Drowned Man

Yellowstone Ghost Stories

Drowned Man

A Yellowstone Ghost Story Retold by S.E. Schlosser

Excerpted from Spooky Yellowstone

My supervisor radioed me just after sunrise on a warm summer morning in 1929 to report another incident aboard the shipwrecked E.C. Waters out on Stevenson Island. “A bunch of drunks were boozing and brawling on the boat last night,” he said in a grumpy tone that clearly indicated his lack of morning coffee. I sighed. Again! I had no idea why so many summer visitors flocked to the wreck of the old steamboat on Stevenson Island, which lay partially submerged beside a sandy beach. “I want you to head out there and make sure no one got knocked on the head or stranded on the island when the brawl ended,” my supervisor continued. “Right, boss,” I said.

I hurried down to the marina and headed out in the boat we used for official business. It was a short ride out to Stevenson’s Island. I sighed as I drew closer to the creaky old tub listing precariously on the shore. There were empty beer bottles strewn on the beach and floating in the water, always a sign of trespassers. I moored my craft and gathered up as much trash as I could. Then I cautiously ventured onto the rickety steamboat. Thankfully, I found no bodies huddled asleep in the beer-soaked wreck. Time to check the island.

Stevenson’s Island was 1.3 miles long, and I was going to have to check the whole darn thing, just in case some of the drunks had gone exploring last night. With a sigh, I headed out in a basic search pattern.

By mid-morning, I was hot, grumpy, tired, and convinced I was on a wild-goose chase. There had been no sign of stranded vacationers – drunk or sober. I headed back toward the sunlit beach, ready to return to the main land. As I came over a tiny rise, a huge wind struck me hard, making me stagger backward a few paces in the suddenly freezing air. In front of me, I saw the lake churning in great waves while a huge storm cloud massed overhead. I saw something big and bulky floating at the edge of the water. Something man-shaped. My heart leapt into my throat, and I rushed forward. Dear God, someone had fallen from the boat last night and hit his head! My hands felt cold and clammy as I fumbled with the radio at my belt. I had to call this in! But when I spoke into the radio, it only returned static.

I dropped to my knees beside the body; noticing that the sodden clothing was old-fashioned, dating from long before 1900. The drowned man looked rather like a fur trapper or explorer from the era when Yellowstone was first discovered. I checked his neck for a pulse. There was no pulse. I turned the body over and stared into a pair of bulging brown eyes on a blue-white face. And then, in between one breath and the next, the body vanished. Suddenly my hand was gripping empty air instead of an old-fashioned jacket. I reeled backward with a gasp and landed on my rump in the sand. Where had the corpse gone? I glanced frantically over the calm, sparkling waters of the still lake, searching for the body of the drowned man. The warm summer wind caressed my face as my brain registered the change in scenery. What had happened to the approaching storm? Where were the huge, wind-swept swells that had frightened me so much when I came over the rise? I scrambled to my feet and stood hyperventilating with my head between my legs, arms braced on my knees. This couldn’t be happening. But I knew it was. Storm, cold wind, and corpse had vanished in a heartbeat. They had been shades of a former time, a former accident. So that was why the man’s clothes had been so old-fashioned.

Spooked by the incident, I unmoored the official park boat and leapt in, glad to get away from Stevenson Island. Folks said that Lake Yellowstone never gave up its dead. Apparently, neither did the island. I turned my craft and headed back to the main land and (hopefully) sanity. No more ghosts for me!

You can read more Yellowstone Ghost Stories in Spooky Yellowstone by S.E. Schlosser

Source:http://americanfolklore.net/folklore/2014/04/the_drowned_man.html

Hanako

This ghost is quite popular in modern culture because the stories about her are often told in various manga, anime, or Japanese films. Hanako is the figure of a female child who lives as an occupant of a school toilet. She will not show up, unless someone call her with specific ritual. The trick is quite simple, just tap the third from the end toilet door in every elementary schools in Japan, then say "Hanako, are you there?"

After that, you will hear a creepy voice of Hanako. If you open the door, you would see a girl with short hair, pale-faced, and dressed in red school uniform. Beware, sometimes Hanako will pull you into the toilet and finish off your life.

Source: http://maciejcorvo.hubpages.com

Water Dispenser

The story I'm about to tell is of my brother's experience. He worked in Cavite and would stay there and go home during weekends. He said it's very convenient since sometimes they stay until late evening.

