The Livestock Chasing Ghost

A friend told me this story years ago. I believe he read about in an old newspaper article. Since, every time I hear it, I smile. 

A group of farmers in the Midwest at the turn of the century all saw a most unusual sight. They all lived outside the same small town and every one of them saw a well-dressed lady, who also happened to be a ghost, chasing their livestock around. 

At the time many of the townsfolk felt these farmers were just making their respective stories up to garner attention or sympathy. But one has to wonder why solid citizens would subject themselves to such ridicule.

The first farmer to spot this apparition was a man by the name of Deane. One very hot summer day as he sat reading a paper he heard a loud racket coming from his barn. 

His pigs were squealing at the top of their lungs. He rushed from his house and entered his barn. 

To his astonishment he saw a woman dressed in fancy clothes, waving her arms about chasing his hogs. Worried his pigs might die of heatstroke he yelled at her to stop. This woman stopped, looked at him and then just faded away.

Farmer Jensen and his son were the next two to see this woman. This time she was tormenting a group of barnyard chickens. 

The Jensens hearing a loud noise coming from their coop, at first thought a fox must have gotten in with the chickens. They grabbed their guns and went to investigate. 

They stopped dead in their tracks when they spotted a well-dressed woman chasing the chickens around and around. Mr. Jensen immediately shut and latched the coops’ door. He was confident he had now trapped this odd woman inside the coop. 

But both men’s jaws dropped open as they saw her casually turn and walk right through the back fence.

Over the next two months several other farmers saw this same apparition. She made a major nuisance of herself chasing a variety of farmyard animals. Each attempt to catch her failed—for she would just disappear. 

Unfortunately, the last farmer to encounter her lost several young calves. He watched helplessly as she ran swiftly around his back pasture chasing his cows in the August heat. 

He stated afterwards he was surprised her long fancy dress hadn’t hindered her movements.

After the loss of these calves this ghost was never seen again. For years afterwards the people who believed these farmers pondered what could have motivated this ghost to chase animals. 

Some speculated she was most likely a farmer’s wife who was taking her revenge out on the animals because while alive her husband probably paid more attention to them than her. 

Another reason put forth was that she was just bored being in a box in the ground.