The Ghost in Black
The year was 1973 and I was happily married and was expecting my second child. My husband David bought the family dairy farm from his father so I had to move into the old farmhouse and leave my newly renovated home behind. I wasn't overly happy about that since the old house needed some major work but being a supportive wife I went along with the arrangements and tried to stay positive.
From day one I did not feel comfortable living there. My three year old daughter Teresa would not sleep in the room we picked out for her because she saw "shadows" at night even though we left the hall light on for her. I would lay with her until she fell asleep but like clockworks she woke every night around 3:00 a.m. she would come into our room and refuse to return to her bed. Finally I moved her bed to the foot of ours and this is where she slept for months undisturbed.
As time went on the feelings I had about the house never changed. Strange noises kept me awake at night and no it wasn't just an old house settling as I had been raised in an older house and knew what sounds they made. On moonlit nights I would imagine I could see a figure passing back and forth outside the bedroom door. I also would hear noises from the downstairs kitchen as if someone was moving around opening cupboard doors etc. I told myself for a long time I must have an overactive imagination or perhaps my hormones were out of whack from being pregnant.
Things just got worse as time went on, during the days I would hear the toilet flushing upstairs when nobody was up there. At other times the water pump would start to run and not shut off so I would go upstairs and the sink taps were turned on. When these occurrences happened there was only myself and my three year old home and she always wanted me to be with her when she used the bathroom. Of course being skeptical some people would blame old plumbing and if it had been just a toilet flushing I could go along with that but sink taps turned on all the way I'd have to draw the line there and disagree.
Items left in one spot would often be found in a different place or even a different room. Sometimes I would be missing something for days before it mysteriously appeared where I had previously searched.
Finally I told my husband I was not happy living in that house and he completely understood as he had been raised there. It was then he told me growing up unexplained events had happened throughout his childhood. He hadn't shared this with me before as he had always dreamed of owning the farm and knew I would not be happy to move into a "haunted" house to raise my children.
David then promised me that if I could learn to live with whatever was there that he would tear down the old house and build us a new home further away from the original one within five years. Of course I agreed because there really wasn't an alternative since I loved my husband dearly.
About a month before our second daughter Sheila was born David and I were watching TV with Teresa. It had just gotten dark when we heard a loud BANG from outside so David went out to investigate what it was. He came in perplexed and said a hay wagon had come out of one barn and rolled across the yard hitting the cattle barn. As he pulled his boots on he knew exactly what I was thinking. How would a hay wagon backed into a barn with a level cement floor, unhitched with the tongue down be able to travel that distance and hit with such force?
As he left to start the tractor to move the wagon back where it belonged, Teresa and I stood in the doorway to watch him. He would have to make a circle under the streetlight in the yard to get in the right position to maneuver the wagon. Everything was normal until he had made the turn and started back, passing directly under the streetlight I saw a sight that will forever be burned in my mind.
Plain as day there stood a woman at the front of the wagon appearing to have one arm up with her hand holding onto a cross board for support! I honestly felt a shock from the top of my head down to my toes. Blinking my eyes I looked again and there she was....she looked like a female version of the Grim Reaper. The reason I say that is because she was wearing that black cape with the baggy hood and with that one arm being raised the sleeve hung loosely. I it hadn't been for her small size I would have truly believed it WAS the Grim Reaper.
My mind was working hard to convince me that my eyes were playing tricks on me. I wanted to look away but I couldn't stop staring. Feeling a tug on my top I looked down at my little girl and she said, "Mommy, who is that woman on the back of daddy's wagon?" I swear that is what she asked and I have never forgotten those words as it was verification I wasn't crazy. When I looked again David had left that circle of light and all I could make out were the lights of the tractor. Anxiously I waited for him to return to the house whereas I asked if he saw anything on the wagon and surprisingly he hadn't. To this day 43 years later I remember that sight as if it happened yesterday.
The years passed and David was true to his word, I got my brand new home in 1977 and the old farmhouse was dozed down. By this time we also had a son David Jr. so with our three beautiful children we moved into our new home thinking now finally we have a normal life. Well that bubble burst shortly after the move. It didn't take long before the same old things began to happen. I realized that whatever tormented us and particularly enjoyed making my life miserable involved the "whole" property and was here to stay.
As the children grew older they could share their stories of shadow figures etc but thankfully it was mild events compared to my experiences. Every night after I went to bed something or someone would gently blow on my face just enough to irritate me. This happened all the time spring, summer, fall and winter so it wasn't an open window or furnace vents. I had to sleep with the covers over my head to get any rest. David never complained about anyone blowing on his face but he along with me often felt a touch on our lower legs or feet and sometimes the blankets were pulled towards the foot of the bed.
One night in 1981 David and I had just gone to bed around 10:00 p.m. and no sooner had the lights been turned off when we heard what sounded like someone was frantically trying to open the front door. You could hear the doorknob being twisted violently and the chain on the upper lock hitting the door and that scared the heck out of us both! Together we raced up the hall and the moment David turned the light on the noise stopped. The doorknob was locked and there wasn't a scratch on the door that would have been there if the chain had actually been slammed against it. Relieved it wasn't real I spent the rest of that night tossing and turning. I found that event very disturbing as it was meant to scare us which it succeeded in doing. Discussing it the next day I told David if a person was in trouble they would have been knocking on the door, not trying to break into our home. He tried to make light of it but I could tell he was rattled.
Life went on and we just laughed or dismissed whatever weird things that occurred trying to keep the children unaware of how bothered I really was.
In the spring of 1985 David saw the Woman in Black in the hallway of our home when he woke in the middle of the night. The sight upset him so badly he had to get up and drink coffee to calm his nerves at 3 in the morning.
That fall, October 10th 1985 David Ralph Stiles died in his sleep beside me in our bed. He had just turned 37 and had never been sick a day in his life.
Did the Woman in Black have anything to do with it? I don't honestly know. Was she waiting for David to die? I hope not. One thing I have found out is we weren't the only generation to experience her presence. After his death I sold the farm and started a new life with my children. They like me were ready to move on and had no problem saying goodbye to the Woman in Black.
This is a true account of the years I lived on that dairy farm in Debert. My children can verify the truthfulness of these facts and my oldest still vaguely remembers seeing the woman on the wagon. I had a hard time relating the facts because the years spent there still bother me but I do want to share it so enjoy. 🙂
Written by: Sherry Lindsay
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