Ghost Stories

[Guess Who]

John and Margaret lived in a little town in Kentucky way back in hills. They had loved each other since elementary school and now it had come time for them to marry. They decided to wed at Margaret's home and with everyone's help had planned a beautiful wedding. Today was their wedding day and John would drive from his home just three miles away across a road that wound through the lush green mountains. He was happier than he had ever been and excited to get to the wedding to marry his one true love. He looked forward to starting his new life with Margaret.

Margaret was dressed in her white wedding gown and standing in her room looking at herself in the mirror. She was so happy that this day had finally arrived and she couldn't wait to marry her soon to be husband, John in their perfect ceremony planned for today. Suddenly, she heard her handsome lover, John outside the door calling her name and she called back through the door that she just couldn't let him see her before the wedding. Hearing the sweet voice she loved pleading with her to see him, she finally gave in and barely opened the door to peek out. He was not at the door, but she was surprised to see John standing at the end of the hallway dressed in his wedding clothes. He slowly turned toward her, waved and turned the corner and disappeared down the hallway that led to the stairs.

Margaret closed the door back and took a final look at herself in the mirror. She was pleased with what she saw and turning from the mirror, she went to the door and opened it to go to the wedding party waiting for her downstairs. Suddenly, there were several of her family in the hallway coming to wards her with odd looks on their faces. She realized they were looks of sadness and sympathy. One of the family was her sister, Mary, who told her that John had been in an accident and had been killed instantly on his way to the wedding. Now the earlier appearance of John in the hallway made her feel faint. She realized with horror that John's ghost had visited her only to say goodbye.

Now you tell one!

[Guess Who]

Once long ago there lived a poor family, in this family was a daughter and son. One day the mother asked the two to go to the garden to see if they could find any potatoes left in the garden. Now winter had come and what food they had stored away was gone and the mother hoped they might find a few potatoes so she could fix potato soup. Well, the two went to the garden and begin to dig the earth looking for potatoes.

As they searched the wind grew cold and beat against their threadbare coats. Just as they were ready to give up the young boy hit something with his hoe. He dug hurriedly hoping to find another potato to put in the pot for the night's meal. Suddenly, there on the end of the hoe was a toe. The young boy rejoiced at the meat he had uncovered and thought how good this would make as a flavoring for the potatoes. Taking the few potatoes and the big toe they headed on home. The young boy showed his mother the treasure he had uncovered in the garden. The mother, thinking it to be part of a wild animal, cleaned the toe and potatoes and put them on to cook. After the meal was prepared the mother told her young son he could have the bone and the meat remaining on it, since he was the one who had found it. That night everyone went to bed satisfied and fell asleep.

Late in the night the father was awakened by moaning outside the house, saying, "I WANT MY BIG TOE. I WANT MY BIG TOE." The father got up and went to look, but found nothing. He went back to bed and the moaning started again, this time closer to the house, saying; "I WANT MY BIG TOE. I WANT MY BIG TOE." The mother got up and went outside to see if she could find the source of the noise. She searched in the barn, around the house, and on top of the hay and found nothing. The mother went back to bed and the moaning started again, even closer to the house saying; "I WANT MY BIG TOE. I WANT MY BIG TOE." This time the girl got up and searched. She looked out the window, around the house, in the barn, and, behind the barn, but could find nothing. The young girl went back to bed and the moaning started again, even closer to the house, saying ; "I WANT MY BIG TOE. I WANT MY BIG TOE." The father called to the boy and asked him to go see, if he could, where the sound was coming from. The young boy looked in the kitchen, under the table, around the house, in the barn, and then he thought; I’ve looked every where but under the steps. Just as he bent to look, something said: "NOW I'VE GOT YOU!"

