The Myth of Sally Carter

Huntsville, Alabama, is home to so much Alabama history—old and new. Legends and lore abound in the city—including stories of the ghostly kind. Many people claim to have seen restless spirits at various locations throughout the city, particularly on historic properties. One such location is Cedarhurst, a mansion built in 1823, soon after Alabama became a state.

The ghost of Sally Carter has been seen by multiple people at Cedarhurst. Sally Carter was only fifteen years old when she visited her sister at Cedarhurst in 1837. Not long after her arrival, she became ill and bedridden. She died soon after and was buried on the property right before her sixteenth birthday. Long after she died, rumors of her spirit haunting Cedarhurst’s halls became a popular tale.

​​In 1919, one of the first recorded and well-known legends about Carter came when a 17-year-old boy from Dothan, Alabama, was staying in one of Cedarhurst’s upstairs bedrooms. He awoke from a dream in which he witnessed a dark thunderstorm shake the estate—so much so that gravestones in the family cemetery were being knocked down. The boy then saw in his dream a young girl who asked him to please pick her tombstone up from the ground and set it in its proper place.

The boy rose the next morning, disturbed but thankful he had only had a dream. The dream was so real, however, he decided to walk to the family cemetery to make sure everything was standing upright. He was shocked to find that Carter’s headstone was indeed face down on the grass. He decided to go back to Dothan and never came back to Huntsville again.

As with many ghostly legends, when the story became a popular tale, children and adults alike were desperate to get a glimpse of the house and cemetery. Unfortunately, Carter’s grave was repeatedly vandalized, and it was eventually moved to another location. However, it is said that her ghost still roams the halls of Cedarhurst. The property is closed to the general public.

Photo caption: Maple Hill Cemetery, the current burial place of Sally Carter. [Wikimedia Commons, Thomas R Machnitzki]


About the Author

Madisen Krapf is a senior majoring in English and minoring in Digital, Public, and Professional Writing. She is from Antioch, IL. She enjoys reading, writing, and watching movies & sports in her free time. She also enjoys posting and engaging on her Instagram page dedicated to books.

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