HAUNTED RIVERS

“The eeriness of this lonely island, set among a million willows, swept by a hurricane, and surrounded by hurrying deep waters, touched us both, I fancy. Untrodden by man, almost unknown to man, it lay there beneath the moon, remote from human influence, on the frontier of another world, an alien world, a world tenanted by willows only and the souls of willows. And we, in our rashness, had dared to invade it, even to make use of it!” --- Algernon Blackwood

It's only in the daylight we see rivers with wonder and magic. Our favorites can often offer us serenity or endless thrills. Who of us doesn't look to see around each bend in a wild river, leading us to either the rumble of rapids or floating lazily in the sun.

We take ease near the stream in the light of day, where our imaginations and our innermost fears are not exploited by the sun.
Yet, it's in the night, when those comforting rivers can turn foreboding. With each whisper of sound or shadow in the moonlight, our perceptions of uncertainty, dread, and fear can bewitch us.
In Algernon Blackwood's The Willows, a novella about an adventurous canoe trip down the River Danube, it's only the night that the voyage turns frightful when mysterious forces emerge from within the forest creating spine-chilling sounds and bizarre shadows.
"I felt of dread was no ordinary ghostly fear," the narrator tells us, "It was infinitely greater, stranger, and seemed to arise from some dim ancestral sense of terror more profoundly disturbing than anything I had known or dreamed of. We had “strayed,” as the Swede put it, into some region or some set of conditions where the risks were great, yet unintelligible to us; where the frontiers of some unknown world lay close about us."
So. what's out there enshrouded in or along the watery brink? Is it a ghostly presence from the past? A spirit wandering lost, or a phantom bent on destruction.
Or is it just a concoction of some old scary tales meant to make us cringe and look over our shoulders in apprehension on a cool October night? What do you believe?
So, whether you're daring or doubtful here are a few of our nation's haunted rivers you might want to visit (if got the nerve), this Halloween or anytime, for your opportunity to see a ghost.

Pocantico River, New York

 Pocantico River

The Pocantico River in western New York was made famous by Washington Irving's Halloween classic The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Ever since people have been keeping a keen out for the Headless Horseman. Who, as the story said, would ride alongside the river looking for hapless victims.
The Pocantico is a nine-mile-long tributary of the Hudson River following an urban setting, But even today, it has a dark and unnerving nature. "The Pocantico winds its wizard stream among the mazes of its old Indian haunts, sometimes running darkly in pieces of woodland," wrote Irving.
He had obviously heard the tales surrounding the Old Dutch Church, Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, and Spook Rock to inspire his story of the Headless Horseman.
Spook Rock sits on the east­ern side of Rock­e­feller State Park, next to the Saw Mill River Park­way. Just its name conjures up ghosts. The his­tory of Tar­ry­town tells the leg­end of the Lady in White who haunts the rock after dying in a snow­storm. It's said you can still hear her cries of the howl­ing of the wind and see her ges­tures to warn of impending winter storms.
It also tells of the ghost of a colo­nial girl, who jumped to her death there to escape a Tory raider dur­ing the rev­o­lu­tion. As well as the heartbreaking tale of Star Girl the spirit of an In­dian girl who roams the area lament­ing the death of her lover and son.
It is said that even to­day, on a quiet spring night, one can stand on the banks of the Pocan­tico River and still hear Star Girl cry­ing out for her lover and child.

Blackwater River, Florida
   

Blackwater River 

The Blackwater River is considered a favorite spot for canoeing, kayaking, and camping in Florida's panhandle. Streaming through undeveloped lands by paddling the river is, said to be like going through beautiful tropical rainforest. But beware, for the Blackwater has two mysterious and sinister residents in its mist.
Locals will warn you to be careful when taking a dip. They say that there's a deathly pale-looking woman with long jet-black hair smelling of rotting flesh who will drag you under the water, attempting to drown you in the river. So far, only a lucky few have escaped her vile clutches.
While in Blackwater River State Park, a woman wearing a long white gown covered with blood is said to appear near the oldest white Atlantic cedar tree in the park. Legend says she was sacrificed there in a bloody ritual.
Rumors now say that people who visit the spot experience chills and have the feeling of being suffocated as a result of all the sacrificial rituals that took place there.
And one final warning. If you do see this ghostly woman is white, don't look in her eyes and runway. Otherwise, you could be next.