One night, he and his friend/coworker were working late and they were both quiet, concentrating on the work at hand. In their workplace, from what he described, they have their own desk, adjacent to each other and there is this water dispenser out the hall. I know I'm not making sense with this description but here's the thing: they can see the water dispenser and hear if its dripping. The water dispenser is the typical one in Philippines where there is this big jug upside down on top of the dispenser.

The water dispenser was dripping and they could hear it but they weren't really paying much attention. It made this monotonous sound and then it would bubble up inside. It had been like this, according to my brother, for at least an hour. Then suddenly, my brother was not able to move and temperature dropped, then a woman was shouting in his face telling him, "Oh ako na ang nagsara ng gripo! Yan ang gusto mo diba? Diba?" (Oh, I turned off the faucet! That's is how you like it, right? Right?) and the woman was mad according to him. Then suddenly he was tapped by his friend and asked if he was alright. Apparently my brother started moaning and his friend got scared so he tried to shake him up.

When my brother told his friend what he experienced, his friend said that the water dispenser making sounds creeped him out because he said earlier that night, he could sense something was not right. They didn't finish what they were doing and went straight home to go to bed.

There are more scary stories my brother would tell us. I'll ask him again for one.

Source: yourghoststories.com

The Tainted Toothbrushes

As told by reader Susan Waldron:

A TRAVEL agent friend of mine swore this happened to her clients:

A couple from suburban California were vacationing in Jamaica when their room was broken into and everything stolen, with the exception of their camera and their toothbrushes. Considering themselves fortunate to have retained the camera with their vacation photos, they returned home where they had the film developed.

Two pictures were unidentifiable — something like an aerial view of two mounds of earth with a pole in between. They later realized, to their horror, that it was a photo of their toothbrushes up someone's rear end.

Source: http://urbanlegends.about.com

The Train Ride

One day there was this girl named Jessica. She was looking at the train arrival time-table, and found that her train was about to leave. So she ran to the ticket order counter, and quickly bought a ticket. She ran straight to the train. She is meant to catch and made it. When she got onto the train she saw that the only people on the train were these 3 girls. The 3 girls were all sitting on one seat. So Jessica decided to sit on the seat that was across them.

On her way down the aisle she saw that the middle girl was staring at the seat she was going to sit on and the girls that were beside her on either side were staring straight ahead. When Jessica sat down she started to get freaked out coz the girl in the middle was staring at her. Then the ticket-collector came to the girl and said, "Excuse me ma'm can i see your ticket?"

Jessica replied, "Yeah sure."

When the ticket collecter looked at the ticket he said to Jessica, "Sorry ma'am, but you have to come with me your ticket is fake."

Jessica said "WHAT!? No that can't be! I just bought it 2 minutes ago."

He said "Ma'am, come with me, otherwise I will call the police."

So she got up and went with the man and went into his office.

He stared at her and said "Look, your ticket wasn't fake. i did that because the two girl that are beside the middle, strangled her to death before you even got on the train!" 

Source: http://philurbanlegends.blogspot.com

Paul is dead

"Paul is dead" is an urban legend suggesting that Paul McCartney of the English rock band the Beatles died in 1966 and was secretly replaced by a look-alike.

In September 1969, American college students published articles claiming that clues to McCartney's supposed death could be found among the lyrics and artwork of the Beatles' recordings. Clue-hunting proved infectious and within a few weeks had become an international phenomenon. Rumours declined after a contemporary interview with McCartney was published in Life magazine in November 1969.

Popular culture continues to make occasional reference to the legend, and McCartney poked fun at it with a 1993 live album titled Paul Is Live, whose cover parodied "clues" allegedly on the cover of the Beatles' Abbey Road album.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org

The Greek Soldier

This lesser-known legend tells us of a Greek soldier who, after WWII, was returning home to marry his fiancee. Unfortunately for him, he was captured by fellow Greeks who had hostile political beliefs, tortured for five weeks, and finally eventually murdered. In the early 1950s—mainly in North and Central Greece—there were stories about a very attractive Greek soldier in uniform, who appeared and disappeared overnight, seducing beautiful widows and virgin girls with the sole purpose of impregnating them.

Five weeks after the babies were born, the man would disappear for good—leaving a letter on the table explaining that he had returned from the dead merely to spread his seed, so that his sons might avenge his murder. 

Source: http://listverse.com