Is your Town Haunted?

Anniston, AL
Anniston - Anniston High School girl's locker room - The legend of Anniston High School's locker room is known widely through out the school. The legend is told to all the new coming female freshmen that go to their lockers to dress out for P.E. They are told by what we call the "upper classmen" maybe to give them a little scare or perhaps to warn them from a revengeful ghost. The legend varies in detail from person to person but the main facts of the story are almost always the same...a girl is late dressing in and leaves a precious item and decides to go back to get it while sending her friend to hold the buses for her, a man then tries to rape and kill her but ends up dead and the body never gets recovered and the obvious conclusion is never go into the girl's locker room by yourself, always go in with one of your friends and never leave anyone alone in there. The incident that started this legend occurred not too long ago. This is how the legend goes: There was this girl (name is unknown) who was the type who always dressed in for P.E. She was the first to dress in and also the first to leave and dress back out. One day while coming in from playing outside she was late in dressing out. It was the last period of the day and she was hurrying so that she wouldn't miss her bus. Her best friend was late with her and they only had 2 minutes to dress back out instead of their normal 5 minutes. While they was hurrying to dress back out, other girls, who was already dressed out, was leaving to go in the gym and wait for the bell to ring that signaled the end of the day. Her friend was faster at putting on her school clothes but she was more slowly and took her time. Deciding to wait for her, her friend sat on one of the benches in there to keep her company. They rode the same bus and knew that it was almost always one of the first bus to be there and didn't want to get left. Soon after the girl finished putting on her clothes and they both walked out to sit with the rest of the students in the gym to wait for the bell she almost forgot that she left her purse in her locker. The bell then rung but she was concerned about leaving it since it contained all her money. The girl's best friend offered to go back with her to get it but instead she insisted that she get on the bus and tell the bus driver to hold it for her until she got on. At least this way, the girl thought, both of them wouldn't have to miss it. So the girl ran down the steps and entered the locker room to get her purse and her friend ran out to get on the bus and she relayed the message to the bus driver. As the girl got her purse and began to close and lock her locker she heard the door creaked and thought someone had came in. Thinking it was her coach she called her name to let her know that she was still in there and not to lock the door just yet. "Coach...coach! It's me, I left my purse. Please don't lock the door just yet," she yelled but she got no answer. She then heard footsteps that seem to draw closer to her. She then began to grow scared and forgot about her friend holding the buses for her. Suddenly she heard loud breathing that was so loud she was sure the person was right behind her. She panicked and dropped her purse as she ran the other way around the lockers toward the doors but was yanked to the back of the lockers as she turned the corner. She kicked and screamed as the hands of a big strong man tore off her shirt and began to rip off the rest of her clothes. He began to strangle her and scream at her to shut up. She continued to fight back and scream but her voice became parched and she couldn't scream anymore. She still didn't give up. Her last attempt was to pull a set of lockers down upon him and he lay there motionless and breathless... He was dead. In a fright she ran out the locker rooms to the bus stop. But she had taken to long and despite her friends' desperate attempt to hold the bus she had been left. She was still frightened by what had happened and called her mom to come and get her. After telling the shocking story to her mother with great trouble of reliving the incident, they called the police but when they inspected the scene they only found the pulled down lockers, the girl's purse and a bath full of blood. The body was nowhere to be found. The girl was more shocked then ever. She was for sure the man was dead and the amount of blood on the floor was a great loss for him to still be alive. Her fear was just to great to go back to where she had been raped and strangled and they moved and were never heard of again. Her friend soon grew knowledge of the incident and couldn't help to feel guilty of what had happen. If only she had waited a little longer or went back with her, maybe...just maybe she could have helped her. The man was never found but many say that he still lurks in the locker rooms waiting for an unexpected girl that's by herself to take revenge on for his death. Many didn't take this seriously until the incident seemed to reoccur when a girl in the band who was to play at a football game was left by herself to get dressed in. They left her and played all night without noticing she was gone. After the game had ended she was sitting in the parking lot crying. She wouldn't say what had happened but appeared to have been strangled and her clothes ripped and covered in blood. She then moved away without telling anyone of her dreadful story. Maybe she met the ghost and had fought back just like the girl...or maybe not. But what else could explain it. This happened recently in 2001. That's 2 years ago. Many girls have been known to hear footsteps when no one's there, seeming to draw closer and the sound of lockers seeming to close and shut and the door creaking open as if to let an unwanted stranger in when no one is there. You might also feel a cold chill come across you and hear loud breathing seeming as if someone is right behind you but always cease when you turn around.
Funny that no one I've talked to around here has ever heard of this.

Anniston -
Blockbuster - The store was robbed and 2 of the employees were killed the killer was caught but the store closed down and has remained standing. Many years before the Blockbuster incident the land on which the building sets was occupied by a gas station. In the late 1960's, a woman was brutally beaten, raped and murdered there. On the far right hand side is where her body was found. The murderer, on the other hand, never was. If you walk to the right side of the building which is were the killer supposedly exited the building you can feel the energy of the spirits it is in the form of like cold wind. - February 2005 Update: the building was partially torn down and remodeled. it is currently a doctor's office. the families of the men who were killed have left four crosses in the front of the building as a memorial.
I drove past this store the day of the murders...almost stopped to get a movie even. I decided it would be better if my wfie went with me to decide so I went on home and picked her up. Less than 15 minutes later we were back and the place was surrounded by police cars and an ambulance was out front. i told my wife then "someone's dead". She asked how I knew. "The ambulance doesn't have it's lights on."

The place has been a doctor's office for a couple of years now...and the crosses are still out front. I pass by them twice a day, every day.

Anniston -
Parker Memorial - Hauntings of a nun who killed herself by hanging herself in the main hallway. It has been known to still hear her kicking the chair out from under her feet and hearing the choking sounds late at night. The rope has been seen numerous times by many other churchgoers.
The very church where my membership is. Funny...it's been a Baptist church since it was originally constructed. We don't have nuns.

Anniston -
Stringfellow Memorial Hospital - The founder of the hospital Mary Stringfellow was an old organ player. The nurses say that if you are working the 3rd shift you can hear the organ being played in the chapel. But no one is there if you go and look. The other haunting is the story of a man committing suicide in one of the rooms by shooting himself in the head with a shotgun. Patients have said on numerous occasions that they can see the body of a headless man with blood on the wall in the corner of that room.
I've heard of these.

Anniston -
The Victoria - The Victoria was once a beautiful mansion. It's been adapted into a restaurant/hotel. Reports of the piano being played and footsteps in the main part of the building have scared more than a few visitors. Sometimes the glasses hanging in the bar clink, and a woman has been spotted on the upstairs landing.
Wouldn't be surprising. It's a beautiful old home I see every day.

I could add the Breman Museum and the Anniston Museum of Natural History. One of my best friends is the Facilities Manager for both and has had to deal with some crazy stuff over the years.