10/23/2026
PADUCAH AFTER DARK 👻
Ghost Story 4 of 6: Della Barnes—Behind the Legend
Before Della Barnes became a cemetery legend, she was a young woman whose unexpected death left a family and community grieving.
A contemporary newspaper account describes her visiting people in town on the day before she died. That evening, she said she intended to take calomel, a medicine used at the time. Instead, according to the report, she accidentally took morphine.
The newspaper described an accidental poisoning and the sorrow surrounding her burial at Oak Grove Cemetery.
Over the years, very different stories became attached to her memorial.
Some versions claimed she had been murdered. Others involved an engagement ring, a severed finger, or grave robbers. The statue’s missing finger became a detail people used to explain—and sometimes support—the version they had heard.
By 1973, a Lone Oak school newspaper was already recording several conflicting accounts, along with superstitions about how visitors should behave around the statue.
That gives us two stories to consider.
One is Della’s death, described in a newspaper from the time. The other is the legend that people built around her grave, passed from one person to another until the more sensational details became familiar.
A missing piece of a monument can invite questions. Once someone offers a frightening explanation, it can be repeated long after anyone remembers where it originated.
We featured Della last year, and she deserves another visit—especially one that remembers the person beneath the folklore.
The historical account points to a tragic medication mistake. The darker versions tell us how a community’s ghost stories can grow and change.
What were you first told about Della Barnes? And who told you?
👻 Explore more cemetery stories on October 29–30 with Market House Theatre’s Oak Grove Cemetery tours.
Next: Tuesday, October 27—the Island Creek witch legend.
