Sounds In The Dark Woods

In the northeast corner of Georgia is Rabun County, one of the most rugged and isolated regions in the Appalachian mountains. Remember the movie "Deliverance" from the early 1970's? That will give you an idea - remote, untamed - a wilderness where if you have the nerve, you can go and not hear the sound of another human voice until you find your way back out - if you ever do. 

There are a few modern highways through the area, towns where condominiums and vacation homes and shopping malls have been built for the tourists and retirees who have started arriving with their demands for fast food and convenient 10-Minute oil changes. In spite of this recent invasion, there are still places in Rabun County where the wilderness prevails; places uncharted and unvisited for hundreds of years. There are still backwoods trails that lead toward remote ridges and caves, trails that simply disappear as you go deeper into the smoky mists of the  dark woods.

Old Indian legends tell that fire-breathing devils dwelt in these lonely hills and woods; that "little demons" stood guard over sacred caves and strange stone cairns hidden in the forest. They said the area was haunted by powerful spirits and even the bravest warriors refused to venture into certain regions. For hundreds of years, there have been outsiders who scoffed at these old legends; outsiders who went hiking into the woods where they simply disappeared with no trace of them or their bodies ever being found.

Longtime residents living in the back hollows and deep among the mountain ridges of Rabun County are familiar with strange sounds coming from the woods. Over the years it has become known as "music of the bald." These self-sufficient folks say the sound is less like music than like trees falling or large boulders crashing deep in the woods. A few have said it sounds like cannon firing. They swear the sounds are always proceeded by screeching or noises like babies crying. It is most often heard in the dark of night, but every now and then it is heard in broad daylight.

Although it is told the "music of the bald" has been heard for hundreds of years, the first written account was in an issue of the Monthly Weather Review that was published in 1897.  Two "reliable men" were camping one night on top of Rabun Bald, the highest peak in the county, when they were awakened by "eerie, haunting melodies" coming from the woods. After some time, the melodies were replaced by sounds which reminded them of cannons being discharged in the distance. These noises went on for several minutes and then began getting closer and closer to them. Finally, the sounds seemed to be coming from deep in the ground right beneath their feet! The men later said they weren't afraid, but they were very deeply perplexed. The sounds traveled on into the distance over the next few minutes and they were able to hear it for most of the night. The men reported this strange phenomena the next day to the sheriff who told them it was probably caused by bears rolling small boulders off the mountainsides while searching for worms and insects to eat. The boulders would sometimes roll downhill or off cliffs which would create the explosive sounds. The men were unconvinced as this explanation didn't account for the eerie melodies or the way the noises traveled through the woods and it certainly didn't explain how the sounds came from under the ground beneath their feet. The same sounds continue to be heard today, long after nearly all of the bears have been killed or driven away.

Scientist have been called in to investigate the noises. After many studies, they in general attribute them to settling within the ground or boulders shifting on their own accord and the haunting screams and eerie melodies dismissed as screech owls or other wild birds and animals. These explanations sound reasonable, unless you just happen to be one of the many hikers or hunters who have given frightened reports of hearing the sounds and then feeling the hot breath of "something evil and strange" on the back of their necks. All reported they had to run as fast as they could through the woods to escape a powerful presence that did not appreciate them being there and had come for them.

Answers, comforting and acceptable answers anyway, are no closer today than they were when the Indians roamed through these mountains and woods. Screams echoing across the lonely mountains and hollows, eerie, haunting melodies coming out of the woods, unexplained rumblings coming from beneath the ground - probably just more of the sometimes disturbing phenomena in nature's mysteries. Or could it be something else entirely?

The Dead Don't Rest In The Tower of London

In the year 1066, William The Conqueror had the Tower of London built to keep away the hostile Londoners who wanted him dead. It served its purpose well, protecting the upper ranks of the privileged from harm until 1381 when Simon of Sudbury, the Archbishop of Canterbury, was dragged out of the Tower and murdered on the castle grounds by peasants. This was the first of hundreds, perhaps even thousands of deaths within the walls of the infamous Tower of London. With so much pain, anguish, torture and with so many gruesome deaths, it's no wonder this is one of the most haunted places in the world.

Inside these walls, hundreds, perhaps thousands of
guilty and innocent people have died.

On May 2, 1536, Queen Anne Boleyn was arrested on orders of her husband King Henry VIII and accused of adultery and incest. She was probably innocent, but her failure to produce a boy child as successor for the king and her strong, outspoken opinions on policy matters made her expendable. On May 19th, she was beheaded on the grounds of the Tower. She is buried in the chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula within the castle, but her spirit is not at rest.  Shortly after Anne's death came the first reported sighting when an unconscious chambermaid was found on a path near the execution spot. Upon being revitalized, she began babbling almost incoherently about seeing the Queen floating on the path ahead of her. The chambermaid was later sent home for the day, but she didn't return to work the next day and was never heard from again. Since then, there have been innumerable sightings of Anne Boleyn, sometimes walking the grounds, sometimes floating a few inches above the paths in the tower complex, but always near the spot of her execution. Even more unnerving, she is often reported to be seen on her walks holding in her arms her own decapitated head. On two separate occasions, witnesses reported the eyes in her head moving back and forth as if she was looking for something and when those eyes saw them, they stared with a fierceness that could only come from a being supremely upset about a terrible injustice. Perhaps the queen actually was innocent of such scandalous charges as those lodged against her and has yet to forgive her husband and those complicit in her death. Whatever the reason, one of the witnesses was reportedly found dead the very next morning with a look of utter fright on their face. A second witness claimed "the eyes saw me!" Over and over she kept repeating "the eyes saw me!" She died three days later from what was thought to be an exploded heart brought on by fright. Since then, it has been said if you happen to see a female apparition in the tower walking with her detached head held in her arms, quickly turn your own head and run away. Whatever you do, do not stand around giving the head's eyes time to lock upon you for it is surely a sign of your own imminent death.

