Hold My Sweet Tea
Where True Crime collides with chilling ghost stories and Southern folklore. Join us, sip sweet tea, and uncover shocking tales of murder, mystery, and the supernatural, all with a healthy dose of Southern charm and a touch of sass!
Hold My Sweet Tea
Ep. 7-Abel's Light: Hauntings of Owl's Hollow
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Ever wonder what secrets linger in the silent shadows of the South? Join us over a refreshing glass of sweet tea as we unravel the chilling tale of "Abel's Light" from the heart of Owl's Hollow, Alabama. The disappearance of young Henry Abel on a frigid December night in the early 1900s sets the stage for a spine-tingling ghost story that has haunted the remote roads and rich lore of this intriguing area. As we reflect on the joys and tribulations of launching our podcast and growing our online presence, particularly the quirks of TikTok, we extend heartfelt thanks to our supporters for their incredible encouragement.
Our journey doesn't stop there; we delve into personal encounters with the spectral and mysterious. From phantom microphone movements to the curious appearance of Starburst wrappers, these supernatural experiences will have you questioning every creak and rustle. We share the story of a ghostly "bright man" thought to be a family spirit and invite listeners to submit their own Southern folklore and ghostly encounters. Imagine the thrill of future live podcasts from haunted locales, where the line between the living and the spectral blurs. Stay connected with us on all platforms, and send your stories to steeped@holdmysweettea.com for a chance to be featured in our next eerie adventure.
Sources:
Butler, Iran, The Moonlit Road 1997-2025, Abel's Light: Alabama Ghost Story, www.themoonlitroad.com/abels-light-alabama-ghost-story/
Hey y'all, I'm Pearl and I'm Holly, and this is Hold my Sweet Tea, the podcast where we sip tea and uncover hidden secrets and chilling crimes lurking beneath the surface of Southern hospitality.
Speaker 2Along with spooky tales and haunted history that give the South its eerie charm.
Speaker 1Ooh, so how has your week been? Uh tired, Same here.
Speaker 2I've not gotten decent sleep, honestly, this entire week, so I'm glad for tomorrow being day off.
Speaker 1Yes, me too.
Speaker 2No alarm clock set, but my dang body's gonna wake up anyway. I literally don't even set an alarm clock anymore because my cat wakes me too. No alarm clock set, but my dang body's going to wake up anyway.
Speaker 1I literally don't even set an alarm clock anymore, because my cat wakes me up. He is my alarm clock, mine is just me.
Speaker 2It's like every day of why am I awake?
Speaker 1right now.
Speaker 2And I tap my phone screen so I can see what time it is. I'm like no.
Speaker 1And then you start overthinking things and then you just can't go back to sleep. Exactly.
Speaker 2Especially on Friday morning. Oh yeah, I was like I have to go. I have to go look, make sure everything launched the way it needed to. Oh, I know, so exciting. I was just like so worried about something getting messed up and somebody not being able to see it or hear it. I getting messed up and somebody not being able to see it or hear it. I was like, please all be there. And it was. It was everywhere that it was supposed to be.
Speaker 1We are so excited about our podcast launching and everybody's been so nice and so supportive and a lot of our friends have been reposting and commenting and doing all the good things.
Speaker 2Yeah, we appreciate it very much, and that's what we keep telling everybody to do Make sure you share it, don't keep it to yourself. Sharing is caring.
Speaker 1Right, because you know now those three people should be up to like at least 72, 73.
Speaker 2Yeah, I mean, that's how many downloads we've had Right. We've got like 70s something followers on facebook, so y'all need to go on to instagram and follow us, because we're struggling over there yeah, instagram usually always struggles, I think it takes forever to get to build up followers on instagram. Why, I don't know, but it does.
Speaker 1And then you know, you might notice, on the Tiki Talk we have quite a few followers, but that was the Rikki Tiki Talkie, my personal Tiki Talkie, but I just I hit a bunch of videos so we're trying to reach we cheated Just trying to reach the masses that were on there. Yeah, like give ourselves a little head start yes because we need all the help we can get there absolutely gotta make sure and we post little videos and cool little things over there. Go over there and check us out today, yesterday, tomorrow.