Doris Duimstra, Kentucky

[Me]

After the Civil War, there was a town which lost nearly all its young men in the war. All who died were returned to be buried in the town except for one soldier. The soldier's young wife knew that he had been killed near a stream in a dense forest not far from the town, but after searching for months, she and the townspeople could never locate his remains. Soon, everyone but the young wife had given up the search. His young wife, tormented by the loss of her young, handsome husband, would go and search for him, often staying gone for days, then weeks at a time.

She would return home exhausted, get provisions and return to where he died to search for him. Many months went by and some of the townspeople became curious. They had to know how she was able to survive in the dark forest at night, so they sent two of the men from the town to follow her to see where she went and how she managed to remain safe.

They followed her through the forest, past mountain caves, through huge rock formations and down to the stream near where the young soldier was said to have been killed in the war. They watched as she crossed the stream and dropped the reins of her mule near the water's edge where he could drink. She then disappeared into the trees and the two men listened quietly as they heard her call out to her soldier.

Just as the two men had decided she had gone mad, they heard her young husband's voice in conversation with his young wife. The two men heard the young wife and husband laughing and talking and concluded he had, after all, somehow survived the war. They crossed the stream and walked into the woods where the young wife had entered. What they saw would stay with them forever. They found them both there on the ground dead, her husband's skeleton still dressed in his tattered uniform, her head on what was once his chest.

Your turn to tell one!

[Nony]

In a small place between Hazard and Bull Creek Kentucky, well into the wooded mountainside is where this story begins. As time passed, and structures there changed, strange sightings began happening. In one area in particular, there had been sightings of a ghostly figure roaming away from the old grave site, toward the newest built homes. One home in particular could not be sold, as most of the sightings had happened there.

A woman, named Pauline, finally settled on the property that was deemed haunted, swearing that no ghost was going to scare her away...

For the first couple of months, nothing out of the ordinary happened. As the one year anniversary was coming upon the new ownership, neighbors started noticing a strange white glowing mist-like figure. Several people were terrified, knowing it was a ghost, and making up tales of who it was and why it was there. Again Pauline refused to be frightened away by such tales. She decided to see this ghost for herself. For three nights she sat out on the porch of her home, just waiting to see anything. Upon the fourth night, the moon was full and shining brightly. Pauline sat upon the porch, humming to herself, even laughing and snickering at some of the stories she had been told about her home. The evening grew darker as clouds began to gather. The wind began to blow and whistle through the trees. It appeared as though a storm was coming, and Pauline gave up hope of seeing or believing in any ghosts there. She went inside and got ready for bed. The hour was late, and Pauline had began drifting off to sleep. Then, from somewhere outside, all around her it seemed, was a howling, a moaning, and screams that were anything but human. Pauline was jolted out of her sleep by the noise. Immediately she grabbed a shot gun, fearing wild dogs attacking her cows. Racing to the door to save her animals, she flung open the door, and stopped dead in her tracks at the sight of a man, glowing white, almost floating in a misty haze, repeating, "Washed in milk, dried in silk, and buried beneath a door sill. Washed in milk, dried in silk, and buried beneath a door sill!"

Horrified, Pauline shrieked while slamming the door and bolting it tight. In the morning she frantically tried to convince her neighbors and friends to help. Of course none were willing to help. On her way home once again she kept going over the night in her mind. A riddle? Had the ghost offered her a riddle? "Washed in milk, dried in silk, and buried beneath a door sill." She couldn't understand. What did it mean?

As night fell once again the screaming and howling began, Pauline sat propped against the door to ensure that the ghost could not enter. Then something began rapping and banging upon the door. Pauline was in tears, and prayed for this ghost to leave her and her home alone. Once more the eerie voice says, "Washed in milk, dried in silk, and buried beneath a door sill."

The next afternoon, the local preacher had heard of her frantic ranting and raving, and decided to offer her a visit. When he arrived she fell crying, begging for mercy and forgiveness. Finally after sorting out her story from her ranting, he offered her an answer to her problem, and offered to stay there with her that night.

