Ida Bennett Bass was the daughter of prominent Atlantans, Benjamin and Mary Elizabeth Bennett. She married Charles Bass, who was from a prominent Rome family. They had four children, but only one lived past infancy. During her third pregnancy, she died during childbirth while giving birth to twins. The son, Edward, died the next day, and her daughter Miriam lived another two months.
Ida’s parents refused to bury their child in Rome and brought her to Atlanta to be buried in Oakland Cemetery. One story about Ida is that her ghost will travel from Atlanta to visit her children and husband who are buried in Myrtle Hill Cemetery in Rome.
Edward Bass in Myrtle Hill Cemetery.
Another story about Ida is that when the house she lived in caught on fire, one wall was untouched. When workers went to remove a mirror, they found an image of a mother holding two infants.
Charles Bass and his second wife, Marjorie, are buried in Myrtle Hill Cemetery.
The daughter Miriam is buried in Oakland Cemetery.
Built in 1929, this apartment building served as apartments, condos, and a home for elderly widows. The most famous guests are the ghosts of three older women who lived in the building. They are known to throw drinking glasses and whisper to rude guests, “Get out!” If you are a long-term resident, they supposedly leave you alone.
A private residence now, this home began as a lodge and tavern in 1808. Anthony Foster Jr. started to build the home in 1801. The bricks of the home were made by the people that the Foster family enslaved. It was a well-known stagecoach stop, and it was the last stop before people would head to the Glenn Springs resort town.
As a kid growing up in Spartanburg, there were always stories of this place being haunted. As an adult, I don’t believe in the existence of ghosts, but I remember peering out the car windows and looking up at the house to see if a ghost would appear. I never saw one, but I had many friends who claimed they did.
The home is in amazing condition which is a testament to the people who built this home. Another remarkable aspect of this home is that it has been continuously occupied since 1808. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.
Founded in 1883, Oakwood Cemetery is the final resting place for many prominent members of Spartanburg. The cemetery is often referred as “Hell’s Gate Cemetery” for the oft-reported paranormal phenomena. Some claim a woman in white walks the grounds. It’s often listed as the most haunted cemetery in South Carolina.
The cemetery was vandalized, and a skull was removed from a coffin. It was returned a few weeks later.
It’s a lovely smaller town cemetery with some Victorian monuments.
The cross that greets visitorsCarrie Harris marker in Potter’s FieldA memento left on a child’s grave in Potter’s FieldThe crown of thorns on a wooden cross with no nameFloyd family markerA view of the cemeteryThe Converse family plot marker
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.
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:
If you’ve ever visited St. James Episcopal Cemetery in Marietta, Georgia, you were likely looking for the final resting place of JonBenét Ramsey. Another reason is to visit the supposedly haunted grave of Mary Meinert (1863-1898).
The striking marker of the mother holding her two babies stands out in the cemetery. At night, people claim they can hear the cries of a weeping woman, who they believe is Mary. Some say that if you get close enough that you can see the tears on her face. Others claim to hear a young child crying for their mommy or that the twin babies switch positions in her arms. On Halloween night, you can circle the marker three times and ask, “Mary, Mary, how did your children die?” and she will appear.
According to her obituary, Mary left behind six children, two of them being twin girls that were only four weeks old. By the 1900 census, Henry Meinert is listed as a widow with four children. I am unable to determine when the two twin girls passed away. The mother died of a lung ailment, but it was likely a birth complication.
Obituary from the Marietta Journal‘ on May 26th 1898 (page 1)
The Death Angel Darkens a home
Death has again invaded the happy home in Marietta and took a pure and good wife and a loving devoted mother. Mrs. Marion Meinert wife our esteemed fellow citizen Mr. Henry Meinert. The sad event occurred last Saturday morning about 11:30 o’clock. The deceased had been sick some four weeks, her lungs being involved.
She was one of the most patient, lovable women in Marietta. She had a heart that sympathized with suffering humanity and one who did more charitable work in visiting the poor and sick ministering unto their need that did Mrs. Meinert. She was a truly a disciple of Christ and went about doing good.
She was in her 34th year of her age at the time of her death. She leaves behind her husband and six children, of that number were twin girls four weeks old.
The funeral services were conducted at the family residence on last Sunday afternoon at 4 o’clock, Rev J.H. Patton officiating. There was a number of our citizens present.
The casket was literally covered with flowers, some arrange in beautiful designs, offerings of friends. The internment took place in the Episcopal cemetery. We tender our sincere sympathy to the bereaved husband, children, relatives in this their sad hour of their grief.
