Haunted Auburn and Opelika

Faith Serafin, Michelle Smith, John Mark Poe

• Publisher: The History Press
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781609492304
• eBook ISBN: 9781614237426
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

Discover the ghostly presences that haunt this historic region of the South and its famed university—photos included!
 
The Auburn and Opelika region is home to one of the most historic universities in the South. It is a region with a history stretching back generations—and it is a history that is very much still alive.
 
Chilling remnants of the past continue to haunt Auburn-Opelika and the communities of Alabama's Lee County. Join a team of expert ghost hunters as they reveal for the first time the stories of the spirits still lingering throughout the area. The haunting of the University's Samford Hall, the legend of historic Springvilla mansion, and the Headless Man of Highway 80, among many other ghostly tales, uncover the darker side of Auburn-Opelika.
 

THE GHOSTLY FRONTIERSMAN

Before 1836, Salem, Alabama, was inhabited by Native Americans of the Creek tribe. The Indians who made this area home had done so since archaic times. Generations of Creek Indians migrated and lived in this area. Its fertile soil, rivers, lakes, small ponds and wildlife made it an ideal location for human habitation. Lower Creek tribes, or White Sticks, were a peaceful people mainly made up of farmers, gathers and hunters. Lower Creek Indians were not considered a threat to white settlers, and most early settlers in the area lived in harmony with the Indians.

On the other hand, Upper Creek tribes were considered very hostile and inhabited the lands just north of Salem, Alabama, in what are present-day Phenix City, Alabama, and Columbus, Georgia. The Upper Creeks, also known as Red Sticks, were in almost a constant state of war with their Lower Creek neighbors. The majority of the Creek tribes were removed during General Andrew Jackson’s raid, which forced most of the Upper and Lower Creeks back into what is now Wetumpka, Alabama, where they surrendered at Camp Jackson (now known as Fort Toulouse).

White settlers from the North and Northeast United States began traveling south and settled in Salem, Alabama, in 1835. Most of the settlers lived alongside the Lower Creeks with little to no problems. Occasionally, outbreaks of aggression and disturbances were reported in the early days of Salem. Living on the frontier was hard. People depended on their crops and what food could be hunted off the land. White settlers found the frontier way of life complicated, especially in the wake of unpredictable and sometimes hostile Indians. Sharing the land with these native people wasn’t easy.

Perhaps one of South Alabama’s greatest frontiersman stories is that of Eli Stroud. Eli Stroud was born in 1789 in Jackson County, Georgia. He married Elizabeth Durbin at seventeen years of age and moved to Conecuh County, Alabama, with his new bride, living among the Indians in that area. There was relative peace among the white settlers and the Indians until about 1813, when hostilities arose, and an outbreak of destruction and murder took place. Eli Stroud was committed to law and order, and when the State of Alabama called for volunteers to control the Indian outbreak, he was more than eager to oblige.

Mr. Stroud’s trusty sidekick was that of a long-barrel rifle. It had been in his family for more than seventy years. It’s rumored that this rifle had brought down more than one thousand deer and that Mr. Stroud was an excellent marksman, killing as many as eleven turkeys in one shot. With his trusty rifle, he was made captain over a small division of volunteers throughout the Indian Wars. His avid sense of adventure and background as a frontiersman made Eli Stroud the perfect individual to lead Alabama’s volunteers against hostile Indians. What Eli didn’t know was that his adventurous soul would soon be put to the ultimate test.

One afternoon in 1818, while in the midst of a hostile Indian uprising, Mr. Stroud was called to duty, along with his volunteer unit, to control the outburst. The Indians had become angry with the white settlers over the distribution of silver for lands once owned by Creek Indians. Also, the abundance of “fire water” made and sold by settlers to Indians didn’t help already flaring tempers. The Indians knew that little to no law was available to protect the settlers. With no regard for the “Pale Faces,” Indians began to run wild, and the settlers feared their unpredictability.

Eli Stroud was en route back to his home after visiting family in Georgia on March 13, 1818, when he happened to meet his longtime friend Mr. William Ogle on a road. William Ogle offered his home to Eli Stroud and his family for the evening. Knowing that the road home was dangerous and still more than twenty miles long, Eli took William’s offer to stay. They spent the evening with their families in true pioneer fashion. Around the campfire, they told stories of the dangers of frontier life and the passing of friends and family who had lived the hard life of the frontier. They talked of the trials and tribulations of living with the natives and their hopes of making a better life for their families.

While Eli and William sat in conversation, the friendly laughter of the two men caught the attention of a handful of disgruntled Indians, who were lying in wait just inside the surrounding forest. They made their way closer to the house and sat quietly, watching Eli and William. Upon standing, Eli began to feel as if they were not alone. His change in attitude sparked a cautious stance from William as well. A moment of silence was violently interrupted when suddenly the Indians sprang from the forest. Horrible screams and whooping erupted from the darkness. Then, the horrified men saw the Indians, armed with tomahawks and small-caliber rifles, running toward them. A sudden panic-stricken chaos ensued as the women ran inside the home in a desperate effort to try to save the children. William grabbed his rifle and began to fire on the angry assailants but was shot down on his porch and killed almost instantly by one of the crazed natives.

