The Ghost Tour: Selma, Alabama

The Ghost Tour: Selma, Alabama

The GHOST TOUR
A printed version of this is available at the Centre for Commerce, 912 Selma Avenue, open 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday or the Visitor Information Center at 2207 Broad Street, open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.

Other self-guided tour brochures are available by visiting the Centre for Commerce.
BEGIN THE TOUR
As you enter Selma, follow the green informational signs leading you to the Centre for Commerce at 912 Selma Avenue. Just down the street is Grace Hall and where your self-guided tour begins. For group tours of the city, museums or cemetery, please make appointments with the Tourism Division of the Centre for Commerce at (334) 875-7241 or 1-800-45-SELMA. Head North on Lauderdale Street, crossing through the Dallas Avenue/Hwy 22 intersection to the 500 block. On your right you will see Grace Hall.
GRACE HALL
This beautifully restored antebellum structure is believed to be th home of "Miz Eliza", who has been a regular guest since 1982 when Grace Hall became a Bed & Breakfast. Several other ghosts have been spotted over the years for a total of five spirits believed to share the home with the owners and their guests. Grace Hall no longer has temporary guests as a Bed & Breakfast, but has gone back to hosting its "permanent residents", the ghosts. It is now a private residence and a "drive by" stop on this tour.
Travel North on Lauderdale to the traffic light at the intersection of Lauderdale and Furniss. Turn left and travel two blocks. Turn left onto Tremont Street. One block down on the right is the next place to pause.
GERALD
Gerald lives at 501 Tremont Street, the gray house on your right. The owner of this home says that "Gerald" is a very strong willed spirit who gets upset when things are changed in the house. He wanders freely through the house and moves things around when they are not to his liking. He seems to have several spots where he does not want anything put, one being a shelf in the kitchen which he has claimed. Any item put there is promptly moved, never broken, simply moved to another area. "Gerald" communicates with the mother and children is this family, who have never seen him, only felt his presence.

You will turn left on Abbott Avenue which is directly across the street from "Gerald's" house and go one block to Church Street. Turn right. At the first traffic light turn right on Dallas Avenue or Highway 22. Two blocks down on you left, on the first corner of the Dallas Avenue/Union Street intersection, is the George Baker house.
BAKER HOUSE
This house was built prior to 1861. The grounds of this home were the scene of a skirmish during the fall of Selma. A wounded Union soldier crawled under the staircase and died following the battle. They say the blood is still visible under those stairs today. The current residents hear footsteps upstairs even though the second story burned many years ago and was never replaced.

The Old Live Oak Cemetery will be on your left about one mile down. Turn left into the cemetery and park. Tour Old Live Oak.

CEMETERY TOUR
William Rufus King:

One of Cahawba's most illustrious inhabitants was William Rufus King. In his lifetime, King served as U.S. Senator, Ambassador to France and as Vice-President of the United States. King and associates organized a business called the Selma Land Company, which held its first auction in May of 1819. The name Selma, meaning high seat or throne, was chosen for the town envisioned by Mr. King.
Senator John Tyler Morgan:

Morgan was first, foremost, and always a Southerner, often braving storms of protests from fellow Democrats to support measures that he felt to be in the best interest of Alabama and the rest of the South. Morgan is known as "the father of the Panama Canal", a measure he strongly supported. By 1860, Morgan was a leading political fixture who represented Dallas county at the state secession convention following the presidential election of Abraham Lincoln. Morgan voted in favor of secession and was soon commissioned to the Alabama Infantry as a major. He later recruited the 800-man 51st Alabama Cavalry where he became general. He was elected to the US Senate in 1876 and served for 30 years.
Grave of Rev. Arthur W. Small:

Minister of First Presbyterian Church, site of the famous Lady Banksiae rose which shed its petals as his body was brought from the Battle of Selma, of which he was a casualty.
John M. Parkman:

The legendary "ruined banker" that still resides at Sturdivant Hall which you will visit later in this tour.
Confederate General Edmund W. Pettus:

In 1858 Judge Pettus moved to Dallas County where he became a member of the law firm Pettus, Pegues, and Dawson. In 1861, he joined the Confederate Army at Cahawba. He was elected to the Senate in 1896. The bridge named in his honor opened in 1940 and was the sight of the Voting Rights march in the 1960's.
Benjamin Sterling Turner:

Turner was a slave to Dr. James Gee, owner of the St. James Hotel. While Dr. James Gee was off at war, Turner ran the hotel. He set up a stable and wood yards of his own. In 1862, Turner bought $200 worth of Confederate bonds and is said to have had more money than his former master by the time he was freed in 1865. In 1870, Turner became the first black congressman from Alabama.
Commander Catesby ap Roger Jones:

A native of Virginia, he commanded the naval ordinance works here and the Ironclad vessel "Merrimac" in the battle vs the Monitor. Jones also helped perfect the design of the famous Brooke Cannon, the largest and best made. He came to Selma in 1863 and married local girl, Gertrude Tartt. The Jones family still resides in his home on Tremont Street and are still very prominent in the community. A fictionalized Commander Jones was featured in a Civil War series on television recently. Notice the "ap" preceding the middle name. This is a Welsh tradition that the family still follows today. It means son of, for example Catesby, son of, Roger Jones.
"Miz Eliza" - Eliza Evans Jones:

Born in 1856 and died in 1940. She moved into Grace Hall after the Civil War to help her widowed niece run the boarding house she had established there. (Groups may tour this Bed & Breakfast for the complete story of the ghost whose little black dog still remains by her side.)
Grave of Col. NHR Dawson & Elodie Todd Dawson (half-sister to Mary Todd Lincoln):

This statue was carved in Italy. When it arrived in Selma Mr. Dawson wasn't satisfied with the hair as it was not as beautiful as his wife's, so he returned it to Italy be re-done. NHR Dawson was one of Selma's leading citizens during the mid-1800's. He later became the first Alabamian ever to serve as a U.S. Commissioner of Education. Dawson was active in reorganizing the Democratic and Conservative party to oppose the Republicans during Reconstruction. In 1880, he was chosen Speaker of the Alabama House. He helped to raise money for both Dallas Academy and the city's Charity Hospital. He served as senior warden at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Selma, where his funeral services were held.
Confederate Circle Monument:

Notice the graves of soldiers are to the south of the monument and the cannons point toward the north, forever protecting the brave men who died for their cause.
Exit the back of the cemetery and turn left onto Selma Avenue. Travel east on Selma Avenue three blocks looking for #607 on your left.

TROTTER HOME
His presence came as quietly as a breeze softly ruffling the leaves on a warm, summer day. A shadow seen from the corner of your eye in the quiet stillness of late afternoon, a fluttering in the lamp lit corner of the room, let them know that he was around and that the house was remembering... This family tried to rationalize away the many occurrences that their spirit seemed to cause while trying to get their attention. Doors open that had been firmly shut, lights turned on in empty rooms, knocks, steps, falling plants, exploding jars and floating balls of light are only a few happenings that made this family realize that they share their home with the unknown. Once they accepted this they began researching the former residents of the house. They soon discovered that a 21 year old young man, who lived in the boarding house with his mother, had met a tragic death. He was killed in an automobile accident. He died 50 years to the day before the new owners signed a contract on the house, lay in state in the dining room for three days and was buried 50 years to the day before the family moved into the house. Another uncanny, unexplainable circumstance is that one of the daughters had a boyfriend who could have been the twin brother of their presence. The family had obtained a photograph of him and were completely taken aback when they looked into the face so familiar to them. This home was featured in the FOX Network show Encounters which was filmed in Selma recently. The psychic connected with the show had several "brushes" with the spirit. He confirmed the suspicion of the owners of the house and also mentioned the presence of another entity. The family had seen her too. They believe that it is the boys mother who in death, just as in life, never seems to be far from his side.

Continue on Selma Avenue and turn left on Mabry, the next street. Continue north on Mabry four and one-half blocks until you see Sturdivant Hall on your left at 713. Please go inside for the guided tour and hear the story of John Parkman who is believed to still be residing in the home.
STURDIVANT HALL
Completed in 1853 by Colonel Edward T. Watts, the elegant mansion remained in the family until 1864 when it was purchased by John McGee Parkman, a young industrialist who went from a bank clerk to bank president in a few short years. Legend has it that while serving time in the federal prison at Cahawba for poor investment of bank funds, Parkman attempted a daring escape with the aid of his friends. It is believed that he was either shot to death or drowned after diving into the river. The volunteers at "the big house" can tell you story after story of the activities of John Parkman. Encounters even caught the front door opening and closing by itself on film for the segment they produced on Selma's ghosts.

Reverse your direction on Mabry and go one-half block. Turn left on McLeod Avenue and go three blocks to Lauderdale Street. As you turn right onto Lauderdale "The Castle" is above you on the right.
THE CASTLE
This German Gothic house even looks haunted at first glance because of its overgrown yard and long multi-paned stained glass tracery windows beneath sharply pointed dormers. The Weaver house was completed in 1865 and is said to be copied from a castle on the Rhine. The Weavers were one of the founding families of Selma and their house stands in what once was a walnut grove which supplied craftsmen much of the wood used inside the home. The present owner first detected the presence not long after they moved in. She kept hearing faint music somewhere in the house when she lay in her bed at night. A few years later they began hearing voices speak to them. Once when the family dog was in the kitchen barking someone said "Dog, shut up!" Of course no one had been in the room with them at the time. Each time the voices are heard they are clear and distinct, there is never any doubt what has been said. A few years ago a friend was installing a ceiling fan while the owner was out of the house. While up on the ladder he was asked "What are you doing?" When the owner returned home she found her friend waiting outside, unwilling to re-enter the house alone. Another spooky episode was when the person delivering her paper in the wee hours of the morning noticed a light on in the attic. When the paper carrier, a fellow school teacher, mentioned it the owner replied that it couldn't have been because the attic isn't wired for electricity.
In the next block up on Lauderdale you return to your starting point. Please make sure to visit the many historic attractions and museums in Selma before the end of your stay.

Chamber of Commerce
334.875.7241