The Queen's House within the Tower of London
where Arbelia's restless spirit roams

In 1610, Arbelia Stuart, aged 35, married 22-year-old William Seymour, the nephew of Lady Jane Grey. Unfortunately for them, they did not have the permission of King James 1 and due to court politics, the marriage was considered a threat to King James. The king arrested William and sent him to the tower. Arbelia was put under house arrest in the town of Lambeth. Arbelia plotted to free William so they could escape together and flee to France. Secret messages were sent back and forth despite the great danger by friends and servants who were loyal to the couple. At the appointed time in the dark of night, Arbelia slipped away from her guard and made it to the rendezvous point, but William's escape had been delayed. When he did not arrive on schedule, Arbelia, fearing for her life, boarded the escape boat and sailed away. William made good his escape from the tower, but arriving after Arbelia had already sailed away, he managed to board another boat and made his way safely to freedom in France. Arbelia was not so lucky. Her boat was intercepted by English authorities and she was returned and sentenced to be imprisoned in the Tower of London. She wrote numerous letters to the king begging forgiveness and to be pardoned, but he would not relent. She also wrote letters to William in France, but having discovered Arbelia did not have the money or

power she had led him to believe when they were secretly courting and now having a good time with French ladies closer to his own age, he never answered any of her entreaties. As the weeks and months turned to years, Arbelia became despondent. She took to her bed in The Queen's House in the tower complex and refused to leave it. Some reports indicate she eventually starved herself to death; other reports say the king grew so frustrated with her he ordered her murder. Either way, Arbelia was pronounced dead on September 25, 1615. After William heard of her death, he wrote to the king requesting a pardon and vowing eternal allegiance to him. The pardon was granted, William returned to England and was married to a beautiful young lady within 6 months. Is it any wonder poor Arbelia's spirit is still seen wandering the halls of The Queen's House sobbing and wailing?

Another mysterious manifestation is simply known as "The Lady in White." Still unidentified, she is said to have stood in a window of the White Tower, the oldest and most foreboding structure, waving to children playing on the other side of the moat which used to surround the tower complex. She supposedly always wore an abundance of cheap perfume. For several hundred years, a ghostly apparition of a woman dressed in a flowing white dress has been reported sadly looking out of the same window and walking up and down the steps within the White Tower. The apparition is always accompanied by the strong sweet scent of a cheap perfume that is so cloying it gags everyone who encounters it.

When Edward the IV died in April, 1483, his 12-year-old son was supposed to succeed him as Edward the V. However, before the coronation could take place, both he and his younger brother Richard were declared illegitimate by the Parliament and their uncle, the Duke of Gloucester, took the throne as King Richard III. King Richard had both boys sent to the Tower of London where they were often seen running around the grounds playing and chasing each other through the halls of the buildings. Three months later, they mysteriously disappeared and were never seen again. It was later determined that Richard had ordered them killed and buried within the tower complex. In 1647, 191-years later, two small skeletons were discovered buried together beneath a staircase in the White Tower. It was assumed they were the bodies of the young princes. Visitors and guards report seeing their spirits, sometimes holding hands while whimpering and

cowering against the stone walls of various rooms within the White Tower, sometimes running, playing and laughing on the grounds throughout the complex. More often, only the happy sound of two young boys playing are heard or the unsettling sound of two children crying in fear. You will be compelled to run to the sound of the crying, wanting with all of your heart to help them, to comfort them, but when you get to where the sound is coming from, two little boys holding on to each other in a corner of the cold stone room will look at you as they and their cries slowly fade away.

In 1541, at the age of 72, Margaret Pole, the Countess of Salisbury, became the undeserving target for Henry VIII's vengeance. Margaret's son, Cardinal Pole, wrote a series of letters soundly denouncing the king's claim as head of the Church of England. The king couldn't get to Cardinal Pole as he was safely ensconced in France, so he did the next best thing, he had his mother arrested and sent to the Tower of London for execution. At the time of her scheduled execution by beheading, the feisty old lady was led onto the sturdy wooden platform and told by the Royal Executioner to kneel. She refused to do so, saying "So should traitors do and I am none." The executioner said very well and swung his huge ax at her neck, but Margaret ducked and began running around the platform. The horrified spectators stood watching as the ax-man continued to chase the aged lady around the platform, down the stairs and across the grounds, swinging his ax and cutting her to pieces even as she continued to run away screaming in terror and pain. Finally able to strike a blow which brought Margaret crashing to the ground, the executioner proceeded to hack her to death in a most bloody and gruesome manner. This horrible incident has been repeated by their spirits on numerous occasions which have been seen by a large number of witnesses, each time on May 27th, the anniversary of the death by hacking. It seems poor Margaret's screaming phantom is being chased for all eternity by her ghostly executioner.

