Haunted places guide · Huntsville, Alabama
Maple Hill Cemetery and the Dead Children's Playground, Huntsville
Behind Alabama’s largest old cemetery, in a hollow that was once a quarry, sits a small playground with a big name. People say the swings move by themselves after dark. Here is what is true, what is legend and how to see it.
Maple Hill Cemetery covers nearly 100 acres on a hill just southeast of downtown Huntsville, the oldest and largest cemetery in the city. Below its eastern edge, against a rocky bluff, is Maple Hill Park, a small city playground with swings, toddler equipment and a picnic pavilion. Locals have called it the Dead Children’s Playground for decades, and it is often named the most haunted place in Alabama.
Its stories spread through local lore, ghost books and the internet: swings that move with no wind, laughter after dark, orbs in photographs and a grim tale of murdered children. This guide sorts history from legend, using local historians and reporters who have looked into it.
Maple Hill Cemetery at a glance
Haunted Rooms Score
- Address Cemetery: 202 Maple Hill Drive, Huntsville; playground: Maple Hill Park, 1351 McClung Avenue SE
- History Cemetery founded about 1822; National Register 2012; park opened 1985 in a former quarry
- Most haunted spot The swings of Maple Hill Park
- Reported ghosts Children heard laughing and playing, swings moving on their own, orbs in photographs
- Visiting Cemetery open 7 AM to sunset; park open sunrise to sunset
- Ghost hunting No; both close at sunset
History of Maple Hill Cemetery and the playground
Huntsville was the first incorporated town in Alabama, in 1811. About a decade later its founder, LeRoy Pope, sold the town two acres of land for a burying ground, and Maple Hill Cemetery dates from around 1822. Pope himself was buried there in 1844. The cemetery grew over two centuries to nearly 100 acres and more than 80,000 burials.
Five governors of Alabama lie here, along with five U.S. senators, Confederate leaders, military heroes and a Major League Baseball player, as well as thousands of ordinary Huntsville families. The cemetery was added to the Alabama Historic Cemetery Register in 2008 and the National Register of Historic Places in 2012. Among its well-known graves is that of Thomas Bibb, Alabama’s second governor, who local legend says wanted to be buried at his plantation instead.
Huntsville’s growth brought hardship as well as wealth. Mills that opened around 1900 employed many children, and the 1918 influenza pandemic killed more than 400 people in Madison County that September alone, many of them children; small headstones from that time can be found in the cemetery.
The land below the cemetery’s eastern edge was a stone quarry from about 1945 to 1955, according to local author Jessica Penot. After it closed it was given to the city, and it opened as Maple Hill Park in 1985. When Huntsville needed room to expand the cemetery, the city removed the playground in 2007; after local efforts it was restored, and it is still a working city park.
The ghosts of the Dead Children's Playground
The swings
The most common report is simple: swings moving back and forth on a still night with nobody on them. Penot wrote that she saw it herself, and videos of moving swings have been posted online for years. Visitors also describe giggling and children’s voices, and orb-like flashes of light in photographs. Alabama Public Radio notes that reports cluster late at night, which is also when the park is closed.
The children from the cemetery
The gentlest version of the legend says the children buried on the hill above, perhaps victims of the 1918 flu, come down at night to play. The Montgomery Advertiser and others repeat it, and it is the reason for the playground’s name. It is a story, not a record, but the young graves above are real.
The 1960s murders that never happened
A darker tale says a killer abducted children in Huntsville in the 1960s and that their bodies, or a skull, were found in the quarry, and that the playground was built for their grieving parents. Alabama Public Radio reported in 2025 that no official records or news reports confirm the story. Huntsville ghost writer Jacquelyn Proctor Reeves told a reporter there is no evidence anyone was buried in the park, and Southern Spirit Guide calls the tale common internet lore. The quarry was still working until the 1950s, and the park did not open until 1985.
Ghosts in the cemetery itself
Maple Hill has its own stories: a chair outside one family’s crypt that is said to rock on its own, and a carriage with white horses said to come for Governor Bibb on full-moon nights. Southern Spirit Guide’s author found no documented activity in the cemetery, and these are best enjoyed as local legend.
Where to look
- The swings in Maple Hill Park: the center of every story; sit on a bench and watch them.
- The bluff and the old quarry walls: the rocky hillside that frames the playground.
- The older sections of Maple Hill Cemetery: where the small headstones of 1918 can be found.
- Governor Thomas Bibb's grave: the setting of the phantom carriage legend.
