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GHOST
STORIES |
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GHOST
STORIES |
Source: http://www.digitalcity.com/
MISSISSIPPI
MONTANA
NORTH CAROLINA
NORTH DAKOTA
NEBRASKA
NEW HAMPSHIRE
~~~~~
MISSISSIPPI
...his severed head was left hanging along the trace as a
warning ...
The Natchez Trace
Where the
Natchez Trace passes just south of Tupelo there's a small
National Park Service sign that reads: ''Witch Dance. The old
folks say the witches once gathered here to dance, and that
wherever their feet touched the ground the grass withered and
died, never to grow again.''
Sure enough, if you head out along the trace you'll find a series
of patches where nothing will grow, and this in one of the
plushest, greenest parts of the forest. Andrew Jackson commented
on them when returning home to Tennessee after beating the
British in the Battle of New Orleans, but the barren patches have
been creeping people out for longer than a mere two centuries.
The Chickasaws and Choctaws, who have used the trace for a
thousand years, won't so much as dangle a toe over the scorched
pieces of earth – they believe that they are the marks of
evil spirits.
As if that wasn't enough, the Harpe brothers terrorized
westward-bound travelers passing through this part of the trace
in the early 1800s. The Harpes were not only highwaymen, they
were cruel, and known to hurt, mutilate, and sometimes capture
the people they robbed. One day one of them was caught and killed
by a posse from Natchez – his severed head was left hanging
along the trace as a warning to his brother. To this day, people
see a burly, headless man walking along the trace, holding his
skull in his left hand.
- Sebastian Oliver
Sources: Hauck, Dennis William. 'Haunted Places: The National
Directory.' Penguin USA, 1996; Whitechapel Press & American
Ghost Society, www.prairieghosts.com
~~~
...the ghost seemed to respond with a sort of sad longing...
Hauntings at King's Tavern
Dating back
to the 1760s, the building in Natchez that is now known as the
King's Tavern has been everything from a private residence to a
blacksmith's. But it gained the name it still carries today when
Richard King bought it in 1789 and turned it into a tavern. As
was the custom of those pre-feminist days, he took a 16-year-old
girl as his servant and mistress. Poor Madeline was never very
happy with King or his tavern, and within a year the dour young
woman disappeared –- the town whispered murder, but nobody
could prove a thing.
Soon after Madeline's disappearance, travelers passing through
the King's Tavern reported feeling a chilling, but not hostile
presence; some took to gently calling out Madeline's name, and
the ghost seemed to respond with a sort of sad longing. Recent
visitors report seeing softly glowing orbs float by. Some minor
renovations in the 1930s turned up three skeletons in the
basement, one of which was that of a young girl who was clasping
a jeweled dagger. To this day, they say Madeline lurks around the
King's Tavern, wondering why it all ended so badly.
- Sebastian Oliver
Sources: Hauck, Dennis William. 'Haunted Places: The National
Directory.' Penguin USA, 1996; Television station WJTV, Jackson,
Miss., wjtv.com.
~~~
...graves of over 40 soldiers have been found buried
nearby...
Spirits of Castalian Springs
The
ancient, crumbling building hidden just off a seldom-used road
between Castalian Springs and Durant was used as a YMCA camp from
the 1960s until fairly recently. It was closed down because
terrified campers refused to return to the haunted remains of
what was once one of Confederacy's busiest hospitals. This is
where the injured from Vicksburg were sent to heal and -- more
often than not -- to die. The graves of over 40 soldiers have
been found buried nearby; it's believed that hundreds more are
still undiscovered. One soldier has been haunting the second
floor of the building for almost one and a half centuries,
clomping along the wood floors and chilling unwanted visitors
with a feeling of terror and dread. He is popularly thought to be
a general, but there isn't a record of anybody of that rank dying
here – more likely he was an officer who died from an
infected wound.
- Sebastian Oliver
Source: Hauck, Dennis William. 'Haunted Places: The National
Directory.' Penguin USA, 1996.
~~~~~~~~~
MONTANA
...those who have encountered her describe being overwhelmed
with a feeling of dread ...
The Lady in White
The
sprawling Chico Hot Springs Lodge and Ranch outside of Bozeman
has provided its guests with a luxurious taste of ranch life for
more than hundred years. The hot springs drew visitors from all
over America; one decided never to leave. Known as the Lady in
White, this ghostly apparition has been seen floating through the
halls, playing the piano, and lingering in Room 349. She isn't an
angry ghost, but those who have encountered her describe being
overwhelmed with a feeling of dread before catching a fleeting
glimpse of the hovering figure. She first appeared in the early
1970s, shortly after the lodge renovated some old buildings, and
she was famously caught on film in 1986 by two security guards.
