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Pegue’s Ghost in the Abandoned Antebellum Cahawba Town

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The ghost town of Cahawba is a remnant of southern antebellum life that died with the Civil War. It is said that the former state capital still has some ghosts living in Cahawba Town the rest of the world abandoned.

Along the confluence of the Cahaba and Alabama rivers lies Cahawba, Alabama’s first state capital and one of its most haunted places if we are to believe the legends. Established in 1819 not far from Selma, Cahawba Town thrived as a bustling antebellum river town for years. Today it is a ghost town in what is called Old Cahawba Archaeological Park.

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from the USA

Cahawba Town is listed on many most haunted lists, and they also provide haunted ghost tours around the place. But what are the haunted legends from the ghost town said to be one of the more haunted places in the country?

The History of Cahawba Town

Let’s first have a look at the history of the town and those who lived there. Cahawba Town or Cahaba as it is sometimes spelled, used to be fertile tallgrass prairies before the 1830s. Then, as mentioned, it was the first permanent capital of Alabama from 1820 to 1825 as well as being the country seat of Dallas Country until 1866. 

This was during the wealthy antebellum years, based on cotton money, made on the back of slaves. Even though it was wealthy it still had a reputation of not being the best place to live because of the location. The floods were said to be big and happened too often. The very air was thought to be bad, as they believed that miasma in the air caused diseases like malaria, yellow fever and cholera. In reality it was the mosquitoes who carried the diseases. 

Cahawba Town: Kirkpatrick mansion on Oak Street, burned in 1935. The two-story brick slave quarters remains intact. // Source: Leigh T Harrell/Wikimedia

By the time the Civil War started, the town had around 2000 residents, where around 64 percent of the population were the black slaves. The Civil War changed everything here though, and during it, the prison known as Castle Morgan held more than 3000 Union soldiers. 

Read More: Check out more ghost stories from Haunted Towns

Its prosperity was short-lived, however, as the Civil War and subsequent flooding led to Cahawba Towns abandonment because it lost the businesses and jobs that were associated with it being the county seat. Some say that the story about the flooding was exaggerated, or even a lie seeing that 1925 was a drought year by the media because of the competition of becoming the capital. 

The Selma newspapers called ‘The Mecca of the Radical Republican Party,’ after the white residents left and more black communities started to grow in town. Although it became a popular place for the freed slaves after the war for a while, they too soon left for a better place in the Reconstruction Period. 

Today, the Cahawba Town is a ghost town, its empty buildings, slave burial grounds, and eerie cemeteries providing a chilling backdrop for tales of the supernatural.

The Legend of Pegues’s Ghost

Christopher Claudius Pegues

Among the many haunted tales of Cahawba Town, the most famous is that of the luminous floating orb known as “Pegues’s Ghost.” Shortly after Colonel C.C. Pegues, who was the head of Alabama’s Fifth Rifle Regiment. He was killed in the Battle of the Seven Pines in Virginia on July 15th in 1862, witnesses reported seeing a mysterious glowing light appearing in the garden maze of his former home and favorite Magnolia trees. 

When the news of his death reached the village, a slave boy rang a bell, walking from his house with the funeral notice as well as a black streamers known as ‘weepers’ from his shoulders, a custom now gone. 

One evening in 1862 a young couple was walking close to the cedar maze. It was then they saw a white orb floating past them. When they tried to touch it, the ghostly orb vanished into the green, although it appeared again. Because of its timing, the strange orb was named after the colonel.

The maze is now gone, and so is the house that used to be located on a lot that occupied a block between Pine and Chestnut streets. The unexplained phenomenon of the Will’O’the’Wisp like light has captivated locals and visitors alike, with many seeking out the ghostly light that continues to manifest to this day.

The Haunted Cemeteries

But “Pegues’s Ghost” is not the only source of eerie activity in Cahawba Town. The cemeteries of Cahawba are another focal point for ghostly encounters, especially the one known as The New Cemetery. 

