Haunted Spring Villa!
Spring Villa from the apparitions point of view! Love this shot from the woods. It is haunting and so very appropriate considering the stories of Spring Villa.
Penn Yonge was the only private owner of Spring Villa. As this is such a prime piece of property, it seems strange to me that the Yonge family were the only private owners. I can imagine (and imagine is what I do best) that this piece of property is haunted by the past. It is important here to note the date of Mr. William Penn Yonge's death as 1878. Kind of makes it an impossible story that he was killed by an angry slave as the War between the States had been over for 13 years. Articles in the Columbus (Georgia) News Paper report that he passed away after an extended illness due to natural causes. Takes away all the fun of the Legend though.
However, it is easy to believe that the Curse of Spring Villa was probably placed by Creek Indians who ceded the land in 1832 before heading out on the Trail of Tears. Surrounding lands at Spring Villa were a burial ground and the natural spring was considered a place of health and healing. I can just imagine the hurt and anger the Indians felt about their forced relocation. I bet there were more than a few curses left for future inhabitants.
Ah, the fabled staircase. This is where the story gets interesting. When I was a kid my mother told me about the Legend of Spring Villa and this is how it goes: Right here on this staircase Mr. Yonge was attacked in the dark and his head was chopped off by an angry slave. It is said that if you step on the thirteenth step you will get violently ill and possibly faint.
In July 1990 my family held a reunion here and some of us spent the night. We had fun haunting the house ourselves and running up and down this staircase. We dared each other to step on the famous thirteenth step. I don't remember if anyone of us actually stepped there or if we just skipped it every time. I'm pretty sure I skipped it!
There is an alcove right past the bend in the staircase pictured here. It is large enough for a man to stand in. I've stood there and I had plenty of room. This is where the disgruntled slave was said to hide. Mr. Yonge came in after dark and no one was home. For some reason, probably because he was said to be like Ebenezer Scrooge stingy, he didn't even waste a candle to light his way up to his bedchamber and therefore it was easier for the slave to jump out and make quick work of chopping off his head with an ax.
As I stated above, Mr. Yonge died of natural causes after an extended illness. The Yonge's had three sons. One died in infancy and another died one year after the death of his father. Mary Godwin Yonge and their one remaining son left Opelika shortly thereafter.
From my research, Mr. Yonge was a fortunate man who although he was a 49er and went to California in search of gold, did not return with a fortune but instead an education about minerals. He established the Chewacla Mining Company and built Spring Villa. He chose this location for it's abundant natural spring. It is beautiful to this day even though it has been marred by, believe it or not, mining which devastated the land to the point that there is a sign posted at the beginning of the road to Spring Villa which reads: WARNING! Unpredictable catastrophic sink holes. Tourists are routed around this sign and come in from behind Spring Villa. There is no longer a natural spring and the pool is hauntingly empty as well!
This place sparks my imagination so and every spark hides a mystery that I want solve!
