Wicked's Halloween Hoots & Howls! 2020

When I was a reporter for the Tennessean newspaper back in 1992, I wrote a series of spooky stories around Halloween, featuring ghosts in rural Cheatham County, just outside Nashville, TN/Davidson County. Cheatham County was my news beat, as well as other counties in Middle Tennessee. I covered everything from human interest, crime, politics, with several of my stories going Associated Press.

One such story was of the ghost of Montgomery Bell, a manufacturing entrepreneur who greatly contributed to the economic development of early Middle Tennessee. He was known as the "Iron Master of the Harpeth" and "Iron Master of Middle Tennessee". There is a state park named after him, and he founded Montgomery Bell Academy, one of the largest private all-boys high schools in the United States...which, by the way, is located across the street from an all-girls Catholic high school, which I attended.

Montgomery Bell Academy features my article, published Oct. 28, 1992 in the Close-Up Section of The Tennessean, in its archives. You can view it here....

https://montgomerybell.pastperfectonline.com/archive/CE342B0A-74EB-4F23-85F0-930338948710

To research this article, some friends and I went exploring the Narrows of the Harpeth at night and walked along the banks of the Harpeth River to see if we could spot the floating light that was believed to be the ghost of Montgomery Bell, searching for his stolen treasure. We had so much fun in our ghost hunting exploit. ha ha ha We actually did see something that looked suspiciously like a light in a field along the other side of the river. We felt like we found the ghost!

Below are pictures of the tunnel that Montgomery Bell used to generate power for his ironwork. I've also canoed to this spot before along the Harpeth River!

The Legend of Purgatory Chasm
According to legend, an Algonquin Indian woman found herself in a tight spot (pun intended) shortly after she killed a white colonial settler. As she walked away from the scene of the crime, she encountered another settler who asked for her company on a short walk. Naturally, having just murdered one of his people, she was apprehensive and tried to run away. He lunged and grabbed her by the wrist. When she called out to the Native American god Hobomoko to save her, the second settler revealed himself as none other than Hobomoko in the flesh. Morphing into a devil-like guise, Hobomoko grabbed his captive by the waist and flew to Purgatory Chasm.

Colonists said that the devil’s actions on that day formed the chasm. The deep depressions were allegedly the places he stomped and threw his victim. The large, deep cuts in the rocks were the results of a swinging tomahawk.

Preston Castle is only about an hour from me right now. I will have to check them out. I do see their Halloween tours are canceled due to covid unfortunately. They have a Christmas tours so maybe then if they are able to open.

Actually they have cancelled the Christmas as the Castle too for this year. I am making plans to go to the Halloween Haunt though for next year. That looks amazing!

Thanks for contributing, Smokes!!! That is an interesting story. You know most people say they don't believe in ghosts, but there is a spiritual world, if you believe in God. But there is misinformation out there about Halloween that if you celebrate the holiday, you are participating in something satanic. That is not true!

I am very much a conservative Christian woman, baptized Catholic. October 31 in our church is All Souls Day, followed by All Saints Day on Nov. 1. These are holy days whereby we honor those who have died, all souls, and the death of the canonized saints. My confirmed saint is St. Theresa, the Little Flower.

Here is a good article to read about Halloween.

https://theconversation.com/hell-no-halloween-is-not-satanic-its-an-important-way-to-think-about-death-118391

@Zentrino Yesssssssssssss, you must go. That place looks spooky at night! ha ha ha When I was younger, we used to go out on Friday and Saturday nights going to abandoned old houses and churches, ghost hunting. Course we were throwing back some beers too! ha ha ha ha Cheap, fun entertainment! ha ha ha

