NATCHEZ TRACE

For centuries the mysterious pathway known as Natchez Trace has crossed the middle southern states. Many strange tales and legends have grown up around the trail, which takes its name from the city of Natchez, Mississippi. Just south of Tupelo, the National Park Service placed a sign that reads WITCH DANCE. Old folks say that witches once gathered here to dance and that whenever their feet touched the ground, the grass withered and died, never to grow again. The sign appears to be right. You can actually find scorched spots on the earth, where the grass will not grow. And these spots have been there since the days of Andrew Jackson, who noted the spots in his journal after a trip along the Trace on the way home to Tennessee.