SILOAM SPRINGS — Halloween. Just hearing the name of this month’s holiday is sure to bring back memories of dressingup and hitting the streets in search of candy.

I am probably one of the world’s biggest skeptics, but during my 11 years in the newspaper business, I have been witness to several Halloween events that I have trouble explaining.

As a “cub reporter” in Forrest City about 10 years ago, I received a call from Walter Meals, the director of the William Stone House in the neighboring town of Colt.

The house had been around since before the Civil War, and a carriage path was well worn in the front yard through the 19th Century as thousands of horsedrawn wagons made their way across Crowley’s Ridge heading east and west. The path is still there today.

Walter told me that during a recent Pioneer Days event, a photo was snapped of some Civil War reenactors resting under a tree after putting on a show recreating a battle that took place around the home during the middle of the war.

When the picture came back from the developer, a foggy likeness of a horse soldier - complete with riding boots and military uniform - can be seen beside the reenactors. I had a chance to look at the photo’s negative strip and there was no chance of something being manipulated with Photoshop or some other computer program.

I had no explanation for it.

In 2004, while working as an editor for the newspaper at Ft. Campbell, Ky., I visited the nearby town of Adams, Tenn. - home of the infamous Bell Witch. For those readers who may have missed the tale of the Bell Witch, the story is that theBell family was haunted by a ghostly witch in the early 1800s. In the 21st Century, the haunting seem to have stopped and the nearby cave and woods are just a tourist attraction for people on their way to visit Nashville.

Every October, the Bell Witch cave’s surrounding land is rented out for an entrepreneur to make some money banking on the witch’s reputation and creating a “haunted woods.”

I interviewed the “caretaker” of the woods and his costumed friends for a story and photograph. I snapped two quick shots with my camera. The first photo seemed normal - well, as normal as taking pictures of “Jason” and a weird-looking animal tamer in the woods at midnight can be.

The second picture shows a purple light dancing all over their faces. There were no purple lights in the area when I took the shot. I still have the photo and yes, it still freaks me out to look at it.

Earlier this month, a ghosthunting friend of mine decided to find a place in Siloam Springs to “hunt ghosts.” It’s not as easy as it sounds to find a suitable location. For some reason, people seem to shy away when you mention writing a story about talking to ghosts in their homes.

So, after failing to find a willing homeowner, we did the next best thing - wecame to the newspaper office late one night and see what we could find.

My friend started his voice recorder and announced inthe dark, “If someone is here, can you please make yourself known? We aren’t here to hurt

” ...

His speech was cut short by the sounds of something hitting a nearby wall and hitting the floor.

We looked all over our warehouse and couldn’t findanything that matched the sound we heard on the recording.

I can’t explain these, but I’ll feel a lot better when Nov. 1 gets here.

- Gary Burton is managing editor for the Herald-Leader. He can be contacted via e-mail at gburton@nwanews.com.

Opinion, Pages 4 on 10/28/2009

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