The Death Ship of the Platte River, Wyoming

On the Platte River between Torrington and Alcova, Wyoming, a legend persists that a “Ship of Death” continues to sail upon the sometimes dangerous waters. The phantom ship is said to rise out of a strange mist that quickly becomes a massive rolling ball of fog. As the ship grows closer, witnesses report that its sails and masts are covered with frost. Upon its deck stands the crew, also covered with frost, and huddled around a corpse lying on a canvas sheet. The legend continues that the ship always foreshadows the death of someone who will die on the day that it is spotted. As the crew steps back, the identity of the corpse is revealed as a person known by the witness.

The first alleged sighting was made in 1862 by a trapper named Leon Weber. When the crew stepped back, the corpse revealed the body of Weber’s fiancé who died later on that same day. Another sighting of the phantom ship was made by cattleman, Gene Wilson in 1887 when he saw the body of his wife laid out on the canvas. In 1903, another tale describes that when Victor Heibe was chopping down a tree on his riverfront property, he spied the ship. Laid out on the deck was the body of a close friend.

Every case was reported in the late fall, and in all cases, the person seen upon the deck of the phantom ship died on the very same day.

One of the sightings allegedly occurred six miles southeast of the town of Guernsey, Wyoming. Another sighting was said to have occurred at Bessemer Bend on the Platte River.

Read more >>

The Flood At Santa Fe, New Mexico

Many are the scenes of religious miracles in this country, although French Canada and old Mexico boast of more. So late as the prosaic year of 1889 the Virgin was seen to descend into the streets of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, to save hermitage on the Catholic Church in that place, when it was swept by a deluge in which hundreds of persons perished. It was the wrath of the Madonna that caused just such a flood in New Mexico long years ago. There is in the old Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in Santa Fe, a picture that commemorates the appearance of the Virgin to Juan Diego, an Indian in Guadalupe, old Mexico, in the 16th century. She commanded that a chapel should be built for her, but the bishop of the diocese declared that the man had been dreaming and told him to go away.

The Virgin came to the Indian again, and still, the bishop declared that he had no evidence of the truth of what he said. A third time, the supernatural visitor appeared and told Juan to climb a certain difficult mountain, pick the flowers he would find there, and take them to the bishop.

San Francisco Street in Santa Fe, New Mexico

After a long and dangerous climb, they were found, to the Indian’s amazement, growing in the snow. He filled his blanket with them and returned to the Episcopal residence, but when he opened the folds before the dignitary, he was more amazed to find not flowers, but a glowing picture painted on his blanket. It hangs now in Guadalupe but is duplicated in Santa Fe, where a statue of the Virgin is also kept. These treasures are greatly prized and are resorted to in time of illness and threatened disaster, the statue being taken through the streets in procession when the rainy season is due. Collections of money are then made and prayers are put up for rain, to which appeals the Virgin makes a prompt response, the priests pointing triumphantly to the results of their intercession.

One year, however, the rain did not begin on time, though services were almost constantly continued before the sacred picture and the sacred statue, and the angry people stripped the image of its silks and gold lace and kicked it over the ground for hours. That night a violent rain set in and the town was nearly washed away, so the populace hastened the work of reparation in order to save their lives. They cleansed the statue, dressed it still more brilliantly, and addressed their prayers to the Virgin with more energy and earnestness than ever before.

Read more >>

Bright Headlights Warning

It's late at night and the girl gets in her car and starts to drive home. A guy pulls out right behind her and begins to follow. She doesn't think anything of it until she pulls onto a slightly deserted road and he is still behind her. Every so often, the guy flashes his bright headlights, so she begins to be scared.

She turns onto an old dirt road (the one she lives on) and starts panicking because he has pulled onto the road right behind her. He still flashes his brights from time to time, still following.

She pulls into her drive and jumps out of the car and runs to the house. She yells "Dad, call the police!" This guy followed me home all the way from the school!

Read more >>

The Babysitter Story

The tale has different variations but the spooky and downright terrifying elements remain the same. As the story goes, a teenage girl is hired by a young couple to baby-sit their two small children. They go out to a dinner party and leave the girl to tend to the kids in a somewhat isolated, large house at the end of the block.

When the hour gets late, she puts the children to bed and sits down to watch some late-night TV. The phone starts ringing and startles the half-asleep teenager. When she answers it, she hears heavy breathing and a man tells her he is "coming to get her". While she is somewhat scared, she dismisses it as a prank phone call.

About 15 minutes later, the phone rings again. When she answers it, the man starts laughing and tells her that he is closer. The baby sitter is truly frightened now and calls the police.

They tell her that it's probably just a prank phone call, but they will try to trace the call, so she must keep him on the line as long as possible if he calls another time. She once again settles down on the couch, not sleepy at all.

The phone rings a third time and the man tells her he has come for her and it's only a matter of time. He continues with some heavy breathing until the babysitter is so terrified that she hangs up the phone again.

She quickly decides to get the children and flee the house when the phone rings again. This time it is a policeman on the other end and he tells her frantically "GET OUT OF THE HOUSE NOW!" THE MAN IS INSIDE THE HOUSE AND IS CALLING FROM THE UPSTAIRS EXTENSION!"

She runs from the house as the police arrive. The madman escapes but they find the children upstairs dead and a bloody axe laying on the bedroom floor next to an open window.

Read more >>