These are just a few of the many ghosts, spirits and apparitions encountered within the walls of the Tower complex. Over 900 years old, drab gray in color with a sense of sadness and foreboding all around, the site of uncounted deaths in the most horrible of manners, the Tower of London has well earned its reputation as the most haunted place in England.

Spirits in the Capitol of Texas

Texas State Capitol Building, 2013

The State Capitol Building of Texas, constructed between 1882 and 1888, is located on 22 beautifully landscaped acres in downtown Austin. The current building replaced the original which was simply a log structure built in 1853. That building burned to the ground in 1881 and later that same year, the famous architect Elijah Myers won a nation-wide design contest for the new capitol building. He was paid the princely sum of $1,700 for his design. 

Construction began in February, 1882 and for the next 4 years, 1,000 men worked every day to complete the massive 360,000-square-foot building. The contractor was paid not with money, but with 3,000,000 acres of land. This land later became the largest ranch in the world, the famed XIT Ranch. When the capitol opened, it was the 7th largest building in the world and is still the largest state capitol in America. Covering 3 acres, standing 311 feet tall and made of "Sunset Red" granite quarried in Marble Falls, Texas, plus over 11,000 railroad cars of Texas limestone, the structure contains 392 rooms, 18 steel and concrete vaults, 924 windows, 404 doors and cost $3,744,600 of 1880's money to build. According to many, it also houses several spirits who roam the halls and grounds.

Shortly before the original log capitol building burned, a well-respected Indian scout was having a romantic rendezvous with his Indian maiden lover in one of the back rooms when her father, a bad-tempered Comanche chief found them. Bursting into the room, the outraged father killed the scout with a knife plunged into his heart. Grief-stricken, his distraught daughter pulled the knife from her dead lover's chest and before her father could stop her, plunged the knife into her own chest. Her father cried out and fell to the floor where he gently cradled her, but she died in his arms. Numerous witnesses have reported seeing the ghostly figures of the lovers as hand-in-hand they wander around the oak trees and stately grounds of the capitol. Wearing buckskin clothing and moccasins, they are seen walking along, but seem to be floating several inches above the ground and slowly disappear into thin air as the witness watches.

The "Goddess of Wisdom, Justice and Victory" which sits atop the 
dome of the Texas Capitol Building as workmen prepared to 
place her. (photo courtesy of Texas State Library & Archives)

In 1903, Robert Marshall Love, a Confederate veteran who had survived the Civil War, was serving as the state's Comptroller when he was shot and killed in his first-floor office by a disgruntled associate. Love was wearing a dark suit in the fashion of the era and top-hat when he was killed. His final words were, "I have no idea why he shot me. May the Lord bless him and forgive him. I cannot say more." The translucent figure of a man wearing an old-fashioned dark suit and top-hat has startled numerous government workers, visitors and state troopers as it paces up and down the hallway outside of the Comptroller's office.

On the 3rd floor in the office suite held by former House Speaker Pete Laney, the night cleaning crew has complained of a woman dressed in red who sometimes appears inside the office and then walks around a corner. When the crew goes to investigate, there is nobody there. Voices speaking in whispers, giggling and other mysterious sounds come from a secret stairwell behind that office. Research has shown the lady to be the lover of the man who occupied that office and the stairwell is where the couple often held "private meetings."

The Texas State Capitol Building during restoration, 1990.
(photo courtesy of Texas State Library & Archives)

On December 13, 1922, Ed Wheeler was painting the inside of the rotunda when he tragically fell 160 feet to his death. There are no reports of Ed wandering around the building, but interestingly, every now and then, a strong smell of fresh paint wafts through the air when there is no painting activity. It is speculated it could be Mr. Wheeler still trying to finish his painting job so he can finally go toward the light.

In the late 1970's, a newly hired Senate cook and waiter by the name of Tim Mateer was alone one evening while cleaning the reception room when he saw a lady pass by in the hall and go into a small room. Thinking she might be lost, he immediately followed her into the room she had entered, but there was no one there. Several days later, Mateer was walking through the Senate press conference room when he spotted a portrait of the lady he had seen, former Texas First Lady Fay Wright Stevenson, wife of Coke Stevenson when he was Lieutenant Governor and then Governor of Texas. Mrs. Stevenson had served as the hostess for many Senate functions during that time. She had died of cancer in 1942 and the small room Mateer had seen her enter had served as her office. 

Perhaps the most interesting story is about a certain window in the east wing of the building in a senate reception room. On February 6, 1983, a fire broke out in the apartment of William P. Hobby, the Lieutenant Governor. A 23-year-old man, a guest of Mr. Hobby, was asleep in the apartment when the fire broke out. He was trapped in a back room and several fireman were injured trying to rescue him while he screamed and banged on a window trying to get out. Unfortunately, the firemen were unsuccessful in their rescue attempts and the young man burned to death in excruciating pain. The unbroken window was left in place during the restoration work and still today, on foggy and high humidity mornings, even though the window has been repeatedly cleaned, the clear outline of hand prints appear in the condensation on the window.

