Wanna be freaked out?

[MichaelHarris]

I know this is General Discussion and what I want to share with you is "General" and can be "Discussed". I know it's almost Halloween and everything is just a little bit scarier but this really happened to me yesterday.

I've been working on a book about wheat farmers on the Palouse in eastern Washington. Here is a sample: http://photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=758745

I try to document as many old homesteads as I can find, some are almost gone. I take topo maps and a GPS when I go out because some of the old roads wind on forever. I had chosen a town called Farmington to visit on this day. After taking a few shots of the old town I moved on, following an old road that was supposed to lead to an early settlement. Before I got there I came upon a stand of trees, in the trees was this very old cemetery. It was almost completely lost to time:





Further down the road I saw an old barn, almost collapsed and I decided explore it. When I arrived I saw what looked like a car inside. Upon closer inspection I found a 1980's Mercedes:


Jimmy Hoffa or the last people to explore this road?

Here's where it gets strange, I have a lot of maps and info on the area so I usually know about old towns and stuff. Not this time. I rounded the corner of a very old dirt road and found myself in a town. Abandoned houses every hundred yards or so. One in particular caught my attention:



I got out of my truck, leaving the door open and started taking pictures. As I got closer to the house I heard a baby crying. It came from all directions sort of and I wrote it off as my MP3 player hooked up to my truck stereo. When I got back to my truck the song was "Crown of Creation" by Jefferson Airplane, no way is there a sound like a crying baby in that song. I was a little freaked by then. Here is a shot of the last building in what is left of the town. I have no idea it's purpose:



Michael Harris,
I ain't making this shit up

[Tuesday Afternoon]

1. Cool Stuff

The Twilight Zone.

[MichaelHarris]

4. I'm trying

to convince a buddy of mine to camp out with me in that town. That would be incredibly freaky.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

12. Totally awesome --

Here is something from my neck of the woods (is this the thread where we tell ghost stories?)

The Brown Mountain Lights are one of the most famous of North Carolina legends. They have been reported a dozen times in newspaper stories. They have been investigated at least twice by the U.S. Geological Survey. And they have attracted the attention of numerous scientists and historians since the German engineer, Gerard Will de Brahm, recorded the mysterious lights in the North Carolina mountains in 1771.

more at link:

http://www.ibiblio.org/ghosts/bmtn.html

[Sugar Smack]

75. OOH! Have you heard of the Pactolis (sp?) Light?

When I was in college I heard all kinds of stories about it! :toast: Cheers, friend!

[Tuesday Afternoon]

84. cool stuff ---

http://www.unsolvedmysteries.com/usm567.html

There is a book out with ghost stories from all 100 counties in NC...I heard this on the radio the other day.

[Sequoia]

103. What's the title of the book?

[MichaelHarris]

86. the

town was called Yellow Dog, new pics on a new thread in a sec.

[The Backlash Cometh]

37. Why don't you contact those ghost people on t.v.?

They have all kind of electronic equipment to record the paranormal.

Can't figure out how a show whose "experts," claim only a 20% chance of discovering paranormal phenomena manages to survive, but it does.

[bananas]

67. The Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS)

For people who don't watch the sci-fi channel:
http://www.scifi.com/ghosthunters/
http://www.the-atlantic-paranormal-society.com/

[cynatnite]

2. Almost about like where I grew up...

Abandoned farmhouses, rundown barns and forgotten old cemetaries....all similar to your photos. That's about like the outlying areas around my small hometown.

Thanks for sharing the photos.

[MichaelHarris]

5. you're very welcome

I'm digging around trying to find out some info on the town. I forgot to mention, most of the names in that overgrown cemetery have the namesake of the county. What's weird about that is no county history or record mentions that cemetery.

[Devlzown]

3. What was that? A church, a school, a meeting house,

all three? Who owns that land there now? Why did all the people there move away? Do you know anything?

[MichaelHarris]

7. I know

absolutely nothing. I do know the town I went to visit, Farmington, was founded in 1888 and is the closest one to the abandoned one. There is no mention so far of this town.

[Devlzown]

13. There are places like that here in MS too, but

they put up markers to explain what happened or you can ask a local person and they'll tell you why everyone left. 1888 isn't really that long ago, but I know how people are out west. They go out there to start over and don't give a shit about what happened before they got there. Good luck finding the answers.

[MindPilot]

64. So you know how people "are" out west, huh?

One would think as much as the south is painted with that broad brush you would be a bit more careful with it.

[Devlzown]

104. Well I guess I owe an apology for that one.

The few friends I have out there shouldn't be allowed to speak for all of y'all.:dunce:

[greyl]

6. Wow, what a great location. Nice pics.

Looks like a great place for cats to hang out. ;)

[MichaelHarris]

8. cougars

LOL, we have a few around here.

