Putting the “Boo” in Boone County

Everybody loves a good ghost story, as long as it’s not too scary. The editor of the Boone County Recorder noticed the popularity of the supernatural in the early 1980s and reached out to readers for stories of local haunts. We re-tell a sampling here to get you in the spirit.

A Union woman remembered a child’s rocking chair that moved on its own regularly, rocking back and forth in the room of her childhood friend, sometimes for as long as 10-15 minutes at a time. She recalled that the chair was found in the attic when the family moved into the house. At other times, the family heard footsteps going up and down during the night. The matriarch of the house also claimed her recently deceased dog still slept at the foot of her bed!

Another local haunting involved a loud spirit with criminal tendencies. The trouble began with clanging noises emitting from the basement of a house that a family had recently purchased. Though the noises continued, the family determined there was no danger and ignored them, which must have infuriated their ghost. Soon, many pieces of expensive jewelry either disappeared or were moved to unusual places that could not be explained. One such incident involved a pair of gold earrings that had been carefully removed and put into the jewelry box. They disappeared by morning and were later found under the bed, wedged into a crack in the wood floor by their stems. Another item involved a ring that vanished from a dresser top that was later found deep inside a shoe in the closet. The family solved the problem by buying a ghost-proof safe.

The spookiest local reader submission came with tales of swarming flies, full-body apparitions, floating objects, broken mirrors and even blankets yanked from people sleeping in a particular bedroom. Other reported incidents included unexplained noises, disembodied voices and a man arriving on horseback to enter the home. The owner claimed that visits from both academic and spiritual experts in the paranormal had rendered similar impressions, but no relief from the unwanted visits. Once, after a curly-haired visitor had his hair straightened by fear, the owner began to decorate with figures of angels and cherubs, which calmed her fears. The owner claimed that prior to her purchase, the once-grand historic building had slipped into disrepair, and many tenants had lived and died in the home. The subsequent renovation was thought to have stirred up the ghosts, who, despite best efforts, were unsuccessful in scaring off the new owner. One can only wonder if these restless spirits, or others like them, still wander the area today.