Real Haunted Houses

Real Haunted House

Dead Children’s Playground

Huntsville, Alabama
By Robin Wright

Founded in 1822 and reaching over one hundred acres of land, Maple Hill Cemetery is the oldest and largest cemetery in Alabama. Within the cemetery limits, tucked away in a peaceful cove surrounded by a rock cliff on three sides and picturesque paths leading through the woods, is the Dead Children’s Playground. Admittedly beautiful during the day, when dusk falls, the atmosphere changes into something quite sinister.

Some say that the spirits of the dead children come to the playground to play. Another legend has it that Huntsville suffered a rash of child abductions in the 1960’s, and sadly, the bodies of the children were found in the area of the playground. Since that time, there have been reports of swings moving on their own, children calling out, giggling, and when photos are taken, orbs of light believed to be the spirits of the children are captured. Much of this phenomenon occurs between 10 p.m. and 3 a.m., far too late for any live child to be out playing.

The most eerie of reports is the common occurrence of swings moving rhythmically and in sync by themselves, even when the swings have just been brought to a complete stop. Some have seen dust from the sand that covers the area rise as if someone had jumped off a swing. Others who have taken photographs see circles of light show up on their photos, some of which are the same height as a child.

In fall of 2007, the City of Huntsville tried to take the playground over in order to further increase the area of the cemetery for graves and tombs. This was done literally overnight, one morning the playground was there and the next day all of the equipment was torn away and the area destroyed. The public outcry that resulted caused the City to pull the work order for the cemetery and new playground equipment was installed. This disturbance has not stopped the mysterious occurrences at the playground, however.

In January of 2008, The Alabama Paranormal Society investigated the area known locally as DCP. One of the investigators heard a voice of either a woman or female child. She quickly snapped a photo of the area and when it was developed, a misty figure of a woman can be made out. Many of the photos taken that night are littered with orbs.

Thanks to the citizens of Huntsville Alabama, children, dead and alive, will still have a place to play in Maple Hill Cemetery.

117 comments on this haunted house. Share your story »

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August 5, 2011, 5:16 am

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chad says:

August 8, 2011, 5:56 am

ok i have been there dcp gave me and my friends a hell of a laugh and a scare, we had a friend named basil roughly a 300+lbs kid at the time after he saw what we saw rand faster than any sprinter could jumped higher than any hurdeler and squeezed his frame through a ford blazer window over the front and back seats and cowered n the back of the blazer yelling lets get out of here lets just get the f*** out of here now! now ive seen all kinds of things out there the kid like features and the tall dark figures, one even pointed to us and then we jetted/ got out of there this may sound like a lie but im not that place freaks me the hell out and if ppl want a good scare or just go for a good adventure its a place to go but do watch out for the police and the craby old family who lives att teh house at the begining of the path to the layground

preston says:

September 11, 2011, 2:19 pm

come share your stories, pictures, and video on the facebook site for DCP: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Dead-Childrens-Playground/256602474371662?sk=wall

DCP says:

September 11, 2011, 2:20 pm

DCP now has a facebook site. come share your stories, videos, and pictures…

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Dead-Childrens-Playground/256602474371662?sk=wall

andrewfitzgerald says:

October 25, 2011, 7:04 pm

hi im 9 years old and my mom is an ghost hunter and i LOVE going to investagations with her i had such fun with her now i am IN LOVE with going to haunted houses! i am going to be a ghost hunter when i grow up! :)

andrewfitzgerald says:

October 25, 2011, 7:08 pm

o and i forgot send pictures and videos to me please thanks!if you have any thanks! :) :) :)
to: andrewfitz04@live.com thanks!

Katt says:

October 31, 2011, 10:40 am

I want to go to this playground, simply because everyone says that these hauntings are real. I think the story behind this playground is unfortunate and I want to experience this paranormal activity for myself. I think this is very cool. :)

Katt says:

October 31, 2011, 10:43 am

Happy Halloween everybody! :D

alyssa says:

December 3, 2011, 4:15 am

I used to visit dead childrens playground when i was in my teens with my friends i have had several experiences here myself. One was during the day we were just driving thru and we stopped to talk about our experiences and we had been sitting there for 20 minutes no wind. just a hot summer day and the swings were starting to swing by themselves. The second time we snuck in at night and we smelt baby powder and i reached out for my friend to take her hand because it was dark and i felt a childs hand in mine but there was nothing there. It is an excellent feeling knowing there is something out there because i believe there is!I have gotten one bad feeling here but the rest have been peaceful and i love the innocent feel of the playground.

