Ghost Story

London Free Press ^ | 30 Apr 04 | Ian Gillespie

[Living Stone]

I was a deckhand on a tow boat, working on the Black Warrior River. We would pick up coal tows at Port Birmingham, and points south, and take them to Mobile, and then head back north with iron ore or coke for the steel mills.

There is a fleeting area on the river at mileboard 354, near Brookwood, where several companies kept barges tied up because the river is about as wide as it gets there, with very little current, normally.

We tied up there one night in the fog while I was off watch. I came on watch at midnight. Well the first thing I had to do was check on a pump we had running on a leaking barge out on the head of the tow, about 370 feet from the boat. So grabbed a cup of coffe and headed out there. Checked the pump, everything was okay. I sat down on a timberhead to lace up my boots facing back toward the boat. The boat had really bright deck lights on it, and they were on. I can see someone walking around on the barges right in front of the boat, but it is too far away for me to tell who it is. There were, after all four other crew members on the boat, so I did not think much of it at the time. This person was wearing blue jeans and a white tee-shirt.

I walked back to the boat, and went into the galley, where the rest of the crew was hanging out. Every single one of them was wearing either a dark blue or a black shirt. I asked who was out walking around on the barges. They all looked at me like I was crazy, and swore up and down no one was out there. I knew all these men very well, and while I would'nt put it past them to play some kind of joke, this was not one of those times.

About six months before this happened, a Warrior and Gulf Navigation boat ( I think it was the MV Muavilla, but I am not sure, which later went on to destroy a bridge and cause a passenger train to go into the river, but that is another story) was tying up a tow right there where we were tied up. They came in and caught a bowline, which was a two inch nylon line tied around a massive oak tree, and the pilot began to "flatten out" the tow, (moving the stern close to the bank using the bowline as a pivot) so that the deck hands could catch the rest of the banklines.
There was not enough slack in the bowline, and it pulled one of those massive oak trees over onto the barges.
There was still a deckhand on the head of the tow collecting equipment, and the tree landed squarely on him, crushing him to death.

He was wearing blue jeans and a white tee-shirt at the time.

As an aside, I have heard that the Mauvilla could not keep a crew aboard for any length of time after the railway disaster. I have heard the boat is haunted.

[tiamat]

That's a GOOD story! You ought to send it to one of the cable shows that does spooky stories. ( I love those shows! )

Thank you for telling us!

I remember the Mauvilla accident with the train...

[Living Stone]

That whole Mauvilla thing was affirmative action in action, and thats all I got to say about that.(Gump voice off)

[Blue Eyes]

We also have doors that lock by themselves, and the kids swear they hear footsteps on the basement steps when the house is quiet. It's a new house; only 3 years old. It was built in a forest in a rural area, so who knows what happened on the land before the house was built.

I have heard stories of ghosts that follow items, such as furniture, rather than locations. We have several antique pieces of furniture, so perhaps we brought the ghost with us.

We also have cats that take off running at full speed for no apparent reason, but I think that has to be chalked up to cat-ness, rather than ghosts.

[Bon mots]

Have you ever seen the scary photo of the ghost in Lancashire?

[in the Arena]

When my wife arose that night at 3 AM, she screamed. The garbage can had been moved to block entry through the bathroom door.

Bet you never forgot to take out the garbage again...did you ?

[tiamat]

I've heard stories of ghosts being attached to items.

I agree with the cat-ness.

[tiamat]

;-)

[tiamat]

I've seen that thing before.

SCARY! LOL!

[Barnacle]

Bet you never forgot to take out the garbage again...did you ?

It's a funny thing, but I didn't take it out right then and there. I was trying to convince myself that I was not at the mercy of the whims of a ghost.

It knew what was best though. That cabin was plagued by mice and they no doubt were getting into the garbage as we slept.

You're right that I never went to bed from that time on before emptying the can. As to whether or not it was a ghost, I was utterly convinced that it was. I thought about asking the owners of the cabin if there had been any activity like that, but I figured they'd never admit it anyway. That would be bad for business.

It was quite an old log cabin, so there would have been plenty of opportunity for something of a traumatic nature to have occurred there over the years. Or, maybe the ghost just liked the place. It was nice after all, right on the shore of Lake Huron.

