Real Life Ghost Stories✔

Ghost Above Our Bed

In October 1996, I worked as a journalist for The Dallas Morning News and wrote a Halloween-themed article about how cities such as Waxahachie, Tx., used haunted attractions to draw visitors and pump in money to local restaurants and other businesses.

My ex-wife, Michelle, and I visited several haunted attractions, including Screams in Waxahachie. We slept one night at the Chaska House, a Victorian Revival-style bed and breakfast in the middle of downtown Waxahachie that was built in 1900 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was just down the street from the Catfish Plantation (pictured above), a restaurant converted from an 1895 Victorian house that has long been written about as a haunted site.

We went to sleep before midnight not expecting anything unusual. But around 2 a.m., I woke up for some reason and looked over at Michelle. I was surprised to see her eyes wide open and a look of fear on her face as she fixed her gaze above the bed.
Then I heard the distinct sound of laughter. It was high-pitched like an adolescent.

I heard a voice say something like, “Look, she’s scared.” And then laugh.

I looked up and observed three ghostly figures flying in a figure eight motion above the bed near the ceiling a few feet above us. Two had female faces, with the third a male, similar to three ghosts seen by some at the Catfish Plantation.

Needless to say, I was surprised. But I was not abnormally frightened, as Michelle was. I had read about ghost stories since I was a kid and heard a few tales from my mom that were interesting, including she believing she had seen the spirit of my older sister, who had died when she was only nine. I had also covered stories of haunted houses, stayed in a few at night, and known some psychics.

But I hadn’t really seen or heard a ghost until this incident in the bed and breakfast. I was fascinated and sat up, trying to look closer to make sure I was really seeing some ghosts. They looked like wisps of light for their bodies, with detailed faces. I then realized how scared Michelle was and didn’t think to ask the ghosts any questions. I just told them to leave in a fairly loud, firm voice, and they did, seemingly vanishing in the air.

I looked outside the bedroom and didn’t see anything. The following morning, Michelle and I told the bed and breakfast host what we had seen and asked if others had ever reported any similar incidents. He said they had, but unlike the Catfish Plantation, they didn’t like to publicize their ghostly visits. He said similar reports came from several other century-old homes in the Waxahachie area.

There are at least three ghosts seen, heard or felt at the Catfish Plantation, according to the restaurant’s owners. There is a farmer named Will Anderson, who died there in the 1930s and sometimes is seen on the front porch dressed in overalls before vanishing. There is Elizabeth Anderson, the daughter of Will who was reportedly strangled in the dwelling on the day of her wedding around 1920, perhaps by a jealous ex-lover. She has been seen looking out the bay window. And there is Caroline Mooney, who lived in the house from 1953 until 1970.

The house was also the birthplace of Paul Richards, a former manager of the Baltimore Orioles and Chicago White Sox who played for the Detroit Tigers and other teams.

Restaurant workers have reported a fry basket levitating in the kitchen, cups and food flying through the air as if being thrown at them, a glowing blue light illuminating an empty room, and the ghostly figure of a bride standing by the bay window. Customers have reported silverware moving, strange voices, restroom lights going on and off by themselves, and other mysterious incidents.

The place burned in 2003 but was renovated. During renovations, workers said tools disappeared or were moved. As one worker put up a pane of glass, he noticed writing on dust on the window that read, “Don’t be scared.”

After new owners purchased the restaurant in 2007, they had paranormal investigators with the Association for the Study of Unexplained Phenomenon review the site. The investigators confirmed several spirits, who reportedly were categorized as “friendly and positive,” according to the owners.

I haven’t heard or seen anything like that myself since 1997 – at least nothing that clear. But each year around Halloween, I remember the incident at the Chaska House. It helps me believe that life continues after we die.