Читать книгу Nashville Haunted Handbook - Jeff Morris - Страница 23

directions

Take I-65 South for about 4 miles to Exit 79, the Armory Drive exit. Merge onto Armory Drive and follow the road for about a mile. Take a left onto Sidco Drive and follow this road for a little more than half a mile. Turn left onto Thompson Lane. The cemetery will be on both your right and left just after the turn. Since the cemetery is surrounding you, it is hard to miss. There is a large sign at the main entrance.

history

Ghosts seem unlikely at Woodlawn given its natural and tranquil appearance. If you delve deeper into the area’s history, though, many facets of this place give this cemetery a unique, darker tinge.

During the Civil War, battles raged nearby and many of the wounded from the battles were taken to a building which still stands within the cemetery grounds. This building was used as a hospital, and many soldiers suffered and died within it. Today, the building still stands, surrounded by bouquets of flowers and a small duck pond.

For almost half a decade after the Civil War, the Lignon family used the property as farmland until they decided that the land could be better used as a cemetery. Since the cemeteries that were closer to the city were quickly filling up, the Lignons decided that they would create a cemetery here on the outskirts of town and make its appearance original enough to attract new business. In 1900, instead of creating the usual cemetery of the time with upright headstones, the Lignons decided that they would lay grave markers flat on the ground. To this end, the beauty of the landscape would be the defining feature instead of the headstones themselves. The cemetery attracted plenty of business and has been in operation for more than 100 years.

ghost story

No one would guess that this peaceful and tranquil landscape has its own collection of ghost stories. Most of these ghosts seem to congregate around the Civil War–era hospital which still stands on the grounds of the cemetery. Often, people will see shadowy figures out of the corner of their eye near the building. These figures will appear and then disappear so quickly that the witnesses may wonder if they are a figment of the imagination or if there was anything actually there. Other times, people will hear what sounds like distant weeping coming from the vicinity of the old hospital. When these sounds are investigated, the source is never found.

Another strange thing that visitors report is that the eyes of the few statues throughout the cemetery seem to follow them as they walk by. The statues are not memorials to individual people but decorations positioned throughout the site. Perhaps they are sentinels, watching the living carefully to make sure they don’t step out of line.

visiting

The cemetery closes at dusk. This is OK if you are going to the cemetery, hoping that one of the statues will watch you as you pass. This phenomenon often happens in the middle of the day, so you can enter the cemetery when it is open and see if the statues are watching you.

The shadowy figures and sounds are a little harder to experience. These are mostly reported at dusk or at night after the cemetery has closed. Since the cemetery closes at dusk, that time frame just before the sun dips below the horizon is your best chance of encountering these ghosts.

Resthaven Memorial Gardens