[mtbopfuyn]

Later, the man explained why he'd wanted to leave the courthouse: He'd been working alone in the basement when he felt something tug his overalls.

While I have my own ghosts stories, this reminded me of a very scary tug on my pant leg once. I had just moved into my first apartment so had gone out to the old family house to get some stuff I'd stored and to "borrow" finds to furnish my new place. No one lived there much except for the occasional weekend so there were 3 locks on the back door. I had loaded up and was trying to get all the padlocks locked and fumbling with the keys all without dropping wire clothes hangers so was getting frustrated because I wanted to get on the road ahead of the rainstorm. The wind blowing like mad wasn't helping as it was flapping the old screen door against me when I felt my pant leg get caught in the screen. Try as I might, kicking the door away didn't release my leg. There I was praying not to drop locks, keys, hangers, the wind blowing hair in my face and fighting the screen that keep tightening on my pant leg. Finally, the last padlock clicked and I reached down to unhook my leg .... I was 30 feet across the yard. I swear, I don't remember running but *pow* I was at the other side of the yard. It wasn't the screen door tugging on my pant leg but a snake, a racer, that had wound itself around almost both legs in a figure eight. The stoop was shy of 6 foot across and he was stretched across it and headed down so he was a big fellow. With all the jingling of keys and hangers, banging doors, and me kicking, I don't know why he didn't bite. I'll tell y'all about his cousin and the toilet one day, lol.

[mtbopfuyn]

Please add me to your ghost ping list, too. Thanks!

[mtbopfuyn]

A few years ago, I woke up at about 3 AM, hearing some loud music playing,

I just hate being woken up in the middle of the night and hear something strange. One night I heard someone playing scales on the piano. I was laying in bed frozen, bug eyed, and terrified some crazy had broken in. I could hear the tv on in the other room so knew Mr. M had fallen asleep watching but I was so scared I couldn't call out to him. After what seemed like forever, probably only a couple minutes, I went from terrified to mad because Mr. M obviously was snoozing through it all. I grabbed the gun and stomped into the living room and hollered at the pianist who answered with a meow! ;)

[tiamat]

A snake made me levitate once.

It was in the tall grass near the outdoor faucet and slithered over my sandalled foot.

I had never done a long-jump before!

[tiamat]

That's a good story, too!

[in the Arena]

You're right that I never went to bed from that time on before emptying the can.

I wonder if your wife may have had ulterior motives :O)

I think in the ghost stories are good for business, and I'm willing to bet that more than story has been started by the local COC to boost tourism...

Just fooling with you on the garbage can...

There is a story in my family about a ghost in our basement...I was about 3 at the time so I don't remember much but the short version is...We lived in a house built sometime in the 1940's with an unfinished basement, this was about 66' or 67. My sisters had one of those 'sprung' horses you mount and ride and if you got bouncing enough, it would leave the floor and travel around the room, I'm sure that was not a design feature. This made a heck of a racket on the concrete...

While doing this one day...all the sudden from behind the old oil fired furnace came this haunting voice..."Don't ride the hoooorse...". I guess there were some screams and some crying involved...To this day, my mom still will not admit that she was hiding back there...

[mtbopfuyn]

There is a theory that very strong emotions can somehow imprint themselves within a room or even in an area outside. The idea is that a witness is not really seeing a ghost but some kind of videotape recording of the past.

While I agree that emotions or whatever can be left in a house, I dunno about not really seeing ghosts. I've had and heard about enough experiences where the ghost comes to a person in a place where the ghost didn't live or have any attachment to. It's all spine tingling though.

[Judith Anne]

I'm bumping this thread to myself.

I don't know if I "believe" in ghosts...

[mtbopfuyn]

Yes ghosts, or rather poltergeists, do enjoy pranks. I had one for a while that would hide things. It was usually just little harmless pranks like I'd be brushing my hair, lay the brush down, and a few moments later it'd be gone. No, I'm not crazy and it wasn't absentmindedness. It only happened in one place I lived.

That same place, I'd find two $1 bills folded into fourths in my jean pockets and jacket pocket. This was at college but friends weren't playing tricks and I did my own laundry and didn't go home for family to slip my some money. I chalked it up to payment for having to put up with the poltergeist's pranks.

[tiamat]

LOL!

I had one that used to leave money too!

Always when I was short on cash and the rent was do or the cupboard bare!