Cemetery Ghost Stories

###Story #1 – Horn Creek Baptist Church Cemetery### The first story was told to me by Tafney (Smith) Roberts. She has given me permission to use her name. She bought the property below the church in the 1990s. There had been a triple murder in this house earlier.

Scott, Nancy Waggner, and her son lived in the house before Tafney bought it. They had domestic problems, and one day he came home and found her with a male friend. He shot and killed both of them. He also tried to shoot the boy who fled out a window, ran down to a neighbor’s house and hid in an old car. Scott turned the gun on himself and pulled the trigger, killing himself.

The house stood vacant for a while, and when Tafney bought it, the blood stains were still on the walls and floors. After making the house livable, she and a friend, Gary, and a Doberman settled in. Sometime later, the dog seemed agitated and looked toward the kitchen, bristled and growled. This happened a couple of times. The kitchen was the scene of the murders.

They had a few goats, and one time when they got out of the lot, Tafney and her friend Gary went up to the church looking for them. It was near dark, and up midway at the top row of monuments they saw a light. She described it like a person swinging an old-time lantern back and forth, as you would do while walking.

On another occasion, while in the back yard, she heard a child at the church giggling. Looking towards the direction of the sound, she saw a small girl running around the corner of the church. She had on a dress similar to what an older-generation child would have worn. The dog also saw something and was alert to it.

Another time she saw a man standing on the porch. At that time there was a large slab of concrete the length of the front of the church. He was quite visible from her back yard. She described him as maybe resembling an old-time preacher. He was dressed in black, with a black hat and coat.

There have been three ladies that have seen the same man. The ladies do not know each other and have never spoken to one another. I have interviewed all three, and their descriptions of the male subject is amazingly similar as far as his clothing.

The second young lady wishes to remain anonymous. She was a teenager, out with some friends for a car ride one evening. It was still daylight, and mother nature called. There was an outside toilet below the road going through the cemetery. The driver of the vehicle took her part way to the toilet, and she walked the rest of the way to her destination. When she opened the door to leave, there in front of her in the cemetery stood a man beside a monument. If you visit the cemetery, the monument across from the toilet is shaped like a stump of a tree. She said he reminded her of an old preacher. (Now remember, she had never spoken to Tafney and they, to this day, have not compared anything about their experiences, but yet her description of him was so similar to Tafney’s.) The man wore a hat and medium-length coat, both black. His face was very pale. She thought her friends were playing a joke. As she looked away to where she had left her friends, she could see they were still waiting for her. When looking back to the cemetery, there was no-one there. In the blink of an eye, he had vanished.

The third lady to see the man is Carol Alkire, my good friend and mother to my deceased daughter-in-law, Melissa Dawn (Smith) Allman. She has given me permission to use her name. On the day Missy was buried in March 2011, it was a cool but nice day. There were chairs set up for the immediate family by the casket for the service. I was sitting on the end. As the service was going on, I felt a gentle hand on my right shoulder as if someone had placed it there to comfort me. No, it was not my imagination. I thought it was our other son that had stepped up behind me. I sat very still for a few moments, then slowly turned to see my shoulder. The hand was lifted as I turned, and there was no-one standing near me.

After the service, Carol came to me and asked who the man was that had stood down near the woods the whole time and was still there. I looked and saw no-one. I didn’t question her that day as to his appearance. The next Fall she came to put flowers on her daughter’s grave, then she visited with us before going home. She said that man was there again in the same place. This time I did quiz her. She said he had a hat and jacket on. That was about as much as she could tell. It seemed strange he was there twice and in the same spot. She had never heard about the other two ladies’ experiences.

I think it was the first minister that was at the church. His name was George Brake. He is buried near where the second woman saw her apparition. He also had a small girl child who died and is buried there too.

###Story #2 – Union Church Cemetery### This story happened on the Sinking Creek Road about 1978. Three young relatives of ours took a drive one evening. They stopped at the old Union church looking around, just passing time. I can’t remember if they went in. By this time dark was upon them but they drove further down the road. All at once what sounded like a Monster Truck came up behind them, sounding as if it would run over them. They sped up, and the sound that followed them backed off. They could see nothing behind them, but again the sound roared up behind them. They began driving so fast that they were afraid of wrecking, as it was a gravel road and not a road to speed on. The roar would back off and then come back. It happened about three times. The kids were quite shaken when they got home and told of their experience. I don’t think anyone believed it was paranormal at that time.

Many years after that, I saw a program on TV about unexplained events. Different people were being interviewed. One story happened in New Jersey. The ones being interviewed were young boys at the time and described their story almost exactly like our story. There were out riding one evening, not doing anything in particular. The rest of the story was exactly the same.

I read a book a few years ago about weird happenings. One story took place in the mid-West. It was the same ordeal. I wonder how many stories are out there like these?

I have pictures with “orbs” in them. Some say that they are spirits. I also know of other events that are unexplained, but I will keep these pertaining to the church on the hill and the Union church. Hope you enjoyed them.

As a child we never believed in such things, but now there have been too many things recorded and many people I know have experience unexplained happenings. Very weird. Ha. Nancy.