Thursday, June 26, 2008

The White Lady of Hell Town

At one time, Ridgely, Mo., population 64, was known as “Hell Town.”

“It used to be called the Hell Town because it was wild,” ghost hunter Tammy Lanier said. “The railroad went through; now it’s about four houses.”

Lanier, of nearby Edgerton (a comparative metropolis with a population of 533), is fascinated with one aspect of Ridgely – the cemetery.

A stone arch stands next to Route B in Platte County at the mouth of the property. Newer graves in the still-used cemetery line the front of the property. Older ones sit in the back that ends in a tree line bordering the property of Lonnie Williams.

“A lot of this land was owned by a guy named Christiansen,” said Williams, who has lived next to the cemetery all his life. “(He) donated it to people in the Civil War era who couldn’t afford to be buried.”

A wide strip of grass separates the old and new sections and will probably always be covered with grass.

“They won’t allow anyone to be buried back here,” Williams said. “I guess there were so many people buried with a wooden cross that rotted away, they don’t know how many are out there.”

Cemeteries don’t bother Edgerton resident and Williams’ cousin Beverly Slocombe; she grew up next to nearby Platte City Cemetery. But she said there’s something different about the one in Ridgely.

“I was never afraid of graveyards until the last time we went out there,” she said. “I don’t think my husband will let me take one of our vehicles out there. It broke a window.”

In October 2007, about 10 p.m., Slocombe, Lanier and a few fellow ghost hunters sat in Slocombe’s car smoking. They usually stood around Slocombe’s vehicle on ghost hunts, smoking cigarettes and watching the cemetery. But that night was different.

“I was too scared to get out of the car,” Slocombe said. “Something was telling us not to get out of the car.”

And she wasn’t the only one to feel it. One of the ghost hunters, armed with a camera, was frozen in place.

“She didn’t want to roll down the windows to take pictures,” Lanier said.

Then they saw the most visible densin of the Ridgely cemetery, the White Lady – a fog-like phenomenon that moves … sometimes with intelligence.

“It was like looking through Saran Wrap,” Slocombe said. “It was blurry and it moved.”

They sat in the car, the one with the camera trying – and failing – to get a picture of the apparition through the closed window.

“Then the back window of my vehicle went ‘reeennnttt,’” Slocombe said, describing the sound of a car window being forced down. But the car’s engine was off, so the electric window couldn’t have worked.

One of the ghost hunters “almost leaped into the front with us,” Lanier said.

Slocombe started the car and shoved it into drive – but it wouldn’t move. She could hear the engine running, but as she hammered the gas peddle, the engine didn’t fluctuate.

“I could hear it running and it just didn’t move. It didn’t even rev,” she said. “I took my foot off the gas, hit it again and it took off.”

Undeterred, Slocombe and Lanier have been back to the Ridgely cemetery, and have seen the White Lady on a few other rare occasions.

One night at about 11 p.m., Slocombe and other ghost hunters were standing around their vehicle smoking cigarettes when Slocombe saw the White Lady.

“I kept seeing something out by the tree line,” she said. “It was a white figure. Human shaped.”

Slocombe tried to focus on the figure, but it was difficult.

“It would disappear and show up again,” she said. “I only saw it three times. Each time it came back it was closer. At that point I told them, ‘let’s go. I want to get out of here.’”

And the ghost hunters trumbled into the vehicle.

“When I go to shut my door a bright white light shoots past,” Slocombe said. “I saw it, but didn’t say anything. Tammy leans up and said, ‘did you see that?’ She’d seen the same thing.”

For many nights afterward, Slocombe saw the White Lady of the Ridgely cemetery again – in her dreams.

“After that I’d have dreams about her,” she said. “And in my dreams I saw it in slow motion. It was a white lady and she was screaming as she went by.”

Copyright 2008 by Jason Offutt

Got a scary story? Ever played with a Ouija board, heard voices, seen a ghost, UFO or a creature you couldn’t identify? Let Jason know about it: Jason Offutt c/o The Examiner, 410 S. Liberty, Independence, Mo. 64050, or jasonoffutt@hotmail.com. Your story might make an upcoming installment of “From the Shadows.”

