Statement on USF's latest effort to dig up bodies at Dozier School - July 31, 2013

If the University of South Florida wishes to dig up the graves at the Dozier School Cemetery, it should first contact the next of kin of those known to be buried there to obtain their permission and to obtain DNA for use in identifying the bodies.

USF has stated in its administrative and legal filings that it does not consider Dozier School Cemetery to be a crime scene and does not expect any crimes to be solved by exhuming the graves.

As of today, USF has located only 7 of the families with next of kin buried in the cemetery.  Why only 7?  USF itself has provided the names of more than 50 people logically believed to be buried in the cemetery.  Why is it so determined not to contact the families of the African American, Latino and other individuals buried in the cemetery?  If it does not locate and contact those families to obtain DNA for comparison, USF will relegate the individuals of color known to be buried at Dozier School to second class status for all eternity.  That is wrong and smells of racism.

In short, USF should be honest and honorable and let the families - ALL of the families, of ALL races - decide what should be done with the graves of their loved ones.

If all of the families are contacted, approve of the exhumations and are given a chance to provide DNA so their loved ones can be identified, then I have no issues with the project.  If USF does not do that, however, then the university should not be allowed to conduct this "science project" over the denials of a circuit judge, the state archaeologist and the Secretary of State.

Dale Cox
July 31, 2013

Dozier School Cemetery dig DENIED by Florida Secretary of State

Florida's Secretary of State has denied a permit application from the University of South Florida seeking permission to exhume the graves at the Dozier School Cemetery.

The University confirmed in a letter to the state last week that its investigation was not criminal in nature and that the Dozier Cemetery was NOT a crime scene.  As a result, the State Department had no authority under law to grant permission to dig up the graves.

Here is the actual letter:

Ghost caught on camera at Russ House in Marianna, Florida

Ghost of the Russ House?

People have long claimed that Marianna's historic Russ House is haunted and now a strange series of three photographs may just prove it!

The photos were taken two weeks ago during one of the most severe thunderstorms to hit the city in recent memory. Lightning was crackling so severely that static electricity could be felt inside the Russ House and the rain was falling so hard that Lafayette Street, less than 50 feet away, could not be seen.

The series of photos were taken in order and show an unusual feature zipping upward through one of the rooms in the historic structure. Do they show the famed ghost of the Russ House?  Did the electricity from the storm bring it out?  You can see all three in order below.

Whatever the photos show, they are now part of the legend of the house which has attracted various groups of paranormal researchers, ghost story lovers and just those who enjoy beautiful architecture.

To learn more about the legend of the Ghost of the Russ House, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/russhouseghosts.

Also be sure to explore the new Visit Jackson County site at www.visitjacksoncountyfla.com.

Flooding forces temporary closure of Bellamy Bridge Heritage Trail (July 5, 2013)

Flood waters cover the trail

Rising flood waters from the Chipola River have forced a temporary closure of Jackson County's popular Bellamy Bridge Heritage Trail.

The unique trail provides public access to historic and purportedly haunted Bellamy Bridge, long a cultural landmark of the county.

As of this noon today (July 5, 2013), water was at least three feet deep across portions of the trail and was rising rapidly. Heavy rain from a tropical depression has brought the Chipola River out of its banks in northern Jackson County.  More rain is in the forecast for the weekend and the river rise may not crest until early next week.

Until that time, Bellamy Bridge Heritage Trail is closed for access to the bridge. I will keep you updated on flood conditions affecting this and other recreation areas in the county, so watch for updates over coming days.

Here are some photos of the flooding at Bellamy Bridge Heritage Trail. These were taken today:

Flood waters run through the swamp along the sides of the elevated trail.

Water flowing through the first trail gap.

Water flows over the Bellamy Bridge Heritage Trail

Monster Sightings: The Two Egg Stump Jumper is Back!

Parramore Landing Park east of Two Egg

Florida's famed Two Egg Stump Jumper has returned after a two year silence!

