Kentucky Hauntings(30)
Otis never actually went inside the houses he visited. Whoever was able would come to the door when they heard the sound of his horse. He would give them whatever he had for them that day and then ride on to the next house.
In the Dean household, little Lillian was the only one in her family who did not come down with the flu. Her mother died from it, but her father, brother, and two sisters were still alive and suffering. Lillian was only nine and scared, so she welcomed the sight of Otis riding up to the door. He brought her one bit of news that likely saved her stricken family from death. He told her that everybody who took the third dose of medicine that the doctor was giving had died! He told her that an herb woman he knew had been giving herbs to patients that had helped them recover.
“Could you bring me some?” Lillian asked.
“Don't worry,” he told her. “I'll get some and bring them tomorrow. Everything will be all right.”
Lillian noticed that Otis looked tired and was coughing as he rode away. She turned her attention back to her family, though. The decision she had to make was a difficult one for a child of nine, but she could see that the doctor's medicine was not working. She had given them two doses of the medicine already, and her family seemed to get weaker instead of stronger. She decided not to give them that third dose. Instead, she gave each one some hot soup and let them rest.
Early the next morning, Lillian heard a horse coming. She ran to the door just in time to see Otis ride up and drop a bag by her door. He waved and rode off without a word. She thought nothing of it because he always had lots of places to go.
She took the bag of herbs inside and boiled them into a tea. All day, she gave the tea to each member of her family. By late afternoon, she could see that they were gaining strength. The fever broke in each of them, and though they were still far from completely well, Lillian knew they were all going to make it.
She was starting to make more soup for supper when she heard the sound of a horse and buggy. It was the doctor coming to pay a call. He inquired about the family, and she told him they were better now.
“Otis brought me some herbs this morning,” she said.
“This morning?” the doctor asked.
“Yes,” she answered. “I've been making tea from the herbs all day.”
“Honey,” said the doctor, “you must be getting sick yourself and imagining things. Otis died last night! He came down with the flu, but he forced himself to keep going until he collapsed.”
Lillian knew she wasn't sick and she wasn't imaging things. Otis might have been a ghost, but he had brought her the herbs like he said he would. Her family was alive and recovering to prove it!
The Chime Child's Warning
Christmas, not Halloween, used to be the traditional time for ghost stories. We loved hearing them from our aunts and uncles who came for the Christmas holidays. We would settle down by the fireplace to munch Christmas goodies and hear stories, including those about the chime child.
A chime child is a child born when the clock chimes at midnight on Christmas Eve. It is widely believed that children born at this time are said to have the special gift of seeing ghosts and talking with the dead.
Mary Sinclair was a chime child. She didn't tell many people about her special gift because the few people she did tell had laughed at her. Her favorite aunt, Aunt Martha, never laughed, though, when Mary told her about some of her experiences. She took Mary's stories very seriously.
Aunt Martha was the sister of Mary's mother. The two sisters had been very sad when their mother died, even though she had been suffering for several months. Mary was sad, too, when she attended her grandmother's funeral that day. Later that night, she was drifting off to sleep when she saw her grandmother appear at the foot of her bed. Mary noticed that the pain was gone from the old lady's face and she was smiling a radiant smile. After a few seconds she faded away, and Mary went off to sleep. Seeing her grandmother's ghost did not frighten Mary. It made her feel better to know that her grandmother was still around.
The next morning, Mary told her mother and Aunt Martha about the visit from her grandmother, but her mom told her it was just a dream. Aunt Martha believed her, though, and took it as a sign that her mother had returned to let them know she was happy now and at peace.
Not long after her grandmother's death, Mary had another ghostly visitor. This time it was her cousin Orville, Aunt Martha's son, who was far away fighting in World War I. Mary awoke in the middle of the night to see someone standing beside her bed. The room was unusually cold, and she shivered as she pulled the covers tighter around her. She recognized her cousin in his uniform, but he had a wound in his head. He didn't speak to her, but she felt he had died and was trying to get a message to Aunt Martha to let her know it was okay and that he loved her. He vanished then, and once he had left, the temperature in the room felt normal again.