Bowman Cemetery
According to the dictionary, collective memory "refers to the shared pool of memories, knowledge and information of a social group that is significantly associated with the group's identity."
For the American South, our collective memory is just another piece of the mosaic that binds us together. Spooky traditions, ghost stories and tall tales told around the camp fire have served to hold these stories together for generations.
Much of our Southern folklore traces to the Scotch-Irish who settled in the region from the 1700s forward. Other stories and traditions descend from Native American or African influences on the culture of the South.
Warding off spirits and ghostly apparitions has always been of major concern in the South regardless of ethnic, social or economic lines. Some ways to ward off ghosts and such are as follows:
Many in the 1800s believed that a hot breath of air striking you at twilight signified the presence of a ghost nearby. Should you wish to avoid the spirit, "stop and turn your coat and trousers and hat wrong side out and the spirit cannot encounter you-" The Atmore Record, August 1, 1912 in a story reporting on old superstitions from the 1800s.
Likewise, should the spirit be one of a pugnacious nature and approaches despite the change, turn and address him thus: "In the name of the Lord, what do you want?" Whereupon he will tell you his business upon Earth, then depart and never, never trouble you again," according to the same article.
The story goes on to detail that "should a ghost be found prowling under your house and bumps against the floor, and in making strange sounds and whispers in the midnight in your house this troubles you, you need to replace your floor in order to make him leave." Upon reading this story I checked to see if a hardware store had somehow sponsored the article in hopes of increasing sales of flooring materials but no such sponsorship could be found.
Some ghosts are obtrusive and will not only prowl about the house but creep in through the crack of the door in the wee hours of the night and once inside, expand to vast proportions. To stop this intrusion, according to an old African tradition which descended to the American South, sow mustard seed all about the doorstep just before going to bed.
By doing the above, the spirit will have to count all the mustard seeds, and by this time daylight will come and he will have to go. As the counting for one night will not do for another, you are always safe.
For all the good advice above, encountering phenomena along one's route of travel may circumvent the advice mentioned. Such is the case of the strange lights seen along Highway 31 between Wawbeek and Flomaton in the early 1960s.
The Atmore Advance reported on September 6, 1962 that people had reported the presence of ghost lights in the woods to the north of the highway for weeks. Reports were that "bright balls of light, as big as a basketball, and going high into the sky-bright enough to see pine straw on the ground or read a newspaper" these sightings had created quit a stir.
On one occasion the highway was jammed with up to 300 autos in the area seeking to witness the apparitions. State troopers had to be called to the area to speed the flow of traffic and prevent accidents. Eventually the lights were held by authorities to be automobile lights across the creek near Lambert Church along Upper Creek Road but, for many, this seemed an unlikely explanation.
Another story originates in the Wawbeek-Robinsonville area and involves a headless woman who stands by a local bridge on foggy nights. Depending on who a person might ask, the bridge could be the bridge over Cowpen Creek, Seizmore, or the Sardine Bridge.
A lesser known story involves an urban legend in Wawbeek along Highway 31.
Two teenage boys were on their way to a dance at Flomaton sometime in the 1950s or 60s and neither of the boys had dates for the dance. Feeling somewhat dejected, they noticed a young lady walking towards Flomaton near the railroad tracks in Wawbeek. They stopped to engage her in conversation and found she too was heading to the same dance. The two young men took the young lady with them to the dance at which time one of the young men placed his new varsity jacket around her to keep her warm.
Following the dance, the trio headed back towards Wawbeek. The driver inquired as to where the young lady lived, in a considerate effort to drop her off at her home-and perhaps to know where to return to continue a new found courtship, but she insisted they drop her off along the tracks where they had first picked her up.
The two young men did as requested, but the driver, upon arriving at his home, realized he had left his jacket with her. The next day he returned to the area and went to every house in the area looking for her. Finally, an old lady told him the young lady he described was her deceased daughter who had been hit and killed by a log truck years earlier while walking along the highway.
The elderly woman pointed wryly with a crippled hand towards Bowman Cemetery and said that was where he would find her. Thinking the older lady confused, or perhaps playing games with him, he departed. Yet curiosity soon took the reins and the young man drove to the cemetery where he found his jacket draped over a tombstone.
As the hair on the back of his neck began to stand straight, he peered as deep as he could into the dark of the woods beyond the headstones, and soon determined it was a good time to leave for home. Various renditions of this story hold that the ghostly young lady walks Highway 31 between Wawbeek and Flomaton late at night still seeking a date to her final dance.
Shadows and Dust Volume III: Legacies is available for purchase in the amount of $30.00+$5.00 shipping and handling to PO Box 579 Atmore, AL 36502 or visit Lulu Publishing.com; Amazon.com, Barnes and Nobles.com OR at the Monroe County Heritage Museum in Monroeville, Alabama or by calling 251 294 0293.
The Canoe Civic Club is proud to announce the date of the upcoming Canoe Homecoming in beautiful downtown Canoe from 8:30am-2:30pm on Saturday November 23, 2019. Call 251 294 0293 for free vendor spots.
