allvoices - Tupelo, Mississippi has a rich history that lends itself to the paranormal activity that has been reported around the area. The town was originally called Gum Pond due to the numerous black gum trees in the area. However, it would be renamed in honor of the Battle of Tupelo that happened during the Civil War.The area is such a hot spot that Jumpin Gene Simmons (not KISS Front man) the co-writer of Tim McGraw's hit song, "Indian Outlaw" wrote a song in 1964 entitled, "Haunted House."
A little known fact that also lends itself to the possibility of paranormal activity is that Tupelo was used as a hiding spot for members of the Mafia. According to Dexter Babin, a life long student of the Mafia, "Although the group, "Dixie Mafia" wasn't a member of the Kosa Nostra. It was actually an association of criminals with different backgrounds."
Even just being criminals, the possibility that murders were not in the group is small. Murders tragically end lives shortly and lead to the possibility that some paranormal researchers believe lead to ghostly phenomenon.
One of the paranormal hot spots is "The Lyric Theater," a historic landmark that is still being used to this day. The story of particular interest, at least to enthusiasts of the paranormal is the tornado in the 30s that leveled the town. According to Tom Booth, Executive Director of the Community theater "The information about the use of the Lyric during the tornado that occured on April 5, 1936 is true."
Many sites have reported that the dead and dying of Tupelo were brought to the Lyric. Surgeries were performed by using the popcorn poppers to sterilize the instruments.
Local legends say that the theater is still haunted to this day. Probably the best time to visit the theater, if you want this kind of experience would be during the annual "Haunted Theater" event in October.
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HAUNTED TUPELO
Just south of Tupelo is a sign that was placed by the National Park Service which reads WITCH DANCE..
The old folks say the witches once gathered here to dance and that whenever their feet touched the ground the grass withered and died, never to grow again....
And the sign appears to be right. If you search around the area, you can actually find scorched spots on the earth where the grass will not grow.
These spots have been there for years, catching the interest of even Andrew Jackson, who noted the spots in his journal after a trip along the Trace on the way home to Tennessee.
The Trace is very old. It was traveled along by the explorer De Soto in 1541 and for more than 500 years before that, used by the Chickasaw and Choctaw Indians as the best way to travel.... but even they avoided the scorched places in the earth.
It has been told to me that if your car breaks down on the Trace, especially in front of Witch Dance, stay with your car.
Wait for a ranger.
Do not try to walk to get to a phone...
Or you might not make it...ever.
People disappear there. They always have. - Jeff
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My high school girlfriend and I were driving down the road on Lawndale Drive. I was taking her home which was 2-3 mins from my house. As we passed through the red light at the Gliff Cookin Blvd and Lawndale crossing, we saw an old man with a hat on, long coat. He was walking along the side of the road and as we got near him, my girlfriend asked if I had the AC on...said I didn't. When we passed him, I turned my head around and didn't see him again. I wonder if he died along that road or what. This was sighted on 2001 during Summer - Taylor
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On January 11, 2010, me and my friends were bored and decided to go ghost hunting which we do a lot. We wandered on to the Brewer Community Center in Tupelo Mississippi and decided to take a few pictures not expecting to catch anything. Little to our suprise we ended up cathing a green orb, a little girls face that apperared to be about 7 to 8 years old and an orb that when you looked closely had the shape of a skull floating in midair. Several reports of ghost sighting have come from the Brewer Community Center. - Patrick
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I got this one from my neighbor, a Mississipian. This incident occurred near Tupelo. Seems a hunter was out one evening running his coonhounds and they were up ahead of him when he heard them both yelp as if they were scared. Then all was silence. As he came out of the woods he realized he was in an old churchyard, one that had been long abandoned and overgrown. He was calling for his dogs but getting no response. Up ahead he could see the outline of the old church and then he stopped, frozen in terror. Through the broken down gate of the churchyard a woman dressed in long white flowing gown was walking. The hunter gained some composure and crept nearer. The woman walked across the churchyard and disappeared into the church, going right through the nailed shut door! The hunter turned tail and made a run for his truck and when he got to his truck made a hasty drive home, forgetting his hounds. The next day he returned to the church by an old road and found his dogs, they appeared skittish and the hunter figured the phantom had scared them first. - Z
Sources:
www.hauntedamericatours.com
www.allvoices.com
www.ghostsofamerica.com
www.haunted-places.com
Ghosts of Tupelo, Mississippi