Southern Ghosts: Do something different for
Halloween: Meet a spirit!

By Lynn Grisard-Fullman
The Birmingham News
Last update: 27 October 2002

Some folks live a lifetime and never see a ghost.  Others vow they’ve caught glimpses of allusive spirits making noises, darting around corners or setting objects in motion. I’ve never encountered a ghost.  Once, a door did creek eerily behind me several years ago as I toured a Mississippi coast mansion reputed to be haunted.  I always rationalized that it was likely just such aging floorboards shifting, but, then again, I’ve never really been certain. A few years ago I collected ghost stories for a book I was writing, and during that odyssey I encountered fascinating people and hair-raising tales of ghostly happenings. 

The stories seemed to have a common thread: All had links to an unsettled spirit, whether a resident reluctant to depart his beloved home, a child who died tragically or a parent who suffered an untimely death. I’m not convinced that ghosts exist.  Neither am I certain that they don’t.  What I do know is that ghostly happenings make for fun reading. With that in mind, I offer below some leads on places where you might uncover a wayward haunt during this Halloween season.

Florida

With it’s sandy beaches and towering palm trees, the Sunshine State may be known for it’s light-hearted spirit, but there are unseen spirits as well.…a gaggle of ghosts haunt the hard-packed sandy beach town of Daytona Beach were Doris “Dusty” Smith leads Haunts of the World’s Most Famous Beach tours (386) 253-6034 or www.hauntsofdaytona.com) that blend history, scientific data and haunting tales. One of the areas best known spirits resides at the Halifax Historical Society Museum on South Beach St. were it first was encountered in the mid 1980’s by a policeman padding his beat past the building.  Looking in the glass doors, the officer spotted the spirit walking down an aisle between displays. Dressed in a long, white gown, the form glided toward the back of the room like a thick, foggy, white, light shaped like a woman.

The ghost took a few years off from it’s hauntings but then returned to the museum building which originally was a bank whose old vault, now a break-room, has been the setting for several of it’s antics.Three theories exist about who the ghost might be. Among them is the conjecture that it is a woman whose wedding gown, high school diploma and other items are on display in the museum. Some speculate that she may be returning to check on her earthy possessions.