HAUNTED TAYLOR
ALEX LOWE
Special to the Press
Editor’s note: With Halloween fast approaching, the Taylor Press offers readers a continuing series about ghostly doings in town.
Of all the haunts in Taylor, the Black Sparrow Music Parlor may be the most thoroughly investigated of them all. It may also have the quirkiest spirit of all.
A visit to the Black Sparrow, 113 W. Second St., may offer good libations, good food, good coffee, good music and a ghost who will occasionally take to the stage.
“I’ve been told that there is a guy who haunts the stage that asks if he can enter peoples’ bodies and play music through them,” said building owner Shannon Bagent.
Bagent bought the structure that houses the Black Sparrow in May 2016. It was love at first sight for her; she stripped it down, refurbished it and opened it as the Black Sparrow that same year.
“I am careful about how I talk about it because this is a very precious place to me,” Bagent said. “Everything about the energy here is sacred to me. I live in the building, so I am careful not to exploit anything that is here. So, that is why I usually turn away the opportunity to talk about it. I’ve had countless people come here to do investigations. I’ve never been one to embellish ghost stories, but I live in this building, and I probably know the building better than anyone else that is still alive” She added, “They say that in the hallway area there is a portal where spirits enter and leave the location. That hallway is very active.”
Bagent may be right about the building being a prime target for paranormal occurrences, experts said.
Matt Cannon’s group, Truly Haunted Inc., conducted a town hall and public walkthrough of the site in March 2020. The parlor was filled with curious locals and the investigation produced many electronic voice phenomena, or EVP, that some feel are audio captures of disembodied spirits. The most striking recording came in the form of a response, “William,” when asked who was sitting in a specific chair.
The Black Sparrow is a popular stop on ghost tours such as Gretchen Upshaw’s Taylor’s Spirits After Dark Tour, offered by Spellcaster Ghost Tours, and the Taylor Conservation and Heritage Society’s haunted history tour, which runs in late October.
“Taylor was the El Dorado of toughs and a regular hellhole of saloons and gambling houses,” said ex-Taylor Mayor Brandt Rydell, quoting former stationmaster N.C. Schlemmer. “The downtown area is loaded with tales of murder, mystery and mayhem.”
The downtown building, which houses the music parlor, was once known as KJ Peterson’s Hardware and Hatchery. The proximity of the railroad to the area was both beneficial for businesses and dangerous as well, according to historians.
Many thieves took advantage of the trains’ easy access to downtown’s retailers. They robbed local establishments, before hopping back on a train out of town. The building later housed a diner called The Diamond Inn. According to local lore, there may have been a fatal shootout there.
Murder and mayhem notwithstanding, Bagent is not afraid of any of the spirits said to haunt the Black Sparrow.
“I am not scared of the spirits. I’m addicted to them,” Bagent said. “One thing that does scare me though is that I’ve been told by several mediums who have come here that not only does the building host spirits, but that it has a spirit itself and that it chooses who it lets run it. This building was built in 1883, and there have only been three people to own it before me. All four of us have always operated it as sort of a self-owned, self-run business. What frightens me is that I’ve been told that the building is not going to let me sell to another person, unless it approves of that person.”
Sara Reeves is a medium and founder of Metaphysical U, an organization of psychics and mediums dedicated to growing their intuitive abilities. Reeves had perhaps the most dramatic of many encounters experienced by witnesses inside the venue.
“They used to have a piano on the stage at the Black Sparrow,” Reeves said. “I was sitting at a table near the stage, and I began to feel a presence. I looked over and could see the image of a man sitting at the piano. He gave off the feeling of happiness at having been there. He was well-defined in some aspects but almost transparent in others. I could tell that he was from some sort of postwar era, perhaps (World War II), based on the clothing he wore.”
Reeves has an explanation for why she thinks the building is ground zero for paranormal experiences.
“There are spirits that haunt locations, and then there are echoes of the energy that existed there as well. Shannon’s building has what is known as a portal, which is a way for energy to move from place to place” she said. “That portal is located in the hallway towards the back, and it allows for traffic in and out of the building.”
Bagent doesn’t publicize the accounts of what goes on in the Black Sparrow, but embraces the mystery.
“For people who have come here consistently, they know that there is a magic to this place. It is infectious, and very real. It is something I don’t want to tamper with. I don’t want to lose it by exploiting it,” Bagent said.
