The Old House - Tonight's Story

Tomorrow I plan on telling a tall tale that I used to beg my Mother to tell me every night before bed (because I'm weird that way...even when I was a child). Its completely NOT TRUE, but in order to keep with the spirit of things, I wanted to share one more true story with ya'll. This one involves the old white farm house that I used to live in.

At least I think it was our farm house...I grew up thinking it was a different old house in McKee, but as I got older I was told it was indeed our old house. Regardless of where it took place, it still happened to the people involved, so I thought I would share it.

Personally, I think that land sometimes holds memories. Not just our memories but the memories of those that have gone on before us. Both good and bad memories and both good and bad people. This could possibly explain why a brand new home could be haunted. I mean, the house is freshly built, so there would be no past tenants to worry about. The question would be, who lived on the land before the new house. So, I think its important to understand a little bit about my home before we continue.

As family legend would have it here's the basics about where I live. The land used to belong to Preston Adkins (hence the name of Adkinstown for the entire road in Gray Hawk). He got it due to his service in the Union Army during the Civil War. Pres was my Mamaw Mae's Grandfather (my Great-Great Grandpa in other words). Things being as they are, Pres eventually lost the majority of Adkinstown due to a variety of things. Now people who aren't part of the Adkins family tree inhabit Adkinstown. Pres is buried in a cemetery at the top of the hill from my house, where most of my other past family members are buried and where I intend to be laid to rest one day.

Below my house are some caves. These caves have been fashioned into homes. Homes that we have all always assumed were done so by some Native tribe many, many years ago. Probably even before Pres got the land. My Aunt's now ex-husband used to go there and dig up lots and lots of arrowheads.

From the top of the hill (where the cemetery is located) on down to the end of the road are Nunns. Its been that way for over fifty years. The only neighbor that isn't a Nunn lives below the hill at the very end of the road. He's the son of a distant cousin. From the top of the hill on, isn't primarily relatives but we do have relatives up there. Relatives from the Adkins side. So basically, its a family road. Just to kind of give you an idea.

Anywho...from the top of the hill down was owned by my Grandparents, Bob and Mae, for many years. My Mamaw's people lived in Perry County where her Daddy was a coal miner before they loaded up and moved to Preston's land in Jackson County. I'm not sure if Pres gave the land to her Daddy or if they bought it, but when Mamaw and Papaw decided to settle on the farm, they bought it from Mamaw's Daddy (I can't think of his name at the moment - this makes me terribly ashamed because I used to keep up with all this family stuff). Mamaw and Papaw deeded off the farm to their children before they passed. Throughout the years, some of the children have sold their holdings to folks outside of the family, but from the top of the hill down, it has primarily stayed within the family tree. The land holdings now belong to an Aunt, two Uncles, two cousins, my Dad, and myself.

At any rate, I just wanted to point out that the land, for well over a hundred years have belonged to my family in one fashion or another. Prior to that, I'm assuming it was wild country where the "Indians" lived or at least passed through on a regular basis. So the entities (for lack of a better word) that "haunt" the area must in some way have a close tie to the land. I'm assuming its past family members for the most part and that's why I don't really worry too much about the strange things that seem to happen in the area.

Now...on to tonight's story.

When my Aunt Ida was a young girl she had a sleepover with some of my cousins (cousins that were her nieces, but were close in age to her...because when you come from a family of eleven children, at some point the generational lines are going to blur). They were all nestled into one bed for the night and trying to go to sleep but it was storming outside and they were a bit spooked. It didn't help matters any when the lights went out in the house. To further complicate things, while the lights were off they felt the end of the bed sag as if someone had set down on it. They never heard or saw anyone entered the room prior to that and they would have noticed with the door being shut and all, so they had no idea who might have decided to share the bed with them.

Raised up in bed, they all looked towards the foot of the bed at their visitor trying to make out features in the darkness. About that time lightening struck outside the window, illuminating the room. In the split second of light they saw a woman sitting on the end of the bed. As Ida explained it, "She had wild looking hair that was just sticking up all over her face. She was really old and scary looking and she was laughing at us." When the light faded, so did the woman. The girls were too terrified to get out of bed, so they all covered up under the blankets and screamed until someone could come to the rescue. They never saw the woman again.