Politics can be downright spooky, but Texas it seems, takes the term to a whole other level.

Buffalo Bill's Irma Hotel & The Forever Guests

Buffalo Bill Cody

William Frederick Cody was born on February 26, 1846. He was born in what was called "Iowa Territory" and moved to Kansas when his family sold their farm and relocated to Fort Leavenworth. His father soon died and at the tender age of 11, with his family destitute, Bill Cody went to work with a freight carrier as a "Boy Extra" riding up and down the length of a wagon train delivering messages to the drivers and workmen. Two years later, he became a scout for the army and at the age of 13, killed his first Indian.

At the age of 14, Bill became a Pony Express Rider, a position he held until his mother became seriously ill and he returned home to care for her. She regained her health over the next several months and Bill left to work for a freight company delivering supplies to Fort Laramie. When the Civil War broke out, he tried to enlist in the army, but was refused due to his age so he continued working for the freight company until he was accepted into the army in 1863. Bill served until his discharge when the conflict ended in 1865. 

Upon his discharge, he made his way to Rochester, New York where he met and fell in love with Louisa Frederici. They married and eventually had 4 children, one of whom was a daughter they named Irma. After returning west to serve as a civilian scout for the army, Bill was involved in numerous battles with the Indians and he gained a reputation as a fearless combatant, even being awarded the Medal of Honor. The award would later be rescinded when the standards for receipt of the medal were changed to exclude civilians. When Bill wasn't fighting with the Indians, his job required him to hunt and kill bison to feed the army troops and workers for the Kansas Pacific Railroad who were building a rail line west. 

Buffalo Bill Cody in 1903

An expert shot and hunter, he killed 4,832 buffalo in 18 months, earning the nickname of "Buffalo Bill." A renown sharpshooter of the time, William Comstock, was traveling around the country performing shooting tricks under the name "Buffalo Bill" Comstock. The two Buffalo Bills agreed to a buffalo shooting contest to determine who would get to exclusively use the name. Over an 8-hour period, Cody shot and killed 68 bison to Comstock's 48. The legend of Buffalo Bill Cody had begun.

From 1872 to 1882, Buffalo Bill performed in his friend Ned Buntline's Wild West Show and in 1883, he created his own circus-like show he called Buffalo Bill's Wild West. With many of his friends like Wild Bill Hickock, Calamity Jane and Annie Oakley as headliners, the show was a huge success and traveled across the U.S., Great Britain and Europe. In 1901, a train accident resulted in the death of 110 of the show's horses and injuries to a number of the human performers. Annie Oakley was so badly injured she was told by doctors she would never walk again. Through sheer will and determination, she recovered and even eventually returned to performing again, but the show had to shut down for a while and never recovered financially. It finally went bankrupt in 1908. 

Irma Cody

 In 1895 during the off-season for his show, Buffalo Bill, impressed with what he saw as the growth and economic potential in northwest Wyoming, came to the area and was instrumental in the founding of the town of Cody. Each year afterwards, he returned to assist in the continued development of the town and in 1902, he opened a hotel he named "The Irma" after his beloved daughter. He had one of the suites, #35, built and furnished to be his private, personal room and office for when he was in town. He called his place - "just the sweetest hotel that ever was" and often said if he could choose where he would spend eternity, it would be at The Irma.

Buffalo Bill died on January 10, 1917. Historical records indicate that not long after Bill's death, guests and workers began reporting odd things happening in the hotel. The reports have not stopped. Today, after several renovations and additions over the years, The Irma is still in business with 39 rooms and guests may stay in 15 of the original rooms, including #35, Bill's private suite. Interestingly, the new rooms are apparently left un-visited by any entities from beyond, but not so in the original rooms or in the restaurant which used to be the hotel's bar.

Guests in Suite 35 have reported hearing people talking and walking around in the room above them. The problem is, there is nothing but a slanted roof above Suite 35. Hotel staff have repeatedly reported hearing voices and people laughing in the room as they pass by on their nightly rounds, but no guests are registered for the room and upon unlocking the door and looking in, the noise abruptly stops. After investigating, they invariably find there is nobody inside. In several of the rooms, most notably #35, #29, and #16, the cleaning staff has reported making the beds with clean sheets, turning their attention elsewhere and within seconds looking at the bed again to see the bedclothes turned down or rumpled. Pictures hung securely on nails are often found to be on the floor - on the other side of the room far from where they would have fallen if they had just somehow slipped off. The hotel has a picture a man took of his wife sitting on the bed in Room #16.  They were alone in the room, but when the film was developed, it clearly showed another woman in the room with them - floating in the air above the wife. 