Eerie whispers, phantom footsteps, and shadowy figures are frequently reported by those who dare to venture into these hallowed grounds after dark. Many believe that the souls of the town’s former residents remain tethered to this place, unable to find peace.

Read More: check out more ghost stories from Haunted Cemeteries

It is especially around the burial grounds for the slaves many of the haunted reports come from. It was created in 1819 and many of the graves are unmarked and without headstones. It is said that the last burial was in 1957.

The abandoned streets and structures have given rise to numerous reports of ghostly apparitions and unexplained sounds. Visitors often speak of feeling a chilling presence while walking through the ruins of the once-grand statehouse and the numerous homes that have long since been vacated. The town’s slave burial ground is particularly noted for its paranormal occurrences, where the anguished spirits of those who suffered in life are said to roam.

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References:

Thirteen Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey: Commemorative Edition by Kathryn Tucker Windham, Margaret Gillis Figh: https://books.google.no/books?id=OR7zAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA44&lpg=PA44&dq=Pegues+Ghost&source=bl&ots=7B5gnWrwGW&sig=ACfU3U0VKhwNeEod4g3KG-mOf4IwzhU3lA&hl=no&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwil8caz0pKHAxUGGxAIHXe0A9gQ6AF6BAgdEAM#v=onepage&q=Pegues%20Ghost&f=false 

Cahaba, Alabama – Wikipedia 

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Huggin Molly – The Woman in Black of Alabama

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In the small town in Alabama, a big thing is haunting the streets and are after the town’s children. The scary apparition of the black clad Huggin Molly is still on the prowl.

Children should be home before dark, there is no telling what hides in the shadows, emerging after the sun sets. But the people of Abbeville in south Alabama, they have a pretty good idea of what darkness that lurk in the shadows, in the streets and behind the bushes and in the dark corners.

The children of Abbeville, Alabama has been warned plenty of times to stay indoors after dark. If not, they might encounter the creature known as Huggin Molly on the streets.

The Colonial Town of Abbeville

The small place of Abbeville looks like any other small colonial towns in the south with the cute brick houses with the flag waving towards the paved street and with a population around 2000.

Abbeville Alabama: Downtown Abbeville, Alabama where Huggin Molly supposedly roams in the night. // source

The climate is hot during the summer and mild during the winters. The people can shop in the small boutiques and eat at the family restaurant, a place where people know one another. It is also why when a stranger starts to roam the street, the townspeople takes notice as they watch from hammock on their porches.

Read Also: Check out the rest of our ghost stories from all across the USA.

The town of Abbeville has seen many tragedies throughout the years. Not only the hardship of the European settlers, the surrendering of the creek nation and a town in southern Alabama also made it hard for the black people all the way up to the segregation times.

There were reported lynching and sexual violence that went unpunished, making the streets more difficult for black people than the children that was warned to stay indoors after sundown.

The southern town has also experienced tragedies that left a collective trauma so hard that legend took form. One of these being after the fire. At the start of the 1900s, an arsonist burned down all of Abbeville, and this is also at the time when it looks like the legend of Huggin Molly took form. The town was also ravage by an F2 tornado that destroyed many of the old buildings, forcing the town to build on top of the old.

Huggin Molly as The Lady in Black

But these tragedies are not the things Huggin Molly is about. Rather than one of the towns collective tragedies, this is one of the towns big mysteries.

“…..On a cold, dark, rainy night…..so bitterly cold, damp, and dark…..when even street lights won’t burn, and the striking of a match refuses to yield the tiniest flame….on nights like this, Huggin’ Molly comes out of her lair and roams the streets of Abbeville to see whom she can find.”

So begins one account of the story the people of Abbeville have told each other since the early 1900s. The local legend is known as Huggin Molly, or the lady in black. Who is this woman all clad in black, and why is she after the children of Abbeville? What does she want with them?

