Porchlight File:001

The Witch Tree of Old Louisville

On March 27, 1890, a tornado ripped through Louisville, leveling homes, churches, and street cars. More than a hundred lives were lost, and thousands were left homeless. Most people blamed the weather. But in Old Louisville, some whispered about another cause, a curse, cast a year earlier, when a group of men cut down a tree said to belong to the city’s witches.

wind and rain

I’m Jess, and this is Blood in the Bluegrass. You’re listening to the Porchlight Files where Kentucky’s small town secrets, legends, and crime meet under the same flickering light.

According to Louisville’s Tourism website Old Louisville has the largest collection of restored Victorian homes in the country. It is also the third largest Historic Preservation District in the U.S. It was built as a suburb in the 1870s, the neighborhood consists of over 40 city blocks of Victorian era homes, considered some of the oldest, largest, and most beautifully preserved homes in the city. In the late 1800s it was home to the city’s elite and the outcasts. The perfect setting for superstitions to take root.

In 1889 there was a large maple tree at Sixth Street and Park Avenue. The locals believed witches gathered round it every spring to hang ribbons, talismans, and charms. A group of city men came to cut it down, they said, for the upcoming May Day celebrations. May Day is a spring festival that goes back centuries, it was a time for dancing around the maypole, wearing flowers, and welcoming new life after a long winter. But to the women who gathered beneath the tree, the ones people called witches, it wasn’t just decoration. The tree was sacred to these women, and cutting it down produced fury, a fury that the city had never seen.According to the legend, they placed a curse, that within a year, a storm would tear through the city and destroy what stood in the tree’s place.

low wind or distant thunder sounds

Less than a year later on March 27, 1890, the Great Louisville Tornado struck. It killed more than a hundred people and destroyed much of downtown. Many people swore it was the witches’ revenge, the curse coming to fruition.

After the tornado, a strange tree began to grow from the same spot where the old maple had been cut down. Locals say that it grew overnight, twisted and gnarled, unlike any other trees in the city. Today, it’s a knotted, dark-limbed sycamore adorned with offerings: beads, trinkets, and charms left by visitors and modern day witches alike. The legend says that as long as the tree stands, the city will be safe from another catastrophic storm.

Maybe this storm was just doing what nature does best, reminding us how small we really are. Or maybe, somewhere deep in Old Louisville, the witches got their revenge. Either way, the tree still stands. Twisted. Watching. Waiting.

wind or thunder

If you ever find yourself at the corner of Sixth and Park, look for the tree covered in charms. But whatever you do, DO NOT TOUCH IT!

Outro:

This has been the Porchlight Files, part of Blood in the Bluegrass. I’m Jess, thanks for stopping by. Keep your porchlight on, you never know what might find it’s way home.

Sources & Further Reading

The story of the Witch’s Tree has been told and retold through generations of Louisville folklore. These are the main historical and cultural sources used in researching this episode:

• Old Louisville Guide — “The Witch’s Tree of Old Louisville.”
  https://www.oldlouisville.com/witchstree/
  One of the earliest written accounts of the tree’s legend and its connection to the 1890 tornado.
  
   
• David Dominé, True Ghost Stories and Eerie Legends from America’s Most Haunted Neighborhood (McClanahan Publishing House, 2005).
  Local author and historian who has chronicled the lore of Old Louisville for decades.
  
   
• The Courier-Journal (Louisville) – “Terrible Cyclone Strikes Louisville” (May 28, 1890).
  Contemporary newspaper coverage of the 1890 tornado that destroyed the original tree.
  
   
• Louisville Historical Quarterly, “Folklore and the Tornado of 1890,” Vol. 23, No. 2 (1989).
  Historical context connecting the real-life storm to later oral traditions of curses and witchcraft.
  
   
• Kentucky Folklife Program – “May Day and Vernal Rites in the Bluegrass Region.”
  Explores the seasonal customs that shaped local May Day celebrations and their role in community folklore.
  
   

Old Louisville Neighborhood Council – Oral Histories Project (1990–1999).

First-hand recollections from residents about offerings left at the tree and the efforts to preserve it as a symbol of the neighborhood’s heritage.