The Briar Creek Ghost Child

Williamsburg is the county seat of Whitley County, Kentucky. Developed along the Cumberland River, the city was founded in 1818 and named after William Whitley. This friendly town has beautiful, country scenery in all directions and a rich history to go along with it.

Hidden in the heart of the town sits a local treasure, Briar Creek Park. The local folks enjoy spending time at the park for birthdays, family reunions, local baseball games, area softball tournaments, high school and college track meets, or just a fun filled day. However, there appears to be a forgotten little gem nestled within the heart of this town. Inside of the park, sitting quietly up on a hill is an old, lost cemetery. Unless you know where it is, you'll likely miss it all together. I spoke to many students from the neighboring Cumberland College who visit the park on a daily basis. They had no inkling that this cemetery existed and was amazed to learn about it.

According to the stories surrounding this topic, a little girl named Emily is buried in this cemetery along with her best friend, a white kitten. Although time has erased a lot of the details surrounding her death, it is believed that she died suddenly while trying to rescue her kitten from flood waters. This leads us to believe that she possibly drowned along with the animal and because she loved her kitten so dearly, they was laid to rest together. A few of the older locals can recall some of the details and was happy to fill me in.

I learned that Emily came from a poor family in the late 1960's. Her father was a farmer and her mother was a homemaker with five other children to care for. One evening, Emily found a white kitten near their property, it was starving and alone so she carried it home. Although her parents agreed that the cat could stay, it had to live in the barn. Emily would sneak out of the house every night to sleep in the hay with her kitten.

One of the gentlemen that spoke with me even laughed as he claims to recall seeing little Emily with her family and her hair would be full of hay. Her father would tell the story of how she hopped out of a window and spent the night in the barn with her cat. Emily was a little country girl thoroughly and completely; in every way.

It was late in the Summer when heavy rains and storms came to the area. The Cumberland River was rising fast and people hurried to collect remaining crops before the floods washed them away. Emily's father was one of those people as they depended on the crop money to survive through winter months. All six children and his wife accompanied him in the rush to save their remaining crop fields.

Emily was assigned to the corn field, but while she was gathering her harvest she noticed that her kitten was trapped in the rising water. She ran straight into the water in a desperate attempt to save her friend. By the time her father reached them, the water had carried both Emily and the kitten away. It was three days later before their bodies was found and even in death the white kitten was found wrapped tight in her arms. The grieving, languished family decided that Emily and her kitten should spend eternity together. The pair was laid to rest together in the cemetery, located in what is now known as Briar Creek Park.

It is said that sometimes late at night Emily and her kitten will come out to play. The sounds of a young girl laughing and a small kitten meowing can be heard around the park. Small, wet footprints has been found on the pavement when the weather is warm and dry.

People have claimed that while visiting the cemetery, a white kitten can be seen sitting atop the grave stones.

One couple told me that while being parked late at night, a young girl walked right in front of their car, over a bank and into the creek below. When they went to check on her, nobody was there but a white kitten sitting on the bank. When they arrived back to their car... they found tiny, wet paw prints all over their car and windshield, even though they had just saw the kitten down over the bank. They even sent me a copy of the photograph which they claim to have been taken on that night. They said that they had never heard the story about the ghost cat or of Emily prior to this experience.

Just above the cemetery sits the Super 8 Motel. I decided to speak with some employees there to find out if they knew about Emily and her kitten. A housekeeper explained that over the years, some of the guests had mentioned seeing a little girl and a kitten walking across the parking lot and over the embankment.

After looking at the bank, it's obvious that it would be impossible to walk down, it's much too steep and wooded, however it leads directly down to the cemetery. I was given the phone number for another lady who had worked at the motel in the past. During our conversation she told me of the night when she had heard a small kitten meowing down over the bank. Thinking that it may be in trouble she went to search for it. She sit down and scooted over the bank. The meowing kept getting further away so she crawled back up to the top only to see a young girl peering over the embankment at her. She was in the process of explaining herself and why she was crawling up the bank, when the girl turned and vanished into the tree line.

I was also told that it isn't uncommon at all for people to see a phantom cat streak across the motel property and over the bank while hearing a little girl laugh and giggle from within the trees.

While our playful phantom duo are seemingly harmless and appear to be enjoying their time together thus far. I did gather some rather interesting photographs during my visit to Briar Creek Park. I also captured an EVP in the cemetery that is clearly a little girl giggling from within the dark tree line.

This is a heart-warming story with a bittersweet ending....or not, as it appears that Emily and her white kitten are still playing and having fun together as their story continues to live on.

Happy hauntings Williamsburg and thank you for your kindness and generosity while helping me to learn more about this amazing story.

-Raven Willow