MCHS to present Haints & Haunts 2015 this weekend
Pick your bale, if you dare, and settle in for an evening hayride through the darker side of Screamersville for ‘Haints and Haunts 2015: Rube Burrow 125’ in Linden, Ala. The annual event moves south this year as the Marengo County Historical Society and Canebrake Players join forces with the Linden Rotary Club and Linden Historical Society to present the notorious tale of the capture and shooting of the infamous train-robber, Rube Burrow.
The seventh annual ghostly tour takes guests through the streets of Linden, formerly known as Screamersville, as a storyteller narrates the journey. This year marks the 125th anniversary of the death of Burrow with the Canebrake Players bringing the story to life.
During the final years of the American frontier, Rube Burrow became one of the most hunted in the Old West since Jesse James. From 1886 to 1890 he and his gang robbed express trains in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, the Indian Territory and Texas while pursued by hundreds of lawmen throughout the southern half of the United States. Often returning home to his native Lamar County throughout these gun-slinging years, Burrow somehow managed to regularly elude authorities. However, the notorious outlaw was finally captured in Myrtlewood and transferred to the jail in Linden.
“That wild chapter in the South’s history came to an end right here in Linden,” said Kirk Brooker, operations director of the Marengo County Historical Society. “The MCHS is very excited to bring this year’s Haints & Haunts to Linden, and, with the help of the Linden Historical Society and Linden Rotary Club, we’re sharing Linden’s brush with the gun-slinging days of the Wild West.”
Brett Carter, of Atlanta, Ga., the great-grandson of Jefferson Davis (Dixie) Carter who snuffed out Burrow’s life, will have on display the 32 Smith and Wesson revolver that won the gunfight, the slug from Burrow’s Colt 45 pistol that the doctor removed from Carter’s shoulder, and other artifacts from the Oct. 9, 1890, shootout.
Linden Rotary Club will be selling refreshments at the event, and commemorative t-shirts.
The tours will run three times per night on Friday, Oct. 23 and Sat., Oct. 24 at 7 p.m., 8 p.m., and 9 p.m. Tickets are available now for $15 per person at Bluff Hall in Demopolis, Ala. (Bluff Hall is open Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., and Sunday, 2 p.m.-5 p.m.) Tickets are also available at Ziggy Zelda’s in downtown Linden. Seating for each tour is limited, so please call 334.289.9644 or email marengohistory@bellsouth.net for tickets and more information.