08/31/13

Tales They Told: Ghost of Owl Hollow

by Gene O. Walker –  c1998 Gene O.Walker

I would like to submit the following incident. It occurred during World War II. We lived on Tank Hill and walked down the back by a path down to Owl Hollow to visit friends and attend the Nazarene Church. There were no street lights and the dirt road was then very narrow and dark. A very different setting from today. Mist from the branch would rise and it was difficult to see after dark. People reported seeing a strange person walking the road at night. It appeared to be an elderly woman who disappeared as she came closer to the person. My father, Wiley Walker, known as Uncle Wiley to most everyone in the county did not believe in ghosts. He had lived since 1892 and had never seen one and had tried on numerous occasions to see what other people said were ghosts and there were no ghosts. Late one night, our local watch maker, who lived in Owl Hollow, was walking home, and he saw a woman standing on the wooden bridge across the branch which we crossed to get home. I believe the bridge or its replacement is still there. As he walked toward the woman, she walked from the bridge toward him. Assuming she intended to hand him a watch as so many people did he held out his hand at a close distance AND THE PERSON DISAPPEARED. Dad never questioned the ghost stories again because he said that person’s word and judgment was above question. The sightings continued for some time, then ceased. As I drive down the Owl Hollow Road, now with its houses and street lights, I wonder if any person except myself remembers THE GHOST OF OWL HOLLOW.

08/31/13

Arlington Elementary School – 1934

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Bottom row left to right: [unknown] Hooper, [unknown] Hooper, Paul Hamilton, James Wade Knight, Howard Slaughter, J. W. Hollingsworth, Charles Gray, unknown Hooper, Denny Wells, William Lee Madden

Second row: Alma May Madden, Enid Bernice McMillan (Sykes), Betty Evelyn McMillan (Barnes), Ruth Pulley, [unknown], Dorothy Griffin (Walker), Bessie Juanita McElroy (Martin), Merle Gier, Ruby Howell (Warford), Dorothy Howell (Allsobrooks), Ruth Aveline McElroy (Wall), Carrie Howell

Third row: Delmer “Dock” McMillan, Billy Wheatley, Virginia Pulley (Lewis), Vivian Ethleen McElroy (Butte), Margie McMillan, Margaret Wheatley, [unknown], [unknown], Betty Sue Douglas

Fourth row: Miss Olive McMillan (Harris) teacher, John Thomas Knight, Joseph Madden, Billy Gray, John Virgil McElroy, Tom Hamilton, “Romey” Hamilton, Garner Fred McElroy

[Photograph courtesy of James Wade Knight of Memphis, Tennessee.]