Tombigbee River, Alabama
  

Tombigbee River

Tales of ghost ships and phantom vessels are common folklore along both coast and the Great Lakes. Fleeting images of ships disappearing into the fog have been reported by sailors and beachcombers alike.
Over the years, witnesses have reported seeing “The Phantom Steamboat of the Tombigbee” fully engulfed in flames along the shore of Alabama's Tombigbee River near Pennington, Alabama.
Side-wheeled paddle steamer Eliza Battle was the most luxurious riverboat on the river until disaster claimed her on a cold winter night.
On March 1, 1858, she was fully loaded with more than 1,200 bales of cotton and carrying 101 passengers and crew when a fire broke out on the main deck. Panic ensued as the blaze spread over the boat. Passengers, mostly in their nightclothes, could only escape the flames by leaping into the icy river waters.
In the end, the ship sank, leaving somewhere between 26 to 33 people dead due to mostly exposure to the freezing water.
Soon after the disaster, ghost stories began to circulate. Witnesses claimed to see the ill-fated “Eliza Battle" ablaze again near where she sank, accompanied by screams of people begging to be rescued. The sightings of the burning steamers are to happen mostly on cold and windy nights. 

Mississippi River, Missouri & Illinois

 

Tower Rock

From its source up in Minnesota down to the Gulf of Mexico, the Mississippi River is brimming with bigger-than-life stories and legends and of course, ghostly yarns.
And nowhere is the river more haunted than Grand Tower, Illinois, to Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
According to the local folklore, the paranormal activity likely stems from the two massive boat accidents and one spooky reunion at Tower Rock.
On an October night in 1869, the steamship Stonewall was traveling on the river when it caught fire in what would become one of the worst disasters on the river.
It's estimated that the death toll was somewhere between 200 to 300. But nobody knows for sure because the passenger list was burned up with the steamboat.
Witnesses reported watching The Stonewall burn for nearly two hours before sinking into the river on that eerily dark and quiet.
Seventeen years later on another October night, the steamboat Mascotte's boiler exploded, engulfing that ship in a fire. Eyewitnesses said as the fire raged, the ship's smokestack fell over the gangplank, trapping passengers attempting to escape. All in all, the river disaster claimed 35 lives.
Psychics say the spirits of the dead in these disasters remain to this day. They have told of seeing the ghosts of these tragic ship fires making lonely pilgrimages back to the water from the local cemetery and of seeing unearthly hands and fingers reaching out of the dark river water.
It's also not uncommon for barge captains and crews to observe unexplainable lights bouncing across the water and hear ghostly screams and cries for help while passing through the spooky stretch of river.
The nearby Tower Rock offers even more supernatural lore for the Big Muddy. The 60-foot rock formation has been a silent sentinel along the river throughout its history. Boatmen would celebrate passing by it with a drink of good cheer. River pirates used it as an ambush spot, and Meriwether Lewis of the Lewis & Clark would write about its peril: “strong currents thus meeting each other form an immense and dangerous whirlpool which no boat dare approach in that state of the water…”
But the spookiest story of the rock happened in 1839 when an entire wedding party's boat got caught in a giant whirlpool and sucked under the muddy waters. Only one slave survived.
On that very day, a baby niece to the groom was born and given the same name as the bride. And twenty years later, to celebrate her birthday, she holds a party upon Tower Rock.
And as the story goes, the gathering was suddenly astonished when members of the wedding party arose out of the Mississippi River and presented her with a mysterious parchment scroll forewarning her of the Civil War. After delivering the prophetic message, the entire ghostly group, once again disappeared into the murky waters of the river.