[greyl]

11. ... on the other hand, why should we be shocked if you heard a human baby crying?

If someone were in desperate need of shelter, that building would sure do the trick, eh?

[MichaelHarris]

15. it would

but I think it was a ghost baby.

[greyl]

21. Ah, well if you're still hoping to get your buddy to go there with you

for an exhilarating evening of scaring the shit out of yourselves during Halloween season, keep thinking that. ;)

[MichaelHarris]

47. it's the zombies

I have a zombie survival book but I don't think it's enough.

[_testify_]

60. I'm with you on the zombies!

I have that Zombie Survival Guide too. If you want a great read, another DUer pointed out that the author has a new book out called World War Z: an Oral History of the Zombie War. It was too cool!!

[MichaelHarris]

87. the town

was called yellow dog, I'll post some pics in a new thread!

[zippy890]

23. cats can sound like babies crying

outside- especially wild cats.

now you've got me interested in that ghost town. there should be records somewhere.

keep us posted on your findings.

wonderful photos

:hi:

[MichaelHarris]

31. thank you

ghosts are OK, it's those zombies that'll mess you up. I know another cool town in Oregon called Flora. It's a very good ghost town, old clapboard buildings still standing and the old school.

[NashVegas]

95. I Was Thinking Cats or Goats

...

and the pics are gorgeous.

[Chiyo-chichi]

58. It CLEARLY was a ghost baby.

[Bright Eyes]

9. There's stuff like that in my state too.

A completely abandoned neighborhood called Demon's Alley:
-----
http://www.lostdestinations.com/demons.htm

Legend says that a man eventually lured all of his neighbors to his home, presumably under the guise of a "neighborhood meeting", perhaps in order to address the recent rash of events. Once all of the unsuspecting families had been led down into his basement for the meeting, cult members emerged from their hiding places to massacre the whole neighborhood in a frenzied ritual of violence. Although there are many "Satanic" symbols and messages scrawled throughout the Demon's houses and outbuildings, there are no records to substantiate the claims of cultists or mass murders.
-----

Kinda creepy, eh?

[smokey nj]

66. Thanks for the link!!! I live in NJ, but I've never heard about Demon's Alley.

This is fascinating.

[misanthrope]

10. I found Farmington WA on Google Earth...

...how would I follow the map to get to this locale?

I would say the light pole beside the house where you heard the "baby cry" doesn't look too terribly old, less than 40 years. And the Mercedes would seem to indicate someone's been there in the last 20 years.

The last building you showed appears to be a community building that was likely used for town meetings, church service or school.

The trick to finding out what the town is and how it suffered its demise would be archives of local newspapers.

[MichaelHarris]

17. I took a road

called Grinnell rd. The more I look into it the old town maybe be called Grinnell. It's all right in the Idaho border and I drove maybe 20 miles down that road. The Mercedes is about ummm 10 miles before you get to the town.

This is getting fun :) I also see someting called Ladow just north of Grinnell. I wonder if those are old towns?

[iamthebandfanman]

42. i found Grinnell on google earth

whats weird is , that where its at is blocked out......
lol

pretty much can see everything on both sides of it...

but just happens to be a strip of no detail right on top of it...

weird stuff. lol

cant see Ladow either... also in same strip lol

[MichaelHarris]

49. On my map

on my Laptop that has GPS it shows Grinnell at a fork in the road. One of the roads only goes about 150 yards though. I didn't go down that road because I never saw it. There are two areas with large clumps of trees. On the Palouse that's odd because there are no trees. When I usually explore clumps of trees I find collapsed houses and stuff. I'm defiantly going back to get pictures of every structure left.

[emilyg]

14. Kool. Thanks.

[Az]

16. Could be squatters or Gypsies

Both groups can move into abandoned towns and take over facilities.

[MichaelHarris]

18. That one house is the only one that looks

like it had electricity. Here is one of the others:

[trusty elf]

19. That's very creepy indeed.

I once passed an old house that was inhabited by a deranged lunatic, and the thought of what went on in there sent shivers down my spine.

[MichaelHarris]

20. man

the ghoul that lives in that house freaks me out.

[krispos42]

22. Cool pictures!

Got GPS coordinantes of that place? I'd like to take a peek on Google Earth and see what comes up.

[MichaelHarris]

30. thanks

I'm working on that. I'll check my GPS to see if it stored them.

[leftchick]

24. that is freaky

I would have had to try and go into one of the buildings. Were you tempted? How many houses were there? Are you planing on exploring more? That is really interesting stuff.

