Here's the story of my first "spook" (paranormal) or unexplained experience at Oakley...
I was walking the gravel path way that leads from the Plantation house, past the outside Plantation kitchen, past the Plantation garden. This path leads to the site of the only known grave site of a former enslaved person who worked as a slave and after the Civil War, worked as a share cropper on the Plantation, and requested to be buried on the Plantation property when he died. His name was William Gardiner, Jr. There are no records where the other hundreds of enslaved were buried or after the Civil War where the share cropper workers were buried. Only this one person is known. So, the area is marked as a historic cemetery in memory of the all the enslaved that worked and lived and died on the plantation. It's kind of a "hallowed" spot now. It in itself is kind of eerie!
Behind and to the side of that is an open field where Civil War reenactments occur.
So, I'm walking up this path with both my doggies. It's about 1:30 in the afternoon. I approach the fenced garden area when I notice a black cloud of smoke that passed right through me. It's a wood fire smoke, a cloud, maybe 15 feet, kind of oblong, like a puffy cloud. It was definitely a wood wood fire smoke and actually, a bit overpowering. It really, really grabbed my attention!
I thought, "now that's weird!" I kept walking to the outside Plantation kitchen to see if someone had a fire going in the hearth for a cooking demonstration ... Nope, no fire, not even ashes in the fire place. I then walked over the black smith shop thinking someone started a fire there and was preparing for a demonstration. Nope, no one there.
I went back to the same spot where I saw and smelled the smoke .... nothing. I walked around ... nothing .... nothing! I asked the other staff about it ... nothing! Weird? yes? A ghost from the cemetery or the battle field? Who knows? Weird?
Here's the trail where I saw and smelled the smoke:
Here's the back side of the Plantation outside kitchen building:
And here's the black smith shot:
