LeHunt, Kansas

LeHunt, Kansas was once a small town supported primarily by the United Kansas Portland Cement Company. Little is left of the town beyond a few old ruins of the cement plant and an old cemetery. Once a thriving community, now the town can only be discerned from overgrown avenues of trees, broken sidewalks and foundations hidden by grass and heavy brush.

In the 1920s the concrete factory was a thriving business but with the advent of the Great Depression, it shut its doors and the small town died with the plant.

The concrete plant lies about ½ miles to the west of what remains of the old town and can only be reached by hiking through the underbrush. While trees and weeds try to choke out where the town’s cement plant once stood, the walls, ovens and giant smokestack of the factory are still remarkably intact.

The old cemetery lies about ½ mile north of the factory site, with graves dating back to the late 1860s.

The old site of the cement plant is said to be haunted by the ghost of one of the workers by the name of Bohr, who died in a tragic accident at the plant. As the story goes, Bohr fell into a vat of concrete and his body was never recovered. After this disastrous event, his co-workers embedded his wheelbarrow, pick and shovel into a wall of concrete that was under construction at the time. His name, as well as his pickaxe, can still be seen at the factory ruins.

LeHunt, Kansas Cemetery

With the aid of a sturdy vehicle, visitors can make their way down the rutty, dirt paths. LeHunt is located northwest of Independence, immediately east of Elk Reservoir in Montgomery County, Kansas

The old town lies on a bend in the hard-surfaced road and where a few houses exist. The concrete factory is about ½ mile to the west of what remains of LeHunt.

From Independence take US-75/US-160 west .2 miles and turn right on Peter Pan Road traveling north for two miles. The road will change to county road 3525 and you will continue for one mile. then take a left on 5000 Road for ½ mile.

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Haunted Hollenberg Station, Kansas

Five miles northeast of Hanover, Kansas is the only remaining Pony Express stop still standing in its original location. Built on Cottonwood Creek in 1857 by Gerat H. Hollenberg, this station was also the largest stop along the Pony Express route. Intending to capitalize on the many wagon trains passing his way on the Oregon-California Trail, Hollenberg’s six-room building initially served as a grocery store, tavern, and an unofficial post office. Three years later it became a Pony Express station and later a stagecoach station.

The Pony Express Route, which ran 2,000 miles from St Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California was in operation for only 18 months, from April 1860 through October 1861. Amazingly, these young riders carried approximately 35,000 pieces of mail over more than 650,000 miles during this time and it is said they only lost one sack of mail during this time.

Before the Pony Express, the railroads and telegraph lines extended no further west than St. Joseph, Missouri and mail traveled west by stagecoach and wagons, a trip that could take months if it arrived at all. The Pony Express alleviated this problem with riders who could dramatically reduce the amount of time it took for the mail to be delivered. But, it was a dangerous job, fraught with Indian attacks, rough terrain and severe weather.

Pony Express Want Ad

For this reason, a Pony Express an 1860 advertisement in California read: “Wanted. Young, skinny, wiry fellows not over 18. Must be expert riders, willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred.” Most of the riders were around 20, but there was one that was only 11 and the oldest rider was in his mid-40’s. Usually, they weighed about 120 pounds. One Hundred, eighty-three men rode for the Pony Express, each receiving $100 per month in pay. Riding in a relay fashion, each rider would cover about 75-100 miles before another rider took his place on the route. However, riders received fresh horses every 10-15 miles. The entire one-way trip would take about ten days.

While the Pony Express dramatically improved the communication between the east and west, it was a financial disaster for its owners. Hoping to gain a million-dollar government mail contract, the Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company spent about $700,000 on the project, losing about $200,000 of their investment. The owners failed to gain the million-dollar contract and when the telegraph was completed in October 1861, the company declared bankruptcy and closed down.

Afterward, most of the 163 stations fell into ruins but somehow the Hollenberg Station managed to survive. In 1869, the town of Hanover was founded and its residents made every effort to preserve the old station. The building is now located on a state historical park and operates as a museum and visitor’s center.

Hollenberg Station Interior

However, according to many visitors and staff members, some Pony Express riders have chosen to linger at the station long after the building ceased to serve the Pony Express. Many claim to have heard the sounds of pounding hoofs thundering through the night and the distant sounds of young men calling out as their phantom mounts near the station. Others have even claimed to have seen the riders. Witnesses also report the occurrence of many strange sounds and cold spots within the building.

Hollenberg Station is located four miles north of U.S. 36 on K-148, and one mile east on K-243 in Hanover, Kansas. Open seasonally.

