The 1897 Airship Cow Abduction

 

Back in the spring of 1897 the United States was obsessed with phantom airships. Tales came from across the nation involving unidentified flying machines, often piloted by strange individuals doing some strange stuff. In one tale out of Kansas, that strange stuff involved what some claim is the first modern connection between UFOs and cattle mutilations!

We've all seen the images of UFOs abducting cows, like the one shown above. While a popular trope in pop culture, the idea dates back to at least the strange case of Alexander Hamiliton from Kansas and his poor, unfortunate cow. 

On the night of April 17th, 1897, Alex Hamilton, a farmer in Woodson County, Kansas was awakened around 10:30pm by his cows making noise. Thinking it was a dog messing with them, he got up to check and was astounded to see an airship hovering over his field. The cigar-shaped craft was an estimated 300 feet in length with a glass paneled carriage hanging below it. It was a deep reddish color, and had three lights, including a red one, a green one, and a very bright white light that acted like a search beam. 

Hamilton went to get his son, Wall, and his hired hand Gid Heslip, and the three men grabbed axes from the barn and started to approach the craft, which was now hovering about 30 feet above the field. As they got closer, they noticed the inside area was well-lit. They could see six passengers, including two men, a woman, and three children, all speaking in an unintelligible jibberish. The men were able to get within 50 yards of the craft before a large turbine wheel, 30 feet in diameter started whirring and making noise.

The men noticed a 2-3 year old heifer was under the craft, and making quite a fuss, trying to jump over a barbed wire fence. They noticed that around the cow's neck was a thick chain, made from the same reddish material as the ship. They tried to cut it off, but when they couldn't, they instead cut the wire fence that the cow had become entangled in. Freed from the wire fence, the cow was now able to easily be carried off the airship into the great unknown.

The next morning, Link Thomas, a farmer in neighboring Coffey County found the hide, legs and head of a cow in his field. Thinking the cow had been poached and dumped, he contacted local authorities. Hamilton's brand was still visible on the hide. The remains found in Thomas' field were indeed the abducted heifer from the night before. 

Newspaper articles at the time made note that Hamilton was a very trustworthy, upstanding citizen. There was even a signed affidavit attesting to his character. And, for decades, this story remained a mystery. However, the 1960s and 1970s saw the beginning of a wave of modern cattle mutilation cases being tied to UFOs and this story was rediscovered by researchers. That's when the story started falling apart. 

A woman had come forward and claimed that she had heard Hamilton bragging to his wife about this made-up tale he had concocted and was going to report to newspapers. Then, a newspaper editor from Buffalo, Kansas uncovered the fact that Hamilton was a member of the Yuma Township's Liar's Club! As with other such clubs, the idea was for members to come up with the biggest, craziest stories they could. What's crazier than a phantom airship (which had a level of credibility as these things were being reported all over) abducting your cow? I mean, he had an affidavit signed by other trustworthy, prominent local citizens (whom I'm guessing were also in on the joke). 

Apparently, the club disbanded not long after, and honestly, I can't blame them. Tricking a nation into believing your cow had been abducted by people from Mars or Mercury certainly can't be beat. 

Sources and Further Reading:

Le Roy Cow Abduction: Spooky Valley Website

1897 Cow Abduction Hoax: How Stuff Works

30 April 1897
The Neosho Falls Post

The Ghost of Judge Lane

Mt. Vernon, Ohio (ca 1880)

On the evening of February 19, 1881, a "prominent and truthful" citizen of Mt. Vernon, Ohio was on his way home when he heard what sounded like the loud shriek of a woman coming from the direction of a recently unoccupied house. The home in question, sometimes described as a 'shanty,' had been the residence of Samuel "Judge" Lane. 

Judge Lane was an interesting character around town. A formerly enslaved man of African descent, his fellow Black citizens saw him as a prophet, and bestowed upon him the name of "Judge." The man was of a very advanced age, although no one was really sure just how old he was. He claimed to have been the personal manservant of General Mercer during the Revolutionary War. As General Mercer was killed in 1777 during the Battle of Princeton, this would have made Lane well over 100 years old at the time of his death. In fact, he claimed to be about 123 years old....if not older. 

However old he actually was, he couldn't live forever. In early February, he was found lying on the floor of his shanty in terrible shape. His lower limbs were completely frozen. Lane died shortly after and was buried in an unmarked grave at Mound View Cemetery in Mt. Vernon. It would seem that his spirit wasn't quite ready to go yet. 

A few days after Lane's death, that prominent citizen was walking nearby and heard an ungodly shriek coming from the shanty. The man, who claimed to be as brave as any sane man, believed tramps had broken into the property, and decided to investigate. What he found was definitely not squatters taking shelter from the cold. 

