The little ghost of Charleston, Mo.

The following real-life ghost story is a reader’s experience. It happened to Samuel J. Saladino, now of South Beloit, Ill., when he lived in Charleston, Mo., in the early 1990s. This is his story:

I was working the late shift, and at about 8 p.m. my now ex-wife woke me to ask if we could go to a restaurant. We were living with my sister and her husband and I asked my sister if she'd like to join us.

When we returned to the house, I sensed something wasn't right. We had Pomeranians we kept in the kitchen. Poms are yippie dogs, but tonight they were silent. I put my finger to my lips and my wife and sister looked at me. I put my finger to my ear and mouthed, "What do you hear?" They shrugged their shoulders and mouthed, "nothing." Then they realized the dogs weren't making any sound.

I motioned for them to stay where they were while I edged to the kitchen. The male Pom was sitting on the kitchen floor looking at something. I edged closer and saw a girl of about 11, bent over looking at the dogs.

She had pigtails hanging over each shoulder, dangling above the heads of the dogs. They seemed to be watching the girl and would from time to time wag their tails. She wore a white blouse, a dark blue jumper, stockings and black strap shoes. To me, it must be a girl who lived in the neighborhood, had heard the dogs and let herself in.

I stepped into the doorway and said, "hi." She looked up, our eyes met, and I have never seen such a look of terror in anyone's face before. Then the dogs started barking.

She turned to run, and I said, "wait." When she reached the door to the back yard she didn't stop and she ran through the solid door. I could see her running across the back yard, as if in full daylight, but this was 10 p.m. As she reached the end of the yard in front of some woods, the light started to swirl around her and everything disappeared into a dot and the darkness reclaimed the night.

I ran out to see if I could find where she had disappeared. There were two other dogs barking at the spot where she vanished. I can only assume they saw her, too.

My wife and sister caught up to me, screaming, "What's wrong?"

I turned and their faces went white and they said, "You look like you've seen a ghost."

How right they were.

There were no woods at the spot the little girl disappeared. The land had been cleared years before and was now a field.

"You saw her didn't you?" my sister asked. "The little girl, dressed in a dark jumper, pigtails, about 10 years old?"

She'd seen this girl since she’d moved into the house. She'd often see her peeking around the corner. At first she thought it was a neighbor girl, but she'd search and never find anyone.

Neighbors remembered an elderly lady who lived in the house years before my sister. They always saw her wearing her hair in pigtails, braided, one hanging over each shoulder. I often wonder if that elderly lady had passed on and simply returned to the place she loved most.

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. Include your name, address and telephone number. Your story might make an upcoming installment of “From the Shadows.”

Jason Offutt is a syndicated columnist, author and fan of all things Fortean. His book of ghost stories, “Haunted Missouri,” will soon be available at www.jasonoffutt.com and all major bookstores.

Copyright 2006 by Jason Offutt

The curious story of Jap Herron

“That the story of Jap Herron and the two short stories which preceded it are the actual post-mortem work of Samuel L. Clemens, known to the world as Mark Twain, we do not for one moment doubt.”
--Emily Grant Hutchings
“The Coming of Jap Herron” (1917)

Mark Twain, died in 1910.

During the mid-to late-1800s, Twain’s novels, essays and short stories made him a world-wide celebrity. Through financial failures and personal tragedy, Twain, who in 1875 pecked out the first novel ever written on a typewriter, “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” never stopped writing.

Maybe even after death.

Emily Grant Hutchings, a struggling novelist, teacher and writer for St. Louis newspapers, claimed Twain dictated his last novel and two short stories – “Daughter of Mars” and “Up the Furrow to Fortune” – to her one letter at a time between 1915 and 1917 through a Ouija board.

“They got on the Ouija board and supposedly had this conversation,” said Henry Sweets, curator of the Twain Museum in Hannibal.

Many conversations. Twain supposedly dictated chapter after chapter – including revisions – to Hutchings and spiritualist medium Lola V. Hays, according to Hutchings’ forward.

Why would Twain pick Hutchings to pen his new works? She was from Twain’s boyhood home of Hannibal.

The book, “Jap Herron,” was published by Mitchell Kennerley in 1917 as “a novel written from the Ouija board – Mark Twain via Emily Grant Hutchings.” Harper & Brothers, owners of the copyright on the pen name “Mark Twain,” sued Kennerley in 1918.

Given the nature of Ouija boards – although not officially classified as a game by the Supreme Court until 1920 – Harper & Brothers had a strong case. But, according to a story in the July 28, 1918 New York Times, the case was about more than an issue of copyright.

“We will put he issue up to the Supreme Court,” said James N. Rosenberg, an attorney for Harper & Brothers. “We will have a final ruling on immortality.”

Part of Harper & Brothers case revolved around the fact that Twain had written in the books “What is Man?” and “The Mysterious Stranger,” that he didn’t acknowledge life after death.

"He refused to believe in a spirit world," the New York Times printed. "He refused to be a spook. Judge or jury must weigh that fact."

But the case never went to trial and life after death remains in the realm of religion. Kennerley and Hutchings agreed to stop distribution of “Jap Herron” and destroy all known copies* and Harper & Brothers dropped the lawsuit.

So the question remains, was the novel written by Mark Twain?

In “Contact with the Other World,” by James H. Hyslop (1919), Hyslop details many sessions with Hays and Hutchings at a Ouija board and saw evidence Mark Twain had dictated a novel from the Great Beyond. But, really, who knows?

Despite the Supreme Court ruling, in some circles the Ouija board isn’t a toy. It’s a gateway to the spirit world. So beware, you may conjure something a little more dangerous than a humorist from Hannibal.

"There is no instruction booklet for the Ouija," according to Sharon Scott and Mary Carothers in 'Toys, Games, and Hobbies in North America.' "There is only one rule that everyone knows: Never play alone."

*Not all copies were destroyed. One is in the Mark Twain Museum in Hannibal. You can also find “Jap Herron” online at www.spiritwritings.com/JapHerronTwain.pdf#search='jap%20herron'.

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. Please include your name, address and telephone number – they won’t make it in print. Your story might make an upcoming installment of “From the Shadows.”

Jason Offutt is a syndicated columnist, author and fan of all things Fortean. His book of ghost stories, “Haunted Missouri,” will soon be available at www.jasonoffutt.com and all major bookstores.

Copyright 2006 By Jason Offutt