Speaker 2no, I'm just kidding. My ghost story Yesterday, tomorrow no, I'm just kidding. My ghost story is called Abel's Light. It's an Alabama ghost story, roll Tide. No, ma'am, I know.
Speaker 1I'm an LSU country Go Tigers? Absolutely not. I'm an LSU country Go Tigers Absolutely not.
Speaker 2I got this from themoonlitroadcom, so there's a lot of people who will just tell ghost stories from, like, their local community. So a lot of the stuff is written by people who've had some experience with the stuff they're telling you about. That's really cool. Yeah, so it's in Owl's Hollow, which is a sparsely populated and peaceful location nestled at the foot of Lookout Mountain in North Alabama. It runs about 20 miles along the southeastern edge of the mountain 20 miles along the southeastern edge of the mountain, and it's kind of like right between Lookout Mountain and Shinbone Ridge, and its width spans the better part of a mile, so it's a little large for a hauler, I mean. But you know I have a lot of family in West Virginia.
Speaker 1I have a lot of family in like Georgia and North Carolina area. Yeah, it's like my mama's side. I wonder where they come up with some of those names like Shinbone.
Speaker 2I don't know.
Speaker 1Well, yeah, I think my dad. He grew up in Brasstown, North Carolina, and they have Blood Mountain.
Speaker 2Yeah, it's like the names are just very I wonder if they drink some moonshine, possibly.
Speaker 1I'm sure there were lots of stills up there.
Speaker 2You know what we're going to name this mountain Exactly? We're going to name this holler. It's holler.
Speaker 1It's going to be bloody. Holler, it's going to be bloody holler Right.
Speaker 2So it's actually officially known as Owl Valley, at least that's the way it appears on maps. People outside of the local area very few of them have knowledge of the hollow, and even fewer people know about Abel's Light. So that's why I thought this would be a really cool one to throw out there. So the story of the light is that in the early part of the 1900s Owl's Hollow was even more sparsely populated than it is today. It was really large tracts of pasture land and hardwood forest. It only accommodated a few homesteads and they were all connected by like little rutted narrow roads Nothing fancy or actually official as far as roads go, it's just basically worn paths.
Speaker 2One family living here was the Abel family. Mr and Mrs Abel had three kids, the youngest of which was a son named Henry. Henry was four years old when one bitterly cold December evening he disappeared. Their weather there was so cold that the urgency of finding him was of immediate and overriding concern for every family member. So it didn't matter that it was cold and freezing, they were like we have to go find him.
Speaker 1Yeah, because it could just freeze instantly out there.
Speaker 2A frantic search in the area near their home by the family failed to turn up little Henry. They just started running around to the neighbor's houses and being like, hey, have you seen Henry? And when they realized that nobody had seen Henry, all those neighbors came together and tried to help them search. All through that first night searchers came and went from the Abel house. All through that first night searchers came and went from the Abel house. They would come in and have a cup of hot coffee and get warm by the fire and then they'd go back out. So they were kind of taking shifts, but they were trying to all keep looking. The search actually continued into the next day but there was still no sign of Henry. There were no tracks, no scent trail for hounds, nothing.
Speaker 1Wow, that's insane, like you would at least think. I know like, with snowing and those conditions, snow can cover tracks, but like nothing.
Speaker 2Yeah, just cover it all back up. I don't know. I mean, I know it was freezing, I don't know if it was even snowing, it was just bitterly cold yeah, it was just cold, oh okay but.
Speaker 1I was thinking bitter, cold and snow right, you kind of correlate it.
Speaker 2Yeah, yeah, but it's like, really, where are his footprints?
Speaker 1something something?
Speaker 2no scent, trail, nothing. So three days after henry disappeared, the general consensus among the searchers was that he was likely dead of exposure and might never be found, which I guess is logical to believe.
Speaker 1But where was he?
