Destinations:
-Alexander St. (Winder, GA)
-Old Athens Cemetery (Athens, GA)
-Birthday Cake House (Athens, GA)
http://www.theshadowlands.net/places/georgia.htm
The link above gives a summary of why each places in known for being haunted- very cool link, and nice reference guide to get ideas of places to visit on your "go for a drive" day.
1.) Alexander St. (Winder, GA)-
The story made me assume (you will soon find out that I sometimes have an over active imagination, but only sometimes) that the residents on this street are all harassed night after night by a gang of unsettled spirits that make outsiders feel goose bumps to make them turn and run. I pictured the street as old, enchanted, all historical homes that exude haunted. Well... I must have over thought because, nope--none of the above-- at least from what we saw. Below is a picture of the street. While there are some older homes on this street, there are also some newer homes as well. We didn't really get a "spooky feeling" per se, but there is always the potential for such feelings at night. I wish I could hear a story from one of the residents first hand, but I am not one to knock on doors and harass and badger people on their possible haunting... yet. I would also love to hear the history of this area, and why people think that these hauntings and/or events occur. Definitely an unfinished story.
2.) Old Athens Cemetery (Athens, GA)-
I was expecting a massive, old, and elegantly Gothic cemetery. I was not to be disappointed even though not all was what I was expected. First things first, it was really difficult to find this cemetery since we had never seen it before and the only physical address we could find on search engines was in fact "Jackson Street" -- we made quite a few blocks before we parked and found it. The cemetery is hard to see from the road, but it is between a white building (the visual arts building) and Baldwin Hall on S Jackson Street. We also found out that you can park for free on the weekends in the visitor parking deck (which is on the left just before the visual arts building). When we walk up to the cemetery we are instantly pleased. What is this? An old iron gate you have to open to come in too the old cemetery? How delightfully spooky that it vibrates as you open and close it! We walk through the grave yard, and since it is in the 90s (Georgia in July-- talk about HUMID) we are secretly holding our breath to walk through a "cold spot". Sadly no cold spots, but what we feel and see is better. Much better. We are randomly taking pictures with the digital camera, and iPod Touch. Each tombstone we stop and examine and half of them are so old you cannot even read them. The dates on them are incredibly old, and we are completely fascinated. There is sunken in spots (from where I am assuming some of the graves that were relocated were dug up) that add its own creepiness, and iron posts are so old they are crumbling. At each tombstone we feel obligated to stop and read as a sign of respect. Both of our hearts are racing and we feel like we are not alone in this grave yard, when in fact there is no one to be seen in or around the cemetery. I hold up my iPod to take a picture and the screen is white the entire time only in a portion of the cemetery, so I stick with the digital camera. For example, this was the only picture I could get with my iPod in that spot in the cemetery.
you can see my husband walking in front of me, and nothing around him. Spooky, huh? And I was standing in the shade.
It wasn't a light shinning through the trees kind of dancing... It was something different. We walk around the entire cemetery and come to the Conger family plot almost at the end of our little tour. We didn't really feel anything more in this spot than we do the rest of the cemetery like the story says, it is really almost as if this spot is a complete lack of feeling. But hey, everyone can't have the same experiences. I highly recommend a visit to the Old Athens Cemetery so you can make your own assumptions and have your own feelings and experience. It was truly beautiful, fascinating, and enjoyable for us haunting hunter lovers. Here's a few more random pics that I love from our visit here:
3.) The Birthday Cake House (Athens, GA)-
Once again our research into the location of this house was not extensive enough to land any absolute location. All we knew was it was somewhere on Milledge Ave. So to make it easy on the rest of you who may want to take a peek at this beautiful sorority house. It is located at 530 S. Milledge Ave on the corner of Baxter St. and it has the letters for Alpha Gamma Delta on it. The story is intriguing, but I want to know more. I would love it if I could find someone who has been in, or especially lived in the Birthday Cake house. I didn't have a chance to get a "feeling" from this place either (like destination 1), and was left with the same question "what's this places story?" It was fun to hunt down the house and see it, but I would like to know more-- or even take a tour. Here's a couple pics of the beautiful home:
The Birthday Cake House was our last planned destination for the day, so we decided to head back in the direction of home. The fun wasn't over. When I was a teenager me and my Mom found the creepiest of creepy cemeteries. (Short story: We found this tiny old cemetery out in the middle of no where Georgia next to a little white church. We both were out of the car and walking around for maybe a minute when we both got this incredibly scary and overwhelming feeling- looked at each other in the same instant and both immediately raced back to the car- never to return to this creepiest of creepy cemeteries- now know as the Lost Cemetery. But you know the saying... absence makes the heart grow fonder? Well for some morbid reason I have been wanting to return to that cemetery again for the past few years, but neither one of us can remember where it was located exactly and it is driving us mad... so every time my mom thinks of a place it may have been- I have to go and investigate).
4.) Can we find the Lost Cemetery??? (No Clue, GA)-
My mother thinks the cemetery was between Winder and Dacula, possibly on Hwy 29. We bypass the highways and take the back roads from Athens to Winder to Dacula. Along the way we see a couple cemeteries, but none are the familiar Lost Cemetery. One looks promising, but located between Athens and Winder, so I stop just to see. I get out of the car and walk a ways... no overwhelming creepy feeling. The cemetery is familiar, no doubt I have stopped at this one years ago with my mom, but indeed not the one we're seeking. Very anticlimactic, but here's a pic anyway:
The mission to find the Lost cemetery continues and our adventure is over for the day.
Overall we had an awesome day! I look forward to finding more out about the Alexander St. haunting, and the stories of those who have experienced the haunting at the Birthday Cake House. Until our next adventure, Have fun!
