Some time later, another storm came up right after supper. There was no guest that night, but the family ate early and went to bed as they had done before. The farmer's wife was just dozing off when she heard noises in the living room. She heard footsteps, a thud, and the sound of something being dragged to the cellar. She gave her husband a shake.
“Wake up!” she said. “Somebody is in the house.”
“It's just the storm,” he told her.
“No!” she insisted. “I heard something inside!”
Just to satisfy his wife, he got out of bed and went into the living room.
“Nothing's in here!” he called.
“Check the cellar,” she told him.
She heard her husband open the cellar door, and then she heard him scream! She sat up in bed as she heard what sounded like an inert body thumping from step to step to the bottom of the stairs. Her children were out of bed now and joined her as she hurried down to where the farmer's body lay. Nobody knows what he saw, but the look of fright on his face sent the wife and children running up the stairs to send for the sheriff.
The sheriff concluded that the farmer had tripped accidentally on the stairs and fallen to his death. He saw no reason to search the cellar.
The family tried to stay on in the house, but on stormy nights strange sounds kept them awake. They searched, but they could never find the source. Finally, they had to move away. Others bought the house and heard the same noises. One farmer plowing the field near the barn turned up the remains of a man and a trunk filled with money. The sheriff had no proof, but it was evident what had happened. Nobody wanted to live there after that, so the house was eventually torn down.
Since the peddler was never given a proper burial, some wonder if his ghost is still out there somewhere on stormy nights, hoping someone will help him find eternal rest.
Stories from Headlines
Our families were very interested in the news they heard. We did not get daily or weekly newspapers, but our relatives in cities would sometimes send us newspapers or articles. Discussion of a particularly dramatic story would go on and on. There are so many stories on TV, computers, or in newspapers and magazines today that any one story does not remain as popular. New stories come along so fast that a story that captures the imagination one day is replaced by another the next day.
Some of the best stories passed on to us were those that the tellers learned from headlines and news articles. We didn't often see these sources ourselves; some of these stories happened before we were born. In this section we retell stories that intrigued friends or family enough that they read them and passed them on in their own words. Some of the original news articles may still be found in newspaper archives or on the Internet. To find them, just type the subject of the story into your computer and search the Internet.
The Ghost of Floyd Collins
A Kentucky death that made national headlines back in the 1920s was the death of Floyd Collins. Sand Cave in the Mammoth Cave area of central Kentucky is said to be haunted by Collins, an explorer who was trapped and died in the cave in 1925. This was exciting news to our families because it happened not too far away from us. We had relatives in the area. Thus, the story of Floyd Collins was close to our community and our hearts.
The Collins family owned Crystal Cave near Mammoth Cave. Crystal Cave was beautiful, but it attracted few tourists because of its isolated location. The owners of the various caves in the vicinity competed for tourists in those days, and Collins wanted to find another entrance to the underground cave system that might result in more tourists visiting his family's cave.
For three weeks, Floyd Collins worked on his plan to find an entrance or connection. During that time, he worked alone, exploring and expanding a hole that the news media would later call “Sand Cave.”
Collins worked a few hours in Sand Cave on January 30, 1925, and managed to squeeze through some narrow passageways that he claimed led to a large chamber. His lamp was dying, so he decided to leave before exploring this chamber.
As he was leaving, Collins accidentally knocked over his lamp, extinguishing his light. That made his attempted departure even more difficult. Unable to see where he was going, he dislodged a rock from the ceiling, pinning his left leg and making it impossible for him to get out. Later, it was determined that the rock weighed only 26½ pounds, but the way it was lodged prevented him and his rescuers from reaching it. It was also discovered later that he was trapped just 150 feet from the entrance to the cave and 55 feet below the surface.
When Collins didn't come home, friends searched and found him the next day. They took him hot food and ran an electric lightbulb down into the passage to give him some light and warmth. Rescue efforts were started, but the unstable passage collapsed in two places on February 4. This eliminated his food and water supply and all contact except by voice. The rescuers believed the cave to be dangerous and impassable at this point, so they began to dig an artificial shaft and lateral tunnel in an attempt to reach Floyd through another chamber. Their efforts failed, but they kept trying to find something that would work.