Hickory Point Graveyard Greenville SC

For more pictures of various abandoned places visit my blog at http://haunted505.blogspot.com.

This was the fourth visit to the baby graveyard near Hickory Point on Old Buncombe Road in Greenville SC. This was the first time I've taken photos however which I've yet to upload. Many of them were blurry. I've found this to be the case in many instances where paranormal activity has been reported.

I still can't definitively say this place is haunted but I can say it is truly creepy. While there I heard voices just as many others have reported but there is an apartment complex behind the graveyard.

The graveyard is pretty much abandoned however there is a path that is beaten down from people visiting and there is evidence of people going there from all the beer bottles and McDonald's wrappers I observed. There is a McDonald's across the street so that would account for all the bags etc.

I can't imagine anyone going there to eat. I stayed for only a short time. Long enough to take my pictures and leave. I found it far too creepy to stay for any length of time. The creepiness started the minute I stepped down the path toward the entrance to the graveyard. It is obvious there is alot of animal activity and birds in the area. More so than I was comfortable with or have experienced in the past. There are a number of businesses in the area. Not sure if that is more or less conducive to wild animals hanging around.

I noticed that people have come there and left small stuffed animals on the graves of some of the children. They are relatively new and had not had a chance to fade or become worn from the weather so my guess is that at least a couple of the toys had been left recently.

It intrigues me that someone leaves stuffed toys. The children have been dead a very long time. Many so long that parents and even siblings are dead or very unlikely to be alive in the case of siblings or cousins. One child died in 1916. It is extremely rare that anyone related that can remember is alive or would visit after all this time. It is possible however.

Aside from many of the pictures being blurry which I've noticed on previous occasions to other alleged haunted places is the fact that every time I went to take a picture the animal activity seemed to be more frantic.

Across the way from the entrance to the baby graveyard is the remnants of the old church that used to be there. You can no longer access it as it is too grown up. When winter time comes one might be able to see it more easily but right now not at all. On one of my prior visits I was able to walk around the foundation of what was left of the old church. It appears that it might have burned at some point if I remember correctly and there was evidence there too of people using it a hangout. Previously I was able to also walk through the brush and to the apartments and that is no longer possible either.

Usually I delete blurry photos but decided to keep all of them until I have a chance to view them better at a later time. At that time I will upload some of them.

Well, I'm not sure if was being creeped out or just fate but on the way out(I parked across the street in the parking lot) I was hit by one of those big semis turning into the parking lot. He didn't have enough clearance to make the turn and before I could get my car out of the way he hit it. Fortunately not very bad. It scuffed it up. Neither of us were cited. I was upset nevertheless. The car is older so not as much so if it were new but upset anyway.

When I got home I was able to get all the red paint off(my car is white so it was a pretty ugly sight) with a scrubby dish pad. It didn't hurt the regular paint. Where he hit me did leave a very small dent but not really noticeable. I touched it up with some of that scratch n dent paint you buy at auto parts stores and it worked like a charm. It looks okay. Pretty good in fact. The red paint is gone and the scuffs are no longer noticeable with the touch up and once it is run through the car wash it will look better. Once a layer of dirt settles onto it it will not be noticeable at all and probably the only person that notices it all is me.

If scuffs aren't too bad and the car is older I highly recommend touching it up yourself. My first thought was to take it to the body shop but since my husband just lost his job now is probably not a good time to incur paint charges and we all know how much body shops charge.

Anyway, I got off track there. My main focus here is on the haunted graveyard. Recently I've taken up an interest in photographing cemeteries. Many will find this morbid I'm sure but I happen to find cemeteries peaceful at least most of the ones I've visited.

I've visited a number of other allegedly haunted places and I've found none other than the Spencer Mountain House in Charlotte NC to be more creepy than the baby graveyard in Greenville SC.

It bewilders me as to why this cemetery is so strange compared to the others I've visited. Perhaps the reason is because the dead there are children. Perhaps people have turned it from a resting place with all their visits thinking it's haunted when in reality it is not.

Most of the places I visit I can say without a doubt I don't believe they are haunted. Many of the stories are made up to get people to visit certain places especially houses and have some fun in the bargain. But there is occasionally a place I will go to that is so creepy that I can put a question mark beside it. Whether the reports I've read online are valid or not I have no way of knowing but I do know the place is odd.

It seems out of sorts and somewhat strange when first walking into the cemetery but this strangeness starts the minute you start down the path that leads to the entrance.

Many of the graves are open and have been dug up. It is most definitely in a stare of terrible disrepair and it seems no one really cares.

It has just became a hang out for adventurers looking for a good scare. That place is so creepy that I would not visit at night.

I've read reports online there have been bobcats spotted here and other wild animals. There is alot of animal activity. Fortunately on my visit I only saw birds.

There are a few reports online about people visiting and being weirded out, seeing or hearing things. I can't vouch for the validity of the reports as I experienced none of those things. I'm not 100% certain the place is haunted. Most places are not but I don't dismiss this one either. I didn't see anything but heard alot. I took roughly 60 pictures. One person took over 100 photos. You can read about the reports and discussion at the ufos.com website. There is another blog of interest on this topic which can be accessed at adaysdrivefromgreenville website. You can read the original article on my blog and the blog address is at the top of this article.

With a little research I discovered the church connected to this graveyard was Duncan Chapel Methodist Church. And was built in 1847 by Mary Ann Wilks Duncan. Here is a little excerpt from the book Greenville: the history of the city and county in the South Carolina Piedmont by Archie Vernon Huff

http://books.google.com/books?id=LyTPK09CgbgC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA139#v=onepage&q&f=false. The history of Duncan Chapel can be viewed at http://www.greenville.k12.sc.us/dchapel/about/history1.asp.

More information can be accessed at the findagrave website..

I tried to link directly to the website but the link didn't work when I tried it. Go to the Findagrave website and click on cemetery search and type in Duncan Chapel in SC and a list will come up. It's right there. Then click on interments. There are a total of 79 reported deaths. Some have death certificates online, photos and even obituaries on a few. From there you can search ancestry.com and rootsweb and other genealogical databases for information regarding the deaths of the children/people. I noticed there are no death certificates for the children, not any I saw anyway.

There are a few websites out there that talk about this graveyard. I don't know if all the reports I see are correct. They could be but then again maybe not. There are alot of reports out there from people who've visited. And while I do look at places of supposed paranormal activity and one day may encounter an entity up close and personal I'm more of a skeptic although I don't really consider myself one. I go to some of these places and take pictures and report it as accurately as possible. For the most part I feel nothing at the places I visit. Sometimes I feel weird.

This place is one of those places. It's weird, it's creepy and definitely eerie and things don't feel exactly right. Not for a graveyard in my opinion.

There is alot of desecration at this cemetery which is sad. It's supposed to be a resting place for the dead and a place for mourners to visit should there still be any alive.There are number of websites out there dedicating themselves to the baby graveyard in Greenville SC. Overall, I think it's worth a visit. And in a good location as you can park across the street in the McDonald's parking lot and walk across.