ghost stories?

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Paradox said:
This documents an apparition in the mountains: Google Video - Haunted Car Commercial


LOL! That's funny. I've seen a few other variations of that gag elsewhere on the web. It always gets me too. As for books, Passing Strange by Joseph Citro is one of my favorites. Lots of neat stories about New England, most of which I had not previously read.
 
DrewKnight said:
For all-out ghostly potential, you have to go a ways to beat the Willey House site and story... most people are very familiar, but here's a quick summary:

Pioneering Willey family ekes out living halfway up Crawford Notch, farming and taking in travelers. Father Samuel Willey keeps a watchful eye on the crags above, and actually builds a shelter away from the house thinking it would be good to have a place to retreat to in case of a slide. The summer of 1826 is the driest anyone can remember -- dust everywhere, no rain for months. Finally, at the end of August, an honest-to-goodness cloudburst comes and drenches the soil. The family and a hired man or two are huddled in the house, but run out to seek shelter when they hear the rumble of a giant slide coming down the mountain above. At the last minute, the slide hits a boulder or tree and splits, sweeping away the family but sparing the house. Some versions have it that, when the rescuers came up the ruined notch days later, the family bible was still open to the 23rd Psalm on the table. Most of the bodies were found, crushed in the slide or in the Saco River, some said that the missing children were still out in the woods, feral.

Famous story, and one that really must have had a big impact on the psyche of the masses... it was the basis for Nathaniel Hawthorne's story "The Ambitious Guest" among many other things. I have been fascinated with the story since reading an account of it when I was a kid, and I have to say, if you stop off at the site in the off-season, when it's quiet and there is no one around, it's certainly desolate edging toward eerie... though no, never seen a ghost or vapor there.

Late to the thread, sorry.

This past winter a few of us were camping off of the Ethan Pond trail. We only managed to get a ways past the Willey Range Junction before dropping packs for the night. A guy had passed us earlier in the day (at least 5 hours) headed up to the shelter, and we have no reason to believe he did not get all the way there. I say this because I want it understood that there was most likely a great distance between us and him. Ok, now the freaky part.....about 10:00 or so we are sitting around when we hear very clearly (coming up trail from Eathan Pond, NOT from the highway side of the trail) "HELLO" shouted. We all looked at each other and I swear I heard it said again, only quieter and less distinguishable. We saw no headlamp in the darkness, and Hikerfast went up trail a ways to check things out but found nothing.

I am sort of neutral on believing in ghosts or not. I can't say for sure what was up that night, but it was a rather interesting moment!

Brian
 
Hey there, it's Mari again. Brian, I did indeed include the Willey House story as one of the Haunted Hikes- in Floyd Ramsey's version of this story, the ghost of Sam Willey appeared to family members after his horrible death. Others have seen a lost dog , "the only survivor", wandering up and down the Notch, looking for his lost family. There are even recent reports, according to some folks at the Willey Historic site , who have claimed to see the mysterious ghost dog. (Did I say Ghost Dog?)

Here is another true tale from the research I did with the book. My cartographer was interested in obtaining a clean track on the Nancy Pond Trail. Again, this is one of the Haunted Hikes, based on the story of poor Nancy Barton found frozen to death by the brook. Because of deadlines, I needed to make the hike over the winter when the snow was pretty deep. Halfway up the trail, my batteries in the Garmin died! I was pretty frustrated, and was about to turn back when two overnight hikers approached me from the other direction. They had camped near Norcross Pond and were heading down. I began to tell them of my troubles with bateries, when I realized one of them had a gps on him and had been taking a track. What luck! I told them about how I was putting together a story on the Nancy Barton "incident" as it related to the mountain. The legend goes that often, Nancy's shrieks can be heard through the woods , along with crying and wailing. The two foresters had not heard the story before, and I told them where the cairn grave was located. "Wait a minute", one of them said. "All through the night I heard this terrible crying sound while camping in the woods. I kept thinking it was a wounded bird." The noise kept him awake and alert for awhile. He said he kept wondering what was making the sound, because few birds would be around the area in the dead of winter.