The Vampires of Rhode Island: Bright, Like An Angel. Nancy Young, 19, Foster. 1827
Levi Young and his wife Anna’s farm was bountiful. The native corn, potatoes, and onions provided steady income for the family. Anna Young’s preserves , made from wild blackberries, was renowned locally, and were even fetching a good price in nearby Providence. Their oldest daughter, Nancy, was known as a smart young woman with a quick wit and even temperament. At nineteen, Nancy was the managing the accounting of the family farm. Sadly, in 1827, calamity struck. Nancy soon became gravely ill with the consumption. As she lay ill, her sister, Almira, took over the bookkeeping of the farm. On the sixth of April 1827, Nancy succumbed to her illness. A few month after Nancy’s death, Almira became ill with a similar condition, albeit one acting slower. Levi called on the best doctors in the region to help treat his ailing daughter, but none could remedy this strange affliction. Then one morning, Levi went to his daughter’s room to find the girl up in her bed. Almira told her father that thought she was getting better, though she looked extremely pale and weak for the disease. Almira told her father that she had dreamed of her sister Nancy. ‘She looked so bright, like an angel’ said the sickly Almira. She continued to tell her father that Nancy had told her that the pain would go away soon, and that she had forgotten about being sick for the duration of the dream. Levi Young was trying not to show his concern as his daughter described her deceased sister’s appearance. He was beginning to doubt the effectiveness of conventional medicine, and started to look into local folklore of evil spirits from beyond the grave that preyed on the living. Levi Young went before the town elders and they, surprisingly enough, agreed that the Young household was being torment by an evil presence, and that the vampire must be driven out. A small group of townsfolk accompanied Levi Young to the graveyard that his daughter lay in. The leader of the group was a gaunt old man named Nathan “Doc� Lennox. Not a real doctor, Doc was the expert in folklore and strange local superstitions. As some of the group gathered wood for a pyre, Levi Young alone took the burden of exhuming Nancy’s grave. By sunset, the, apparently never opened, coffin of Nancy Young lay burning atop a pyre. Doc Lennox advised the members of the Young family to stand around the fire so that the vapors from the blaze may cleanse them of the evil consuming their household. Braving the heat the Youngs joined hands and allowed the smoke to wash over them. By morning the next day all but ash remained of the body of Nancy Young. Unfortunately this seemed to do little to stop the consumption ravaging the Young family. Shortly after the exhumation of Nancy, Almira died of her illness. Within a few years four more of Levi and Anna Young’s children died of consumption. None of the remaining children were exhumed

Nancy Young was, before her corpse was burned, buried at Rhode Island Historical Cemetery Foster #142 – Young Lot. I’ve yet to visit this graveyard, hopefully that should change soon though

What a creepy story, Smokes!!! Sounds spooky. You'll have to tell me if you get "skeerd", as we say here in Tennessee. he he he

Cemeteries at night have always been creepy places. I don't know what it is about the dead, that is scary... probably because we don't really understand death, and that it is really a beautiful thing, passing from this life into the next. I admit, I was scared about ghosts growing up, but I always remember what my grandfather would tell me as a little girl, "It isn't the dead you have to fear, but the living!" lol

Now here is another creepy story in Cheatham County in a town called Pegram, TN, named after the Pegram Family that lived there and owned a lot of the land. Apparently, the Pegram Family Cemetery was bulldozed in 1970 for a housing development in the area, but apparently some of the bodies of the deceased were not moved. The developers reportedly sold off the soil, rock and fencing to unsuspecting buyers, and later sold the homes to people. This housing development, Harpeth Haven Subdivision, is located towards the end of Walk Up Road.

It was quite a surprise during flooding of the Harpeth River five years later (1975), when the coffin of one of the Pegram family, Carrie Pegram Heath, the town's first postmistress, popped up in the front yard of one of first homes built! Apparently, she was "pushed back down" in the front yard of the home, and her "unresting place is hidden behind a high fence." It is reported that other family members' graves are still under the slabs of the homes in this subdivision.

Other news stories have reported constant problems with this development over the years, including issues with sewer, and then was flooded again in 2010. One lady, named Jackie, wrote that in 1976, she and her family had moved into one of these homes. She said that she and her two small children were in the home when her husband went to go get the last load of furniture to move in. She said the entire end of the house started to rumble, sounded like something hitting up against the side of the home. She said she and her children were crouched down in the hallway of the home, scared to death. They lived there for 9 years, before moving. She did not cite any other occurrences.

If you want to see a news story on this subdivision done by our local Channel 2, the link is below.

https://www.wkrn.com/special-reports/haunted-tennessee/are-issues-in-pegram-caused-by-the-cemeterys-move-years-ago/

NOW, my question to YOU is, would you live there? ha ha ha

Boo! An old photograph of the Pegram Family Cemetery.

