The Hanging Tree
*Click on photos to enlarge*
We stopped by the Ferry Plantation house yesterday to take some outside photos.
You might remember that I was there two weeks ago for the “Spirit tour”. We didn’t think the house was open, but walked around the front to get a few photos and as we did my daughter peeked in the window. We were talking about how we didn’t think the wind was what was making the nose we heard the night we were there. (You might remember we head taps on the glass upstairs) Rebecca shook the shudder a bit and Just as she looked in the window my grandson walked up behind her and his reflection in the glass startled her. She then picked him up to take a peek inside and as she did a face stared back at her. It was the director of the house, who was probably just as frightened. She (the director) came to the door, and we reminded her that we had been on the tour a few weeks ago. We stepped into the hall for a few minutes to chat. I wanted to know more about a couple of things that had been mentioned on the original tour. The first being the hanging tree out back.
In documents from the house we know that three slaves were hanged from it. The tree was struck by lightning at one point and I couldn’t help but wonder if the top branches that were struck are the ones that the hanging took place on or if it could be some of these that are remaining.
I don’t recall being told what year the hangings took place but know it was at lest as far back as the mid 1800’s. I was told however that a psychic has visited the tree and felt as if the bodies were thrown to this side of the tree. Which is the back of the tree if your walking from the house towards it.
I have to admit I felt a bit creepy walking around the tree. It wasn’t just from the thoughts of men hanging from the tree it was from knowing that I was walking on a scared Indian burial ground.
Yes a burial ground. That is the other thing I was dying to know more about. I had heard there was one somewhere on the property. As it turns out it was a large area of the back grounds. I am not sure how it was discovered but was told that almost immediately after it was that the owners put in this to keep the curious away.
Those are tennis courts and all of this grass area still has remains in it and also all around and under the courts. A one point some Native Americans visited. They left in a hurry saying they would never come back and said something about how the bodies could not rest because sacred things had been stolen and needed to be returned. Of course no one has any way of finding out what these “things” are.
I also saw the tree that was planted by Sally Rebecca Walke. Records indicate that this Southern Magnolia was planted in April 1863 in memory of her fiancé who died during the Civil War Measured at 131 inches circumference, and 75 ft. tall, in 2001.
The house also has a working well with an old pump that still works
Also if you look closely out back you can see the original road that ran out behind the house. (The front of the home was near the river)
I was really glad to get a chance to learn more of the history of the home and not just the “haunted” side. As much as I love the paranormlal I have to admit I am glad I don’t live near the home. I was told yesterday that some of the guest of the people who own the homes that were built on the plantation land had been by the house talking about dreams of men hanging in the trees and Indians cutting down the bodies and taking them away. Vivid dreams, but then again look how close the houses are.
*Note
Just to clarify things you should know that The Ferry Plantation house sits in the middle of a neighborhood in a cul de sac (court). Several Houses are on all four sides of Ferry Plantation home. These houses sit on what was once the land of the Plantation house.
We stopped by the Ferry Plantation house yesterday to take some outside photos.
You might remember that I was there two weeks ago for the “Spirit tour”. We didn’t think the house was open, but walked around the front to get a few photos and as we did my daughter peeked in the window. We were talking about how we didn’t think the wind was what was making the nose we heard the night we were there. (You might remember we head taps on the glass upstairs) Rebecca shook the shudder a bit and Just as she looked in the window my grandson walked up behind her and his reflection in the glass startled her. She then picked him up to take a peek inside and as she did a face stared back at her. It was the director of the house, who was probably just as frightened. She (the director) came to the door, and we reminded her that we had been on the tour a few weeks ago. We stepped into the hall for a few minutes to chat. I wanted to know more about a couple of things that had been mentioned on the original tour. The first being the hanging tree out back.
In documents from the house we know that three slaves were hanged from it. The tree was struck by lightning at one point and I couldn’t help but wonder if the top branches that were struck are the ones that the hanging took place on or if it could be some of these that are remaining.
I don’t recall being told what year the hangings took place but know it was at lest as far back as the mid 1800’s. I was told however that a psychic has visited the tree and felt as if the bodies were thrown to this side of the tree. Which is the back of the tree if your walking from the house towards it.
I have to admit I felt a bit creepy walking around the tree. It wasn’t just from the thoughts of men hanging from the tree it was from knowing that I was walking on a scared Indian burial ground.
Yes a burial ground. That is the other thing I was dying to know more about. I had heard there was one somewhere on the property. As it turns out it was a large area of the back grounds. I am not sure how it was discovered but was told that almost immediately after it was that the owners put in this to keep the curious away.
Those are tennis courts and all of this grass area still has remains in it and also all around and under the courts. A one point some Native Americans visited. They left in a hurry saying they would never come back and said something about how the bodies could not rest because sacred things had been stolen and needed to be returned. Of course no one has any way of finding out what these “things” are.
I also saw the tree that was planted by Sally Rebecca Walke. Records indicate that this Southern Magnolia was planted in April 1863 in memory of her fiancé who died during the Civil War Measured at 131 inches circumference, and 75 ft. tall, in 2001.
The house also has a working well with an old pump that still works
Also if you look closely out back you can see the original road that ran out behind the house. (The front of the home was near the river)
I was really glad to get a chance to learn more of the history of the home and not just the “haunted” side. As much as I love the paranormlal I have to admit I am glad I don’t live near the home. I was told yesterday that some of the guest of the people who own the homes that were built on the plantation land had been by the house talking about dreams of men hanging in the trees and Indians cutting down the bodies and taking them away. Vivid dreams, but then again look how close the houses are.
*Note
Just to clarify things you should know that The Ferry Plantation house sits in the middle of a neighborhood in a cul de sac (court). Several Houses are on all four sides of Ferry Plantation home. These houses sit on what was once the land of the Plantation house.
Labels: Around Town, Local Hauntings, Paranormal
posted by Patty at
Sunday, March 15, 2009
4 Comments:
Wow, that was a very interesting story, I really enjoyed it. I had to lol at the thought of your daughter peeking in the window and the director peeking back out at her,lol..I love learning the history of these old houses. Wish I could learn more on mine.
thanks for this it made me think of the remains of a tree is still standing in the forest about 4 miles from here~i remember when my dad took us to visit it once but i have never been back~i must go there!
also in dorest where we lived there were old 'fingerposts' on crossroads and junctions directing travellers~if you found a red one it marked where in the past local hangings took place!
I once lived in a house that was part of a farm property in the
1800's, I belive. Before it was a farm, it was a burial ground on Indian land.
That was the scariest house that I have ever lived in and I have lived in some pretty scary places! We lived there for no more than a month...There was so much stuff that happened that I couldn't even begin to recount it all...Crying babies, apparitions, cold spots..It goes on and on. After one awful night we left first thing in the morning and everything that was still there at dusk stayed there. We never went back into that house again. It was THAT bad.
I volunteer there, and know that it is a cool place to go!
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