Chris says:

December 10, 2011, 8:11 am

Me and the wife took our 14 and 9 year olds there in October 2010 to see if anything strange happened (since it was near Halloween). It was around 2 o’clock in the afternoon, but nothing out of the ordinary happened. I actually felt very at peace. I do however, believe in hauntings or haunted houses. We lived in one! One example was when I had opened the door to the refrigerator to get a jug of tea, I turned sharply to place the jug on the counter when for a split moment, there stood a young girl in a red dress. My children were standing, facing the direction I saw the aborition, but neither acted as if they had seen anything. I had been feeling as if something was in the house with us, but had never said anything because we had just bought the house and the wife and kids weren’t coming off like anything was unusual to them. A few days after my encounter with the young girl, my wife and I were sitting on the couch watching t.v. when my wife said to me, “I feel like we are not the only ones in this house”. I just smiled and said let me tell you what happened to me the other day and she said, ” no me first. I keep seeing someone looking at me through the window when I’m watching t.v. and I ffel like someone is with me in the bathroom when I’m taking a shower, but when I pull the curtains back, no one is there”. We sold the house about six months later and I always want to stop and ask the people who bought it if anything happens to them, but that’s just something that may make you look odd if nothing is happening to them so we just drive on by when we are down that way.

Mrk says:

January 14, 2012, 7:02 pm

Creepy as hell? Yes. Haunted? Doubtful. I was just there, only scary thing I saw was a couple of teenagers trying to blow up a milk bottle with dry ice and water. Meh.

Izzy says:

February 4, 2012, 2:22 pm

I live in Huntsville Alabama and as a little girl I used to go there all the time. for my thirteenth birthday, a few of my friends got together and sat directly in the center of the playground. we had a Ouija board and attempted to contact these ghost children. No one answered and everyone thought the legend of Dead Children’s Playground was a fake. We stayed until midnight though, and that’s when we started to believe. We were about to go back home and call it quits, when all of the sudden, our flashlights stopped working. I had a pair of new bateries that I put in, but to no avail. We lighted one of the black candles we had brought, and the flame turned a bright blue and went out. There was no wind, and yet the swings started rocking back and forth. We heard a little girl singing ring around the rosy. At first I thought it was my mother, who said she would pick us up at eleven-thirty, but she was nowhere to be found. The disturbances continued and my friend, who is terrified of anything supernatural, picked up the Ouija board and chucked it. It stopped in midair for two seconds, like it was being held, then dropped. At that moment, we all ran up the hill and went to the field next to the playground. We stayed there until our parents could pick us up. This is truly real.

Beybe3 says:

February 8, 2012, 3:22 am

Believe or not, it’s up to you but, I’m 51 and was raised in Huntsville, it’s my hometown. I also was raised about 5 blocks from Maple Hill Cemetery. I played in the graveyard MANY nights. There is also more to Maple Hill than DCP. I’m a child of the 60′s and I can tell you, there was no mass child nappings. The DCP has been around since before my time. Back in the 70′s (I think) a young lady and her boyfriend were there making out. She told her boyfriend she shouldn’t be out there because that’s where her mother was buried. Well, as they were making out, a headstone fell over and killed her, it was her mother’s headstone. There’s also the notable people buried there, the mausoleum that plays tricks on your mind and a few other tales. The last time I was there, there was no “fencing” per se but there is a low wall surrounding it (easily climbed over). My daughters have all went to DCP also. So yeah, believe what you will but those legends are true.

Starquasia says:

February 12, 2012, 3:58 am

I feelz like dem is ghosts is realz and stuff. dis place be crazy scury and i cantz wait to go dere dough.

patricia hellums says:

February 17, 2012, 9:30 pm

i have, read a lot about this haunted school ground.in alabama, is certainly had a lot of haunted parnormal activity. what other places, are there in alabama.

Teresa Young says:

February 21, 2012, 6:39 pm

I have always been interested in hunted places I saw the the group of boys who went there something bad happen to them where are the other guys that were with them I live in Va are area we have the bunnymanbridge and the excorist in DC area

AnAsTaSiA "Da QwEeN" BaNkS says:

May 14, 2012, 1:40 am

oH I know Starquasia aint be talkin mess about ghostz, she aint neva seent no ghosts like me do and dat piss me off. I seend a ghosts hur befo and it wuzz Scury, ppl know me as “da Qween” but I wuz Skuuuurd out mah mind. Don neva go here dis stuff aint be some thang ta mess wit. Im SERIUSSS!!

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