A Ghostly Ghost Town?

by Rain Trueax

In 2010, my husband and i were on a freewheeling trip through Montana, with no set destinations. He suggested we stop at Bannack. I wasn't that excited at the possibility, since I knew little of its history as a mining town. When we got there, I learned it was where Henry Plummer met his end, and I instantly got more interested.

Bannack was supposed to be Bannock, for the Native American tribe. When registering it, someone misspelled it. After stopping at the visitor center, paying the admittance and getting a small pamphlet explaining some of the buildings, we were free to wander through the town. It was very picturesque, perfect for the camera with structures in better shape than many other ghost towns  I have visited.

In several of the buildings, I wondered if there might be ghosts. Mining towns of that time had many sudden deaths with much potential for a spirit hanging around. I didn't actually feel any energy from a ghost-- despite being open to it. Maybe a nighttime visit would have a different result. Do ghosts have a preferred time to come out? Especially in the hotel, I took photos wondering if something more would show up-- it didn't.

One of the more likely possibilities as a ghost would be Henry Plummer. His story is filled with all the controversy as is found with other bigger than life people of that time. Was Plummer a murderous outlaw or in the end victimized by the vigilantes who were the real robbers and killers. Online, you can find many opinions as to who he was and his history. Here's one-- [Henry Plummer].

When I decided to write about Bannack, I went looking online for 'ghost hunters' who had been there. Although I have never seen a ghost myself, I have been places where I've felt strange energies. I can't say it was true at Bannack. When I return someday, which I'd love to do, and camp in the lovely campground with our vacation trailer, I would at least know who might have been unwilling to leave even after death.

Dorothy Dunn was in her teens when she drowned in the dredge pond August 4, 1916. Her friend, who had been with her that fateful day, was the first to claim she appeared to her as a ghost. Today, it appears children are most likely to see her wearing a blue dress. She has talked to some in Hotel Meade, which had been her home, as her father was hotel manager at the time of her death.

Supposedly, the hotel has other apparitions. An older woman haunts the second floor as well as Dorothy. Crying children are also supposedly heard by some. Are those ghosts or impressions left by past energies. The hotel was used for a time

as a hospital-- places very likely to have ghostly manifestations.  Saloons like the one alongside here have sudden death stories of shootouts and bullets gone astray.
 
Another building with ghostly stories is Chrismans' Store. It had offices at the back used by Henry Plummer. Some, who do this kind of research, claim to have photographed hauntings with fuzzy figures. This though is the kind of thing that always makes me wary, since photos can be so easily faked. Still, are there even today ghostly meetings there where the men chew the fat-- so to speak?

The Bessette House is another claimed location. Abed Bessette, who first owned it, was one of the vigilantes. He raised sheep and owned several buildings, including the hotel. He died in Bannack in 1919. Did he not want to leave? 

The possibilities for ghosts in his home go beyond him. During typhoid, diphtheria, and other killer epidemics, his home was used to quarantine patients and many died there. There is supposedly photo evidence of a ghost there.

In terms of becoming a ghost, one of the most exciting potentials has to be Henry Plummer. After a checkered history (read link above) in 1863, he had arrived in Bannack where he was appointed sheriff.  Was he using that as a way to also rob and murder with his posse, named The Innocents? Whoever was doing the violence, 102 people were murdered in mining camps and along the road between [Bannack and Virginia City]. 

On December 23, 1863, a vigilante committee was organized, formed a posse, captured him, put him in his own jail before they hung him on a gallows above the town, along with two of his deputies. That gallows is still there or so goes the story. He'd done a lot in his 27 years but was he trying to do right by Bannack?  Questions remain as to whether the real robbers were the vigilantes since the robberies didn't stop with his death. 

Was Plummer wronged, and he hangs around the town out of anger at a tragic miscarriage of justice, a desire to find vindication, or did he have nowhere else to go after a misused life? There are those who claim they have seen him in the Skinner Saloon, Chrismans' store and other buildings in the town. His grave, higher up the gulch with the gallows, has been robbed twice. The second time it is claimed his skull was taken and put in a saloon. That saloon later burned to the ground.

Do I believe in ghosts? I don't know. I have friends who claim to see them. I've watched a couple of the cable shows where they search for them, knew one of the psychics who was on a show when they went to Tombstone ghost hunting. I haven't been convinced ghosts are a reality-- don't know that they're not either. 

I've put ghosts in only one of my books, A Price to be Paid. It's an Arizona paranormal/metaphysical romance that goes into reincarnation and whether one lifetime is enough to pay for wrong deeds. The possible man needing to pay for his misspent life was in one of my Arizona historicals, where he met a fitting end.

For me, such thinking comes under the heading of speculation and mystery. I won't go ghost hunting... well, unless I head back to Bannack to camp in that lovely campground. 

JENNIFER STILL HAUNTS HER FORMER HOME

Elizabeth Ayers and I have traded days for October and she will post on the 26th.

With Halloween decorations everywhere and the haunting time drawing near, today I'm sharing a tale of a genuine ghost in Erath County, Texas. Yes, I said genuine—as in real, authentic, actual. Read on if you dare …

There are several versions of the story of Jennifer Papworth, her husband Charlie, their son Temple, and their infant daughter. Although some accounts differ, the ending is the same: Jennifer’s ghost still haunts the area around McDow’s Hole on Green Creek. In most sightings, she carries the body of her infant daughter. I’ve compiled most accounts of how her plight began.

Charlie and Jennifer and their son came to Texas from either Georgia or Alabama to escape an outbreak of malaria in the 1850s. They built a cabin on the banks of Green Creek near a scenic deep part of the creek called McDow’s Hole. Charlie was the nephew of his neighbor, Jim McDow, Sr.