The legendary monster has been reported for many decades in the woods and swamps a few miles east of the quaint little community of Two Egg, Florida. It is said to be a "mini-Bigfoot" type creature that frequents swampy areas around the historic ghost town of Old Parramore.

One of the new incidents is particularly unique because it involved six eyewitnesses at one time. None of them actually saw the creature, but they heard something large shadowing them as they returned to Parramore Landing Park after dark from a hike into the swamps. The noise was accompanied by a loud "growl" or "roar" that they all heard multiple times, a sound that was different from anything they had ever heard in the area.

Other eyewitnesses have confirmed the strange sounds coming from the swamps around Parramore Landing Park.

Yet another eyewitness actually saw the creature as it ran through the headlights of her car a short distance west of Circle Hill Baptist Church on Circle Hill Road. The sighting took place a few miles northwest of Parramore Landing.

To read the full story on the new sightings, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/monster4.

Ghost hunters make "electric" discovery at Bellamy Bridge!

Bellamy Bridge

A team of paranormal investigators has uncovered evidence of unexplained electric "pulses" at Jackson County's famously haunted Bellamy Bridge!

The investigators from Emerald Coast Paranormal Concepts, who conducted previous research at the historic Russ House in Marianna, are conducting research at Bellamy Bridge in cooperation with the Friends of Bellamy Bridge. The project is producing results and video that will be used in a documentary being prepared about Bellamy Bridge.

Bellamy Bridge is Florida's oldest bridge of its type and is accessed by the Bellamy Bridge Heritage Trail at 4057 Jacob Road (Hwy 162) north of Marianna (Note: The old access by way of Bellamy Bridge Road is no longer open to the public). 

Team from Emerald Coast Paranormal Concepts

Local legend holds that the area around the bridge is haunted by the ghost of Elizabeth Jane Bellamy, a young woman who died on May 11, 1837. The presence of her apparition has been reported at the bridge and the wooden bridges that stood at the site before it since the 1800s. A Marianna newspaper reported in the 1890s, for example, that the "lady of Bellamy Bridge has been seen of late."

According to Susan Todd of Emerald Coast Paranormal Concepts, the electric pulses are baffling her team because there is no source of electricity close enough to the bridge to be causing them.  That includes power lines, lights, underground lines, underwater lines, generators, radio towers or cellphone towers.

Read more and see video of the team's equipment detecting some of the pulses at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/bellamyghost.

To stay up to date on events and planned tours at Bellamy Bridge, be sure to "Like" us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bellamybridge.

Bondi confirms Dozier ruling is "adverse" to exhumation plans

Dozier School Cemetery

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi (R) has confirmed that yesterday's court ruling denying a petition to dig up the Dozier School Cemetery in Marianna was "adverse"  (Please click here to read the story on the ruling).

In a prepared statement released last night from Tallahassee, Bondi indicated that her office would continue to look for another way forward in the matter:

I remain committed to assisting with the efforts to help resolve unanswered questions regarding deaths at the Dozier School for Boys. In light of today’s adverse ruling, we will be meeting with the interested parties and considering the next course of action to explore other avenues.

The Attorney General did not say when she would be meeting with "interested parties" nor did she indicate who those "interested parties" might be.  Her office did not meet with any "interested parties" in Marianna or Jackson County prior to filing the petition to dig up the graves on behalf of the Medical Examiner, Dr. Michael Hunter.

Nick Cox, a statewide prosecutor with Bondi's office, told representatives of Jackson County at a meeting after the Board of County Commissioners voted to intervene in the matter that unless a court order allowing the exhumations was issued, no exhumations would take place. 

Now, however, he appears to be hedging on that statement. When asked if he planned to honor his original commitment now that the order had been denied, he responded tersely: "Be glad to discuss with the community as we continue forward."

While Bondi's statement indicates that her office will "explore other avenues," her employee's statement clearly indicates a plan to "continue forward" despite the Judge's ruling.

The Attorney General's office has indicated in court filings that it has no evidence of wrongdoing in association with the graves at the known cemetery, which contains the remains of both students and employees who worked at the Florida Industrial School for Boys, now commonly known as Dozier School..