Once again as it grew dark and the hour grew late, Pauline began getting frantic. The preacher tried to consol her. It grew darker and darker, and it was coming on to three in the morning, and the preacher was beginning to draw to the conclusion that the woman was merely going mad. Then at once the clouds drew in, the sky darkened, and the awful wailing and screaming began. The preacher was shaken to say the least, knowing that God must surely be testing him. Then came the eerie words, "Washed in milk, dried in silk, and buried beneath a door sill." Finally regaining his wits and placing himself between Pauline and the door, he slowly opened it. Upon seeing the apparition, the preacher immediately began reciting his holy vows, and praying for strength. Then one thought crossed his mind, and he acted. He stepped onto the porch, toward the ghost. Pauline thought that the preacher had gone mad. Finally the preacher, in a bold, but shivering voice, asked, "In the name of the Father, the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, I demand that you tell us what it is you want here!"

Silence...seemed to last forever for the preacher, and Pauline. Then finally the ghost wails, "Washed in milk, and dried in silk, and buried beneath YOUR (pointing to Pauline) door sill! Return my leg to me and let me rest in peace..."

Immediately Pauline paid to have her porch ripped out, and have it all dug up. They found nothing. While the men worked, she had learned about the previous owner of the house, who had been a civil war hero. He had been injured, having had his leg taken to save his life. The day was ending and they had found nothing where they had been digging. The men all went home, promising to return the next day. They left. Pauline could not tolerate anymore of the ghost, and decided that she would dig herself. "Washed in milk, dried in silk, and buried beneath YOUR door sill" kept going through her mind. Finally, she realized she had been digging in the wrong place. She began digging right at her door. Soon she found a remnant of old cloth, covered in blood, and smelling the old rotted smell coming from the thing. She unwrapped the cloth to find the remains of a human leg. It was getting darker and drawing close to the time the ghost generally appeared to her. She rewrapped the leg, grabbed her shovel, and raced to the graveyard. There she began digging as though her very soul depended on it. Finally, she hit something hard. Then she laid down the remains of the leg, and buried it deeply with the pine box. As she was slinging the last of the dirt, and planning to leave this place as quickly as possible, she notices a strange glowing right next to her. She closes her eyes, praying, begging and pleading, and falls to her knees. Then the coldest breeze brushed against her neck and shoulder and a icy hand touched her shoulder... then the voice, that eerie wailing voice... "Washed in milk, dried in silk, and buried now with me, I will never come to you again." Pauline opens her eyes, filled with tears, and sees only the sun peeking out to rise.

The only thing that bothers me about this story, is that it is corroborated by both the Preacher and Pauline, who upon her death bed (along with the confession of having witnessed a man murdered with a meat hook to the back of the head, and having lied about it to save someone), screamed that her feet were burning, and to pull her coverlet off, she was burning in hell! Makes you wonder, if your dying confessions are your last chance, why lie? She was of sound mind when she actually died. The other question I have to ask is, is a preacher a credited source? The preacher has told the story too. The question then is, what do you believe in?

[Email Submitter]

Here's a good one I found on the Web:

The Knocking

Highhat, Kentucky

My grandmother recently died at the age of 87. She was born and grew up at Highhat Kentucky. She told me this story several times as a child and even just prior to her death. As a small girl of about eight years old, she was sent over to an ederly neighbors house to help her out because she had gotten so old she was unable to do much work around the house.

She had an adult son living with her who was in his late fourties but had the mentality of a twelve year old. My grandmother said that every time she would start to do the supper dishes in the sink in a dishpan a loud rapping noise would start inside the old cabin. It sometimes would be on the bottom of the dishpan itself, on the walls, or even under the table they were sitting at.

The middle aged son would curse and yell at whatever was doing the knocking saying he was'nt afraid of it and that it could knock till hell froze over because it did'nt scare him at all. My granny said that all that did was to make it worse, even to the point of following them out onto the porch as they were leaving.