One of the guards had been the most skeptical staffer in the
hotel – now he's the manager, and he'll be happy to tell you
about his many encounters with the Lady in White.
- Sebastian Oliver
Sources: Hauck, Dennis William. 'Haunted Places: The National
Directory.' Penguin USA, 1996; Chico Hot Springs Resort, www.chicohotsprings.com
~~~
...they've heard the muffled discussion of a phantom class in
session ...
UM's Phantom Class
Named for
Jeannette Rankin, the first woman elected to Congress and a 1902
graduate of the Univeristy of Montana, the red brick and
white-columned Rankin Hall was built in 1908 as the main library
for UM. It was the law school from 1923 to 1961, and it has been
haunted ever since. Some mischievous ghosts still play pranks on
the custodians who clean the building at night, opening and
closing doors and turning on and off lights, but it is the
phantom class that has made Rankin Hall famous in supernatural
circles. For over thirty years, countless people have heard the
muffled discussion of a class in session on the second floor. It
has been described as a well-mannered class – witnesses have
described hearing a professor lead discussion and respond to
questions while chairs scrape and books open and shut – but
when the sounds are approached they fade and drift into silence.
- Sebastian Oliver
Sources: Hauck, Dennis William. 'Haunted Places: The National
Directory.' Penguin USA, 1996; Release Me, releaseme.home.attbi.com.
~~~
...some women say they feel like they're being watched when
they undress...
Hospital Hauntings
Standing
proud in the middle of Virginia City, the stately edifice now
known as the Bonanza Inn was first built to be a courthouse. The
building was sold to the Catholic Church in 1876, which turned it
into a charity hospital. For half a century, nuns tended to the
sick, bustling from room to room in their habits and wimples. One
sister's spirit remains. Guests at the inn have reported hearing
footsteps and feeling chills pass through their body - one room
was so haunted it had to be sealed off. Many think that there are
two phantoms – some women say they feel like they're being
watched when they undress, almost as if a lecherous man is
lurking in the shadows.
- Sebastian Oliver
Sources: Hauck, Dennis William. 'Haunted Places: The National
Directory.' Penguin USA, 1996; hauntedusa.com
~~~~~~~~~~
NORTH CAROLINA
...the banshee would cry late in the night, tormenting them.
The Tar River Banshee
Patriot
David Warner ran a grist mill on the Tar River. Then came the day
when three British soldiers arrived at his mill. When the
soldiers told the openly rebellious Warner that they were going
to drown him in the river -- he bid them to go ahead, but warned
that the banshee would get them for their transgressions. As the
bound and weighted Warner sunk to the river bottom, a piercing
scream filled the air. That night a woman's shape materialized
out of the river's mist, eerily beautiful. She disappeared, but
the banshee's scream was soon heard again. Shortly thereafter,
the same three British soldiers who drowned Warmer received
sentences to grind grain at the mill because their rough justice
had been unauthorized. Fiendishly, the banshee would cry late in
the night, tormenting them. Eventually, the banshee lured the
three British soldiers to the river, where they drowned. Now,
although the soldiers are long since gone, it's been said that if
you listen carefully on nights when the moon is new, it's
possible to hear the banshee as she comes out of the mist to
scream.
- Lisa Galloway
Source: Guiley, R.E. 'The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits.'
Roundhouse Publishing Ltd., 1992.
~~~
...the knocking would begin around 10PM...
The Haunted Bed
When
Governor Bob Scott decided to replace a massive, 79-year-old
wooden bed with a modern king-sized bed on the second floor of
the Executive Mansion in 1970, little did he know he'd have
plenty of restless nights ahead. The old bed was custom built for
then-governor Daniel Fowle, who died in that very bed while
serving his term later that year. Shortly after Scott moved
Fowle's bed to a seldom-used room on the third floor, a strange
rapping sound would be heard from where the headboard of the old
bed rested. Like clockwork, the knocking would begin around 10PM
only to increase in frequency before finally stopping deep into
the night. It wasn't until Scott's term ended in 1973 that
Governor Fowle's Ghost quieted down. That was when the new
administration moved Fowle's bed back to the second floor.
- Daniel Rivkin
Source: Hauck, Dennis William. 'Haunted Places: The National
Directory.' Penguin Books, 2002.
~~~
...an apparition of a white horse was seen...
