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I've come across hundreds of stories in old newspapers dealing with ghosts, UFOs, creatures and mysterious people so I figured I would start a thread.
Some of them I had written down but most I only have vague memories. Here is one of the first ones I came across.
1891 Newspaper Headline; GHOST TRAIN SAVES 206
Railroad Engineer Jim Murphy saw the ghostly image of a locomotive highballing toward him on the tracks ahead and, in a rush of panic, brought his own train to a screeching stop--only scant feet from a washed-out bridge.
Murphy's four-car " Prairie Land Express " was bound for St. Louis, Mo., on the stormy night of July 1, 1891, with 206 passengers. It was a destination Murphy's train would never have reached if it had rumbled onto the splintered, twisted bridge that had collapsed only minutes earlier into the raging, flood swollen waters of the Missouri River.
" It was a ghost train that saved us all from a horrible death, " Murphy later wrote of his eerie encounter with the unknown. " When I saw the light of that train coming straight at me, I said, Jimmy, my boy, prepare to meet your maker."
" I hit the brake like a shot and I thought for a moment that the tender was going to climb right into my cab." " It seemed like we skidded along the tracks for miles and I kept seeing the light of that other locomotive dead ahead, only it didn't seem to be getting any closer."
" After I got my train stopped, I started walking down the line toward the other train. I got to within 100 feet of it and I could just make out its shape. There was no mistaking that it was a locomotive, but as I approached it, the engine just started to fade before my eyes. It grew dimmer until I could actually see right through it, then it vanished."
As incredible as Murphy's story sounded, few if any of the folks in those parts thought of him as a nut. They not only knew it was a ghost train that appeared on the tracks that night to prevent a terrible disaster, they also knew which train it was.
Exactly one year to the night earlier, Engineer Patrick O'Malley was at the throttle of an empty freight train that jumped the tracks just as it crossed that very bridge. The train plowed through the steel girders and plunged into the river. O'Malley and his crew died.
" A lot of people would have died if my train would have crossed that bridge, Murphy wrote, but old Patrick and his train came back from the grave to save us all."
There were a rash of ghost train sightings that year across the country.
It is certainly entertaining reading but balderdash nonetheless. The conductor surely saw something that alarmed him, but I do not believe it was a ghost train. I have heard similar stories about ships. Some of the stories I read about ships were fascinating, though.
A while back I was looking through old newspapers to find out what things were going on during the Civil War, I like checking out the ads and other stuff during that time period. I came across this short article that I found interesting.
Chicago Daily Tribune Nov. 6, 1860 Pg. 2
A BULLET PROOF SPEETER
St. Louis--- A clerk in one of the insurance offices was sitting alone one night at his desk when a well-dressed stranger came in and inquired for a Mr. McCulloch. The clerk replied that he knew of no such person employed there and continued his writing.
Minutes later he discovered that the strange intruder had not moved. He asked the man if he had any further business, but the fellow just stared at him. He then told the stranger that if he didn't leave his office he would be forced to hustle him out.
The man leisurely placed his hands behind his back and replied, " I have been sent here, and I shall stay here." Nervously the clerk opened his safe and took out a revolver, leveled it at the stranger and told him he would give him two minutes to leave his office.
Two minutes passed and the man did not move an inch or utter a word. From ten feet away the clerk took deliberate aim and fired.
The stranger still stood there, exhibited no surprise and offered no remarks. A minute later he shook his coat skirts, gave a slight shrug and calmly walked out of the office.
The clerk was completely baffled. After a few moments he rushed downstairs and into the street, but the stranger had vanished. The clerk has heard nothing from him since.
This one kind of reminded of another newspaper story I read about a mysterious stranger back around 1900 that wore unusual clothing and went around town asking strange questions. Thinking he was drunk or insane, the police locked him in a cell. When they went to bring him his breakfast in the morning, his cell was empty and he was never seen again.
There are other stories in the old newspapers where mysterious people just vanish, almost as if they were called back.
^^^ This one sounds like a poorly composed urban legend. Firstly, what normal, sane person aims a pistol at someone who is not threatening them with some sort of physical harm? It is far more likely that the clerk would have just ignored the man until he went away.
I read a lot about ghosts when I was younger. And one of the stories I kept running into which supposedly was from newspaper accounts, was about Abraham Lincoln‘s ghost train.
After his assassination, Lincoln‘s body was carried from Washington DC to Illinois on the Presidential train. And crowds gathered to watch the train go by all along the route. People were mourning a lot, a lot of grief. And apparently for years afterwards on the anniversary of the Lincoln’s Presidential train, there would be sightings of the ghost train as it went from Washington to Illinois.
As I’ve said it in the past out of all the paranormal stuff out there, ghosts, to me, seem like they are the most viable option out there to be real. But a ghost train? I don’t know. I can kind of understand it, if you pack in all of that overwhelming emotion of not just losing a president that people liked (more or less) but to lose him in such a violent manner. Which I believe is the first time we’ve had an assassination. I’m not gonna look it up.
And since those people who have experienced this grief are also gone, that emotion has faded, and the ghost train no longer shows up.
Tally, I've also read about Lincolns' Ghost train. Very entertaining, and understandable that people during the Victorian era, who were deeply into such things, would imagine such a thing.
As to whether it and other stories were "conjured up" to sell print, I'm sure many were. But it worked, and many thousands were sold. What's wrong with believing in an afterlife, or hoping to see your loved ones again? I hope against hope that in my last breath, my Mother and Father appear before me. (and my Wife, if she goes before me, Gawd I hope not!)
I suppose most of us do wish for such things.
Anyway, glad you started the thread Alias. A wonderful read, and a bookmarked thread. Thanks for all the links that are posted too.
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Solly says — Be nice!