[MichaelHarris]

32. I went in one

once at another place and it's real freaky. I'm going to see if my buddy wants to go this weekend, he's Mormon and he'll put the fear of God in any spooks that bother us. I do think I'm going on one of them just to see if I can find some letters or something with an address.

[earth mom]

25. Flickr has quite a few groups that post photos of abandoned or decaying houses, buildings etc.

Your photos would fit in perfectly.

http://www.flickr.com/

But...a warning: you can easily get lost for hours checking out all the photos! :hi:

[MichaelHarris]

33. thanks

I'll look at that. It's so weird out here, you can drive right into an old town that looks like people just up and left it.

[Canuckistanian]

26. I'm getting obsessed with this. Can you give me some more info?

Is this Whitman County? I'm looking up old ghost towns of Washington State.

It may be an old town called Elberton, but I need more help locating it.

Got any GPS co-ordinates?

On edit:
I found this cemetary from Elberton. Look familiar?
http://imgred.com/tn/

[MichaelHarris]

28. Elberton

is almost a ghost town but it has a lot of people still living there. The old brick store fronts are pretty cool. This town is in Whitman Co and when I do a ghost town search it doesn't show up. It rained really bad today so I don't know if I can get there tomorrow. I have 4 wheel drive so I may try.

Tomorrow I'll check my GPS for the coordinates. I think it stores them. The cemetery you show looks close but this one has a wheat field right up next to it. A lot of the names are Whitman, I wonder if it's the same Whitman the county is named after? If so why doesn't any records say so? I do know there is a town out there somewhere where a massacre happened. Something about some missionaries I think.

[Canuckistanian]

41. Here's a useful site on cemetaries

http://interment.net/us/wa/whitman.htm
I haven't gone though them all yet.

BTW, the massacre happened at Waiilatpu Mission near Walla Walla.
http://www.legendsofamerica.com/wa-whitmanmassacre.html

[MichaelHarris]

46. ooohhh cool thanks

I've lived here 8 years and didn't know Walla Walla was in Whitman Co. I really need to go back and get the names off those tombstones. I think that will be a huge help.

[LunaSea]

27. online catalog of abandoned places

http://www.abandonedbutnotforgotten.com/

[MichaelHarris]

29. man

that is one cool building and they had to use a monster wide angle if they shot on digital.

[GreenPartyVoter]

81. Thanks for this. My littlest boy and I sat at the puter for some time

investigating. We got all the way to Florida before bedtime. :)

[Locrian]

34. sounds like you found a demon house

better call these guys

[MichaelHarris]

50. those guys

look scarier than zombies.

[alfredo]

99. Waverly Hills Sanitorium is supposed to be haunted by the ghosts

of some the people who died there.


http://www.prairieghosts.com/waverly_tb.html

It's outside of Louisville on the road to Ft Knox. My uncle was sent there for his Tuberculosis. He never left alive.

A strange light up the stairs

[progressoid]

35. Hey, how are things in the Palouse country?

My wife and I spent a couple years in Pullman in the 80's. She in grad school, me working in the WSU media dept. Your pictures make me want to return.

[MichaelHarris]

45. it's great

you should come back. Today is cold and rainy but that could change tomorrow, it could be cold and snowy. I do love the Palouse though!!

[progressoid]

51. Would love to.

Somewhere in WA or OR would be fine with me. Just can't afford to move now. Maybe in a few years.

[Snarkturian Clone]

36. I always like this kind of stuff.

I obsess about Philly and try to find out all the previous uses of all the buildings and addresses I frequent. Philly is finally in the process of releasing all of it's photos of everywhere in the city. They have a picture of my house in 1917, when it was only 103 years old (It's now 194).


Up until a few years ago there was an abandoned town that you could visit in northwest New Jersey. I think it was finally demolished.

[Kingshakabobo]

38. If young children show up, run like hell.

[MichaelHarris]

52. see

that's exactly what I'm saying. This time it's not corn, it's Children of the Wheat.

[TwilightGardener]

39. I love this kind of stuff, especially at this spooky time of year. Nebraska

and South Dakota are full of abandoned farmsteads and communities--life was hard on the prairie! I love getting lost on gravel roads and checking out those sad old houses and one-room schoolhouses and little church cemeteries. Thanks for the pics--your experience would have raised the hairs on the back of my neck, that's for sure.

[MichaelHarris]

53. Oh man

I bet you guys have a lot of them. I always think about how much older the eastern US is but every now and then I come across some old town or something out west.