Speaker 2Right. Henry's father could not accept this as the fate of his son and never stopped searching. He would leave home every morning and come in only when he was so hungry and exhausted he couldn't continue. He was pretty grief stricken. Yeah, sounds like it. They say he was so grief stricken that he was on the brink of madness. Oh, I can't imagine that's tough to your youngest kid, four years old, and you are sitting here having to think about all the things that could have potentially happened.
Speaker 1I don't know, I'd probably do the same thing. Yeah, just never stop, right.
Speaker 2Henry's father lived a tortured existence and the entire family felt his suffering. The work around the farm was beginning to pile up and he just didn't care. He just kept searching for henry. That was the only thing he was worried about. Even though the other families were kind of trying to do double duty, like the stuff they would normally do, plus trying to cover what their dad, dad typically did, or husband, they still had like such a build-up of work. That was happening because there were so many things that Mr Abel was doing that no one else could really do. On occasion a neighbor would come by and help with the search or with the farm work, trying to just, you know, keep this family afloat. Yes, henry's father searched, even at night, carrying a kerosene lantern, as he rode on horseback over the same roads he had covered a hundred times before. He called Henry's name the whole time, poor guy. This went on for months with no conclusion.
Speaker 2One night, mid-march-ish, henry's father didn't come back. So now we're not just missing Henry, we're missing Dad too. His horse came home and was discovered the next morning in the hallway of the barn. So then Henry's older brother began searching for his father. So then Henry's older brother began searching for his father. Within an hour he located his father's body, hanging by his neck from a forked limb, in a blackjack oak, just off one of the roads that he had searched so many times. Oh, oh, so he had apparently hung himself in the dark when he tried to ride under this branch. It caught him, and it caught him, pulled him off the horse and hung him. His still burning lantern was in his hand and his eyes were wide open. That would be horrific, finding your dad that way.
Speaker 1Yeah, that's insanely creepy too, His eyes wide open just hanging there.
Speaker 2And this is why we don't search in the dark. Yes, with lanterns, yeah with lanterns they give off like that pretty little amber glow.
Speaker 1There's no cast of light going on there.
Speaker 2No, you're still running into stuff and it's such a dangerous thing to do. Yeah, but I guess he didn't think anything of it because he'd been doing it for so long, every night. It's been a super long time ago, and since then there have been sightings of a dim yellow light amongst the trees during the coldest months of winter, so it's really only being seen when it's cold out so he's still searching in the afterlife basically, yeah, his search for his son has not ended and obviously he's still not finding him.
Speaker 2no, because this isn't about hen haunting Owl Valley, it's his father.
Speaker 1Yeah, so that's why they call it Abel's Light because, of the lantern.
Speaker 2So two explanations offered by locals to explain the tiny spectral light that is viewed from the road on higher ground. The road on higher ground, one part puts forth that the light is Henry's father riding his ghostly mount, carrying the lantern, as he slowly moves through the woods. They say that you can hear the hoof beats of the horse, and if you're especially quiet and the night is also pretty still, they say that you can hear a man's voice calling the name henry wow, I would be creeped out for sure absolutely, especially be out in the middle of nowhere and be like what's that right?
Speaker 2you see a light and hear somebody calling henry that's some sco-Doo stuff, you know. So they say the chilling display is only visible from mid-December until the middle of the month of March, when Mr Abel was overtaken by his most unusual death. I do feel like it's a little bit weird that he couldn't get himself out of that. Yeah, Because I mean, why wouldn't you?
Speaker 1like just drop your lantern, grab the branch and drop to the ground yeah.
Speaker 2I don't understand that either.
Speaker 1It's a little bit weird. It's giving Headless Horseman vibes Right.
Speaker 2The second story is that the lantern can be seen but it's not moving. This part asserts that the light is Henry's dad holding onto the lantern as he still hangs from the blackjack oak. So they're saying like the reason you can only see it during those certain months is because once the tree begins to put their leaves back on, the light becomes harder to see. Oh okay, so basically it gets harder to see with every passing day until the tree is full.
