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Transcription #3: Greener Cemetery Investigation Added by Patrick Lane [This investigation was recorded as part of the ghost-hunting project described in the article "Who Is the Third Who Walks Always Beside You?" in the Features section of this site. The people involved are as follows:
The text below is primarily derived from a minidisc recording made by Patrick, using a microphone clipped onto his shirt. Some bits of dialogue not picked up by the minidisc come from the tape recording made simultaneously. The tape recorder was carried at different times by Nathan and Missy. All editorial notes and sound descriptions have been added by Patrick.]
NDR: Ready? PPL: All right. It is 5:02 p.m., Sunday, November 18th. We're at Greener Cemetery inside Natchez Trace State Park, Tennessee. [Sound Clip] [Pause.] Sorta small. [Sound of truck passing on nearby road. Harsh scratching sounds.] PPL: I'm affixing my mic, if there's any noise there. [Unduly long shutter click, as low light conditions cause the camera to overexpose the film. Sharp intake of breath by PPL. Crickets. Assorted camera noise as the flash is turned on. Shutter clicks normally.] PPL: That's better. [More camera beeps. Shutter clicks.] PPL: So, is there anybody here? Besides us, that is? [Crickets and frogs.] PPL: And all the birds. [Crickets and frogs. Another truck in the distance.] PPL: This isn't really all that old. NDR: Well, the stones aren't. PPL: Oh! KFL: This one… this one is hand carved. PPL: Hand carved…. [Another truck.] KFL: Virgil Hatch. I can't read the rest. [Camera beeps. Shutter clicks.] KFL: Huh. PPL: Virgil Hatch. KFL: It looks like "daughter." NDR: Virgie…
KFL: Yeah, it must be Virgie. Yeah, it's Virgie. Daughter. D-A-U-G-H… NDR: Uh-huh. KFL: I can't read what's under it. Daughter…. PPL: So that's just poured concrete. NDR: Claire… Claire… KFL: Oh, it could be her and her daughter. She died in childbirth, maybe. Wow, look at this… oh, another person…. [Pause.] KFL: Are these markers? Maybe like a pauper's grave? PPL: Well, I'm sure they're markers. It's just hard to say whose they are. I don't… I don't know… Do they have numbers on them? KFL: I think this is where we did the rubbings. Look at these markers. PPL: Umm, maybe. KFL: Look at the gates on there, and the… MSR: There are spiders all over this one. [Sound of footsteps in leaves.] PPL: Uh, keep the flashlight right there. KFL: I can't read what's written on it. [Camera shutter clicks.] PPL: Agnes S. Greener. KFL: There's something on the side, isn't there? There's something. PPL: That's a dandy, uh, longlegs, Mom. KFL: No, there's something carved -- something written. PPL: Oh. MSR: I can't make out what it says. "Weep not… she is at rest." [Camera beeps.] PPL: Ehh. [Lots of shuffling through leaves.] PPL: There's always a chance that we'll get some photographic evidence as well. Ghostly orbs and streaks and stuff. KFL: Look at the front, the other side. PPL: Wow. NDR: Can you see any markings? [Lots of grunts from PPL and assorted camera noise. There is a strange, faint yelping type sound, origin unknown. Shutter clicks. Sound Clip] KFL: I don't see anything. PPL: Oh, there's the moon.
MSR: Where? PPL: Over there. MSR: Hmm. These are… some kind of [???]. PPL: Whoops. Not good to walk backwards in a cemetery. [Some tramping and then a pause. Crickets and frogs. Camera beeps and shutter clicks. Underneath PPLs heavy breathing picked up by the clip-on mic there are some vaguely whispery sounds -- not like road noise. Sound clip.] PPL: We should note for the record that there is a little bit of road noise. [Pause.] I should make sure this is still recording. [Whirring noise.] PPL: That was the sound of the minidisc. [Long pause. Sound of a truck on the road.] PPL: I'd say this cemetery is pretty full. [Truck goes by.] PPL: Shine that flashlight on her. Yeah. [Camera noise.] PPL: Eh. [Tramping noise.] PPL: You look very professional, though. MSR: Do I? [Pause.] Like a ghost-hunter. [Camera beeps and shutter clicks. Something distantly from KFL.]