She said that in the last few years of the old womans life that it would even knock on the bottom of anything they were carrying at the time. My granny said that she was told the reason the old house was haunted was that back during the civil war two soldiers came to their farm and tried to steal their old milk cow from them. The old man was still living and went back inside, returning with a gun, at which point they tied up and lynched the two soldiers in a very large tree in front of the old house.

When the old folks built a new cabin they cut the old tree down and used it in the construction. Since the day the house was built the knocking started. My granny said she had asked the old woman what she thought the knocking was and she always said she did'nt know. Anyway she said the knocking finally got so bad that neither she nor her older sister would go help the old woman out. I don't know what ever happened to the old woman and her son but as of about ten years ago the old place was still standing although in a very bad state. Well there's another Kentucky ghost story for you as told by a greatly missed, wonderful stoyteller from Kentucky. Thanks John C. Ballard

[Email Submitter]

Another on found on the internet:

Railroad tunnel

Jackson, Kentucky

There is an old railroad tunnel that lies along the railroad tracks between Jackson and Hazard, Kentucky that is said to be haunted by the ghost of a worker who was killed there many years ago.

When the rails were first being laid along this line in the 1920's, a tunnel had to be dug through a mountain. While the work was in progress, a worker was sawing a board on a high scaffolding. He was constructed a frame that would be used to pour the concrete for the tunnel supports. Below him, more concrete was being poured into a deep trench where the actual rail lines would rest. It would provide a solid support for the steel rails.

Suddenly, the worker on the scaffolding lost his balance and fell into the loose concrete mixture below him. His friends and co-workers tried to rescue him but he was quickly lost in the deep trench as the concrete hardened around him.

As the years passed, on nights of the full moon, it is said that the screams of this railroad worker, falling to his doom, can be heard echoing in the tunnel. Some even claim to have seen an apparition of a saw protruding from the concrete rail bed..... only to see it vanish before their eyes.

The Kentucky River lies near the tunnel and even today, fisherman on the river claim to hear the sounds of sawing and then a long, terrifying scream coming from inside the old passageway.

Jackson, Kentucky is located in the rugged, southeast corner of the state. The old tunnel lies along a rail line that goes south to Hazard.

[Email Submitter]

Another good one from the web:

It Got Me

In telling this story, let me assure the reader that it was passed to me by my grandmother, Alene. Alene is in failing health, but her memory is untouched, and her ability to spin a tale is uncanny. This particular story is about her father Joe, his first wife, and a house that will never be forgotten. My grandmother is devout Christian, but she believes these tales of the unexplained to be completely true. Judge for yourself . . .

In the late 1800s/early 1900s, it was common practice in the coalfields of Kentucky and West Virginia for a miner to spend the majority of the week at the mines while leaving his wife at home alone. This is exactly what Joe, my great-grandfather, did during his first marriage. After a hasty marriage, Joe bought a small, quaint home for himself and his new wife Sue. Sue quickly alerted her husband to a potential problem: the house was directly across the road from the local cemetery. Joe, being a firm disbeliever is such superstitious nonsense like ghosts and spooks, had a good laugh when Sue begged him not to make her stay alone in a house so close to a graveyard and told her to get used to it.

When Monday morning arrived, he left her alone, and laughed as she sobbed on the porch. That night, after completing her tours, she settled down in the bed for a good night's rest and doused the lamps. As soon as she had climbed into bed, a strange noise became apparent outside. As pulled the covers up around her head, she could hear something like barrels rolling or horses galloping around the house. She tried to sleep and eventually, as the sunrise drove the mysterious sounds away, found some comforting slumber.

Every night, the noises started getting louder and louder, seeming to be closer to the house and, on Friday night, Sue heard three slow knocks on her door. In a terrified fit, she screamed, "LEAVE ME ALONE!" and suddenly, the noises faded.

