Ghost Stories:  and Superstitions

 

"I have been reading some things about the Highland Orphanage in Jackson, Kentucky. To all of those people that say that it isn't haunted, I had a personal experience myself. On the night of October 12th, 2003, my girlfriend, cousin and myself went to the orphanage exploring. I was upstairs and my girlfriend and cousin were downstairs. They screamed for me to come down stairs...quick. They thought they had seen something moving. As spooky as the place was, I didn't ask any questions. On another night that we decided to go back to explore more, this time it was my girlfriend and myself and another couple. As we were driving up to the orphanage, my girlfriend got a strange feeling that she could not describe, but she knew that it was not meant for us to go inside on this particular night. On that night we didn't go in but we took one single picture of the outside. In one of the upstairs windows was a face that seemed to be looking right at us. We also went into the church that sits on the side of the orphanage. It was me and my buddy, Josh. We turned our flashlights out and could hear stuff falling onto the floors, but when we turned them back on there was no more sound and nothing was on the floor. So, to all of those skeptics, don't go to Highland Orphanage alone!"

 

"Concerning the Highland Orphanage in Jackson, Ky. My grandmother lived there and went to school there in the 1920's and she informed me that no one was treated badly or tortured while she was there. As for it being haunted, I have been there a few times with some friends of mine to see if it actually was and I did not find any proof of this. However, my 3rd cousin and some of his friends were checking it out one night in the mid 80's and on his way back to town he had a terrible car wreck and he and another boy died. I don't know if they have a connection or not, but it was kind of creepy. The orphanage is located at Belcher Fork, which is right off of Rt. 30 as if you were going to Booneville. When you turn up Belcher Fork you travel about 7-9 miles. The Orphanage is on the right side of the road, back in a cubby hole. There is an old abandoned church that sits close to the school, which adds for a very uneasy feeling."

 

 

My name is Timothy. I am 29 years old and quite sane. I live in Eastern Kentucky. Like all of my family before I'm a coal miner the job is not as bad as people think and the pay is rather good. I know of a mine in a county called Harlan where a methane explosion killed 17 miners the bodies were never able to be reached so the mine was sealed. In the number 7 outtake shaft which connects to the sealed mine there have been numerous sightings as well as encounters with well were not sure what. but I myself saw a miner wearing a old carbide head lamp . Now we use battery powered head lights on our helmets carbide lights have been outdated since before I was born. I know of three people who have heard someone yell "fire in the hole" which means that you are going to blast . with primer cord and jell a.k.a. dynamite. It's said that if you go into the number 7 outake and listen you can hear them talking and laughing . My father who is deceased now has told me stories about the 17 miners who still in his opinion haunt the old mine. just thought you'd like to know . I myself don't believe in ghost but I believe in my own eyesight and I saw a man about 6'ft tall wearing overalls and a carbide mining lamp

 

 

 

Big Moccasin Gap around the turn of the 20th century, when the countryside was still rather wild.

Even today, some folks feel uneasy being in Big Moccasin Gap after dark. Not that the Gap is particularly spooky or particularly isolated. State Route 23 runs through this natural deep cut in Clinch Mountain between Weber City and Gate City, Virginia and, being the main route between Kingsport and Big Stone Gap, is clogged with traffic much of the time. Yet there is something eerie about the place -- like something unseen is lurking among the trees -- watching.

There is good reason for this uneasy feeling. The area around Big Moccasin Gap was once a favorite spot for Native Americans to ambush long hunters. White trappers would spend several years at a time in Kentucky, on a single hunting trip, and their cache of furs was often considerable. There were two major gaps that long hunters had to pass through to get back into Tennessee and North Carolina from the "Fields of Kentuk" -- Cumberland Gap and Big Moccasin Gap. The whites discovered very quickly that the narrow gaps, bounded by steep rocky walls, were ideal places to bushwhacked.

Bloody Chief Benge and his warriors were foremost of the Indian raiders. It was he, for instance, who relieved the Boone party of the fruits of their labors when James Boone tried to pass through Big Moccasin Gap on his way back to the Yadkin River in North Carolina. The Indians would wait in the rocks, then attack. A bloody battle would ensue in which all the white hunters were usually massacred. Hunters were watchful for any assault but the Indians held all the cards. In the deep, narrow gaps the defenders, slowed down by ponderous loads, were at a distinct disadvantage. Although James Boone, son of Daniel, survived that particular attack (he was later murdered by Indians in East Tennessee), others were not so fortunate.

One time, during a raid, a party of four long hunters was set upon. They put up a valiant fight but were defeated by overwhelming odds. One of the men was not killed outright but was slowly tortured by his captors. Before he died, he cursed his tormenters and swore that they would never again be able to use Big Moccasin Gap to ambush white hunters.

