Coffin Hollow and Other Ghost Tales (16 page)

Months later, one of the local residents reported that he had given a ride to the same two ladies and had been entertained by them. No one paid much attention to the story at first, until gradually other people claimed they too had shared the same experience. Then the rumor grew that the old ladies had returned to continue the tradition after they had died. The spinsters had loved the old house, and it was assumed that they could not bear to leave it.

74: The Plaid Blanket

In the early 1960s a young man named Francis was driving along a lonely highway outside Paris, France, one evening at about ten o'clock. Although the highway was deserted, a very hard rain made it difficult for him to drive. As he crept along, he saw a beautiful young girl in a long white evening gown standing by the side of the road. Since she was not carrying an umbrella and he felt sorry for her, he pulled off the road and opened the door.

The girl got in and told him her name was Julie Jouvet. She gave him the address of her grandfather, with whom she lived.

Julie was trembling from the cold rain, so Francis offered her a plaid blanket, given to him by his deceased brother, to put around her shoulders. He noticed that the girl was very pale. Her skin had even a bluish cast. The couple engaged freely in conversation until they arrived at the girl's house.

Upon their arrival, Julie quickly opened the car door and ran into the house without saying goodbye, thanking him, or returning his blanket. Francis, thinking her a rather strange young woman, drove off, hoping to return the next day for his treasured blanket.

Early the following morning he drove to the girl's home, walked up on the porch, and knocked at the door. Several minutes passed before his knock was answered. Finally an old man came to the door and asked what he wanted. Francis explained that he wanted to see Julie Jouvet. The old man invited him in and introduced himself as Julie's grandfather. He was deeply interested in Francis's visit. Francis explained that he had driven Julie home the night before, and she had forgotten to return the plaid blanket she had used to keep warm. He told her grandfather that if it had been just an ordinary blanket, he wouldn't have come after it, but this blanket had a special meaning. It had been given to him by his brother, who was killed in World War II, and it was the only thing he had to remember him by.

M. Jouvet told him that his granddaughter had been dead for ten years. She was killed in an automobile accident when she was eighteen years old. He said that several other young men had come to him with similar stories.

Francis could not believe what he was hearing, so he described Julie to the old man, who said his granddaughter fit the description perfectly. Francis did not believe Julie was dead and kept insisting that M. Jouvet was mistaken.

To prove himself correct, the man asked Francis to drive him to the graveyard on the outskirts of Paris, and he would show him Julie's grave and picture on her tombstone. As they drew close to the girl's grave, both men saw the plaid blanket folded neatly upon it.

75: The Lost Couple

In the late 1920s a girl and her boyfriend were on their way home from a date. As they drove along the narrow old road in the pouring rain, the wheels hit a rut and the car fell over the steep bank below. Both families were worried when the young people didn't get home that night, but they thought that perhaps the two had run away to get married, as they had so often spoken of doing.

Several weeks went by and still there was no word. Every rainy night it was reported that as people drove along the road where the couple had last been
seen,
the figure of a young woman in white suddenly appeared in front of the headlights, waving frantically for them to stop, but when they investigated, she would vanish.

Then one night a coal miner was on his way home from work, and when the girl appeared, he searched the heavily foliaged bank, and there were the remains of the lost car — with the couple inside, dead all that time. After that the figure was never seen again on the lonely road.

76: The Living Corpse

A young man riding home on horseback was delayed so that he had to travel at night. On his way he had to pass a cemetery. Since he was traveling by himself, he was somewhat uneasy and frightened.

All at once he came upon a young woman sitting beside the road crying. He stopped and asked if he could help. She told him that she had been walking all night, trying to get to town. She was so tired and weak that she could not go on.

He told her he would be glad to help her. He lifted her up on the black stallion, and they galloped toward town. Steadying the woman on the horse with one hand and holding the reins with the other, the man soon became tired, as the woman seemed to get heavier and heavier.

When they arrived in the town, he got off the horse to help the young woman down — and realized that she was a corpse.

The townspeople at the inn told him that every year on the anniversary of her death this woman rose from her grave, and her family then reburied her.

77: The Unhappy Bride

One night a group of boys were riding around in a car when they saw a lady in a white gown standing at an intersection. She motioned for them to stop, and when they did so she got into the car. They spoke to her, but she didn't answer. As they came near a cemetery, she motioned for them to stop. Since it was raining they were going slowly, and she jumped out of the car while it was still moving.

The boys were amazed, because they didn't see any homes near the cemetery. They went on down the road to a gas station and told the attendant what had happened. He told them a strange story.

Five years before, on that same date, a very prominent young couple from that area had been married. As they were about to leave on their honeymoon, a long line of cars was following them. They were all honking their horns and not paying too much attention to the intersection they were approaching when a large truck hit the bridal car. The groom was killed instantly and the bride died later. The legend was that the bride came back every year to wait for her husband to pick her up. The boys didn't believe the story and went back for another look.

As they approached the intersection they saw the lady once more. Again she got into the car, and again she would not speak. They asked who she was but she would not answer. When they reached the cemetery, she wanted to get out, but they wouldn't let her open the door. They turned on the inside light to see her and were startled. Her once-beautiful face was decayed. Her eyes were merely sockets in her head. As she parted her lips, she screamed and disappeared.

