Mystery at Rock Springs

We found Rock Springs, or what little was left of it around dusk. Cotton was the crop and slaves picked it before yellow-fever and boll weevil killed the people and the town. There is a brick Methodist church still standing (built in 1837) and as we stood looking at it, I thought I heard a faint piano drifting down to us. I wasn’t sure I heard it. I felt it.

We decided to move on, but returned later, and found a teen couple alone in the dark wood sanctuary, playing a piano, whispering and laughing, alone together.

Through the rippled poured-glass windows I saw a cemetery and was moved to explore it. A broken iron fence led to dark pines dripping cloaks of gray Spanish Moss over ancient leaning lichened stones. I felt like I was stepping into a dream.

One stone read, Edna, died October 31,1868. Two days from now; The eve of All Saints Day; Halloween. Someone had put fresh artificial flowers on the stone very recently. She was 30 when she died. So long remembered. Who?