Coffin Hollow and Other Ghost Tales (5 page)

Even Yankee thrift could not withstand this incident. Soon afterwards the house was left vacant, and one night it mysteriously burned to the ground.

12: The Mysterious Music

Several years ago near the small town of Cottageville an elderly engineer died. The old man had lived in a small house approximately two miles down the track from the town, and it was fairly well concealed by the heavy woods.

It was said that the old engineer had been very fond of the Christmas season and was always singing carols and buying the smaller children candy. It was also said that he had one possession of which he was really proud — an old phonograph with some old-time records, mostly of Christmas carols.

In the summer of 1968 the Baltimore and Ohio Rail-road Company took up the tracks outside of Cottageville so they could be put to use elsewhere. After the tracks were removed, hunters found that the track bed provided good access to the thicker parts of the woods. During the track-lifting process, the house where the old man had lived was completely destroyed.

Two days before Christmas, Bill Johnson was driving out the track bed when he heard what he described as music blowing through the trees. He turned off the motor so he could hear more clearly. When he tried to start the car again, the starter wouldn't even turn the engine over. Then Bill saw a man walk across the track bed and go into an old house on the other side, and at the same time the music began to grow softer. Then, all of a sudden, the music stopped and at the same moment the house and the man vanished.

Bill said he was scared to death and knew he had to get out of there. To his relief, now his car started as easily as it ever did. It has been said by elderly neighbors that the old engineer always insisted that any visitor listen to his records. If a person didn't, the old man considered it an insult.

The next night thirteen boys in three cars went to the same place Bill had gone. They turned off their motors and had been waiting there for about fifteen minutes when a strange, disturbing type of music became audible. It sounded as if it were coming right through the trees or perhaps out of them. It was just as Bill had described except for the fact that neither the man nor the house appeared to them. But they did hear the music, and none of the cars would start until the music had stopped.

This happened on the evening before Christmas Day, and it never happened on the nights that followed. Every-thing mysterious stopped when Christmas had passed, but there will be another Christmas, and the boys plan to investigate further.

13: The Last Lodge of Ravenswood

During my last year in high school I worked part-time in the local movie theater. I ran the projector and swept the place out at night. I had not worked there quite three months when I witnessed a most frightening sight. I was alone in the theater and had finished my work. I was about to walk down the aisle and check the fire exit to make sure it was locked, when something passed behind the screen, carrying what seemed to be a lantern. I stopped dead still and watched the figure walk across the stage and disappear on the other side. I was too frightened to follow, so I made my way cautiously to the ticket booth and telephoned the police. I then called my employer and reported an apparent burglar. She told me to wait outside until she got there.

I had been outside only a few minutes when the police arrived. I again explained what I had seen and they proceeded to search the entire theater. Their search brought no results and they even hinted that maybe I had just thought I'd seen something. As they started to leave I asked them if they had checked the rear door. They said the rear door was locked. The theater is housed in one of the oldest buildings in Ravenswood, and the doors can only be locked from the inside, unless you have a key. I had the only key to the rear exit in my pocket.

When my employer arrived, I told her that the police had searched the place and found nothing. I also told her that the rear door had been locked at the time I saw the burglar. She didn't seem a bit surprised and told me she believed my story of what I had seen. Her attitude toward the situation seemed strange to me, and I asked her if she was worried about the person who was now locked inside the theater. She told me she wasn't, because the same person had been there for thirty years.

I had always considered my employer a level-headed woman and her statement confused me completely. It was at this point that she began relating to me the story of Ravenswood's “Last Lodge.” She started out by telling me that I was not the first person who had sighted the figure in the theater. Many of her workers had seen him in the past.

Many years ago there was a lodge hall in Ravenswood on the second floor of the building adjoining the theater. The full history of the lodge was not known because the membership and its activities were shrouded in secrecy. The biggest mystery seemed to center around the initiation ceremonies. Prospective members were expected to stay all night in the attic of the lodge. It is not certain exactly what went on during the night, but it is known that many men refused to stay in their confinement for the full length of time. There was even an attempt to evict the group, but their lease was legal and binding.

The order came to an abrupt end when the building was gutted by fire one night during an initiation. All the members escaped but one. The man in the attic, where the fire is believed to have originated, was not found. No legal proceedings could be brought against the group or its leaders, because of lack of evidence. The building has since been restored but the lodge has never again held a meeting.

I asked my employer if she believed the figure I had seen to be the man lost in the fire. She told me she was sure of it. She explained that before the fire, the buildings had been connected, instead of being separated as they now were by a brick wall. She also told me that there were still a few passages that connected the buildings. I asked her if she had ever seen the figure herself, and a look of pain came over her face. She said she had — many times. I asked her if she believed it to be a ghost. She said that she did.

I thought for a moment that she was out of her mind. I had always thought of her as a smart business woman. Now she seemed to be acting like a superstitious old fool. I didn't believe a word she had told me.

When I got home that night I asked my father if a lodge had really existed in that building. I decided not to tell him about what I had seen that night. He seemed reluctant to discuss the subject, but after some persistence on my part, he began to speak. He confirmed the fact that a lodge had existed and that a fire had occurred. I was so amazed that I asked him about a man being lost in the fire. This he also confirmed.

