Appendix B. Evelyn Weigel's Ghost Story

Appendix B

Evelyn Weigel's Ghost Story

In addition to Wanda Cook's story of the Soap Creek "haunted house," Monograph #1 of this series (Lorna Grabe. Family history and story of the Soap Creek Schoolhouse Foundation, Benton County, Oregon) also included a reference to this legend. Evelyn We/gel's version (perhaps) brings the story to a final conclusion. This recording was made on May 15, 1990 at stop "F" on the tour map vi).

Kevin Sherer: [KEVIN] We really didn't mean to intrude.

Evelyn Weigel: [EVELYN] Oh, no, it's wonderful for me. Good morning.

Bob Zybach: Your name is Evelyn?

Evelyn Weigel: [EVELYN] Yeah.

Bob Zybach: My name is Bob Zybach. Nice meeting you. Let's see, Evelyn, do you want to tell me your last name first, and how long you've lived here?

Evelyn Weigel: [EVELYN] Weigel. Evelyn Weigel. And I'veiived here, this August it'll be three years. I came from Washington, and I'd given myself five days to come down here and find a place. And I picked Corvallis out of the hat because I have two children, it has a college, so I thought this would give them opportunities. So I drove into Corvallis, opened the paper, and I found this house. I came here that day and the next day I bought it. And nothing comes that easily for me. Besides that, there's no foundation on the house, so it couldn't go through the bank it had to go right through the owner. Otherwise I couldn't have got it anyway, because, you know, I'd never bought anything on credit. So anyway, that.

Bob Zybach: Who was the owner at that time?

Evelyn Weigel: [EVELYN] The owner was Richard Daniels. Him and another family had gone in on it and bought it. But they were renting it, they had been renting it out. So the first night that I got here I knew something was strange because I have a dog and the two things she does is eat and sleep. This is her job. And that night she sat up in my room. In this room right here with the fireplace. I've got the two kids upstairs and I'm down here. And she sat there looking around the room. And about 1:00 in the morning I woke up and she was still sitting there looking around the room. So I knew that something that she had never dealt with before was definitely there, but it wasn't bothering her, but she was gonna keep an eye on it. So the next day I had this . . I have two little vases that I had up on the table. The kids were gone to school and it was real quiet in the house, and one of these vases was turned over when I came out of the bathroom. So I thought, well maybe the dog got up and was trying to look out the window. So I took the table, and I had to really go like this before it fell. And then when it did it was very noisy. And I didn't hear a thing. So I put it up and went back in the bathroom and when I came out it was laying over again. Well, about once a week this would be laid over. And, so then, the neighbor here told me that the house was haunted and everybody that had either lived here or women that just drove by. . One woman said she saw someone upstairs looking out

Evelyn Weigel: when the house was vacant. But he said. . . What is your story? Now, I had heard that a couple was living here, I believe the couple that originally lived here, and he went up the street to a whorehouse'. And he got drunk and on the way home he feel off his horse and died. Another drinking and riding related accident.

[LAUGHTER]

Evelyn Weigel: [EVELYN] So she was waiting, waiting, waiting for him to come home. And then she lived here I don't know how long after he had died. But evidently when she died she either thought he would come and greet her here or whatever, but she never did leave. And she was constantly looking out the window, people saw her supposedly looking for him. And the woman that Richard had bought the house from, her and her son saw this woman.

Bob Zybach: Now the Richards owned the place before Daniels?

Evelyn Weigel: [EVELYN] Richard Daniels.

END OF SIDE ONE

Bob Zybach: How long did the Daniels live here?

Evelyn Weigel: [EVELYN] They had the place for five years.

Bob Zybach: Okay, so they just owned it for a short period. Do you know who they bought it from?

Evelyn Weigel: [EVELYN] This lady, Lenore. I have her number. And I'm not sure how. . . Her and her two sons were here, they said they saw the woman. Everyone that saw her described her in a long, white flowing gown.

Roy Cook: [Roy] Same thing mom said.

Bob Zybach: Yep.

Evelyn Weigel: [EVELYN] That what your mom said?

Bob Zybach: Yep.

Evelyn Weigel: [EVELYN] So, then...

Bob Zybach: Did they say there was anything evil or scary or.

Evelyn Weigel: [EVELYN] No one had been bothered, from what I heard. Everyone was aware of her presence but it didn't bother anyone. Which was the same way I felt. And the kids. . . We all knew that we weren't alone there but none of us were really bothered by it. So I told my mother about this and she's into the inner teachings of Christ, and they do believe in life after death and what not. I told her I wasn't alone here and she said well let's see what we can do about that. I said, Mom, she's not bothering anyone. She said, but she's been there for 60 years. He's not coming back. You know, she needs to move on. She doesn't need to, you know.

Bob Zybach: But it would be longer than 60 years. The fellow put in a lot of time at the other place down below!

Evelyn Weigel: [EVELYN] Really, uh huh. So for a long time, anyway. You know. So she talked to her minister and they sent me a little thing that I read off, and. . Actually, before that happened, I met a woman right away when we got here and she had given me this book, how to get in touch with your higher consciousness or your guardian angel or whatever, that everyone is supposed to have. And I had been reading this book and it was telling me all sorts of things, you know. That they don't want to scare you, and if they're scaring you then you can ask them to leave. And I'd been reading this book and then I stopped reading it, and I came home one night and it was sitting on the floor. In the middle of the room. And I had not left it there. It was the first thing I saw when I came in. So I got the book and I laid down on the floor

Evelyn Weigel: with it, I was going to start reading it but I started watching TV. And I laid there and I felt [pokes listener in the arm]. I turned around expecting to see my daughter, and no one was there, And I went 000H.

Bob Zybach: Somebody poked you in the ann? Again.