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Ghostly Theorosa Bridge - Kansas

About 12 miles north of Wichita, Kansas sits the small town of Valley Center. Now having a population of a little more than 5,000 residents, the settlement was born in 1872 on the banks of the Little Arkansas River. Located along the ever important railroad, the town grew to include a post office, three stores, two blacksmith shops, a grain elevator, and several homes by the early 1880’s.

Though now a bedroom community to nearby Wichita commuters, one of biggest attractions in this quiet town is that of the haunted Theorosa Bridge, also known as the 109th Street Bridge and the Crybaby Bridge.

On an old country road three miles north of town on Meridian Street, this old bridge spans Jester Creek at the intersection with 109thstreet.

There are several legends about the haunting of this bridge all based on a baby drowned in the creek below. Today, the bridge is a simple concrete bridge that normally no one would pay any attention to, except for the legends.

The first legend tells of settlers who were passing through the area in the late 19th century when they were attacked by Indians and a baby named Theorosa was kidnapped. Her grief-stricken mother was said to have left the wagon train to search for her missing daughter and reportedly continues to look today as her mournful cry can still be heard calling out for her child.

Another legend has it that a skirmish between the cavalry and an Indian tribe living by the creek occurred about this time. In this version, an Indian woman is stabbed and her baby is dropped into the creek and drowned.

Yet another tale suggests that a woman named Theorosa is a young woman who has an illegitimate baby and drowns it in Jester Creek to hide her shame. Later, overcome by guilt, she drowns herself in the creek as well.

Finally, another tells of an engaged woman who fell in love with another man and bore his child. Jealous with rage, her fiancé reportedly through the baby over the bridge into the creek and Theorosa jumped off the bridge to save her baby, but drowned herself, instead.

In any event, the bridge has reported to have been haunted for years and years. Many have reported seeing floating balls of light, eerie shapes, and the apparition of a woman in the area around the bridge. Cars are said to mysteriously stall as they cross, or if they should stop, will feel the entire vehicle begin to shake. Others report cold breezes which seemingly come from nowhere, and the sounds of mournful voices or the chilling cries of a baby.

Yet others say that the weather is consistently different at the bridge than it is in the rest of the area. Rumor has it that if you call out to Theorosa, telling her that you have her baby, she’ll come out of the water and attack you.

The original iron and wood bridge that first stood at Jester Creek for decades burned down in 1974, was rebuilt, and was destroyed by fire again in 1976. Afterwards, it was closed for the next fifteen years. However, in 1991, the road was reopened and the current concrete bridge was built that continues to serve travelers across the creek.

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The Ghost of White Woman Creek, Kansas

Winding through Greeley, Wichita, and Scott Counties in western Kansas, White Woman Creek starts in Colorado and disappears into White Woman Basin. It flows underground from there into the Arkansas River. The abundant underground water was one of the features that made the area so attractive to early settlers.

There are several versions of how the creek got its name. The first tells of a Cheyenne Indian attack in the late 1860s. The Cheyenne were said to have attacked a western settlement in retaliation for an earlier raid on their camp by white men. After several white men were killed, the Indians recaptured their stolen goods and kidnapped 12 white settlers — 10 men and two women. As time passed, the two white women decided to stay with the tribe and married Cheyenne men. One of the women, who the Indians called Anna-Wee, fell in love with Chief Tee-Wah-Nee, and bore him a son. Most of the white men also were accepted and remained with the Cheyenne. However, there was one man who was eager to leave.

Fort Wallace, Kansas, 1867

After many months with the tribe, he was able to steal a horse and made his way to Fort Wallace in present-day Wallace County. Upon his arrival, he convinced the army that the remaining whites were being held against their will. The escaped man led a group of soldiers to the Indian camp and the soldiers attacked, killing the Chief and his infant son. As the battle continued, his wife, Anna-Wee retaliated by killing the man who had betrayed them. She then continued to defend the tribal village she had come to think of as home, and in the end, she too was slain.

Another story tells of an Indian war party that was raiding homesteads in the area in the 1870s. During the raid, they also attacked an Army ambulance, killed the guard and kidnapped a woman who was traveling with the ambulance. The warriors rode off with the woman and one night while camping along a creek, she was able to escape. One version of the tale says that in order to avoid the same tortures she had seen inflicted upon the ambulance driver, she stole a rope from the Indians while they camped, ran to a tree on the banks of the creek, and hanged herself before her captors could stop her. Another version says that the last that the Indians saw of her, she was running up the bed of the stream, and it is believed she perished on the prairies.

Ghostly woman along a creek.

Since the late 1800s, legend has it that on moonlight nights, the specter of woman has often been seen running along what is now a dry creek bed, or at other times, wandering slowly along the old stream. Others have heard her singing a mournful Indian song.

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