Paranormal investigation: Marbury High School ghost may have found peace | Community Spirit

Shawn Sellers, who founded the Montgomery based Southern Paranormal Researchers, is a sensitive who has sensed a close tie to the supernatural and the world unseen since he was very young. He and his team of paranormal investigators have been featured in a series of stories on WSFA.com Community Pages this October.

This is a sweet, personal story about his relationship with a relative he never met: a  lovely, vivacious Marbury High School cheerleader who died in a freak accident when she fell off a goal post at the football field while she was posing for a photograph. Her spirit was said to have haunted the school for years after the terrible accident.

Shawn believes her spirit may have finally found rest:

My family has a plot at a cemetery in Snowden. On the day we buried my grandfather, I wandered about 20 yards away to a lonely grave that was part of our family plot. My mother told me that was Sandy’s grave. I asked her who Sandy was. My mother explained that she was a cousin who was a cheerleader and she died while she was taking homecoming pictures at her high school. She was posing on the goal post when it collapsed, she broke her neck and died instantly. Through my years of growing up and going to the cemetery, I would always visit Sandy’s grave, saddened that her life was cut so short.

When I was in high school, I started researching local haunted locations and I heard that the high school football field where Sandy died was haunted by her. There were several different stories. One of the legends goes that at midnight during the homecoming weekend, if you stood on the 50-yard line and faced goal where she died, then called her name three times, her apparition would appear and walk toward you. She would always disappear before she got to you. 

There were tales of sightings of her all over the high school campus. The students knew what she looked like because of the large oil painting in the lobby of the school. There are rumors that the school campus is cursed because so many students have died there over the years. The school has since burned down and had to be rebuilt but the ghost stories continue.

Before I became a full-time paranormal researcher, I decided to attend the homecoming football game at the high school. But first, I went to the historical archives and looked up some old newspaper articles with some of Sandy's high school photos. I contacted family members and got them to tell me about her. All  said that she was a beautiful, smart young lady and reflected on how great a tragedy her accidental death was. During all this, I felt like I was becoming haunted by her.

On the Friday of the homecoming game, I watched the game and walked around the stadium. I was able to strike up some conversations with people and when I asked about Sandy everyone knew the legend. The lady working the concession stand confirmed for me that there are some very strange things that go on around the school.

Normally, I am not a very social person -- but I did not have a problem that night. I could feel the presence of Sandy around me. After the game, fans started to leave and I walked up to a police officer and told him who I was and my connection to Sandy. I asked if I could stay on the field to see if the legend was real and the officer agreed. He said he knew someone who would want to talk to me and asked me to stay put.  A few minutes later, another officer pulled up and got out of the car and walked up to me.

I could tell that he was in his late forties. He knew who I was and my connection to the story and he spoke about strange things that happened around the school.He was a boy when Sandy died. He said that it was hard for him to get over her death, and it still made him said. He took my hand, looked me in the eyes and asked me to tell her, if I could find her, that he loves her and to move on. At that instant, I had an overwhelming feeling of energy releasing. He walked away and I felt a cool breeze blow.

I sat there on the bleachers until midnight and watched some young kids go to the 50-yard line and call Sandy's name. Nothing happened for those kids that night.

I’m sure that nothing will for generations to come.

LINKS:

Rawls Hotel, Enterprise: http://enterprise.wsfa.com/content/notes-paranormal-investigation-rawls-hotel-enterprise

Bear Creek Swamp, Autaugaville: http://prattville.wsfa.com/content/paranormal-investigation-bear-creek-swamp-near-prattvilles-definitely-creepy-it-haunted

Nobles, Montgomery

http://centralmontgomery.wsfa.com/content/paranormal-invstigation-among-eerie-presences-nobles-restaurant-one-hank-williams-ghost

Talisi Hotel, Tallassee

http://wetumpka.wsfa.com/content/paranormal-investigation-fire-razed-it-hotel-talisi-famous-great-fried-chicken-ghosts

How to get in touch with Shawn:

http://www.shawnsellers.com/

http://www.southernparanormalresearchers.org/