Kentucky Hauntings

by Roberta Simpson Brown

Tim and his father shook their heads and disregarded her explanation for the lingering cows. Ester shrugged her shoulders and went on about her playing. If they didn't want to hear the truth, it was all right with her. They could find out for themselves.

  Tim thought the cows lingered because they liked grazing in the fresh air. Even cows would not like to be shut up in a barn when they could be free outside.

  On one particular day, however, Tim's father did not take into consideration what the cows might want. It looked like rain was moving in, and he wanted the chores done now. It was time to feed and milk the cows, so he told Tim to hurry up and bring them to the barn.

  Tim strolled through the pasture, passed by the oak tree, and started down the hill where the cows were grazing. He hated to admit it to himself, but, as he had passed the tree, he had gotten the eeriest feeling that he wasn't alone. Low thunder caused him to look up, and he glimpsed someone standing beside the tree. He blinked and looked again. Whoever it was had gone.

  “I get it,” he said to himself. “My sister sneaked down to the tree to scare me.”

  He stared at the tree to see if he could catch her hiding, but as he looked he heard her call him from the yard.

  “Did you see something by the tree?” she called.

  “Of course not!” he lied.

  He couldn't let her know she'd been right. She'd be so smug about it that he'd never live it down.

  She laughed and went back to her playing.

  Tim decided that he must have seen a shadow. Whatever it was, it made him uneasy. For once, he herded the cows to the barn quickly, feeling very relieved to be safely back from the field.

  Everybody gathered inside for supper, and a soft rain set in, giving a cozy feeling to the family inside. Tim managed to put the disturbing experience at the tree out of his mind until the next afternoon when it was time to go get the cows again.

  As he approached the tree, he warned himself not to imagine things. Then, suddenly, the man was beside the tree again. Tim had no idea where he had come from. One second the tree was normal. The next second, the man was there.

  “Hey, Mister!” Tim called to the man.

  The man didn't answer. Instead, he vanished as mysteriously as he had come.

  “My sister's tale is causing me to see things,” he said to himself. “It's the power of suggestion.”

  He hurried the cows to the barn as fast as he could, but he saw nothing else that day.

  During school the next day, Tim told his two cousins, Hollis and Elvin, about what he had seen. He was surprised when they told him they had heard the same tale his sister had told. They told him they didn't believe it, though.

  “Dead people don't come back,” said Hollis.

  “You were imagining things,” said Elvin.

  It annoyed Tim that they didn't take him seriously.

  “I'll prove that something's there,” he told them. “Come over after school and go with me to get the cows. I'll bet you two dollars that something is by the tree.”

  “You're on!” said Elvin.

  “Right,” said Hollis.

  They all shook hands to seal the bet.

  His cousins hadn't yet arrived by the time his father told Tim to go get the cows, so he had to cross the pasture alone. He looked at the tree as he passed by, but no man appeared. He saw his two cousins in the distance coming down the road. He knew they'd be there soon. Now money was riding on this bet, and Tim did not intend to lose. His cousins were going to see a ghost by the tree, even if he had to pretend to be the ghost himself.

  He ducked behind the tree and stepped out as the cousins got close. They stopped in their tracks, and Tim could see their faces turn white. It was obvious that they were really frightened.

  “He was right,” gasped Hollis. “It's a ghost!”

  “Yeah,” said Elvin, “but he said there was only one ghost. Why are there two? Let's get out of here!”

  They turned and ran back the way they had come without looking back.

  Tim was puzzled. He couldn't figure what they were talking about when they said two ghosts.

  Tim looked at the other side of the tree, and there stood the ghostly figure he had seen before.

  Tim raced down the hill and rounded up the cows faster than he had ever done before. Hollis and Elvin were waiting at the house for him when he got there. They were all so frightened that they agreed to call off the bet.

  Mr. Dutton wasn't quite convinced that they had seen a ghost, but after some consideration he decided to turn the cows into another pasture. Tim thought it was the best decision his father had ever made. The cows seemed to agree. From then on, they came to the barn by themselves when they were called at feeding and milking time.

