True Ghost Experiences

Ten Mile House

Hi - have beenlurking around for awhile and enjoying the ghost stories.

Last week, we had my son's wedding, and the rehearsal dinner washeld at a place here in Little Rock called Ten Mile House. Thehouse dates from about the mid 1830s and is gorgeous, but itnaturally has a long and colorful history - as would anybodywho'd been around for 160 or so years!

Besides being beautiful, it gives one the feeling of havingstepped back in time, with its old furnishings and 50-candlechandelier. The parlors, downstairs bedrooms, and dining room arenow all used as dining rooms (it's a trendy restaurant now).

During the Civil War, General Steele's Federal Army seized thehouse for use as military headquarters, and for holding capturedConfederate soldiers. I have traced the bullet holes and carvedgraffiti with my own fingers, and the hair stood up on the backof my neck, thinking of those boys who fought on the 1400-acregrounds, were captured, incarcerated and died under the very roofwhere we stood.

One of those boys was 17-year-old David O. Dodd, who was capturedin the woods behind the house, charged and convicted of spying,and ultimately hanged in early 1864. He is a great ArkansasConfederate hero, buried downtown in Mount Holly Cemetery. MostArkansas school children learn about David O. Dodd early on, ashe is revered for preferring death to treason against theConfederacy.

The springhouse where he was held during the proceedings stillstands, and is used for smaller groups who come to the Ten MileHouse to dine. It is naturally cooler there (hence its use to"refrigerate" food), but there is a chill in the airthere that isn't really explained. It causes one to whisper, asif talking aloud might offend those who are still there. Mybrother, who works there, has seen the same thing happen over andover as he serves the diners in the spring house.

There is something about this house that seems to attract ghosts.There are four ghosts who frequent the place, including the ghostof David O. Dodd, who is said to float down the chimney and sitin the fireplace. This was seen more than once by a young girlwho was house-bound with an ultimately fatal illness. Sheconsidered him friendly, and looked forward to his visits.

There is a little old woman who wears a long white dress, whichsuggests that she lived a long time ago. She rides a white mule,and has been seen rising weightlessly from the wellhouse,floating silently over the housetop. There was a one-legged miserwho is said to still be looking for his money, and a previousowner claimed that she woke her husband up in the night becauseshe heard this man's peg leg tapping on the wooden floors as hewandered the house, searching in vain for his money. There are,to this day, blood stains on the front steps which will not washaway, thought to be the blood of an early owner who was shot ashe answered the door.

As the house was also used as a stage stop on the Southwest Trailto Texas, there were many, many travelers who passed through itsdoors. Most of these stories are legends, handed down through theyears, but my 70-year-old friend was raised at the place nextdoor and had a job cleaning the place when he was a youngster.I've known him for nearly 25 years and can safely say he's one ofthe most sensible men I've ever known, and he is convinced thatthese stories are true. My brother is a waiter there, and he hasseen a ghost appear and vanish right before his eyes. He is 35years old and as steady as they come, but he swears to have seenher.

The night of our dinner, November 6, 1997, we served the dinnerand then the wedding party went to my parents' house to rehearsethe wedding ceremony. Afterward, my sister, brother, husband,daughter and I all went back to clean up the house. The dinnerwas for 50 people, so there was a lot of cleaning up to do, andwe were alone in the house. As I carried stacks of dishes to theprep room (a makeshift jail cell during Civil War times) Inoticed a *horrible* odor as I passed through the door. I didn'tsay anything until the same thing had happened several times, andfinally asked my brother, "Danny, what on EARTH is thatterrible smell?" He just shrugged and said, "It's abody - they found the decomposed body of one of the prisoners,right back there. We always smell that."

I don't know about all the other tales, don't know what all thosepeople saw or thought they saw. But that smell was very, veryreal. I think next time we have a dinner, we'll go to Taco Bell!

Sorry about the length, but you just can't tell a ghost story inthree sentences!