Spirits in the Cemetery

Location: Providence Cemetery; Providence, AR

Date: August 13, 2012

The Providence Church sits on a narrow two lane highway in the town of Providence, Arkansas, which is home to only a few hundred people. The town cemetery surrounds the church, with many graves dating back to the 1800s behind the church and a designated veteran’s section to the right.

SPI decided to conduct a short investigation in the cemetery after hearing stories about paranormal activity there from a couple of family friends who mow the property several times each year. On one occasion the wife was mowing the veteran’s section and accidentally ran over a flag that had fallen from a nearby grave. Moments later she saw a movement from the corner of her eye and looked over to see a man in a Confederate uniform watching her, perhaps annoyed by her hitting the flag.

Orbs around John and a neighborhood dog.

Only a few weeks ago the husband was mowing in a newer part of the cemetery when he noticed that the middle blade of his mower didn’t seem to be cutting the grass. Upon investigation he found out that the middle blade was missing, and had been for some time… After searching for a few minutes he found the missing blade— nut and bolt attached— sitting on top of a vertical tombstone in the older portion of the cemetery. This couple also told us of several rumors they have heard about the cemetery, including violin music that can be heard late at night near the veteran’s section.

An orb near the treeline. The photo is facing south.

While we didn’t encounter any soldiers or even get any EVPs from our brief investigation, my mom did have an interesting session with the Ghost Radar app on my phone. Although we remain slightly skeptical about this app’s performance, on this occasion it gave us something to think about. Throughout the evening only a few words popped up with it, but as the sun was setting the radar screen became more active, showing a couple of bright energy sources that seemed to be following my mom as she walked back towards the church. The word “mad” came up at one point, and after asking “Who are you mad at?” the word “her” appeared on the screen.

Bright orb near Beverly.

Moments later my mom asked if someone could tell us their name and “Dick” appeared on the screen along with a couple of bright energy signatures. My mom then said that if whoever was with us had enough energy to be picked up by the phone then they should let me take a picture of them. After this request I actually took several photos that contained bright, sometimes moving, orbs. Almost none of the pictures Mitch and I had taken before that contained even faint orbs. The words “finish” and “am” then came up on the screen, and after that nothing else registered on the Ghost Radar despite our prompting.

Orbs in motion.

Our short investigation did not yield solid evidence that Confederate soldiers or any other spirits reside in the cemetery, but it certainly added to the pile of stories related to the area and peaked our curiosity enough to hope for a return visit in the near future.  

Hayley.