The next morning brought Joe's return and the first thing Sue did was beg him to let her leave this house, telling him of the haunted noises. He laughed unsympathetically and told her to get over this stupidity. In desperation, she bitterly screamed, "Joe, I hope to GOD it gets you!"

Joe wasn't in the least bit frightened and told her that he was sure it was local men playing tricks on her. Later that night, Sue slept well in Joe's arms, but some subtle suspicion began to eat at the unbeliever. As he drifted into a shallow sleep, he was started at a loud "crack" coming from the fireplace that startled him -- and as he sat upright in the bed, he saw the apparition of an elderly woman staring at him from the rocking chair at the foot of the bed.

My grandmother says that Joe knew exactly who this woman was, but he took the knowledge of her identity to his grave because, simply, she had been dead for six months before they moved into the house.

Joe shuddered with fear and her bony, cold hand stretched to clutch his ankles. As she latched on to his foot and began pulling him toward her and the footboard of the bed. Joe fainted with fright as he felt his foot slide down to the foot of the bed in the dead hand of the spirit.

The next morning, Sue roused her pale husband and sat up in the bed as he opened his eyes and screamed with terror. The footboard of the bed was broken and the rocking chair had been toppled during the night. Joe immediately promised his frightened wife that not another night would be passed in this restless house simply telling her, "Sue, whatever it was, it got me."

[Email Submitter]

A real scary one rom the internet:

Walk With Me

Hardburly, Kentucky

These stories I am fixing to tell happened to my granny in her old house in the mountains. She used to tell these stories to the family, never failing to scare the living daylights out of everyone of us. You see, my granny lives right in front of a grave yard where everyone of her relatives are buried -- and she was haunted by something from that graveyard from the time she moved into that house until the time she moved out of it.

The first sighting of the ghosts took place the day after she moved in. She had just got out of bed and it was about eight in the morning. As she went outside to feed her chickens, she noticed that there was something moving in the graveyard. When she looked over she saw a little man sitting on top of a grave stone with his hands over his eyes like it was crying. As she was drawing closer to little man she was hit with a feeling of such sadness that she began to cry herself. But when she turned away from it the feeling went away.

Over the next few months the hauntings got much worse. I MEAN MUCH WORSE!!!!. Two months later she was inside the house doing the dishes when she heard footsteps on her front porch, and since they sounded very heavy so she thought she had better investigate. She grabbed her trusty ball bat that my aunt gave to her for protection and proceeded to walk towards the front door where the footsteps were coming from. She said she knew that she was going to see something horrible on the other side of that door, but curiosity got the best of her.

When she opened up the door she saw a blood red corpse staring at her with huge glowing eyes.

She immediately closed the door and ran to call one of us to come and check it out. At the time we lived right next door to her so it didn't take us any time at all to get over there. We didn't see the apparition ourselves but we did find a set of tracks leading from her house to the graveyard.

That particular sighting wasn't long after the second one, I believe, about two weeks later. My granny and my aunt were baby-sitting my little brother. It was about two o'clock in the morning my brother was real sick at the time and so they were up very late in the night with him.

They were all in the living room because my papa had to work late. My granny was knitting and my aunt was nursing my brother when they heard a faint growl coming from the graveyard. At first they said it sounded like a mad dog, but the sound got worse the closer it got. Before they knew it it was at the front door scratching and clawing, trying to get in. They said it sounded worse than anything they have heard before. But after about 5 minutes of intense anger, they heard it retreat back to the graveyard.

The last sighting was probably the worst of them all. It happened to my granny's sister. She was walking home from a late movie and she had to pass the graveyard to get home. The graveyard sits on top of a hill with the road right down below it. There is also a road from leaving the graveyard and both roads meet at my granny's gate.

At the bottom of the graveyard, where granny's sister was walking, she saw something white inside the fence walking parallel with her. When she took a step it took a step, and it would keep the same pace as her. So by now she was freaking out and started to run, but so does the thing in the graveyard. Now, since she was on the bottom road, and that thing is on the top road, she knew that soon they were going to meet at the gate -- and that is the last thing she wants -- so she climbed up and over the fence, barely dodging the things grasp.

