Granny Febuary’s ghost has been around for almost a century

BY ROZELLA HARDIN EDITORIAL DIRECTOR rozella.hardin@elizabethton.com

Highland Cemetery on the southern outskirts of Elizabethton is one of Elizabethton’s most historic cemeteries. Some of the town’s earliest citizens and leaders are buried on the high hill overlooking Elizabethton. But, also lurking in the cemetery — especially around Halloween — is the ghost of Granny Febuary.

Local legend has it that Granny Febuary’s ghost lurks in the cemetery, and that if you go to her grave at midnight on Halloween, you will hear her rocking chair moving inside the mausoleum, where her remains are. Some say that she can be seen walking among the graves at night.

Granny Febuary stories have been told for years and she has been mentioned in para- normal sites across the Internet. One story circulating says if you leave food at Granny Febuary’s mausoleum, she is likely to talk to you, and if the offering is particularly tasty, she will grant you a wish. Some old-timers contend Granny Febuary was a witch and had the gift of healing.

However, there are a few discrepancies in the Granny Febuary stories.

First of all, Granny Febuary is not buried in the mausoleum containing a rocking chair, and her real name is Nannie Crow Brister — a homemaker with a love for music.

According to most stories, Granny Febuary was born in 1888 and married Isaac T. Febuary. Apparently he died, leaving her a young widow. She later married Alvin Bert