Tilly Bend Baptist Church. Blue Ridge Ga.

by Meghan Padgett
(Talking Rock, Ga)

The smoky figure

The smoky figure

Hello there I am Meghan. I have been into weird things since I was a child and it's carried on into adulthood. One night last year we were staying in a cabin in Blue Ridge off of Aska Road and my father told me about this graveyard up the road. When my husband and I went up there we found out it was the same one that my husbands mother had been telling him about from when he was a child. She has all of the books about the hauntings in the the Appalachian Mountains.

When we went into the graveyard the first night I was just going to see where my family members were buried (I have family buried all over the North GA mountains.) My Uncle or Great Uncle I dont know what he was to me just knew he was an uncle is buried right when you pull into the grave yard his last name is Farmer and this was right after he was buried there. While at his grave I started to feel like we were being watched which is normal to feel when it is night time in a graveyard. I walked around a little bit and I felt like a child was around. Ever since I had my child everytime I feel a child in need I hurt really bad as in the feeling of labor. Its beyond strange. Any ways I felt this pain and my husband took a picture of me. In the picture there is a smoky figure right behind me. I started walking till I could feel the pain no more. I shined the light down at the grave and it was a childs grave. I was a little spooked out at the time and I left. The next morning we went back up there and saw that most of the graveyard was of children and most were barley marked. I walked to the top of the graveyard and saw there was a grave in the wrong direction... I read the name and went back to the cabin to look into who it was. First I called family members who knew all the names of the family past come to find out
the name was one of them. So I looked into it and the grave was of a witch and many people think if you walk around her grave she will appear blah blah blah. I can tell you now she is very much at home and I didn't feel or see her in the day time or the night time. I looked into the church and found some information about the original minister there... in what I read, the minister was found hung in the old part of the church which is now the meeting hall (area to eat etc.)
Me being the idiot that I am decided to go back up there that night. This time I went with candles I put one on my uncles grave so that he could be safe from what ever was watching (it's something I was told as a child to keep bad away, light a white candle and pray) while there I felt the child again and heard him saying "help me please." He kept tugging me until I was again at his grave. I looked around to see what he was scared of and up the hill over a gravestone I saw a shadow it was a tall man in a black top hat looking thing. He was dressed in a nice suit and just watched the child for a minute than was gone. I have many pictures of this place in day time and in night time. I haven't been up there since and I want to know who the man was. The name on his grave has faded and covered with moss and I couldnt see it.
I didn't write this so that people go up there and play with the dead. I just want to know what is wrong with the child and why this man is watching this place in such a weird way. Why he wanted my help and couldn't find his mother. If you're ever up there the little boy is buried over by the old hall. his stone is laying down. His name is Keith Stanly. I'm sorry if whoever reads this knows this child but something about him pulls me there. I pray he sleeps well now.

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Dec 01, 2020
Rating
star 		Nevey headstone NEW
by: Kim Jaynes

I haven't been there in person. I saw a photo of the Nevey Garland headstone on FindAGrave. It's handmade. Having the "N" backwards would be a common and easy mistake. Whoever made the stone would have put the "N" legs first then the diagonal line. It looks to me that they were trying to make a heart shaped stone.
Jul 09, 2019
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starstarstarstarstar 		My story 7-9-19 NEW
by: Anonymous

I visited up there last night at 10 to 12 pm and in the entire time I felt like I was being watched and didn’t know the story very well so we went looking for the witch and me and my sister started talking about everything and we both saw the "witch" and we were both sitting on the bench and something was holding our hands and we both looked down and nothing was there then we both looked up to see a women hangin lg at the tree and both the halls lights and the trees motion sensor lights come on she instantly went into pain as she was when she had my nephew then both of our phone quit working and in the back of my head I decided it was time to go. We heard a cackling and a lot of other things and felt like the watchmen was near but we had no idea what was the big deal we felt children’s spirits and the women’s spirits are at unrest. They arnt at peace they will haunt those woods forever.but me and her will go back except this time we will have stuff to talk to the dead with.
Jun 28, 2017
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starstarstarstarstar 		things that happened at tilly bend NEW
by: Anonymous

