Thursday, August 15, 2019

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 its 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 Visitors 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 citys 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 mans 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. Florences 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 nights 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. Its said that when you walk near the statue, the angels 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.

Tuesday, August 13, 2019

History comes alive — literally — in Columbus, Georgia

Les Miz at the Springer Opera House.
Credit: Columbus, GA Convention and Visitors Bureau

We loved visiting Columbus, Georgia, for its great food and live music scene, interesting museums such as the Coca-Cola Space Science Center and rafting the rapids of the Chattahoochee River. Come fall, the town about an hour and a half southeast of Atlanta offers a few haunts. 

According to my trustworthy tourism friends, Columbus has about seven documented haunting spots. Two on the top of the list is the historic Springer Opera House, where a ghostly figure hogs the spotlight, and Port Columbus National Civil War Naval Museum, where books fly off the shelves, among other paranormal happenings. You can visit both through special tours that occur in the fall.

National Civil War Naval Museum
Columbus Eats Food Tours will take visitors through the Springer Opera House, which dates back to 1871 and is one of only seven U.S. theaters with a National Historic Landmark designation. Lots of actors have crossed this stage, some perhaps refusing to leave. The Columbus Eats Food Tours relate these stories of the haunted theater, including discussing the Crybaby Bridge, the House of a Thousand Cadavers and more in 1.5-hour tours conducted with minimal lighting. Some children may be uncomfortable so you might want to leave little ones at home. 

Haunted Museum Tours at the National Civil War Naval Museum include a "Ghost Host" who introduces spirits of the Civil War Navies and paranormal investigator and author Faith Serafin of the Alabama Ghost Hunters highlights experiences from previous investigations. The tours are not recommended for children under 13. Upcoming Haunted Museum Tours begin at 7 p.m. Sept. 20, Oct. 4 and Oct. 19, 2019. Grab them quickly for tickets sell out fast; call (706) 327-9798.

While you're at the Naval Museum, don't miss a chance to see the C.S.S. Chattahoochee, a massive steam and sail gunboat damaged in Florida and brought to Columbus where she was sunk by her own Confederate Navy to ward off Union infiltration. The salvaged pieces make up quite a ghost ship.