Ghost Stories

I was watching Paranormal Activity last night and it got me thinking about ghost stories. Growing up in the south, especially in my family, one thing you learn very early in life are ghost stories. I thank both of my grandfathers for this gift, and have decided this Halloween to pass some of these stories on to you.

Most Ghost stories in Tennessee are well know, the Bell Witch, the Chapel Hill Train and tons of others. Today, I want to tell you a story my grandfather told me. It seems one night, coming home from coon hunting (which is my grandfather's way of saying he got drunk), my grandfather decided to take a short cut through Duboise Hollow just south of Huntland Tennessee on the Alabama side of the state line. It was 1957, and at this time no one lived in the Hollow, the road was only cut through by loggers who had been working the area. It was very late, and though he wasn't sure of the time as he didn't have a watch. As he drove down the old gravel road, he saw someone walking ahead, in the distance. At first, he thought he was seeing things, after all, he was extremely tired, and who would be walking out here at that hour. As he got closer, he realized that not only was he not seeing things, but also it was a woman. He described her as being in her twenties and very pretty. He said she was wearing a fancy blue dress and looked like maybe she had been to a party or something. Of course being a good Christian man, he decided to see if she needed help, so he stopped, opened the passenger side door to his 1952 Chevy pick-up and asked her if she needed a ride. Without saying anything she climbed in and closed the door. Now something else my grandfather told me was that she was very pale, and shivered like she was ice cold. This was odd to him because it was the middle of June. He turned on the heat for her and tried to ask her is she was alright, but he got no response. Finally, as he neared the end of the road, were it reconnects with highway 65, he said she began to shake. as he got closer to the highway, she began to scream, louder and louder until finally, his wheels hit the black top. Then she was gone. Of course, the language my grandfather uses to tell that last part, isn't really fit for this story, so I'll just say, that I don't think he was making it up.

Years later, they started to build houses up the hollow and the gravel road got a blacktop face lift, a body was found. It was the skeletal remains of a woman. In the shallow grave were the body was found, was remains of blue silky fabric. The Alabama State Police labeled her "the lady in the blue dress" and her identity was never discovered. Forensic evidence led them to believe that the body had been there since at least the early to mid 1950s. As for my grandfather, there was never a doubt in his mind that the lady in the blue dress was his passenger that late night in June 1957.

JLP