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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.

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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. 

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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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Halloween Stories: The Legend of Stingy Jack and the origin of the Jack-o’-Lantern

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The carved pumpkin is perhaps the global symbol of the modern Halloween celebration. But where did this custom come from and what does the Jack-o’-Lantern really represent?

The eerie glow of a carved pumpkin, flickering from a toothy grin, has become an iconic symbol of Halloween on a global scale. Known as the “jack-o’-lantern,” this tradition has its roots deep in ancient folklore where they celebrated Samhain, blending tales of wandering spirits, old-world customs, and the haunting specter of Stingy Jack.

Read Also: Halloween Traditions Across the World

The Jack-o’-lantern is carved mostly from pumpkins these days as the Americans started doing their own versions of the carving tradition brought over by the Irish, Cornish, Scottish and other Celtic cultures. But also other root vegetables like mangelwurzel, rutabaga or turnip have been used over the years. 

The carved faces in the vegetables used to be a way of warding off spirits during the old festivals like Samhain when the door between the living and the dead was especially thin as the summer passed over to winter. The lanterns also helped guide the people doing the Samhain ritual of going house to house for food and drink, the prelude to the modern Trick and Treat. 

The Old Tradition of Jack-o’-Lantern: Image from The Book of Hallowe’en. Caption “No Hallowe’en without a Jack-o’-Lantern.” This picture is from around 1919. // Source

The Art of Carving Vegetable

Although the tradition of pumpkin carving as we know it today dates perhaps a couple of centuries back, the act of cutting out faces in fruits and vegetables dates back millennials, and is a thing around the world. In the northern European Celtic cultures, some speculate that it was a way to symbolize the severed head of your enemies before its connection to Samhain. 

It is worth noting as well, the making of the lanterns was also a practical and cheap way of making use of what you had to shield the lights you lit up in the dark nights. And the faces were a practical and decorative way to make the light shine through, sort of what we do today as well. 

Ghost Turnip: This old carved turnip can be found in the National Museum of Ireland. In 1943 a schoolteacher, Rois Ní Braonáin,teaching near Fintown, Co. Donegal. According to here, they always made them like this around 1900. This plaster-cast model was created and painted by the museum artist, Eileen Barnes. Candles were placed inside the turnips and they were used to frighten people on the night of 31 October. // Source

The Magical Lights of the Will-o’-the-wisps

There are many origin stories about the Jack-o’-lantern as a more supernatural item. Perhaps the oldest ones are connected with the will-o’-the-wisps lights with a lot of legends attached to it. The will-o’-the-wisp, also known as ignis fatuus (foolish fire), is one of the most enduring and mysterious legends across cultures. These eerie, flickering lights appear in marshes, forests, and other desolate places, often just out of reach, luring travelers into danger.

In European folklore, will-o’-the-wisps are ghostly lights that hover just above the ground, often leading those who follow them astray. The name itself comes from “Will of the wisp,” referring to a man named Will or Jack who carried a flickering torch, or wisp, through the night. According to some tales, these lights are the souls of those denied entry to both Heaven and Hell, doomed to wander the Earth in limbo. Their ethereal glow lures the unsuspecting traveler deeper into treacherous bogs and dark woods, where they lose their way or meet their demise.

In England, the will-o’-the-wisp is thought to be a malevolent fairy or spirit, delighting in leading travelers off the safe path and into the depths of the wild. In other versions, the lights are said to be the souls of the dead, restless spirits who died untimely deaths and now seek company in the living. Many old English tales speak of people following the lights, only to end up stranded in dangerous swamps or falling into unseen pits.

Will-o-the-wisp and Snake: A painting from 1823 by Hermann Hendrich (31 October 1854 in Heringen, Thuringia – 18 July 1931), a German painter. The legend of the ignis fatuus lights have spurred many legends, one of them leading up to the Halloween pumpkin lantern.

Other cultures have their own interpretations of these haunting lights. In Scandinavia, they’re called irrbloss, believed to be the spirits of unbaptized children or the souls of treasure guardians trying to protect their hoards. In Japan, the hitodama are floating flames representing the souls of the recently deceased, drifting away from the body.

