| Here is an article I wrote for a local paper, which was published here
yesterday. Let me know if you have any questions.
I am working on a small book on franklin county ghosts. Any help would
be appreciated.
New Haven Haunts: A Guide to Local Spooks Looking for Ghosts? There's no reason to travel very far, Franklin County is filled with places where the dead are eager to make your acquaintance. Just ask a co-worker about their favorite ghost story, and you are sure to get one. A bit of advice, doing a little research can prevent a long cold night in a car waiting for a spectral train. Here is a list of a few of the reportedly haunted places within a few miles of New Haven. Remember, some of these are on private property, and telling a deputy sheriff that you were trespassing because you were looking for a ghost may result in a trip to the county jail or to a nice doctor ( who only wants to help you). Always get permission from the owner before going onto private land. 1. Witches Tombstone, Hermann, Mo.: The Hermann Cemetery sits on the crown of the hill of 9th St., with the town laid out in a panorama view below. Many of the stones are the old six and seven foot tall monuments, leaning at odd angles as if the earth has grown tired of holding them up. Rusting wrought iron fences surround some of the graves, giving the area a Victorian backdrop for those walking among the dead. At the top of the hill is a lone tombstone, the name and date lost to history and the elements. Legend says this area holds the bodies of those killed on a steamboat disaster from the 1800's. Other legends say the area holds the earthly remains of those killed by an epidemic of small pox. An intricate skull and cross bones design is carved from the stone itself. This stone holds an unholy fascination for the locals, who claim a witch was buried there over 200 years ago. The design of the skull, still evil looking today, leaves you with a touch of respect for the artist. You can imagine school children daring each other to touch the stone in the darkness of night. Does the restless spirit of the witch guard the stone? I can add only this: On a beautiful, sunny Saturday afternoon in September, as I walked through the cemetery to the top of the hill for a photograph of the stone, I watched a large ebony black crow land on the stone. Crows, long associated with witches as their familiars, have an evil look in their own right. I stopped, trying not to scare it, to get the perfect photo of the crow on a witches stone. The batteries in the camera, which were fully charged earlier, had somehow drained. The crow sat silently watching as I left the cemetery to get more batteries. Of course, the crow was gone on my return, and the camera worked fine. The Old Macs Café, Berger, Mo.: Currently Darleen's One Stop, located at 105 Market St. in Berger, the old Macs Café is now a convenience store and coffee shop. Twenty years ago, it was the scene of a horrible tragedy. Jack Schaefer, 38, had received an order of protection to stay away from his girlfriend and her family, residing in the apartments above Macs Café. Schaefer had phoned in a bomb threat to her place of work, and had been to trial over that. On the night of March 17, 1986, Jack snapped. People driving on Berger Bottoms Road had observed him shooting a shotgun into a sand dune, and into the air. They called the deputies, who were on the way. Schaefer then went to the apartment and attempted to kick the door in. Unable to do so, he went back outside and shot the windows of the apartment where his ex-girlfriend and her children were hiding in fear. Jack returned to the door, and used the shotgun to blow the lock off the door. When he entered the apartment, the nineteen year old son of Jack's ex-girlfriend used his own shotgun, decapitating Jack at point blank range. While Jack's physical life has ended, his interest in Darleen's One Stop has not. Stories of Jack coming back from the grave, still attired in the hiking boots, jeans and flannel shirt he was wearing the night he was killed, have come to light. He's been seen in Mac's café when it was a bar, and in the hallway of the upstairs apartments. I spoke with the current resident of the apartment, Wendi Bush. Wendi is a twenty-something young lady working as a nurse and raising her children. Her roommate is a young lady married to a sailor currently deployed. "Ghosts?" Wendi asked when I told her the reason for the interview." Oh, my God. That apartment is so weird!" Wendi spoke of leaving all the lights on, and returning home to find them all turned off. Many times, she and her roommate have left for hours and returned to find the shower running. But, the best story was yet to come. "One night, my roommate and I left. We were gone for six hours, leaving the lights on and the TV off. The kids were with their father. "When we returned, the lights were off, even