If you're a resident of Spartanburg, SC, you know about Oakwood Cemetery. Or as locals in the area call it, "Hell's Gate". This beautiful area of resting souls was once a pauper's field according to local history over 100 years prior to its current manicured field of beautiful headstones. During the day, its a lovely green area full of large headstones and a large worn angel. Past the large hedges, there is the children's field. In the daylight, its fine. But at night, its a different vibes.
Other than the amped up security over the past few years following many teens and young adults sneaking in past dusk and after a grave robbing in the early 2000's; the graveyard hosts it's share of spooks and orbs. Rumors of devil worship plague the grounds.
In 2013, I was living in Greenville with my fiancé, *Tyler, his parents, and his older sister. We often found fun things to do, albeit possibly illegal in the state. Between loitering at the Whitehorse Wal-Mart and causing chaos, staying hours at the Waffle House, sneaking into movies at Cherrydale, and smoking the devil's lettuce while carefully watching our shed full of music equipment from the thieving hands of local junkies roaming about; we always found something to do. 95% of the time we spent, we spent it at our friend *Amy's house.
Amy was and still is our best friend. She's housed many people in her home, all with big, warm arms wide open. Amy was very laid back and always into our silly shenanigans. Through her, my fiancé and I made more friends. Amazing friends! Friends that came up with the idea of visiting the nearly 200 year old graveyard one night.
Rolling into Amy's one night, we were approached with the idea of paranormal hunting by 2 buddies *Eric and *Molly. Knowing we were big ghost hunters in our home state of Ohio, we tagged along for the nearly hour drive.
After stopping for gas, we arrived at the funeral home in front of the graveyard. Molly warned us about watching out for cops and any guards around. After heeding the warning, we walked up the blacktop to the graveyard gates. The 1st stop was the angel in the beginning of the yard. Months prior to our arrival, Molly and Eric visited and took a photo of the angel. Molly and him compared notes on if there were any changes such as movement or damage. My fiancé and I looked around the grounds while they spoke. I felt very sick to my stomach after about 5 minutes. Something just felt so wrong, but I shrugged it off to nerves and being on high alert for any cops. Noticing I was really uneasy, Tyler opted to walk with me around the stones, comforting me and rubbing the back of my hand to calm my nerves. It didn't help but I swallowed my uneasiness and admired how nice the grounds were. (For some reason I'm a big fan of nice graveyards. Too many times they go neglected, so I really love a good, well kept yard.)
After a few minutes, Molly and Eric joined us. After being satisfied that the angel has yet to move, they led us up the black top trail to head to the children's section.
"They say a ton of Satanists sacrificed shiat here. They use to meet up every Saturday" Eric told us.
My fiancé, being a Satanist himself, quickly blew this off and chalked it up to possibly just being stupid teens with a LaVey Satanic Bible and a cat they possibly caught just to torture. My fiancé spoke about how all these kids don't do their research and only follow Hollywood displays on movie screens. Joking about how kids now a days just think they're rebels by claiming to worship Satan, we walked up to the hedges nearing the children's plots.
The closer we got, it felt like I was getting a massive cramp in my stomach. Again think it must be stress and nerves, I ignored it. I soon got a huge overwhelming feeling something was behind us. Looking behind a few times, I saw nothing the 1st few times. After the 4th or 5th turn around I got a glimpse of a small black shadow darting behind a headstone. I gripped Tyler's hand and he reassured me its just possibly a big bug or a rabbit or bat and not to worry about it.
Once we went past the hedges, Molly stopped and told us to hush. Stating she had seen something, she stayed still and we all watched to see what in fact spooked Molly. Standing still, gripping Tyler's hand and watching Eric bob and weave to get a better view of the area in front of us; I suddenly felt sick to my stomach and unable to breathe. The moment I felt that I heard, in a very low voice right into my ear a very simple "Go". I let go of Tyler's hand and before he could turn around I was hauling down the walk way to the car. I didn't want to see or hear whatever it was again and I was off! The group wasn't too far behind and opted that we leave noticing how pale and sick I was getting. I didn't speak the entire car ride home or the rest of the night. Fearing nobody would believe me I waited until the next day when Eric inquired what happened.
After I explained what happened and what I felt, Eric said he himself had felt and heard something too.
"Molly and I both saw something on the way to the children's yard. That's why she stopped so quickly. It wasn't a person, it was too dark and misty to be a human." Eric explained. Telling Tyler and I that later that night he heard noises that he couldn't pin point in the house. He was so spooked after the visit to the graveyard, Eric stayed up all night with his gun in his lap. Tyler said he watched me whine and yelp in my sleep all night after coming home and passing out on the bed. We opted to not do a follow up.
With our upcoming Honeymoon to Greenville, we've been invited to "investigate" again, but we have denied the lovely invite. I refuse to step into the cemetery.
**Sorry if it seems like I rambled a bit. To be honest, out of all the places I've been and places I've experienced paranormal stuff, this is the one and only place I can not stomach to visit again.**
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