The Haunting of Alabama

What's up, little psychos? I'm investigator Slater, host of the Psychopedia podcast. Psychopedia is a true crime podcast delivering raw, real, and absolutely gripping episodes every single week. I dig deep to uncover fascinating details of heinous true crime cases while exploring criminology and psychology theories. I take you into the absolute darkest corners of the human psyche, my favorite territory, and present cases like you've never heard them before. Follow and listen to Psychopedia everywhere you get your podcasts. Hi there, I'm K-Town, and on this edition of Mysterious Radio. Well, I believe the last time I talked to you, it was 2016, and at that time I was still hard at work on the haunting of Alabama, which is the first book-length collection of ghost stories from the entire state of Alabama. There are a number of ghost books about regions in Alabama or towns, but this is the first about the entire state. So it was a very ambitious project that took, well, it took the whole summer, for sure, of 2016. My wife and I put a lot of miles on our car driving around to haunted places in Alabama, and it was fun. It was fun. I love doing this kind of research, especially digging up stories that have not been published before. I think that's what all people who write ghost stories are after. Oh, absolutely. And you do such a great job at really digging for the good stuff and things that we've never heard of before. So I appreciate that. Now, so you and your wife hit the road, and you put a lot of miles on your car, I guess, doing the research for this particular book. So did you visit a great deal of these locations? Oh, yes. Yes. I tried to visit all the ones that are in the book. I didn't visit them all, but I think I can honestly say I visited most of them. Okay. All right. So let's get into some of these haunted locations in Alabama, and let's start off talking about the Drish House. Tell us about that location. Well, the Drish House is one of the state's most famous ghost stories. It was built by a doctor named Thomas Drish. In the 1850s, he was a very handsome man. He was well liked within the community. He had some vices, though. He liked to gamble and liked to drink. And that type of behavior is never very constructive, and it pretty much ruined his life. By the time the Civil War was over, he was just about ruined financially because of his investments that were ruined. And so his life went downhill after that steadily. He began drinking heavily. He also began using lorternum. You know, we talk about the opiate crisis that we have now. Well, they had one in the 19th century. That was pretty serious. And that contributed to his death as well. In 1867, he woke up one night. He was screaming. He was thrashing in bed. The servants came, tried to hold him down. He finally escaped from the clutches. And he started running down the stairway. Well, the stairway is not very big. It's got maybe a dozen steps. But he missed several of them, and he tumbled down the stairs and died soon thereafter. We don't know what the exact cause was. But we do know that his wife still loved him, despite the heartache that he caused in the family. And so she had him. She laid him in state in the tower. This is an Italian-style house, beautiful style. It's a white stucco. And so she had him laid in the state up there. And she encircled his coffin with candles. And it was very beautiful. Well, when she was near death, she told her niece, whose name was Virginia Owens Green, that she wanted, after she died, she wanted those same candles lined around her coffin. And her niece agreed to do that. Well, she died not long after her husband. And the night of the funeral, Mrs. Green searched high and low for those candles, and she couldn't find them. So instead of buying new ones, she just decided to lay her in state without the candles. And that was a mistake. There is a folk belief that we should always honor the last wishes of the dear departed. And if you don't, there are dire consequences. Well, that was the case here. Years after Mrs. Green left the house, a judge named W.C. Cochran owned it. And he was eating supper with his family one evening, late one evening. And a servant came in screaming. He said, the tower's on fire. The tower's on fire. Well, the whole family laid down the knives and forks, ran out into the lawn, and there was nothing there. This still happens periodically. People driving by will see flickering lights inside the tower, even though there's nobody living there. Now, it's a house museum. And they call the police, and the police are used to it. This is a good example of what's called a residual haunting, that it plays like a film loop over and over again. It's not an intelligent haunting. And this does seem to be, though, Mrs. Dricia's way of expressing her outrage at not having those candles placed around her coffin. Can you tour that plantation house? Oh, yes. Yes, they also allow ghost hunting groups to come in. And in fact, 10 years ago, there was a ghost hunting group called the