By Steve Flairty
NKyTribune Columnist
Regarding the matter of reading books about “haunted” places, it’s not been a goal (or ghoul, ha) of mine to read an exhaustive list of books on the matter. I can’t say, honestly, that I believe that paranormal activity is real. However, I am told that in Kentucky, both books and stories about the haunted are quite popular.
A few years back, I talked to Thomas Freese at the Kentucky Book Fair and was surprised to hear about the busy ghost storytelling schedule he keeps around the state and beyond, along with selling a lot of his books on the subject. I also heard a similar report from Dr. Lynwood Montell , former Western Kentucky University professor emeritus of folk studies, who told me that his ghost books were his best sellers.
So when I recently came across author Daniel Meyer’s new book, Kentucky Haunts, it intrigued me that, according to his research, there are public places all across Kentucky that provoke ongoing conversation about ghost activity.
Meyer understands the cynicism around such paranormal happenings; he makes it clear that he is a believer in such, however. He cites several personal examples to demonstrate why he believes, but he doesn’t use his book to convince others of the same. Rather, he provides a tour of a diverse number of sites around Kentucky that, at least, evoke paranormal musings.
The author shares “five facets of life in the Commonwealth where ghostly happenings also occur.” The haunted entities he peruses are: restaurants, inns and hotels, parks and natural areas, roads and highways, and cemeteries. Let’s take a cursory tour of Meyer’s itinerary.
The Talbott Tavern, in Bardstown is noted for its travel stopping off point for many historical figures: Jesse James, Abe Lincoln, John James Audubon, Washington Irving and many others (provided photo).
In western Kentucky’s town of Paducah, population near 25,000, he says there are “more ghost stories and haunted locations than you could throw a spirit stick at!” There is Shandies, a restaurant in the old C.C. Cohen Building. Since the last member of the Cohen family, Stella Cohen Peine, died in 1980, reports of strange things purported to be from her ghost have happened. Those include “chairs mysteriously moving by themselves, salt and pepper shakers tipping over, lights flickering, ‘cold spots’, strange movements in mirrors and brass, and even glasses falling from parts of the bar.” The town also boasts (or “ghosts) Wildhair Studio’s Rock Shop, where the owner shares stories of haunting, and Paducah conducts a ghost tour annually in October.
Other ghostly-happening restaurants around the state include Boone Tavern, Berea, where they “occur on all floors both in the hotel and the restaurant,” says Meyer. Some restaurant workers there say they’ve seen an ice scoop shooting off the ice machine, along with unexplained utensil movement. The northern Kentucky town of Wilder has a paranormal location of near iconic stature: Bobby Mackey’s Music World. It’s recognized nationally, and the ghostly activities there, he says, revolve around two female figures who met tragic endings. There’s not enough time and space to add to this accounting, but Mackey’s offers guided tours of what their website calls “a legendary location of occult activity.”
The book also shares numerous Louisville eatery locations of boo-inspiring regard: Captain’s Quarters Riverside Grill, the café in Derby City Antique Mall, Café 360, Mark’s Feed Store, and the Phoenix Hill Tavern.
In looking at the potential spookiness of inns and hotels, the Talbott Tavern, in Bardstown, is something special. The inn is noted for its travel stopping off point for many historical figures: Jesse James, Abe Lincoln, John James Audubon, Washington Irving and many others.
That…and tragic events such as murders, terminal illnesses, along with unexplained noises and men talking and laughing who are not in sight of the listener are part of the ambiance.
Mentioned also is Bardstown’s Jailer’s Inn, where Meyer says an ongoing guest journal provides a goldmine of paranormal accounts. (My wife said she is now missing a white shoe after staying there. Stolen by a ghost?) More similar places across the state include: Historic Maple Hill Manor, Springfield; Springfield Winery Bed and Breakfast, Bloomfield; and the Lexington locations of Gratz Park Inn, Griffin Gate, and The Campbell House. Louisville has the The Brown and also the The Seelbach hotels, where a history of famous people stayed and ghosts now purportedly abide.
So what about the “scream appeal” of Kentucky’s parks and natural areas? Well, in the eastern part of Kentucky, one might check out Jenny Wiley State Resort Park. There are cemeteries on the grounds, but, says Meyer, the lodge seems to be the focus of haunting behavior, where “shadow figures have been witnessed, many have reported the apparition of a man entering empty rooms or hanging around the lobby, and cold touches from invisible hands have been felt.”
Then there’s The Ghost Bride that has been appearing at the Cumberland Falls State Resort Park since the 1950s, and at what is today called Young Park, in Harrodsburg, a young woman is said to have “danced herself to death” in the mid-1800s and “many claim her ghost still walks the ground.” And at the nearby Perryville Battlefield State Historic Site, many claim that the ghosts of some of those killed during the Civil War battle about 150 years ago are present.
Additionally, Meyer reminds us not to forget the strange goings-on at the roads and highways of the Bluegrass State. At the Colville Covered Bridge near Paris, some say that the spirit of Sarah Mitchell, who died on the bridge sometime in the 1930s, today cries for help amidst coughing and sobbing. Watch out for ghostly stuff playing out at different places on U.S. 25, which runs from Covington southward to Tennessee. In Sparta, where some serious auto racing occurs, a ghost of a pioneer boy may help you push your car uphill on KY 465/Boone Road.
Cemeteries around Kentucky are obviously ghost magnets, don’t you think? The Lone Oak German Cemetery, greater Paducah, “has it all—a werewolf, ghostly lights, and man-hating spirits.” At the Ridge Cemetery, near Glasgow, two brothers who killed each other in the 1880s “ring a tiny bell” to make their presence known today.
These items and places are just a few of the many “terror-ble” things that make up the narrative of Meyer’s Kentucky Haunts 144-page guide to a spooky journey around the Commonwealth. Hope you’ll avoid the tricks and enjoy the treats.
Steve Flairty is a teacher, public speaker and an author of six books: a biography of former Kentucky Afield host Tim Farmer and five in the Kentucky’s Everyday Heroes series, including a kids’ version. Steve’s “Kentucky’s Everyday Heroes #4,” was released in 2015. Steve is a senior correspondent for Kentucky Monthly, a weekly KyForward and NKyTribune columnist and a member of the Kentucky Humanities Council Speakers Bureau. Contact him at sflairty2001@yahoo.com or visit his Facebook page, “Kentucky in Common: Word Sketches in Tribute.” (Steve’s photo by Connie McDonald).
To read more of Flairty’s Kentucky by Heart series, click here.