The man was as good as his word. After that, when the Indians were crouched behind rocks waiting to spring, a stranger would appear to warn the approaching victims of the impending bushwhack. The superstitious Indians swore that the figure was the ghost of the man they had tortured and killed earlier.

The ghost of the murdered long hunter continues to haunt Big Moccasin Gap. Sometimes motorists, passing on State Route 23 will spot a man, dressed in buckskin, standing by the side of the road. However automobile headlights do not light the figure and he does not cast a shadow. According to eyewitnesses, he provides his own unearthly glow.

I finally scrounged up the courage to write to you about a particular incident which struck my grandma, sister, and myself as both mysterious and peculiar. It all occurred last July 14. My grandmother Carol and my sister Kelly sped across the sun-glistened water of Dale Hollow Lake on a jet-ski . I streamed past them on a second jet-ski as we leisurely raced each other. We both turned into a quiet and somber cove where not a single human was in sight. Suddenly, my motor just shut down at forty miles per hour. I tirelessly pushed the start button with no results. My grandmother and Kelly swerved beside me and stopped. Strangely, their motors woud not restart either. We stayed calm until a cold shiver overcame all three of us even though there was no draft or clouds and the temperatures were in the upper eighties. I will never forget what happened next...With no wake in the cove, we were completely still. Well, until a football-widthed (estimated) size of water spurted up at our faces. We frantically scanned the lake before us for a fish or some other speciman which could have caused the splash...NOTHING! The two jet-skiis began to sway consecutively side to side. Nothing else moved around us...not even the water. We figured the cause of the movement could not be physically possible. Maybe it was some outside force which happened to grip their spirit upon us? We could not be positive. However, the uncanny motion only lasted for less than a minute. But how could our jet-skiis then start up when we pushed the button again? We rushed out of that cove as fast as those machines would allow. I will always remember that awestruck feeling of being in the presence of some possible supernatural phenomenon. I particularly have never believed in most ghost stories. But this is reality and that is what makes it all the more terrifying.

 

 

There is an old railroad tunnel that lies along the railroad tracks between Jackson and Hazard, Kentucky that is said to be haunted by the ghost of a worker who was killed there many years ago. When the rails were first being laid along this line in the 1920's, a tunnel had to be dug through a mountain. While the work was in progress, a worker was sawing a board on a high scaffolding. He was constructed a frame that would be used to pour the concrete for the tunnel supports. Below him, more concrete was being poured into a deep trench where the actual rail lines would rest. It would provide a solid support for the steel rails. Suddenly, the worker on the scaffolding lost his balance and fell into the loose concrete mixture below him. His friends and co-workers tried to rescue him but he was quickly lost in the deep trench as the concrete hardened around him. As the years passed, on nights of the full moon, it is said that the screams of this railroad worker, falling to his doom, can be heard echoing in the tunnel. Some even claim to have seen an apparition of a saw protruding from the concrete rail bed..... only to see it vanish before their eyes. The Kentucky River lies near the tunnel and even today, fisherman on the river claim to hear the sounds of sawing and then a long, terrifying scream coming from inside the old passageway.

On an unspecified date in the late 1800's, a young woman checked into the Harrodsburg Springs Hotel in this small Kentucky town. She used a false name, and while no one knew her true identity, they recalled that she was quite beautiful. That night, as music played in the ballroom, the girl came downstairs and began dancing with various partners. The young men of the town eagerly lined up for their turn to dance with the beautiful young girl.

The girl danced passionately and at the end of the night, her final partner realized, that to his horror, the young girl had literally died in his arms. The shocked staff and guests held a funeral for this mysterious girl and she was buried on the hotel's property. The hotel is gone now. It burned down more than fifty years ago, although the grave remains in what is now a public park. There is a metal marker over her resting places that reads... "UNKNOWN - Hallowed and Hushed be the place of the dead. Step Softly. Bow Head."

As time has passed, local residents claim that this mysterious girl still returns to the site of the hotel. She has been seen lingering in the moonlight, slowly dancing and twirling to music that only she can hear.... still recalling that tragic night so long ago.

The story goes that a young girl was waiting for her lover to come pick her up one night for a dance. It was a terribly stormy and dangerous night as lightning illuminated the sky and rain fell in sheets. She was very anxious about her boyfriend driving in such weather and she stood near the front window of the house, anxiously watching the dark road outside and hoping for some sign of his oncoming headlights. Just then, a bolt of lightning struck the house and somehow passed through the front window. The girl was killed instantly by the lightning.

In a different of the story, passed along to me by a website visitor, the girl was killed because she cursed God for causing it to rain on the night of the dance. She was angry because she would ruin her party dress when she went out into the inclement weather. The curse caused her spirit to be trapped in the glass forever!

