Ghost Stories Now and Then by S. L. Carlson
Do you
believe in ghosts? Should you believe in ghosts? The idea of ghosts has
fascinated me my whole life. Ghosts have been around for as long as there have
been people.
I’ve
never been keen to see one, but I have sensed and heard them. I don’t like to acknowledge
them for fear of an introduction. Ignorance-Ignoring is bliss. Still, it’s hard
to ignore a mixer turning on and off by itself. So when something like that
happens I spin and point my finger to the air, and in my strongest ghost-scolding
voice, say, “Stop that! Not funny!”
A house
siding contractor went into our basement when we weren’t home. He had no business
down there. I only figured it out when we returned and he looked pale, asking
if our house was haunted. I laughed and mentioned our doorbell ringing at odd
hours with no one there (even when we’re by the door to “catch” anyone). He mentioned
a door slammed when he was inside. (Why was he inside, anyway?) Even though
there was no breeze, I suggested the wind did it. He said there were no windows
opened. Well, yes, there were, but not in the basement! Good, old ghost.
The Great
Lakes have thousands of ghost stories, as well they should from the many untimely
deaths on them. One told in the Milwaukee Journal, January 24, 1895, is of a
man named Bill who died en route to Buffalo. When the ship arrived, the entire
crew felt the vessel was now unlucky, so didn’t sign on for the trip over to
Cleveland. The mate shanghaied a new crew. As they neared the boat, they
pointed to the ship’s mast. The mate recognized the figure as Bill. The new
crew, drunk as they were, fled. Finally other crew members came. The ship never
made it to Cleveland. It sunk off of Dunkirk with all hands.
One more
(of the thousands): On November 28, 1966, the Daniel J. Morrell broke apart in the middle of the night during a
storm on Lake Huron. Watchman Dennis Hale was in his bunk when the ship
cracked. He grabbed his life jacket and ran on deck in only his shorts. The
ship had buckled. He ran back to his bunk for his pea jacket and made it into a
lifeboat with three others. As the waves crested the raft, the water turned to
ice on them. They lay in the lifeboat. Dennis was in the middle. The other
three froze to death in the night. The next day he washed up on rocks, but too far
to swim in the freezing water. He started to eat the ice from his pea jacket
when a translucent man in white hovered over him and told him not to eat the
ice or it would lower his body temperature and he’d die. The following day the
same vision occurred. He was rescued, given last rites because he was so near
death, but lived. As the sole survivor of the sinking, it took more than twenty
years before he told the rest of the survival story with words of ghostly
advice.
F.Y.I. There
will be ghosts in my book coming out in September with BWL, Escape, War Unicorn
Chronicles, Book 2. Find my other books here: http://www.bookswelove.com/authors/carlson-sandy-young-adult/
