Ghostly tales of Iowa

Ruth D. Hein

Book - 2005

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133.129777/Hein
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2nd Floor 133.129777/Hein Due Apr 18, 2024
Subjects
Published
Cambridge, MN : Adventure Publications 2005.
Language
English
Main Author
Ruth D. Hein (-)
Other Authors
Vicky L. Hinsenbrock (-)
Edition
2nd edition
Item Description
"First edition published by Iowa State University Press in Ames, Iowa, in 1996"--Title page verso.
Physical Description
200 pages ; 22 cm
ISBN
9781591931270
Contents unavailable.

Back to Her Grave It was about dusk on a crisp but cloudy fall night about 1900. A young man we'll call Tom started home from Dorchester in his small buggy. His faithful though somewhat jumpy stallion, appropriately named Spook, would take him the twelve or thirteen miles toward Waukon to where Tom lived on a small farm. While crossing a dry run, the tugs on the harness slackened a little and one came unhooked. Tom, quite agile at age twenty, quickly leaped down from the buggy without stopping and fastened the tug again. Then, with one hand on the side bar of the seat, he heaved himself back up into the buggy. Much to his surprise and not much to his liking, there sat a lady passenger beside him. She was dressed in black and wore a black broad-brimmed hat with a black veil hiding her face. That was all he could see, even at close range, since there was no moonlight to help him out. Tom had no idea who she was or how she got there so quickly. All he knew was that he wanted to get home as fast as possible. Tom knew that Spook couldn't have seen her approach the buggy because he would have reacted to this strange figure. But when Tom slapped the reins, Spook bolted into a frenzied gallop. Though horse and buggy were nearly out of control, Spook miraculously managed to stay on the curvy road. No one else was out on that stretch of road at the time. The strange passenger didn't say a word, and Tom was too dumfounded to start up a conversation with her. He wished Spook would slow down, so he himself could tumble out and leave the ghost--or whatever it was--to tear off into the darkness with the galloping horse. But Spook knew the road well and kept going at that wild speed for several miles. Soon Tom was aware that he and his uninvited passenger were approaching the country church called Hanover and the cemetery near it. The cemetery had been in use since 1889--just about a year. Alongside the burial ground, the darkly dressed passenger somehow leaped or floated from the buggy. Tom could just manage to see her shape as she moved as fast as the stallion. But Spook stayed on the road. The woman ran into the cemetery and disappeared into an open grave, just as Spook rounded the next curve and left the cemetery behind. Excerpted from Ghostly Tales of Iowa by Ruth D. Hein, Vicky L. Hinsenbrock All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.