She ran to granny's door, screaming and begging for someone to let her in. When she looked back, she saw that the figure was heading towards the door -- and right at that moment my granny opened the door and let her in. They had to call the doctor and take her in for shock. It took her a few days to fully recover.

You probably guessed that they moved out of the house after that encounter. They now live in Nebraska, far away from any graveyard. We still live right next door to that same house -- and now that I've told you that story, bear in mind that I've never seen anything in that graveyard, but I have seen the twisted looks of fear on the family members who have and I have no choice but to believe them.

[Email Submitter]

Cat Holler

In 1910, a man named Isaac Thompson lived alone in a log cabin on a small stream called Cat Holler (so called because when the first settlers came to the area, they found several panthers or mountain lions living in the rock overhangs along this creek) in Owsley County.

Isaac made a precarious living by farming a few acres of corn and a small garden. His other source of food was to help local farmers when they butchered hogs or cattle in the fall. One November evening, as he was returning home from having helped a neighbor kill and dress a steer, Isaac was carrying a large piece of fresh meat in a cloth sack.

Although no panthers or mountain lions had been seen in the vicinity for over fifty years, a huge cat of some kind, prowling the night in search of food, smelled the bloody prize. It followed Isaac until the right moment, then it leaped, tearing the beef from his shoulders and the life from his body. His dying screams echoed in the crisp Autumn night, where they can sometimes still be heard.

This hollow, frequented now by only an occasional fox hunter or daylight hiker. No traces of Isaac Thompson's cabin remain, but it is told by people living a few miles away that hunters have heard the screams of a mountain lion at night as recently as 1983. The sounds are not those of a domestic cat; they have been taped and positively identified as being that of a mountain lion or cougar.

Thorough searches have been made, but no animal tracks or any other indication of a large cat have been found. No one has seen anything unusual on this stream, but several people have said that they have heard the unmistakable sound of a man crying out in agony at the same time the cat's screams are heard.

[Email Submitter]

From the internet:

THE RUSSELLVILLE GIRL
Russellville, Kentucky

Russellville, Kentucky is located in the far southwest corner of the state, but the story of the "Russellville Girl" has been told in every corner of Kentucky.

The story goes that a young girl was waiting for her lover to come pick her up one night for a dance. It was a terribly stormy and dangerous night as lightning illuminated the sky and rain fell in sheets. She was very anxious about her boyfriend driving in such weather and she stood near the front window of the house, anxiously watching the dark road outside and hoping for some sign of his oncoming headlights. Just then, a bolt of lightning struck the house and somehow passed through the front window. The girl was killed instantly by the lightning.

In a different of the story, passed along to me by a website visitor, the girl was killed because she cursed God for causing it to rain on the night of the dance. She was angry because she would ruin her party dress when she went out into the inclement weather. The curse caused her spirit to be trapped in the glass forever!

Over the years, no one seems able to remember just what this girl's name many have been.... but they didn't have any trouble remembering what she had looked like. By some freak of nature, the lightning created a photographic imprint of the girl on the pane of glass in the front window.

For many years, on every occasion when it rained, the girl's image would appear on the glass. The story became famous and people came from miles around to see the image. No matter how hard the owners cleaned the window, they could not erase the image. As years passed, owners of the house desperately boarded over the window to keep away the curiosity-seekers and more recently, the window has been painted over.

Russellville is located in the southwest portion of the state, a short distance north of the Tennessee border. The house where the girl's image was imprinted on the window is a private residence on the Clarksville Road. It now serves as the residence for the caretaker of Maple Grove Cemetery in Russellville.

[Annette]

Scary Story Podcast Called "Don't Turn on the Light" .. It's an mp3 file, so it will take a little time to download. It's pretty durn scary!