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.
The summer had been hot and dry in the little Wilcox County village of Furman. Dr. John Purefoy, whose grandfather had been one of the early settlers of the town, had a large well in his back yard, but it had gone dry. The doctor was busy treating several malaria patients and had no time to dig a new well, so he directed his servants to gather water from a spring near Savage Hill, a mile or so away.
Unfortunately, the servants did not like having to gather water from the spring. They returned from trip after trip with empty buckets, and told of a witch that guarded the spring. According to the servants, once they filled their buckets and tried to go under or around the fence that surrounded the spring, the witch caused their buckets to spill out the contents. They told of a black cat that had mean eyes that stayed there as well. Dr. Purefoy didn't credit these stories, but finally relented and summoned a crew of well diggers.
The soil around the doctor's house was sandy, and he warned the welldiggers to use to build a wooden casing in the hole to shore up the sides of the well. He demonstrated what he wanted done to the work crew.
Once the crew picked a spot to dig, they began working on the well. Dr. Purefoy stayed with the crew as they dug, until he was satisfied that they would follow his safety instructions. Once he left, they continued building the casing until the well was over ten feet deep, then they stopped, reasoning that the job would go faster without it.
The men took turned doing down into the well and digging, as the rest of the workers hauled out buckets of dirt at the end of long ropes. At the end of the day, the men still had not reached water, and they determined to stop for the night when, suddenly, the well caved in completely. One of the well diggers was buried alive under tons of dirt!
The man's companions worked frantically for hours trying to rescue him. Dr. Purefoy soon returned home and directed efforts all through the night, but it soon became clear that the man could not have survived the cave-in. Still, his fellow workers kept digging, as they believed they heard faint cries for help coming from below the sand. Eventually, however, they had to abandon the search. The man's body was never recovered.
No one involved ever forgot the terrible tragedy, but two persistent reminders ensured that it would remain fresh in their minds. In the back yard behind Dr. Purefoy's house there remained a slightly sunken bare spot where the well had been dug. No grass would grow on that spot. Tenants who lived in a servants' house nearby told of a "black hant" that sat on the bare spot and cried all night, saying "Get me out of here. Please, please get me out." They said that his tears burned the grass that tried to grow there and his moans and cries could be heard late at night by those who passed the site of his untimely death.
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.