Speaker 1And then the fall. When all the leaves start falling, then you can see the light again.
Speaker 2Right. So the author of this little story? He actually says that he has witnessed the ghostly light on a number of occasions. He said he's heard the hoofbeats and the name calling.
Speaker 1Henry, again, that would be something that I would want to go experience myself.
Speaker 2Right, it's like when are we going to Alabama?
Speaker 1Right. Well, on our way to Savannah, we'll stop in Alabama.
Speaker 2So Alabama first Murder Museum, florida, yes, savannah.
Speaker 1We're going to make a spooky like haunted crawl, yeah, something. We're just going to hit all these different destinations and go the trip of spooks. Yes, there we go. So they just say that if Henry's father spirit still lingers, it's due to an unfulfilled and seemingly endless quest so even in the afterlife he's still looking for his son, because it's I guess it's just a pattern, a circle, because some ghosts get caught in a loop, right so it. He did it for so long, so that was his loop yeah, I mean he was.
Speaker 2That's what I was about to say. He was like caught in a loop mm-hmm alive, let alone being caught in a loop after he passed.
Speaker 1I wonder what happened to little Henry, though that's yeah that he just disappeared like that, but no trace of anything right, and where's his little spirit, mm-hmm yeah, nobody sees his little spirit running around they just see the light from dad's lantern.
Speaker 2Wow, crazy stuff.
Speaker 1That was a good one. I like that.
Speaker 2Even though, in the middle of this episode, my microphone decided to move itself.
Speaker 1Yeah, it did, and that was creepy because these things are locked in place and her microphone literally swiveled and went down.
Speaker 2Yeah.
Speaker 1But the building we're in has a haunted entity in it, because it's not things over before.
Speaker 2Yeah, she actually used to work. Here is the story.
Speaker 1Yeah, and she like makes little noises and we just like, oh no, that's. You know that's the people next door or something like that. We'll brush that off, but when things fly off the shelf, which they have, we know that it's her Things fly off the shelf.
Speaker 2Yeah, my microphone moves.
Speaker 1You found Skittles in your seat one time.
Speaker 2No, it was no what is it? Starburst wrappers, starburst wrappers and D starburst wrappers, and there was no starbursts in this building.
Speaker 1In my wrappers and d starburst wrappers and there was no starbursts in this building in my chair.
Speaker 2She was like I'm gonna have this little snacky snack and put it in your chair.
Speaker 1Really, here, throw this away for me, right thanks, I can't reach the garbage she totally could reach the garbage.
Speaker 2It was right next to my chair she just didn't want.
Speaker 1She wanted to make herself known. Yeah, I've had, I've had a few ghostly encounters, you know, over the years, and little things that have I. I know they exist and maybe, and I know, like the myrtles plantation has been covered many, many times, but I really many times, but I really as many times as I've been there, which is a lot, I want to go spend the night and you know, maybe we can do a little live podcasting from there, that would be really neat, that would be fun.
Speaker 2Get us a little EVP yeah that would be so cool.
Speaker 1That would be so cool. That would be a good one.
Speaker 2I know that when I was a baby my mom said I used to talk to her about the bright man and then she would ask me what he looked like, and when I told her she was pretty sure it was her grandfather. So that was crazy. But she said he kept telling her because he was really really sick when she was pregnant with me and he kept telling her that he was gonna live just long enough to see her baby born and he didn't so he came to visit you.
Speaker 2So she thinks that he just came to see me because he didn't make it wow my birth. So that's creepy. The.
Speaker 1Bright man, and if any of y'all have any creepy ghost stories or encounters or anything like that with spirits, write in and let us know. Yeah, maybe we could Zoom call you and you could be a guest on the podcast and tell everybody, or we can read it on air, however you want, tell everybody, or you know we can read it on air like yeah however you want to you don't want to be on air, we can take care of that for you.
Speaker 1Yes, because I'm sure anybody listening has some kind of cool ghost story yeah, I would imagine.
