What's the creepiest place in Wilcox County, Alabama?

Spirit cage at Harris Hill Cemetery.

A few days ago, I ran across an interesting article online titled “The Creepiest Places To Visit In Every State.” Published by the travel website, Thrillist.com, this article listed state-by-state the creepiest places to visit from sea to shining sea during the Halloween season. As you might imagine, the list included some of the most famous cemeteries, haunted hotels and abandoned mental hospitals in the country.

According to the article, the creepiest place in Alabama is the Maple Hill Cemetery in Huntsville. Here’s what Thrillist.com writer Andy Kryza had to say about that spooky graveyard:

“Oh, sure, the actual cemetery here is creepy and all, but it's the playground that'll really get you. In 1985, somebody decided to open a playground adjacent to Huntsville's oldest cemetery, presumably to give the children of mourning parents some respite. Instead, it appears that the resident ghosts are the ones enjoying it most: people report seeing orbs of light going down the slide and unoccupied swings moving, accompanied by disembodied giggles. Adding to the eeriness, some locals believe the victims of a rash of child murders in the '60s were buried nearby, their spirits now having eternal playdates with the cemetery's official residents.”

I have been to Huntsville many times and have been hearing about the Maple Hill Cemetery for years, but I have never actually been there. However, I have visited many cemeteries in our part of the state, including more than I can count in Wilcox County. Some of those would rank high among the creepiest places that I’ve ever been.

No disrespect to the people buried there, but I would say the creepiest Wilcox County cemetery that I’ve been to is the old Harris Hill Cemetery, which is located in the woods northeast of Oak Hill. The last time that I visited this cemetery was in January 2018 when my young son and I were out doing a little exploring. It had snowed a few days before, and I remember that we had to get out of the truck and walk up the dirt lane to the cemetery so that we wouldn’t get stuck in the mud.

When we reached the end of the lane and the thick woods opened up to reveal the cemetery, I was struck by how much of it was hidden by yellow, winter-deadened grass. I was also shocked by how many coffins, many of them modern, were exposed and partially open. I presume that these coffins weren’t buried in vaults and rainfall over the years had caused them to rise through the soil to the surface. Why some of them were open, I do not know.

This cemetery also contains a rare “spirit cage,” one of the few that I’ve encountered in Wilcox County. This “spirit cage” consisted of a chain link fence supported by eight metal posts. The top of each post was painted with light blue “haint paint,” which is believed to keep ghosts inside the “cage.” In all, about 10 graves were enclosed within this “spirit cage,” including members of the Young and Pettway families.

I am not one to scare easily, but something about this cemetery set me on edge almost immediately. It’s remote and secluded, and as soon as I arrived, I wanted to leave. We lingered there just long enough for a brief look around and to snap a few photos. Then we got the heck out of there.

In the end, if you’d like to read the entire article on Thrillist.com, visit www.thrillist.com/travel/nation/most-haunted-places-in-america. I’m also preparing my annual list of “Spookiest Places in Wilcox County” for publication later this month, so if you know of a spooky place that you’d like to tell me about, please let me hear from you.