[Vanje]

40. Beware of the giant Palouse earthworms.

They're 3 feet long, with an enticing floral aroma. They spit.

http://www.palouseprairie.org/invertebrates/palouseworm.html

[MichaelHarris]

54. Cool!!

I've never seen or heard of that. It said habitat loss but I'm not sure about that because the only thing the Palouse is good for is wheat, it'll always be the Palouse and bunch grass.

[Vanje]

62. Apparently

Before the Palouse was good for wheat, it was good for whopper Palouse earthworms.

[donsu]

43. I once found a slave house in the woods

it was in Calvert County, Md.

was messing about in the woods with the dogs and came upon this very small wood bldg.

had part of the room as a sleeping ledge, with a couple of wood pieces for steps up.

hardly big enough for a 6 ft. person to lay down straight.

and near the bldg. was a cast iron skillet on legs. I bought it home and cleaned it up and kept it as a reminder of the horror slaves lived under in Maryland.

[MichaelHarris]

55. that is

really cool, did you take any pictures? You guys in the east have a much longer history. I know some places around here that hermit miners were supposed to live but I can't find any remnants of their cabins.

[yardwork]

44. You might have heard a hawk. They sound like unearthly babies crying.

This time of year some species of hawks are extremely vocal, and they make an unearthly sound that seems to emanate from everything at once.

Great photos!

[MichaelHarris]

56. Thanks

there are a lot of hawks out and owls. I am definately going back and getting some inside pictures.

[Hobarticus]

48. Great pix!

Let us know if you find anything out about this place...

[MichaelHarris]

57. I truely will

I wanted to go today but the dirt roads are very muddy, it rained crazy all day yesterday. I will get some shots from inside the houses as well as look for old letters and stuff. It's weird, every house I've explored had old letters and stuff in them.

[Clark2008]

59. I so very much love Halloween!

Thank you for your story. I needed an enjoyable (and creepy) break this afternoon.

:hi:

[OxQQme]

61. Nice pictures Michael

I got married in a church in Garfield, 1968. Dad-in-law was the school superintendent there at the time. Your post and pics sure bring back memories. I spent a week there with my new bride wandering all over. Dirt roads that seemed to go nowhere except for some magnificent views such as you've captured.
Thanks much.
You ever get up around Colville? I lived there for a dozen years and did what you are doing there. Lotsa old homesteader places up country from you too.

[MichaelHarris]

63. cool

I'm going to Garfield and Elberton tomorrow hopefully. Elberton has some nice abandoned storefronts. I do get up towards Colville sometimes, I'll have to look closer when I do. I've also started exploring the area around Rock Lake. It's pretty remote.

[MindPilot]

65. That's a really cool find!! Nice pix too!

Quite a few years ago, I was riding my dirt bike way up in the Colorado Rockies and I came up on an old mine. I think I was probably the first person there in maybe 80 or 100 years. There was still remnants of the paymaster's table and tools--picks and shovels with the handles all rotted away--it looked like the miners had just left one day and never returned. I was going to take something as a souvenir and then I thought better of it; who the hell am I to disturb this scene?

That was decades before digital cameras and GPS...I wonder if that mine has had any visitors since.

[Canuckistanian]

68. OK, I think I solved your Cemetery question

http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/wa/whitman/cemeteries/silvrcrk.txt

The Cemetery is related to "Silver Creek" in Whitman County.
http://interment.net/data/us/wa/whitman/silvercreek/silver.htm

Your picture of the tombstone in the first picture gave me the clue. I could make out "Nov 21, 1883" as the death date and Cordxxx as the first name. The birth year on the website is clearly erroneous, but the date is the same - Mar. 9th (My wedding anniversary, coincidentally).

A Google search gave me this website, giving a name of Cordelia Jameson, b. Mar. 9th, 1861 (wrong year, the pic says 1864), d. Nov. 21, 1883. A girl, only 19 years old.

It's seems to be a close-knit group of homesteaders. Many of them seemed to be a part of a wagon train ("Left Apr 5, 1873 and arrived Oct 2")from Arkansas. according to a "Huge memorial stone with bronze plaque" that said:

"WOODDY WAGON TRAIN from
Benton County, Arkansas
to Washington Territory
Left Apr 5, 1873 and arrived Oct 2

J.M. Wooddy and family..........2 wagons
Jesse Quarles and family........1 wagon
W.D. McMasters..................1 wagon
John Freese and family..........1 wagon
Calvin Freeze and family........1 wagon
Davy Nodman; Bill Rivers; Dave Allen & Billie Seagle
came from Colorado. Homesteaded Sec 30 T18 R46 EWM"

The Whitmans were among them.

[MichaelHarris]

69. very very cool

so I should look for some of those names tomorrow? I'm going for sure, rain or shine.