My Aunt and Uncle and I went to Tilly Bend yesterday. We did not really know about the history of the area all we knew was that there was a feud between two families and that it was haunted. We arrived at the cemetery and we looked around and took some pictures. We got to the back and then my Aunt called me over in a kind of scared panic, I ran over to where she was standing and she said to feel the air so I pulled my sleeves up and the air was freezing cold, you would step away from the grave and nothing just the normal air. It was very weird. We also heard some gun shots thinking that it could be a type of sprit kind of reminding us of the feud and the shootings that happened that night when the stanleys shot the tillys in the church. The only other thing that happened was when we where taking pictures they would disappear and then reappear and my phone batter went from 50% to dead. Weird things happen at this place we hope to go back very soon.
Oct 18, 2015
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starstarstarstarstar 		my experience at tilley bend cemetery NEW
by: Anonymous

I have heard many stories about tilley bend church and the hauntings, a group of my friends and i decided to go there to see what would happen, we arrived about 10 pm and upon getting out of the car we heard what seemed to be someone screaming, that could have been explained as a animal since you are deep in the forest, we walked to the top of the cemetery without anything unusual happening but once we got back to our cars we shined flashlights back up through the cemetery and what looked like red eyes were flashing back at us, that too could be explained as lights catching on flowers on the headstones of some of the graves, we were all standing in a tight group when small rocks begin to hit the ground at our feet, now you could explain that as one of our group was trying to scare us , we left and a couple of months later decided to go back with yet another group, one of the people with us told us they could talk to the spirits we arrived at about the same time as before and once again we went to the top of the cemetery and the guy that said he could speak to the spirits yelled run there is something here, personally i never saw or felt anything but the guy that told us to run seemed to be possessed by something, now that could be explained as a person once again trying to scare people and i shrugged it off and left, i returned again with another group of people to show them the place as they had heard rumors of the witches and hauntings ,once again there was nothing strange happened that could not be explained,,,so almost a year later a friend of mine wanted to go to the cemetery and we set out on a adventure that would prove to be something i cant explain, we arrived at the place and said a prayer before starting up the hill to the place where elizabeth is buried, we had cell phones with cameras and a digital camera with us, my friend said she felt a cold sensation as we reached the grave of polly long and we walked out to where the marker is that was spoke about on a tv series where the paranormal visited, the marker is shaped something like a set of horns or maybe a heart depending on how you look at things, my friend turned on a evp machine that picks up paranormal activity if present and suddenly it started beeping and the lights turned red on it, she said if you are here speak into the box and the sound went crazy on it with sounds like a faraway grunt and suddenly it was typing messages, the words were lies, turn, communicate, gates, burn, dug, and my friend asked if she killed the babies and once again the machine turned red and the word was typed love, several pictures were taken and in those pictures there are orbs numerous ones and if you look closely you can see what looks like a babies face in one, one looks like half a womans face half skeleton, one picture looks like what people assocaite the devil to look like,,,,,this experience i cannot explain but i know this experience was totally different that any other i have had at the cemetery, i am going to see if my friend can develop the pictures that were taken and if so i will post them here so you can make your own conclusions to what you think ,in my opinion i believe there is confusion there and it seemed one spirit was more strong than the others making the other spirits there more reluclant to actually try to communicate, im not a teenager trying to tell ghost stories i am someone that truly experienced something that cannot be explained by myself or my friends that were with me that night ,,,,
Sep 24, 2015
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starstarstarstarstar 		Huh? NEW
by: Anonymous

If they's haints in that dar graveyard, they cain't be nary as scary as the grammar, spelling, and lack of punctuation i seen on this page. Good Lord!
Aug 19, 2015
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starstarstarstarstar 		There is still Sunday services NEW
by: Anonymous

My family and I have attended Tilley Bend Church since 2007. We have church service every Sunday morning at 11:00am and most Wednesday evenings at 6:00pm. I have never experienced anything and I am surprised at the stories I hear about this area. My husband always tells people that if they want to experience a ghost, come to church service and experience the Holy Ghost. Would love to have any of you come visit. =)
Jul 03, 2015
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starstarstarstarstar 		I need help on something. NEW
by: Anonymous

There is a grave right by the tree not the with he's but the one that has a stand up statue name starts with Mamie. I believe. Can anyone give me as much info on that gave as possible. Like the age of the person anything and everything please shelbymartinmay@icloud.com I will pay you for it
Jun 18, 2015
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starstarstarstarstar 		Tilly Bend Church NEW
by: Anonymous

It has electricity. Here's the story of the shootings.