Tuscaloosa Paranormal Research Group that spent the night there. They collected a number of EVPs, got some pretty clear ones that said things like, hey, Mike, thank you. My things in there, help me. They set up infrared cameras to catch any kind of paranormal activity. They had a toy piano in the playroom, and in the middle of the night, the keys started playing. Hey, y'all, I'm Maddie. And I'm Poodle. And together, we host the podcast, Reality Gaze. We are two ridiculous homosexuals who love nothing more than talking about reality television and tearing in a new one. So whether it's 90-day fiance, Love is Blind, Love After Lockup, or any other trash TV show about lonely hearts looking for love, your gay besties got you covered, y'all. New shows every week. Follow and listen to Reality Gaze wherever you get your podcast. Reality Gaze, let's love. It's a game by itself. Now, a lot of these house museums will allow paranormal groups to investigate, but most of them charge a fee. And oftentimes, it's kind of a hefty fee because a member of the staff has to stay up all night with the group for insurance purposes. Okay. And that's why they do it. It's not because they're greedy. But if anyone who's interested in investigating one of these historically haunted houses should check with the owners, check with the museum, visit it, and find out what their rates are for investigations, they make a lot of these places make a lot of money that way. That's good information. Now, while we're in Tuscaloosa, let's talk about Bryce Hospital because you had that listed as being very haunted as well. So what did you find about that location? Yes, Bryce Hospital is infamous. And I think it's because, well, it's abandoned. And it's one of those places that teenagers go on the weekends to party. They cause a lot of aneurysm there. The property is now owned by the University of Alabama and they are trying to rebuild some of these abandoned buildings. And people who climb over the fence or whatever will get arrested, but that has not kept young people from going there at night. And this is where the ghost stories come from, almost exclusively from these kids who really have no legitimate reason for being there other than just to scare themselves. The hospital was built in 1859. It was an insane asylum. And it was a social reformer named Orathia Dix was behind the construction of this hospital. She chose a young man named Peter Bryce as the supervisor and he had some very humane methods of treating mental illness. He did not use straight jackets. He did not shackle these people to the walls. He taught them skills. He had a newspaper there. They had their own laundry, their own dairy and bakery. It was a little community. Well, as time went on, as Dr. Bryce, after he died, in the 20th century, the hospital went downhill. Conditions worsened. In fact, I think the word deplorable is probably appropriate here. In 1970, the governor's wife, well, Governor, Lerlene Wallace visited the hospital. And she was moved to tears by this poor little girl who came up to her dug down her dress and said, Mama, Mama. And so she pushed for more funds to help improve the facility. It was finally closed in the late 1970s after a court case involving a 15-year-old boy named Ricky Wyatt who was committed there even though he displayed no signs of mental illness, apparently. Well, we don't know what the reasons were, where he's being there. But it was abandoned. In 2009, Governor Bob Riley announced a takeover of the hospital by the University of Alabama. So for almost a decade, they had been trying to renovate the place. Now, the ghost stories. Again, you've got to consider the source. I'm from teenagers who may have altered their consciousness somehow with substances of various sorts. But they have reported hearing strange noises like voices over the intercom, the ringing of telephones, even though there is no electricity in the building. They have heard disembodied footsteps, scraping of furniture across the floors. There was a little boy, seven or eight years old, who died after he was placed in a vat of freezing water during idle therapy. And the attendant pushed his head under the water and inadvertently drowned him. And his ghost is seen there. A little blonde boy wearing pants with suspenders and a shabby coat. Very sad little spirit. There's also a tall man and a black coat who's been seen there. I've got some of these stories from several of them from my own students at the University of West Alabama who have gone there, trespassed there. And I got a couple of them from the mother of a young lady who went there and had some strange experiences. So Bryce Hospital is infamous. I think I'm hoping that they will eventually complete the renovation soon and reopen it. That's the only hospital that I saw in your titles there. So is there any other haunted hospitals that you can tell us about? I know of some in Mississippi. I can't think of any others. It's not to say that there aren't some that have ghosts. For example, there is in Meridian, Mississippi, there's