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Ghost of Captain Norman Staples
May. 12th, 2014 07:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crantzBLADON SPRINGS BLADON SPRINGS CEMETERY
The ghost of Captain Norman Staples has been reported hovering over the graves of his four children: James Alfred, Berth Jaddetta, Mable Claire, and an unnamed baby. His ghost is said to have fled his burning stern -wheeler (see James T. Staples Riverboat, below) and taken refuge in the cemetery here. Staples’s apparition seems to be protecting the grave although the captain is sometimes seen with his hands pressed against his head, as if he is suffering from great anguish or regret.
(Bladon Springs is in Choctaw County in southwestern Alabama. Take County Road 6 south from I-84. The cemetery is located on County Road 6. Follow Highway 84 east from the town of Bladon Springs for five miles. About a half mile after the bridge, turn right onto County Road 6 and follow it for three miles.) 15
Hauck, Dennis William (2002-08-27). Haunted Places: The National Directory: Ghostly Abodes, Sacred Sites, UFO Landings, and Other Supernatural Locations (Kindle Locations 100-107). Penguin Group US. Kindle Edition.
James T. STAPLES RIVERBOAT
Some believe that this proud riverboat was destroyed by the ghost of its captain. The stern- wheeler’s maiden voyage was in 1908. The most elegant vessel on Alabama’s rivers, it was named after the father of the ship’s designer and first captain. His son Norman, captain and owner of the ship, had a hard time making ends meet because of unfair practices by a large steamboat company that wanted to operate all the boats on the river. Finally, in December 1912, creditors seized his beloved ship and turned it over to his competition. On January 2, 1913, Captain Staples held a shotgun against his chest and pulled the trigger.
Three days after he was buried, crew members began seeing the shadowy figure of their dead captain in the hold of the ship. The entire engine room crew quit and had to be replaced with workers who had never heard of the ghost. Next, all the rats that lived on the ship scurried ashore, a frightening premonition of things to come. Staples’s ghost was seen roaming around the boilers belowdecks. Finally, on January 13, 1913, the ship docked at Powe’s Landing to take on wood.
At the exact hour that Captain Staples took his own life, the boiler on the James T. Staples exploded, killing her new captain and twenty-five others. The rest of the crew and passengers , many badly injured, were able to flee the blazing ship before it broke its moorings and drifted downstream. It finally sank near the shore of the cemetery where Captain Norman Staples had been buried . See Bladon Springs Cemetery, above.
Hauck, Dennis William (2002-08-27). Haunted Places: The National Directory: Ghostly Abodes, Sacred Sites, UFO Landings, and Other Supernatural Locations (Kindle Locations 108-114). Penguin Group US. Kindle Edition.
The ghost of Captain Norman Staples has been reported hovering over the graves of his four children: James Alfred, Berth Jaddetta, Mable Claire, and an unnamed baby. His ghost is said to have fled his burning stern -wheeler (see James T. Staples Riverboat, below) and taken refuge in the cemetery here. Staples’s apparition seems to be protecting the grave although the captain is sometimes seen with his hands pressed against his head, as if he is suffering from great anguish or regret.
(Bladon Springs is in Choctaw County in southwestern Alabama. Take County Road 6 south from I-84. The cemetery is located on County Road 6. Follow Highway 84 east from the town of Bladon Springs for five miles. About a half mile after the bridge, turn right onto County Road 6 and follow it for three miles.) 15
Hauck, Dennis William (2002-08-27). Haunted Places: The National Directory: Ghostly Abodes, Sacred Sites, UFO Landings, and Other Supernatural Locations (Kindle Locations 100-107). Penguin Group US. Kindle Edition.
James T. STAPLES RIVERBOAT
Some believe that this proud riverboat was destroyed by the ghost of its captain. The stern- wheeler’s maiden voyage was in 1908. The most elegant vessel on Alabama’s rivers, it was named after the father of the ship’s designer and first captain. His son Norman, captain and owner of the ship, had a hard time making ends meet because of unfair practices by a large steamboat company that wanted to operate all the boats on the river. Finally, in December 1912, creditors seized his beloved ship and turned it over to his competition. On January 2, 1913, Captain Staples held a shotgun against his chest and pulled the trigger.
Three days after he was buried, crew members began seeing the shadowy figure of their dead captain in the hold of the ship. The entire engine room crew quit and had to be replaced with workers who had never heard of the ghost. Next, all the rats that lived on the ship scurried ashore, a frightening premonition of things to come. Staples’s ghost was seen roaming around the boilers belowdecks. Finally, on January 13, 1913, the ship docked at Powe’s Landing to take on wood.
At the exact hour that Captain Staples took his own life, the boiler on the James T. Staples exploded, killing her new captain and twenty-five others. The rest of the crew and passengers , many badly injured, were able to flee the blazing ship before it broke its moorings and drifted downstream. It finally sank near the shore of the cemetery where Captain Norman Staples had been buried . See Bladon Springs Cemetery, above.
Hauck, Dennis William (2002-08-27). Haunted Places: The National Directory: Ghostly Abodes, Sacred Sites, UFO Landings, and Other Supernatural Locations (Kindle Locations 108-114). Penguin Group US. Kindle Edition.