Read More: There are many urban legends targeting children. How about checking out Kuchisake-onna – The Urban Legend of the Slit-Mouthed Woman or Madam Koi Koi and The School Hauntings in Nigeria.

The local legend of Huggin Molly has it that a tall figure, around seven feet tall, started walking the streets of Abbeville, looking for victims, mostly children. She has no name other than what the townsfolk started calling her, no face to speak of and no one knows why she is after the children. She almost has this witch like status around her, although her behaviour is anything but.

Huggin Molly is said to be dressed in all black with a wide brim hat, also black, wandering through the night in the disguise of the shadows were even the streets light won’t illuminate her identity. Once she found a victim, an innocent child wandering after darkness, she attacks, hugging the person tightly as she is screaming loudly into their ears. 

Read More: There are many stories about women in black around the world: Like some of the ghosts in Unveiling the Dark History of the Tower of London and its Ghosts .

This is it, as there are no stories of her actually hurting anyone. She simply hugs them, although terrifying enough on its own. But are there any origin story to this local legend of a hugging ghost?

The Many Legends of Huggin Molly

Who she is supposed to have been is up for debate and changes as the story itself changes throughout times. Was she a witch or the ghost of a woman that used to live in Abbeville? Is she something completely different from a human?

The Woman in Black: Grieving women wearing long black dresses is a well known motif, especially in European ghost lore. They can also be very dangerous according to many of the legends.

Read More: One of the theories was that Huggin Molly was some sort of witch. If you are interested in stories about witches, head over to our section filled of them: Here

In some accounts when the local townspeople tells the legend, Huggin Molly was a woman living in Abbeville a long time ago. She experienced a mother’s worst nightmare when lost her own child. Her grief was too much to bare and it made her mad. She started to roam the nights and went after the local children to make up for the death of child. Like it was a way of dealing with the tragedy of loosing her own.

In other accounts of the legend, she was a woman who got murdered in cold blood on the very streets she is now haunting and are trying to fulfill something. Perhaps she was killed after dark with no one to look out for her and are now in turn looking out for others?

Perhaps the real story behind the legend is the version about her being a professor at what used to be Alabama Agriculture School as some of the variations of the legend suggests. In these versions she is only trying to keep the students safe by getting them off the streets at night.

Or perhaps it wasn’t a ghost at all that haunted the street in her afterlife, but someone or something, getting dressed up specifically for this? To walk out in the dark to scare and hug children? Somehow, this comes off as almost more frightening than a ghost who only wants a hug.

A Legend with a Milkshake on the Side

In any case, who Huggin Molly was, what her motives are and if she is still roaming the streets doesn’t seem to upset most people in Abbeville. The people of Abbeville haven’t been too concerned by the legend and there are even a 50s themed restaurant named after her, making her a part of the community and town history.

Huggin Molly Legacy: The legend of Huggin Molly is more welcome than many other ghost stories in Abbeville Alabama. Head over to the local restaurant Huggin Molly’s frozen in time in the 50s ,just like the legend to hear more about the town ghost with a meal.

Even to this day the legend is part of the town and kids today are told about the lady in black on the streets. This is like what Jimmy, an Abbeville lifelong resident had to say when the Huggin Molly’s restaurant asked him to say a few words of her:

“Anybody who grew up in Abbeville grew up knowing the legend of Huggin’ Molly,” Jimmy says. “If your mother or dad didn’t want you to be out after dark, they’d tell you Huggin’ Molly would get you. And you believed it, too.”

Because this is the thing, the legend of Huggin Molly has not once been known to have harmed anyone. So many children grew up to tell tales of what they believed must have been Huggin Molly chasing them. And who knows, maybe she really did?

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References

11 Best Scary Ghost Stories – True Scary Stories for Halloween

The Legend of Molly | hugginmollys

The witch legend behind Alabama eatery Huggin’ Molly’s

Abbeville Ghosts « Chattahoochee Heritage