The Dead Guy

Ghosts come in all shapes and sizes. Some emit positive energy others more negative. I am drawn to stories about darker energies. This might be because these stories are not as common.

Dr. Rita Louise in her book entitled, Dark Angels talks about various, angels, entities, and ghosts she has encountered in her life.

One such encounter happened while she was still a child. Her family of 10, including seven siblings, lived in an old Victorian house built in 1898.

This drafty house had four floors, including a basement. This basement was the one space in the home that Louise was always uncomfortable in.

The family all agreed that a ghost resided in the basement. They dubbed this dark energy the “dead guy.” But other than naming it, they never talked about it.

Louise frightened, avoided going down into the basement. 

But the family’s extra refrigerator and freezer were kept in this dark, dusty room so if she happened to be in the kitchen when her mother was preparing a family meal, she often was the one volunteered by her older siblings to go down and fetch a needed item.

The author recounts her mad dashes to turn on lights and rush around corners to retrieve the needed item. 

She then would race back upstairs to get through the basement door before it slammed shut.

Unfortunately, this door often mysteriously locked behind her, leaving her in the basement for extra minutes, as she pounded on it to escape to the safety of the kitchen.

Then there was the dreaded evil laugh she would hear behind her as she tried to pry the door open. 

This scary scenario played over and over each time she was sent to the basement.

Her mother was the only one in the family that the dead guy never seemed to faze. 

She would spend hours in the basement doing laundry. Louise would see the dead guy standing near where her mother hung the clothes to dry—but her mother appeared to be able to ignore his presence.

Years later, at a family reunion, the siblings finally openly talked about their own encounters with this ghost. They all agreed he lurked near where their mother always hung the clothes. 

Their descriptions of what he looked like always matched.

Pink Nightgown and Curlers

A favorite folklorist is William Lynwood Montell. He wrote a book entitled Ghosts Across Kentucky. In it he shares a tale about a wife who is murdered by her husband in a jealous rage.

Ruth Ann Musick another favorite folklorist shares a West Virginia tale similar to Montell’s called The Fortune-Teller’s Warning. This tale is located here.

Montell’s tale is a first-person account.

When I was a teenager my family moved into an old house in Brandenburg, Kentucky.

I was assigned a bedroom but I preferred sleeping on the living room couch in front of the television. One night I stayed up late reading. It was around midnight when my dog Krypto began to growl and act strange.

His hair was standing on end and he was trembling. He continued to growl.

I looked up from my book and saw a woman standing in one corner of the room. She was looking at me. She wore a pink nightgown and had pink curlers in her hair. She didn’t say anything.

I assumed it was my mom, checking up on me. I said, “Alright, I am going to sleep now.” I then turned over and switched off the light.

When I woke up the next morning I remembered how Krypto had behaved and wondered why he was so nervous around my mom.

While I ate breakfast I asked my mom what she had wanted the night before. She asked me what I meant.

“What did you want when you came out into the living room last night? You just stood there and didn’t say anything.”

“I didn’t get up last night.”

“Yes you did. You were standing there just looking at me. You had on a pink nightgown, and had pink curlers in your hair.”

“I don’t own a pink nightgown or pink curlers. If you don’t believe me, check for yourself.”

Later, I did check her bathroom and discovered she only had green and yellow curlers.

I puzzled over this incident for several weeks then one day while talking to a neighbor of ours, Mrs. Miller--who lived in the house in front --she helped me solve this mystery.

She mentioned the young lady who used to live in our house had died.

She and her husband had lived there several years back. The husband wasn’t around much. He was a soldier stationed at Fort Knox.

The pair had eloped and the husband had never met his wife’s family.

The young bride became ill and her brother came to visit. The husband got a surprise furlough and came home just as the brother was saying goodbye to his sister.

As the soldier walked in their bedroom to surprise his wife he saw another man bend down and kiss her. She was in bed in her nightgown.

Her husband assumed the worst. He ran her brother off not listening to his attempts to explain. He then went back in and beat his wife while she lay in bed until she was unconscious.

He went out back and got a can of gasoline and drenched his wife with it and set her on fire. The beating didn’t kill her but the fire did.

Mrs. Miller heard him yell as he ran out of the house. “She will never cheat on me again.” Seeing smoke coming from one window she called the police.

She then told me when they carried the young girl’s body out she saw the edge of a pink nightgown and pink curlers on the top of her head.

Apparently, every time someone new moves into the house, the ghost of this girl comes back to see who it is.

Mrs. Miller stated she thinks the young bride is just waiting for her husband to return so she can get revenge.

Our old house still stands in Brandenburg.

Dr. Lynwood Montell

The Fortune-Teller’s Warning and the tale above are good examples of how quickly ghost tales travel and then take on local flavor.

Another tale Montell collected is here.