  A Boyfriend's Warning

  The Gentrys were Roberta's relatives on her mother's side. One of the Gentry girls told this story at one of our neighborhood storytelling get-togethers.

  Ruby and Doug had been in love since grade school. It started as puppy love, but it grew into a strong relationship, with each completely devoted to the other. Doug gave Ruby an engagement ring when they graduated from high school, but they didn't set a wedding date because Doug had received his draft notice and had to go fight in World War II.

  Ruby thought they should be married before Doug left for training, but Doug wanted to wait until he returned.

  “I don't want us to marry and then have to separate when I have to go off right away. When we get married, I want us to be together forever. I want to be there to take care of you always.”

  “You always take good care of me,” said Ruby. “I have a feeling we shouldn't wait.”

  Doug, along with Ruby's parents, convinced her that it would be best to wait and get married when Doug had served his time and got discharged. When they said good-bye, Ruby had a terrible feeling that she would never see Doug again.

  After Doug left, Ruby was lonely. She decided to get a job and save some money so that she and Doug would have a little nest egg to start out on when they got married. There weren't many jobs available, but Ruby was lucky to find employment. She was hired as a waitress in the Magnolia Café, and she was good at her job because she liked meeting people.

  The weeks turned into months, and she and Doug wrote to each other faithfully. Slowly, Ruby was able to push her fear of never seeing him again into the back of her mind.

  Then Doug's letters stopped. The gnawing fear came back in full force. Ruby's parents and friends tried to give her reasons not to worry. They reminded her of top security in certain locations and that mail was censored or not forwarded at all. In her heart, though, she knew they were wrong. Then her fear was confirmed. A telegram informed Ruby that Doug had been killed in action.

  The body was too mutilated to be viewed, so he was buried in a closed coffin. Ruby had been right. She never saw Doug again after the day they said good-bye.

  Ruby was inconsolable. Why hadn't she believed her feelings? Why hadn't she insisted that they be married? At least that way she would have been his wife for a little while. Maybe they would even have had a child. But now she was completely alone. Her parents couldn't get through to Ruby through her grief. She felt she no longer had a reason to live. She wanted people to leave her alone. She only went out of the house to go to work.

  A year passed and Ruby refused to date anyone. She still wore her engagement ring, and as far as she was concerned, her heart would always belong to Doug.

  Then one day, David Roberts walked into the Magnolia Café and into Ruby's life. He was an ex-Marine just intending to pass through, but Ruby caught his eye. Right on the spot, he decided to stay for a while. He asked Ruby for a date, and to everybody's surprise, she accepted! Even more surprising, Ruby took off her engagement ring and left it on her dresser. For the next few weeks, David and Ruby were a steady item.

  “I've met the perfect man,” she told her parents one night. “David is the man I want to marry.”

  “Honey,” her mother said, “nobo
dy is perfect. You hardly know David.”

  “Maybe you should get to know him better before you think about marrying him,” her father told her.

  “I know him well enough,” said Ruby, “and David doesn't want to wait.”

  “Well, sleep on it,” her mother suggested.

  Ruby didn't answer, but went on up to bed. Her parents worried. Something didn't feel quite right.

  The next morning, Ruby walked into the kitchen where her parents were getting ready to eat breakfast. She held out the engagement ring that Doug had given her.

  “Did you put this on my pillow, Mom?” she asked.

  “Heavens, no!” answered her mother, surprised at the question.

  “Did you do it, Daddy?” she asked.

  “You know I would never come into your room while you were sleeping and do a thing like that!” he said.

  “It was on my dresser when I went to bed,” she said. “During the night, I had a dream of Doug. He was holding the ring and shaking his head no! When I woke up, the ring was on my pillow! How could that be?”

  Ruby sat down, pale and shaken.

  “Maybe it's a sign that you should have second thoughts about marrying David right away,” said her mother.