The Irma Hotel in 1908

Guests staying in a room alone have reported being awakened in the middle of the night by being touched lightly on the face or arm by a cold hand. One lady staying by herself in Room #35 marched down to the front desk to complain because the covers on the bed were pulled down firmly enough to land on the floor. Night personnel are accustomed to guests in the original rooms coming down at night requesting to be moved to a different room for various reasons that are hard to explain - rocking chairs which start rocking on their own, the sound of swishing petticoats going from one side of the room to the other, TV's and lights turning on and off by themselves, water faucets turning on and off with no help from a living human hand, uncomfortable feelings of being watched and of not being alone and dark shapes "caught out of the corner of my eye." 

In the restaurant, staff have for years reported seeing a man walk in and take a seat in one of the booths, but when the waitress goes over to take his order, the man has disappeared. Numerous times, night staff have reported seeing a man dressed in old-west cavalry clothes moving in the halls of the original building. He seems to be floating however as only the top half of his body can be seen. No records of who he may be have ever been uncovered.

Perhaps old Buffalo Bill did manage to choose where he would spend eternity. Maybe he just occasionally returns to check on his investment. In its heyday, The Irma saw many of the famous and infamous as guests. Perhaps some of their spirits checked in, but never checked out of "just the sweetest hotel there ever was."

Author's note:

Front entrance of The Irma Hotel

About a year ago, this blog's author, with his wife and daughter, spent the night in room #29, one of the original rooms which is supposedly haunted. The room itself was furnished in period furniture with a number of interesting old photographs on the wall. The mattresses were new and very comfortable in their antique wooden bed-frames. The carpet was rather old and the floor took an unsettling rather sharp dip down along the entire outside wall.  Walking across the large room resulted in creaks, squeaks and pops from the wooden floor under the carpet.  After checking out everything and unpacking our overnight items, we left to explore the town and get some supper. 

The room the author & his
 family stayed in

Returning a few hours later, we found our room to be exactly as we had left it. Our teenage daughter settled in her bed on one side of the room with her iPhone and computer while we lay down on our bed with our books. After a long day of driving and walking around the town, it didn't take long for all of us to agree it was time to turn out the lights and get to sleep.

We had just gotten comfortable when from the enclosed bathroom just about 4 feet from us there came a loud noise. I got up to investigate and upon turning on the light in the bathroom, found my shaving kit to be sitting on the floor. There's nothing fancy or different about my kit than any other kit out there - a fake leather zippered bag just big enough to hold a toothbrush, a razor, a few toiletries and several other overnight necessities. When I had finished brushing my teeth that night, I had set it firmly on the back of the sink away from the edge where it might have a chance of falling off or getting knocked off, but fall off it did - evidently. I picked it up, took it back into the room with me, sat it on the dresser next to the bed and turned out the lights again.

A few minutes later, we heard another sound from the bathroom; like something had once again fallen. Feeling a bit more perplexed and yes, a bit more unsettled and wary, I carefully and slowly reached inside the bathroom and turned on the light. There in the middle of the floor was a packaged bar of Irma Hotel soap! There were built-in shelves to the side of the tub which held the towels and on one of the shelves was a little wicker basket holding a couple of bars of soap, and bottles of shampoo and conditioner. The basket, still sitting upright with all of its other contents in place, was deep enough that the soap was below the top edge and there was absolutely no way that bar of soap could have been jostled or tipped over and fallen to the floor. At least no way for it to happen according to the laws of physics as I know them! Plus, the soap was laying in the middle of the floor close to the door several feet from where it would have landed if it had just fallen out.

Note the shelves & basket with
soap & toiletries

I've never actually seen a ghost or a spirit, but at that moment in that room, I admit I was a bit unnerved. I picked up the soap half expecting it to feel really cold or hot or somehow different, but there was nothing remarkable about it. Before turning to leave the room with the soap in my hand, I did something I felt kind of stupid for doing - I said out loud, "Stop it! We just want to get a good night's sleep and we'll be gone in the morning so behave and leave us alone for the rest of the night!" My wife asked from the bed, "Who are you talking to?" "The ghost or spirit or whatever is throwing things on the floor," I replied. "Right, that will work" she said with a nervous chuckle.

It evidently did work though. We both lay there in the dark, holding hands, legs touching for mutual assurance everything was OK, but we never heard anything else or felt a cold hand on our faces. After what seemed like an hour or more, I could tell from her breathing my wife had fallen asleep. I lay there with wide-open eyes, listening for noises, waiting for something else to fall on the floor, all senses on high alert for the feeling of an unseen presence, some danger I would have to protect my family from. I'm not sure how long I lay awake, but sometime in the night I drifted off. The next thing I knew light was coming in the window and the darkness had passed. Leaving the door open, we quickly brushed our teeth and took care of all the other morning bathroom functions, but by mutual agreement, with the Psycho shower scene for some reason playing over and over in our heads, the wife and I decided we really hadn't gotten dirty yesterday and it would be OK to skip our morning showers. We'll take 'em tonight when we stop at some other place.

The bar of soap - touched by a spirit?

We gathered up our things and checked out. The front desk guy asked if we had had a good night. I answered, "Yes, everything was fine." He looked at me kind of funny so I said, "Why do you ask?"  "Oh," he replied, "sometimes our guests who stay in the same room you guys did report some strange stuff." "Nope," I lied, "nothing unusual at all. Slept just fine." "Very good," he smiled. And with that, we put the Irma Hotel in our rear view mirror.

