Forty-five years ago a writer for the Selma Times-Journal named Kathryn Tucker Windham published a book of old ghost stories entitled 13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey. This book spawned six additional volumes of ghost stories which have served to inspire the curiosity, and perhaps haunt the dreams, of schoolchildren in the South for decades. This series of nightcaches is inspired by the 13 Alabama Ghosts.
Gaineswood is a plantation house in Demopolis, Alabama, United States. The house was completed on the eve of the Civil War after a construction period of almost twenty years. It is the grandest plantation house ever built in Marengo County and is one of the most significant remaining examples of Greek Revival architecture in Alabama.
General Nathan B. Whitfield bought the land in 1842 from his friend George Strother Gaines, and named the house for his friend in 1856. Soon after the completion of the mansion, Mrs. Whitfield died, and the General hired an attractive young woman named Miss Carter to act as housekeeper. He allowed Miss Carter to send for her sister Evelyn from Virginia to keep her company one winter.
Evelyn was an accomplished musician, skilled at the piano. From time to time, the General would join her on his bagpipes, and they played stirring, rousing music, including the General's favorite martial tunes of Scotland. Life at Gaineswood continued pleasantly that winter until Evelyn became sick. After several weeks of illness, despite the best medical care available, she died. Due to ice and snow, it was impossible to have her body carried back immediately to Virginia, and her father was on business in Greece. One of Evelyn's final wishes was that he return for her funeral. It was therefore decided that her burial should be postponed until spring. So her casket was placed inside a heavy pine box sealed with rosin, and stored under the stairs in the cellar.
Soon after Evelyn's death, people in the house began hearing footsteps coming up the stairs from the cellar and leading into the drawing room where the big square piano stood. Then, the sounds of Scottish ballads or Stephen Foster melodies would float out into the hall and upstairs to the bedroom. Whenever someone would go to investigate the sounds, the music would stop abruptly. As soon as they returned upstairs, however, the music would begin anew.
Soon spring came, and the family was greatly relieved that Evelyn's body could be returned to Virginia for burial, but that did not bring an end to the midnight wanderings. Although they became less frequent, Evelyn still returned from time to time to climb the cellar stairs and play long-forgotten tunes on the piano.
Now a few words of caution, remember you are in a forest. The terrain may be uneven at times. This trail is only accessible by foot. It will take an hour or more to hike the entire trail. Bring water, bring batteries for your torch of choice (and maybe your GPS), and please bring a buddy or two. Oh, and be sure to try and keep that imagination in check as you journey down our little trail.