Visiting Maple Hill Cemetery and the playground
Maple Hill Cemetery’s address is 202 Maple Hill Drive, a short drive from downtown Huntsville. It is open daily from 7 AM until sunset. Maple Hill Park, the playground, is reached from McClung Avenue SE at the bottom of the hill and is open from sunrise to sunset all year.
Both close at sunset, so a visit at dusk is the closest you will get to the night-time stories, and the park is a real neighborhood playground used by families. The annual Maple Hill Cemetery Stroll celebrates the people buried here and the region’s heritage.
- Visiting City cemetery and park, open daily from early morning until sunset
- Tours Featured on Huntsville ghost walks and the annual Maple Hill Cemetery Stroll
- Hours and season Cemetery 7 AM to sunset; park sunrise to sunset
- Ghost hunting No; the park and cemetery close at sunset
Tips for your visit
- Visit at dusk, before closing, when the park is quiet.
- Be respectful: families use the playground, and neighbors live close by.
- Walk up through the cemetery from the park to see the older graves.
- Look for the annual Maple Hill Cemetery Stroll for the real history.
- Lynchburg, Tennessee, where Haunted Rooms runs ghost hunts, is an easy drive north.
Go ghost hunting nearby
Visiting a haunted place by day is one thing. Investigating one after dark is another. On a Haunted Rooms ghost hunt our team takes you through a historic building with professional ghost hunting equipment, runs EVP sessions and vigils, and gives you time to explore on your own. These are the nearest ones we run.
- Old Moore County Jail and Old Lynchburg Funeral Home Ghost Hunt, Tennessee: two haunted buildings in one night: the 1893 county jail and the old funeral home across the street, from 8 PM to 2 AM.
- Thomas House Hotel Ghost Hunt and Sleepover, Red Boiling Springs, Tennessee: dinner, an after-hours ghost hunt and a night in one of Tennessee’s best-known haunted hotels.
- Hotel Metropolitan Ghost Hunt and Sleepover, Paducah, Kentucky: investigate the historic Black-owned hotel where jazz legends stayed, with an overnight VIP option.
More haunted places nearby
- Haunted places in Alabama: Sweetwater Mansion, Old Cahawba, Sloss Furnaces and more
- Sweetwater Mansion, Florence: west along the Tennessee River
- Haunted places in Tennessee: just north of Huntsville
- Haunted places in Alabama
Visited one of these places? Tell us what happened
We collect first-hand accounts from visitors and add the best ones to our guides, with your first name and the date of your visit. We read every story before it’s published.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the Dead Children's Playground?
In Maple Hill Park, at 1351 McClung Avenue SE in Huntsville, Alabama, in a hollow below the eastern edge of Maple Hill Cemetery.
Is the Dead Children's Playground haunted?
Visitors say the swings move on their own and that they hear children laughing after dark. These are personal accounts; nothing has been documented.
Were children murdered at the Dead Children's Playground?
There is no evidence of it. Alabama Public Radio reported in 2025 that no official records or news reports confirm the story of 1960s abductions, and local historians say no one was buried in the park.
Can you visit the Dead Children's Playground at night?
No. The park is open from sunrise to sunset, and Maple Hill Cemetery from 7 AM to sunset.
How old is Maple Hill Cemetery?
It dates from about 1822, when LeRoy Pope sold Huntsville its first two acres for a cemetery, and it is the oldest and largest cemetery in the city.
Sources
Facts on this page are checked against the official website, historic records and news coverage. Ghost stories are reported as staff, visitors and investigators tell them, and we say where records contradict a story.
- Wikipedia: Maple Hill Cemetery (Huntsville, Alabama)
- Alabama Public Radio: Yellowhammer haunted history, the Dead Children's Playground (2025)
- Montgomery Advertiser via Yahoo: Is this cemetery Alabama's most haunted? (2025)
- Southern Spirit Guide: At play in the field of the dead, Huntsville
- Rocket City Mom: Maple Hill Park's Dead Children's Playground legend lives on (2015)
- Hville Blast: Haunted Huntsville, 5 spooky places in the Rocket City (2022)
- Alabama Tourism Department: The most haunted places in Alabama
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About the authors
The Haunted Rooms Team runs public ghost hunts and overnight investigations at historic venues across the United States. We research every place in our guides using official sites, historic registers, local archives and news coverage, and we report ghost stories as the stories they are. We review each guide regularly so you are not sent to a place that has closed, changed hands or banned visitors. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.