Local Ghost Stories Give Hookman Cemetery its Name

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An interesting tale arises concerning a lost and forgotten cemetery named Hookman in Rayne, Acadia Parish. Located on a sharp turn off a gravel road known as Ohlenforst, the only access is a small ATV beaten path and through a small clearing. A total of seven graves scatter the grounds although multiple headstones are partially buried and indiscernible. One site, broken open to the elements, is filled with water and trash. The newest headstone, placed in 1934, clearly shows an abandoned cemetery. Although referred to as Hookman Cemetery, the name resulted from a lover’s lane ghost story concerning a man with a hook. Eventually, the name stuck. Local newspaper clippings reveal the latest burial of Lee Anding and referred to the burial site as McClellan (McClelland) Cemetery. The obituary stated Anding died at the Anding homestead and was a farmer who left behind seven adult children. All but one, Charles Robertson, buried in the cemetery is either a McClelland or an Anding. Census records in 1910 indicate that the McClelland and Anding families lived next door to one another. The history points to a small, family locale cemetery not called Hookman Cemetery, but McClelland Cemetery. The grounds are an open-air Acadian farming family history museum that should be remembered instead of forgotten.