CHAPTER 1

The Haunted Place

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As Dad and his brothers grew up along the bottoms and bluffsin west Tennessee they were like any other young people of thatera. There were no automobiles or parents with automobiles tocarry them places. If they wanted to go to a function of some sortthey either walked or rode a mule. Even though riding the mulesounds like a better option, taking care of him before, during andafter the trip definitely made it less attractive. Most of the timethey just walked.

Timing was a real issue as well. To Paw, day light during the week,Monday through Saturday was for work. That left very few hoursin the day for visiting or going to town. So Dad and the other kidsbecame very adept at traveling in the evening and not staying toolate before heading home.

There was a place however that even the stoutest spirit amongthem hated to go. It was over a bridge on the road betweenThree Points and Fulton. That bridge spanned a creek thatpassed through the old breast works, fortification trenches,at Fort Pillow. Fort Pillow was a fortification built on the bluffsoverlooking the Mississippi by the confederates during the civilwar. The confederates had built an extensive system of trenchesto protect the side away from the bluff.

There were three horrific battles fought around the fort. The fortwas lost, taken back and lost again by the confederates. Duringthose battles and retreats, there were atrocities visited on bothsides by opposing forces.

Close to the bridge I spoke of earlier in this account, there was ahospital built by the confederates. It was outside the confines ofthe fort to apparently to allow for easy access to the water in thecreek. Dad said that it was always believed that the confederateshad dug an escape tunnel from the hospital back through thebreast works into the fort in case they were overrun by Yankeescoming up from the road to the landing at Fulton. Although I haveheard this story many times from Daddy, I have never read aboutit from any other source.

Dad said that during the initial battle with Grant's forces thehospital was evacuated. The surgeons and patients entered thetunnel and went to the fort. When the Yankees entered the threeroom building they found no one and claimed it for their use.Apparently they did not find the entrance to the tunnel. The fortfell and the Yankees became the defenders. History notes thatconfederate forces took back the fort and lost it again severaldays later. Dad never was clear on exactly what point of thebattle that the confederate doctors re-entered the hospital butit is integral to the story. It is related that they again were goingto evacuate. However enemy forces had taken the fortificationsand had blown up the end of the escape tunnel. The surgeons andpatients were now in the tunnel when the Yankees entered thehospital. Upon seeing the entrance to the tunnel and not knowinghow many rebel soldiers may be hiding in there, they simplycollapsed the entrance effectively burying them alive.

The story passed that on moonless nights the voices of thetormented surgeons and rebel soldiers could be heard from thebridge over the creek. Imaginations would construct pictures ofghoulish figures in uniforms and surgeons smocks creeping upfrom the nether regions to accost the hapless souls traveling by.Pretty spooky stuff.

On this particular Saturday night the boys had been to a danceat a house just this side of Fulton. In those days a dance was notsuch as we have today. It was usually held at someone's house.Any refreshments that were provided were the responsibilityof the guests. To create a dance floor, the family would move allthe furniture out of the front room onto the porch. Sometimessaw dust was scattered about to enhance the foot action ofthe dancers. There were always musicians of sorts. Someonewould bring a guitar, a fiddle...