Speaker 2so I have several little weird tidbits like my. My dad lived in Sandy Hook, mississippi, and it's a really old house, and I was up there on the computer and everyone else was outside and I swore that I heard someone whisper my name. I've had that several times.
Speaker 1It's right by your ear too. Yeah, like always, and I'll hear my name and I'm like what was that? Turn my head.
Speaker 1Yeah, it makes you turn your head and look, but nobody's there, no, and then in my parents' old house and I don't remember when you were staying with me if you ever heard the people talking or the music box playing, but there were several things we called him. Well, I'm sorry, my friend, my good friend, andrea, when she was little, her grandfather built that house and she called the ghost Frank, I think that was his name, so it was in the house for a long time. Of course she used to talk to I think it was David Cassidy or something like that, and he lived in the house for a long time.
Speaker 1Of course she used to talk to, um, I think it was david cassidy or something like that, and he lived in the attic but, it was frank and that ghost stayed in that house the whole time because we ended up moving into that house like it was in the same neighborhood and my parents had bought it and we moved in that house and like little things would happen all the time. You would find things misplaced or cabinets opened in the middle of the night, but everybody that stayed in a particular bedroom in that house could hear people like talking, like in a conversational setting or a music box playing.
Speaker 2Hmm, and here I thought the weird noises were just Johnny my nephew.
Speaker 1My mom, just you know, took us all in. She was like, just come live in my house, it's fine. I loved her singing while she made breakfast.
Speaker 2Yes, it was the greatest.
Speaker 1That house, like, like, definitely had a spirit in it. I remember sitting in a recliner one time and I was talking on the phone with somebody and I was joking around because I heard a noise about the ghost in the house and my legs started burning and I was like, okay, well, I got to go off the phone. I said my legs burning, it was dark in the living room so I was just sitting in there in the recliner and I got up, went to the restroom and there was a big, long scratch down my leg. Oh no, that's creepy, yeah, because I was talking, you know, smack, about a ghost. So he was like, hey, watch this. Yeah, hold my sweet tea, hold my sweet tea, I want to scratch you. It was weird.
Speaker 2Oh my goodness.
Speaker 1That is our little story for today. We hope that y'all enjoyed it.
Speaker 2We'll have many more of those We've also talked about. Some of our mini episodes may not just be the educational tidbits, may not just be the educational tidbits. We were discussing probably doing some shorts on missing people, where there's not like a ton of information, so it would make sense to put them in a shorter episode, but we'd like to get those folks out there for sure Just some awareness and stuff instead of, you know, just on a website.
Speaker 1If anybody knows things, then they can let us know.
Speaker 2Yeah, we'll make sure all the numbers and info like places where you can call or give a tip, absolutely Maybe we can Just have a sip and give us a tip.
Speaker 2Yeah, hopefully we. Can, you know, help find some folks? That would be really rad. Thank you for joining us on Hold my Sweet Tea. All sources used to create this episode can be found in the show notes, and I also told you where I found it. The music for this episode was created by Patty Salzetta.
Southern Folklore and Ghost Stories
Speaker 2If you enjoyed this episode or any of the other ones, please subscribe and leave us a review. This episode or any of the other ones, please subscribe and leave us a review. You can follow us on Facebook, instagram, tiktok, the interwebs at HoldMySweetTeacom. It has links to everywhere. Yes, our YouTube, our Facebook, our Instagram they're all on there. So head on over to our website, holdmysweetteacom, click on the social media links and you can figure out where you'd like to listen to us. I mean, I'm sure you guys have a favorite place, but we are on all of them, so we should be easily found. If you have a case you would like to be covered, or even a ghost story or a cool piece of Southern folklore to be covered, or even a ghost story or a cool piece of southern folklore, please email us at steeped at hold my sweet tea dot com and steeped is s-t-e-e-p-e-d.
Speaker 1That's right. So follow us everywhere so you don't miss a single thing. And hold my sweet tea is a drunken bee production. Y'all remember to stay safe out there. And just because we're dipping doesn't mean y'all can't keep sipping. Bye, thank you.