Halloween Haunts...
By Sandy Watkins
[email protected]
Staff Writer
With the advent of autumn comes a new school year, colorful falling leaves, county fairs and of course Halloween.
The North Georgia area is full of local folklore, eyewitness accounts and creepy legends that intertwine fact and fiction for the not so faint of heart.
Whether you believe in ghosts or not, here are a few local haunted places to know about.
Be warned that many are on private property so trespassing is not permitted. Some have been proved so dangerous that they have been closed off to public access.
If you are looking for some Halloween fun, you may want to check out or avoid some of these local Halloween Haunts.
Bartow County/ Cartersville
Hardin Bridge Road- A couple was traveling over the single lane bridge one night when headlights appeared on the other side.
Instead of backing up, the driver turned the car off of the bridge into the water, where the couple died.
If you walk across the bridge, about halfway across you can hear the screams and voices of the ill-fated couple.
If you are brave enough to walk across at night, you can see oncoming headlights that never seem to reach the proximity of the bridge.
Railroad Tracks from Old Cass Station through Old Dixie Highway- These tracks and abandoned road are said to be haunted by the ghosts of Confederate soldiers trying to find their way home after the Civil War.
Neighbors report harmonica music and campfire specters rising from the surrounding pastures.
The last remnant of Old Dixie Highway which is used today is now called Bill Black Road and intersects with Cassville Road.
Since the 1940s, at least eight deaths have occurred at this portion of the road.
Berry College
CCC Road (a.k.a. Seven Bridges Road)- This road is famous for its stretch to Mountain Springs Church.
When traveling west seven bridges can be counted across the road on the way to the church. When traveling east on the way back to Hwy. 27 only six can be accounted for.
Mountain Spring Church has a reputation for being used by cult worshipers in the 1960's because a witch was supposedly buried in the cemetery.
In truth, the church is still in use once a month by a nondenominational congregation whose members are descendants of the original Presbyterian founders.
The iron gates of the churchyard entrance reportedly slammed violently and unexpectedly on a car parked within in the 1980s totaling it while the passengers were combing the graveyard looking for the witch's grave.
Woman in the House of Dreams- A student caretaker reported seeing a friendly apparition at the top of the stairs gazing out over Lavender Mountain.
The modernly dressed older woman smiled at the student exposing a large toothless gooey smile.
When the student reported the experience to his supervisor he was informed of a small twin engine plane crash that killed the pilot and his wife.
The couple's bodies were not totally recovered since all that could be found were pieces.
The student and caretaker hiked over to the crash site at a later time when the student discovered something shiny and hard in the earthen landscape buried in the leaves. The object was a set of partial plate dentures belonging to the wife of the pilot.
Who knew that the areas around the Rome community were full of such eerie stories and haunted places?
The next time you are out and about the area, check out some of these haunted places and learn a little bit about Northwest Georgia's haunted history.
Just take care and make sure that you do not become a part of it.
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