- Tales of devils, witches, gypsies and more can be found across Mississippi graveyards if you know where to look.
When one thinks of the spooky epicenter of the South, the first thought may be New Orleans, Louisiana. With its ghost tours and voodoo shops, it’s easy to see the Big Easy’s place in the Southern Gothic category. How could Mississippi’s culture of front porch sittin’, sweet tea drinkin’, and yes sirs/no sirs possibly compare?
What if I were to tell you tales of a gypsy queen, a nameless Lady in Red, a devil-trained guitar player, and more are all resting in our very state?
Robert L. Johnson
Despite his praising of Jesus in his last days, Mr. Robert L. Johnson is rumored to have traded his soul for his incredible talent of playing the blues. Alas, the legend could be a powerful metaphor for his having to endure “hell” being raised in poverty and mastering his art during the Great Depression in Mississippi. Yet it is this very foundation that led to his acclaim as a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee.
Johnson was to play Carnegie Hall if not for word of him dying by a suspected poisoning at age 27 in Greenwood, Mississippi. Much of his life, as well as his death, remains a mystery.
To fuel the mystery, Johnson has three potential gravesites. The most believed is at Little Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Greenwood, but there is also a headstone at Payne Chapel Memorial Baptist Church in Quito, and another at Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Morgan City. In his memory, consider visiting Robert Johnson Blues Foundation’s website here.
Gulfport’s Fishbone Alley
The need for Fishbone Alley in Gulfport to be reconstructed was no mystery. Due to a nasty broad by the name of Hurricane Katrina, brickwork from the early 1900s was discovered under the ruins. This discovery of Fishbone Alley’s bones gave a hint of manmade life and a precursor to resurging life to come.
It is now a made “funky” locale where artists have coated the previously destroyed area in art and joy. What could have been a ruin – whispering of all that was lost – is now a testament to finding life again despite tragedy.
Lady in Red
A routine excavation uncovered the enigmatic existence of the Lady in Red of Lexington. Imagine the surprise of the crew digging for a septic line on Egypt Plantation in Cruger when they discovered the well-preserved corpse.
The young lady was in a red Victorian dress, her body soaking in a casket of alcohol called a Fisk Metallic Burial Case. She has since been reburied at Lexington’s Odd Fellows Cemetery and no one seems to have gotten any closer to discovering her identity.
Hopefully one day someone will find her name and give her descendants closure.
Irene Ford
In death, closure may never come to mothers whose children have passed. Such was the case for the mother of Florence Irene Ford of Natchez.
Remembering her yellow fever-stricken daughter’s fear of storms, Miss Ford’s mother requested a coffin with a glass window for Florence’s face, along with stairs headstone-level that allowed her mother to go down to her departed daughter when thunder was rumbling. A door overhead protected them both from the elements while Irene’s mother comforted the ten-year-old, even in death.
Concrete now covers the bottom of the stairway, and the door to her grave serves as an eternal reminder of the strength of a mother’s love.
Queen of the Gypsy Nation
Kelly Mitchell, Queen of the Gypsy Nation and leader of gypsies in Mississippi, was also a mother of fourteen or fifteen children. In 1915, while giving birth to her last child at age 47 Mitchell met her unfortunate demise in Coatoma, Alabama.
This news was not taken lightly by 20,000 gypsies who came to Meridian, Mississippi to remember her at her funeral and threw coins into her coffin as per custom at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.
She now rests at Rose Hill Cemetery where thousands of gypsies still visit her grave each year.
The Witch of Yazoo
While the Gypsy Queen was a benevolent figure to her people, the Witch of Yazoo did not have as good a reputation in her city.
Legend has it that in the 1880s, this unnamed witch was believed to be responsible for the deaths of fishermen in the area and had skeletons in her possession to answer for. On May 25, 1884, either the sheriff or deputies chased her into a swamp where she was engulfed by quicksand. She cursed Yazoo with her last breath, and the curse was to be fulfilled in twenty years.
To help prevent this, chains were secured over her grave in Yazoo City’s Glenwood Cemetery. However, on May 25, 1904, a great fire consumed Yazoo City, resulting in the destruction of the majority of the businesses and 200 homes. The chains across the Witch’s grave were found to be broken and it is said that they broke many times after being replaced.
The Turning Angel of Natchez
The witch’s chains are not the only instance of self-moving components of graves in Mississippi.
In Natchez City Cemetery, an angel keeping watch over five graves is said to turn and watch cars as they pass on Cemetery Road. Perhaps she can’t help it, considering why she was built in the first place.
A gas explosion at the Natchez Drug Company on March 14, 1908, occurred when a plumber was looking for a gas leak. Unfortunately, five female workers died due to the catastrophe – the youngest was only twelve years old. The president of the business, John H. Chambliss, paid for the ladies’ plots and for the construction of the overlooking angel.
In 2020, the angel statue was vandalized causing her right wing to fall off. Thankfully, donations were made for the angel’s reconstruction, and she is back to her rightful place.
As you can see, you can save money on plane tickets to Salem, Massachusetts or Sleepy Hollow, New York for haunted destinations. Some may find these spooky sites are too much, but the newfound legends can live on as more Mississippians learn of our darker histories.
Who knows? Some questions could finally be answered. But until then, learning from the dead helps us to see what stays after we pass, whether it be our legacies or just pure love from those we leave behind.
Cecilia V. Lyles
