In 2012, I took the New England Legends audience to October Mountain in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts. We were in search of the ghost of a little girl said to haunt an abandoned cemetery near the top. Through exploring that legend, we were able to find the cemetery and give that girl a name once again: Anna Pease. By telling that story, we were able to reunite a family. This was the most profound and touching legend I have ever chased.
I visited Anna Pease’s grave many times in the mid 1960’s. Her stone was still standing then. I remember one visit in 1967 in particular. I was a counselor at Camp Eagle, a Boy Scout camp not far from there. We had about 25 campers on an overnight hike camped across the road from the graveyard. That night around the campfire I told an improptu ghost story I made up on the spot. Turned out to be a pretty scary story, if I do say so myself. Afterwards I led the campers across the road to read the inscription on Anna’s stone. Later, when the campers were all in their tents for the night, we heard a blood- curdling scream off in the woods, quickly followed by another scream in the woods on the opposite side of the spot where we were cramped. I don’t think anyone slept well that night.