There was an on going feud between the Tilly's and the Stanley's.The Stanley's showed up at Sunday meeting with rifles.There was a lot of blood shed and deaths that day.Up until just a few years ago you could see the bullet holes in the walls and doors of Tilly Bend.Don't bother going to look the church has been remodeled in the last few years.

The Stanley's and Tilly's are still located in and around the area. I hear the church has homecoming services and people are still being buried there on request. The last person was taken up Aska Road by horse drawn carriage and buried there. I have no idea of the relationship.

I thought they still had Sunday services, but I am probably wrong. You'd have to speak to a Stanley about that, if you dare.
Jun 18, 2015
Rating
starstar 		These stories NEW
by: Anonymous

These stories would be easier to understand if the people who wrote them knew how to spell and knew how to say Tilly Bend, not Ben. Leads one to wonder if everyone who posted is the same person. Yes, there was a horrific shooting there, yes there is a Stanley (not Stanly) family still living around the area and yes that boy was part of the family. My husband and I have sat in that parking lot for hours and saw nothing; however, our car which was turned off at the time, went into 3rd gear on it's 4 wheel drive without us touching it. We left soon after. To me, that wasn't anything to worry about. I wish I had seen some ghosts, but none appeared and there was no bleeding tree. Some folks have wonderful imaginations.

A former resident of Blue Ridge, GA.
Apr 05, 2015
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starstarstarstarstar 		Martinshelby12345@gmail.com NEW
by: Shelby Martin

My husband and I visited Tilley Ben church yesterday 4/3/15 we had an axing experience and need to talk to someone about. We say a butterfly windmill. And would ask question and it would blow to yes answers. We would love to share our pictures and video. Also we believe that two ghosts actually warned us off of eaton road to not go up the mountain one looked like if he was shot in the face by his nose and the other was bleeding from his mouth. We stopped for directions when these two men popped out of know where. Telling us to turn around NOW yelling at us. They didn't have pupils and all you could see was some bright blue eyes. One has a boot on as in for a broken leg. Anyways our gps that is up to date took us in circles about 6 times before we saw these men. One was smoking a cigarette. But it didn't smell and no smoke came out. Then we go to turn around and the 2 men dissapeared behind a tree. I would love to see every bodies pictures. I also have pictures of Tilley Ben church where blood is coming off the tree in the middle and have a video of my skirt getting pulled on by the Grave to the right of the tree facing the street I would love to know if this is a kid. I am a mother of a newborn. I don't know why they tugged on it but I would love to know the name. Also a grave appeared before my eyes saying. K.k born ?/13/???4. My daughters name is kaylee but we call her kk and se was born November 13 2014. Before I could see the birth date it dissapeared. Please someone contact me by email!!! Martinshelby12345@gmail.com. Also when we pulled up every door to our truck and the church out house and the other building opened then went to take a picture and it slammed shut.
Feb 20, 2014
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starstarstarstarstar 		MARY BRADLY GOLDEN ROCK NEW
by: Anonymous

I HAVE WROTE A SONG AND STORY ABOUT TILLEY GRAVEYARD THAT I SEEN AND LIVE THRU NEARLY ONE DAY AND IT IS HAUNTING IN THE DAY AND IF THE LORD HADNT BEEN WITH US WE WOULDNT BE HERE NOW TO WRITE THIS
MARY BRADLY GRAVE ROCK [ HER NAME WAS WROTE IN GOLD IT WAS GLITTEN IN THE SUN ] AND THE TWIN HELP US BACK OUT INTO THE ROAD AND A LOT MORE WE SEEN
IT IS HAUNTING HAUNTING
Feb 20, 2014
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starstarstarstarstar 		MARY BRADLY GOLDEN ROCK NEW
by: Anonymous