  “I agree with your mother,” said her father.

  “Don't start that again,” said Ruby, getting up and hurrying to her room.

  She returned the ring to her dresser and got ready for a date with David. When he picked her up later, she left with him without saying anything to her parents.

  Ruby returned late that night. Her parents were still up, pretending to watch a late movie on TV. Actually, they were worried sick about her. They saw right away that she had been crying.

  “What's wrong?” asked her father. “What happened?”

  “David and I had a fight,” sobbed Ruby. “He wanted to know how much money I have saved. He wanted us to run off tonight and get married. I just couldn't do that. He said he would give me until tomorrow, and that it will be all over between us if I won't marry him then. He's leaving town and he wants us to go right away. What am I going to do?”

  “One thing you're going to do is to let me do some checking on him,” declared her father. “There is something wrong about this man. He is rushing you too much!”

  “Do go up and get some sleep,” said her mother. “We'll see what happens tomorrow.”

  Nobody in the house slept well that night. Ruby was still upset and uncertain, and her parents were worried that she would do the wrong thing.

  The next morning, Ruby came down to breakfast carrying the ring again. Her parents were surprised. Ruby was smiling!

  “I couldn't fall asleep for a long time,” she told them, “but I finally did, and slept soundly. When I awoke, I saw the ring on my pillow again. I thought maybe you were right, Mom. Maybe Doug was trying to tell me something. He told me he'd always take care of me. I think this was his way of telling me that David is the wrong man for me. If it wasn't for seeing the ring, I might have run away with David. Now I know he is not the right man for me.”

  When David called that morning, Ruby told him she would not be going away with him. Angrily, he slammed down the phone. She never heard from him again.

  Her father checked on David anyway. He learned that David Roberts had been dishonorably discharged from the Marines, and that he was wanted by the police in another state for beating his ex-wife. Maybe Doug saw this from his perspective in the next world and could warn Ruby only by moving the engagement ring he had given her.

  The Ghost of the Blackberry Patch

  No one teller comes to mind for this story. We usually heard it when a group of women would tell stories while sitting under a shade tree, breaking green beans.

  The biggest treat for many people in farm country in Kentucky is blackberries. They are delicious freshly picked or cooked into jam or jelly, or baked into pies and cobblers. They grow abundantly in berry patches, and people pick them both for their own use and for selling to those who are not able to get out and pick themselves. Picking blackberries was a sure way for children to make some money.

  Along with the good blackberries, however, could come some bad things.

  A tale is told by local people about a crazy man who had escaped from an insane asylum and was believed to live in a cave somewhere deep in the woods. Nobody really believed it, but it was a good story to scare little kids to keep them from wandering into the woods to play. Of course, there were real things to scare them, too. There were thorns that would scratch painfully if the berry pickers were not careful. Chiggers and snakes liked to live in blackberry patches, so pickers had to watch out for them, too. Berry pickers usually wore long sleeves and long pants to protect themselves from bites. Some put kerosene (like they used in their lamps) around their wrists and ankles so the odor would repel chiggers and even snakes. The wise ones wore shoes and did not venture into the blackberry patches with bare feet. Parents who allowed children to pick berries alone always warned them to watch out for snakes and not get bit.

  Common snakes in Kentucky were black snakes, cow snakes, rattlesnakes, and copperheads. Snakes like to hide among the berries and wait for birds to swoop down to get berries to eat. Then the snakes would strike. Berry pickers needed a keen eye to spot the snakes and not become a snake-bite victim. Still, people took a chance and picked the berries.

  Maggie Gammon awoke one summer morning and asked her mother if she could go berry picking that day. Maggie had seen a dress in the Sears and Roebuck catalog that she wanted to order. She had been saving up for it and almost had enough.

  “Honey, I've got to wash today, so I can't go with you. I think you'd better wait. I don't like for you to go alone,” her mother told her.