I kept that bar of soap and brought it home with us. It sits on my desk in my home office. Sometimes I pick it up and wonder. It has never thrown itself down to the floor again and it still feels like just another bar of hotel soap. But I know it's not.

The Fiddler

Henry Albright moved to rural Arkansas when he was just a baby. As the only child of a middle-age couple who farmed and raised a few cows, chickens and pigs, he was terribly lonely as there were no neighbors or relatives with small children nearby. He played by himself, mostly with sticks and stones which he used to build make-believe castles. What Henry most liked to do though was read. 

His father had been a city man with a decent job at one time, that is until he lost his job and most everything else in the stock market crash of 1929. Unable to find work anywhere, he had moved his wife and baby son to the small frame house on a few acres of farm land which had been left to him by his grandparents upon their death. They could at least eek out a living and raise their own food there.  He had brought with them a number of books from the library he had owned when times were better and it was these books which became Henry's friends. He taught himself to read by sounding out the letters, asking his mother for help when he was stumped. By the time he started school, he was far ahead of his classmates. As he learned to better comprehend what he was reading, he went back and re-read all his father's books again.

Henry proved to be a very bright, avid student and almost always made the highest grades in his class. Unfortunately, he remained mostly alone as the other kids never could figure out what to make of him. He rarely took part in the games the other kids liked to play at recess and mostly spent his time in school sitting alone away from the others, reading books his teacher would bring him. When school was not in session and he was not needed to tend the fields at home, Henry roamed the hills and forests and noted all the things that change with the changing of the seasons.

One Monday in the fall of Henry's senior year, due to a teacher's convention, school would not be in session. As the crops had been gathered, he was not needed at home so Friday afternoon Henry packed his pup tent, a lantern, beef jerky, and a small cooking pot and set out for a few days of camping in the woods. As he left home, the air was clear and crisp, the sun bright and warm.

It was late afternoon and a number of miles from his home when Henry came to a small clearing in the woods and decided to camp for the night. He was only a mile or so away from Jeb Gibson's shack where he could buy some eggs and milk for his breakfast in the morning. Everybody knew and loved "Old Jeb," a life-long bachelor who had lived in his little house "since God invented dirt." Darkness had set in by the time Henry had finished his meal of the ham sandwich he had packed from home. With only a small sliver of moon in the night sky, he lit his lantern and began to read a book on philosophy his teacher had recently loaned him.

As his eyes began to tire, Henry turned out his lantern and lay down to sleep. Just as he got comfortable though, from out of the woods behind him came the sounds of a violin, sad, haunting clear notes that seemed to tremble in the air. At first he thought he must be imagining it as there was no house for miles around except for Old Jeb and he didn't play the violin. Henry climbed out of his tent and looked around. There was no light anywhere, but the music seemed to get louder, more insistent, drawing him to seek out the source. Who in the world would be out here in the cold, dark woods wondering around playing the violin?

For some reason Henry could not explain, he was compelled to find the source of such haunting music. He had walked a short way into the woods when he found a deer path. He followed it on silent feet, around boulders, deeper and deeper into the forest. At times, the music seemed to be right in front of him, but then in the next instant, it seemed to be further down the trail. Finally, in the distance, Henry saw a dim, stationary light. It became larger as he slowly crept up on it, until he came to a slight rise in the trail. He could see clearly now that it was not a circle of light as he had thought, but a rectangle which seemed to be glowing through an open door. He strained to see the building itself, but he could not make out walls, windows or even a roof. Yet from somewhere near the light came the sounds of the violin. It seemed to surround him, coming coming down from the night sky, from the trees, from the very ground he now laid on.

All of a sudden, the music stopped. Henry could see two women step into the doorway, one older, stooped with gray hair, the other young and beautiful. They were oddly dressed even for these Ozark backwoods, in long, full calico skirts and tight bodices with lace inserts. The young one reached over and placed a protective arm around the older one's shoulders. Somewhere off to the side, Henry heard an unseen horse whiny loudly. Both women looked toward the woods with a look of confusion on their faces. It seemed they were looking straight at Henry.

As he was contemplating whether they could actually see him or not, a shot rang out! Then another and another! The night was filled with the wild shrieks of the horse and a single scream from one of the women. Suddenly, there came another loud report and a blinding flash of fire. As Henry looked on with wide open eyes, he heard another shot and the young woman fell to the ground. The old woman seemed to bend down to help the young one, but another shot rang out and the old woman was also felled. Both lay in stillness that only death can produce. And then, appearing as if from nowhere, a young man ran into the doorway, leaping over the bodies of the women only to come back out a few seconds later holding a rifle. He shot again and again into the woods and as Henry lay there in fear, he heard the sounds of snapping twigs and the rushing footsteps of someone trying to run away. After a few seconds, Henry raised his head just in time to see the male defender fall to the ground next to the bodies of the women.

Henry hurried back to his camp, his mind playing over and over what he had seen. He intended to find someone in the morning to report the awful crime. Tired from the hike and with the adrenaline slowly reduced, he finally drifted off into an uneasy sleep. As the sun rose over the horizon, Henry was startled when he opened his eyes to find Old Jeb standing over him. Old Jeb sat down a quart of milk and 6 eggs next to him, said, "I figured you could use these" and walked away back toward his cabin. 

