{"id":1283,"slug":"glenwood-cemetery-witchs-grave-yazoo-city-mississippi","story":[{"heading":null,"paragraphs":["The Witch's Grave is the timed — the '20 years' that's the curse pronounced, the 'May 25, 1904' that's the town burned. The 'chains broke' is the found — the 'day after' that's the citizens checked, the 'snapped in two' that's the fire's coincidence. The 'quicksand' is the sank — the 'sheriff's chase' that's the half-drowned caught, the 'revenge sworn' that's the sinking vow.","The 'T.W.' is the marked — the 'stone split' that's the replacement fell, the 'woman owned' that's the plot's record. The 'keep repaired' is the tended — the 'sextons careful' that's the chains maintained, the 'stolen once' that's the vandals cursed. The grave is the guarded — the 'Morris's grave' that's the 13 steps near, the 'legend holds' that's the town watches.","The file keeps the grave: the 20-year curse, the broken chains, the burning town, and the sexton's vigilance.","The Witch's Grave is the archive's Mississippi file — the chains that mustn't break."]},{"heading":"Why this file matters","paragraphs":["The Witch's Grave is the archive's Mississippi file — a curse with a due date that hit.","A grave keeps its chains — the file's suggestion being that the Witch's hold is the feared: the '1904' that's the promise kept, the 'chains repaired' that's the vigilance ongoing, and the 'Morris beside' that's the writer's choice."]}],"name":"Glenwood Cemetery — Witch’s Grave","aliases":[],"type":"CEMETERY","type_label":"Cemetery","cats":["LOCAL_LEGEND","CURSE"],"groups":["cemeteries","legends"],"desc":"Cemetery in Yazoo City; research record.","full_desc":"Glenwood Cemetery — Witch’s Grave is a cemetery in Yazoo City, Mississippi. Cemetery in Yazoo City; research record. Willie Morris popularized the tradition in Good Old Boy (1971). Local lore holds that Yazoo tourism recounts a curse linking the chain-enclosed grave to the 1904 fire; the occupant’s identity remains uncertain.","address":null,"city":"Yazoo City","county":null,"state":"Mississippi","postal":null,"region":"South","lat":32.862219,"lon":-90.407996,"coord_kind":"CITY","status":"UNKNOWN","access":"PUBLIC","access_notes":null,"ownership":null,"website":null,"phone":null,"year_built":null,"year_opened":null,"year_closed":null,"year_demolished":null,"designation":null,"current_use":null,"research_notes":"Discovery pass. Precise location, historical chronology and current visitor conditions require independent enrichment. Confidence concerns provenance only.","stage":"SOURCE_RESEARCH","quality":{"level":"MEDIUM","score":61.9,"dims":{"location_confidence":0.75,"identity_confidence":0.65,"historical_confidence":0.8,"source_quality":0.6,"paranormal_claim_provenance":0.8,"coordinate_confidence":0,"current_access_confidence":0.7,"freshness":0.65}},"claims":[{"id":553,"type":"CURSE","description":"Yazoo tourism recounts a curse linking the chain-enclosed grave to the 1904 fire; the occupant’s identity remains uncertain. The lore gives it a name — Witch of Yazoo / Chain Lady — which is what turns a report into a resident. Cemeteries keep their stories in the stones; Glenwood Cemetery — Witch’s Grave in Yazoo City, Mississippi has its version filed among them. It's a documented legend: the telling is real, the contents remain folklore. The legend does what legends do — it explains the place in a way the records can't.","evidence":"DOCUMENTED_LEGEND","evidence_label":"Documented legend","entity":"Witch of Yazoo / Chain Lady","where":"Historic section","first_report":null,"approx_date":null,"confidence":0.65,"conflict_notes":"The tourism source notes claims of an older legend and competing explanations for the fire; paranormal causation is unverified.","source":{"name":"The Legend of the Witch of Yazoo","url":"https://visityazoo.org/witch-of-yazoo/","publisher":"Yazoo County Convention & Visitors Bureau","type":"TOURISM","authority":3},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]}],"history":[{"description":"Willie Morris popularized the tradition in Good Old Boy (1971). A cemetery in Yazoo City, Mississippi with this much on record gives the file real ground to stand on. It enters the file through media reporting — documented coverage, not folklore. Sources including 'The Legend of the Witch of Yazoo' carry the record. The entry's timeline holds it; the lore holds the rest.","evidence":"MEDIA_REPORTED","date_start":null,"date_end":null,"confidence":null,"source":{"name":"The Legend of the Witch of Yazoo","url":"https://visityazoo.org/witch-of-yazoo/","publisher":"Yazoo County Convention & Visitors Bureau","type":"TOURISM","authority":3}}],"legends":[{"name":null,"summary":"Yazoo tourism recounts a curse linking the chain-enclosed grave to the 1904 fire; the occupant’s identity remains uncertain. Glenwood Cemetery — Witch’s Grave's dead are the site's permanent residents; the reports are how the living say they keep noticing. The story is documented as legend — recorded and retold, never verified as fact. Sources including 'The Legend of the Witch of Yazoo' keep the claim in circulation. Every community keeps one story like this; this is theirs.","earliest":null,"evidence":"DOCUMENTED_LEGEND","source":{"name":"The Legend of the Witch of Yazoo","url":"https://visityazoo.org/witch-of-yazoo/","publisher":"Yazoo County Convention & Visitors Bureau","type":"TOURISM","authority":3}}],"entities":[{"name":"Witch of Yazoo / Chain Lady","claimed_identity":"Witch of Yazoo / Chain Lady","verified":null,"summary":"Yazoo tourism recounts a curse linking the chain-enclosed grave to the 1904 fire; the occupant’s identity remains uncertain. The presence goes by Witch of Yazoo / Chain Lady. The reports concentrate at Historic section. Glenwood Cemetery — Witch’s Grave's dead are the site's permanent residents; the reports are how the living say they keep noticing. Sources including 'The Legend of the Witch of Yazoo' keep the claim in circulation. A named spirit outlasts an anonymous one; the file's name is Witch of Yazoo / Chain Lady.","behavior":"Yazoo tourism recounts a curse linking the chain-enclosed grave to the 1904 fire; the occupant’s identity remains uncertain.","area":"Historic section","first_ref":null,"source":{"name":"The Legend of the Witch of Yazoo","url":"https://visityazoo.org/witch-of-yazoo/","publisher":"Yazoo County Convention & Visitors Bureau","type":"TOURISM","authority":3}}],"events":[],"investigations":[],"encounters":[],"media":[],"persons":[],"visitor":{"tour_availability":"Verify before visiting","notes":"Public cemetery; generally open during daylight hours. Be respectful of active burials.","last_verified_at":"2026-09-18 11:32:55","source":{"name":"HauntHunt generic access guidance","url":"https://haunthunt.com/about#access-guidance","publisher":"HauntHunt editorial","type":"DIRECTORY","authority":2}},"sources":[{"name":"The Legend of the Witch of Yazoo","url":"https://visityazoo.org/witch-of-yazoo/","publisher":"Yazoo County Convention & Visitors Bureau","type":"TOURISM","authority":3}],"conflicts":[],"wiki":null,"counts":{"claims":1,"history":1,"legends":1,"entities":1,"sources":1}}