  “But, Momma!” Maggie protested. “Mrs. Pennington is expecting company. She always makes pies when she has company. I know she'll buy some berries from me! It will be enough for me to buy that dress. Please, Momma!” she begged.

  Mrs. Gammon hesitated. She didn't like to send her daughter out alone, but Maggie was always careful. And she was so eager to get that dress.

  “Please, Momma!” Maggie said again. “I promise I'll be careful!”

  “Oh, all right,” said Mrs. Gammon, giving in to her daughter's pleas. “Don't go into the woods, though. The dogs keep barking at something in there. I looked, but I couldn't see anything. I am going to have your father check it out.”

  “Do you think they see the crazy man?” joked Maggie.

  “Very funny!” laughed Mrs. Gammon. “Just get on your way before I change my mind!”

  Maggie gave her mother a big hug.

  “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” she said. “I won't be gone long.”

  She grabbed her bucket and ran out the door, never to return home again.

  Mrs. Gammon washed the family's clothes as she had planned. Then she carried them outside and hung them on the clothesline to dry.

  “I wonder what's keeping that child so long,” thought Mrs. Gammon. “I could use some help hanging these clothes.”

  The sun climbed higher in the sky, and the temperature rose toward the upper nineties. The forecast was for a hot day. Mrs. Gammon finished hanging the clothes by herself, wiped the sweat from her brow, and began to cook the noon meal. Mr. Gammon, who had been working in the fields, came in to eat.

  “Where's Maggie?” he asked.

  “She went blackberry picking,” said Mrs. Gammon. “I'm getting a little worried. She should have been back a long time ago.”

  “Do you think she might have gone to sell them to someone?” asked Mr. Gammon.

  “She's never done that without coming home to tell me,” said Mrs. Gammon.

  “I'll walk down to the blackberry patch and take a look around,” said Mr. Gammon.

  “No,” said Mrs. Gammon. “You eat your dinner so you can get back to work. I'll go. I know where she usually picks. Lord, I hope she's not snake bit!”

  Mrs. Gammon hurried to the pat
ch by the woods where her daughter always loved to go.

  “Maggie!” she called. “Where are you? Come on in! It's time to eat.”

  There was no answer. The woods were silent, too. Mrs. Gammon saw no sign of a snake, but she noticed that the grass was smashed down as if something had been dragged into the woods. Her heart nearly stopped when she saw Maggie's empty bucket on the ground. Right beside it was one of Maggie's shoes.

  Mrs. Gammon ran to the house, screaming for her husband. He ran out to see what was wrong. She collapsed into his arms, crying.

  “Maggie's gone!” she sobbed. “Something dragged her into the woods! I found her shoe and empty bucket!”

  “Now calm down,” he told her. “Go inside and call the sheriff. Wait for him here. I'm going to look for her.”

  Her husband ran toward the blackberry patch by the woods while Mrs. Gammon dialed the sheriff's number. A quick look around the blackberry patch gave Mr. Gammon no information about his daughter. He turned and headed into the woods. He saw the shoe of Maggie's that his wife had seen. He could see where bushes had been broken and pushed down, as if someone had been dragged into the woods. He struggled to fight down his fear, but he knew there had definitely been something in the blackberry patch much more dangerous than a snake.

  The sheriff arrived with some men, and they proceeded to search the whole area. Maggie's other shoe was found on the ground at the edge of a cliff above a creek. There were no other clues about Maggie's whereabouts. The men searched the woods and down along the creek, but there was no trace of the missing girl. They continued the search for days, but they had little hope of finding her now. Some of the searchers swore that they heard something following along beside them while they were searching, but the invisible thing never materialized. Finally the search was called off.

  Mrs. Gammon refused to believe that her daughter was gone forever. She kept busy during the day. In the daylight hours, she could pretend that Maggie was off visiting her friends, but it was different when darkness settled over the woods and the blackberry patch. She felt so guilty about letting Maggie go out alone that morning! She would leave the house at night and go to the blackberry patch, calling her daughter's name.