store in town, having coffee and donuts with some of the other local women. One of them told us that the man and woman who lived next to the mansion, and who’d fought the hardest to have it destroyed, were having a horrible time with paranormal activity. They’d hear footsteps, items in their home were being moved, and doors would open and slam violently.
I smiled to myself, knowing that Franklin had found another place to live, and I could appreciate the irony of the situation. The people who detested his home the most were now going to have to live with the ghost of Franklin, whom they’d displaced. You just have to love karma.
[contents]
Chapter 6
The Weeping Woman
This is one of those stories that just tugs on your heartstrings. After you read it, you won’t find it hard to imagine the depth of one woman’s grief and devotion to her husband and child. It’s one of the saddest ghost stories I’ve ever run across. Yet in a way, it’s inspirational, because it makes you realize just how alike life and death are. Remember, death is not the end, but the beginning of a new life in spirit form.
An abandoned house still stands defiantly on a lonely patch of land, just outside of a small town in rural Iowa, close to where a friend of mine grew up. Fortunately, the history of the house is very well documented.
The house was originally built as a single-room log cabin in 1881 by a preacher, his wife, and their nine children. They hunkered down during the winter, but at the first sign of spring they began to enlarge their cabin to house their large family.
By 1889, the family moved on and the house was taken over by the township for operation as a stagecoach station.
However, the stagecoach stopped running through the rural area in 1893, so the township then turned the building into a boarding house for trappers and people heading toward the Wild West.
According to local legends and various historical documents, this was a dangerous time, and several gangs of outlaws roamed the area. There were also threats from Native American uprisings. Although there was a minor uprising several miles away, the marauding tribe never got as far east as the tiny town, and there isn’t any documentation that the Native Americans caused any trouble in the town that I was able to discover.
The building was again abandoned in 1898, and in 1903 it was converted into a schoolhouse for the children of the railroad workers that streamed into the area. The school operated until 1925 when the building was once again abandoned, although it was used by the large number of drifters, vagabonds, and hobos that roamed the area during the Great Depression. The desolate location and natural water supply made it a safe haven for those who’d been dislocated by the Depression and the Dust Bowl.
When the railroad died in the early part of the 1920s, there were already rumors circulating about the building and its ghosts.
In the 1950s, the house was purchased by a local family, who once again turned it into a family home. The family—a farmer, his wife, and children—only lived in the house a year before mysterious happenings in and around the house drove them out and forced them to move into town.
In 1995, the Historical Society purchased the property with the intent of restoring the house as it had been when it was run as a stagecoach station. Everything went well during the first stages of reconstruction.
However, while clearing out the old well, the volunteers uncovered the skeleton of a small infant. It was shortly afterward that the plans to restore the building hit several snags—and of course, there was the matter of the ghosts. From all accounts, the Weeping Woman began appearing more and more often, frequently scaring the workers until they packed up and finally left.
While I’m unclear about what happened to the infant skeleton, I’m very clear about the increase in paranormal activity after the baby was discovered; the mother
I smiled to myself, knowing that Franklin had found another place to live, and I could appreciate the irony of the situation. The people who detested his home the most were now going to have to live with the ghost of Franklin, whom they’d displaced. You just have to love karma.
[contents]
Chapter 6
The Weeping Woman
This is one of those stories that just tugs on your heartstrings. After you read it, you won’t find it hard to imagine the depth of one woman’s grief and devotion to her husband and child. It’s one of the saddest ghost stories I’ve ever run across. Yet in a way, it’s inspirational, because it makes you realize just how alike life and death are. Remember, death is not the end, but the beginning of a new life in spirit form.
An abandoned house still stands defiantly on a lonely patch of land, just outside of a small town in rural Iowa, close to where a friend of mine grew up. Fortunately, the history of the house is very well documented.
The house was originally built as a single-room log cabin in 1881 by a preacher, his wife, and their nine children. They hunkered down during the winter, but at the first sign of spring they began to enlarge their cabin to house their large family.
By 1889, the family moved on and the house was taken over by the township for operation as a stagecoach station.
However, the stagecoach stopped running through the rural area in 1893, so the township then turned the building into a boarding house for trappers and people heading toward the Wild West.
According to local legends and various historical documents, this was a dangerous time, and several gangs of outlaws roamed the area. There were also threats from Native American uprisings. Although there was a minor uprising several miles away, the marauding tribe never got as far east as the tiny town, and there isn’t any documentation that the Native Americans caused any trouble in the town that I was able to discover.
The building was again abandoned in 1898, and in 1903 it was converted into a schoolhouse for the children of the railroad workers that streamed into the area. The school operated until 1925 when the building was once again abandoned, although it was used by the large number of drifters, vagabonds, and hobos that roamed the area during the Great Depression. The desolate location and natural water supply made it a safe haven for those who’d been dislocated by the Depression and the Dust Bowl.
When the railroad died in the early part of the 1920s, there were already rumors circulating about the building and its ghosts.
In the 1950s, the house was purchased by a local family, who once again turned it into a family home. The family—a farmer, his wife, and children—only lived in the house a year before mysterious happenings in and around the house drove them out and forced them to move into town.
In 1995, the Historical Society purchased the property with the intent of restoring the house as it had been when it was run as a stagecoach station. Everything went well during the first stages of reconstruction.
However, while clearing out the old well, the volunteers uncovered the skeleton of a small infant. It was shortly afterward that the plans to restore the building hit several snags—and of course, there was the matter of the ghosts. From all accounts, the Weeping Woman began appearing more and more often, frequently scaring the workers until they packed up and finally left.
While I’m unclear about what happened to the infant skeleton, I’m very clear about the increase in paranormal activity after the baby was discovered; the mother
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