As he approached the shack, he noticed it was brightly lit from within, and the door was standing wide open. Accompanied by another unknown noise, the man observed the image of old Judge illuminated in the doorway. He was supporting himself on crutches and had both legs amputated at the knees. Understandably, the man fled in terror at the sight. Apparently, 123 years on this earth was simply not long enough for Samuel 'Judge' Lane. 

Mark Sebastian Jordan has published a wonderful deep-dive into Samuel 'Judge' Lane's possible history, which can be found at the Knox Pages website, listed below. 

Sources and Further Reading:

"The adventures of Mount Vernon’s ‘Judge’ Lane, who died at the age of 200… or 123 … or maybe just 90." By Mark Sebastian Jordan.  03 May 2025. Knox Pages Website

Find-a-Grave Entry for Samuel Lane

03 March 1881
Evansville Courier and Press

10 February 1881
Northwest-Signal

16 February 1881
West Unity Reporter

The Weeping Woman of Ashland Cemetery

Photo by Theresa
June 2026

I recently made the short trip to Ashland, Ky to attend an awesome presentation at the Boyd County Library. Certified Cryptozoologist, Lacey Williams, gave a wonderful talk titled Bluegrass Beasts, covering a variety of interesting Kentucky creatures. But, before the presentation, I decided to get to town early...

Although I'm less than an hour away from the Ashland area, I don't get down to that area too often. So, when I decided to head that way for Lacey's talk, I wanted to optimize my trip time by visiting at least one spooky local legend. I chose to visit the Ashland Cemetery and seek out the legend of the Weeping Woman. 

Ashland Cemetery is located along Belmont Street. Dedicated back in 1870, this massive cemetery is still receiving burials today. Spanning over 106 acres, Ashland Cemetery stands as an impressive symbol of the city's history, and with the plethora of statues and intricate tombstones, it's also a wonderful collection of art and culture. One such piece of funerary art that gets a lot of attention is the Weeping Woman. 

Also known as the Iron Lady or the Weeping Widow, the Weeping Woman of Ashland Cemetery is a large, seated sculpture of a woman in obvious mourning. Clutching her chest with one hand, and holding a mourning wreath with the other, she appears to be in great distress, lamenting the loss of the couple she watches over. 

Photo by Theresa
June 2026

From what I can gather, the artwork is by the famous Hans K. Schuler, a German-American sculptor and monument maker known for his work around Baltimore and Washington, D.C. and was commissioned to stand over the graves of Ferdinand Carl Fischer and his wife, Elizabeth Ringo Fischer. 

Sarah Elizabeth Ringo was born on December 22 1877 in Clinton, Kentucky to parents Willis Lunsford Ringo and Sarah/Sallie Cresap. Willis was a former Secretary of State for Kentucky and a prominent citizen throughout his life, with interests in the railroad and local improvement councils. He was also a Confederate veteran. Willis, his wife,  and many other members of the Ringo family are also buried in the Ashland Cemetery nearby the Weeping Woman. 

Ferdinand Carl (F.C.) Fischer was born in Cincinnati on July 2, 1857, making him twenty years older than Elizabeth. The two married on June 30, 1896 in Ashland, Kentucky and were blessed with a couple of children. Unfortunately, F.C. would not be long for this world. He passed away September 10, 1906 at the age of 49, leaving his 29 year old wife a widow to raise two small children. According to an article on the Kentucky Kindred Genealogy website about the Willis Ringo family, Elizabeth did remarry. On June 27, 1908, she married Alexander Blucher D. Gordon III, who would go on to outlive her by seven years. 

I'm not sure what her relationship with Alexander was like, but the two did have an additional son together. However, when Elizabeth died on March 20, 1952 in Pennsylvania, she was brought home to be buried by F.C. in her family plot at the Ashland Cemetery. Today, Elizabeth and F.C. lie side by side under matching stones, with the Weeping Woman keeping watch above. 

And, for many years, stories have spread that the Weeping Woman statue may be more than just a statue. Across multiple Face Book and Reddit posts, blogs, and even Instagram stories, nearby residents and visitors to Ashland Cemetery are sharing very similar experiences with hearing the unmistakable wails of a woman in mourning.  

Some individual accounts have been curated at two awesome blogs, The Southern Spirit Guide and Black Flag Horror.  One of my favorite accounts involves a man named Ronald Hinton who was visiting the grave of a loved one in autumn when he heard a woman sobbing. Following the sound, he found a woman seated nearby several graves with her head down, wailing in mourning. As he approached her, she lifted her head and reached out a hand towards him. He could see the tears streaming down her cheeks from her closed eyes, and even drool pooling at the corners of her mouth. But, as she opened her eyelids, he immediately saw that she had no eyeballs! 