Mrs. Ogle, Elizabeth and Eli, along with the children, barricaded themselves inside the Ogle home in the vain hope that they would survive this savage attack. The attempt was short-lived as the Indians made their way into the house just moments later. The raid lasted only seconds, but in that time, Elizabeth Stroud and her infant child were slain by the angry mob. Elizabeth was scalped and left for dead alongside Mrs. Ogle and her six children—all murdered at the hands of bloodthirsty Indians, save one. Eli knew that in the chaos there were only seconds to save his life, so he ran out the front door of the house and into the forest.

Eli was distraught, mad with fear and blinded by pain and panic. He hid himself in a hollow log for hours. Praying for the light of day and that God would spare his life, grief stricken at the loss of his wife and child, he lay in that log until he could no longer hear the screams of his murdered friends and family. When all the awful whoops and cries of the Indians had faded, he crept from his hiding place, exhausted and terrified. His home was more than twenty miles away, and traveling the road was dangerous, especially on foot and in no more than his nightclothes. Eli made the decision to stay on the road in the hopes that someone would find him.

As he walked down the dusty road, he heard the familiar sound of beating hooves. He made his way a bit farther up the road and caught a glimpse of a wagon. He ran, spirited in his effort to gain the attention of the people on the wagon, but he wasn’t met with the hospitality he had hoped for. His horrible condition was not at all pleasant, and the people inside drove him aside like a mangy pup. He begged and pleaded with them for help, and again they denied him, fearing that he may be a madman. Eli was once again alone as he watched the wagon disappear in a dusty cloud.

Eli was without even the most basic necessities—he had no food, no water and not even a warm coat to keep the cool night air from chilling him. Somehow, against all odds, he made his way through the wilderness for three days and finally reached his home. He was relieved and was taken in by his community and given a hero’s welcome. Eli’s warm homecoming was short-lived when the initial relief of surviving in the wild for three days wore off. The grim reminder of his slain wife and child was left burned in his mind. Their screams still echoed in his head, and Eli was never to be the same man he had been before that awful night. Eli lived the next several years in seclusion.

In 1820, Eli met and married Elizabeth East, who blessed him with four children. They lived in Conecuh County, Alabama, until Elizabeth died of illness in 1827. He married again in 1830, to Miss Eliza Perry. Eli brought his new wife and family to an area near present-day Salem, Alabama. Mr. Stroud lived well into old age and died at the age of eighty-three on February 21, 1871. He was buried in the family cemetery located on the corner of Stroud’s crossroads, just outside the community of Smiths Station, Alabama. The stone in the cemetery that marks his grave once read:

This spot contains the ashes of the just,

Who sought no honors and betrayed no trust:

This truth he proved in all paths he trod,

An honest man’s the noblest work of God.

Today, the cemetery is not a spectacular site, but it is still interesting to see. Large amounts of granite exist in the terrain naturally, making awkward formations, and one has to wonder how in the world they could bury anyone here. The hard, stony ground would make it difficult for even the best spade to penetrate the rock. A single magnolia tree grows in the center of the stony ground among the graves. The ground stays covered in large magnolia leaves, making it a haven for snakes, spiders and all types of unusual life forms.

While Eli Stroud has been dead for more than one hundred years, many reports of ghostly sightings near the Stroud family cemetery suggest that old Eli may not be at rest. Several travelers and locals who live near the area have reported seeing a very tall, slender man roaming the cemetery with a spectral hound. While the ghost of Eli Stroud seems to be the most well-known resident haunt in the old cemetery, there are other reports of a ghost child having been observed there as well. Dressed in prominent eighteenth-century clothing, she has been seen dashing in front of cars traveling past the cemetery late at night. There are also eyewitness accounts of the same ghost girl stopping passing motorists and asking, “Where is Papa?”

The Eli Stroud family cemetery in Salem, Alabama.

Many locals seem to think that old Eli is still out hunting Indians or tracking wild game in the forest surrounding the old Stroud family cemetery. It is well known that people who live closest to the cemetery don’t like to go outside at night for fear of being attacked by Eli’s hound or perhaps shot at by the ghostly hunter himself. Mysteriously, animal bones are found regularly in the cemetery. Local folks insist that the bones are from the carcasses of the deer and hogs that Eli hunts and that his hound drags the bones into the cemetery in the late hours of night. Countless wild tales have been spun about the notorious Eli Stroud Cemetery for years, save one. The following is a personal experience that has only ever been shared between friends, until now.

On a calm, cool night in November 1992, two friends were driving home from a high school football game in Smiths Station, Alabama. Being that it was a long way home, the friends decided to take the shortcut through Smiths to Salem by the old Stroud Crossroads. The music blared loudly as the girls drove down the dark and curving country road. The two girls laughed and joked and didn’t pay much attention to the open road ahead of them. Suddenly, just inside the curve, a large deer jumped in front the car, and the driver slammed on her brakes to avoid hitting the animal.

