That war left its ghosts scattered all across the colonies. They say some still reside in Cherokee County, South Carolina in a place called Whig Hill.
Whig Hill is a graveyard in Cherokee County, SC about 12 miles or so south of Gaffney on Hwy 18 (n34 57.633 , w81 39.317). There are only about 35 or so graves there (give or take a few), but all of them are old graves and many of the people buried there died violent deaths of betrayal, as you can imagine.
Back around 1970 my brother, Gene, decided he was interested in tombstone rubbings. I found that a fine idea, so one bright and beautiful October Saturday morning we headed to Whig Hill with our charcoal and pencils and rubbing paper.
Oh...we had heard the stories of course, but it was bright daylight, so we thought we were safe from haints. Besides, we took some other people with us and there is safety in numbers. Right? Well...
We drove out to Whig Hill, which was not all that easy to find. It was way down a dirt road in the absolute middle of nowhere. There was not even a major highway anywhere around back then.
We parked the car and walked up the hill to the graves. What we found was horrifying in itself. Someone had broken the tombstones. Desecrated the graves. The hair stood up on the back of my neck when I saw it. Every single grave had been disturbed. There were some above-ground crypts with their heavy cement lids askew. Grave markers scattered everywhere and even some of the graves themselves disturbed. If I were Catholic, I would have crossed myself and run!
My brother, Gene, said the graveyard was full of English sympathizers loyal to the crown (Whigs), and the Patriots' (Tories) descendants obviously still remembered how they killed their kin. They couldn't take revenge on dead people, so they took their revenge out on their graves.
I shuddered and wanted to leave, but Gene talked us all into doing just a couple of rubbings before we left, so we started making rubbings of the pieces of the tombstones we could find that still had readable words.
That's when we heard it. At first it sounded like a car driving too fast down a highway. I said, "Is there a road behind those trees?" and pointed to the rear of the cemetery. Gene said, "There's not a road like that for miles." I started gathering my things.
That's when the sound changed. It sounded like it was coming from the woods where I pointed, and it sounded like a wolf or a bear growling low and vicious. It was terrifying! I screamed, "Back to the car!!!" and I ran as fast as I could, dodging broken pieces of tombstones, as my brother jumped between me and the noise.
That's when the noise moved to one of the above-ground crypts near Gene. I stopped and turned and went back for Gene then, just as the lid of that crypt began to shake. I grabbed Gene's hand and we ran down the hill. The others already had the car started and turned around. We jumped inside and raced down that bumpy dirt road as fast as we could.
We kept looking back and one of the people with us said he saw something running in the dust, but I never saw it. All I know is I never intend to go there again. Daylight or not.
Now. We told our story around town back then. The people laughed and laughed. They said it was just bootleggers had the place booby trapped to keep people away. We didn't see how bootleggers could have done that given there was no electricity anywhere around that graveyard, but we let them laugh and talk.
It was a couple of years before we heard a similar story from some other people, but we did hear it...the car on a highway...the growling in the woods...the shaking above-ground crypt.
I still am not sure what was down that dirt road or how it got inside that crypt, but I do know it was something. I heard it with my own ears and saw it with my own eyes.
In more recent years than 1970, I heard that Whig Hill Cemetery has been restored. I sure hope that is true. Maybe now the ghosts can rest.
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| This is not Whig Hill, but it would look similar to this with the old tombstones restored. I will never go there again, so I couldn't take a picture of it for you. |
DO YOU KNOW WHY IT WAS NAMED WHIG HILL?
ReplyDeleteJohn Nuckolls, Sr. (1732-1780) was a Patriot who supported the break from Britain in the American Revolutionary War.
ReplyDeleteBecause of that support, his plantation home in the upstate of South Carolina became known as Whig Hill. The cemetery on his plantation later became known as Whig Hill Cemetery.
John Nuckolls, Sr. was murdered by Tories (British supporters - most likely his neighbors) in December 1780. Those Tories who murdered him were later murdered by Whigs in revenge and buried on the property.
In my youth I always heard stories that those murderers (both Whigs and Tories) still haunted that graveyard...still fighting the Revolutionary War...after all these years.
I found the old dirt road that leads to the cemetery today. There's a gate and the road will have to be walked. I'll go back another day when the road isn't muddy.
ReplyDelete