10.. Wanda's Ghost Story

Bob Zybach: What I think.

Wanda Marcks Cook: The oldest daughter is the one that lives in Siletz.

Bob Zybach: What's her name?

Wanda Marcks Cook: Sue. . Susan. . Sally's a teacher, she's married, she's not going to have any children, but she's a born teacher. And she's in California, now. She works very hard.

Bob Zybach: Susan is she a Cook also?

Wanda Marcks Cook: Yeah, they're all Cooks.

Bob Zybach: Married name?

Wanda Marcks Cook: Yes. She's married now. Gudenow. Her husband is in the commercial fishing. But I think he'll probably give that up, it's not as lucrative, and then he's getting older too.

Bob Zybach: One thing I'd like to do and I think probably today isn 't a good day, is to. . get this printed up and kind of tell where we're going and think as far as animals, 4festyle and how people lived and what was important to them, but then I'd like to on the next time, go through some spec jflc people that were your neighbors, like the Wiles, . . before we start the recording. And maybe this would kind of let your memory go a little bit back. . that was quite awhile ago. . seventy or eighty years ago.

10. Wanda's Ghost Story

[Pause in tape. Mrs. Cook remembers a story she wants to tell and tape resumes after she starts.]

Wanda Marcks Cook: Woke up one night and I felt kind of queer, I wasn't afraid but I just felt as if someone or something in the room. And. . eventually I was started awake, somehow. . it wasn't a sound but it was kind of like. . swoosh . . right in the room and out the door. . the bedroom.

Bob Zybach: Did it scare you?

Wanda Marcks Cook: No.

Bob Zybach: Made you feel like somebody else there?

Wanda Marcks Cook: When I woke up I felt that there was someone there, but there wasn't anyone there. And I wasn't frightened, I didn't take it that seriously. Life's just a bowl of cherries you know.

Bob Zybach: So when you didn't hear the ghost stories.

Wanda Marcks Cook: And it was years later that I told my mother about it. I said, "Mother, did I ever tell you about the experience I had when Roy was a baby?" My mother had been hearing a very good friend in. . when we lived in South Dakota that moved to Idaho and when our people. . my people moved to Oregon, they kept up correspondence and then she came down to visit two or three times on the farm, stayed a week or so. And when I told my mother, she said, "Now that's strange," she said, "Mrs". . I can't remember her name now (Tiffany), it'll come to me eventually . . but "Mrs. So and So slept in that same room and she said that she felt that the place was haunted."

Bob Zybach: Oh. Well, that's eighty years ago and then even now they're still talking about it.

Wanda Marcks Cook: When I was there. . it was about ten years ago since I drove up the valley and I took all afternoon; I had myself a ball just played along . . I have those often. . through all the dog gone Oregon deserts and Washington. . Walla Walla. . alone. . I loved it. When you're alone you can stop and stay as long as you want to. . in those days

Wanda Marcks Cook: I could take a nap along side the road. . it was perfectly safe. Well, anyway. Mrs. So and So (Tiffany) said something about. but I didn't pay any attention to it. she said, that's strange, this is after we were here in Portland that I mentioned that. All right when I drove up there, I went. . asked them if I could see the house and I told them I said well, where's the fireplace? I thought maybe you'd have modernized the fireplace. Oh, is there a fireplace here. I showed them right where it should be. And they evidently just built around just when they remodeled. And they said something about the place being haunted. And these people are renting the house, I don't even know their names. But they were very nice to me and they said, "Come back anytime you want to." They were interested in what I could tell them, you know.

Bob Zybach: That's. . a lot of interest in thisproject was from local people there now are . . [camp] Adair came in and kind of stopped the history and now it's started. People are very curious about who used to live there and what they did and how they raised their crops.

Wanda Marcks Cook: At that time a building had been built where the spring house used to be, spring house is what we called it. And there were a couple horse. . fresh horses in the pasture, so I had to go over and pet the horses and so on. I really don't know if the spring is still there or not. It must be because they must. . they'd have to have a source of water somewhere, it was a beautifully cold spring.

Bob Zybach: Would you be willing maybe with your son sometime oh, later this fall or early in the spring to take a trip back to Soap Creek Valley?

Wanda Marcks Cook: Yes. I would.

(end of tape)

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