Ghosts of Ohio
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Lore & Legends

Our Little Visitor

About four days before Christmas, 2000, my wife was working late on a project that just had to be done before Christmas. My daughter was in the living room in her highchair eating her supper when my wife came home. As soon as my wife walked in, my daughter went stiff as a board, turned pale white, and started crying and saying "ghost mommy, ghost", and the whole time she was shaking. My daughter had just turned two in October and had only seen cartoon ghosts like Casper.

About an hour after my wife had come into the house and my daughter had somewhat settled down, my wife and I heard a little girl's voice in the kitchen crying and saying, "I want my mommy." It wasn't my daughter because she was still in the living room. But every once in a while we could hear a little girl's crying coming from down the hallway. It didn't matter where my daughter was or whether or not she was asleep, we could still hear the little girl. It really didn't scare us, it was just a little weird. The only thing I could think of was that my wife picked up our guest on her way home from work that night. There is an old cemetery about 5 miles from our home that she has to pass by on her way home.

From that point on, every once in a while I would catch a glimpse of something white in the corner of my eye. At first I passed it off as the cat since we own a solid white cat. But there where times I would catch a glimpse while the cat was in my lap. The cat would also follow something unseen around the room, paw at a bare wall, and sometimes get this real odd look about her with her eyes wide and drawn back, ears tucked, and upper lip curled. She would even get very nervous and jumpy.

I have also watched the lamp shade unscrew itself and have had to re-tighten it on occasion. One day we heard something fall off of the kitchen table. We went to see what it was and found our pepper shaker had been launched about five feet from the table to the fridge. There was no wind, the ceiling fan was on low, and the cat was in the living room with us at the time.

Another time, all but six spoons disappeared from out 12-setting set. We searched all over the house and even asked my daughter if she knew where they were, all to no avail. We ended up purchasing new spoons. Our hall light also comes on unexpectedly and things move every once in a while.

One night I was sitting up late playing Nintendo in the living room with the cat asleep on the floor beside me when I heard a scratching sound coming from the laundry room. It sounded like finger nails or claws on the wooden door. It was so loud that it woke up the cat. I went to investigate the noise, but found nothing, not even a scratch mark.

A couple of weeks ago my daughter started saying that she liked playing with her sister Sarah. My daughter is an only child. My wife asked the baby sitter if there was a child there by the name of Sarah, but was told there wasn't. My daughter knows no one by that name, neither do we.

A few days ago I was sitting in the kitchen smoking a cigarette and reading a book when I noticed this white image in my peripheral vision. I thought it was the cat at first but realized it was up too high. As I turned to look, it moved away rather quickly. As it moved away the sleeve on the jacket hanging on the chair I was sitting in moved as if brushed by someone running by. The height of the image was about one to two inches taller than my daughter.

After that, I told my wife that after work I was going to go to the cemetery and look for Sarah. I had worked it out in my mind that I would be looking for a little girl who may have passed away just before Christmas. I figured she would be about two to four years old by her voice. I asked my wife if she wanted to go, and she said "yes", which surprised me because she has a thing about cemeteries. We took our daughter with us on the visit.

Once at the cemetery, we decided to start at the front and work our way back. After my wife got to the back row, she called me to come over to where she was crouching. She said she had a feeling like something told her to come to the back row. In front of her was a child's headstone with the name Sarah XXXXX*. on it. Under the name was an inscription that read, Died Dec. 22, XXXX*. Aged 2Y XXM XXD*.

We went back the next day to do rubbings. Sarah's stone was a bit too worn to get a good rubbing, we did at least get an outline of the stone and some of the details. We could not make out the epitaph on the bottom of the stone though. We also located what we believe is her mother's grave and also the grave of Sarah's sister.

We haven't figured out why Sarah came to us. Could she be lonely? Maybe she feels forgotten because the grave beside her's gets flowers put on it by someone but no one puts flowers on hers. Even with the visitations to her grave and the graves of what we think are her relatives, Sarah is still with us, as I have just seen her while I'm typing this letter to you.

We have decided to research this little girl in our spare time to learn as much about her and maybe figure out while she has come to us. In the meantime, my daughter and Sarah still communicate. I just hope nothing ill happens to her from the encounters.

*Information withheld upon request

— Submitted by: Fangar, location withheld



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