Jason’s book of ghost stories, “Haunted Missouri: A Ghostly Guide to Missouri’s Most Spirited Spots,” is here. Order online at: tsup.truman.edu, www.amazon.com, or visit Jason’s Web site at www.jasonoffutt.com.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

A Plea For Help

I receive messages from people who are curious, angry or afraid of something strange happening in their lives. Then I heard from Kaci, someone who sees things in the dark recesses of everyday life most people can’t see. She is looking for something, and she’s looking to help.

Her messages started with a plea.

May 7, 2008, 9:36 p.m. (posted on from-the-shadows.blogspot.com): “My name is Kaci. Me and my friends see the Shadow People. We each have special gifts. My gifts are seeing the dead, seeing the future and seeing the Shadow People. For some reason the Shadow People wish to harm me and my friends. We’re looking for others like us with our abilities. We aren’t crazy, we don’t need mental help. We need answers. If you have abilities like ours please contact me at kcsinger@optonline.net You’re not alone. We can help you control your gift. I’m not a fake. Please contact me if you’re one of us.

May 8, 2008, 10:20 p.m. (e-mail to me):
The five of us try to hide our abilities because we don’t want to seem like freaks or get put away because of the things we see. We are looking for answers and others like us. We want to help them. The Shadow People we encounter are harmful. I was driving home one night and a shade (Shadow Person) reached over and tried to jerk the steering wheel I almost lost control. Today I saw my uncle who died when I was in the second grade. He watches over me and since then I have been seeing the dead. The dead, shades and the future are not things you wanna mess with. I won’t tell you anymore about us because there are things even you are not meant to know about, at least not yet. If there is a way you can help us find others like us with our abilities you would really be helping us.

May 11, 2008, 2:35 p.m. (e-mail to me):
Jason I need your help to get my message out to people. I get e-mails from people telling me who they are and what they can do but we are looking for more people. My visions can only show me so much. They help me point out the fakes but that doesn’t leave us with many people. They are laughing at us but we’re trying to help people. Those who leave you comments, some of them are scared. We can help them block the images. For a while I did it. Please help us find our friends.

May 11, 2008, 11:17 p.m. (e-mail to me):
Like I said there isn’t a whole lot I can tell you because there are certain things you’re not suppose to know about yet. The five of us have been a well-kept secret for a long time. We are normal like everyone else. I know that they are scared. When I came into my powers I was so scared I didn’t know what to do. I was seeing dead people and having them all come to me saying they don’t know they are dead. FYI, don’t talk to the dead. We aren’t sure who are good and who are bad. One follows me frequently and he appears to be nether living nor dead. We just ignore him. There is one thing we all share, we are all blessed with incredible luck, it protects us, it helps us, and it keeps us safe. We aren’t positive where are luck comes from but I believe it’s a pentagram. I was on a road one day and I didn’t see a wall I was coming straight at and I just barely escaped. A pentagram was drawn on the wall. Since then I keep one drawn on the palm of my hand and it changes traffic lights for me, sometimes protects me from shades and it gives us power. We will help anyone that comes to us. I can help them block their images. We’ll help anyway we can. We need help finding others like us. Thanks for all the help, Jason. You’re really saving a lot of people.
Sincerely, Kaci and the Others.

Got a scary story? Ever played with a Ouija board, heard voices, seen a ghost, UFO or a creature you couldn’t identify? Let Jason know about it: Jason Offutt c/o The Examiner, 410 S. Liberty, Independence, Mo. 64050, or jasonoffutt@hotmail.com. Your story might make an upcoming installment of “From the Shadows.”

Jason’s book of ghost stories, “Haunted Missouri: A Ghostly Guide to Missouri’s Most Spirited Spots,” is here. Order online at: tsup.truman.edu, www.amazon.com, or visit Jason’s Web site at www.jasonoffutt.com.