Deep within Alabama's Bankhead National Forest, hidden among the ridges and hollows of the old Black Warrior Mountains, sits the isolated Poplar Springs Cemetery. For generations, locals have claimed the little family graveyard is haunted by the spirit of one of Alabama's most legendary folk figures—a woman whose life became inseparable from stories of blood feuds, vengeance, ghostly hitchhikers, and Civil War violence. They called her Aunt Jenny.
Part history and part mountain folklore, the story of Aunt Jenny Brooks Johnston has been passed down across North Alabama for more than a century. It is a tale of tragedy, survival, and a promise made beside the body of a murdered husband that would shape the fate of an entire family for decades to come. Along the way, the legend grew larger than life, blurring the line between documented history and ghost story until Aunt Jenny became one of the most feared—and most celebrated—figures in Southern folklore.
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