Tilley Bend Baptist Church is located in the mountains of Fannin County. It organized in 1858 and was relocated to this location in the late 1920s because the local electric company was creating a reservoir.
Based on what I’ve read in other sites, it seems the cemetery existed before the church was built since there were burials before the 1920s in the cemetery.
One fascinating tale is that Elizabeth Tilley Bradley put a hex on the fighting Tilly and Stanley families. No children were born or lived past infancy after this supposed curse was placed. Church and community members hung her from the tree in the center of the cemetery and buried her below the tree.
I don’t believe the story because why would a church bury a witch in their sacred burial grounds? However, this story has been repeated enough that someone was in the churchyard recently and burned something near the tree. Elizabeth’s head and foot stones are on the other side of the tree.
According to a couple of other blogs out there, this isn’t the first time for someone to find burns near the tree.
Other great reading on this church, and it’s graveyard can be found at:
Strange! Looks like an old crone’s face above the ” bet” portion of E.T.B.’s headstone. Pointed chin, mouth and Picasso-esque eyes! 🙂 🙂 🙂
The headstone does not match the name in the story. The headstone reads elizabeth Jane Bradley. The story says Elizabeth tilly bradley.
Her full name is Elizabeth Jane Tilley Bradley.