Stacey's Ghost Story...

The year that I was 13, my family bought 40 acres of beautiful property in the northeast corner of Oregon. It had everything a family would want; a creek, a pond, gorgeous views and plenty of trees and bushes for kids to play in. It even hosted it's own resident ghost.
Mom and Dad picked out the perfect spot for a pole shed, with living quarters, that would become our temporary home while building a log house up on the hill.
Early that fall, when the evenings began to turn crisp, we noticed some mysterious occurences. We had moved in before drilling a well, so had no running water. Consequently, we had to carry water from the pond for our menagerie of animals. One dusky evening, while at the pond we heard people calling "Karen, Karen". We quickly packed the water in that night. It continued to happen, so there was no lollygagging at the pond in the evenings.
Sometimes the scent of a sweaty man hung in the air.
While we "noisy children" were in school and Mom was at home alone, she would often have things pulled from her hands and would see a little girl sitting on the ladder leading up to the loft.
Even though I heard the calls for "Karen", I never truly believed we really had a ghost until one day in the middle of the afternoon. The bus dropped us off as usual at the end of the driveway. I was the first one down the driveway and to my dismay, saw a little girl running around our yard. She had long blonde hair and wore a long dress. I went in the house expecting my Mom to be visiting with a lady friend and said, "Mom, who's here?". We had no visitors, only a ghostly apparition by the name of "Karen".
We believe Karen was a little girl from the 1800's, traveling with her family. She must have become lost on the property we later purchased. Her parents ghosts have been searching for her ever since.
Children have always felt safe and comfortable around my Mom, so I believe Karen liked to play at our house while we were in school.

By Stacey Roth
Written October 2005