Do ghosts and spirits still haunt the old Kelly Mill Mercantile Co. store in historic Dottelle, Alabama?

The old Kelly Mill Mercantile Co. store at Dottelle.

Monroe County’s old Dottelle community is located on U.S. Highway 84, about two and a half miles east of Excel. Dottelle first became the name of this place around 1900 when the now-defunct Manistee & Repton Railroad established a train station near the Kelly Mill Mercantile Co. Store. Sources say that the train station was named “Dottelle” after the name of the daughter of a Mr. Smith, who was secretary and bookkeeper for the Bear Creek Mill Co. at Manistee.

If you go to Dottelle today, little remains from its heyday as a bustling train stop except for the old Kelly Mill Mercantile Co. building. The store that you see there today on Dottelle Road was built in 1925 by Riley J.D. Kelly. My old friend Cecil Chandler bought the building in 2005 with an eye towards turning it into an old country store museum.

I found myself passing through Dottelle the other day and stopped for a few minutes to admire the work that Cecil has done restoring the old store. All was quiet except for the sound of the cold wind blowing through nearby pecan trees and the steady drone of vehicles passing down Highway 84. As I stood there, under the stone gray sky, the old store took on a shadowy, forlorn aspect, and I could not help but remember some of the spooky tales I’d heard about it over the years.

One such tale involves the store’s second floor, which was once used for storage and features a double window that can be opened to improve air circulation throughout the building. This double window has stout hinges and sturdy barrel bolts to lock it closed. It is not easily opened or closed.

One hot day, Cecil was working in the store and opened the window to cool things down. Later, he called it quits around five o’clock and went home only to wake in the middle of the night with the sudden realization that he’d left the large window wide open. The next morning, he drove over to the store only to find the window mysteriously closed. At first, he thought the wind had blown the window shut, but to his surprise, he found both barrel bolts locked tight from the inside.

He was the only person with a key to the building.

Years later, Cecil was working at the store with the late Winston Sessions and his wife, Margaret Ann. It began to get dark, and as they prepared to leave for the day, Margaret Ann said she distinctly heard someone walking in the back of the store. They were the only three people in the building and when Winston walked to the rear of the store to check things out, he stopped in his tracks and shouted for Cecil.

“I hesitated but walked his way,” Cecil said. “He said, ‘Get behind me.’ I didn’t know what to expect. Then I felt cold all over, and the hair on my arm was standing up.”

“Do you feel what I do?” Winston asked.

“Yes,” Cecil reluctantly confirmed as they walked a little farther. The cold spot eventually disappeared, but reoccurred about 10 steps later.

“This went on three times until we got enough and left,” Cecil said.

Over the years, witnesses have often heard disembodied footsteps inside the building, with the sounds often coming from the vacant second floor.

Several years ago, Cecil’s son-in-law was in the store’s back room when he clearly heard someone walking in the main part of the store. The son-in-law thought it was one of his coworkers, so he went to see what he wanted. No one was there.

His first thought was that someone was trying to have a little fun with him by scaring him. Thinking it was a practical joke, he looked everywhere only to discover that he was totally alone. He got what he’d come for and left.

In the end, Cecil noted that since the store’s original construction in 1925, hundreds – maybe thousands – of local people visited the store over the bygone years to conduct business. Many came just to visit with their neighbors and shoot the breeze. To Cecil’s way of thinking, if the store is haunted, the ghosts are no doubt at least a little pleased to see the store restored to its original condition.