Edited by Jenny Nguyen-Wheatley
Ghost Walker – Chadron State Park
My dad passed away Sept. 16, 2009, and my wife and I had rented cabin No. 2 in mid-October. Early one morning, I got up to take our dog out. With my back turned away from the road below, I heard a cough. When I turned in the dim light, I saw a figure walking on the road. He was wearing a dark hat, coat and khaki pants, an outfit my dad wore quite often. I watched in stunned
silence as that figure walked out of my sight and behind some trees.
Chadron State Park was one of my dad’s favorite places, and we stayed there together on occasion. I even have a picture of him fishing for trout at the pond. I wasn’t spooked by what I experienced, only thinking that was Dad’s way of telling me he was in a good place.
— John Adams, Papillion
Little Kid Laughing – Mahoney State Park, Peter Kiewit Lodge
I worked the overnight shift at the lodge for a few years, and I have seen several ghosts, but the one that really chills me appeared one night during the Christmas season when the lodge was all decorated with garlands and Christmas trees. That night near 3 a.m., after I had gotten all my night work done, I was sitting on the couch and heard a crash — followed by laughing coming from the gift shop area.
I went to where I heard the crash and found the garland that was around the window pulled down and a couple of Galileo thermometers knocked over. I heard the laughing again and felt a breeze blow by me but never saw anything. The entire lodge, save for me, was empty.
Most everyone who works at Mahoney knows that there are parts of the park where spirits and ghosts hang around. I had heard children playing before and have seen both Confederate soldiers and an Native American chief standing at the top of the stairs. We guess the chief was from the Otoe tribe, but no one knows which one. As far as the soldiers and children, no one knows who they are either.
— Julianna Leighton, Administrative Specialist
Two Strangers, One Caboose – Two Rivers State Recreation Area
Normally, when I hear a spooky story, I tend to lean on the more skeptical side of things. That said, I’ve also had my own share of strange encounters that cannot be explained.
Two Rivers is home to 10 of the ever-popular, retired Union Pacific cabooses that have been renovated into a unique lodging experience for folks to enjoy from mid-April until the end of September. Managing these cabooses can be challenging at times, requiring a great deal of time, personnel and resources in addition to a duteous staff to keep them clean and running properly. Among the staff, we have had not one, but two separate housekeepers who believed caboose No. 2 is haunted.
These housekeepers both claimed they had doors close behind them, light switches flicked on or off on their own, heard disembodied whispers and footsteps, and had the ever-present sensation of unease like they were being watched inside the unit.
Two Rivers has been my “home” since 2009, and I have been in that caboose countless times. I have never experienced anything spooky or strange in caboose No. 2. However, these two housekeepers do not even know each other. In fact, they worked at Two Rivers three seasons apart.
It is certainly enough to make the imagination run wild. Is there some old railroad worker dwelling there who refuses to retire? Do we have a spiritual caboose squatter and if so, will one of our brave conservation officers come ask them to leave?
— Kirk Pawloski, Park Superintendent
Little Boy Blood – Fort Robinson State Park
In early October a few years ago, my family booked two campsites at Soldier Creek Campground, and the fall leaf change was absolutely magical. Almost every evening, we took the road across the creek, using the footbridge as the creek was still flowing pretty good, and walked past the cemetery to do a loop and pass by the new playground.
One evening toward the end of our stay, we had just crossed the footbridge during twilight and were walking under the giant cottonwoods toward the cemetery fence when my 4- year-old daughter looked up and casually asked, “Mom, why does
that boy have blood on his face?” She pointed over behind the brambles and trees on the far side of the road. No one else saw anyone.
We hightailed it back to the campground! The next day, we all went to the museum and searched for any little boys that might have died at the fort and came across a few likely little ones. We did not go into the cemetery to inspect headstones, but there may be a poor little boy wandering around the park looking for playmates.
— Katy Kuhnel, Creede, Colorado