In scientific terms, the phenomenon may be explained by the combustion of gasses such as methane and phosphine released by decaying organic matter in marshes. These gasses can spontaneously ignite, producing the flickering lights that have inspired such widespread fear and fascination.

The Story of Stingy Jack

The will-o’-the-wisps soon merged with the story of the lantern, but so did another one that gave its name. The story of the jack-o’-lantern also originates from Irish myth from the mid 18th century. He has also been called Jack the Smith, Drunk Jack and Flakey Jack But who was Jack? In the 17th century, it was common to call men you didn’t know, Jack, in Britain. So a man working at night as a watchman would be known as Jack-of-the-lantern for instance. 

According to legend, a man known as Stingy Jack was a trickster who managed to deceive the Devil himself. Jack invited the Devil to have a drink with him, but when it came time to pay, Jack convinced the Devil to turn into a coin to cover the cost. Instead of using the coin to pay, Jack pocketed it next to a silver cross, trapping the Devil. In exchange for his release, Jack made the Devil promise not to take his soul for ten years.

Ten years later, the Devil returned for Jack, but the cunning man tricked him once again, this time by asking the Devil to climb a tree to pick a piece of fruit. While the Devil was in the tree, Jack carved a cross into the bark, once again trapping him. In exchange for his freedom, the Devil promised never to take Jack’s soul.

However, when Jack eventually died, Heaven refused him entry due to his sinful life, and the Devil, true to his word, wouldn’t claim him either. Left to wander the Earth as a lost soul, Jack was given only a single ember by the Devil to light his way. Jack placed the ember in a hollowed-out turnip, using it as a makeshift lantern as he roamed the afterlife.

In Ireland, people began carving their own turnips and placing candles inside them to ward off Jack’s wandering spirit and other evil entities, Seán na Gealaí’ as it jack-o’-lanterns are called in Irish. This practice, brought to America by Irish immigrants in the 19th century, evolved as the native pumpkin—larger and easier to carve—became the preferred choice for jack-o’-lanterns.

The Jack-o’-Lantern Lights Today

With the rise of electric lights, the tales of Stingy Jack and what happened in the darkness started to fade as the imagination of it was lit up. The custom of cutting out Jack-o’-Lantern for Halloween still persist though. Today, the eerie glow of jack-o’-lanterns is a familiar sight during Halloween, their carved faces a reminder of Stingy Jack’s eternal punishment. Each flickering light serves as a beacon, keeping the spirits at bay while honoring a haunting tale that stretches back through the centuries.

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References:

The Jack-O-Lantern’s Origins 

How Jack O’Lanterns Originated in Irish Myth | HISTORY

The twisted transatlantic tale of American jack-o’-lanterns

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Halloween Stories: Punkie Night, A Spooky Tradition of Somerset’s Dark Past

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In Somerset, England, a local tradition called Punkie Night in October has many similarities with different Halloween traditions today. A procession of lanterns go through the villagers every year, searching for sweets.

It’s Punkie Night tonight
It’s Punkie Night tonight
Adam and Eve would not believe
It’s Punkie Night tonight

As Halloween approaches with its ghosts, ghouls, and pumpkins we see in the modern age, few are aware of much older, and eerier traditions being celebrated in other places in the world. In the West Country of England, deep in the rural villages of Somerset, an old festival takes place: Punkie Night. The name has many speculations to its origin. Some say it is an old name for lantern or timber, perhaps derived from pumpkin or even the term spunky, used in Somerset to mean the ghost of a young child.

Read Also: Halloween Traditions Across the World

The festival has been celebrated at various sites including Castle Neroche in the Blackdown Hills, Long Sutton, Drayton, Somerset and, more commonly, at Hinton St George and the neighboring village of Lopen. It seems that the celebration used to move around the calendar a bit more, but has now mostly been celebrated as the last Thursday in October. But what is this local tradition really, and how is it connected with the Halloween celebration of today?

Jack o’lantern: The Halloween pumpkin, commonly known as a “jack-o’-lantern,” traces its origins to ancient Celtic traditions. Originally, turnips and other root vegetables were hollowed out and carved with grotesque faces to ward off evil spirits during Samhain, a festival marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter. When Irish immigrants brought this tradition to America in the 19th century, they found that the native pumpkin, larger and easier to carve, was a perfect substitute. Over time, the pumpkin became synonymous with Halloween, symbolizing the spooky spirit of the holiday.

