The Telltale Lilac Bush and Other West Virginia Ghost Tales

14. Animals and Birds

14 Animals and Birds THE BIRD and animal ghosts here are not human spirits who have returned in another form but are manifestations of actual creatures. There are possible exceptions; the mysterious sound of the nursing sow may be associated with the baby's death, and the appearance of the black cat, since nothing is known of its background in the story, may also have some human association. A notable element in four of these stories is retribution. In three of the stories the creatures return to exact terrible payment for abuse they had suffered at the hands of men. In "The Phantom Dog" the animal, on the other hand, seeks revenge for its master's murder. Three of the remaining stories are less easy to define. The ghost of the canary apparently serves as a man's conscience, bringing about, not punishment, but a change of heart. The dismembered dog seems to display only the restlessness that frequently 126 accompanies a violent, unreasonable death, and the nursing sow, which is only present audibly, may be explained in the same way, though the circumstances of its manifestation are not altogether clear. Only two of the eleven stories in this group represent an act of kindness on the part of the ghost. As Louis C. Jones says in Things That Go Bump in the Night (p. 15), horses (no doubt including invisible horses, headless horsemen, phosphorescent horses, and other varieties ) lead in the number of ghost animals, with dogs in second place. Ghost cats are not very common, although I have three other ghost cats. Usually they are more associated with witches than with ghosts. My cat seems merely to come back to carryon his usual way of life. 81. The Tortured Sparrow MORE THAN a hundred years ago, before the Civil War, and when this section was still a part of Virginia, there came to these parts a man from farther south in Virginia with his family-his wife, his son Caliph, and his mother-in-law. On the east side of the "River-of-Falling Banks," which was the Indian word Monongahela, was a village then known as Palatine, but now part of Fairmont. South of Palatine, and up the Monongahela River a short distance, the man, whose name was Strode, purchased a steep and wooded tract of land. Across from what is now Fifth Street, on the flat below Palatine Knob, he built a log house. Nearby he built a smokehouse. In the smokehouse Strode had stored two barrels of salt, a valuable commodity in those times, and also had cured meat hanging. Strode's mother-in-law was said to have become insane. But Strode was a man of evil repute and terrible temper, and there were many whispered stories that the old woman 127 was not crazy at all. At any rate, Strode had her chained in the smokehouse. One cold winter, when the river was covered with ice and the snow was more than a foot deep on the mountain, the smokehouse caught fire and burned to the ground. The people of Palatine, awakened by the red glow in the sky to the south, hurried toward it. When they arrived, the building was destroyed. Strode and some of his slaves had been able to roll out the two barrels of salt and carry out much of the meat, which was saved, but the mother-in-law was burned to death. Strode's son Caliph was as mean a young man as ever lived in these parts. He was cruel to animals and was rude and overbearing. He was disliked heartily by all who knew him. He terrorized the slaves on his father's farm and abused and mistreated the animals. One cold winter day Caliph Strode caught a live sparrow . He pulled all the feathers off the half-dead bird and then tossed it out into the snow. The bird managed to hop up on a low limb of a tree, where it sat, freezing and chirping . When morning came, the bird was still clinging to the limb of the tree, frozen stiff. After that, Caliph Strode became meaner than ever. He also became nervous and sullen and appeared to be afraid. It was not long until he was a raving maniac. His mother, a poor downbeaten woman who seldom spoke, told some of the neighbor women that every night, when Caliph was...