After breakfast, Henry began to doubt himself, to doubt what he had seen. Perhaps it was all just a dream and wouldn't he look the fool to report such a story to the authorities if it wasn't true. He decided to go back to ensure it wasn't just a trick of a tired mind. Although it wasn't easy, he managed to find the almost hidden deer trail again and then followed his tracks. By early afternoon he had found the cabin from the night before. At least he found what remained of the cabin. It had been a low, long structure with one room and a lean-to kitchen. The ridge pole was broken and the roof had caved in long ago. The remains of the door, its old buckskin hinges shredded with age, leaned open against the wall. Henry carefully stepped inside and found the floorboards rotten with weeds growing through the cracks. The fireplace mantle was covered with moss. Desolation and decay were everywhere. It was obvious nobody had lived there for many years.

Henry left and made his way back to his camp. He arrived just before the sun went behind the trees. In confusion, Henry ate several pieces of jerk and drank a cup of water from his canteen. After dark, he listened for the music, the sweet, haunting notes of the violin, but none came before exhaustion overtook him with sleep. The next morning, Henry awoke to find Old Jeb sitting on a log on the other side of the fire pit. He had once again brought milk and eggs for Henry's breakfast and this time he had brought enough for himself as well. After eating, Old Jeb brought out two corn cob pipes and a small sack of tobacco. He handed one of the pipes to Henry and after both men had gotten a good fire glow going, he sat back down on the log, looked Henry straight in the eye and said, "You heer'ed the music did'n ya?" 

Henry didn't know what to say so he remained silent. "You been to tha cabin in tha woods too, ain't ya?" Henry nodded in reply. "Course you don't know tha story 'cause you ain't really hill folk. My kin've been here many a year. I'm the last of the old un's. I reckon since you see'd it, maybe you won't think I'm just a crazy ol coot so I'll tell ya the story." 

"A hundred years ago a boy child was born in that cabin. His name was Daniel, but he was a strange one and never seemed to fit in anywheres. He hated farm chores and everythin' bout these hills. His kin worried bout him, but didn't rightly know what to do. Daniel always wandered 'round like he was dreamin or somethin, all fidgety-like ya know? Like he was always lookin' for something. And he hardly ever talked to nobody. He was a strange one, that's fer sure. Then one day he spied his dad's fiddle hanging over the fireplace mantel. He stood on a chair, got it down, and started playing that thing like he was born to it all natural like. He played such haunting melodies that the animals in the forest went quiet. The whippoorwill stopped callin', the wood dove stopped cooin', and the crickets stopped chirpin'. It was real strange how that boy could play like that and nobody could understan' it. 

Then one day a outsider fella came to the woods. Said he'd heer'd 'bout Daniel's ability an he told him about colleges and places to study music and such. Places an' things folks in this holla didn't know nuthin 'bout. Daniel got all kinds of excited 'bout it and his pappy said he could go. But then the sickness came through and his pappy caught it and died. Daniel had to stay to tend to the farm and help his mama. Daniel did what he had to do, but his fiddlin' took a turn. It sounded all sad an mournful, like he was poring out all his sadness and disappointment into his music. It 'bout drove his mama crazy and she would go hide out in the woods when she couldn't take it no longer.

A while later, one mornin' Daniel went to the barn and found a newborn colt one of the horses had given birth to the night befor'. For some reason, Daniel took a shine to that colt. They formed a real bond those two did, like they was growing up together. That colt grew into a beautiful filly and Daniel loved it more than jus' about anything. And Daniel's music turned all happy again and it made his mama happy and the animals got quiet to listen to it again.

Daniel didn't give up his dream of freedom from the farm and being able to make a livin' playing his fiddle, but as time passed, he found another love, a girl named Hattie from the next holla over. It was like he knew from the start he was s'posed to marry her and I reckon she did too. He knew if they married he'd never leave this hill country, but he din't pay it no never mind. He figured after they married, he'd play love songs through the cold winter nights and when the babies come, he'd put them to sleep with lullaby songs. Folks said it was just like God had planned it all along.

"Cept another man already loved Hattie. A mean bear of a man who promised a day of reckonin' if'n Hattie turned him down. But Hattie was a real hill girl, Henry, and they have no fear of nuthin. She told him outright she wasn' goin to marry him and she thought no more of it, didn' even tell Daniel.

The weddin' day came in October and after they was hitched, they went to Daniel's mama's place to live until they got a place of their own. They spent the evenin' laughin' and singin'. While Daniel played the tunes, Hattie sang the words in her beautiful voice. Come dark and Daniel and his bride were gettin' anxious to head to bed and enjoy each other's private company when all of a sudden a terrific noise came and like to shook that cabin all ta pieces! And then Daniel heer'd a horrible sound. A loud cry from his beloved filly was what it was. He rushed outside and found her dying, lying on the ground in a pool of her own blood. She'd been so scared of all the noise that she tried to jump the fence and a wood stake had driven' right through her. 

