On the banks of the Mississippi River lies the town of Natchez. Of all the cemeteries in the Deep South, the Natchez City Cemetery holds one of the strangest graves anyone has ever seen – the grave of little Florence Irene Ford. The grave is a stark display of the unbounded love a mother has for her child.

Born in 1861, poor little Florence survived only ten years before Yellow Fever claimed her life. During her short life, Florence had a deep fear of thunderstorms. Every time one approached she rushed to her mother’s arms for comfort. After Florence died, her mother devised a plan to allow her to continue to comfort Florence every time a thunderstorm darkened the skies.

Florence’s mother ordered a special coffin for her daughter that contained a small glass window for viewing. The grave dug for Florence contained an adjoining stairway that led down to the level of the coffin. Workers installed a viewing window in the concrete wall at the bottom of the staircase that allowed her mother to see little Florence through the glass. Every time a thunderstorm approached, Florence’s mother would descend the stairs to be with her daughter during the storm. Steel doors installed over the stairs protected the mother from the rain.

After her mother died, workers covered the glass window at the bottom of the stairs with concrete to guard against vandalism, but the steel doors are still operational. Anyone visiting the grave is free to descend the stairs and offer comfort to little Florence during a thunderstorm.

Local folklore has it that if no one descends the stairs to comfort Florence during a thunderstorm, her ghost will rise and wander the cemetery in search of her mother, and the comfort she so desperately needs.