Guest post.

This entry has been written by Ari, the author of the Happy Cactus blog. The 20 Something Bloggers group assigned each of us to a partner. I'm writing an entry on her blog, and she's writing one on mine. Check out her site when you get the chance. Enjoy!

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Hello! I’m Ari from The Happy Cactus. I’m a twenty-something, graphic designing divorcé that lives in North Alabama with my rambunctious German Shepherd and I love my life.

And I love Halloween. I love everything about it – pumpkins, haunted houses, candy corn, costumes . . . all of it. This past weekend my mom, step-dad, and I went on the newly created Haunted Huntsville Ghost Walk. It’s supposed to be about an hour long walk around Olde Towne with a bit of history and some cute stories about the random specters that reside in some of the houses. Supposed to be.

Ours was 2.5hrs. trip through history with a long winded tour guide who was dressed as a Confederate solider who was way too excited about his job.

Here’s a little background about Huntsville – its one of the oldest towns in Alabama, located about 30 min. from the Tennessee border. We’re a military and space town. Remember Space Camp? Yeah. I can see it from my office window. Before the military base came here, we were a cotton town with 5 mills. We surrendered to the Union troops as soon as they set foot in our city limits.

So, this being a Southern military town, most of our ghosts are apparently from the Civil War. There were a few old South debutant women, a fair number of creepy kids, and a disgruntled former slave. They were kinda exciting but overall, I was rather disappointed. The history was cool, but I wanted some better ghosts. So I did some research of my own and found two places that you have to check out if you ever make it to the Rocket City.

1. Dead Children’s Playground. This is just as creepy as it sounds. Personally, I’ve only walked up to it before I got too scared and turned around. We have a large old cemetery on the edge of Olde Towne – anyone who was anyone in Huntsville is buried here (we even have a section of Confederate soldiers). Behind the cemetery is a neighborhood park, and the legend is that all the children who are buried in cemetery go here at night and play. You can hear kids laughing and see the swings moving. Its creeeeppppyyyy!

2. Hell House. This is an old home that has now been divided into 4 2 bedroom apartments. Personally, I’ve never been here, but I do have friends that have lived there. There have been 11 suicides committed in this house. The stories that my friends have told me include couches shaking, doors unlocking and opening, and balloons parading around the house. I really want to stay the night here – but I don’t know anyone who currently lives here.

So there you, a little bit of spookiness and some local legends to start off your Halloween week!


- Ari