The University Of Alabama Book Store

It was around 1901 when a family occupied this house. The couple had only one child and her name was Emma. Being the apple of her father’s eye, he used to bring her presents to make up for the fact that she had no other child to play with and as hard as they tried, they had no other children.

She had every toy that was available and on her seventh birthday, her father bought her a special present. It was a little white, furry puppy. As the little girl reached out for the puppy, it bit her deep enough to draw blood. It was an accident that happened because she frightened the puppy. Her mother bandaged her wound and the little girl made friends with her new companion and went off to her room to play.

It was only a matter of weeks when the dog got sick and died and at the same time, little Emma came down with a severe fever. The distraught parents called the doctor to the house. His prognosis was not good. It appears both the puppy and Emma had contracted rabies. Within days both Emma and the dog were dead and the cries and moans of the bereaved family echoed through the house.

Over the century, many people lived in the house and the stories about the puppy and the little girl named Emma spread. Residents say they saw the little girl and the puppy in the hallway. She is dressed neatly in a yellow dress and wearing a yellow bow in her hair. It is these reports that keeps the name of Emma alive, even though the name of the family is lost to time.

The college eventually turned the house into a fraternity house. They removed walls making more rooms for the students. It was probably this renovation that brought up the two ghosts who reside or visit the house.

People outside the home, see Emma sitting in a window on the second floor near the balcony, watching a parade that went by her house. She appears in this window most often during the college homecoming festivities.

College students living in the house see Emma with her little white dog running down the hallway and on occasion, sitting on the stairway, and looking through the railing. Before the viewer can alert anyone else to the phenomenon, she disappears. The frat house closed and the house became the University Book Store and those that work there confirm that the little girl and her white dog are still around. It is these unexplained noises at night that keep the legend alive and on occasion, the little one allows herself to be seen.

Birmingham

Old Public Library

The ghost, who hangs out here at the old library, is famous enough to have Fate Magazine do a story of the library’s ghost. People who visit or work in the building see a man, believed to be Fant Thornley, the director back in 1940 till 1970. Many believe that he is responsible for the strange feeling people have. They complain of someone moving things from one place to another and always feel they are watched.

The building was constructed in 1927 and was the Public Library until 1984. The third floor is the auditorium with a stage at one end. Most of the activity happens in this area. They used the auditorium as the archive room for many years and held various events here. There is a kitchen off one side which is used to furnish refreshments for special occasions.

An employee was alone here when she heard a noise and looked up. She saw a man, dressed in a suit, standing in the doorway to the kitchen looking at her. She, strangely enough felt embarrassed and looked away. When she looked back he was gone. After a brief search, she realized she was alone.

An electrician saw a man, fitting the same description while working in the stacks area of the library. The electrician was so startled after searching for a man he saw, was convinced it was a ghost. He left the library and refused to return to finish his job. Some employees still refuse to go into the stacks alone because of seeing doors in that area open and close by themselves. It is a very dark and spooky looking area, adding to the suspense of the area when they come into the area with their expectation of what they may encounter.

Another night employee was working in the auditorium alone and heard the elevator come up and its doors opening and closing. No one else appeared so he walked over to the area of the elevator was almost overcome with the smell of cigarette smoke. He knew he was alone in the building except for a security guard, whom he knew didn’t smoke. He checked with the security guard who was working on a lower floor and affirmed the fact that he had not been in the elevator nor was he smoking a cigarette.

It seems that many people have experienced the opening and closing of the elevator doors and most are convinced it is the old director, Thornley who was a heavy cigarette smoker.

Suggsville, Alabama

The Cleveland House

Now called “ The Lodge”, this Home was built in 1860 in the mid 19th Century Revival style and occupied until 1874 by the Cleveland’s. It sits on Cty Rd. 35, 2.4 miles South of US 84 in Suggsville, Alabama

Steven Cleveland joined the great gold rush to California and came back with enough money to build this house. He married and an attorney. He was busy raising his two children, one son and one daughter until the Civil War broke out. Being a very patriotic citizen headed off to serve in the Confederate Army.

The legend is that when he went off to war, he left without saying good-bye to his son, Walter, for he was sound asleep. The young boy was so devastated that his father left him that when his father returned home; he promised he would never leave him again without saying good-bye. To make amends he picked up Walter while on horseback and rode up and down the stairs and the porch of his house to the joy and delight of his young child.

As life would have it, when Cleveland went back to war, his young son, Walter died. It was August of 1863 and the news was crippling to the strong soldier. After the war, Cleveland arrived home and is often seen riding his horse up and down the stairs and around the porch of his home, Most people feel his is giving his son a ride.

Year later, Cleveland died but neighbors and passer-bys would often see the black horse with a shadow rider on the stairs of the old house before it would suddenly just fade away. New residents of the house for years talked about hearing the sound of a horse on the porch and stairs of their home. When they went to investigate, they would see nothing.

After several dozen owners the house became “The Lodge” and used by community groups for their events and their meeting. It was a member of one of these groups that related the story about sitting on the porch one evening waiting for his wife to finish up her business of cleaning up after an event. He had been waiting over thirty-minutes and started to doze off when he was suddenly brought to attention by the loud sound which sounded to him like a horseshoe clopping methodically across a wooden floor.

He was almost as shocked to see nothing as he came back to life by the sound. After relating his experience to his wife on their way home, he was even more shocked after hearing about the legend of the house. Never a believer is such poppycock, never told another soul about his experience until now.

The Lodge, the old Cleveland House is on Line Road, four and one-half miles South of US 84 in Suggsville, Alabama.

Rhea-McEntire House

Memphis & Charleston Railroad, Decatur endured several battles during the Civil War. All but three of their building burned down during the 1864 Battle of Decatur.

Called a “tough nut to crack”, the three houses that survived the fires were the Old State Bank, the Dancy-Polk House and the Mc Entire area founded as Rhodes Ferry in 1810. The house is located at 1105 Sycamore St. and now called Riverside The National Register of Historic Places lists the time frame as 1825 to 1849 and 1850-1874.

It is the second part of the time frame that brought about its ghost. Legend has it that during the Civil War, General Hood crossed the Tennessee River, the Rebels harassed them from the top of the bank as the Battle of Decatur began. A wounded Union soldier was mortally wounded and carried into the house by his comrades as a place of shelter as a make shift hospital. It was November of 1864 and the nights were cold. The young man didn’t make the night and crossed over sometime before dawn broke.

The Union soldiers were unable to take him outside for burial because they were pinned in the house by sharpshooters stationed on top of the old State Branch Bank Anxious to dispose of the corpse, they tore up some of the flooring in the parlor and placed his body there. Once Hood retreated back across the Tennessee River to Iuca, MS, the Union soldiers came back to Decatur, rebuilt the fort and gave the dead, a proper burial, including the young man buried under the floor at the McEntire house.

For decades, youngsters have heard the story about the ghost that lives in the McEntire house and many a teenager has spent hours sitting across the street on the curb to see the “Union Ghost”. Legend has it that his mother grieved herself to death over the loss of their son in this house.

There is some question about exactly who ghosts the house. Mrs. McIntire said, through the help of a medium, that the ghost in the house is hers, not her son’s. Visitors and staff all have a variety of paranormal stories to tell, best heard when you visit. One fact is certain, the house is definitely believed haunted.