The most haunted place in Cherokee County, AL

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

AL . com ran a piece in the spring of 2019 titled “The best-known ghost tale from each Alabama county.”

Now, when they get to Cherokee County, they tiptoe around whether the Old Commissary at Rock Run is actually haunted, or not.

The copy in the story reads “The ca. 1890s commissary that served the mining families still stands, but the vine-covered building is said to be the site of miners killed at the site.” 

Right away the fact that ‘miners’ is plural suggests that there might have been some sort of labor strike that erupted in violence and death in front of the commissary. 

But an exhaustive history of the Rock Run Furnace’s business operations by Lillian Garvin Grabenstedes in the 1981 application to list the site on Alabama’s Register of Landmarks and Heritage makes no mention of any labor unrest.

Nor do histories of the Rock Run Iron Company in Alabama Blast Furnaces by Joseph H. Woodward, nor one by Hugh Cardon in 1936 for the Cherokee Historical Society. These three histories do mention that an early version of the iron foundry was burned by Union troops during Streight’s Raid in 1863, but none say any miners were killed at that time.

The foundry was at its operating height during the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic. But the wording of AL. com’s article suggests that whatever happened, happened right in front of the commissary. Multiple miners dying of the pandemic doesn’t fit that profile.

What about multiple individual incidents that took place in front of the commissary, that, added together, give the place its haunted vibe?

This seems most likely. First up, we have the macabre case of Sy Blythe. The Weekly Advertiser, from Montgomery, Alabama, reported the following on July 21, 1893:

Gadsden, July 18 (Special): Sy Blythe, a young man 25 years of age, was struck by lightning and instantly killed at Rock Run furnace in Cherokee County Monday afternoon. He was employed to haul ore for the furnace and had just delivered a load. Leaving his team standing, he started for the Company’s store to escape the rain, when there was a blinding flash of lightning, the bolt striking him and producing instant death.

Then there’s Will Duke. Two newspaper articles dating to the period when the commissary was active involve his untimely death.

First, from the The Anniston Republic, Anniston, Alabama, January 3, 1903, page 7:

LOUIS GORDON BOUND OVER

Charged With Killing Duke at Rock Run Christmas Eve.

Mr. W.P. Acker returned Saturday from Rock run where on Friday he conducted the prosecution in the case of Louis Gordon charged with the murder of a man named Duke.

     The tragedy occurred at the Rock Run Furnace on Christmas Eve. The slayer of Duke is only nineteen years of age, while the latter was twenty five.

     At the conclusion of the trial the committing magistrate remanded Gordon to jail without bail. 

Followed two and half years later in the The Montgomery Advertiser, July 26, 1905 with:

Centre, July 25 (Special.) Louis Gordon, who killed Will Duke near Rock Run two years ago (Christmas 1903) by shooting him with a pistol, was found guilty of manslaughter In the first degree Saturday and sentenced to five years In the penitentiary. This case has been to the Supreme Court once when a Judgment and sentence of ten years’ imprisonment was set aside and the defendant granted a new trial. 

Two young men cut down suddenly, both in the prime of life. Maybe one had just proposed to his beloved, and was looking forward to their marriage. Or maybe the other’s first child was due in just a few more weeks. The record doesn’t tell us. But it’s not a far leap to picture either of these two, their short lives snuffed out with no warning, becoming caught in an unsettled state, and needing to hang around the site in the afterlife.

More ghost stories:

The Greenbrier Ghost(Opens in a new browser tab)

Halloween’s coming! Time for an Appalachian Ghost Story(Opens in a new browser tab)

Ghostlore – collected by Ruth Ann Musick(Opens in a new browser tab)