Photo by Theresa
July 2026

Taken aback by this, but still wanting to help, he went to get several other visitors who were at the cemetery that day to help him with the strange wailing woman. As the group arrived back, the once-living woman was now simply a statue---The Weeping Lady Statue. 

Although she is mostly heard, Ronald isn't the only one to have seen the woman appear as a living person. Legend tells that on the full moon she arises and walks the cemetery, crying out in grief. But who is she wailing for? The obvious reason might be the Fischer family, particularly F.C., as the statue is of a grieving woman and Mrs. Fischer did lose who husband at a young age. Or, there may be another reason.

The Ashland Cemetery is the final resting place for Emma Carico/Thomas, Robert Gibbons, and Fannie Gibbons. The three young people were murdered on the night of December 23, 1881 by an axe and the house they were staying in was set ablaze to cover it up. Seventeen year old Robert and his 15 year old sister, Fannie, were the only members of the family at home, and were being visited by Fannie's 15 year old friend, Emma. The perpetrator was the Gibbons' own father, who had been suffering from mental illness and suicidal/homicidal tendencies following domestic troubles with his wife. This event became known as the Ashland Tragedy, and rocked the city. Could the wails and cries actually be for these three young people taken so violently as some believe?

You can visit the Ashland Cemetery during daylight hours and see the Weeping Woman for yourself! She sits nestled among some bushes in Section 13...Listen closely and you might hear the unmistakable wails of a woman in mourning. 

Sources and Further Reading:

The Southern Spirit Guide: Moaning and Crying-Ashland Kentucky. January 6, 2020, by Lewis O. Powell IV.

Black Flag Horror Wordpress: The Weeping Lady

Kindred Genealogy: Willis Lunsford Ringo Family

Wikipedia Article on Hans Schuler

Find-a-Grave: Ashland Cemetery 

Find-a-Grave Pages for: (Willis Ringo) (Elizabeth Fischer) (F.C. Fischer)

29 December 1881
Ashland Daily Independent 

How Haunted Hollow Got Its Name

Bluestone Lake
Photo by Brian Powell

In the summer of 1862, Phillip Thurmond, along with help from his brother William, formed a band of Confederate volunteers from largely Fayette, Greenbrier, and Monroe Counties. They would become known as Thurmond's Rangers, a sort of Civil War era home guard unit with the mission of assisting the war effort as scouts, spies, and raiders. 

Unfortunately, although Thurmond had a good reputation, the Rangers were seen by many as nothing more than thieves and bushwhackers. Out of this reputation grew a story of a haunted road, deep in the mountains near what is now Hinton, WV. 

As told by Ernest S. Allen in the 20 February 1946 edition of the Independent-Herald, a Hinton newspaper, the Rangers spent several months camped in the Bluestone area, at the foot of Low Gap Mountain. 

One day, a young boy was captured and accused of being an enemy spy. The Rangers tried to scare him into giving them information, but when that didn't work, they resorted to more drastic measures. A group of them took the boy about a mile up the mountain and tied him to a tree. There, they tortured him, but he still wouldn't say a word. It was said that the boy most likely had developmental delays and honestly didn't know anything. At last, they shot him and left his body there, tied to the tree. 

After that, the area became known as Haunted Hollow, as those passing by, especially in the evening hours, truly believed that the spirit of the young boy was still haunting the mountain. His apparition had been seen by some, yet others heard the unmistakable sounds of the marching of phantom soldiers. 

No one can really verify whether this is a factual account or not, but the legend lasted for several generations. As for Thurmond's Rangers, more and more volunteers would join up with them until they were nearly 650 men in strength. Late in 1863, they became the 44th Virginia Cavalry Battalion, making them an official part of the Confederate Army. 

Philip would die in October of 1864 in Winfield, where his body lie unmarked for many years. (Fun fact, I just happened to 'accidentally' be there when archaeologists dug up his remains for reburial). William, however, survived the war and went on to become a prominent citizen in Fayette County and is credited with founding the now infamous ghost town of Thurmond! 

More on Thurmond's Rangers:
McKinney, Tim. "Thurmond's Rangers." e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia. 08 February 2024. Web. Accessed: 15 June 2026.

