Does the spirit of 'Crazy Nancy' walk the supposedly-haunted woods near Davis Ferry in Monroe County?

Jackie Sessions from down in Frisco City stopped by The Journal office last week and provided me with an interesting book called “The Ghostly Register: Haunted Dwellings, Active Spirits, A Journal to America’s Strangest Landmarks.” Written by Arthur Myers in 1986, this book contains 65 chapters of ghost stories from places as far flung as Alaska to Maine. Oddly, the book doesn’t contain any stories from Alabama, but there were some entertaining tales from Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi.

“The Ghostly Register” reminded me of the late George Buster Singleton’s book, “Of Foxfire and Phantom Soldiers.” Singleton, who wrote a popular weekly column for The Journal for decades, published this 224-page book of local ghost stories in 1991, and it contains some of his best work. Singleton’s book mentions over 30 spooky Monroe County locations in his book, including several that will be familiar to many readers.

Those locations include the Alabama River, Bailey’s Well at Franklin, Bradley Ridge, Confederate graves, Davis Ferry, the Devil’s Soup Bowl, Finchburg, Flat Creek, the Franklin community, Gin House Bottom, Indian mounds, Klepac’s Old Store, the Lois Wiggins Homeplace, McConnico Cemetery, the Midway Cave, the Mount Pleasant community, Nancy Mountain, the Old Claiborne Cemetery, the Pine Orchard community, the grave of William Coombs at Claiborne, the Town of Beatrice and Bell’s Landing.

I’ve been to many of these locations over the years, and some of them are very creepy. However, I haven’t had any luck finding Bailey’s Well. In his book, Singleton said this well was located by an ironwood tree in a field at Franklin and was known as the “Well That Won’t Stay Filled.” Curbed by old, handmade bricks, no one knows who originally dug the well, which has supposedly been abandoned since the early 1800s.

Numerous attempts were supposedly made to fill it with rocks, junk and timber logs, but all of those items disappeared without a trace, leading some people to believe that the well connects with an underground river or that its bottom is filled with quicksand. If anyone in the reading audience knows where this well is located, please let me know. Even better, if someone wants to show it to me, I’m always up for a good field trip.

On the other side of the coin, I have been to Nancy Mountain a number of times. Also known as “Crazy Nancy Mountain,” this place is located on the east side of the Alabama River, near the road that leads to the Davis Ferry. It’s supposedly haunted by “Aunt Nancy” or “Crazy Nancy,” a phantom woman that can be seen walking through the woods towards the river. She is said to wear a long dress and a bonnet, carries a small pail in one hand and a long walking stick in the other.

I’ve spent the night at Nancy Mountain a few times with my son, James. For those of you who have never been there in the middle of the night, take my word for it, Nancy Mountain is one of the darkest places I have ever been. James and I spent a moonless, overcast night up there a couple of years ago, and it got so dark that I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face. For the record, we’ve never seen “Aunt Nancy.”

In the end, if you’re interested in reading more about the locations in “Of Foxfire and Phantom Soldiers,” copies of the book are on sale at The Journal office in Monroeville. They are $10.95 (plus tax) each and make great gifts. The Journal only has a limited number of these books, so don’t delay if you’re interested in getting a copy.