William “Grancer” Harrison Tomb Visited in 2023
The Webb Paranormal Group decided to go back and visit the Dancing Ghost of Coffee County. We have some new members and thought this would be awesome to have them experience it.
Moving to Coffee County
William “Grancer” Harrison moved to Coffee County in the 1830s. He purchased more than 2,500 acres and built his home on it.
Horse Races
He loved horse race, so he included a race track on his property. People would come to show off their beautiful horses. I am sure there was some wagering going on too.
The Dance Hall
William also was a musician who loved to dance. His favorite instrument was the fiddle.
He wanted to have a place for all his family and friends to come to just have some fun and relax. He had a dance hall built that had the finest polished dance floor in it. He would call the dances he held on a Saturday night. I can just hear that fiddle, the tapping of the clogging shoes, the laughter, and William’s voice calling out to the dancers.
Days before the event, William would have his slaves cut down oak trees to ensure adequate charcoal for barbecuing the crowd.
In the End
As life went on for him, the realization that the end was near for him, he began to plan for his death. He wanted to be buried in his feather bed, wearing his dancing clothes, clogging shoes and his fiddle in his hand. He was preparing to play and dance in the afterlife.
Or was he? His instructions for his tomb was that the slaves would build a wooden shelter over it. Inside the shelter, it would have benches. Over the doorway, he instructed the small axe or hatchet to be hung over it.
The tomb istself was started from the bricks, his slaves hauled from a kiln in Milton, Florida. When the time came he was to leave this world for the next, the slaves was to tote him in his feather bed to the place. Then they was instructed to entomb him with the remaining bricks he had set aside for this purpose. There was window glass that he had also purchased that was to be placed on the sides of the tomb so he could peer out to see the slaves. You see he wanted to continue to set in judgement of any slaves that misbehaved and he could pass the punishment as he had done in life. He also wanted to see the dance hall and hear the music and partying so the place he picked for his tomb was near the dance hall he loved so much. His wife, Nancy, decided to not add in the windows. I am not sure why but could be that vandals would have been able to easily access the body. Vandals has wreaked havoc on the tomb many times since his burial in 1860.
So for 163 years now, he has been lying in the bed shaped tomb and occassionally being visited by curious people wanting to catch a glimpse of his ghostly figure dancing to the sound of his fiddle music.
This is a glimpse of Webb Paranormal Group at the tomb of William Grancer Harrison in Kinston, AL.