Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Ghost of Judge John B Stickney
The Hugenot Cemetery opened in 1821 across the street from the historic City Gate in St. Augustine. This was followed soon after by a yellow fever epidemic that swept through the town, claiming many lives. Reported sightings of ghostly visions and orbs floating through the cemetery late at night are very common. The ghost of a girl in white who was buried in the cemetery has been said to appear standing on top of the City Gate. She was supposedly a victim of the yellow fever epidemic, but her body was left at the gate and no one ever claimed her. Thus, she was buried at the Hugenot Cemetery. Another legendary ghost from this cemetery is an old Reconstruction-era judge named John B. Stickney, who died on a long trip to Washington, D.C. and was buried in the Hugenot Cemetery. His body was later exhumed so it could be buried elsewhere, and somehow a couple of drunks stole his gold teeth in the process. Now, he haunts the cemetery in search of his teeth. Whether these specific stories have any historical truth, the Hugenot Cemetery is nonetheless rumored to be very haunted.
1869 - On the circuit with Judge James T. Magbee
ReplyDeleteAs judge of a five-county-circuit which included most of west central and southwest Florida, Judge Magbee did a great deal of traveling. He was required to hold spring and fall terms of Court in all five counties. Travel in the back country could be difficult and hazardous. In the spring of 1869, John B. Stickney, a young lawyer accompanying Magbee, remarked on the swollen streams and heavy rains and the discomfort of riding in an open buggy under unpredictable weather conditions. All in all, Stickney found the trip pleasant and enjoyed the company of the judge and the friendliness of the people on the route. (THE SUNLAND TRIBUNE, Journal of the TAMPA HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Volume XX November, 1994, JAMES T. MAGBEE: “Union Man, Undoubted Secessionist, and High Priest in the Radical Synagogue” By Kyle S. VanLandingham, Editor in Chief.)