This story comes from William Albert via Tim Ferrier Here's the ghost story my grandmother Callie told me. It was told to her by her grandfather Ashley Roten (my great-great-grandfather). I titled the story "The Haint in the Holler " -- ("Haint" is how my grandmother pronounced the word "haunt", and because I couldn't understand all of her old-fashioned western north carolina accent -- I use to think she was saying the man's name "Hank" -- and for a long time just figured some guy named Hank died and haunted the holler -- until my Aunts Goob & Blanche, corrected me and told me that was just the way she pronounced the word haunt -- boy did I feel foolish! I thought that was funny -- anyway now back to business -- here's the story: THE HAINT IN THE HOLLER: Callie Roten Wingler said when she and her brothers and sisters were young, they would attend Peak Crreek Churck which was located on the opposite side of the holler in which they lived. After evening church service they would often take the shortcut home through the holler. Her grandfather, Ashley Roten, warned them . . . "Don't walk through that holler after dark ... there's a haint in the holler and he will get you . . . he got me!" All though this sounds like something you would tell your children so they would come straight home at dark ... Ashley swore to them that the following story truly happend to him. Ashley said he use to visit his good friend, Jim Sheets, who lived at the oppsite end of the holler. Ashley would often stay late, and since Jim Sheets had a spare room in his house, Ashley would often spend the night. One night while sleeping in this spare room, Ashley was awakended by something pulling the sheets off his bed. He sat up and looked around the room, but he saw nothing. He laid back down and began to fall asleep. Suddenly the sheets were pulled from his bed again, and this time he heard footsteps in the room. He sat up in bed and again could not see a thing. So he laid back down and started to drift off to sleep, when, for a third time, something ripped the sheets from the bed and footsteps were heard. This time, Ashley said he got up and lit the lantern and looked all around the room and even under the bed, but nothing was to be found. He again laid back down and was finally able to sleep the rest of the night undisturbed. The next evening, while returning home from Jim Sheets's home, it was starting to get dark, and Ashley decided to take the shortuct home through the holler. While walking along, he began to hear footsteps behind him and sometimes off to the side of him in the bushes. Suddenly somthing tripped him and he fell to his face. As he was picking himself up off the ground, he could hear laughter and footsteps running away from him. He quickly jumped to his feet but could see nothing or no one. He contunued on through the holler. Again he began to hear footsteps and again he wa s suddenly tripped and fell to his face . . . just like before he heard laughter and footsteps running way from him. A third time the incident was repeated before he finally made his way out of the holler. Ashley said he would never again go in the holler after nightfall, and he warned all this children and grandchildren of the "Haint in the Holler". Jim Sheets also warned Calle Roten and her brothers and sisters of the "Haint." Callie said another neighbor lived near the holler told her that a Civil War battle had been fought around the holler and he believed that the "Haint" was the spirit of a dead soldier. My grandmother, Callie, told me that she was never afraid of no "Haint." And though she had many times been warned to stay away from the Holler at dusk, she would walk through the holler on her way home from Peak Creek Church. She said she was never tripped, never heard laughter, but a few times she did hear footsteps. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Little Hawk