20 February 1946
Independent-Herald (Hinton, WV)

The 'Ghost' of Walnut Hill Cemetery

 

Walnut Hill Cemetery
Photo by Find-a-Grave contributor Zelda

I love a good 'true' ghost story, but sometimes a spooky case of mistaken identity is just as strange, if not more! That's what happened to John Davis, caretaker of the Walnut Hill Cemetery, located just outside Columbus, Ohio in Hamilton Township. 

Strolling through the cemetery one evening, he noticed a spooky figure sitting atop a tombstone. As he approached the figure, he realized that it wasn't a ghost, but just some guy, wearing nothing but a blanket as almost a cape. The man's clothes were in a pile at his feet. When he noticed Davis' approach, the man inquired as to whether the referee was on his way.

Davis wisely told the man he didn't know, but he'd go check. The man then let Davis know that he was eager for a boxing match. Since he couldn't just leave a naked man sitting in his cemetery trying to fight people, Davis brought the stranger to the county jail. His clothing was searched for personal items and enlistment papers for the army were found. 

It was decided to hold him in the jail until a lunacy inquest could be completed, which begs the question as to whether or not he actually was mentally ill. Was this all staged as an attempt to avoid being sent into military service during World War One? Or, was the thought of going to war actually too much to bear, causing the man's mind to fracture. Perhaps he was already a little...off, or perhaps under the influence. Whatever the cause, it was clear he was NOT a spirit of the little cemetery and to me, that is truly disappointing.   Stay spooky, ya'll!

04 January 1918
The Big Sandy News (Louisa, KY)

Sleeping with the Spirits at the WV State Penitentiary

 

Convicts in the prison yard of the WV State Pen (1914)
Source: WV History on View

Over the course of its long history, the West Virginia State Penitentiary at Moundsville has suffered from a multitude of logistical problems, the most common being overcrowding. In late 1922, the prison had once again exceeded its designed capacity and was now home to well over 1600 inmates. Warden Terrell was running out of sheer space to store all these men, so he came up with a brilliant plan!

The Death House, which was a small building annexed off the main prison, had four cells. As these cells were only used to house inmates who had an upcoming date with the gallows, they weren't in full operation. What if some of the overflow was housed there?

The decision was made to select 35 inmates, all African Americans, to bunk down in the Death House. I cannot come up with a reason other than sheer racism why the black prison population was chosen, but they were. However, this wasn't without problems.  

A trope that continually shows up in these old newspaper articles I share is the stereotype that African Americans are extremely superstitious and afraid of ghosts and spirits. Therefore, the article in question notes that it took a while, but 35 men were found who claimed, "no fear of spooks."  Warden Terrell managed to find almost three dozen men that had no qualms in sleeping in the area where a quoted two score of men had spent their last moments, waiting to die at the hands of the state for crimes accused.

I don't like to think of myself as a particularly superstitious person, but even I have to admit a certain ick factor when it comes to using such a dark place for regular inmates. But it worked out. After a thorough cleaning and disinfecting (which included the removal of anything that would remind the prisoners where they were), the men were ready. Each night, they'd move 35 cots into the area, which were set up in and around the annex and cells. It was said that the sleeping arrangements were just as comfortable as anywhere else in the prison, with an added bonus of increased security features, allowing one guard to manage all 35 inmates. It was even said that many of the inmates assigned to the Death House annex had a sense of pride concerning their new quarters.  I wonder, though....did anyone actually ever have a paranormal experience there? Did the spirits of the executed men ever make their presences known to the 35 inmates who temporarily got a taste of death row?

*MORE WV State Penitentiary Articles!*

03 December 1922
Charleston Daily Mail

The Ouija Board and the Frat Pin

 

During the autumn of 1920, Miss Fannie Levings was distraught. She had lost a valuable frat pin and after searching everywhere and asking all her friends if they had seen it, the pin seemed gone forever.  Life had to go on, and Miss Levings left her home in West Virginia's northern panhandle to travel to Parkersburg for a meeting of the State Educational Association. On the way there, she stopped in Clarksburg to visit with friends.

Fueled by a rise in Spiritualism following World War One, the Ouija Board dominated the 1920s as a fun parlor game, used to connect with the other side for the purpose of asking groundbreaking questions such as "who will I marry?"

Miss Levings and her friends decided to ask the board the whereabouts of the missing frat pin. The response was prompt and concise: "In Fannie's bed."  Miss Levings wrote a letter home to her mother, asking her to thoroughly inspect the bed for the missing pin. Much to everyone's surprise and delight, the pin WAS found in Fannie's bed! 

Perhaps the spirits were feeling especially helpful that fateful day and led Fannie in the right direction. Or, is there a more logical explanation? I'll let you decide. Stay spooky! 

18 November 1920
Shepherdstown Register