The Tradition of Punkie Night

The tradition of Punkie Night dates back centuries, rooted in local lore and shrouded in mystery. On this night, children and adults alike carry carved turnip or a type of beet called mangel wurzels lanterns, called “punkies,” through the streets, often wearing costumes. Today the pumpkin lantern has perhaps taken over, but there are still contest of and prizes of the best punkie.

Punkie Night Lanterns: Today we are more used to see lanterns being carved from pumpkins. But on punkie night the lanterns is carved from a beet called Mangelwurzel, were developed in the 18th century as a fodder crop for feeding livestock. // Source: Punkie Night/Facebook

The eerie glow from the hollowed-out turnips casts ghostly shadows as they sing the traditional Punkie Night song, demanding small offerings from their neighbors. Over the centuries, the tradition of Punkie Night has mellowed, becoming a quirky local celebration, with children dressed in costumes going door to door, punkie lanterns in hand, reciting their chilling rhyme:  

“Punkie Night tonight,  
Give us a candle, give us a light,  
If you don’t, you’ll get a fright!”

This compares and possibly relates to the custom of Trick or Treat most known from modern Halloween celebrations in the US today. The sight of the procession is enough to make one’s skin crawl, as these turnip-faced ghouls wind their way through the villages, keeping an unsettling link to the past alive.

The History Behind Punkie Night

But Punkie Night is more than just a quaint, local celebration—it carries a dark history according to local lore. Some claim that the night is an ancient one, but is it really? The most popular legend traces its origins to a group of men from the village of Hinton St George, who ventured to a nearby fair in the neighboring village Chiselborough. This is said to have happened at the start of the 1800s. The organized way of celebrating though didn’t really happen until the first decades of the 1900s.

After a night of drinking and revelry, the husbands of the village became lost on their way home, although only a few miles away. The cold October night was dark and treacherous, the countryside devoid of light, and the men, without lanterns, found themselves wandering aimlessly, unable to get home. 

Their wives, worried and frustrated, took to the streets, carving punkies out of turnips or mangelwurzels because of the windy night and setting out to find their wayward husbands. The very word Punkie is sometimes thought to be an old English word for a lantern. When the men first saw the lanterns they thought they were will o’the wisps and were scared. Some also said that they thought they were “goolies” which are the restless spirits of children who had died before they were baptized, and they reportedly fled in terror. It’s also said that the flickering lights from these punkies were the only thing that guided the men back home.

But some say there’s a more sinister side to the tale.

Cross at Hinton St. George: The start of Punkie night is often said to have started when the women of Hinton St. George lit up lanterns to guide their husband safely home. // Source: Nick Chipchase/Wikimedia

The Older Punkie Night

The custom has been seen in the last century, and the mangel-wurzel was introduced in England in the late 18th century. But it seems that the concept of Punkie night has existed long before the story of the wayward men. 

According to older, whispered versions of the legend, Punkie Night marks a time when the veil between the living and the dead thins, and those lost souls who have wandered too far from the world of the living come back to find their way home as a local continuation of the Samhain celebrations. There is a similar Irish celebration called Púca Night, ‘púca’ meaning fairies or sprites with a similar tradition, so possibly the tradition comes from the same Celtic folklore. 

The turnip lanterns were not just to guide the living, but also to ward off the spirits of the dead who roam the dark countryside. The sight of a “punkie” lantern, glowing in the hands of a child, is said to keep these spirits at bay—or at least confuse them into thinking they’ve found their way back to the afterlife. They were also said to be placed in the windowsill to ward off evil spirits, much like the jack-o’-lanterns of Halloween today.

So, if you find yourself in Somerset on the last Thursday of October, beware of the glowing turnips and the haunting songs that fill the night. You might just stumble upon an ancient tradition where the line between the living and the dead blurs, and the past reaches out to touch the present.

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References:

https://web.archive.org/web/20061122224220/http://halloween.monstrous.com/punkie_night.htm

‘punkie (lantern)’ | ‘punkie night’ | word histories 

British Folk Customs, Punkie Night, Somerset

The Mythology of Punkie Night | The York Historian