Evelyn Weigel: [EVELYN] Uh huh. And then [pokes listener in the arm]. Twice, this time. And I said I'm not comfortable with this. I want you to go away. I don't want to. Because the book had told me, if you feel uncomfortable, they don't want to make you feel that way. So, she wanted me to read that book because she knew it would give me the knowledge to, then, when I got this paragraph that I was supposed to read from this minister, which really what it did it asked me and my guardian angel stood together and asked Jesus Christ to come and take this woman to her rightful place and told her that she was surrounded by God's light and was no longer bound to this earth. And in my mind I could see Christ coming down and taking her by the hand and they walked away.

Bob Zybach: This wasn't like the movie The Exorcist, at all then? Ok.

Evelyn Weigel: [EVELYN] No, I sat in the bedroom, upstairs, alone, by myself, and I could see this happening and my guide stood next to me. And when I opened my eyes I felt like I was in shock, you know, like all. . . I felt pale. And I said, boy this, you know, I really felt this. And my guide laughed and said, "well, No shit you did!" He talks the way I do you know!

Bob Zybach: That's how Roy talks. We're having problems with this tape here! [Laughter]

Evelyn Weigel: [EVELYN] And he says just sit down for a few minutes. You'll be fine and then I was. And then we all noticed that definitely she was gone. And so then I was laying in my room one night and the fireplace was going and I felt comfortable and cozy and I realized that she had willed me here. That she knew that I was going to get this, that I had the know how. That I could get this piece of paper from my mother, and in my mind I said "Thank you for the gift of living in my house." "Well, thank you for the gift for the deceased.t' And I said "I wonder how long you knew that it would be me that would do this?" And she said, "well, you know, time is really different once you've gone on." And as she walked by me to leave she stroked my forehead, from here to here, and it brought me back to when I was 8 years old and I woke up in the middle of the night, I thought I heard my mother coming down the hail, and in walked this woman in a white flowing gown. And I, this person was coming towards me, and I was a child and I was afraid and I put the sheet over my head and I screamed three times and I felt my head be stroked from here to here. And that was her message to me. That "yes, this is how long I knew, and you were willed here."

Bob Zybach: So you kind of believe in predestination?

Evelyn Weigel: [EVELYN] Definitely. [LAUGHTER]

Endnote: 1. This facet of Evelyn's story has a curious corollary. Writing about a location a few miles north of her house in 1980, Jackson (1980:322-25, 382) wrote:

Much of the recreation in the School of Forests in informal day use and as such, has not been systematically recorded. In recent years students enrolled in recreation management classes at Oregon State University have made periodic studies of recreation use patterns, but this information has not been made available. Common sights on weekends and during the week, particularly with favorable weather, are joggers, horse-nders, day hikers, bird-watchers, dog-walkers, photo-graphers, and other recreationists. Not as common, but unfortunately also present on occasions, are those who are illegally using the Forests for recreation. Some of these have been mentionedtrail bike enthusiasts, four-wheel drive vehicle operators, and illegal hunters. Rowley (1979) noted that some Ushady types of recreation occur:

a locked gate is a challenge to some people. UBy golly, I'm going to get in there and find out what's in there. U And when they get in there and find out that the challenge is getting through the gate, and I think another part is .... for drinking parties they get in there and know ... the sheriff or nobody else is going to catch them. They can throw a wild party, they can go park on lover's lane ... and they don't have to worry about anybody catching them. So there are the shady types of recreation illegal hunting. They know this is a refuge, and there's likely to be more deer there and easier to spotlight... (Rowley, 1979:13).

Vernon McDaniel (1979) mentioned another Nshady recreation activity about which he heard many stories. About one-eighth of a mile from the sawmill that had been located on Calloway Creek, and near the present fence that demarcates the Nursery, a complex of several structures was erected. These served to house people who were associated with the sawmill. McDaniel was unclear about the date, but thought it was around the turn of the century. One of these dwellings operated for a time as a house of prostitution, according to the stories of long-time residents related to McDaniel. The house was located on part of the original tract purchased for the Arboretum by Peaby in 1925. McDaniel was told that the structure mysteriously burned, putting an end to the nefarious activities:

All the ladies used to come out from Albany, and Corvallis and around. So I guess the married women got tired of it and burned the house down.... They blamed the married women for it, but they kept their mouths shut. They didn't say anything (McDaniel, 1979:17).

McDaniel did not personally see any of the structures. Rowley has also heard similar stones about these activities at this location, and at several other sites in McDonald Forest. McDaniel remembered the location of another house of prostitution that was located on the fringe of the Forest. It was a short distance east of the Arboretum entrance (near Rt. 1, Box 327B); it probably operated during the 1890's. This one also burned after only a short time of serving local loggers, farmers, and other clientele, according to McDaniel. For several reasons, no first-hand informants could be found who could corroborate these claims U (Jackson, 1980:322-325).

'According to Vernon McDaniel and other sources, there was a brothel that operated at this site during the late 1800's and early 1900's. No first-hand informant could be located to corroborate this. McDaniel thought that the ladjes of the night' sought their clientele from the sawmill that was operating nearby. He was told that the structure mysteriously burned, and that it was generally believed that certain structures remains today. The site is located just

outside the Nursery boundary fence in the extreme southern part of the compartment. Remnants of an early road leading to the site can be seen.' (Jackson, 1980:382).

Bibliographic References of the above citations:

Jackson, R. G. McDonald-Dunn Forests: Human Use and Occupation, A Report Submitted to the School of Forestry, Oregon State University, June 1980. McDaniel, Vernon. Personal interview with Royal Jackson, Corvallis, Oregon, July 27, 1979. Rowley, Marvin. ? (There are five citations for 1979 in page 357 of Jackson. It is not possible to identify the exact citation the quote was from).

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