HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena, as catalogued
Yazoo City's historic cemetery contains a chained grave locally blamed for the Great Fire of 1904 — a legend woven through Mississippi folklore since the 1880s.
Calhoun Ave, Yazoo City, MS 39194
Research updated October 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Cemetery grounds are free to visit. Guided tours through Visit Yazoo may have a fee; check visityazoo.org for current pricing.
Access
Limited Access
Historic cemetery with uneven ground and gravel paths; central grave area accessible by path.
Equipment
Photos OK
Site of the grave known as the Witch's Grave, Yazoo City's signature dark tourism landmark · Folklore linked to the Great Yazoo City Fire of May 25, 1904 (300+ buildings destroyed) · Documented in Willie Morris's memoir 'Good Old Boy' (1971)
Glenwood Cemetery holds the remains of Yazoo City's dead from the mid-nineteenth century onward, with marked graves representing the town's white settler community, merchants, and family members across multiple generations. The cemetery's most-visited feature is a grave surrounded by iron chains, known as the Witch's Grave. According to the legend, the chains were placed to contain a malevolent spirit; the only record Visit Yazoo has found shows that a woman owned the plot, and it does not identify who is buried there.
The legend, documented at length by Willie Morris in his 1971 memoir 'Good Old Boy,' holds that a woman, never publicly named in the primary accounts, was a practitioner of dark arts who terrorized Yazoo City before her death, likely in the 1880s. According to the story, she vowed on her deathbed that she would return to burn the town to the ground, and neighbors chained her grave out of fear that her spirit would escape. Visit Yazoo notes that the grave and the legend were there long before Morris was born.
On May 25, 1904, fire broke out in Yazoo City and swept through the commercial district, destroying more than 300 buildings and reducing much of the downtown to ash. The conflagration has since been attributed in local tradition to the witch's curse. Local accounts note that the chains on her grave were discovered broken sometime before or around the time of the fire.
The Hinds Community College library has documented the legend's literary history and source chain, including Morris's 1971 account, which treated the story as part of his Mississippi upbringing. The grave continues to attract visitors, and the chains are periodically reported as found damaged or broken. Visit Mississippi and the Yazoo County tourism office both list the cemetery as an official attraction.
Sources
The Witch of Yazoo legend is one of the most durably documented ghost stories in Mississippi. At its core is a single grave surrounded by iron chains in Glenwood Cemetery, which the legend says belongs to a woman who died, likely in the 1880s, under circumstances that made her neighbors afraid enough to chain her burial place. The surviving record shows only that a woman owned the plot, not who is buried there.
The legend as recorded by Willie Morris in his 1971 book 'Good Old Boy' describes a woman known in Yazoo City as a witch who would lure fishermen to her house, torture them, and flee when the sheriff arrived, dying in a swamp. Before she died, she reputedly vowed to return in twenty years to burn the town. The iron chains were placed on her grave to prevent her spirit from escaping.
When the Great Yazoo City Fire broke out on May 25, 1904 — destroying more than 300 buildings and most of the commercial district — local accounts claim the chains on her grave were found broken. This detail fused the fire to the curse in the town's collective memory.
The Yazoo County tourism office treats the story as the town's signature attraction, providing official documentation of the grave site and tour options. The cemetery itself is a working historic burial ground, and the witch's grave sits at a visible central location. The chains are periodically photographed by visitors in broken or intact states, sustaining the legend's physical evidence cycle.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Walk Glenwood Cemetery to find the iron-chained grave at its center, known as the Witch's Grave. Local legend ties it to the Witch of Yazoo, but the surviving record shows only that a woman owned the plot, not who is buried there. Groundskeepers try to keep the chains intact, though they often find them broken. The grave is Yazoo City's most recognized dark tourism landmark.
Costumed-storyteller tours of Glenwood Cemetery for groups or individuals, scheduled in advance through Visit Yazoo and tailored to the group's interests and the time available; fees may apply. Tours cover local history and the Witch of Yazoo legend, including the story of the May 25, 1904 Great Yazoo City Fire.
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