Over the years, no one seems able to remember just what this girl's name many have been.... but they didn't have any trouble remembering what she had looked like. By some freak of nature, the lightning created a photographic imprint of the girl on the pane of glass in the front window.

For many years, on every occasion when it rained, the girl's image would appear on the glass. The story became famous and people came from miles around to see the image. No matter how hard the owners cleaned the window, they could not erase the image. As years passed, owners of the house desperately boarded over the window to keep away the curiosity-seekers and more recently, the window has been painted over.

 

Superstitions:

Beware of Friday the Thirteenth. Those who know about these things, inform us that Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden on a Friday, Noah's flood started on a Friday, and Christ was crucified on a Friday. Christians also noted that twelve witches plus one devil are present at Satanic ceremonies so Friday and 13 make a deadly combination.

Never go out a different door than you came in or bad luck will follow you.

Never count the cars in a funeral, or it will be that many days until you die.

If a picture falls and lands face down, someone will die. This happened just before my great grandmother died.

Breaking a mirror brings 7 years bad luck.

Never leave a rocking chair rocking or someone will die.

Don’t open an umbrella in the house or it will bring bad luck.

Don’t walk under a ladder.

If you dream of a wedding there will soon be a funeral.

If you dream of a funeral there will soon be a wedding.

When someone very old dies, it will rain. It has always rained when my great grandparents have died.

Wearing polka dots on New Year's Eve brings lots of money in your pocket

Cover all the mirrors in a house and stop the clocks when someone dies or another death will soon follow.

If one person dies, two more deaths will soon follow.

If you get a cold chill up your spine, someone has stepped on your future gravesite.

Death rattles are a sign that death is near.

If a tree or post comes between two people walking, these people will soon quarrel.

It is bad luck to step on a grave.

If you drop a dish rag someone will soon visit who is slouchier than you are.

A ringing in your ear is a sign of death

If you step over someone, this person will die. You can reverse this by immediately stepping back over them.

If your ears burn, someone is talking about you, left ear your mother right ear your lover.

Hanging a horseshoe over a door with the open end up will bring good luck. Hanging a horseshoe over a door with the open end down will bring bad luck.

If a pregnant woman sees the blood of a dead animal, wherever she touches herself, she will mark the baby in that spot.

If a rooster crows at night facing the house, there will be a birth. If a rooster crows at night facing away from the house, there will be a death.

If a hen crows like a rooster, someone must kill the hen or bad luck will soon follow.

Bad luck will come to anyone who desecrates a grave.

An unexplained knocking in the walls of a house is a warning of death.

Never sweep under a single person's feet or this person will never get married.

It is bad luck for a different person to close a knife than the person  who opened it.

If someone gives you a knife as a gift you have to return a gift of money.

If your left hand itches, you will soon come into money.

If your right hand itches, you will soon shake a stranger's hand or walk on strange land

If your nose itches, company is coming.

It's bad luck to kill a cricket. A cricket in the House is Good Luck

A clock that gongs seemingly without reason is warning of death.

People should always be buried facing the east so they will be able to greet the savior on resurrection morning.

It's bad luck to count the flower arrangements at a funeral.

When a dog howls at night, it is a sign of death.

A cow bawling at night is a warning of death.

If an inch worm is on someone, it is measuring them for a coffin.

If you dream of falling and hit the ground before you wake up, you will die.

A child born with a veil over his face will have the ability to see spirits.

If a door opens in a house without a reason, it is a sign of death.

If you cut hot cornbread with a knife, you'll cut your luck.

Don’t talk about a dream of death on Sunday morning or the dream will come true.

It's bad luck to completely finish a new house.

If you dream that you see your name on a tombstone, you will soon die.

Be careful what you do when the clock stikes the new year, for you will be blessed that year accordingly.

If you spill salt throw some over your shoulder or you will have bad luck

we are encouraged to hold our hand over our mouth when we yawn so as not to let the Devil into our mouth

Knocking on wood was supposed to keep the evil spirits that lived in the wood from coming out to spoil our good fortune

An apple a day  Keeps the doctor away.

It's good luck to find a four-leaf clover

 

If you play with a fire, you will wet the bed.

 

If you see a shooting star it will bring you good luck.

 

Carrying a rabbit's foot in your pocket will bring good luck

 

 

Married in white, you have chosen right

Married in Gray, you will go far away,

Married in Black, you will wish yourself back,

Married in Red, you will wish yourself dead,

Married in Green, ashamed to be seen,

Married in Blue, you will always be true,

Married in pearl, you will live in a whirl,

Married in Yellow, ashamed of your fellow,

Married in Brown, you will live in the town,

Married in Pink, you spirit will sink.