Alabama’s Jack Cole Road
The south has some of the most haunted locations in the United States. It has its fair share of ghosts, haunted houses, and hell hounds. What caught my attention was a haunted road located in Hayden, Alabama. At first glance, there isn’t much on Jack Cole road that leads to it being one of the most haunted locations in Alabama.
It is a dirt road that meanders into thickly dense woods off Highway 7. Yet, this half-mile stretch of unpaved road is responsible for causing 68 deaths and one missing woman.
If you love haunted places, Jack Cole road needs a closer look.
In 1890, Blount County built a hospital along Jack Cole road, but in 1900 a cholera outbreak claimed 68 victims. Rumors have it that some of those 68 victims are now haunting this lonely.
It makes sense, right? Except that there is no hospital on the road. No ruins or vacant buildings to suggest a hospital ever existed on this road. Then how did the rumors of the hospital and its 60 victims get started?
Even spookier, hunters came across a log cabin in the woods and investigated it later on in the year. They discovered the mummified body of a woman in it. The unusual circumstances of the discovery led locals to believe that she was a witch. And she was responsible for all of the strange occurrences on the road. Locals believe her spirit is haunting the road.
Witnesses have reported seeing lights in the woods. Lights that come alive and dart through trees and brush. They claimed to see Ghostly figures slinking and hiding amongst the trees and even claim to have seen a bigfoot. Well, a bigfoot-like creature is half-man and half-wolf; its description sounds more like a werewolf than a bigfoot. It is spookier to think there is a werewolf in the forest lurking in the night and waiting for its unsuspecting prey.
So, what happened to the other eight victims? In the 1960s, at the end of Jack Cole road, a local fruit grower was murdered. The attacker used an ax for his gruesome murder and is still on the loose, and the authorities haven’t identified any suspects.
Up to this point, the town of Hayden had never experienced such a violent death in the small, close-knit community. Then in 2003, Hayden was rocked once more when a famous civil rights photographer met a mysterious end on the road. He was on Jack Cole road working on a project, and he claimed to have seen strange things in his home. A few days later, he was found dead in his home.
Nothing was reported about how he died, only that he was found dead; what is even weirder is I cannot find any newspaper clippings or articles that say who he was.
If this story wasn’t mysterious enough, in 2015, 52-year old Lisa Weaver disappeared. Even creepier is her house burned to the ground, and when the firefighters searched the rubble, they found the charred corpses of the three family dogs but no Lisa Weaver.
Weave was disabled, and her family stated she wouldn’t leave on her own. Her son texted her, letting her know he was on his way home, and moments before the fire started, she texted back. So, how was the fire started, and where did she go?
There were no answers or evidence to give the frantic family or authorities any indication of what happened to Weaver. They even televised a plea to the locals for information on her whereabouts.
The cause of the fire remains unanswered, but Weaver had a terrible case of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). She needed oxygen to breathe, and everyone knew how combustible the oxygen was. There are a couple of issues with the oxygen tanks being the cause of the fire. The tanks need a reason to combust, and her body remains not in the aftermath. They found the three dogs’ remains, so the fire wasn’t hot enough to destroy them. Logic suggests that the heat of the fire isn’t enough to destroy Weaver’s remains.
So, what is happening on Jack Cole road?
That question jumped to the forefront when a sinkhole appeared—Yeppers, a sinkhole that cut Jack Cole road off from the main road. The road is now impassable, and all of its secrets with it.
So, if you are ever in Hayden, Alabama drive past the road, and do not be tempted to explore Jack Cole road’s secrets. You might find more than you want.
