This is the last of 6 ghost stories which appeared in the Detroit News the week before Halloween 1980 and culminated on October 31st. I believe that it was called "Gremlins or Ghosts" because each story had that same small box caption as seen above next to it. I wish that I could have gotten the entire illustration but after three failed tries of printing it and only a few quarters left I figured that the story was what mattered most anyway.
The story itself is an early draft or abbreviated version of "The Spirits of Butler Cemetery" which later appeared in her book Michigan Haunts and Hauntings. One slight change in the story is the statement attributed to Dyanne Johnson when she is asked if she has seen ghosts in the cemetery and she replies, "Who, me? No way are you going to get me close enough to that place to see one." In the book version the statement is attributed to Dan Brown, who is not identified by name but only as the principal of the nearby school, and Dyanne Johnson is no longer mentioned. The quote is also slightly changed at the end to: "Who, me? No way are you going to get me close enough to that place to see anything."
Of more significant note, and after a visit to the cemetery herself, is the mention of a disturbed grave and the scalp of the woman buried in it settled on the ground in front of a dilapidated tombstone. I shall post the actual news story next time.
No comments:
Post a Comment