Singleton tells of old Indian graves near Alabama River at Claiborne

Bear grass, aka, Indian basket grass.

(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 “Destroyed Indian burial site still detectible to keen eye” was originally published in the March 2, 1972 edition of The Monroe Journal in Monroeville, Ala.)

“There used to be about 40 or 50 graves there in that clearing by the road. Each grave was covered with shells and rocks. There were several large shade trees growing there among the graves. Everybody in Claiborne knew about the Indian burial grounds near the river.”

These are the words of Pearlie Broughton, now in his late seventies, who was born in Claiborne before the turn of the century. Pearlie was reared only a short distance from the burial grounds.

As a boy he visited the grounds many times, looking for arrowheads and beads and things of that nature.

Pearlie said everyone believed that the Indians placed the valuables of the departed in the grave along with the dead. There were several attempts to find these personal items by digging into the graves over the years.

“I know of nothing that was ever found around this area, other than (the time when) a man came from Pensacola one night saying that he knew the location of one of the graves that had money buried in it. The story goes that all he ever found was a gold tooth for his troubles. The next morning the man was gone and never came back as far as anyone knows.

“It wasn’t long after, that the owners of the land plowed all the graves under and began to plant cotton where the mounds once were. My papa said that there was a certain air of mystery about this place and not many of the people wanted to work in this field. There are many stories, that used to be told concerning this burial ground.”

From the information that I could gather, the grounds were used in the 1700s and early 1800s as a burial site. It was during this period that the Indians of this area began to adopt the white man’s method of burial. It was a custom, however, to place with the body some of the tools and weapons that belonged to the deceased, so that the spirit would not enter the Great Beyond without means to furnish himself with food and clothing.

On rare occasions, money may have been placed in these burial places. However, there wasn’t much money to be had, and it was usually kept by some member of the family to be spent for the essential things necessary for survival. Even so, many people today still believe that there is money to be found in the old burial grounds of the early Indians who lives in this area.

I did notice around the burial grounds area the familiar sight of bear grass. It reminded me of the old legend that a spirit can leave or enter the final resting place whenever there is a clump of bear grass growing by the grave.

So, even today, after the burial grounds have been destroyed, the bear grass still grows – if the legend is true – the spirits still ride the winds and return to the graves whenever they choose.

[This column also included a photo taken by Singleton that carried the following caption: Pearlie Broughton at the site of the Indian burial grounds along the Alabama River at Claiborne.]

(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 to Vincent William Singleton and Frances Cornelia Faile Singleton, during a late-night thunderstorm, on Dec. 14, 1927 in Marengo County, graduated from Sweet Water High School in 1946, served as a U.S. Marine paratrooper 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 June 28, 1964 to Dec. 14, 1987. He was promoted from the enlisted ranks to warrant officer in May 1972. 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.)