78: The Vanishing Lady in Black

Alex Jennings worked as a chauffeur for the wealthy Mrs. James P. Leonard in Detroit, Michigan. On this special occasion, he was working late. Mrs. Leonard was attending a dinner at the Masonic Temple and Alex decided he would go to a little restaurant a few blocks away to eat and while away the time until he should return for his employer. Finding a parking place had always been a problem around the popular little restaurant, and Alex was forced to park the car quite a distance away, but he decided the delicious food was worth the extra steps.

The parking space he found was on a small, desolate street with three old houses on each side. As he was driving along the little street, he was startled to see a lady in a black dress walking along the street to the right of his car. As surprising as her costume was the suddenness of her appearance; it was as if she had come from out of the air.

As Alex parked the car just ahead of where the lady was walking, he glanced in the mirror and saw her face staring back at him. This gave him cold chills, for her face was milk-white and her eyes were like burning coals.

Alex slowly got out and locked the car. When he looked up, he saw that the lady was walking up the path to one of the houses, although it appeared to be vacant. About halfway up the walk, she turned around and looked at him again.

For some unexplainable reason, Alex decided to follow her. As he started up the walk, he glanced up — and she was gone. He was positive she had not opened the door or entered the house. He walked on up to the house, and although there were no lights on, he felt he should knock and did so, again and again, but no one answered. While he was standing there he thought he saw two eyes peer from behind a blind in the window next to the door. He finally gave up and walked on to the restaurant.

While he was eating, he kept thinking about the strange lady in black. When he returned to the car, he was still wondering what had happened to her, but it was time to pick up his employer and so he drove away.

The next day his mind kept wandering back to the lady he had seen the night before. Because everything about her was so mysterious, he decided to return to the lonely street and investigate.

When Alex arrived there, he saw an old man taking care of the lawn of the house next to the one where the strange lady had disappeared. He walked over and asked if anyone occupied the next house. The old man looked up from his work and slowly shook his head. “Not for many, many years,” he replied.

“Well, that is strange,” Alex said, and related the events of the previous evening.

After hearing the story, the old man had a puzzled look on his face. He decided to accompany Alex, and together they could investigate the matter. They went up the walk the lady in black had traveled the night before. The porch of the house was thickly coated with dust, and Alex could see two small, dainty footprints going up the steps. The tracks reached the middle of the porch and stopped. They did not go any further or retrace. The door of the house was still about six feet from the last footprint.

Alex was more confused now than ever and asked the old man if he could explain the mystery lady. The man said that an old lady named Mrs. Ethel Jackson had lived in the house many years before. One night as she was returning from visiting her husband's grave, she collapsed on the porch of the house. She presumably died of a heart attack. As her heart was failing her, she struggled to reach the doorway, but she never made it that far. Her body was found with her hand outstretched, as if reaching for the doorknob.

79: The Phantom Lady

The only person I have ever known who has taken a ghost for a ride is my great-uncle. He used to travel around the neighboring counties, doing upholstering for various people. His two sons usually accompanied him on his longer trips. Most of these trips were dull, but one was quite extraordinary.

On this particular night there was a heavy thunderstorm. My uncle and his sons stopped at the railway station in a little town called Vienna to get something to eat. When they started out again the storm was worse than ever, for the wind had picked up, driving the rain down even harder.

They were about eight miles from the little town and were about to turn off on another road when something caught their eye. Out in the middle of the storm stood a lady in a long blue evening gown. Behind her was a cemetery. My great-uncle, quite surprised by the sight, drove over and offered her a ride.

She was soaked with rain and asked if he could take her to the railway station he had just left. He obligingly said he would and opened the door for her to get in the back seat. When they reached the station she got out of the car, thanking my uncle and his sons for all the trouble they had gone to. She then hurried toward the station.

Still a little puzzled by the incident, they started home again. About eight miles up the road, when they were again about to make the turn-off, there stood the same lovely lady in her long blue evening gown in front of the cemetery. They wondered how she could have gotten back so quickly and when they felt the back seat where she had sat, they found it quite dry.

They made their turn-off, and when they looked back, she was gone. My great-uncle drove that road many times, but he never had such an encounter again.

80: Hitchhiker at Follansbee

Some years ago, a few minutes before midnight, Tom Smarila was wearily driving from Follansbee, West Virginia to Paris, Pennsylvania. As he drove along, he noticed a hitchhiker wearing a black dress with a black veil and apparently crying. He stopped and asked the young woman if he could take her anywhere, and she got in.

Once she was in the car, she didn't say a word. All she did was sit in the front seat and weep. After about ten minutes of this constant crying, Tom offered her his handkerchief. She took it, and proceeded to dry her eyes and face.

Tom kept driving and right outside of Paris, his lights flashed on a medium-sized cemetery to the right. Immediately the young lady tapped on Tom's shoulder, and he stopped the car. She left him in the vicinity of the graveyard.

Tom went on to his work in Paris, and after work and some sleep, he decided to make a visit to the graveyard. He knew it would be dark when he got there, so he took a flashlight.

When he entered the graveyard he felt apprehensive about the whole situation, but began looking around the tombstones. About thirty feet ahead, his light hit something white. When he advanced and looked at the tomb-stone, he found his handkerchief draped across it with “Thanks” scratched on it in dirt.