This was near the town of  Harper's Mill, which later became Alexander but which has mostly disappeared (40 residents in 2000). At that time, Erath County was the frontier and home to many who flaunted the law. Charlie and Jennifer apparently had no trouble when they arrived. Charlie worked hard and, according to Jim McDow Jr., the family was successful.

Now Erath County is picturesque and home
to Texas A&M University at Stephenville

Charlie eventually learned that his parents had died and he had inherited their furniture. He had it shipped by train to Texarkana but that was as far as the rail lines ran at that time. Leaving Jennifer, their son Temple, and their infant daughter at the cabin, Charlie left for Texarkana to collect his inheritance.

Jennifer and the children were supposed to spend nights at the home of their neighbors, the Jim McDow family, and return to the cabin and her chores only for the days. When she didn’t return one evening, the McDows feared for her and the children but thought she might have gone to the home of the Beige Keith family, other neighbors.

The next day the McDows and Keiths went to the Papworth cabin and found the cabin interior disturbed and blood, but no Jennifer or the baby. As they deliberated, Temple crawled out from under the bed. He was so traumatized he couldn’t form sentences to tell what had happened.

W. P. Brownlow led the claim that the attack was renegade Comanche. Soon, the recovered Temple told his father that story wasn’t true. He said the men were white and spoke English.  

In fact, there was a group of local thugs who dressed as Indians to rob homesteads and rustle cattle. Because of Brownlow's insistence and the fact that his quirt had been found near the cabin, Brownlow was suspected. He explained the lost quirt by saying he had been by the cabin the day before the attack and stopped to ask if Jenny had seen his stray cattle. Although he was still under suspicion, no actual proof could be obtained.

As new people moved into the area, Brownlow began a campaign accusing Charlie of horse thievery. Soon there were enough new residents who didn’t know Charlie and believed Brownlow. One night in 1857, a group of hooded “vigilantes” went house to house pulling men to receive “justice”. Charlie and five other men were targeted and hanged one by one from a pecan tree on the banks of McDow’s Hole. Charlie was hanged last, near daybreak.

Pecan tree, Texas state tree

The leader suggested eliminating Temple, but the other vigilantes weren’t willing to kill a child. The pecan tree was Temple Papworth’s favorite climbing tree. He cut the rope and freed his father in time to save him. Charlie tried to help the other five victims, but they were dead.

At least two of the other victims were innocent men. Charlie had recognized Brownlow’s voice as the leader of the hooded men. Fearing for their lives, Charlie and Temple Papworth borrowed a horse from Beige Keith and left for Oklahoma Territory. They never returned.

That’s when sightings began of Jennifer carrying her baby.

Over the years, many people have witnessed Jennifer walking in the area. She has been seen standing on the railroad tracks where the train passes through her. Beige Keith and his son saw her when they spent three nights in the Papworth cabin. People stayed in the cabin on a dare, but most left during the night. One was found dead with the door barred, apparently literally scared to death.

Dieletta Hickey recounted stories of her family members seeing Jenny and her baby countless times.  When appearing to them, Jenny appeared a live woman carrying an infant, but would disappear. Once Dieletta asked her mother why she never admitted to seeing Jenny. Mrs. Hickey replied that if she did, someone would tell her there was no such thing as a ghost. If that happened, it would be the same as calling Mrs. Hickey a liar but how could she prove otherwise? She said she knew exactly what she’d seen over the years, but the information was best kept within the family.

One satisfying (to me) sighting was when W. P. Brownlow was on his deathbed. Fearing reprisal from Charlie, Brownlow had moved to Hamilton, Texas. He had two men sitting with him on death watch. 

He screamed, “That woman, that woman! Keep her away from me!”

The men saw Jenny’s ghost standing at the foot of the bed.

Then, Brownlow confessed to killing Jenny and her baby and throwing the bodies down a deep well and covering them with rocks. He said he believed Jenny had heard him making plans with two rustlers. To keep her quiet, he murdered her and her baby.

Although Jenny Papworth's story started over 160 years ago, people still see Jenny and her baby. Sometimes she hovers over McDow's Hole as if walking on water. Other times, she walks among the trees of that lovely setting near Highway 6 and Farm to Market 914. The property is now marked with a “No Trespassing” sign. 

Beware: Jenny doesn’t observe such signs! 

What about you? Have you ever seen a ghost?

Sources:

https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/14175240/

http://themoonlitroad.com/mcdow-hole-texas-ghost-story-haunted/

http://www.texasescapes.com/Ghosts/The-McDow-Hole.htm

TALES OF BAD MEN, BAD WOMEN, AND BAD PLACES, C. F. Eckhardt, Texas Tech University Press, 1999.

Caroline Clemmons is the Amazon bestselling and award winning author of numerous western romances. 

Her latest release is MISTLETOE MISTAKE, a Christmas story. Originally this story was included in the anthology Wild Western Women…Mistletoe, Montana. 

Shannon Callahan worked hard to become a physician. In New York, she meets resistance to a woman doctor and feels she is treated as no more than a midwife. When the opportunity arises for her to go to Montana and be the only doctor in the town of Mistletoe, she grabs the chance. 

Riley McCallister is sheriff of Mistletoe, Montana. When he learns the new doctor is a woman, he is shocked and vows never to let her treat him—no matter how beautiful she is. Slowly, Shannon’s skill wins his respect—and more. Shannon’s expertise and dedication during a measles epidemic convinces the town she is a good doctor—but does their acceptance come too late? 

Find Caroline's complete list of books at her Amazon Author Page. Join her mailing list to receive a free copy of HAPPY IS THE HEART.