Ghost Met Ghost In Susong Cemetery

By Bud Phillips
Special to the Herald Courier
Published: June 29, 2008

This strange and rather humorous event took place long after the last Susong descendent had left the large old family home at the foot of the hill below the family cemetery.
At the time this occurred, the former Susong home was occupied by a family of tenants. My informant of several years ago, Leona Teagarden, thought the family name was Rachel or Rabbell. She had a picture of the son of that family, Herman, who figures in this story.
According to her, this son married a cousin of hers but soon left Bristol for somewhere in the west and never returned. Be that as it may, she remembered that the family was large, consisting of the parents, a grandmother, seven sons and five daughters, all of varying ages.
Naturally, this large family had many friends among the younger crowd in the area. A favorite gathering place for this young set was the large old Susong home.
Teagarden remembered that occasionally “frolics” were held there. This word of long ago meant a party or dance or both. One Saturday night, one of those “frolics” drew an extra large crowd.
At that time, stories were circulating that ghosts were being seen and heard in and near the old Susong burying ground.
Two men hunting in that vicinity one night said they saw a white robed figure walking among the tombstones there. Others claimed to have had similar experiences.
During a late lull in the party, the young folks got to talking of these “supposed ghosts.” Several in the crowd would be traveling home along an old road that passed close by the old overgrown cemetery. It was clear that some of them, especially the girls, were becoming a bit nervous about the situation.
The son, Herman, quickly developed a plan for having a little post-party fun. Unnoticed, he slipped from the crowd, passed through a back room, took a sheet from the bed and headed up to the supposedly haunted cemetery.
Unknown to him, another young man got the same idea. He quietly slipped away and raced to his home near what is now Randolph Street. There he got a sheet and headed back to the old cemetery.
The place was then surrounded by thick brush. Herman took a position near the north side of the cemetery, while the other man slipped into the brush on the south side completely unaware of the other’s presence.
Soon came the chattering of a group of people coming up the hill. Both “ghosts” rose up and quickly walked to the cemetery. They were almost face-to-face before either saw the other one. Both jumped sky high, gave blood curdling yells and like chased deer sped away – each toward his home.
Those coming up the road heard yelling and screaming and saw jumping, white robed figures racing toward them. No one impeded their path, but they joined in the yelling and screaming and fled in all directions into the surrounding woods.
Near the foot of the hill, one racing “ghost” missed a turn and ended up in a saw briar patch that tore the sheet and much of his clothing into shreds. His hide didn’t fare much better.
Herman created quite a bit of excitement when he crashed through the back door at the old Susong home still yelling with every breath.
The other man didn’t fare much better. Heading northwest towards home, he cut across someone’s yard and stirred up a big white English bulldog. That enraged bulldog attacked him from behind ripping the sheet and most of the poor man’s pants, along with a chunk or two of his flesh.
He might have done more damage had the greatly frightened man not climbed a tree. There he stayed until the owner of the place came out and restrained the still angry dog. The “ghost” then resumed his flight homeward.
You may be sure that neither of these young men ever played “ghost” again.

BUD PHILLIPS is a local historian and author. He can be reached at (276) 466-6435.