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The Witch Girl
of Pilots Knob
After reading
Shadowlands.net,
my roommate and I decided to take a four hour drive from
Louisville, Ky. to Marion, Ky. to visit Pilot's Knob.
After reading about the "little girl" who was buried in
rock, and was surrounded by crosses - both my roommate and
myself grew curious to see if we could actually find such a
location. It seems that in the late 1900's, in the small
town of Marion Kentucky - the townsfolk believed that Mary
Evelyn Ford, and her mother were witches. Instead of taking
them through the traditional judicial system, they
immediately sentenced them to be burned alive. Mary Evelyn
Ford was six years old. Her mother's charred corpse was
buried somewhere far from Marion, and the little girl was
decidedly buried in Pilot's Knob. The town folk believed
her spirit would return to take revenge, and so they buried
the girl in a steel lined grave. They covered her casket
with concrete and gravel instead of dirt, and surrounded her
grave with a white fence made of interconnecting crosses.
Town folklore states that this little girl's spirit cannot
cross the gate around her grave, but she reaches out to
anyone who dares near. She can pull a mortal into her
grave, and it is said that she makes faces to provoke people
so she can get near enough to pull you into her gated area.
On the other side of the fence lies something much darker,
"The Watcher." He is a evil presence that is trying to get
to the little girl, but cannot. He cannot cross OVER the
crosses which guard & entrap her. Instead, he carefully
attempts to snatch her soul, and chases any bystander away.
His spiritual presence is so strong, the hairs on your neck
will stand on end. Of course, this made us curious, so in
the car we went!
Our story begins here.....
As we approached the town of Marion (Taking Western Kentucky
Parkway to the Marion exit) - we ventured down US-62 until
we came to a quaint Mom & Pop type of BP Gas station.
Inside, we found three very anxious young adults working
behind the counter.
I had a book with directions from
mapquest
inside, and I began to ask (verify actually) the roads with
the attendants. A young woman spoke up and said "your going
to Pilot's Knob?" I gave her a glance, and then smiled.
She immediately grew very pale and said "I never go there,
no one does - there is a lot of stuff that goes on up
there."
I asked, "Is it safe?" She didn't answer, but she said that
there was a lot of "wise tales" about that place, and since
there was just a cemetery up there - she went once and never
ever again.
A friend of hers came from around the counter, and as if we
were in a Scooby-Doo cartoon said "you both need to turn
around and not go into that cemetery."
I chucked inside myself, took my directions that I was given
from one of the young men who worked there... and we went on
to find Pilot's Knob.
Venturing down the road (62) isn't that big of a deal,
because it turns into Main St, and kinda veers around a
weird turn (we went straight) to get onto Old Fords Ferry
Road. Interesting to note, most of the townsfolk of this
area had the last name of Ford, so it was natural that Fords
Ferry would contain "Pilot's Knob," which also contained
"Fords" deceased.
Passing cows, stray dogs, cats, and lots of people walking
and on bikes - we found a road on our right that had a sign
"Pilot's Knob Cem. Rd." We turned right, and made our way
down the modest gravel road that leads you up into a
hillside that almost swallows you with trees. The atmosphere
is very "strong" in this drive up the hill, the whole area
darkens from the thick cover of trees - the area is quiet,
calm.... almost too quiet. You round a corner, and run
directly into a large wooden cross with reflectors on it and
a wire that stretches across the front of an old cemetery
that seems to be flagged with red flags that read "Do Not
Enter."
Another truck was there when we arrived, and since me and my
roommate purchased two digital cameras for this trip, we
decided we were not going to let other visitors spoil our
time. I got out, and so did my roommate and we crossed over
the wire. An elderly man and woman stood looking at a grave
and talking with each other, I smiled and waved.... it's
such a quiet lonely spot, I felt if I didn't wave - it would
be rude.
They kept staring at us, and finally I said "I'm from
Louisville, it's a beautiful day, and we thought we would
visit Marion." The old lady smiled, and then I made the
mistake of saying "We read about this cemetery on the
Internet, and wanted to come check it out."