For a list of the students and employees known to be buried at the cemetery and their causes of death, please visit: http://twoegg.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-mystery-graves-at-dozier-school.html.

To read Judge Wright's entire order, please visit:  http://myfloridalegal.com/webfiles.nsf/WF/JMEE-97ZSCN/$file/DozierMay24.pdf.

Judge Denies Petition to Exhume Graves at Dozier School

Dozier School Cemetery

Judge William Wright of the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit as denied a petition from Dr. Michael Hunter, Medical Examiner, for an order to exhume the graves at the Dozier School Cemetery.

The filing was entered late this afternoon. Please click here to read the entire ruling.

According to the order, the petition as prepared and filed on Dr. Hunter's behalf by the Attorney General's office, does not provide evidence that meets the threshold required in a civil matter.

In addition, Wright cautioned the Medical Examiner and Attorney General's office that procedures for the relocation of graves already are in place in Florida, but that they should be very aware of previous court rulings that the "sanctity of the grave is sacred."

At issue is the small cemetery at the former Dozier School for Boys in Marianna, Florida. The cemetery itself is marked by a memorial, but the individual graves do not have headstones. While some have claimed that the cemetery contains the graves of individuals murdered by staff members at the school, the Medical Examiner and Attorney General's office both indicated in a recent court filing that they did not consider the exhumation of the graves to be part of a criminal investigation.

To support their request to exhume the graves, the petitioners filed with the court a copy of an interim report on the the cemetery prepared by the University of South Florida. Judge Wright today ruled that the report did not meet the level of evidence needed in a civil matter:

In this case, the Interim Report [i.e. USF] does not meet the threshold for an order allowing exhumation or autopsy in a civil case because it does not indicate what physical evidence is reasonably expected to be found or how it may prove the cause of death or the identity of the remains, and the family members have not been afforded due process because many of those persons have not been identified or contacted.

The judge also pointed out that while the Medical Examiner had requested an order so he would be protected from lawsuits, such an exhumation order would not, in fact, protect him:

...If there is a possibility of tort liability or a violation of 42 U.S.C. Section 1983, an order from the Court granting the Petition will not protect the Medical Examiner from claims by persons with standing who have not been made parties to this action or who have not been afforded the due process rights of notice and opportunity to be heard.

He concluded by cautioning the State to "proceed with caution and pay heed to Currier v. Woodlawn Cemetery" which states:

"The quiet of the grave, the repose of the dead, are not lightly to be disturbed. Good and substantial reasons must be shown before disinterment is to be sanctioned."

The decision by Judge Wright places the responsibility for any further action squarely on the shoulders of the Medical Examiner and State Archaeologist and concludes that state officials had produced no evidence that would indicate the condition of the remains, whether a cause of death could be determined or whether it would even be possible to identify which individual was buried in which grave.

The Board of County Commissioners of Jackson County had intervened in the case to request that families with loved ones buried in the cemetery be notified before the graves were exhumed. The judge apparently agreed, ruling that failing to notify ALL families with loved ones buried at the cemetery before exhuming bodies would violate the due process rights of those families.

Interpretive Kiosk erected at Bellamy Bridge Heritage Trail!

New Interpretive Kiosk at Bellamy Bridge Heritage Trail

The first of a number of planned interpretive panels have gone up at the Bellamy Bridge Heritage Trail in Jackson County.

Located at 4057 Jacob Road (Highway 162) north of Marianna, the trail provides a beautiful one-half mile walk to historic and reportedly haunted Bellamy Bridge. Please note  that the entrance to Bellamy Bridge is no longer on Bellamy Bridge Road. Visitors must now enter from the new parking lot on Highway 162 (Jacob Road). It is on the left 1/10 of one mile west of the modern bridge over the Chipola River.

