In 1840 messengers from Forks of Gunpowder, Crew's Creek, Salem, Mud Lick, Bethel, and Four Mile with some factions from other churches formed the Salem Association of Predestinarian Baptists. The Salem Association continued for some years but by 1884 the Predestinarian faith had diminished in numbers significantly. -http://baptisthistoryhomepage.com/ky.boone.salem.b.c.html
This area was so beautiful especially with it being autumn with all the trees golden colored, red and orange. It wasn't to hard to find being on Oak creek Rd. just passed the Oak creek campgrounds in Verona KY. When I got there I was excited to find an old cemetery with some grave stones dating back to the civil war. I had all my grave rubbing supplies with me but still needed to ask permission before touching anything. Luckily there was a meeting going on and I was greeted by a member of the church and the pastor. They were very welcoming and told us a little about the location. when the new pastor found the location it was abandoned and overgrown, graffiti covered the brick building. With permission from a judge the location was basically handed over to him and it does have active members today. Sadly the condition of the cemetery was not to good. I found tombstones knocked over and some cracked, other's because of the age of the stones could not be read at all. One grave stone was actually used to prop up the porch that's next to the church! I thought they were joking but before I left I went over to it and there it was, a headstone sticking out of the foundation. I was told that there's someone currently working with the church to restore the gravestones and give the dead the proper respect they deserve.
Now you may be wondering what all this has to do with the paranormal, right? Well there have been some strange unexplained photo's and noises. One account is of a women being photographed in the window of the church when no one was inside and of odd lights floating above gravestones. One man who went to the location at night heard a noise so terrifying that he refuses to return to the location. Tragically there are a lot of graves belonging to children and I am currently working with the Boone county public library's history dept. to find the cause. I was told that the most likely cause is death from Illnesses like cholera and influenza. I'll be updated this blog whenever new info. comes in.
To me the place felt peaceful and I didn't get any bad impressions from it. I would love to return here at night and do an investigation, maybe that's when this location really comes alive. If you do visit the old Salem creek church please be respectful and remember that it is still being used for services. I will provide a map below if you wish to visit and spend a day with a piece of Kentucky's past.
* (Thanks to Jackie and her husband for showing me around )
Here is another link to a site I found with most of the name's birth/death/relationship of people buried in this cemetery: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ky/boone/cemeteries/salembap.txt
If you would like to keep track of the who's buried in a cemetery use the cemetery log below.
cemetery_log.pdf |