Anne Spencer Exhibit and Rare Book School at the University of Virginia

Friday an amazing day at the University of Virginia with the Anne Spencer Exhibit and Rare Book School!

The lectures were fascinating, and I had the joy of meeting Shaun, Anne Spencer’s granddaughter. I also caught up with my former professor, Alison Booth — and I hardly recognized the school grounds!

Anne Spencer was an American poet and civil rights activist, a powerful voice of the Harlem Renaissance, and the second African American author included in the Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry. Her Lynchburg home was a vital gathering place for luminaries like Langston Hughes, W.E.B. Du Bois, Thurgood Marshall, and Martin Luther King Jr.

A librarian, writer, and activist, Spencer’s story reminds us of the lasting power of words and the importance of creating spaces for dialogue, creativity, and resistance. For those passionate about literary history, her papers are preserved at the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia — a treasure trove of her writing, correspondence, and personal history.

If you ever find yourself near Lynchburg, don't miss the Anne Spencer House & Garden Museum — a beautifully preserved testament to her life and legacy. And, as a cemetery historian, I encourage you to visit her grave that is nearby. She is buried in Forest Hill Cemetery in Lynchburg, Virginia, alongside her husband Edward and their family. Their son, Chauncey Edward Spencer — one of the pioneering aviators who helped pave the way for the Tuskegee Airmen — rests there as well. The Spencers' grave is marked by a slant stone. Ms. Spencer's epitaph reads Anne Spencer- Poet, a quiet tribute to a remarkable life and legacy. 

Feeling inspired and grateful to have spent the day immersed in her world. 

📰 Ghosts, Gravestones, and the Stories in Between 👻

I spent the last year walking among Virginia’s oldest cemeteries—listening to whispers from history, flipping through old newspapers, and collecting ghost stories that won’t let go. Now I’ve gathered them all in one haunted volume.I’ve always believed cemeteries have stories to tell—some carved into stone, others hidden in whispers and weathered newspaper clippings. After years of wandering Virginia’s most fascinating, unsettling, and sacred burial grounds, I’m thrilled (and slightly spooked) to share this This isn’t just a ghost story collection. It’s a journey through forgotten headlines, folklore, and sacred spaces across the Commonwealth—retelling ghostly encounters that are as much about memory as they are about mystery.

You’ll meet:

• 
  A president who still whistles in the cemetery
• Spirits tied to a bathtub murder that made national headlines in 1909
• A house built from Union soldiers’ tombstones (!?)
• A haunted pet cemetery
• A gravestone struck by lightning—three times
  
• Civil War ghosts still visiting their brothers’ graves

Many of these stories come directly from newspaper archives and local oral traditions. Some are tragic. Some are bizarre. And some—like the 1902 ghost that startled a man cutting through a cemetery at night—are almost comically eerie.

In the book, I take you along for the ride. We start in Central Virginia and circle the entire state—from the eerie elegance of Arlington National Cemetery to Appalachian cemeteries rich in folk art and mining tragedy.
I even share a few of my own experiences staying in haunted inns and walking the Appalachian Trail with a slightly racing heart.

So, what’s this book really about?
Yes, it’s about ghosts. But it’s also about:
What we remember—and what we forget
The rituals of mourning and place
How folklore helps preserve history
And why some stories demand to be retold

🪦 Until then…
I’ll be posting ghost story snippets, behind-the-scenes cemetery pics, and weird Virginia trivia right here in your inbox over the coming months. 

Haunted Virginia Cemeteries Book Cover Reveal!

 

Haunted Virginia Cemeteries will be released on August 5, 2025!

Publication Date Notification- Haunted Virginia Cemeteries

 

Haunted Virginia Cemeteries

will be released on

August 5, 2025

by The History Press!

March 9, 2025 Collage poem

 

Interview with Turtle Optimist-- Grave Encounters: Exploring the World of Cemetery Tourism

Women Writers of Virginia at Henrico County Public Library-- March 15th at 2pm

 

Bringing collage poetry into the classroom

 

This semester I am giving my students a choice about how they complete their reflections of classic ghost stories. Students have the option to create an artistic piece along with their statement of meaning. Here's one of my examples:

Clever and Literary

Marvels Adore

the Dying

LOSS

Resolving Grief

WITH the

LUMINOUS

Delicate

LOVE IS MEANT

ТО ВЕ

living

WHAT'S REALLY HAPPENING

Explain Death

Empower

Bring back

What that Really Means

Statement of Meaning:

This collage poem deeply resonates with the ghostly themes in Edgar Allan Poe’s Ligeia, particularly the supernatural persistence of the character’s spirit and her transcendence of death. The imagery and words reflect key elements of the story, evoking a sense of loss and grief that mirrors the narrator’s mourning after Ligeia’s passing. Phrases like LOSS, the Dying, and Resolving Grief suggest an ongoing struggle to understand death, much like the narrator’s obsession with Ligeia’s memory and intellect. There is also an undeniable sense of supernatural return within the collage, with phrases such as Bring Back, Empower, and What That Really Means hinting at resurrection, recalling Ligeia’s eerie reappearance through Rowena’s transformation. The ghostly woman, the skeletal imagery, and the presence of candles heighten this gothic atmosphere, evoking the story’s fixation on the boundary between life and death. Additionally, the words Clever and Literary, Marvels, and Adore reflect the narrator’s deep reverence for Ligeia’s intelligence and extraordinary nature, emphasizing her presence not just as a lost love but as a being whose power defies mortality.

I almost forgot to mention that the door has a wreath made of roses and vines—both plants included in the story. The door feels more like a portal, as if marking the transition between life and death, the known and the unknown. The swirling smoke adds a spectral quality, while the reaching hands suggest something occult, an echo of the esoteric knowledge Ligeia possesses and the supernatural charge that permeates the tale. Even the shape of the room itself, pentagonal like the interior of a pentagram, subtly reinforces the theme of magic and mysticism that underpins her spectral return. Altogether, the collage serves as a visual and poetic reflection of the story’s haunting essence, capturing the eerie beauty, undying love, and supernatural defiance that define Poe’s tale.

Transformative Language Arts Network Virtual Salon- February 23 @5pmET

 

Visit the event page here: https://www.tlanetwork.org/event-6043429

Spell jART

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