I then told him about my employer believing that the man lost in the fire was still roaming the building in spirit form. He asked me what had led me to this subject and I told him about what I had seen. His face seemed to freeze and he said nothing for a few moments. I told him I didn't believe my employer's story because she had seemed so certain of the presence of the person. She seemed almost to have contact with him. It was at this time my father told me something that I hadn't known before. The man lost in the fire was my employer's husband.

The theater has since been closed, but the building remains.

14: The Farmhouse Ghost

My aunt went to visit some of her relatives in Saint Claire, Ohio, arriving there from West Virginia in the evening at about seven o'clock. After having a late supper and chat with the family, she decided to go to bed, because she was very tired. This happened at the turn of the century, and traveling such a distance at that time was more tiring than it would be today.

She had been asleep for about five hours when she was suddenly awakened by a strange noise. She opened her eyes and looked around. The image of a man grasping a bloody club in his right hand was walking toward her. The next instant he disappeared.

My aunt didn't scream for help, thinking that she was just dreaming because of her exhaustion. She closed her eyes and fell asleep once again.

After supper the following evening, the family gathered by the fireplace for a quiet evening. My aunt's Uncle Harry began to tell ghost stories. He told everyone that the house they were now sitting in was believed to be haunted. Everyone became interested, so he told them the story he knew.

Fifteen years before, a family named Walker lived in the huge old farmhouse. They were an eccentric family, who never got along very well together. Mr. Walker had mental problems that no one knew about until one day he took a “fit” and clubbed his wife to death while she was sleeping.

The murder occurred in the bedroom now being occupied by my aunt, and it was said that Mr. Walker's ghost often returned to the scene of the murder he committed. One other family had lived in the house before my aunt's relatives moved in, and their older daughter claimed to have seen his ghost return.

My aunt couldn't believe what she had heard. She had deliberately failed to mention what she had seen to anyone. Now she explained to the family that she had seen a mysterious apparition the night before. They told her that she was probably dreaming, but to this day she sincerely believes she saw Mr. Walker's ghost at the old farmhouse.

15: The Wealthy Widower

In the small community of Glenfalls, a huge white mansion surrounded by pine trees stands on a lonely hill. A legend accompanies this strange but stately dwelling, which is now empty and weather-beaten.

The land around the house was once owned by a wealthy widower and his son. Being a very miserly and conservative fellow, the widower lived in a small log cabin where the present mansion is situated. He was obsessed by the lust for money, and he kept all his treasures in a locked box under his bed. Money became so important to him that he found it difficult to trust his own son. His son, an easy-going young man of twenty, did not miss the joys of wealth.

The widower's love of money finally drove him to his grave. His mind had grown weak from worry and the fear of being separated from his precious box. Before he died he buried his money under the floor of his log cabin.

The widower left a will giving all his land to his only son, but the clever man had made one stipulation; his son was not to tear down the little log cabin. The son could build anywhere else on the land, but the cabin was to remain where it was.

A few years after the death of his father, the young man married a girl from a nearby town and took his bride to live in the cabin on the hill. His wife, a prominent figure in society, despised living in the dingy cabin and urged him to tear it down and replace it with a house that was suitable to their position.

After much begging and pleading, the young man finally consented. While the cabin was being taken down, the money was discovered under the floorboard where the widower had left it. All the money was used to build the most extravagant house in the area.

When the building was completed, the wife decided to give a party in order to show off their new home. The party was a success, and the guests were astonished by the beauty of the mansion.

After the guests left, the proud owners soon retired. They locked the doors to their mansion, fearing that someone might steal their rich possessions.

In the morning the mistress of the house found the front door standing open. Amazed by the scene, she ran to awaken her husband. He was terrified to think that someone had come in during the night. They searched the house and found nothing missing. Only a rug in the middle of the floor had been turned wrong side up.

The next two nights the same thing happened. Then the husband decided to stay awake to catch their prowler in the act. He sat in a chair near the door with his gun in hand until the hour of twelve without hearing or seeing anything. He finally tired of the game and started up the stairs to his room.

Just then he heard footsteps outside. The door jarred and the locks fell free. As the door swung open, the figure of his father appeared in the doorway. In his panic, the young man shot the image and it disappeared. Terrified by the thought of killing his own father, he turned the gun to himself and fired.

His wife, standing at the top of the stairs, had witnessed the scene. She was found beside the body of her husband in a state of delirium.

The house still stands on the hill in Glenfalls, West Virginia.

16: The Ghost of Hangman's Hollow

In the 1920s, there was a vicious moonshiner in the area of Gilman, West Virginia, near Elkins, who had declared war on government agents or “revenooers.” Every time one would come around any of his stills, he would barbarously murder him and then dismember the body and cremate the remains in a furnace used to make charcoal for the stills.

This went on for several years, but finally the murderer was caught by a group of federal men, who had combined their forces to avenge all the agents who had been murdered while doing their duty.

Since it was almost dark when they made their capture, the agents decided to wait until morning to transport the prisoner to a federal jail. They placed the moonshiner in an outbuilding and left one man on guard, while the rest went to bed.