I HAVE WROTE A SONG AND STORY ABOUT TILLEY GRAVEYARD THAT I SEEN AND LIVE THRU NEARLY ONE DAY AND IT IS HAUNTING IN THE DAY AND IF THE LORD HADNT BEEN WITH US WE WOULDNT BE HERE NOW TO WRITE THIS
MARY BRADLY GRAVE ROCK [ HER NAME WAS WROTE IN GOLD IT WAS GLITTEN IN THE SUN ] AND THE TWIN HELP US BACK OUT INTO THE ROAD AND A LOT MORE WE SEEN
IT IS HAUNTING HAUNTING
Dec 05, 2013
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starstarstarstarstar 		TILLY BEND NEW
by: CRYSTAL

MY DAD IS RAY LONG FROM BLAIRSVILLE GA.ALL HIS FAMILY IS BURRIED AT TILLY BEND .IV BEN GOING THERE SINCE I WAS A CHILD. THE LADY THAT IS BURRIED TO THE WEST IS HIS AUNT MARTHAS MOTHER AND SHE IS NOT A WITCH AND THAT GRAVEYARD IS NOT HAUNTED
Nov 02, 2013
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starstarstarstarstar 		Disappointed NEW
by: Anonymous

Me and my friends went up there. And nothing happened
And we was very disappointed.
Oct 22, 2012
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starstarstarstarstar 		reply NEW
by: Anonymous

To reply to the previous post, yes there is electricity there, and the church does have motion activated lights on the building.
Oct 07, 2012
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starstarstarstarstar 		sleepover gone wrong NEW
by: Anonymous

my friends k.p, s.w, and b.h and me went down to the tv room one nite at a sleep over when we turned the tv on we saw a story on the haunted tilly bend grave yard and we live really close to there so we asked k.ps dad if we could go he said yeah so we were driving and the church had a light on and theres no electrisity in that church!!!!!!! butwhen we got there there was no light so when we walked up to the hill there it was the grave.... with horns!!! so we sat down neer it and there was a yellow rose next to it and s.w put it rite in front of the grave joking around.... but when i looked back at the woods i saw two sets of leaves moving but it was only them there was no wind either!!! so we walked around for a little while and took pictures and rite where the leaves were there was two faces in the picture and then k.ps dads phone shut off and would not turn back on but as soon as we left it came back on. when we uploaded the pictures to facebook we saw the faces!!!!!! they were scary!!!! ~m.c~ 12 yrs of age
Oct 07, 2012
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starstarstarstarstar 		sleepover gone wrong NEW
by: Anonymous

my friends k.p, s.w, and b.h and me went down to the tv room one nite at a sleep over when we turned the tv on we saw a story on the haunted tilly bend grave yard and we live really close to there so we asked k.ps dad if we could go he said yeah so we were driving and the church had a light on and theres no electrisity in that church!!!!!!! butwhen we got there there was no light so when we walked up to the hill there it was the grave.... with horns!!! so we sat down neer it and there was a yellow rose next to it and s.w put it rite in front of the grave joking around.... but when i looked back at the woods i saw two sets of leaves moving but it was only them there was no wind either!!! so we walked around for a little while and took pictures and rite where the leaves were there was two faces in the picture and then k.ps dads phone shut off and would not turn back on but as soon as we left it came back on. when we uploaded the pictures to facebook we saw the faces!!!!!! they were scary!!!! ~m.c~ 12 yrs of age
Oct 06, 2012
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starstarstarstarstar 		Nervey NEW
by: HH

in response to the may 20 post, i have done research because i saw on the show "my ghost story" where someone had claimed to be cursed after messing with nerveys grave. well, i researched it and nervey was only 2 years old. nervey garland was born in 1886 and died in 1888.
Sep 02, 2012
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starstarstarstarstar 		Just got home from tilly bend NEW
by: Anonymous