New Kiosk and the entrance to the Trail

The new interpretive kiosk is the first of eleven planned interpretive stations that are being placed as part of the marking of the new Jackson County Spanish Heritage Trail, a driving tour of places in Jackson County with a connection to Florida's Spanish history. It features two panels, the first of which tells the story of the Bellamy Bridge area in Spanish Colonial times.

It was somewhere near Bellamy Bridge that Spanish explorer Marcos Delgado crossed the Chipola River in September 1686. Instructed to march northwest from Mission San Luis (present-day Tallahassee) to investigate reports of French intrusion in Spanish territory along the Mississippi River, Delgado crossed the Apalachicola River into Jackson County following a pathway that should be considered the real Old Spanish Trail.

Closer View of the new Kiosk, trail entrance in the background.

His journal mentions passing Mission San Carlos, which will also be a stop on the new Jackson County Spanish Heritage Trail, before passing on to Blue Springs , another stop on the new driving tour, and then turning north and west to the Chipola River in what is now the Bellamy Bridge vicinity. Delgado and his followers crossed the river before passing out of Jackson County near what is now Campbellton. He described seeing buffalo grazing not long after he crossed the river.

The Interpretive Panels in the new Kiosk

The kiosk also tells the story of the Battle of the Upper Chipola, an important battle of the First Seminole War. The fight took place in March 1818 between the U.S. allied Creek Brigade of Brig. Gen. William McIntosh and the Red Stick warriors of the chief Econchattimico ("Red Ground King). Econchattimico and his men were defeated and 20 of his men were killed while more than 150 other men, women and children were captured. According to Gen. McIntosh's report, the battle took place on the west side of the Chipola River about two miles below the forks of the creek where the river is formed. That would place its location as being somewhere in the vicinity of the Bellamy Bridge Heritage Trail, although the exact site of the battlefield has never been found.

Finally, of course, the new interpretive kiosk tells the story of the famed Ghost of Bellamy Bridge. It is said by many that the restless ghost of Elizabeth Jane Bellamy, a young woman who died during antebellum times, haunts Bellamy Bridge and its vicinity. Her story is deeply embedded in the culture and folklore of Florida and is a special part of Jackson County's history.

A special "ghost walk" to commemorate "The Night Elizabeth Died" will begin at the Bellamy Bridge Heritage Trail parking area at 7:30 p.m. (Central) on Saturday night, May 11th.  The public is invited and the guided tour and ghost story telling is absolutely free!  Be sure to wear comfortable shoes and bring a flashlight and mosquito repellent if you come!

The new kiosk was funded by the Jackson County Tourist Development Council using money generated by a tax on hotel accommodations. No property tax dollars have been expended on the kiosk or the trail.

To learn more about the Bellamy Bridge Heritage Trail and to obtain directions, please visit www.bellamybridge.org. You can read more about the Ghost of Bellamy Bridge at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/bellamybridge.

Flood Waters flow at Bellamy Bridge - 2/26/2013

The Chipola River is nearly one-mile wide in the Bellamy Bridge area of Jackson County thanks to nearly 1-foot of rain that fell in the area over the last few days.

Bellamy Bridge Heritage Trail, the one-half mile walk that leads to the historic bridge, is completely flooded and water today was flowing through the parking lot like a running stream.

The video above and photos below were taken today (2/26/2013).

Entrance to Bellamy Bridge Heritage Trail

Water flows in a stream across the parking lot.

Bellamy Bridge Heritage Trail is completely flooded.

Bellamy Bridge Heritage Trail completely submerged.

Entrance to Bellamy Bridge Heritage Trail.

Chipola River from Hwy 162 Bridge.

Update: Bellamy Bridge Heritage Trail remains closed (2/20/2013)

February 20, 2013 - Bellamy Bridge Heritage Trail remains closed due to flooding. About 5 feet of water continued to flow across two parts of the trail today, blocking access from the parking area on Highway 162 to historic Bellamy Bridge itself.

Sections of the trail, which was 100% flooded last week, have started to dry out and damage appears to have been minimal. 