Poole's Woods
William
Poole loved his white horse and would ride, each and every
evening at 5PM, through the woods of his 1,600-acre estate. That
is, until Union troops confiscated the animal during the Civil
War. Poole, devastated, instructed in his will that the 75 acres
of woodland he would always ride through be preserved, without a
single tree facing the ax. After Poole died, an apparition of a
white horse was reportedly seen along the road connecting Raleigh
and the Poole estate and the woods around the mansion. Decades
later in the 1920s, commercial developers bought the woodland but
the trees, which suffered from internal rotting, proved
worthless. Some say they can still see the ghost of William Poole
and his white horse remains enjoying a ride in the area to this
day.
- Daniel Rivkin
Source: Hauck, Dennis William. 'Haunted Places: The National
Directory.' Penguin Books, 2002.
~~~~~~~~~~
NORTH DAKOTA
...orderlies noticed a sickly apparition lurking...
Hospital Hauntings
In the
Altrue Hospital in Grand Forks, there's an elevator with a mind
of its own. The staff elevator is known to start up by itself,
lurch while in transit and erratically stop at various floors.
Skeptics believed that there was a short somewhere in the works,
but then some orderlies noticed a sickly apparition lurking in
the hallways and floating into the elevator. They believe that
this is the ghost of a patient who once died in the hospital when
she was trying to sneak out against her doctor's orders.
- Sebastian Oliver
Source: Hauck, Dennis William. 'Haunted Places: The National
Directory.' Penguin USA, 1996.
~~~
...an unnaturally icy draft can be felt from around the attic
door...
A Home Sweet Home
Home Sweet
Home, an adorable antique shop in Minot, is haunted by no less
than two ghosts. Years ago a man hung himself in the attic of the
home that now houses the store. The room is sealed, but an
unnaturally icy draft can be felt blowing out from around the
attic door. It seems the man had a thing for sweets. Pieces of
candy are always disappearing, and once the ghost went so far as
to unscrew some jars to get to the goodies inside.
The river out back of Home Sweet Home was the site of another
tragic death. A man fell in and drowned at exactly 4:39 in the
morning -? ever since, people in town feel a sinister sadness at
that hour when they pass by the house. Some even claim to see a
light floating just beneath the surface of the river.
- Sebastian Oliver
Sources: Hauck, Dennis William. 'Haunted Places: The National
Directory.' Penguin USA, 1996; Real Haunted Houses, www.realhaunts.com
~~~
...a sinister presence has been wandering the basement...
The Stack Monster
The Liberty
Memorial Building in Bismarck was built in the 1930s as a
multipurpose building for the state government ? the State
Supreme Court, State Library and State Historical Society were
all housed here. The last of those institutions brought in
artifacts from all over North Dakota, including Native American
remains and objects, and that's how the building became haunted.
Known simply as the Stack Monster, a sinister presence has been
wandering the basement since the mid 1960s, when workers first
started to hear footsteps and voices whispering in strange
languages. Now home to the North Dakota Department of Tourism,
the basement is still a chilling, creepy place where many of the
staff refuse to venture alone.
- Sebastian Oliver
Sources: Hauck, Dennis William. 'Haunted Places: The National
Directory.' Penguin USA, 1996; www.hauntedhouses.com
~~~~~~~~~~~
NEBRASKA
Some have even reported seeing softly glowing mists move at
night...
Hat Creek Battleground
After the
rout of General Custer at Little Big Horn, the Army sent the
Fifth U.S. Cavalry to engage and defeat the Cheyenne. Under the
command of General Merritt, the cavalry soundly destroyed the
Cheyenne braves, slaying them by the score. A young officer,
William F. Cody, later known as Buffalo Bill, shot and killed
Yellow Hand, one of the Cheyenne's greatest warriors. Now
visitors to the historic battle site report hearing whispering
just out of earshot and seeing traces of figures moving
stealthily through the tall grasses. Some have even reported
seeing softly glowing mists move at night, creeping from stone to
bush almost like a scout inching closer to the enemy. Some
believe that the slaughtered Cheyenne are preparing for the
cavalry to appear so that they may some day win the battle they
so horribly lost.
- Sebastian Oliver
Sources: Hauck, Dennis William. 'Haunted Places: The National
Directory.' Penguin USA, 1996; Whitechapel Press & American
Ghost Society, www.prairieghosts.com
~~~
...several witnesses saw the man materialize out of a blue
cloud...
A Walk in the Park
The
pleasant Lakeview Park in northwest Lincoln is a popular place
for an early morning stroll or jog. Since about 1980, witnesses
report seeing a well-dressed elderly man walking along the edge
of the lake slowly fade in and out of focus, almost as if he was
walking through a mist. He always disappears when approached.
Those who claim to have seen him can only give a general
description of the man, as if they can't make out his features or
the details of what he is wearing. On a particularly bright day
in 1987, several witnesses saw the man materialize out of a blue
cloud, then disappear as quickly as he appeared. To this day,
early risers still sometimes spot the old man out for his morning
walk.
