There are many stories of ghosts sightings at Atsion, in the mansion, many people saw ghosts dancing in the cemetery (and still do), but my two favorites are THE LADY ON THE DAM and THE GHOST OF JOHNNY O'DEA. I don't know when the lady on the dam was first seen, but Johnny was seen not long after his death in the cotton mill.
Maurice Raleigh opened his Cotton Mill at Atsion in the fall of 1872. At that time or shortly thereafter he brought in Johnny O'Dea to supervise and run the operation. The mill was so successful that Raleigh stated in his will that Johnny O"Dea was to continue running the mill, or maybe he just liked Johnny. However, that fondness was not shared by the workers.
An old friend of mine told me a story that was told to him by his aunt who worked at the mill when she was a very young girl. Everyone at the mill hated Johnny, it seems he liked his booze and was always drunk and yelling at the worker. Then one day Johnny took the elevator to one of the upper floors. When he returned to the elevator and stepped in it was not there and Johnny fell to his death.
Johnny, being an Irishman was given a wake, a traditional Irish wake. [For anyone not familiar with a traditional Irish wake, believe me this one sounds like an old time Irish wake].
The night of the wake the young girl's mother told her to stay home and don't go near O'Dea's house. [Well, the best way to get kids to do something is tell them not too]. Along about 10:00PM with the music playing and folks dance and O'Dea's house all lit up she decide to go peek in the window. The aunt said when she looked in she saw Johnny O'Dea propped up in the corner of the room with his pipe in his mouth and one of the men pouring whiskey in his mouth. [It's traditional for the departed to drink along with everyone else,I don't know about propped up in the corner though]. Boy the Irish know how to give you a send off.
Note: All the history books that say the mill closed when Maurice Raleigh died have to be rewritten to say the mill closed when Johnny O'Dea died, which is true.
As for old Sam Giberson you just had to know him, what a character, a good ole friend of mine, he was the definition of a real piney, if you like old pineys you would love Sam. He lived in Atsion all his life. He was a cousin to the Giberson's in Indian Mills. I asked them one time if they were related to the fiddler, they claimed they were but could not give me a connection, so Sam may be related in some way but not closely I don't think. Sam lived in the house across from the church [Gloucester County Stag Club], in 1942 he sold it to the Gloucester County Stag Club and moved to Dutchtown. The Gloucester County Stag Club has the oldest house in Atsion, as old as the Mill Race House and probably older.
The Tumble Inn, I just know the history and ownerships like everyone else. Just a local watering hole that all the farmers in the area went too. On rainy days when they could not get in the fields it was standing room only. When I moved to the area in 1971, I went in one Friday night, got that stranger look from everybody so a had a couple of beers and left not feeling to welcomed to Indian Mills. I went back the next night, Saturday night, thought maybe there would be a different crowd, but the same folks with that same stranger look. So I bought a round for the house. I got some reaction so a little later a bought again. Before I left I know everyone in the place and went from the stranger to the new guy. Today 45 years later, I am still the new guy, but one of the boys. I guess that's where I got the idea to take a six pack with me to Atsion to break the ice.
Doesn't "The Ghost of Johnny O'Dea" sound like it should be a ballad?