Missouri River, Nebraska
  

              Blackbird Hill by Karl Bodmer

Blackbird Hill is a distinctive 300-foot-high landmark on the west side of the Missouri River in northeastern Nebraska. It was well-known to river travelers throughout the 19th century. In 1804, Lewis and Clark climbed the rise to visit the grave of an Omaha chief, while famed frontier artists George Catlin and Karl Bodmer painted it in the 1830s. Traditional Native American accounts say that Chief Big Elk is buried at the site. It is also said to be haunted by the spirit of a young woman who was murdered on the hill more than a century and a half ago.
According to local folklore, a young couple fell in love and agreed to marry. But first, the boy had to make his fortune, promising her he would return for her. But after years of waiting, the young girl finally gave up, thinking her husband-to-be was dead. She married another man and settled atop Blackbird Hill.
As the story goes, it was years later when the former lovers were once again reunited, when the young man came looking for her on the banks of the Missouri River. Overjoyed to see him, she confessed that she had never stopped loving him and only married another because she thought he was dead. Surely, it was fate that brought the long-lost lovers back together. She told him that she would go home to tell her husband that she wanted out of their marriage, so they could leave together in the morning.
When the girl returned to the cabin, she explained the situation to her husband, saying she did not love him and intended to leave him to marry her first love. At first, the husband begged her to stay. But when she refused, he went into a bitter rage and attacked her with his hunting knife. Mortally wounding her and with nothing to live for, he carried her to the cliff of the hill overlooking the river and leaped with her into the river far below. The woman’s death scream pierced the air until it was silenced by the muddy waters of the Missouri River. The young lover witnessed the couple tumble and drowned in the river, and he also became a victim as he later died of a broken heart.
A century and a half later, the river no longer touches the base of the hill Blackbird Hill, but the young woman’s restless soul remains. According to the legend, on October 17th, the anniversary of the murder-suicide, the woman’s chilling screams can be heard at the top of the hill. Over the years, dozens of people reportedly have heard her cries of terror.

So, what do you believe? Are these just good old-fashion ghost stories passed down over the years?
Or are there really haunting spirits out there at the edge of the water?
Whatever you believe, these tales have intertwined with the history and folklore of these waterways. They have captured our imaginations and can provide us, that is if you’re feeling especially brave, a spooky adventure where you can go see for yourself. But only if you dare.

Happy Halloween

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EXTREME PADDLER PLANS TO PADDLE EVERY RIVER ON THE PLANET

As springtime comes, many paddlers are contemplating their plans for summer adventures. Extreme adventure kayaker Rick "Rhino" Ryan is gearing up for a never been done before odyssey paddling every river on earth. It will be a 50-million-mile journey that will take him to unexplored wildernesses in the far reaches of the world.

"I'm always looking for new epic challenges," said Rhino, "I thought I'd start with all the rivers of America. But then I thought maybe not big enough, maybe North America, and from there it just cascaded into all the rivers of the world. So, I'm going colossal!"

According to Alexa, there are about 165 major rivers in the world. Rivers vary in size and distance. There are 76 rivers in the world over 1000 miles long. Located in the continent of Africa, the Nile River is the longest at 4,135 miles. The Amazon River in South America is 3,980 miles long, while the Mississippi River and the Missouri Rivers is the longest river system in North America at 3,902 miles, just to name a few. There are thousands of smaller rivers, but the exact number is difficult to determine. Hydrologists studying images from a NASA Landsat satellite estimate the United States alone has around 3.5 million miles of river miles. While the earth calculates some 58 million river miles on the planet.
"It's definingly going to be a lot of paddle strokes, "said Rhino.