Opened to the public on November 1, 2012, the one-half mile long trail provides public access (when it is dry!) to historic Bellamy Bridge, the oldest bridge of its type in the state of Florida.  It is the focal point of one of Florida's best known ghost stories and the land crossed by the trail is rich in historical significance.

You can read more about the Ghost of Bellamy Bridge at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/bellamybridge.

The photos below were taken today and show the slowly drying sections of the trail as well as one of the places where flood water continues to flow across it.

Bellamy Bridge Heritage Trail begins to dry out.

Trail entrance is now dry.

Mud and some water remains along first section of trail.

The flood washed thousands of acorns onto the trail.

A bench is now high and dry. It was underwater last week.

Flood debris in the swamp along the trial.

Water flows across a section of the trail.

Water continues to flow through the swamp.

Palmetto plants stand in the floodwater.

Damage to the parking area has been repaired.

Water flowed through the fence like a river last week.

Bellamy Bridge Heritage Trail remains flooded! 2/16/2013

February 16, 2013 - The Bellamy Bridge Heritage Trail in Jackson County remains flooded today.

Flood waters rose over the trail on February 13th as the Chipola River topped its banks and water spread out into the floodplain. The river crested yesterday and has begun a slow drop, but as of noon today virtually the entire length of the popular and historic trail remains underwater.

The video above will give you a good idea of the current status of the trail, which is likely to remain flooded for several more days. The photographs below also were taken today at around noon.

Trail Entrance with water still up to the gates.

Parking lot erosion.

Trail remains underwater.

Looking down the Bellamy Bridge Heritage Trail

Another view down the trail.

Debris piled against trail entrance by flood waters.

Water Flows Uphill at Bellamy Bridge?

This is the strangest sight I've seen in awhile. While shooting video of the flood waters that have inundated the Bellamy Bridge Heritage Trail today (2/14/2013), Jackson County Tourism Director Pam Fuqua and I noticed that water appeared to be flowing uphill along a roadway adjacent to the trail parking area.

Is it an optical illusion?  I don't know. It was much more evident in person, but when you look at the video provided here you will clearly see what I'm describing. In the distance in the first part of the video, the water appears to be flowing uphill instead of downhill in the direction of the camera. The second part of the video is a closer look at the phenomenon.

We've all heard strange stories about this place but they mostly revolve around the ghost of Elizabeth Jane Bellamy, the young woman said to haunt the historic bridge. This is the first time I've ever encountered anything quite like this.

I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Just an update, the Bellamy Bridge Heritage Trail remains almost completely inundated by flood waters from the Chipola River. It is going to be at least a week or so before the water will be down enough for us to begin cleaning up the trail to make it safe for visitors.

Here are some still photos of the water appearing to run uphill:

Bellamy Bridge Heritage Trail is 100% Flooded

Jackson County's popular Bellamy Bridge Heritage Trail is flooded for its entire one-half mile length as of today (February 13, 2013).

The Chipola River has been making a dramatic rise due to heavy rains that have fallen over recent days in Southeast Alabama. The river rises from creeks that form there. The trail could be walked all the way to Bellamy Bridge as recently as Monday, but by noon today was completely flooded and water was pouring across the new parking area on Highway 162 between Greenwood and US 231.

The trail follows the route of the historic old road that led to Bellamy Bridge from the 1600s until it was closed to the public in 1963 when the new Highway 162 bridge was completed nearby. Completed and opened to the public on November 1, 2012, the trail has become a popular recreation spot and has seen heavy traffic from county residents and visitors alike.

Bellamy Bridge is believed by some to be Florida's "Most Haunted Bridge." The historic steel-frame structure is said to be haunted by the ghost of Elizabeth Jane Croom Bellamy, a young woman who died in Jackson County on May 11, 1837. Her wispy ghost has been seen in the vicinity of the bridge and its wooden predecessors since at least the 1890s.

To learn more about the history of Bellamy Bridge, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/bellamybridge or consider my new book, The Ghost of Bellamy Bridge, which can be purchased on the upper right of this page.

The photos below were taken today (2/13/2013).