NE Mississippi Ghosts & Legends
Way Of The Ray
local news
11/1/02
Section A, Page 5
Ghost stories, legends about in NE Mississippi
BY JANE CLARK SUMMERS
Daily Journal Corinth Bureau
Tales of area ghosts and goblins are as plentiful as candy corn and the
folks, who have seen or heard of these apparitions, are as eager as
trick-or-treaters to share them.
One doesn't have to travel far, as the witch flies, to visit these
haunted houses, highways and cemeteries made famous by local lore.
Cemetery love
Once such cemetery is near the Prentiss and Tippah county line where the
face of unrequited love was seen on a tombstone. According to legend,
brave souls confirmed this story by shining their headlights toward the
graves inside this eternal resting place and saw an image on a
tombstone. The face was that of a young man whose girlfriend is
supposedly buried there.
The two were said to have been killed in a wreck together but he was
buried in one cemetery and she in another.
Apparently as word got around and the cemetery began attracting too many
night visitors, the family removed the tombstone.
Hitchhiker haunting
A Prentiss County elected official, who didn't want his name used, said
he heard several truckers tell about a ghoulish happening just over the
Mississippi state line in Alabama. There along a scary stretch of
Highway 5 between Jasper and Double Springs, Alabama, the ghost of a
hitchhiker is the curse of nervous truck drivers.
A woman, the victim of a hit-and-run truck driver, was struck and killed
in the late 1980s, truckers say. Ever since, she vigilantly watches the
roadway and jumps up on passing trucks to glimpse inside the cab to see
if the driver is the man who killed her.
Gravity Hill
In Tishomingo County, there is a place known as Gravity Hill where a
vehicle placed in neutral gear will roll backwards uphill.
Burnsville City Clerk Elesha Bailey said Gravity Hill, which is on
Turnpike Mountain Road, has been well known for this puzzle for decades.
Many drivers have tried this and say it works, she said. It may be just
the way the road looks and how it is graded, but the vehicle does seem
to roll up hill, she said.
Rattling chains
There is a railroad underpass in Corinth where it is said that late at
night, one can drive under the trestle and hear chains rattling. Local
folklore has it that a black man was hanged by a group of vigilantes at
that site, located on Droke Road, just off Harper Road.
Tippah tales
Librarian Tommy Covington is a storehouse of many Tippah County ghost
stories including one about a mysterious lady seen at the courthouse one
night. A janitor, who had locked the doors to clean up, was surprised to
see the woman go upstairs. When he was ready to leave for the evening,
he looked for her but she was no where to be found.
Long ago, before automobiles, travelers reported many strange
occurrences near Moses Chapel Church on moonless nights. One man
reported something white followed beside his wagon. Hunters said their
dogs, frightened by something in the nearby woods, refused to hunt
there. A man, who took refuge in the church one night, said he was
shaken awake when the bench he was sleeping on began to vigorously rock.
Covington believes a friendly ghost haunts the Ripley Library. Although
no one has admitted seeing it, several have heard unexplained noises,
bumps in the night, and search for plausible explanations. Perhaps, it
is the ghost of one of Ripley's most famous characters, Col. William C.
Falkner trying to wade through some of the books written by his famous
great-grandson William Faulkner.