[MichaelHarris]

70. I didn't see the plaque

give me a sec, I'm looking closer at the tombstones to get names. I have more shots than I posted and I'll post close-ups of them.

[MichaelHarris]

71. look!

I found two of the families:

Wooddy, James Thomas, b. 1867, d. 1940, s/w Margaret
Wooddy, Margaret, b. 1872, d. 1954, s/w James Thomas

Wagner, Lucille M, b. 1918, d. 1965, s/w & w/o Palmer J, m. Oct 16, 1940
Wagner, Palmer J, b. 1919, d. no date, s/w & h/o Lucille M, m. Oct 16, 1940



These are the two newest markers there.

[MichaelHarris]

72. also found

Eva Hill on that list:



That bronze plaque is just gone and I sure thing I remember being on a different road. That has to be the right cemetery though.

[Canuckistanian]

77. I'd say we have a positive match!

Now, you've got to find everything you can about "Silver Creek". It may be the name of the ghost town.

[MichaelHarris]

80. It would almost have to be

Silver Creek but so far that name shows up nowhere.

[MichaelHarris]

85. SCORE!!!!!

It's the town of Yellow Dog, pictures coming in new post in a sec.

[Art_from_Ark]

90. Benton County, Arkansas

That brings it close to home for me.

At one time, Benton County was America's Number 1 apple growing region, but it was eventually replaced by eastern Washington State. I wonder how many of those Arkansas pioneers were apple farmers who moved up there after hearing they could grow apples in Washington without having to worry about insect pests?

[GeorgeGist]

73. Great pictures ...

bullshit story.

[Sugar Smack]

74. Eh?

How do you know? :shrug: I think you're just being provocative.

[MichaelHarris]

79. I really did

hear the crying but I don't know what it was. I'm going tomorrow for a more detailed examination.

[MrMickeysMom]

76. Hell, I'd like you to find out about the 1980 Mercedes...

And, since it looks like it's covered in dust,


Why??? :o

[MichaelHarris]

78. wonder if

the plate number will help? Last week I found this:







That's the one I want to find an owner and see if I can buy it.

[guruoo]

82. So, you never ran across any people while you out there?

Children perhaps?

[MichaelHarris]

88. LOL

I did today and he didn't want his picture taken. The town was called Yellow Dog

[guruoo]

93. Thanks for the story, and

photos. It has provided a welcome break from the madness of pre-primaries DU.
:hi:

[MichaelHarris]

97. Thank you

:) Couple more with a different feel:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2094227

[LunaSea]

83. The Abandoned City San Zhi

On the outskirts of Taipei, Taiwan there is an abandoned housing project, the area is called San Zhi and commissioned by the government and several local firms.

They were trying to create a posh luxurious vacation spot for the affluent and rich streaming out of Taipei.

After numerous accidents during its construction locals say the area is now haunted by those who died in vain and because they are not remembered, they linger there unable to pass on.







More-
http://flickr.com/photos/formica/201840815/in/set-72157594222510032/
http://www.tranism.com/weblog/archives/2006/07/the_abandoned_c.html

[MichaelHarris]

89. Yellow Dog!!!

that was the town's name. I'll post new pictures in a new thread.

[JeffR]

91. I've posted a link to this thread in the Photography Group

Bravo! Freaky story, too.

[MichaelHarris]

92. Thanks Jeff

I'll keep adding more info as I find it. I'll be shooting in the same area tomorrow.

[RagingInMiami]

94. What if it was a real baby?

You just never know. Maybe a kidnapped baby. Living in the house with the kidnapper. The baby crying out for help. And you running away.

Great shots by the way. I really like the last one.

[MichaelHarris]

96. thanks ragin

it could have been a zombie baby also. I erred on the side of I don't want to be a meal.

[Blue_In_AK]

98. Really nice photos, MichaelHarris

I love the creepy atmosphere. :thumbsup:

[The2ndWheel]

100. Got out of the truck AND explored?

How are you still alive?

[Sequoia]

101. Whoa, that's kinda spooky.

Wonder what happened to the people?

[_TJ_]

102. creepy

definitely creepy =)

[Sequoia]

105. Too cool!

I once lived outside of Spokane (Fairchild AFB) and would ride my bicycle through those beautiful wheat fields that would sweep like ocean waves on a windy day. Never got out beyond to explore those back roads.

Speaking of scary stuff, those photos almost remind me of that B grade movie from the 1960s called "10,000 Maniacs" about some Yankee couples getting side-tracked on a back road into a town full of Rebel sympathizers. This ghost town would only appear during an anniversary of a Civil War event. A cut up bloody sort of movie.