True story!

Kinda makes ya wonder.... :eek:
 
Hey MAri,

Ironically earlier this week I was reading Mike Dickerman's "White Mountain Reader" in which is included a copy of Willey's brother's accounting of the tragic events (or rather what is generally accepted since he was miles away in Conway when the incident happened). He told of the family dog running around the notch for days before finally disappearing.

As for the other "Ghost Dog"......I'll be nice and make no comment :D ;)

Brian
 
Don't forget about Baxter State park's Pamola! and what stories that has ignited from rangers and scouts.
 
MAri said:
Hey there, it's Mari again. Brian, I did indeed include the Willey House story as one of the Haunted Hikes- in Floyd Ramsey's version of this story, the ghost of Sam Willey appeared to family members after his horrible death. Others have seen a lost dog , "the only survivor", wandering up and down the Notch, looking for his lost family. There are even recent reports, according to some folks at the Willey Historic site , who have claimed to see the mysterious ghost dog. (Did I say Ghost Dog?)

Here is another true tale from the research I did with the book. My cartographer was interested in obtaining a clean track on the Nancy Pond Trail. Again, this is one of the Haunted Hikes, based on the story of poor Nancy Barton found frozen to death by the brook. Because of deadlines, I needed to make the hike over the winter when the snow was pretty deep. Halfway up the trail, my batteries in the Garmin died! I was pretty frustrated, and was about to turn back when two overnight hikers approached me from the other direction. They had camped near Norcross Pond and were heading down. I began to tell them of my troubles with bateries, when I realized one of them had a gps on him and had been taking a track. What luck! I told them about how I was putting together a story on the Nancy Barton "incident" as it related to the mountain. The legend goes that often, Nancy's shrieks can be heard through the woods , along with crying and wailing. The two foresters had not heard the story before, and I told them where the cairn grave was located. "Wait a minute", one of them said. "All through the night I heard this terrible crying sound while camping in the woods. I kept thinking it was a wounded bird." The noise kept him awake and alert for awhile. He said he kept wondering what was making the sound, because few birds would be around the area in the dead of winter.

True story!

Kinda makes ya wonder.... :eek:

Wow, I was camped with my dog at Norcross Pond, just by the herd path to Mt. Nancy. It was early in the season, mid-late May, there were still a few patches of snow on the ground. It was mid-week and I hadn't seen another person the entire time. My dog was very alert when we turned in for the night. In the middle of the night I was awakened by my dog frantically nudging me with his nose and trying to get closer to me. When I woke up, I heard the same wailing/crying sounds. My dog sat there with his ears perked up and the hair on his back up. He was like that for a while, at least until I fell asleep. I think my dog was probably on alert the entire night, because when I woke in the morning, he was in the same position. The sounds creeped me out too and did get the adrenaline flowing. I sat there awake trying to figure out what the sounds were for quite some time. I reasoned it must have been some ducks or birds, but it was the eeriest night I've ever spent in the woods.
 
clg898 said:
I sat there awake trying to figure out what the sounds were for quite some time. I reasoned it must have been some ducks or birds, but it was the eeriest night I've ever spent in the woods.
Don't forget that rubbing tree limbs can make some "interesting" noises if there is any wind.

Doug
 
DougPaul said:
Don't forget that rubbing tree limbs can make some "interesting" noises if there is any wind.

Doug

Oh yes, but I'd bet on waterfowl before tree limbs... this was much more a cacophony of wails and murmurs than a lone screech or sound.
 
clg898 said:
Oh yes, but I'd bet on waterfowl before tree limbs... this was much more a cacophony of wails and murmurs than a lone screech or sound.
I was't there and thus have no idea what the sound was actually like. Was just suggesting another possible cause.

