“We had no idea there had been a murder there,” she said. They checked into Covewood Lodge and chose a rustic cabin near the lake. “We spent a day canoeing,” said Lynda. “The water was crystal clear, and you could see all the way to the bottom.”
The friends were awed by the wildlife as they watched black bears wandering in the distance on the edge of the ancient forest. “Yet, I felt uneasy from the moment we arrived,” confided Lynda. She was uncharacteristically jumpy. She found herself afraid to look out the windows at night when darkness swallowed their cabin. “I slept with the lights on,” she said.
She didn’t know what to make of it when the fresh batteries in her flashlight, camera, and clock were suddenly and inexplicably dead. “That was before I knew anything about ghosts, so I didn’t realize that they drain batteries,” she said.
She was headed to the gazebo by the lakeside when the batteries in her flashlight died. The moonless night offered no light, and the darkness was as black as ink. She stumbled back to the cabin and asked Bridgett to grab her flashlight and join her. As they sat in the gazebo, the low, eerie calls of the loons filled the night. “I was trying to tell Bridgett something, and she kept interrupting,” remembered Lynda. “I was getting really annoyed, because she kept pointing to the mist on the lake.”
“Look!” said Bridgett. “The mist is headed this way. Oh, look! It’s stopping in front of that cabin!” She suddenly gasped. “Oh, my God! Look! It’s a ghost!”
Lynda turned her head to see the distinct form of a lovely woman floating above the water. Though translucent, the figure was vividly detailed. She did not seem to notice her awed observers. Instead, she stared at the cabin as Lynda memorized every detail of the ethereal creature’s profile. She noted she wore a Gibson girl blouse with a high neck. She saw that the ghost had hands, and that her hair hung loose. “I looked for her feet, but she didn’t have any,” said Lynda. “Her legs trailed off into the mist.”
Though not frightened, Lynda felt an overpowering grief wash over her. “I had such a feeling of sadness,” she said. “One that I have never felt again.”
As the women watched, the spirit faded back into the night.
The next day they began to ask questions, and Lynda learned of the long-ago murder. “Grace was found in the deepest part of the lake, known as Punky Bay,” said Lynda. “That was the spot where the mist originated.”
The encounter had such a profound effect on Lynda Lee Macken that it inspired her to pen the first of her fourteen nonfiction books on East Coast hauntings. Since she published Adirondack Ghosts, others have come forward to say that they, too, have encountered the spirit of Big Moose Lake.
From sightings of ghosts from the windows of the lakeside hotels, to the distinct image of the beautiful specter seen through a video lens, the encounters with the poor soul continue.
Grace Brown lost so much a century ago. She lost the love she thought she had, the baby she longed to hold, and a future that should have been happy.
By the time Lynda Lee Macken told Grace’s story, there was little she could do to help the murdered woman, but perhaps having someone to empathize with her was help enough.
To read more about Adirondack ghosts, consult Lynda’s Web site at:
www.lyndaleemacken.com
Where the Dead Can’t Sleep
Get out a globe, close your eyes, and spin. No matter where it stops, you are sure to be staring at a spot near a haunted location where the restless wraiths wrought from murder roam.
Here are a few places where victims’ ghosts are encountered:
Midnight Visitor
Gadsby’s Tavern Museum in historic Alexandria, Virginia, is haunted by a dentist whose killer got away with murder. According to guides who lead the Ghosts and Graveyards Tours, the structure in Old Town was once known as Wise’s Tavern and had a basement apartment where tenants did not stay long. Plagued with terrible nightmares and ghostly visits, the residents hurriedly packed and moved. One woman awoke to see the apartment engulfed in flames, but the scene soon faded. She had witnessed not a real fire, but a reenactment of the long-ago burning of a murder victim. Another tenant was shocked to see a specter in her rocking chair. The apparition had a knife sticking from his eye.
The ghostly visits finally made sense when charred remains and a rusted dagger were found in a pit beneath the apartment. Detectives believed the remains belonged to a dentist who had vanished from the tavern years before. The murdered man’s spirit may have been trying to alert someone to his predicament by reenacting his death.