a hospital, Anderson's Hospital. The Labor and Delivery Department has the ghost of a nurse that died several years back and she still makes an appearance once in a while. And that hospital is a very active hospital. I think the places people want to go to investigate are the abandoned hospitals. And I can't think of any others that are haunted in Alabama. Bryce, as I said, is the most infamous. Now let's talk about Spring Villa. I don't know much about it. I've never heard about it, but I know that it is one of the few remaining examples of Gothic rival architecture remaining in the state. So tell us about that. That's one of those types of stories that I was looking for. Something that hasn't really appeared in book form before. It was built in 1850 in Opelika, Alabama. It was built by a man named William Pan Yong, Y-O-N-G-E. He was, oh, what should I say? I can't think of... Well, he was a sadistic slave owner. He seemed to revel in punishing any slave who was unruly or who disobeyed him. Well, in 1864, one of these abused slaves got even. His young family had left for the weekend to visit relatives. And a slave sneaked into Yong's house, which is Spring Villa mansion. He climbed up to the 13th step and concealed himself in a cubby hole, a little alcove in the wall. Well, after a hard day's work, Peter Young trudged up the steps. He got to the 13th and the slave jumped out and cut his throat and stabbed him repeatedly and killed him. People see Peter Young's spirit wandering, wandering the plantation. They also hear phantom footsteps climbing the stairs. And usually they stop at the 13th step, just like Peter Young did. This is one of those ghost stories that I think fell us with a sense of justice and outrage to. A man was murdered after all, although you could arguably deserve it. I suppose. But at any rate, he is a restless spirit. He's a restless spirit, I suppose. Maybe he feels like justice was never served. I don't know what happened to the slave. The folklore doesn't tell us. But we do know that he is still there and his ghost is still seen. Again, those plantations that people can go visit as well. Oh, they can visit this one. Yes, it is a house museum. They have groups come. They can rent it. Boy scouts, girl scouts, they stay there. Of course, they're attracted by the ghost story. That's one of the reasons why they like to go. And I think the house museum has, I don't know that they've actively encouraged the ghost story, but they certainly have profited from it. And so many of these honor places do, which is just good business. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Now, let's move on to Sweetwater Villa. You had that in your book, but where is that located, Dr. Allen? It's in Florence, Alabama. Florence is in the northwestern part of the state. It was one of the places in Alabama that was a site of conflict in the Civil War. The Yankees took over North Alabama fairly early in the war. Places like Florence, they moved east to Huntsville, took over Huntsville because of the railroad depot there, Decatur. And Spring Villa, I'm sorry, Sweetwater Mansion, was during the Civil War, it was occupied by both the Confederate and the Union armies. In fact, on November 3rd, 1863, one of General William Tecumseh's Sherman's divisions camped there. Now, the Yankees did not behave themselves when they were at Sweetwater Mansion. They helped themselves with everything they could carry, including the purse of the lady of the house, her name was Mrs. Patton. Her purse contained $40. They took her jewels, took some diamond studs. And what is particularly sad about this incident is that the Patton's son, Billy, was killed during the Battle of Shiloh. Hi, this is Jill Schlesinger, CBS News Business Analyst, Certified Financial Planner and the host of the Jill On Money podcast. With the new year upon us, there's no better time to take control of your financial life, and the Jill On Money podcast is here to help. It's your questions that make it possible for me to provide unconventional and, I hope, entertaining insights on your money, and more importantly, on your life. Follow and listen to Jill On Money wherever you get your podcasts. And he lay in state there as well. Well, in 1864, something funny happened there. General John Bell Hood established his headquarters at Florence. And during a military ball, a Confederate general named Gideon Pillow tripped and fell over an iron railing and landed in the basin of a fountain in the center of the city. Now, we don't know if he was sober or not when that happened. I suspect he might not have been. But at any rate, that's one of those embarrassing incidents that has survived over 150 years and people still laugh about it. Well, the haunting here is not funny. There are several of them. It is now a house museum. And the caretaker for many years was a lady named Letty Regent. And she was described by people who knew her as kind of a character. She protected the house with a pistol that she kept in her apron pocket. And a legend has it that one evening, she