The Dead Children’s Playground

Established in 1822, historic Maple Hill is Huntsville, Alabama’s oldest and largest cemetery. Though it is the final resting place of over 200 Confederate and Union soldiers and has its own specters, it’s not the cemetery itself that is most infamous.

Directly adjacent, there is a playground that looks just like any other, though the limestone walls surrounding it on three sides make it appear shadowy, even in the daytime. 

However, this playground is…different. Officially named Maple Hill Park, locals refer to it as the Dead Children’s Playground, with its morbid nickname stemming from a tragic event that occurred more than a century ago. 

In September of 1918, the Spanish flu pandemic swept through Huntsville, infecting most of the city, especially its youngest residents. In a futile attempt to stop the spread of the disease, parents warned their children to keep their windows closed with a macabre nursery rhyme:

"I had a bird

Its name was Enza

I opened the window

And in flew Enza."

Legend has it that many of the children who died were buried at Maple Hill Cemetery near where the playground was built, and to this day, witnesses claim that their spirits emerge from the grave at nightfall to play. Some have heard disembodied laughter, while others report swings moving by themselves when there is no wind, orbs, mysterious shadows, and even full-bodied apparitions.