i was at the grave yard from about 8 till about 130 and not a whole lot happened i ran around the church screaming the girls name i went around the grave sites i drove around the hanging tree and nothing at all it was really disappointing, i went around the grave yard and took lots of pics of all the witches graves and took some voice recordings and nothing at all happened when i was there and asking all kinds of questions and just all kinds of stuff i didn't get nothing at all.When i got home i uploaded all the pics and recordings to my laptop so i could get a better view and could here better and when i was on the recording of when i was around the witch with the horn tomb stone you could here a couple of my friends talking and in a real loud raspy voice you can here really clear "He's Over There" that was the response to me asking where the bad witch was. as soon as i herd it i called all my friends up and no one herd that at all and when i sent them a copy they all got freaked out and swear they didn't here it. other than that and a light coming on inside the fellow ship hall nothing happened
Aug 26, 2012
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starstarstarstarstar 		pictures NEW
by: slade

my friends and i rolled up and instantly one of my friends burst out in tears of fear.We walked around and couldnt find the gravestone with horns but the one we found that looked the closest looked like a bell.My friend took a picture and a orb was coming out of the grave! our camera malfunctioned serveral times but one thing we could see in most of the pics was orbs. one of the orbs had a face inside and the others were just shooting around. we had a picture of a large man in a hooded robe standing beside the tree the witch was killed. the photo had a perfect outline of a face pointed at the ground(almost as if he was praying or moarning a lost loved one.this man also had the black robe. before we went into the grave yard i left my headlights on to view the graveyard and they shut off....even though my car doesnt have the automatic headlights. i started taking an evp(electronic voice phenominon) with a tape recorder with one of my 4 friends on the trip. my other 2 friends were 50 yards away from me. i ask the question were you actually a witch and my other 2 friends heard a dimembodied voice saying i didnt do it.at that point we left and didnt look back.
Aug 17, 2012
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starstarstarstarstar 		Followed NEW
by: Chelsey

i have been to tilley bend on several occasions and each time was different but more weird. the first time i went i captured images on a friends camera that disturb me to this day. i saw keith and i saw the witch, only she was nothing to be scared of. the images were gone the next day after they were viewed. there were two images that my friends and i saw that let me know the "witch" was not evil it was the church. the image that i saw keith in was bright red and there was a distinct portrait of a woman with dark hair and a darker complexion sheilding keith and protecting him. they both look scared or very unhappy and the last image was the front door of the church with a dark face on it. it reminded me of the demon face from the exorcist with linda blair. the eyes were hollow and dark and the lips were in a growl or angry position. after my 3rd and final time going to the church it followed me home because several events occured in my house without explaination. fire alarms without batteries would go off and my tv would mute itself. certain parts of the house would be colder than others, even with the heat blasting.
Jul 30, 2012
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starstarstarstarstar 		Sunday, July 28 2012 NEW
by: Kaylene

Meghan. I went there yesterday around 5pm. I didn't see anything odd but my friends heard a knock from the inside of the church door while they sat on the stairs waiting for me to finish walking around the cemetery. All five of them were freaked out and wanted to leave but it took me forever to find the place so I walked around for a bit. I myself was trying to send out calming vibes to the spirits and also felt sad for little Keith Stanley. As I was standing over Elizabeth Jane Bradley's (the "witch" who was actually half white and half Creek Indian) grave, I found a penny heads up. I picked it up and put it in my pocket. Then I walked down to my car with my petrified friends crammed into it. Before I got in the car I wanted to have a moment alone with the area so I got out of the car and walked up a few feet in front of my car I scanned the cemetery for anything strange and sent some peaceful vibes up there. I took several pictures but couldn't see the screen on my phone due to the sun shining in my eyes. I then got a weird freaked out feeling that someone was acknowledging that our group is leaving now, it's safe. I felt like someone was peering down at me but didn't see a thing. This morning as I was looking through my pictures, I found a strange floating gray image in front of a tree. I know it is not a headstone. It looks like an angel with her legs crossed and bent to the side. I was freaking out with excitement showing my brother when he pointed something else out..... there, in the picture, walking towards the angel is a faint figure of a woman in a long dress with a dark sash. There is a hat or umbrella that is above her head and she seems to be slightly hunched over. I am completely convinced that the image could be Elizabeth, Mary (her sister), or it could be the scary man with black top hat you saw. I have the picture and would love to share it with you and see what you think. How can we do that?
May 20, 2012
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starstarstarstarstar 		the witch NEW
by: Anonymous

