I was reading through the archives and in the August of 2008 stories I came across a story from Eureka, Missouri. The name of the story was "The Ashen Ghost".
I betcha I know where that house is. The author stated it was a new home and no one else had lived there. Well, in Eureka they've put in several beautiful and very expensive subdivisions. One of these is right next to some very old railroad tracks. Some of the homes' backyards back up to these tracks.
Years ago, when I was just a kid, the area was wild and totally undeveloped. Right next to the tracks there were the remains of an old burned-down building. Nothing was left but some scorched ancient wood, some blackened stones, and a cellar hole half filled with debris. My friends, family, and I would use a metal detector in the area and find things like spoons and granite dishes.
The story that was well known in my grandparents' time and was an old story even then goes like this:
The ruins were at one time a stop on the railroad and was a hotel for passengers and people traveling on old Route 66, which still runs close to it. There was a terrible fire deep one night and no one got out alive. It was a primitive building and probably had straw as insulation. My grandpa said it was terrible and no one could make "heads or tails" out of the remains.
Through the next few days, men from the area sifted what they could from the cellar and buried them in the field behind the old hotel. This would be right where those homes are today. Maybe this is just a coincidence, but another coincidence is the name of the subdivision: The Legends. No fooling!
I believe the fire happened sometime in the 1890s. I clearly remember watching the new homes going up and thinking, Wow. They're disturbing graves and don't even know it.
