Mary. Mary, I sent your child
Thanks to my older sister, I was often the recipient of stories and sycophants. One story I had always heard growing up was “Mary, Mary I’ve Got Your Baby.” The story centers around a murdered woman and you could see her on dark nights when driving on the highway between Camden and Sparkman. The long bridge is near the county line liquor store that is the site where you can see Mary. No one seems to know where Mary came from.
One Halloween I went out with my sister and her friends. They told me the story of Mary who had passed away and spent the night looking for her baby. The legend says that when driving across a bridge if you say “Mary, Mary your baby” three times then look in the rearview mirror and you will see and hear Mary chasing your car. We were going to Camden one night and on the way home we met my sister and a friend on the bridge. we decided to call Mary. I pulled over and refused to look in the rearview mirror. My eyes are closed. All I could hear was the girls clicking and screaming and then laughing as we came off the bridge.
Years later I was quite a drive and one Halloween night while alone through Camden doing fun I decided that he should call to Mary only for the old reason. I often regretted not playing with my sister years ago. I got to the bridge and my heart started hammering in my chest and I felt like my throat was closing. I said three times: Mary, Mary, I have your child. I looked in the rearview mirror and a panic attack hit me. The road behind me lit up red and I thought I saw something but I didn’t know what. I could hear click, click, click and I don’t know if it was getting louder and longer, or if I was hearing the beating of my own heart. I dropped the petal on the trigger and removed the bridge. I was very nervous and as I drove home I was afraid to look in my rearview mirror.
It didn’t help that the movie Candyman with Virginia Madson recently came to theaters. In the story, if you said Candyman three times, and he appeared in the mirror, you often end up terrified.
I don’t know what I saw that day, but I didn’t tell anyone. My sister was the last person I trusted. tell I made a journey between Camden and Sparkman. I cried out to Mary several times and never again.
The Missing Woman
One night I came to Camden with a group of friends from that area. They told me the old two story white house and told me that it was empty. The house definitely had a mysterious past. They told me that a man came home years ago and found his wife missing. She used to always sit on the rocking chair waiting for him to come to her house.
Time went on and the absent housewife never returned. When a guest came to visit, he often reported that he saw an old man in a rocking chair running to and fro with no one sitting in the chair. Most of them were dispersed and did not return home. Her husband lived in his house for days, hoping to see his wife return one day.
Some believe that the body was stored under the grocery lot. My memory escapes if it was Safeway or Piggly Wiggly. A new grocery store was built and the parking lot was gutted the day after the housewife disappeared. They believed that if they dug up his body in the parking lot, it would be found.
Saxum continues in his chair, hoping for the day when he can sleep, and the man leads him home.
I don’t know if any of these stories are true, but they make for great fun, especially this time of year. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I loved being terrified by them all those years ago.