sadly i have not acctually been there but im really into witchcraft and stuff!!! apparently there is a grave stone shaped like horns (devil) with Nervey written on it but the N is backwards !! i have searched the whole internet almost and all names and stones i could find and i cant find it anywhere!! anyway my search continues however this witch is a very evil one!! she/he can make a nice day cold and take things!! i know this sounds like im scaring you but seriously im not!! i will be going there soon searching for the tomb and if anyone knows anything please post something somewhere so i can get some info on it because its driving me crazy not knowing!!!!
May 05, 2012
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starstarstarstar 		Inside the Church NEW
by: Kaitlyn

Well..My mom and her sister's used to sing in Tilly Bend church when they were younger and it was still running my mom said that behind the pullpit there was a blood stain in the carpet and that every time they would wash it it would go away but the next day they would come back to practice it was there..again also my mom said they they were walking around outside with her boyfriend(my dad) and they saw the light come on at the witches grave they got scared got in the car and they saw the witch coming after them and they hit the gas and left.My sister Samantha was there with her boyfriend and they spent the night there they told me that they heard cackling in the middle of the night and when they woke up the windows were all foggy they didn't have the heat or air conditioning on and it was in the summer time it was really really freaky!!!
Dec 16, 2011
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starstarstarstarstar 		wow NEW
by: Anonymous

well at first i thought it was just an old story.since i lived just 15 minuts from the church a few years ago a cousin and i whent to up ther to see if anything would happen and i took a camera with me i know the camera was cleen because i had it in a hard camera case and wraped in a cloth inside the case.so we whent and took a lot of pitchers.one is of my cousin on the stairs going to the church and in the pitcher you can see white orbs floting around her feet and leggs.and there is a nothe pitcher of me standing in frount of the three crosses and ther is a white light casting above me.and while we were there we could have swore we heard peopple talking but we were the only ones there.and we also took a pitcher of some of the srounding woods and we saw a white shadow in the trees.and ever since then i have never been back. i was beyond scared when we got the pitchers back our mouths droped...
Oct 24, 2011
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starstarstar 		OOOOOOK
by: Anonymous

I WAS OUT THERE THIS PAST WEEKEND{10/21/11 SAW NOTHING HEARD NOTHING I HAVE A ROLL OF FILM I SHOT THERE HAVE TO SEE WHAT WE HAVE ON IT.MOST PARANORMAL ACTIVITY CAN OCCUR AT ANYTIME DAY OR NIGHT IAS THERE LATE EVENING IF MY FILM SHOWS ANYTHING I WILL REPOST AND LET PEOPLE KNOW WHAT WE HAVE
Jun 27, 2011
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starstarstarstarstar 		Tilly Bend is cool
by: Stacie

A group of friends and I went to Tilly this past Saturday night. On several occasions we all heard organ music and singing/humming coming from the church-"Rock of Ages" was the hymn. We all heard things moving and walking around us-(we stayed in the car. We also saw shadows moving in various places. We had been there for a bout 10 minutes when we all noticed that is was very cold. The van has two thermomentors, the one read between 64-66 the other one read 99! We turned to leave (our driver WAS a non believer) we were less than a quarter of a mile away when both read 66. The one dropped 30 degrees in about 20 seconds. At this point we were all way too curious, so we turned around and went back. We parked closer to the church this time (the security-motion lights hadn't come on)we had been there a few minutes when suddenly-the hall's motion lights came on-no reason, we were further away from them this time...least to say-our driver now believes and we left quick!!! It was an amazing adventure and I am excited to go back again. As always, we were respectful of the residents there-I'm thinking a full grave yard walk is due next time!

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