- Sebastian Oliver
Source: Hauck, Dennis William. 'Haunted Places: The National
Directory.' Penguin USA, 1996.
~~~
...four years after buying the house, they discovered a
corpse ...
Hauntings at the O'Hanlon House
When the
O'Hanlons bought the handsome wood-framed house in the Omaha
Heights neighborhood of Omaha, they ignored whisperings that the
house was haunted. But shortly after moving in, they were
repeatedly awakened in the middle of the night by a knocking on
the front door that was so fevered, the whole house shook. A few
times the front door even flew open, as if the door was heaved
from its frame by a shoulder, but every time John O'Hanlon opened
the rattling door he found nobody there. In 1987, four years
after buying the house, they discovered a corpse buried in the
basement. The O'Hanlons were told by neighbors that everybody
suspected the previous owners of the house invited a traveling
door-to-door salesman inside, and beat him to death following
having a heated argument. The knocking, they said, was the
salesman returning to the house to demand for his body to be
returned.
- Sebastian Oliver
Sources: Hauck, Dennis William. 'Haunted Places: The National
Directory.' Penguin USA, 1996; Whitechapel Press & American
Ghost Society, www.prairieghosts.com
~~~~~~~~~~
NEW HAMPSHIRE
...he threw his inconsolable wife down the well to her
death...
Ghosts of the Country Tavern
The Nashua
bed and breakfast that cheerfully calls itself the Country Tavern
dates to 1741, when it was built as the landlocked house for a
Portsmouth captain. Once, when returning home from more than a
year at sea, the captain found that his wife Elizabeth Ford had
just given birth to a beautiful baby girl. The enraged seaman
murdered the illegitimate girl and buried her under a tree
outside the house. Later, he threw his inconsolable wife down the
well to her death, then buried her next to her daughter. After
the captain died years later, people thought they saw Elizabeth
walking through the garden, tending to the plantings. When a
family with children moved into the house, and they witnessed
Elizabeth fussing over the little girls, playing with them and
cheering them up when they were sad. The kind, helpful ghost of
Elizabeth has become, oddly enough, a happy fixture at the
Country Tavern – they celebrate her continued presence, and
she has even been the subject of segments on 'Hard Copy' and
'Unsolved Mysteries.'
- Sebastian Oliver
Sources: Hauck, Dennis William. 'Haunted Places: The National
Directory.' Penguin USA, 1996; Country Tavern Restaurant, www.countrytavern.org. The Union Leader, www.theunionleader.com
~~~
...thousands of bodies are buried, each in a sitting
position...
Ossipee Lake Burial Site
The
beautiful wooded lands close to Ossipee are home to a spectacular
burial site that can't be fully explained. Between the banks of
Ossipee Lake and a private farm is a mound some 75-feet wide and
25-feet high. It is commonly described as an Indian Burial Mound
for the Pequawket, but the oral traditions of the Ossipee of the
Sokokis tribe tell of a race of man that came from the sky long
before the Sokokis were in the area, and who are buried in a
short hill. The mound was first excavated in 1800, and what they
found was startling: thousands of bodies buried, each in a
sitting position, and all placed tightly together in concentric
circles so that they all face in towards the center. The mound
contains several layers of these circles, and it is estimated
that there are as many as 10,000 corpses in all.
- Sebastian Oliver
Sources: Hauck, Dennis William. 'Haunted Places: The National
Directory.' Penguin USA, 1996; Parsonsfield, Maine, parsonsfield.com
~~~
...the ghost seems to have a thing for ice cubes ...
Spirit of the Sise Inn
The elegant
Sise Inn in downtown Portsmouth has a peaceful history. Built in
1881 as a private residence, the Queen Anne-style building became
an inn in the 1980s; by all accounts, nothing amiss happened
here. Two doors away, things were different. Back in 1905, an
enraged husband killed his wife then committed suicide. Though
it's unusual for ghosts to leave the site of their mortal
tragedy, some think that the remorseful husband has taken up
residence in the Sise Inn. He tends to spend time in Room 214,
where he has been known to lock the door to keep out guests and
rummage through suitcases and dressers. Curiously enough, the
ghost seems to have a thing for ice cubes – over the years,
several witnesses have seen ice inexplicably floating through the
restaurant or outside on the patio, almost as if the spirit
needed to touch up a lukewarm cocktail.
- Sebastian Oliver
Sources: Hauck, Dennis William. 'Haunted Places: The National
Directory.' Penguin USA, 1996; hauntedhouses.com
~~~~~
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