1943 Train Wreck: The Death Car

In August of 1943, an engineer at the controls of a Lackawanna train out of Cleveland, Ohio was traveling along an upstate New York line. He was twenty minutes late as he hit a bend going 70 miles an hour--this is when he saw another locomotive pulling onto the track.

1943 Wayland Wreck

The two trains collided.

An engineer and others in the Wayland rail yard thought the Lackawanna train had already passed through when they pulled out on the track.

More than 171 people died or were injured when these two trains collided. Those who did not die from the impact were killed when one passenger car connected to the Lackawanna locomotive turned over--steam then spewed into this car taking more lives.

This passenger car in 2013 was at the old unused Baltimore and Ohio train roundhouse getting a fresh coat of paint. The Midwest Railway Preservation Society uses this old roundhouse in Cleveland Flats to restore old train cars to sell them.

A fresh coat of paint

While this passenger car was at this yard being renovated, many people connected to this society began to believe it was haunted. In fact, the volunteers at this yard dubbed it--the ”Death Car.”

One volunteer, Charlie Sedgley who works for the society restoring cars believes he encountered at least seventeen separate ghosts in this wrecked passenger car.

The society gives tours of the old train cars they restore. A trustee of the organization, Steve Karpos was leading one of these tours when he led his group into the Death Car.

Inside Death Car

As he spoke a female member of his tour group interrupted him to ask why he didn’t let the other man behind him talk. Confused, Karpos didn’t know who she was referring to. She then asked about the “man dressed in the funny suit.”

Karpos recalls that “Everyone else was saying there was a ghost in the car.” When the tour exited the Death Car, several members saw, “a ghost sitting on the roof with his legs hanging over the side.”

The activity became so pronounced that the society decided to let several professional paranormal groups investigate. One group recorded some unusual sounds coming from the Death Car.

The volunteers at the old train yard took this activity in stride. Most felt that if the passenger car was indeed haunted by the victims of the 1943 wreck-- their ghosts were more than welcome.

This society today no longer owns the restored Death Car--they found an interested buyer.

Myths and Hauntings at the Molly Brown House

Because of the Broadway musical and film made about Margaret Brown’s life, many myths have become mixed in with her real life. 

Molly Brown House

Her real name was Margaret or Maggie she never went by the name “Molly,” the press dubbed her this long after she had passed away. 

She did not marry her husband James or as she called him “J.J.” for his money--he was as poor as she was when they first met and married.

Another myth that has been circulated is that the Browns were so wealthy they burned money. 

The real story is that when J.J. first was paid good money as a mining engineer in Leadville--he brought the pay packet of cash home and hid it in the stove so he could surprise Margaret--she lit the stove not knowing about the money inside. 

It is said that Maggie “just fell into high society “after J.J. struck it rich in the Colorado silver mines. 

Actually, Margaret gained her standing as a Denver socialite because she was persistent. She learned to speak three languages, and she was the first woman in the county to run for the U.S. Senate in 1909.

Margaret was a hero as the Titanic sank. When the officer in charge of the lifeboat she was in lost control, she rallied the other women, and they rowed the boat. 

One myth is that Maggie used the fame she gained from her heroism while the Titanic sank for personal gain. This is not true.

Few women were allowed to testify at the Titanic Inquiry held after the disaster--Margaret persistent's allowed her to speak. 

After this, she used her newfound fame to speak out on issues, such as labor rights, women’s suffrage, and children’s literacy.

19th century Denver
Brown House on right

The Browns first moved to Denver from Leadville in 1894, they bought the home in Denver, that later was to become the Molly Brown Museum. They lived in the house for 15 years. 

By 1909 they were separated, and Margaret took sole ownership of the house. Her and J. J. never officially divorced. 

After this, she rarely lived there. Molly rented the home out and became a world traveler. 

In 1892, the home was used as the Governor’s Mansion. In the years after Margaret's death in 1932, the house was sold to one owner after another--each time falling more and more into disrepair.

By the 1950s the neighborhood and home were in significant decline. In the 1970s, a group called Historic Denver restored the mansion to its original 1910 splendor. 

The home has been a museum that gives tours, ever since. 

Both visitors and museum volunteers began to notice the home is haunted. I visited the “Molly Brown House” in the early The 1990s, the tour was informative--but our guide was unwilling to talk about “ghosts.”

Two of the ghosts that remain are Margaret and her husband, James. 

J.J. is not seen, but the scent of his pipe is often noticed in the home’s basement and attic. This is ironic because while J.J. lived in the home Maggie never let him smoke inside. 

Besides doors opening and shutting on their own, many witnesses have seen the blinds open and close on their own in the bedroom that was once Helens--Margaret’s daughter. 

Margaret’s mother has also been spotted standing at the window of her old bedroom.

A mysterious apparition that is seen in the house is that of a woman who wears a long Victorian dress. She is seen sitting at the dining room table, and she is known to rearrange the chairs in this area. This ghost has been captured on film.

Another ghost is observed walking around the second floor of the house--it is speculated that this is Maggie or possibly her mother. 

In the mid-2000s a tour guide, Demetrius O’Connor, who was closing the house for the day, was walking on the back stairs when he felt an icy breeze. 

When he turned the corner, he spotted a second-floor window open in one of the bedrooms. He shut the window, and as he was replacing the rope that cordons off the room from visitors entering it, he noticed a shadow of a woman on the ground next to his. When he turned to see who it was, no one was there.

Update: recently the house has been completely renovated. Some state the activity has become heightened because of this.

The following video was captured when a police officer responded to a report there was an intruder in the home. The figure in the room is believed to be Molly Brown--I will leave it to the reader to decide if this is faked or real.