The driver managed to stop the car within inches of the deer. Somewhat scared and a little upset, the two teenage girls let out a sigh of relief and then agreed to step out of the car for a second to make sure there was no damage to the car. The driver exited the car first, and the passenger followed. The girls walked around to the front of the car to survey the damage and were happy to see there was none. The deer had gotten away safely.

The passenger made the remark to the driver that she had heard that the road they were on was supposed to be haunted by a man who used to be a great deer hunter. The driver responded by saying, “Well, he’s obviously not that great, or he would have got that one.” The two girls snickered at the remark and got into the car to sort out their rattled nerves and proceed home. When the passenger started for the handle of the car door, she noticed an icy chill. She tried to shake off the chill, when suddenly she noticed the air temperature drop even more dramatically. It got so cold so fast that her teeth began to chatter.

The driver looked up from her door and said, “Erica, are you OK?”

“Look at my breath, Danielle!” Erica responded. “It’s so cold you can see it!”

“It’s that ghost hunter!” Danielle joked. “He’s coming to get you!”

“Oh shut up and get in the car!”

The two got back into the car and started to drive off when the car started to spit and sputter. “Are we out of gas?” Erica asked.

“No, the gauge says it’s full,” answered Danielle.

The two girls managed to start the car, and it chugged its way up the hill, where it completely cut off once again. This time, the girls had to get out and push the disabled vehicle up the rest of the hill and off the road.

The two girls didn’t realize that they had pushed the car onto the shoulder just outside the Eli Stroud cemetery. Confused and frustrated, the girls debated for the next several minutes about what to do. There was nobody they knew around the area for at least a few miles, and neither of them would dare walk into the house of someone they didn’t know to ask for help. Cellphones were not an everyday item during this time either. So walking, as dangerous as it was on an open country road, seemed like the only option left.

The girls gathered together their wits and a few personal items from the car and started off. They hadn’t gotten far when a male voice rose up from behind them: “You gals need a little help?” Startled and scared, the pair turned to see a man standing inside the cemetery gate. He was tall, with a small straw hat and brown pants with suspenders over a dingy white shirt. He looked a bit out of sorts, and neither of the girls wanted to acknowledge that he was even there. The girls stood in disbelief for a few seconds. Erica thought to herself, “Why in the world would some old guy be hanging out in that ragged old cemetery this late at night? He has to be crazy!” Danielle finally responded, “No, we’re OK.”

Erica whispered to Danielle, “There’s no one around here for miles. We could at least let him look at the car.”

“Are you crazy!” Danielle cried, “He may be some kind of lunatic!”

In a panicked state, the girls whispered back and forth, trying to decide what to do, when the man spoke again. “Young lady, I will have you know that I am a highly decorated military man and upstanding citizen. You have no reason to be afraid of me!” The tone in his voice had changed. He seemed a bit disturbed by the girls’ inability to comply with his offer to help. Finally, Erica convinced Danielle to at least acknowledge the man. Erica walked toward the fence, just out of reach of the man, and said, “Hi, I’m sorry, we don’t mean to be rude, but we’re a little scared. You see, we almost hit a deer just a little while ago, and now our car won’t start. Can you tell us where we might be able to find a telephone to call our parents?”

The old man replied, “A telephone? No, I’m afraid I don’t have a telephone.”

Erica then asked the old man, “Do you by chance know anything about cars?”

He responded, “No ma’am, I’m sorry. I don’t know anything about cars.”

Erica was a bit put off at this point since the old man had insisted on helping but didn’t seem to be much help at all. Danielle shouted, “Come on, Erica, let’s just go!”

Erica looked back at her friend and then turned to the old man and said, “Well, thank you for stopping to help us.”

He smiled politely and tilted his hat, then reached down and patted the dog at his side, which Erica had not noticed until that point. The man said, “You’re welcome, ma’am.”

The two girls proceeded to walk down the highway until finally, hours later, they reached Erica’s house. The girls explained to Erica’s parents what had happened to the car and about the old man in the cemetery. They phoned Danielle’s mom, and Danielle spent the night and agreed to go with Erica’s parents in the morning to recover the car.

The next morning, on the way to get Danielle’s car, Erica’s parents explained to them how dangerous it was to walk on the road at night. The girls expressed their concerns about the old man and the dog they had seen in the cemetery the night before. Erica’s fa...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• The Legend of Springvilla Mansion
• The Highwayman
• The Love of Charlotte
• Apartment 12
• Der Häftling Geist
• The Shadow Man at Villa Bar
• The T.K. Davis Justice Center
• The Moonshiner’s Ghost
• Salem Shotwell Bridge in Opelika Municipal Park
• Sydney Grimlett: The Most Famous Ghost on the Plains
• Samford Hall
• Pine Hill Cemetery
• The Pinetucket House and Mary Elizabeth’s Ghost
• Robert Trent Jones and the Ghost of Mary Dowdell
• The Legend of Chewacla
• The Legendary Confederate Camp Watts
• The Auburn Train Depot
• The Ghostly Frontiersman
• The Altar in the Woods
• The Ghost of Tandy Key
• The Brewington House
• The Little Girl in the Window
• The Devil’s Mouth at Moffitt’s Mill
• The Headless Ghost of Highway 80
• The Huguley Homes
• Bibliography
• About the Authors