Ghostly Giggles & Screams of Laughter!
~ Courtesy of the Internet

Where does a ghost go on vacation? Mali-boo.

Why did the ghost go into the bar? For the Boos.

What is in a ghost's nose? Boo-gers.

Why did the policeman ticket the ghost on Halloween? It didn't have a haunting license.

Why do demons and ghouls hang out together? Because demons are a ghoul's best friend!

What does a panda ghost eat? Bam-BOO!

What's a ghost's favorite dessert? I-Scream!

From your Sim Witch to You:

More witchy humor...

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I'm not the biggest Halloween fan, but I have a very fond memory of one thing my Dad and I did when I was growing up. My family's house had a large porch/overhang thing. At night, you couldn't really see anything easily above the door.

I made a large paper mache spider in school with pipe cleaners for legs etc, and my Dad's IMMEDIATE reaction when he saw it was "great, let's get this thing hooked up to some fishing line. We can thread the line through the hinges of our front door, and dangle the spider way above the door."

When trick or treaters would come to the door, one of us could lower the 2 foot wide spider down behind them from inside without them realizing. All night long, kids would get candy at the door from one of us, only to turn around and hit their face on this enormous spider. They'd run screaming from the house. Many years, I honestly had more fun with the spider than I did getting candy.

lol EO. I can see you and your Dad doing that! ha ha ha It is fun to put in a good natured scare.

At my office about three years ago, I rigged this standing coat tree with a mask of a deranged man, and draped a coat around it....It stood about five foot five and looked real ha ha ha. I placed it inside the doorway of my boss's office. ha ha ha So when she opened her office door she came face to face with this human form. ha ha ha ha She screamed. Naturally, I laughed and laughed and laughed. Wonders why I didn't get a raise that year? lol

From the history books of Tennessee comes the story of The Bell Witch. As a little girl, I can remember hearing stories about the witch. My Mom was loved by all the neighborhood children, because she told the spookiest stories, and the Bell Witch was one she passed along! I'm sure you've heard of going into the bathroom, lighting a candle and saying something so many times to the mirror and something would appear. Ours was to say 10 times "I do not believe in the Bell Witch" and she would appear and scratch your face. lol I don't think any of us kids tried that!

Anyways, there was a movie telling the story of the witch, An American Haunting, with Donald Sutherland and Sissy Spacek, which discloses one of the many theories behind the haunting. It is even reported in the Tennessee history books that President Andrew Jackson had an "experience" with the witch on his way to the home in Adams, TN, to investigate.

Today, the home is gone, but the cave where the witch would torment the Bell daughter, Betsy, is still there. You can still tour this cave on the land. The last time I was there, some pictures we took detected orbs and strange mists. Creepy, huh? It has been the site of paranormal investigations and visited by folks from all over. Oh, and I am friends with some of the descendants of the supposed Bell Witch, Kate Batts. However a recent psychic said that Kate was not the witch. The Bell family, she said, was not cursed, but the land was.

Check out the website, if you want to know the story:

https://bellwitchcave.com/

Picture of the cave:

Secrets of the Nahanni: The Valley of Headless Men
A team of river guides and storytellers venture into the "Valley of Headless Men" to uncover secrets of the past.

WRITTEN BY Brooke Hess

In 1908, brothers Willie and Frank McLeod embarked on a mission into the Nahanni Valley in search of gold. They never returned.
Two years later, the bodies of the McLeod brothers were found on the banks of the Nahanni River. Their heads though, were nowhere to be found. The two men were murdered, decapitated, and left on the side of the river for the next party of explorers to find.

The Dyatlov Pass incident (Russian: Гибель тургруппы Д�тлова) was an event in which nine Russian hikers died in the northern Ural Mountains between the 1st and 2nd of February 1959, in uncertain circumstances. The experienced trekking group, who were all from the Ural Polytechnical Institute, had established a camp on the slopes of Kholat Syakhl, in an area now named in honour of the group's leader, Igor Dyatlov. During the night, something caused them to tear their way out of their tents and flee the campsite while inadequately dressed for the heavy snowfall and subzero temperatures.

@Smokes, those are interesting stories. Creepy huh? There is so much unexplained stuff in the world.