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Not far from Shopville, Kentucky is Short Creek, where bluegreen water emerges from a cave and meanders for about two hundred feet before spilling into another cave. According to legend, it was during the Antebellum Era that a large agricultural estate once stood near Short Creek. Like other southern plantations, this farm relied heavily upon the labor of slaves, who were ruled by the cruelty and malice of their possessor.
Once a month, when the clock struck midnight, the slaves, knowing that the lord of the plantation was fast asleep, would make their way to Short Creek, where they would bathe beneath the light of the full moon. This ritual continued until the end of the Civil War, which brought about the abolition of slavery throughout the United States.
Today, nearly two hundred years later, the ghosts of these Civil War-era slaves are still said to enjoy a moonlight swim in Short Creek—especially at midnight —especially when the moon is full.
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