Noises came from the woods and Daniel figured out quick what was happening. It was a mob of men like them gangs of Baldknobbers or bushwackers that used to ride through the countryside killin' and burnin'. Nobody knew who they were or where they'd strike next. Praise ta God there ain't no more of that nowadays!"

Henry knew the rest of the story as he had seen it all himself with his own eyes, but he sat there still and quiet as Old Jeb knocked the spent tobacco from his pipe, carefully loaded it up again and got it fired before continuing.

"Daniel was real skeered, a course, for his loved ones and he ran back toward the cabin. Jus' as he rounded the corner though, he heer'd a shot and a flash of fire. Then he saw Hattie drop to the ground. Before he reached the doorway, there was another shot and his mama dropped beside Hattie. Daniel kept running until he reached the door of the cabin. He jumped inside, grabbed a rifle and came out shootin'. They say he musta opened fire in all directions, just firin' again and again in all directions. 

The next day, my pappy who had heer'd all the shootin' and commotion, and two other men crept in to tha woods to investigate. They got to tha cabin and found Daniel laying dead by the door next to his women folk with his rifle by his side. Evidently, the loss of everythin' he loved was more than he could stomach and he used his last bullet on himself. Five more dead men were found in the woods 'round the cabin with Daniel's bullets in 'em. One of 'em was the fella that'd made the threats, the one Hattie had turned down.

That cabin's full of haints now. It don't happen ever night, but when there ain't much moon and the wind is jes right, I can heer'd that fiddle music all the way down ta my cabin and then I can heer the shootin' an I know them haints is a livin' it all over agin. I reckon they's doomed to it till they ain't no more of these hills."

Without another word, Old Jeb knocked the ashes from his pipe, gathered up his milk bottle and began slowly walking back to his cabin. Henry packed up his belongings and headed back home. He wanted to be far away from these woods before the sun went down and sad, sad music from a haunting violin could be heard again.

Haunted Mammoth Hotel

If at all possible, a trip to Yellowstone National Park should be in your plans. Don't plan to get through it in just a few hours or even a day or two. Stay a week or more because that's the minimum required just to see all the jaw-dropping wonders there is to see. There's good reason this park was nicknamed "Wonderland" by early visitors. Some of those visitors were so taken by Wonderland, they never left.

One of the few lodging accommodations inside the park is the storied Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel. Originally built in 1883, it was remodeled and enlarged a number of times to meet demand. In 1936, the original hotel structure was demolished and rebuilt except for the north wing which had been built in 1911. To say that unexplained things frequently happen in the hotel is a bit of an understatement.

Doors to rooms will often refuse to open and even the hotel staff cannot budge the "stuck" doors. A few minutes later, the door will open with no problem. This phenomena happens so often the cleaning staff has learned to simply go to the next room and upon finishing that room, return to the skipped room whose door now easily opens. 

One young housekeeper was in the process of cleaning a room when she went into the hall to retrieve clean towels. As soon as she was out of the room, the door slammed shut! When the door wouldn't re-open, she went into the adjoining room which had a connecting door and used her master key to get into the closed room. She found a heavy wooden dresser in the room had been moved and was blocking the door. There had been no one else in the room with the maid and there was no way anyone could have gotten in and moved the dresser in the few seconds she had been locked out. She ran to her supervisor who was on the same floor at the end of the hall and the two of them came back to the room within 2 minutes. Upon arrival, they found the door was standing open and the dresser back where it was supposed to be 6 feet away. The housekeeper swore she wasn't lying and abruptly handed her name tag to the supervisor and quit. At first, the supervisor was suspicious, but then she noticed deep scratches on the floor showing the path traveled by the heavy dresser from across the room to the door and back.

Furniture is often moved around in the storage room also. Extra beds, tables, chairs and supplies are kept in a storage room to replace any items that may get broken in the hotel. Maintenance personnel have frequently reported chairs that were once stacked against one wall will be stacked against the other wall from one entry time to the next. Once, the head maintenance supervisor had retrieved a box of light bulbs for his men to replace several which had burned out. He locked the door when he left. He received a call on his walkie-talkie for some other item almost immediately so he turned back, opened the locked door and found something was on the other side. He pushed it open to find an unopened case of toilet paper had been pushed against the door. The cases of toilet paper are kept against the far wall in the back and there is only the one door through which to enter.

The wide, usually quiet hallway on the 4th floor of the hotel where,
sometimes, a little girl's laughter and running feet can be heard.

Long-time employee's of the hotel say these unexplained matter are rather unsettling, but they have never felt threatened. The feeling is more like their resident spirit is simply mischievous and likes to play jokes. Workers and guests have reported hearing what sounds like a little girl's laughter when there are no children around. They also have heard little footsteps running in deserted hallways. Several psychics have said they felt the ghost is a very young girl whose name is Emily. There is a grave of a young girl in the Fort Yellowstone Cemetery a few yards from the hotel. Emily Sievert was the youngest daughter of Chaplain H. A. Sievert of the 9th U.S. Calvary. She died in 1903 just shy of her 2nd birthday. Perhaps this is the hotel's ghost. Perhaps little Emily is forever happy playing jokes in the hotel, teasing staff and guests alike.