"Don't you think Mytree has changed a lot since the spruce fell on his head, John?"
"Yes, Eric, but life has odd stories in stock anyway."
Hello cowboys and cowgirls!
Today, by popular demand, we present a double feature. We've visited ghost towns and met creepy people, so it's not far-fetched for us to report on mysteries from the Old West today.
William Wirt Winchester, the son of arms tycoon Oliver Winchester, married Sarah Lockwood Pardee in 1862. A perfect marriage, they could have lived happily ever after, but alas, it turned out differently. Oliver Winchester died in 1880, William less than three months later and Sarah's mother also died during this period. This time could have been called haunted, but the fabulous fortune Sarah inherited, according to legend, held the actual curse. The legend says that the spirits of those who died at the hands of a Winchester rifle would find their way back to those who had brought the evil (the rifle) into the world and haunt them.
In addition, the legend continues that Sarah consulted her deceased husband through a medium as to what she should use the immense fortune for, and in response received a mandate from the deceased to build a home for the dead.
Following the advice of her doctor, Sarah moved from Connecticut to California, where she purchased a farm in San Jose, which was expanded and remodelled in the years to come. Countless rooms, bedrooms, corridors and staircases were added over the next 36 years, and the building grew into a seven-storey maze with nearly 500 rooms by 1900. Doors led directly to the walls, corridors to nowhere. In 1906, however, the spirits must have been somewhat dissatisfied with the unliving conditions, for they caused the earth to shake and the building was badly damaged.
But after the Great Quake, work did not stop and the building continued to be constructed and by Sarah's death in 1922, it had 160 rooms, 2.000 doors and 10.000 windows. Subsequently, the building was supposed to make way for a rollercoaster, but this plan was scrapped after massive protests - presumably the ghosts would have been annoyed by this too. Nevertheless, the Winchester House remains a place for all kinds of spooky things. We recommend a visit there.
From indoors to outdoors, we cycle 1826 kilometres southeast and end up in Marfa, Texas. Never heard of it? Doesn’t matter actually, you don't have to know every ghost personally and have to sublet to them.
In 1883, a young cowhand named Robert Reed Ellison saw a flickering light that he initially thought was a campfire of the local Apache tribe. Investigations revealed, however, that there had never been a camp there. The flickering light was also mentioned by the other settlers.
Between 1945 and 2008, this flickering light was seen 34 times.
But what is behind this mysterious light?
We open the monster manual of a notorious fantasy role-playing game on page 165 and find the will-o'-the-wisp, a creature that, according to folklore, dwells in swamps and graveyards and tempts the curious to their doom. We looked up the area in a search engine but found no swamps or graveyards.
The next semi-conclusive explanation would be car lights, but automobiles didn't pass through Texas in 1883.
Then there are atmospheric phenomena, a mirage caused by light passing through a cool layer of air, which then abruptly hits a warm layer of air at a low angle and is sometimes reflected totally. Or Marfa is the gathering place of the super rare ball lightning, but for that you need a thunderstorm.
Whatever the case, which explanation is the best? Have you ever been to Marfa? You want to send us a haunting from the Winchester house? Well, keep 'em coming. Either here or on our social media channels.