Alice has been an oddity of sorts through the decades.
Years after her unwarranted legend has been debunked, her gravesite continues to be a curiosity for those who insist on believing that Alice was a witch. Not only that, but a witch who would one day wreak havoc on a murderous rampage.
As Halloween approaches, Phyllis Hall wants answers. Was she or wasn't she?
"I went to Baker High School in the 1970s, and the story circulated among the students that Alice was a witch," the Catahoula resident said. "So, it was a popular thing for teens to go to Zachary at night to visit her grave, especially at Halloween."
The Buhler Plains Cemetery near the crossing of Scenic Highway and Church Street in Zachary is where you'll find the tomb of Alice A. Taylor.
Any mention of the so-called "Alice's Grave" would make the hair rise on the backs of their necks.
Why? The concrete covering of Alice's original brick tomb -- the cemetery's only above-the-ground gravesite -- once was secured by heavy metal bars. Are bars on a grave meant to keep its occupant inside?
Zachary resident Jack Burk states otherwise.
"They had to put the concrete covering and metal bars on the brick tomb because people kept trying to uncover the grave and take her bones," he said.
Burk is the cemetery's official caretaker. He heads a group that funds its maintenance. He makes sure the grass is cut, the grounds are well kept and the headstones are in good shape.
The cemetery is old with headstones dating to the early 19th century.
Not forgotten
Of course, Alice never had the problem of a missing marker. In fact, the marble slab atop her tomb provides lots of room for her eulogy: "Sacred to the memory of Alice A. Taylor, consort of Isaac S. Taylor. Born Jan. 28th, 1840, died Dec. 9th, 1859."
But the inscription doesn't stop there.
"Alice, you are not forgot, the stone that hides your lovely form from our view, cannot hide your sweet image from our hearts. Tongue can't tell how much we loved you, we love thy memory still. We know you are not lost but gone before, you cannot return to us, but we shall go to you."
Sounds more like an homage to the memory of a sweet young wife than it does to a witch who supposedly yearns for murder, doesn't it? But legends have grown from less.
Burk cites a 1990 Zachary Plainsman-News article that documents Alice's remains being unearthed some time between 1946 and 1947.
But a 2019 article from The Zachary Advocate and Plainsman states, "The eerie story came to life in the 1950s and 1960s, when the large stone grave's marble slab covering was removed on three separate occasions, and her remains were removed and left outside of the grave."
Then comes the stinger -- locals claim that Alice walks around the cemetery at night calling for her loved ones. It's the perfect setting for teenagers looking for a thrill, but Burk points out that teens aren't the only ones finding their way to Alice's grave.
"There is a 1990 story from The Advocate that talks about how people living in the area couldn't sleep at night because of the noise coming from the cemetery," he said. "Teenagers weren't the only ones going out there. There are people who go there and leave all kinds of things on the grave."
On a recent Saturday, rocks bearing painted messages and crystals had been placed on Alice's tomb, proving that some still go out of their way to pay homage to Alice and the witch legend.
As stated in the 2019 Advocate article, not much is known about Alice beyond the information on the marble slab. Her maiden name was Penny, and her husband, Isaac, was said to be the nephew of Mexican-American War hero and U.S. President Zachary A. Taylor.
"That wasn't true," said forensic anthropologist Mary Manhein. "Isaac wasn't Zachary Taylor's nephew."
'The Bone Lady' takes a look
Manhein, known as "The Bone Lady," researched Alice's history for her 1999 book, "The Bone Lady: Life As a Forensic Anthropologist." Solving the mystery of Alice's story seemed a perfect task for the founder of LSU's Forensic Anthropology and Computer Enhancement Services, or FACES, Laboratory which provides forensic anthropology and forensic imaging services to agencies within Louisiana.
In 1990, Wayne Rogillio, from the cemetery maintenance board in Zachary, called Manhein, who lives in the Plains area, looking for "The Bone Lady," she said.
He asked if she would be interested in examining Alice's skeletal remains, which had been disturbed for the third time. Manhein agreed and started piecing together Alice's story, beginning with Rogillio's information and pairing it with stories provided by local residents.
Then she examined Alice.
Manheim believes Alice's lone above-ground tomb, built in the tradition of Taylor's family, made her an instant curiosity in Buhler Plains.
Transporting a cast-iron coffin to LSU
She learned that Alice's husband moved her to his family home of Ashland Plantation in Devil's Swamp, near where Southern University is located today. When Alice died, he buried her among her ancestors, the Pennys, in the Plains area outside Zachary.
"Who knows who was the first to whisper that 'a witch is buried there?'" Manhein writes in "The Bone Lady." "Somehow the idea began to circulate -- and it stuck ... motivation for the first violation of Alice's crypt is unknown."
The iron bars, Manhein, said, were placed on the tomb not to keep Alice in but vandals out.
"People are so fascinated with the occult these days that this fascination prompts them to visit these sites or these graves," Manhein said. "That's why I tried to help resolve some of that issue."
Manhein transported Alice's cast-iron coffin to her lab, learning that the young woman was small, standing at 5 feet 2 inches. Her dark brown hair had been bluntly cut, traditional for someone who may have been suffering from a fever.
Yellow fever, perhaps? The disease was in epidemic status in Louisiana at the time of Alice's death. Then again, it's possible that Alice could have died in childbirth.
"The reason childbirth was suggested -- and this is not fact, this is just my memory from 30-something years ago -- was that, I think, Isaac remarried," Manhein said. "And there was this child, but I don't know for sure."
When the last post fell ...
Her grave once was surrounded by an iron fence anchored by four posts. The rumor was that once the last of the posts fell, Alice would rise and go on a murderous rampage.
Of course, that never happened.
All the speculation around Alice prompted Manhein to wonder how a lifelike image of the young woman would look.
Using Alice's bone structure, Manhein and her students created a mold and cast a plaster likeness, adding forensic markers used today in modern forensic cases. The result is a portrait not of an evil witch but a pleasant, happy young woman.
"Alice's bones are back in her coffin, back in her crypt and covered with cement," Manhein writes.
And that's where Burk wants her to stay, undisturbed in her eternal rest.
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