‘Ghost Riders of McConnico’ is a spooky tale from Monroe County

Crystal and I were out riding around on Sunday afternoon, and we eventually found ourselves on County Road 1. Not far from Perdue Hill, we pulled over at the old McConnico Cemetery for a brief look around.

For those of you unfamiliar with this cemetery, it’s one of the oldest in Monroe County. No one is exactly sure when the first burial took place here, but most sources say it was in the 1820s, not long after Alabama became a state. Just eyeballing it, I would say that this cemetery contains about 500 graves, many of which are unmarked.

This cemetery takes its name from a man named William Washington McConnico, an early Alabama pioneer, who also served in the state legislature. He donated the land for the cemetery a short time before his death in 1830. While the cemetery today does contain a marker in memory of McConnico, it’s said that he’s actually buried at his old homeplace, about a mile away.

Those of you who have been to this old cemetery will also know that it’s one of the spookiest places in all of Monroe County. While there on Sunday, I could not help but think of the “Ghost Riders of McConnico,” the best-known ghost story associated with this location.

Stories of these ghostly riders vary, but the most popular version of this spooky tale says that travelers near this cemetery late at night claim to have seen 12 ghostly cavalrymen mounted on grey horses. They ride side by side in a long column, and they are dressed in full cavalry uniforms with sabers, harness, the whole nine yards. However, the riders are said to wear no headgear.

Witnesses say that the riders wear white gloves, folded across the pommels of their saddles, their reins hanging loose. Witnesses describe these riders as “corpse-like” and say that each rider has a white cloth tied around his head. It’s said that this method was used in the 1800s to prepare corpses for burial. Witnesses go on to say that these riders move silently up the road, not even the hooves of the horses make a sound.

For those of you interested in reading more about this story, you can find more details about it in Kathryn Tucker Windham’s 1982 book, “Jeffrey’s Latest 13: More Alabama Ghosts.” This book dedicates an entire chapter to the “Ghost Riders of McConnico” and talks about how Mr. and Mrs. Charles Locklin saw the 12 ghostly riders. The Locklins supposedly encountered the riders many, many years ago as they traveled down County Road 1 in a wagon.

Windham’s version of the tale describes the riders as “Union horsemen.” In her story, it’s theorized that the cavalrymen were the victims of Confederate raider Lafayette Seigler, who would ambush Yankee patrols and cut off their ears. Supposedly, this is why the riders are seen wearing white bandages around their heads.

This tale is also included in George Buster Singleton’s 1991 book, “Of Foxfire and Phantom Soldiers.” Singleton, who wrote a weekly column for The Journal for many years, was widely known for his ghost stories and spooky tales.

“Perhaps (the ghost riders) 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,” Singleton wrote. “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.”