Spring Villa Mansion: Opelika, Alabama

Spring Villa is a puzzle, wrapped in an enigma of energy, history, and ghosts. Each time I go to Spring Villa, it is like I discover something new about it. It beckons you to visit. It is as if its loneliness calls for attention, and you cannot help but fall in love with it.

From the age of the Uchee Creek, Spring Villa has been luring residence with its high energy. The quartz crystal that lies on the ground traps the faces of the past. Its history is deep rooted, from Native American, to African American, to just plain ol’ American.

The voices recorded at Spring Villa are a child,  a belligerent man,  and some Native American voices. You may also get a voice near the old groundskeepers house on the front lawn of the house. You will notice the air seemed statically charged somehow and there is an overall creepy feel of the land that remains even in the day time. On the grounds outside the house, you will experience a feeling of being watched from the tree line, and the creepy howl of coyotes nearby doesn’t help.

Bad luck will follow you if you visit the burial grounds across the way. Members of my team have experienced legal issues, illness, and other strange occurrences after their visits. I have never dared entered them, so I have not had personal experiences pertaining to them, but I have seen a white mist moving in the tree line near there that looked like it had a head dress of some sort on, I assuming Native American from the voices recorded at this time.

Inside the house its self is the winding staircase that leads to unoccupied rooms upstairs. The stairs have their own myth, one of murder and cruelty, all made up for campers. But yet, you feel you are watched, and not alone throughout the whole house. Piano music has reportedly been heard, although I have never experienced it. Recordings of something rolling down the stairs is prominent. In one upstairs room, the presence of a child is strong and at times, the child seems very shy or scared. There is also a presence of a male and the voices recorded seem to confirm both of these feelings.

Somehow the grounds of Spring Villa seem inviting. My team’s children love to play there, collecting quartz crystals and large rocks, seemingly treasures in a child’s eye. The playground is small but functional and well put to use. The past echoeing laughter of day campers and boy scouts seem to be felt throughout the park. The trails are evenly blazed  and the cooling shade of the forest and springs around you welcome an afternoon walk. Whatever is trapped on the land outside the house seems to just be happy for the company.

When visiting Spring Villa, Take a nice stroll behind the swimming pool and down past the old cooler. Look down at your feet and take a crystal or two for fun. Get ready for a hike across the street when visiting the grave of Penn Younge, (and avoid the mounds past the grave). Be mindful of the bats and bees within the house, and bring a recorder. You may capture the voice of a long ago child or man. Watch the4th and 13th step, they are broken, and have a little fun and go through the haunted house maze behind the black tarps. If you find a piece of you wants to remain, that is normal and the elements help it along. Enjoy this treasure while it is still around, its destiny is uncertain.

To learn more about Saving Spring Villa, visit www.alabamaghosthunters.com.

~ by D. Michelle Smith on June 5, 2009.