If you’ve been religiously following this blog for the past month (which is probably, like, two of you) then you know how much I love visiting cemeteries. Nothing really creeps me out too much, except when I see those bricked-up mausoleums, which basically means it is filled to capacity or they don’t expect anyone else to be buried in it. Anyway, remember when I told you about the grave of a young girl named Inez Clarke? Well, there is an equally creepy one down in Alabama.
A 10 minute detour off I-85 brings you to Oakwood Cemetery in the town of Lanett, a typical burial ground in that the markers are flat and pretty much all the same. But there is one resting place that stands out, probably because it doesn’t look like a grave at all. In December of 1933, four-year-old Nadine Earles wanted nothing but a playhouse for Christmas. Her father started on it, but she became sick with diphtheria, which turned into pneumonia. Her parents gave her a tea set and life-size doll, hoping it would help make her feel better, but all she just wanted was the playhouse. Nadine told her father, “Me want it now.” She passed away December 18th, right before Christmas. The playhouse was not yet finished. But her father hired a contractor to build it over her tombstone and filled it with her toys, a bike, and of course the little tea set. When looking through the windows of the house, visitors can still see the items, including newer toys, which makes it even creepier.
Nadine’s family continued to visit her playhouse over the years, as seen in the black and white photo above from 1945. Her parents are buried right outside of it. Peering through the windows of the playhouse, visitors can sort of make out her gravestone. It reads:
‘Our Darling Little Girl
Sweetest In The World
April 3, 1929
December 18, 1933
Little Nadine Earles
In Heaven We Hope To Meet
Me Want It Now’