Now, understand I did not say "we are here to see the witch
kid and the Watcher ghost." Nor did I say "we are here to do
large amounts of heroin and worship the Devil." I just said
"we read about this place on the internet, and wanted to
come check it out."
The old man grabbed the woman by her arm violently, and said
"no, you can't.... they wouldn't understand." She was about
to say something to us, tell us something... but the old man
she was with would not let her.
They both walked back to their truck, and drove off. It was
the most bizarre behavior I had ever witnessed, and again -
I felt as if I was in a Scooby-Doo episode.
Remember, up until this point the townspeople were almost
"scared to talk about the place," and then the old woman was
held back from telling us something. A big weird town if you
ask me.
It gets much weirder..... as we strolled around the
cemetery, indeed there is a grave with a big iron crossed
fence, and it is covered (I should say lined) with gravel.
It is framed (the gravel) in a vault-like container that
goes into the ground [Legend says that she is at the bottom
in a steel lined coffin covered in rock] - and in the rock
were several small footprints like "pacing" back and forth.
Now, I am a skeptical guy - and yes, I know people get
freaky and try to set stuff up - but there were actual
little feet prints in the gravel rock. Not to mention you
can see that the iron bars are pulled from the inside in a
few places, and those bars are so very strong.....
supernatural strength could only mis-shape those!
(This bar bending is part of the folklore, that she tries to
escape the fence, and the Watcher tries to get her by
breaking down the fence.) It is also said in the
folklore that if she "grabs" you, you will be pulled down
into her grave to make her stronger.
There is also a tree in the middle of the cemetery that
looks like it was set on fire. More than likely, it was
struck by lightning in a recent storm (which destroyed the
tree) - but also left behind a rather monstrous looking
trunk, which resembles the tree from "Sleepy Hollow" with
Jonny Depp - and/or - the tree from Poltergeist.
Either way,
the tree was just a minor decoration for the disturbing tale
about to unfold.........
It was getting later, and my roommate and I had to use the
restroom. We decided to leave and come back when it was
dark. Bad move. First of all, that cemetery road looks
mighty freaking creepy in the dark (it's still creepy in the
light, btw) and further - it's not the most fun to navigate
when your on edge a bit.
Yes, I was on edge. The town seemed to vanish at night, and
further - no one was brave enough to talk about this spot we
were visiting. No kids were driving by the place, no
vandals, no beer bottles, no pizza boxes. This location was
kept clean and vandal free - and there was no security
guard. So, what was it? Indeed, either they have one hell of
a security guard at night or - the town is just smarter than
us city ghost chasing people.
At any case, our car pulled up and around the winding curve
and the darkened cemetery came into full view. I was aware
of the little girl who was a witch, and knew her grave
location. I was NOT aware of a "Watcher" at this time, so I
was not looking for anything outside of the iron fence.
Wished I had been, because this "Watcher" thing was looking
for us - BIG TIME.
I had never seen a ghost, I still have never SEEN a
ghost... but there was something there in that cemetery when
we walked up to the iron fence. There was a large crackling
sound in the woods, non-animal like "you go there" voice and
more crackling. Our lights illuminated the area, but no
teenagers or pranksters. We turned to leave the area, only
to now be followed close behind by footsteps (loud thumping
kind) and when we turned, there wasn't anything there. The
overwhelming presence of "something" was right behind us,
and I could feel it in my personal space, lifting the hairs
on my neck and arms. Goosebumps appeared, and the air was
so incredibly - suddenly cold.
My roommate wanted to run, I told him to just stay calm and
walk. I kept thinking "show no fear, walk, keep calm" -
inside I was terrified. I was also freezing. I crossed
the line by the white cross with reflectors and the air grew
suddenly warm in the August air, and I hurried to unlock my
car and leave.
There is something not right about Pilot's Knob, and whether
town legend or past injustice has caused this - who knows?
The only truth I know is... we were followed by a "thing"
that wasn't there. This "thing" did not want us there, and
he didn't want us anywhere near the little girl's grave.
Pulling out of that cemetery roadway and onto a main highway
was the best feeling in the world. I'm sticking to daylight
from now on.
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