Mary. Mary I’ve Got Your Baby
Thanks to my older sister I often was the brunt for scary storys and tricks. One story that I had always heard growing up was called “Mary, Mary I’ve Got Your Baby.” The story centers around a woman who was killed and on dark nights when driving on the highway between Camden and Sparkman you might see her. There is a long bridge near the county line liquor store that is the site where you can see Mary. Nobody 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 her nights looking for her baby. The story says that when driving over the bridge if you say, “Mary, Mary i’ve got your baby” three times then look in the rearview mirror you will see and hear Mary chasing your car. We had gone to Camden one night and on the way home as we approached the bridge my sister and her friend decided we had to call out to Mary. I chickened out and refused to look in the rearview mirror. My eyes were closed tight. All I could hear was clicking sounds and the girls screaming and then laughing as we came off the bridge.
Years later I was old enough to drive and one Halloween night while driving alone through Camden I decided it would be fun to call out to Mary just for old times sake. I had often regretted not playing along with my sister years before. I approached the bridge and my heart started to hammer in my chest, and I felt like my throat was going to close up. Three times I said it, “Mary, Mary I’ve got your baby.” I looked in the rearview mirror and hit on my breaks in panic. The road behind me lit up in red and I thought i saw something but I did not know what. I could hear click, click, click and I don’t know if it was getting louder and louder or if I was hearing the beat of my own heart. I pushed down on the gas petal and got off the bridge. I was very shaken and drove home afraid to look in my rearview mirror.
It did not help that the movie Candyman with Virginia Madson had just came to theaters. In the story if you said Candyman three times and looked in the mirror he appeared, often ending in terror.
I do not know what I saw that day, but I never told anyone. My sister was the last person I would confide in. I can tell you that I made the trip between Camden and Sparkman many times and I never called out to Mary again.
The Missing Woman
One night I went to Camden with a group of friends from that area. They showed me an old two story white house and told me it was haunted. The house definitely had a mysterious past. They told me years ago a man came home and found his wife missing. She had always had a habit of sitting in her rocking chair waiting for him to come home.
Time went on and the missing housewife never returned. When guest came to visit they often reported seeing her old rocking chair moving to and fro with nobody sitting in the chair. Most people were spooked and never returned to the house. Her husband lived out his days in the house hoping to see his wife return one day.
Some people believe that there is a body buried under the grocery store parking lot. It escapes my memory if it was a Safeway or Piggly Wiggly. There was a new grocery store being built and the parking lot was poured the day after the housewife disappeared. They believed that if you were to dig up the parking lot her body would be discovered.
She continues to rock in her chair hoping for the day she can be laid to rest, and her husband brings her home.
I do not know if either of these storys 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 scared by them all those years ago.