MSR: Do a rebel yell. I bet they'll respond. PPL: What is a rebel yell, exactly? MSR: I don't know. I think it's kind of a whoop-whoop. Sort of like an Agie yell. PPL: If I went to Ole Miss I bet I'd know. KFL: [Distantly] Did you hear that? [Nearer] Did you hear that? NDR: Uh-uh. MSR: Yeah, it's an acorn falling. KFL: No…No, it was a…it was a per-- it was a person, it was a call. PPL: I didn't hear it. I heard a "weh-weh" sound. [Sound Clip] KFL: No, it was a…. [Long pause. Sound of an airplane somewhere overhead.] KFL: I don't know how close the campground is, maybe it's…. [Some minidisc noise.] PPL: We've been here ten minutes. And it got dark fast. NDR: It did. [Pause.] PPL: Do the dead speak, Missy? MSR: Yeah, but you got to give them a chance. [Pause.] You gonna [???]. PPL: Yeah. MSR: You want that one? [Camera beeps and shutter clicks.] NDR: This is actually the one I want to know about. There's no information on the stone. MSR: Which one? Well, let's check it out. NDR: There's nothing. It says nothing. MSR: Here, I'll set…. PPL: It says nothing on the stone, but what does it say through electromagnetic vibrations? [Some short sounds of amusement from NDR and MSR. Another truck passes. Long pause.] PPL: Hmmm. If these stones could talk, eh? [MSR laughs.] PPL: What would they say? MSR: Think that one's had enough time? PPL: I think so. MSR: Okay, we'll leave it alone with its thoughts. PPL: Of course, whoever's out here, they probably don't get much of a chance to mouth off. They might appreciate having a bit of a soapbox. [Pause.] So they aren't-- Oh, they have initials. KFL: They have initials on there. NDR: M.L.A. Hmm! Modern Language…. [PPL laughs.] KFL: That's an "N." PPL: It might be the footstone… MSR: It is the footstone. PPL: …for this one. MSR: These are all the footstones for these. NDR: Right, but there's an extra row of footstones. MSR: Right, there's an extra row of footstones, and I'm not sure what those are. KFL: Sleep on… sweet Lizzie… Lassie? And take… something… simple?… NDR: And trust in God. KFL: Called the… something… MSR: Here, shine it like this. NDR: And take thy… KFL: …oh, and take thy rest. God called thee home, he thought it best. "Sweet Lizzie," it says. MSR: N.L. Allen. That's what it is on the other side. PPL: So does the "L" actually stand for Lizzie? MSR: Probably. NDR: Huh. PPL: Daughter of… MSR: Maybe she had some wretched first name, they don't even put it on her tombstone. PPL: Died September 10, 1900. MSR: Ooh, look at this, a couple of them are mating! [In reference to a pair of daddy longlegs.] Oh, whoops. PPL: Oh, look what you did. [A truck passes.] PPL: Oh, here, here, Nathan. Hold the… just for fun, hold the flashlight under your, under your head and make a scary face. Oops. MSR: That one's not scary, it's just funny. [Camera beeps and shutter clicks. MSR laughs.] MSR: That was kinda scary! Hmm.
[Tramping noises. Very loud truck passes.] PPL: Goodbye! [More tramping through leaves.] MSR: I thought that went well. PPL: It does seem a little ghoulish. MSR: It does. PPL: I don't know, I guess because it's so hard to take it seriously, and yet it feels… I don't know. It feels partly disrespectful if you really went in serious about it… MSR: Um-hmm. PPL: …and then disrespectful more so if you went in… MSR: Not [???]… PPL: …purely as a joke… NDR: And there was something. PPL: Yeah. [Recording ends.]
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