was just about ready to go out and get a gun. She was just about ready to go to bed. She walked into the parlor and she had this vision of a young man lying in a casket. And she walked over to the corpse and saw that it had a bullet in his head. Well, she assumed that this was the corpse of the patent's son, Billy, who had been killed at Shiloh. Because his coffin had been placed in the same spot where Letty sought. Well, when it dawned on her that she had had a brush with a paranormal, she never ventured into the parlor again as long as she lived there. She was scared to death of it. In fact, she even went so far as to nail one of the doors in her room shut to keep the house of the spirits out. Now, this is the explanation that she gave. However, friends of hers said that she moved to these other two rooms because these were the only ones that had no conditioner and a heater. So we don't know for sure if there wasn't a paranormal experience. But that's the sort of sighting that's very common. So again, a residual type haunting. Another residual haunting that happens here is not visual. In 1970, there was a fire in the kitchen. Pretty serious fire. And once in a while, people walking around the kitchen will smell the... Detect the acrid odor of burning wood. Even though there's no fire at all anywhere around. Again, that's a residual haunting. And old people hear the laughing of children. They hear disembodied whispers. The kind of activity that you normally associate with some of these old, antebellum homes. That have haunted reputations. Alright, I'm talking to Dr. Alan Brown about his book The Haunting of Alabama. And you can pick that up on Amazon.com. And we have more for you when we return right after this. Alright, we are back. And now, Dr. Brown, let's talk about the University of Alabama. Yes. How haunted is it? Oh, it's difficult to say. All of these ghost stories stem back to the Civil War. Between April 3rd and April 4th, 1865, Union General John Crockston brought his cavalry to Tuscaloosa and burned the entire campus with the exception of seven buildings. Now, three of those seven buildings are still haunted. And those are the ones that we're going to talk about. Well, on April 3rd, a number of the cadets at the University of Alabama went to the fringes of town to fight the Yankees. And the story goes that they killed almost 100 Yankees, and only a few of them were wounded. Well, three of these cadets decided that they were going to stay on campus and kill them some Yankees. So, there were a couple of young men who went to the Sentry Box. Now, the Sentry Box is still there. It's called the Jason's Shrine. And one of them opened the door and squatted down in a corner cradling his musket and his lap. And the other one shut the door and walked across campus to the library where a burly-looking Union Sergeant and two privates were shoveling books into the flames. Well, the Sergeant walked over to the young cadet and said, Boy, you know where we can get our hands on some whiskey. And the young man replied, Well, yes, sir, the cadets keep their whiskey in the Sentry Box. So, he led them back across campus to the Sentry Box. He opened the door, stepped aside, the Yankees went in, and the young man who was hiding there fired his gun and killed all three of them. And the story goes that those Yankees are still rummaging around there looking for the whiskey. This is one of the reasons that is frequently cited for hauntings, where ghosts try to complete unfinished business. And, of course, this lasts until eternity. The second building which survived the Civil War is the Gorgas House. The oldest house on campus, oldest building, it was built in 1829. And it was the home of the seventh president, who was a Confederate general named Josiah Gorgas. And he lived there with his wife, Amelia. She was one of the first librarians there. Well, he had to resign in 1870 because of illness. And today the Gorgas House is a museum. And for many years, people, students, people who work there have heard. And this is usually at night, around the time most people would have gone to bed 100 years ago. They hear footsteps trudging up the stairs and they hear a banging against the wall. Well, General Gorgas was in the habit of wearing his sword even after the Civil War. And so people familiar with his life think that that's what's making that sound against the wall. The third haunted building really has nothing to do with the Civil Wars, built in 1910. It was named after Dr. Eugene Allen Smith, who was a professor of geology there from 1871 to 1927. He is one of the pioneering geologists in our state, a very, very dedicated man who loved the university, loved his work. The first ghost story occurred in 1955. A young PhD candidate was named Gary Hooks, who spent the night there on the first floor. And he heard footsteps and muffled voices. And he said it sounded as if someone, an authoritative voice was guiding students through the building. In the 1970s, several graduate students who were studying past midnight heard what