though the door was still locked. But the weird thing was the TV and VCR was on, and it was showing 'The Exorcist'. But, we don't own The Exorcist!" "We don't know how it got into the apartment, or in the VCR. No box was found, and none of my friends ever claimed it." Wendi still has the tape, but doesn't watch it. She struggles for a rational explanation. "I don't believe in ghosts here in my apartment." Wendi said. " If I did, I couldn't go home." Enoch's Knob Bridge, near New Haven, Mo.: This spooky, old steel bridge has seen better days. Known mostly as a party spot for local teens, there are legends of boys committing suicide, hanging themselves from the side of the bridge or jumping to their deaths over lost love. Stories abound about this area: reports of strange creatures climbing the trees when the moon is full, or on Friday the 13th. Spectral dogs chasing people across the bridge only to disappear. Research indicates two deaths in the are in recent history. One of the ghosts residing there is reported to be Pat Kinnison. On August 23, 1987, a young man named Patrick Kinnison, age 23, from Washington, Mo., had been attending a party at the bridge. Patrick was last seen climbing the gray steel girders of the bridge by his friends. Strangely enough, no one actually saw Kinnison fall. His body was seen by the same friends lying on the jagged rocks 37 feet below the bridge. He was pronounced dead on the scene, and the death was ruled accidental. Since then, tales of red eyes glaring from the woods and signs mysteriously being torn down from the sides of the bridge have been told. I could find no one who would say it happened to them, but all "knew someone who knows someone." The other death occurred on May 9, 2005, when Stephen Cooksey, age 41, was killed during an alleged drug transaction. His body was then burned with his car. While no spirits have been attributed to him, perhaps Patrick has some company now. Boondockers Inn, New Haven, Mo.: The restaurant/bar, located on Highway 100, has had ghost stories told about it for the past three owners. Stories of moving napkins, silverware, and glasses along with doors opening by themselves has long been told by employees. And the spirit has not ignored the current owners, Doug and Cathy Borgmann. " It whistles," said Cathy Borgmann. "Sort of like it's whistling for a dog." Cathy saw the spirit for the first time about a year ago. " I came in early, to make breakfast," she said. " I looked into the mirror over the bar, and behind me I could see it. It was wearing a white shirt, the really old type with wide sleeves that tighten at the wrist." Cathy said she couldn't see a head, and it was gone when she turned around. Since then, she saw it walk up behind her while she was cooking. Cathy said she could only see his shin-high black boots on the floor behind her, as her head was down cooking. She said it disappeared shortly after. The waitresses have also heard the whistling. Sometimes, it even acts as a gentleman. One former waitress, Cassie, said the ghost will open the door for her if her hands are full. "I may walk down the hall with glasses, or beer. If I'm going into a particular room, sometimes the door will open for me." Cassie said. " I think he likes to startle people." One person he won't startle is Boondockers owner, Doug Borgmann. Sometimes, the ghost would open the door for him. Other times, it was funny to close the door. One day, Doug was carrying cases of beer when the ghost closed the door to the store room in front of him. " I yelled at it to knock it's crap off!" Doug said. " Now it won't do things like that when I'm around." But the other ghosts still play. Doug has left the bar because of the noise of the ghosts before finishing the nights paperwork. " I just told them to go ahead, have fun. Then I locked up for the night." Cathy has seen another spirit, this time a small child. Late September of this year, the second of many spirits made her presence known. " It was in the afternoon, and I was the only one in the building." Cathy said. " I saw a little girl with long, brown hair run across the dining room. I stepped out from behind the counter to see where she went to, and she disappeared." Before Boondockers, the building was a Ford dealership. The whole area was once a farm. Who these ghosts are, or why they chose to stay, is anyone's guess. A few years ago, during an investigation of a haunting, a member of the press used a ouija board to contact the spirit assaulting a young woman. During the contact, the reporter asked the spirit if there were many ghosts. The reply was " The air around you is filled with phantoms."Something to keep in mind when you see that shadow out of the corner of your eye, or feel the hair on the back of your neck stand up for no reason. But, then you could just shrug it off. After all, we don't believe in ghosts, right? Dan Page Back |