiring story, telling how she rose from house and field slave to a woman who operated a secret school where she taught other slaves to read and write.

Many people know of Florence Irene Ford because of her unusual grave. Florence’s mother comforted her in life when thunderstorms hit — she was deathly afraid of them — so when she died at the young age of 10, her mother built a stairway into the ground and a window next to her coffin so that she may visit Florence and comfort her when storms arrived.

The famous Turning Angel

Back to the Turning Angel. One of the night’s storyteller was John Carkeet, a pastor and undertaker who was the 11th victim of the 1908 Natchez Drug Company Explosion. The downtown building exploded and burned due to a gas leak and five young women were among the casualties. Their bodies are buried beneath the Turning Angel and the angel watches over them. It’s said that when you walk near the statue, the angel’s eyes will turn and follow you.

Other fun aspects of the night included a fiddler at a Civil War soldier gravesite, reliving the dancing life of Lillie Vidal Davis Boatner and a dance around a campfire by gypsies.

Sound interesting? Mark your calendar for Aug. 1 and nab those tickets fast. All proceeds benefit the cemetery. For more information on this historic and beautiful cemetery, visit natchezcitycemetery.com.

Haunted Deep South is written by travel writer Chere Dastugue Coen, author of Haunted Lafayette, Louisiana.

Madeline a different kind of spirit at King’s Tavern in Natchez

Natchez turns 300 in 2016, an impressive milestone for a southern city. The quaint town known for its hundreds of historic buildings is the oldest continuous settlement on the Mississippi River and predates New Orleans by two years.

If you’re looking for history, the oldest building in Natchez dates back to about 1760 and there are some lingering there who might remember its origin. King’s Tavern at 619 Jefferson St. is now a restaurant serving up specialty cocktails and delicious flatbreads but in its day, the building served as a resting stop for those traveling the Natchez Trace. And it was about this time that Madeline worked as a barmaid.

Story has it that Madeline became the mistress of Richard King, the owner, and that the owner’s wife paid two men to have her killed. In 1932, three bodies and a dagger were recovered from the walls of the tavern when a chimney was being installed — two men and a woman.

Ricky Woolfolk is the tavern’s manager and bartender, who teaches mixology classes on the weekend. Ricky has his own take on the story, believing that the men killed Madeline, and the owner, upon discovering what had happened, killed the two men and buried them in the tavern’s walls to keep the crime from being discovered.

As for the dagger, that instrument of death appears to be missing. The original story, according to Ricky, was that the bodies and dagger were found in the chimney but he insists the chimney came after 1932.

I had to wonder where this information came from — doubtful that King or his wife recorded the incident or it was reported in the newspaper — but I’m happy to go along with the story. People who have worked at the tavern have reported electrical anomalies, doors opening and closing and other noises unaccounted for. Ricky showed us a video of the bar refrigerator opening on its own after hours and I can vouch that these fridges don’t open without a good pull.

Ricky also claims the tavern saw some unsavory people in its time, due to its proximity to the Natchez Trace where criminals waited to rob those returning home with newly acquired cash. The notorious Harpe Brothers, for instance, were two examples, men known for murdering many people including small children.

“There are numerous reports of paranormal activity in the tavern; sources report that scores of witnesses have seen images of a young female, believed to be the ghost of Madeline, the slain mistress,” reports the History, Science and Paranormal Research Blog hosted by the Mississippi Society of Paranormal Investigators. “She appears at odd times and is sometimes a prankster, knocking jars off of shelves, pouring water on the brick floors, turning the lights on and off, and breaking glasses. Some have claimed to have witnessed tables vibrating, chains on the walls moving by themselves, footsteps, when no one is there, water taps turning on by themselves, sounds of a baby crying in the attic room, maintained by the legend that Big Harpe had killed another baby in the upstairs room because he was annoyed by its crying. There are also claims of seeing a man with no face wearing a red hat, hearing male voices talking when no one is there and the shadows and apparitions of both a large man and an Indian.”

"Ghost Adventures" visited the King’s Tavern and you can watch the episode here.

Ghosts aside, we recommend the flatbread — we sampled the delicious artichoke and olives but heard the brisket is to die for — and the Natchez Gentleman, which incorporates Charbonneau Rum made next door with Solerno blood orange liqueur.