sounded like a lecture going on on the second floor. And once again, it was an authoritative voice who was calling students to order. They ran upstairs and nobody was there. Well, the paranormal activity died down in the 60s and 70s. And then in the 90s, they renovated the museum, which Dr. Smith had started. And as we all know, when you make any important structural changes and a haunted building that stirs up the spirits. And that apparently is what happened here. Now, Dr. Smith's buggy is still there. And janitors working late at night have heard the sound, the clattering of wooden wheels on the floor. They've also heard the clip-clop of horses hooves. There was also a young man who was working in the lab in the museum by himself. And he says he was pushed in a closet by unseen hands and he was locked in all night. Well, by the time they let him out, the poor kid was frantic and refused to ever work there again. So these are the haunted places. Now, there are also ghost stories that students tell about in their dormitories and their frat houses, sorority houses. But these three haunted places are the ones that get the most attention. What about as far as students are concerned, like other students haunting that campus? Have you heard any stories about that? I have heard. Yes. It's a campus story. And I think this is a ghost they call Sally. And it's a girl who died. The details are fuzzy. The girl died in the dorm room under mysterious or violent circumstances, either through suicide or murder. And who's telling the story? And people have heard weeping. They have heard, again, the disembodied footsteps. That sort of thing. But you will hear stories like that in dormitories in universities, not just in Alabama but across the entire nation. I totally agree with you. And Auburn is the same way. It's reportedly haunted as well. Tell us about Auburn. I haven't heard any stories about that campus location, actually. Well, Auburn is known for one ghost story. And it's a Civil War ghost story. It has to do with the University Chapel, the oldest building on campus, built in 1851. It's been used for a variety of purposes over the years. It's been used for classroom space. It was used for YMCA. It was even out there for a while. And then in 19... 19... Hey, y'all. I'm Maddie. And I'm Poodle. And together we host the podcast, Reality Gays. Two ridiculous homosexuals who love nothing more than talking about reality television and tearing in a new one. So whether it's 90 Day Fiance, Love is Blind, Love After Lockup, or any other trash TV show about lonely hearts looking for love, your gay bestie's got you covered, y'all. New shows every week. Follow and listen to Reality Gays wherever you get your podcast. Reality Gays, let's love! 26. A theatrical group called the Auburn Players moved in, and they remained there for 47 years. Well, nobody knew it was haunted until the 1960s when they produced a play from the 19th century. Actually, it was a British play. And they would hear the... Oh, let's see. Props of malfunction. They'd hear scenery would move on its own during the production of Launday's Journey into Night. There's this eerie green glow on the ceiling. And they'd hear the stamping of a foot. A single foot. Well, one of the students, well, several of the students decided they would try to find out the identity of the ghost that was causing all these problems. And that had been quiet until they put on this British play. Well, they got a Ouija board. And I think I've talked about this before on this show. You should not mess around with Ouija boards because some people say they can open up a portal that will unpleasant spirits to cross over. But at any rate, they asked the spirit its name and it spelled out the word... the name Sidney Gremlet. Well, one of the students went to the archives and looked up Sidney Gremlet and found out that in 1864, during the Civil War, there was a... The university hospital had served as a field hospital and soldiers were brought there. Confidential soldiers were brought there from the Atlantic campaign. These were men who had tried to oppose General Sherman. Well, one of these men who was brought there was an English officer, a cavalry officer named Sidney Gremlet. He had been shot in the thigh and he was bleeding profusely. Well, they had hundreds of men lying inside the hospital and in the grass outside. And by the time the doctor, his name was L.A. Bryan, got to Sidney, gangrene had set in and he had amputated his leg. Well, he died just a few hours after that. Well, Sidney became a sensation after that at Auburn University. And today, the award that is given to the most promising theatrical student in Auburn is called the Sidney Award. And they named it after their ghost. And I think that is so cool. Yeah, it is. That's it. That's it. That's it. That is excellent. Yeah, and Sidney is a playful ghost. He's not vengeful or anything. He just wants to make his presence known. Well, in 1973, the Auburn players moved to their new home in the Pete Theater and apparently Sidney is active there