Ghost Hunter

The Swamp Road Chronicles^®

"Ghost Hunter"

Dear Swamp Road Chronicles Editor,

I only have one story about Swamp Road Sally, but it is enough. I never want another. Here's what happened to me.

I am an experienced ghost hunter, I went to Swamp Road one night with all kinds of electronics. I had cameras, infra-red cameras, motion detectors, ghost boxes, digital thermometers, EMF detectors and a really good digital sound recorder. I was all set. My friends Ron and Matt came with me and we got set up as close to the middle of the swamp as we could. Without sinking into a bog or quicksand, that is. I was going to "catch" Swamp Road Sally.

This was to be a dream-come-true for me. I have always loved every aspect of the paranormal; you know, UFO's, ghosts, cryptids, and all manner of spooky folklore. I watched every paranormal-type show on TV, and still do. Swamp Road Sally was going to be my big capture. I was well-prepared and experienced. This was not my first rodeo, as they say, I had investigated numerous haunted sites and had several encounters with spirits. I have incredible things on my digital audio recorder. My ghost box has been so accurate that it almost scares me. My investigation of the Civil War Prisoner site called 'Camp Chase' in Columbus, Ohio was so productive and mind-blowing that it took me 2 weeks to calm down. I am writing a book about the messages I received there from the spirits of Confederate Soldiers on my digital recorder. I want to verify a few facts and then we will be publishing the book, probably in November. The working title is: 'Johnny Reb Speaks From The Grave.'

We were all set up by midnight, all of our equipment in place and operating correctly, but by 3 AM nothing had happened. We hadn't seen anything, not even on the digital voice recorder, nothing on the infra-red camera or motion detector either. I had to do something. It was only 2 hours 'til dawn. So, I started to try to provoke her.

You have seen this technique on many shows. The host will start saying things to rile the ghost up. Saying things unkind and rude to the ghost. Insults. Saying things about its mother, you get the idea. Well, I tried that. I made fun of Sally and her family I told her she was just a big sissy-girl and was more afraid of us than we were of her. I did that for over an hour and…. Nothing!

The sun rose, we packed up our gear and went home. We were very much disappointed. The only thing I had "caught" was 47 mosquito bites. As I was pulling away from the site and waving goodbye to Ron and Matt, I had a sudden feeling of foreboding, and of regret for trying to provoke Sally, she's just a girl and though dead, I thought I should have been kinder. By the time I made it home, cleaned the gear and stored it away, got some breakfast and fell into bed, it was after 2 PM. I was exhausted and I slept like a dead man. That is, until about 10 PM, when I was awakened by the rumbling and flashing of a summer thunder storm.

I laid there in my bed, awake but with my eyes shut, listening to the storm and thinking about the previous night's failure. I thought about how I had shouted things out into the Swamp for Sally to hear, and how it had resulted in no response at all. I thought about how I picked up no evidence on my electronics that I had spent so much money for. "Maybe there is no Swamp Road Sally," I thought.

I realized, just then, that there was a presence in the room with me. I hadn't heard anything, but I just knew. I opened my eyes and looked around the dark room. A little light came in the windows, but not much. I noticed a dark shape mostly hidden behind the open bedroom door. I called out to it: "Who's there?" It jumped out behind that door and faster than I could believe, it raced to the foot of my bed, grabbed my feet with icy-cold hands and began pulling me toward the foot of the bed. I was terrified. It was Sally! She had been provoked after all. She had come for me. I was doomed! I kicked at her and screamed and screamed. With one last desperate twist of my body I kicked hard at her face and threw myself to the right. BAM! I fell to the floor and hit my head hard on the wooden floor. And then…, I awoke. I had been dreaming! You would not believe how relieved I felt. I was not going to be dragged to Hell by Sally. I was not going to have my brain eaten either. But I was going to leave Sally alone in the future. And I was going to stay off of Swamp Road.

You might wonder why I want to stay away from Sally if it was just a dream I had and she wasn't really after me. Well, I'm sure it was only a dream, but I haven't been able to explain the muddy footprints on the floor by the end of my bed or the scratches on my ankles.

As submitted by "Spook" Beckland June 12, 2023 Worthington, Ohio

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