THE WITCH OF THE WOODS

There are two stories that revolve around a stretch of woods west of Lincoln, Nebraska known as Wilderness Park. One regarding rail disaster in the late 1800s and the other regarding what people claimed to be a child murdering witch.

Ghosts of the Rock Island Train Disaster

In 1894, a train headed northward was crossing the trestle over Salt Creek. Something went terribly wrong and the locomotive along with a few cars tumbled off of the 40 ft long bridge to the ground below. A fire broke out and in the end, eleven people lost their lives. The real tragedy is that it was no accident. The bridge was sabotaged. The saboteur was found and convicted, but that did not change the fact that people died. Some say they still roam the area near Salt Creek in what is now Wilderness Park.

In the late 1800s a train derailment at the bridge that crosses Salt Creek near Lincoln, Nebraska left almost a dozen dead. Many claim those lost souls still roam Wilderness Park to this day.
In the late 1800s a train derailment at the bridge that crosses Salt Creek near Lincoln, Nebraska left almost a dozen dead. Many claim those lost souls still roam Wilderness Park to this day.

Some who hike through Wilderness Park at dusk, report strange whispering noises coming from the trees. Others who have lost track of the hour and get caught by the setting sun in darkness, say they have heard the sound of heavy footsteps behind them in the area of the rail bridge. However, when they turn and look, nobody is around. Many feel that these noises are the spirits of those killed in the Rock Island rail disaster, perhaps seeking justice because the man who killed them only served 10 years of his sentence before being released on parole. A marker along the Jamaica North Trail marks the spot where the disaster occurred and these souls lost their lives.

                                                     The Witch of the Woods

In the early 1900s there was a short period where about half a dozen or so local children went missing in the Lincoln area. Many believed they ran away, but some believed that they disappeared in Wilderness Park. It wasn't until one boy went missing and his sister claimed to see him with a woman who lived in a secluded shack in the woods in what is now Wilderness Park. Locals called this woman "Witch of the Woods". Police searched the wooded areas and eventually the bodies of the children where found.

When you are walking the trails of Wilderness Park and you run out of daylight, beware the "Witch of the Woods".
When you are walking the trails of Wilderness Park and you run out of daylight, beware the "Witch of the Woods".

Local police questioned the woman who lived in the shack and she only complained because the children always ran all over her property. There was no hard evidence against her, so the authorities did not make an arrest. However, once locals heard what the woman had said, they took matters into their own hands.

The "Witch of the Woods" was found one day, hanging by the neck from a tree with a chain. Many say when you walk the dark woods of Wilderness Park, you can hear the moans of the "Witch of the Woods" and occasional the rattling of chains. Some say they have actually found buried chains that have led to the tree where the woman was hanged. Be careful what you find at the end though, because they say the "Witch of the Woods" was buried there with the chains still on her. Somewhere in the woods a shrine exists that memorializes the children that lost their lives there so long ago.

                                                 Ghost Ship of Captain Sandovate

A New Jersey Ghost Story 

retold by

S. E. Schlosser

When Captain Don Sandovate voyaged from Spain to the New World in search of treasure, he found gold in abundance. But among his crew there were many sailors who did not wish to share the new-found wealth with the monarchs of Spain. On their journey up the Atlantic Coast, the sailors mutinied and imprisoned their captain, tying him to the main mast and refusing to give him food or drink. Day after day, the captain lay exposed to the hot sun of summer, his body drying up as the treacherous sailors worked around him. Finally, his pride broken, Don Sandovate begged: "Water. Please. Give me just one sip of water." The mutineers found this amusing, and started carrying water up to the main mast and holding it just out of reach of their former captain.

In the terrible heat of a dry summer, the captain did not survive long without water. A few days after the mutiny, the captain succumbed to heat and thirst. The new captain, a greedy Spaniard with no compassion in his soul, left Don Sandovate tied to the mast, his body withering away, while the ship turned pirate and plundered its way up the coast. But Providence was watching the ruthless men, and a terrible storm arose and drove the ship deep into the Atlantic, where it sank with all hands, the body of Don Sandovate still tied to the broken mast.

Shortly after the death of the mutineers-turned-pirate, an eerie ghost ship began appearing along the coast, usually in the calm just before a storm. It had the appearance of a Spanish treasure ship, but its mast was broken, its sails torn, and the corpse of a noble-looking Spaniard was tied to the mast. The ship was crewed by skeletons in ragged clothing. As it passed other ships or houses near the shore, the skeletons would stretch out bony hands and cry: "Water. Please. Give us just one sip of water." But none can help them, for they are eternally doomed to roam the Atlantic, suffering from thirst in payment for their terrible deeds against their captain and the good people living along the Atlantic coast.

                                                   

The Ghost of The Allen House -
Arkansas,USA

In Monticello, Arkansas, businessman Joe Lee Allen built the Allen House in 1907. His daughter, Ladell, drank mercury cyanide-laced punch in the home’s master suite on Dec. 26, 1948. She died oneweek later. Her mother sealed off the room and no one entered the room for almost four decades. The house was converted into apartments in 1956. Tenants would tell stories about hazy figures and furniture being inexplicably rearranged. Many people reported seeing a lady sitting in a turret window.

Years later, in the 21st Century, the home was purchased and renovated. Almost immediately the family began noticing a woman, randomly, throughout the house. Then the residents began to notice objects being moved, lights being turned off and on, and locked doors opening on their own.

The father in this family was working on clearing out the attic one evening. He found stashed behind the wall/floor....all letters between Ladell and her married lover. No one ever knew she was in love. He decided to stay with his wife. Ladell was so distraught, she killed herself but only after hiding all her love letters. It is sad that her family, her loved ones never knew.