Our visit to haunted cemeteries around Marietta

Yesterday, Ken, Rozi, our friend Crystal, and I went to Marietta to take photos for my History Press Ghosts of Marietta book. First, we went to Johnnie McCracken's, a pub in Marietta that is in the book, but the owner was cooking and couldn't take time to talk to us at the moment, so we had marvelous Irish food for lunch and then went on to take photos in cemeteries.

But before I get to that: it was really amusing because Rozi only decided to join us at the last minute, and when she showed up, she was wearing the Dropkick Murphys shirt I bought her in Salem, and I was wearing the exact same shirt. Crystal found that hilarious. She said there's no way she and her mom would ever turn up in the same band shirt.

Anyway- we went to this cemetery that is known locally as The Devil's Turnaround, because the stones are shaped in a semi-circle and the place has a reputation for some rather angry spirit or spirits who sometimes scratch people or throw things at them when people come out there at night. I don't blame the spirits for this; the place is posted and heavily patrolled because of the horrific desecration that has taken place out there, probably mostly by drunken teenagers. We saw open holes where bodies obviously had been dug up and pentagrams scratched on to graves! If I were a spirit hanging around there I would be extremely angry. Even the graves that have not been desecrated have in some cases been neglected. We made it very clear that we meant no disrespect, that we only wanted to take pictures. I only got a handful of pictures before my camera died, but Crystal, who is a skilled photographer, got a lot of them. As soon as I decide which I'm going to use, I will post some.

Then, we went to a beautiful cemetery, St. James, which is where JenBenet Ramsey, her mother, and half-sister are buried. That is not why we went there, though. We went because of a statue of a woman holding two babies which is said to cry. I got one picture before my camera died (not paranormal, we just forgot to recharge the batteries,) but it was a good one, and I'll probably use it in the book.

JenBenet's grave is interesting, though. There are angel figures hanging from the huge tree that shelters the plot. I don't know if the family started them and other people have added more, but there are many of them now. Also, on the grave in which she is actually buried, which originally was unmarked because of the media frenzy, and only has a cross of iron bars on it, people leave toys. She has a stone now, next to her mother and sisters, but she's still buried in the other grave.

Then, we tried to go to another notorious cemetery known for no good reason as The Witch's Graveyard. There's no reason to think any witch was buried there,but it does have activity I am talking about in the book. It's on private property but I had directions to get there. Unfortunately, we had to go through the Concord Covered Bridge and the bridge was closed for repais. So we will have to go back to that one, but overall it was a productive and amazing day around Marietta. The bridge has activity, too, but it seemed pointless to take a picture right now since they have the cover off of it. We stood for a while under the local "Crybaby bridge" nearby, but we couldn't get a good picture. That's another thing I'll have to try to do later.

Anyway, I'm learning so much writing this book. It's going to be a really awesome book when it's finished in July. I hope History Press will be as pleased as I expect to be.