Ghosts across Kentucky

11. Haunted Spots on the Landscape

Chap'ter 11 Ha.un"ted. Spo"tS on "the Land.sca.pe 1. "The GhoSt of a Little Gu-l Killed in Bloody HarlanN It was a rainy day on October 13, 1956. Back then, my grandfather, whom I shall call Cawood, drove a Greyhound bus. Early that morning, he was getting ready there in Harlan to run his route for the day. Like any other rainy day, it was just miserable and gloomy. Cawood's first bus stop was in Pine Mountain, then on to Evarts and Baxter. He picked up passengers in those places and took them back to Harlan so that they could do whatever. Cawood then went to lunch but got an unexpected telephone call from his boss telling him that he had to work a double shift, the reason being that the second shift driver had called in sick. Actually, Cawood was pleased to hear this because he had a wife and three kids, and a little extra money wouldn't hurt a thing. It was late evening, around 10:30 p.m., when Cawood dropped off his passengers at Baxter and Evarts. He had one passenger to haul on over to Pine Mountain.The two ofthem started up this steep mountain slope, when suddenly the rain picked up and the fog got real bad. They were about half way up the mountain when Cawood saw a little girl about eleven or twelve years old, just soaked from the rain, and she appeared to be terribly cold. Suddenly, the passenger began screaming at Cawood, telling him not to stop to pick her up. Cawood was terrified at the screaming, but being his ISS· Ghosts across Kentucky A ghostly fog hanging over the Hensley Settlement, now in Cumberland Gap National Historical Park. (Photograph by the author, 1972) normal stubborn self, he stopped on the mountain and opened the door for the little girl. Well, he didn't see her when he stopped, so he went down the steps and started looking for her. She was nowhere to be seen. So he stepped back into the bus and sat down in the driver's seat with a look offright and confusion on his middle-age face. He turned around and asked the passenger what was going on. The passenger told him to get the bus moving on up the mountain, chat he would tell him when he did. With the bus moving once again, the passenger told Cawood thac the little girl had been killed along with other family members at the beginning of the miners' conflict called Bloody Harlan. He said, "The little girl is often seen on nights when the weather is like it is tonight." Well, Cawood saw her that one time and he kept on looking for her as he would pass by that spot. But he never saw her again after that. 2. "Horses Spooked by The SpiriT of a Vampire \"loman" A friend of mine from Edmonson County told about this vampiress that Haunted Spots on the Landscape 189 was killed on the road not far from where he lives. And supposedly she was buried close by in an old cemetery. My friend claimed that horses can sense a ghost or a vampire, so they won't go near where she was killed. That was a while back when this woman vampire was buried. Anyway , these guys were on horseback riding down the road. All of a sudden their horses stopped and wouldn't move. The riders didn't beat the horses, but they couldn't get them to go near the spot where this vampiress was supposedly killed. It is said that on certain nights you can see a white light right in the middle of the road, and also up there around her grave. They claim that people on other horses have ridden them up there in the woods where she's supposedly buried, and when they get there their horses will just rear up and throw their riders out of the saddle. Then, these horses will take off running in the other direction just as fast as they can. 3. "The Ghosr Thar Rode behind a Rider on His Horse" There is a ghost tale told by people over in the western part ofMcCreary County. The story claims that there was once two boys who frequently went places on horseback. They were out together one...