The Story of the Haunting
Long ago there was a village built by the Native Americans, it once had a name, but no one remembers it now. Now it is home to the Lewis Arboretum Youth Camp. Legend has it that Lewis Wetzel roamed these lands in the late 1700’s, he is credited with slaughtering many Native Americans. Legend has it that it’s these very Native Americans that laid the curse on these lands. The story goes that when Wetzel attempted to slaughter the last of the Natives from this Particular village he got more than he bargained for. It was the chief of the tribe that had outlasted the rest and he vowed to protect the future generations and vowed to avenge all those who had been lost to Wetzel’s blade. The Chief spoke a curse into being. And it’s that curse that haunts these lands to this very day.
Years later settlers arrived and began to farm the land, unknowingly building their settlement on top of Native American remains, and unknowingly settling on the lands that would change their lives forever, for the curse of the chief was still very much intact and would soon take its revenge on the disrespectful settlers who dared disturb the remains of the fallen Native American Warriors.
The settlers couldn’t explain the strange happenings that shook their faith. On one particularly cold and Rainy day the teacher at the school House noticed that two of the students didn’t come to school. This dismayed her and she went to their families to check on them after school, no one there knew their whereabouts either, and thus the curse took its first two victims. Over the course of the next years the curse took many souls. None of them were ever found.
Soon the townspeople started to blame Witchcraft, They blamed Ethel Gracen a self- proclaimed “witch” and dragged her to the center of the town to be burned alive at the stake. Several weeks went by without incident and the settlers rejoiced! They Planned a glorious party, and carnival to celebrate the death of the witches curse, little did they know that the worst was yet to come.
The Carnival and Party were a great success, settlers from other neighboring villages came to see the spectacle and participate in all the fun to be had. There were games and prizes and much more. On the third night with the party still raging something dark happened, a cold breeze swept through the tents and a thick fog descended, A wail was heard from the center of the town. As the townspeople ran to see what the sound was they stopped in their tracks, for the curse had done its job and the monster that once was Ethel Gracen hovered above the ground there. No one can tell you what really happened that night. But that’s because none of them was seen again to tell the tale, the whole village was left there with carnival still playing its cheery music.
The village and carnival began to deteriorate over the next hundred years. Soon it vanished completely. The land was left vacant until the early 1930’s when a good meaning man bought the land with the intent to build a youth camp on it. Many years have gone by without an incident, but maybe the gates at our entrance aren’t to keep any one out, maybe they are to keep something in…
As All Hallows Eve approaches very few campers choose to stay here. The ones that do have said that they hear strange sounds, sounds that remind them of the circus. Every now and then a camper wanders a little too far down the trail and comes back …different .They claim to have seen something, thought they can’t describe what they have seen. If you are brave you can head down that trail, but be warned, those that do go down the trail come back a little less than they were before.
Years later settlers arrived and began to farm the land, unknowingly building their settlement on top of Native American remains, and unknowingly settling on the lands that would change their lives forever, for the curse of the chief was still very much intact and would soon take its revenge on the disrespectful settlers who dared disturb the remains of the fallen Native American Warriors.
The settlers couldn’t explain the strange happenings that shook their faith. On one particularly cold and Rainy day the teacher at the school House noticed that two of the students didn’t come to school. This dismayed her and she went to their families to check on them after school, no one there knew their whereabouts either, and thus the curse took its first two victims. Over the course of the next years the curse took many souls. None of them were ever found.
Soon the townspeople started to blame Witchcraft, They blamed Ethel Gracen a self- proclaimed “witch” and dragged her to the center of the town to be burned alive at the stake. Several weeks went by without incident and the settlers rejoiced! They Planned a glorious party, and carnival to celebrate the death of the witches curse, little did they know that the worst was yet to come.
The Carnival and Party were a great success, settlers from other neighboring villages came to see the spectacle and participate in all the fun to be had. There were games and prizes and much more. On the third night with the party still raging something dark happened, a cold breeze swept through the tents and a thick fog descended, A wail was heard from the center of the town. As the townspeople ran to see what the sound was they stopped in their tracks, for the curse had done its job and the monster that once was Ethel Gracen hovered above the ground there. No one can tell you what really happened that night. But that’s because none of them was seen again to tell the tale, the whole village was left there with carnival still playing its cheery music.
The village and carnival began to deteriorate over the next hundred years. Soon it vanished completely. The land was left vacant until the early 1930’s when a good meaning man bought the land with the intent to build a youth camp on it. Many years have gone by without an incident, but maybe the gates at our entrance aren’t to keep any one out, maybe they are to keep something in…
As All Hallows Eve approaches very few campers choose to stay here. The ones that do have said that they hear strange sounds, sounds that remind them of the circus. Every now and then a camper wanders a little too far down the trail and comes back …different .They claim to have seen something, thought they can’t describe what they have seen. If you are brave you can head down that trail, but be warned, those that do go down the trail come back a little less than they were before.