The sounds of children playing and a baby crying could be heard daily. They weren’t ghosts, but echos of all the kids she cared for. She pretty much ran a day-care for kids in the area, though I don’t think she was paid for it from what I’ve heard. I’m not sure if she was ever married, but she had no children of her own.

When she was found, she was never taken anywhere until after the funeral. A coffin was brought in and she was placed inside. She stayed in the parlor(my parents bedroom when I lived there) until she was buried. On the wooden floor where the coffin sat was a red rectangle that looked like blood. Nothing would cover it or get rid of it. My uncle tried painting the floor with a black paint, several coats of it. As soon as the paint was dried, the stain bled through.

Footsteps could be heard daily, though mostly at night. She would come through the house and check on everyone. Every night we were tucked in, then kissed on the cheek. Sometimes we saw her, but we always heard and felt her. You’d think we would have been scared, but she always gave off a comforting, loving feeling that made you feel safe.

What I know about her I learned from the farmer who lived across the road. I don’t know when she died, but the farmer was a boy when it happened and he was in his 60′s or 70′s when we lived there in the early 1980′s. He played at her house from a young age until she died. He wasn’t sure exactly how old he was, but remembered being pretty young. I believe his father was the one who found her. He remembered his family talking about her, and how no one confirmed how or why she died. There were even rumors of her bleeding, which doesn’t happen with a heart attack. We moved and I got older, so I didn’t look into it any further. Now the house is gone, the hill has been flattened, and a local farmer uses the place to park his tractors. No one is still alive that knew her, and their families don’t even remember much about the rumors.