too. That happens sometimes. Ghosts move from one location to the next. And so Sidney is still around and still causing trouble. Great story. That's a great story. Now, let's talk about Gaines Ridge Diner Club. It's located in Camden, Alabama. It has some strange activity going on there as well. Is this still open for business? Oh, yes. I ate there a couple of years ago, I think. A lot of groups, a lot of local groups go there. Book clubs, women's groups. I went with a group of retired teachers from right in Mississippi. They go all that way just to go to the Gaines Ridge Diner Club in Camden. There's not much in Camden except for the Gaines Ridge Diner Club. It is housed in a, once a private home built in the 1820s. And is named after the Gaines brothers who were very, very instrumental in the history of Alabama. And in 1985, a lady named Betty Kennedy opened up a restaurant here with her sister. And they hadn't been open for very long before they sensed that they were sharing their restaurant with other worldly presences. Now, Betty Kennedy tells his story, I'm going to tell you, just about every day to people, to large groups of people that come. And she said that it was, she and a maid, well actually a cook, her name was Maggie Bell. They were working late on a Monday night because they had a large luncheon to prepare for the next day. So they decided they cooked the food at night. Well, Betty needed a cooking pot. So she walked up to the second floor and she said, all of a sudden she heard this voice scream. And it said, Miss Betty, Miss Betty, come quick, oh Lordy, Lordy Jesus. Well, she just, Betty dropped the pot, ran down the stairs, rushed into the kitchen and asked Maggie Bell what was wrong. And she said there was nothing wrong at all. And Betty said she was furious because she had just about fallen down the stairs in her hurry to get to Maggie Bell. Well, Maggie Bell said she heard the same thing. They searched high and low and they never found it. They even went outside to see if someone was driving around or so and parked outside. Never found the source of that. They also, well, two months later, her daughter came into the kitchen and told Betty that there was somebody locked in the bathroom. And they couldn't, they heard someone fall on the floor. And they thought that somebody had had a stroke or was unconscious for some reason. And they couldn't get it open. Well, Betty went down there and pulled really hard. She pulled twice. The third time she broke the little latch. They opened the door and there was nobody there. And keep in mind that it was locked from the inside, too. Well, this begs the question, did anybody ever die here? Any answer is yes. Around the turn of the century, in fact, I think it's early 1900s, there was a woman who had 13 children who rented the house. And one night she was sleeping with her baby. And people used to do this, especially in houses that weren't heated very well. She was a rather large woman. She was sleeping with her child, rolled over on her and smothered her. Well, in the front room, people hear the crying of a baby. Fairly regularly, in fact, I would say that is probably the most common haunting there. And it really upsets people. Because, of course, the one wants to hear a baby cry and they try to find the child so they can comfort it and they never do. This is one of those stories that I love because I think people in a certain area know about it, but it's not widely known. It should be also, if you're ever in Camden, you go to the Gaines Ridge Dinner Club, you should eat their black bottom pie. That's what they're famous for. So what is that exactly? Oh, let's see. I think it's chocolate pie. The crust is like a graham cracker crust. You got me there at graham crack. Yeah, it's really good. And it's one of those restaurants that's famous for its desserts. I know all of the main courses are good too. Down Home Cooking. And very popular in the area. But definitely haunted and Miss Betty goes out of her way to promote the ghost. There you go. Alright. That's a great story there. Thank you for sharing that. Now, there's something else I want to talk about and that's gels. And gels are really eerie anyway, especially if they're abandoned. And you have it in your book and it's the Poly Gel. What's about the location? Yeah, that's Union Springs, Alabama, built in 1897. It's one of the few 19th century gels that is still standing. And it is a formidable looking building. I've got a picture of it in my book. It looks like a Gothic castle. And conditions inside the gel were horrible. It was sweltering hot in the summer and it was icy cold in the winter. On the third floor, they had a gallows where they hanged people. There's a catwalk that the guards walked around on to keep track of the prisoners. It's a pretty miserable place. Not the kind of place that you'd want to spend any amount of time in. Go setting groups, go there regularly. And it's pretty uncomfortable. As I said, well, I talked to a lady who actually owns a Josephine hotel, which is in Union