Kentucky Hauntings(26)

He rose quickly and stood straight in the tub. Then suddenly, everything started to go around and around! He had gotten up too fast and now he was dizzy. He reached for something to hold onto, but he felt himself tilting backward. He couldn't find anything to hold onto. He was going to fall in that tub just like Livie!

But then, two hands steadied him. His head stopped spinning, and he regained his balance. He was able to step safely out of the tub. As he dried off, he smelled the scent of lilacs that Livie always used. He knew he certainly had not put any scented bath oil into his bath. He could hardly believe it, but he knew Livie had saved him.

He smiled as he walked to church that morning. Maybe other people would not be able to see why he was so happy, but he knew Livie was there walking beside him.





The Ghost Who Disturbed Children


This story came directly from Lonnie's youngest sister, Wanda. Both she and her sister do not scare easily. Whatever happened had to be very strange indeed to make them nervous or frightened.

Many years ago, Wanda moved with her husband, children, and parakeet to an old house in Louisville. It had several eerie features that spooked her right from the first. Not long after they moved in, she set about cleaning the basement and found some old bones on a shelf under the window. They looked like they might be the bones of rats or birds, but she never learned for sure what kind of bones they were or how they got there. Regardless of what they were, she didn't want them occupying any part of her basement, so she threw them in the garbage.

She heard that the house had once been a doctor's office. She wondered if he might have used the bones some way in his practice. She couldn't imagine how, though.

There was one other thing about the house that really bothered her. Whenever she went to the basement, she felt she was being watched. Her washer was in the basement, so she had no choice about going down there. She would stuff her clothes in the washing machine and run back upstairs. Sometimes, the presence she felt would be so strong and unpleasant that she would leave her clothes in the washer for quite a while until she got up enough courage to go down and take them out. The good thing was that the presence never came upstairs—until one disturbing night.

Wanda's husband worked at night, so Wanda was glad when her oldest sister, Nellie, and her children came up from the country to visit. The cousins were especially happy to be together.

The evening passed quietly and bedtime approached. Wanda and Nellie got the beds made up for the children and themselves. Wanda put the cover over her parakeet's cage, and they all settled down to sleep.

Suddenly, the parakeet started a ruckus like they had never heard. It squawked loudly and flew wildly around its cage. Wanda took the cover off to see what was causing it to act that way, but she saw nothing there except a very frightened bird. She was puzzled because the bird usually went right off to sleep when she covered the cage. She waited a few minutes while it still carried on, but she finally gave up waiting for it to settle down completely. She covered the cage and went back to bed. Once again, they all tried to sleep.

Sleep did not come easy. As they were drifting off, a thud pulled them back into reality. They were surprised to see that one of the children had fallen out of the bed. They got up and checked the child; fortunately, she wasn't hurt. They all went back to bed, and just as they were relaxing, they heard another thud. Another child had rolled out of bed.

For the rest of the night, the bird fussed and the children fell out of bed, one by one. They were not hurt, but they were really scared. They weren't playing a joke. They were tired and sleepy, and getting a little cranky because they wanted to sleep. Something was determined, however, that none of the family would sleep that night. Finally, around 4:00 a.m., the activity stopped. The bird got quiet, and the rest of the night passed without incident.

Wanda never could figure out why the ghost picked the children to disturb that night. Even though nothing else happened while they lived there, Wanda and her husband found another house as soon as they could and moved away.





The Dove


This story came from one of Lonnie's uncles. It was often repeated in storytelling sessions.

Early settlers and those who lived in rural areas through World War II were accustomed to having guns in their homes. Rifles (known as the twenty-two) were useful in hunting rabbits, squirrels, and certain birds for food. Many boys had a rifle of their own by the time they were eleven or twelve years old. They hunted with their fathers and would use tin cans as target practice when left alone to provide their own entertainment.

Hunters were legally permitted to shoot turkeys, quail, pheasant, geese, and ducks for food, and they were allowed to shoot hawks that attempted to carry off their chickens. Some birds were not to be killed, though.