George Singleton's first column was about the 'Ghost riders of McConnico'

(For decades, local historian and paranormal investigator George “Buster” Singleton published a weekly newspaper column called “Somewhere in Time.” The column below, which was titled “Ghost riders of McConnico” was originally published in the March 25, 1971 edition of The Monroe Journal in Monroeville, Ala.)

On the front page of the March 25, 1971 edition of The Monroe Journal –

Gallopin’ ghosts! – Don’t laugh. You may be passing McConnico Cemetery sometime and have it happen to you. George B. Singleton of Monroeville has researched the legend and has spun a tale about it in the first of a new series of articles on history in Monroe County. It’s on Page 5-A. Don’t miss it!

On Page 5A of that week’s paper:

If you ever are traveling late at night southwest along the Mt. Pleasant road from Perdue Hill, and as you descend the hill near the Old McConnico Cemetery, don’t be surprised if you encounter the 12 ghost cavalrymen; each mounted on a grey horse and riding in column of two’s; each dressed in full cavalry uniform, complete with saber and harness, riding at a gallop onward into oblivion.

Old McConnico Cemetery at Perdue Hill

Observe closely and you will notice that the riders wear no headgear. Their hands are gloved in white and folded across the pommel of their saddles, with the reins hanging loose, and they appear as corpses. If your nerve has not failed you by this time, you will notice that each rider has a white cloth tied around his head, a method used in earlier times on a corpse in preparing for burial.

You will hear no sound from the hooves of the horses, but you will feel the vibrations as the riders rush past, galloping in formation as if they were alive.

Singleton in 1971.

Who are these ghost riders? Where do they come from? Perhaps they are the spirits of the followers of Morgan, Forrest or Stuart, killed in some daring raid away from their beloved Southland, now seeking familiar haunts in the night. Or perhaps they are those who, unhappy in death, are destined to ride forever in search of a peace that was never found in life. Who knows? One can only guess.

(This column also included a photo of the Old McConnico Cemetery with the following caption: Focal point of legend – McConnico Cemetery.)

(Singleton, the author of the 1991 book “Of Foxfire and Phantom Soldiers,” passed away at the age of 79 on July 19, 2007. A longtime resident of Monroeville, he was born during a late-night thunderstorm on Dec. 14, 1927 in Marengo County, graduated from Sweet Water High School in 1946, served in the Korean War, worked as a riverboat deckhand, lived for a time among Apache Indians, moved to Monroe County on June 28, 1964 and served as the administrator of the Monroeville National Guard unit from 1964 to 1987. For years, Singleton’s columns, titled “Monroe County history – Did you know?” and “Somewhere in Time” appeared in The Monroe Journal, and he wrote a lengthy series of articles about Monroe County that appeared in Alabama Life magazine. It’s believed that his first column appeared in the March 25, 1971 edition of The Monroe Journal. He is buried in Pineville Cemetery in Monroeville. The column above and all of Singleton’s other columns are available to the public through the microfilm records at the Monroe County Public Library in Monroeville. Singleton’s columns are presented here each week for research and scholarship purposes and as part of an effort to keep his work and memory alive.)