Springs, not very far from the gel. And she said, well, she keeps track of the ghost hunting activity that goes on around there. And she said that there was a local group that was headed by a sheriff. And the sheriff wanted to antagonize the ghost. He was conducting an EVP session and he wasn't getting any responses. So he decided to make the spirits mad. Now, you occasionally see this approach on TV shows, some of these ghost hunting programs. I've never liked it. I would never do it. I think it's disrespectful of the dead. But at any rate, the sheriff did it and all of a sudden he said he felt something hit him on the back of the head. Well, he put his hand back there and he was bleeding. So he went to the Union Springs Hotel and told the lady who owned it, well, she was a nurse, or used to be a nurse. And so she washed it and found a small hole in the back of his neck. No one knows what caused that, but it's kind of a coincidence that that would happen right after he said these mean things to the ghost. And that's how the ghost retaliated. In my experience, it's fairly rare that ghosts make physical contact with the living, particularly in anger. But that's what seems to have happened here. And it, it's in shivers through the ghost hunting community in Union Springs, I must say. I bet so. I bet he won't do that again. I don't think so. All right. The last one I want to talk about, Dr. Brown, is the Cuba railroad tracks. Yes. So what part of the state is that located? Cuba is in West Alabama. It is not very far from my university. And it's on Highway 11. And a little bitty town used to be a railroad town. And this is a story I got from a lady who lives in a house, an antebellum home in Cuba. Her name is Linda Munoz. And Linda told me about this, something that had happened in the 1930s that has been totally forgotten. Well, she interviewed a man, an elderly black man, who was a boy at the time this event occurred. He was living with his grandparents. Well, actually, he was spending the weekend with his grandparents, and there's horrible crash. Well, he and his grandparents ran to the railroad tracks. And a train had derailed. And there were some boxcars that were full of hobos. And these hobos were, yes, horribly mangled. In fact, they carried one of these poor guys to the boy's grandparents' porch. His leg had been ripped off, and he died there. Well, the Meridian Star, the local newspaper, reported it. And no one knows for sure what happened to the bodies. Well, people in Cuba say that since these were hobos and really had no relatives, living relatives in the area, they dug a deep trench and laid them side by side inside the trench and covered it up. This is a story that they talk about in Cuba, Alabama. No one knows for sure where that trench is. However, Linda told me that she occasionally takes her dogs back there for walks. The railroad cuts across her property, and there is one place where the dogs stop. One of them won't go near it at all. The other one just stands there and howls. Now, this begs the question, are their bodies buried there? Well, we don't know. One of these days, I'm going to get my hands on ground penetrating radar to see if there is something buried there. I suspect that there is. Dogs do have the ability to find buried bodies. These are called cadaver dogs. And some cadaver dogs have found burials that have been, that are decades old. So it's possible that that's what these dogs are sensing. And it's not really something paranormal that they just have the ability to maybe smell the bodies or whatever. Yeah, if you get that ground penetrating radar, I would love to know what you found down there. Yeah, I will. If I'm going to try to do this within the next year, this has been bugging me for a long time. And if it is revealed that there are bodies there, this is a story that needs to be revived. It needs to be told. The local authorities need to be involved in it. Well, I think legally they would have to be. Right. But it's, I can't think of anything sadder than to die and be buried in a remote location and nobody knows where you are. Nobody knows what happened to you. Absolutely. I totally agree. Dr. Brown, I truly enjoy having you on the show. Before we go, I want you to tell my listeners where they can find more information about you and your books. Well, you can find more information about me on the website of the University of West Alabama. If you click on departments and go to the English department, I'm listed under the faculty. And my website is there too. I have a website on Alabama's most famous honor places. And you can find my book on Amazon. Barnes and Noble Care in Alabama carries it throughout the state. So if you happen to live in Alabama, you won't have too much trouble finding it, I wouldn't think. All right. Very good. Dr. Brown, I appreciate your time, many blessings and all you set out to do. Well, thank you very much. I look forward to talking to you again. To find out more about our guests and all others, please visit our website at mysteriousradio.com. Thank you.