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My husband and I recently purchased an old
historic home and to our surprise, the backyard had the sweetest little
play/doll house. The house is gorgeous and has proven to be our dream home
come true but, the little house in the back is a totally different story.
One night whilst moving empty boxes, I thought I heard a faint scream and
quickly ran inside to tell my husband. He said it was probably a
cat, so I didn't give it much thought.
Several days later while doing a bit of gardening I heard a faint moan and
the very same scream I had heard several night earlier. This time, I knew
it wasn’t a cat but didn't know what it could have been. Having
heard this for a second time, I became truly afraid. Again, when I
told my husband of the experience, he still insisted it was probably alley
cats engaged in fighting.
The next day I was visiting with neighbors over coffee and relayed the
story of the screams and moans that I had heard. They looked at each
other then looked back at me. One of them asked me if the Real
Estate agent failed to mention the death of several children at the house
in the early 1900's!
I responded that this was the first I had heard of the legend. As
the story goes, the couple built the home in the early 1900's and while
they were at it, built the sweet little playhouse for their three
children.
Sometime later, marital bliss came to an abrupt end when the man of the
house came home after being laid off at his job at the shipyard.
Stunned, he walked in to find his wife with a handsome bachelor that lived
just down the road.
In a fit of rage, he ran from the scene and stabbed his three children,
then returned and killed her with the knife. Though he also tried to
kill her lover, the handsome man survived.
Afterwards, the enraged husband was brought to trial and found guilty of
his crimes. He was sentenced to die and was soon executed.
Legend has it that the screams and moans are
those of the children who were killed by their angry, jealous father while
outside for a day of play.
© Misty Rose Lee, September, 2005
Compiled and
edited by
Kathy Weiser/Legends
of America, updated
November, 2010.
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