Tucked between the many antique shops in the heart of historic downtown Arcadia, Florida, 10 S. Polk Avenue, remains a hidden gem. Before the global pandemic strict lockdown, three friends and I enjoyed a delicious and delightful lunch at Mary Margaret’s Tea and Biscuit. The interior is an experience that is one of a kind. Walking through the doors of the historic building was like taking a charming step back in time. The restaurant was decorated with the grandeur of the Victorian era and featured ultra-high ceilings with multiple dining rooms. My guess is that it probably was once a hotel.
Shortly after we were seated, we had time to truly take in the décor and details of this pleasing and well decorated tea room. Victorian furnishings, fine china, crystal chandeliers, and Victorian era wallpaper all play a part of the old world charm of this lovely room.
Mary Margaret’s Tea and Biscuit offered a variety of soups, salads, sandwiches, elegant desserts, and of course tea. Naturally, we had to have dessert. Service was very attentive but not rushed. We were allowed to relax and enjoy our afternoon tea at our own pace. While we ate our incredible desserts, we chatted about how Arcadia had a reputation of being one of the most haunted towns in America. I told Terry, Tracey, and Gina about my recent research of an interesting and allegedly haunted cemetery, hidden in the middle of an orange grove. There’s something bone-chillingly about a graveyard with children from the same family. This was a cemetery that most believe is quite haunted. Rumor has it that the spirits of the children’s restless souls come out to play with each other, in forms of balls of light. My excitement about the haunted cemetery rubbed off on my friends. What could possibly be scary about lingering in the most haunted cemetery in Arcadia? We just had to go. What could it hurt? Or just maybe we had lost our minds. Nonetheless we four brave souls agreed to take this road trip. So, gather around. I’m going tell you a ghost story.
After enjoying the precious restaurant, we began our adventure. It was really hard to get to Coker Cemetery because there’s no exact address. It turned out that Coker Cemetery is off a winding dirt road, literally right smack in the middle of an orange grove. During the ride to the cemetery, I shared what I had read about this haunted cemetery. Apparently, there are three graves that bear the names of children laid to rest among people who are not their family and who never knew them. Allegedly, there’s stories that explains the mystery of why these babies were taken too soon.
The story is set in mid-1915. Legend says the Lott’s were a typical family in most respects. He was a big strong man, born for hard farm work. She was beautiful and wanted nothing more than to start a life with the man she fell in love with. They had gotten married young and somehow managed to get a modest house with some land in the town of Arcadia. She was pregnant with their first born, and things were going well. So well in fact, that when a traveling stranger came around asking for work, Luther Lott hired him to get some things done around the farm, taking advantage of the cheap labor and the country wagon the man had. But at some point, knowing they would need every dollar because his wife was pregnant, Luther changed his mind. And so, the week comes to an end, the traveling stranger asks for his money. But Luther Lott and his wife refused to pay him.
The traveling stranger said something like, “You two better pay me.” But the Lotts were like, “Nope, you get in that wagon right now and get out of here.”
The Lotts made a mistake that day. Well, actually they made two. They should have paid the meager wage. The second mistake was they should have inquired more about the man’s background before they hired him. It turned out that the drifter was a gypsy, not an uncommon sight in the area for the time. Maybe Luther Lott had hired him thinking ahead of time that he would cheat him out of his hard-earned money. The gypsy stranger did not stand up to Lott, and demand what was his because he knew there was no law in the town that would side with him, if he dared complain. He looked up at the big strong Luther Lott, and he knew the money was lost. He would get his revenge a different way. He turned his horse-drawn wagon and began down the dirt driveway, but before he left the property he turned around to look at the pregnant Mrs. Lott. He said, “I curse you that the baby will never see its first birthday.” With that, a curse was laid upon the Lott’s.
The baby girl, Mary Lucile, was born healthy, but died just before her first birthday, on December 3, 1916. Mrs. Lott became pregnant again, only to lose Nellie Ray in her eleventh month. The third, Freida Mae, survived her first year, but then died before her sixteenth month. The only way they could see to break the curse was to move away, leave the land which had made them a decent living in those nine years and leave behind the children they had buried in a small plot on the adjacent land. And just like that, the Lotts abandoned Arcadia.
Upon arrival at the cemetery, my friends and I entered through the cemetery’s lone gate. We found the headstones of the three little Lott children. We wandered the grounds respectfully. As we wandered around taking pictures, we thought it was a quiet and peaceful resting place. In case you’re wondering, unfortunately we didn’t experience anything unusual. The ground didn’t shake; we didn’t pick up any odd noises or hear a child’s laughter. Nor did we see any shadowy figures or lurking ghosts who chose to make an appearance. We took pictures and videos while there. We read that if you leave a coin on a grave of the Lotts’ children, good luck would come to you. Horrible misfortune had come to the Lott’s parents so we weren’t going to take any chances. Each one of us left coins on all three of the graves.
None of us got anything on camera to validate that this cemetery is haunted. But it wasn’t until after we were already back home that Gina’s video unmistakably shows mysterious balls of blue light about the size of softballs. The balls of light seem like they are playing with each other. They are jumping and running playfully around the cemetery. I’m sharing this video with you. I hope you can see the balls of light, as we did. Seeing is truly believing.
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