Why wouldn’t I go to the oldest city in the nation? Surely there are some ghosts or creepy things wandering through St. Augustine! Right? Yes. Yes there are.
First off, we were told time and time again the cemetery was closed and would only be open one day a month, which wasn’t going to work on our schedule. So what do we do? We go anyway. I figured taking a peak over the fence would be ok, but as luck would have it, a lady in charge of… something, I’m not sure what…I’m not even sure if she was allowed to grant permission come to think of it….let us in! So off we went! And here we go…!
Huguenot Cemetery was established in 1821 and not a moment too soon! A year later, due to the pandemic we all know as yellow fever a Protestant Cemetery was in tall order. While St. Augustine was still a Spanish City, only a Catholic cemetery was in use in St. Augustine. Therefore, a majority of the residents were Catholic but for those who were Protestant, a different resting place was a must. I could get into a whole history lesson on St. Augustine, but let’s stick to Huguenot, shall we?
I think the main factor that drives people to think it's haunted is, it's in rough shape. It's creepy and old and there a thousand little lizards scurrying everywhere. Sometimes this is all someone needs to assume "HAUNTED." The gothic style wrought iron gate that surrounds it only drives it home. Tombstones are now wordless and sometimes crumbled or gone altogether. Thanks to the restoration efforts, some work has been done so it doesn't look completely abandoned. Signs have been put up alongside certain graves so one can learn the information of the deceased. And before you all come at me with "IT IS HAUNTED!!!" Yes, it's haunted.
We walked into the exceptionally creepy graveyard and studied all the graves and plots that we could. What I noticed was, a lot of people died of consumption, not just yellow fever. I feel the need to add that consumption is not a problem with alcohol. Consumption is another name for Tuberculosis. Please don’t ask me how many times I had to correct people on this. I am NOT kidding.
In 1884 the cemetery was full and had to close. One of the burials is rumored to be that of a 14 year old girl. She died of yellow fever and was dumped just outside the cemetery at the city gates. Apparently, this was the thing to do. When no one claimed the body, whoever was in charge of such things gave her a final resting place in Pauper’s Tomb inside Huguenot Cemetery. Several people have seen her in a white dress drifting through the trees. When she is feeling especially friendly she will wave at you. The problem I have with this one is how did they know how she died and how old she was but not her name? I also want to know, is this young lady waving with all five fingers? Sorry, but if my family just dumped me on the sidewalk after I died, I'd be a bitter ghost.
Also, I kept thinking there was a little boy wearing blue wandering around in the back corner. Much to the annoyance of my husband I kept asking, “Where are his parents?” I would turn to point at the wandering little boy but he wouldn’t be there. (My husband puts up with a lot of this type of BS from me, it seems.) I never actually caught sight of any children living or dead, however I did find the grave of a fourteen year old boy. Maybe someone got the story wrong and it was a little boy, and maybe I was suffering from heat stroke. It’s anyone’s guess.
The next restless spirit who pops in and out of the cemetery is Judge John Stickney. He moved from Massachusetts to St Augustine years before and had a reputation for being one of “those guys.” And when I say ‘those guys’ I mean a stuffy bullshit artist. He was always on the go though, not a moment to waste, even in poor health he was traveling back and forth to D.C. He died in 1882 of Typhoid Fever, leaving his already motherless children to his good friend back in D.C.
In 1903, his children decided to dig him up and bring Pops closer to home. While the gravedigger was hard at work digging up the Judge’s body he decided a good time to take a break would be after the body was out of the ground, sitting there for the world to see. This is when a couple of drunken men were wandering by and took the Judge’s gold teeth right out of his head! Brazen. Gross. Disrespectful.
The gravedigger, knowing this was the kind of screw up that could cost him his job, simply closed the lid of the casket and sent the Judge off to D.C. with missing teeth. Yeah, I’d probably come back for them too. The judge has been seen several times throughout the cemetery, appearing as a tall dark toothless figure, searching among the tombstones for his lost teeth. It appears as tho he remains just as busy and well traveled in death as he did in life.
As for the cemetery being named Huguenot, it is not believed that any members of this French Protestant sect is buried there, however the name remained synonymous with non-Catholics, hence the name.
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