Wildlife and other natural causes can make a whole variety of sounds--jumping to the conclusion that a noise (or some phenomenon) of unknown orgin is supernatural without a thorough investigation is premature. And all too common... :(

Doug
 
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DougPaul said:
I was't there and thus have no idea what the sound was actually like. Was just suggesting another possible cause.

Wildlife and other natural causes can make a whole variety of sounds--jumping to the conclusion that a noise (or some phenomenon) of unknown orgin is supernatural without a thorough investigation is premature. And all too common... :(

Doug

I didn't suggest it was supernatural... just that I (and my dog) also experienced eerie noises by Norcross Pond that sent a shiver down my spine. Like I said, I think the noises were from some snoring ducks, not the ghost of Nancy Barton or any other ghost for that matter.
 
Perhaps it was Bigfoot. The description of the wails, while not rigorously descriptive, could qualify. Interesting reaction by the dog. which seems like that found in other BF encounters.

The Bigfoot Rsch Org was poking around on the NH-ME border in the last couple of weeks. Wonder what they found - other than bugs?
 
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I wonder if anyone has seen ghosts of native americans in the forest? Interesting, good to see the old thread alive again!
 
I and others here have stories we only tell around campfires or at gatherings.... ;)

That being said I know there are a few VFTT'ers that have had interesting experiences hiking or camping in the Pemi. Perhaps we might arrange a story night for early fall, camping together and sharing our bigfoot, ghost, vampire, serial killer, and alien abduction stories, etc., whilst we pass around our bottles of good cheer and build a campfire large enough to keep the coyotes away? :) :eek: :D
 
Hey, I would love to hang around the campfire and tell spooky weird stories. As long as someone brings the wine! BTW-Haunted Hikes does include Sasquatch sightings, alien abductions, ghosts and even Satan too. But no vampires or witches. But I do have a neat story I heard about a witch in Alton who is buried out in the woods there. There is a four inch slab over the tomb so that her sould cannot escape! I went to the grave and snapped a photo- later, I noticed something strange on the photo, like a bluish blur of something in motion - Hmmmm..... Haunted Hikes of NH will be available at the Mountain Wanderer next week.
Mari
 
Mari, thanks for the notice about your book - I'm going on an extended camping trip with a bunch of friends next week and it sounds like just the thing for a fun evening around the fire! I had heard about the witch in Alton.

A while back, 'bcskier' wrote:
"Does anyone know about the mysterious nature of Glastenbury Mt. near Bennington, VT?"
A little bit, yeah - what, something like 40 disappearances there? I think that I first read about it in the wonderful "Weird New England" - obviously, get Mari's book first, but I also recommend WNE highly!
 
I heard this story.

There is this fish Jeffrey Lebowski, otherwise known as the “Dude”, or His Dudeness... Duder... or El Duderino, if, you know, you're not into the whole brevity thing…….which haunts Scar Ridge in New Hampshire. This Betta fighting fish was known for its negative behavior and a general dislike of people…..And well the rest of the universe.

He survived a catastrophic broken fish bowl overnight incident one time, which would have killed most fish…..His favorite rug was destroyed in the accident, and this caused Jeff Lebowski to drink massive amounts of White Russians at a local bowling alley. The Dude was distraught as the rug made his whole fish tank come together.

From that day forward The Dude was bent on destroying all hikers that crossed his path. Unfortunately, The Dude’s life was cuts short before his plan of world domination could be carried out.

The Dude now rests on Scar Ridge, and haunts anyone that does not bring him some food or a White Russian…..And we are not talking about the mamby pamby new canister of the far western bump of Scar Ridge……But the original canister. It is like comparing new Coke and original Coke.

This fish is so mean, that it took rocks off of the summit of Skylight in the Adirondacks, and built cairns in wilderness areas. The Dude also got HarryK to leave VFTT, which was actually a good thing come to think of it.

So the next time you hike Scar Ridge feed him or you will have the curse of The Dude.



 
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