Rhino is a world-class paddler who's always looking for his next challenge. He's tackled some of the planet's most dangerous waterways for nearly a decade, always looking for that next thrill that most would consider a death wish. He has traveled all the big rivers of the world like the Colorado, Amazon, the rivers of Nepal. But it was down a jungle river in California that made him a legend in the paddling world.
In 2021, brought on during the Covid-19 shutdown, he jumped the fence at Disneyland to paddle Adventureland's Jungle Cruise Waterway, what some called the globe’s most treacherous river.
"I remembered the river ride as a kid," said Rhino, "That was the first trip river trip that got me hooked on paddling. It was crazy! Lions, hippos, tigers, and danger everywhere! I was lucky to survive."
Officials weren't too happy, however. That voyage trip did get him arrested, and he now has a lifetime ban in the park.

"He been thinking of doing this for quite a while," said Dan Masters of Master of Disasters Kayaking & Trips, "A lot of paddling expeditions compare their trip to that of like that of going to the moon. This one is like going to every star in the heavens. But he'll do it. I'm sure he will get it done in half the time most people would think. It would take two or three lifetimes for a lot of paddlers."

While the big-name rivers like the Colorado, Nile, Amazon, and Indus River are all well known. It's the not-so-famous ones that Rhino is looking forward to running the most.
"I plan to be shooting the big whitewater waves, the easy flat water, and every in-between. There will be a lot of first descents down forgotten rivers. There will be some spectacular drops and challenging water along with some incredible views of both remote as well as urban landscapes."

And you will be able to come along. Rhino's odyssey will be shown on Extreme Sports Adventure productions. ESA is the company that produces, The Real Wives of Kayakers. It's a highly rated TV show featuring women partnered with paddlers living the life, that believe it or not, does not always go steady with the flow. That show focuses on women living their dream of setting camera shots, making room for another boat in the garage, lonely shuttle drives, and dealing with smelly wet neoprene.

"I'm excited about having them along." said Rhino, "It will be part travel show, part food, and a lot of action. It will be a really great show or at least a swell beer commercial."

Rhino, who seems to have been prepping for this voyage for years, says he will use 57 different types of boats for his epic expedition.
"I got them all stashed in the garage," said Rhino, "I'll use pack rafts for those small hard-to-navigate rivers. My creek boats for the wild rivers. My sea-going kayaks for long stretches of water. And my canoe for places like the Mississippi. I'll even have a horse tank in Nebraska and a bathtub for Florida."

Rhino's wife Debbie, who will be along for a good part of the trip, said, "I'll miss him when I can't be with him, but it will be great to finally park the car in the garage."

Rhino expects the epic expedition to begin on April 1st.

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HAUNTED WATERS

In spring of youth it was my lot 

 To haunt of the wide earth a spot 

 The which I could not love the less— 

 So lovely was the loneliness

 Of a wild lake,  with black rock bound, 

 And the tall pines that tower’d around. 

 But when the Night had thrown her pall 

 Upon that spot, as upon all,

 And the mystic wind went by 

 Murmuring in melody— 

 Then—ah then I would awake 

 To the terror of the lone lake. 

 Yet that terror was not fright, 

 But a tremulous delight— 

 A feeling not the jewelled mine 

 Could teach or bribe me to define— 

 Nor Love—although the Love were thine. 

 Death was in that poisonous wave, 

 And in its gulf a fitting grave 

 For him who thence could solace bring 

 To his lone imagining— 

 Whose solitary soul could make 

 An Eden of that dim lake. 

Edgar Allan Poe 

The Master of the Macabre Edgar Allan Poe Certainly does paint A picture of water we all know I'll know in his poem simply titled The Lake. The lake is beautiful enchanting, and endearing by day and mysterious and dark at night. Poe plays on the fondness and thrill of this serene and wild place. But then haunts us later as he describes his "delight" at waking to "the terror on the lone lake."
But what else would expect from this writer who has been fighting us with scary tales such as the Ravin, Murder in Rouge Morgue, and The Telltale Heart?
And while the location of Poe's dedication remains unidentified. Historians have suggested, Poe could have written the poem about Lake Drummond, a lake outside Norfolk, Virginia, also known as the Great Dismal Swamp. One of only two natural lakes in Virginia, Lake Drummond offers a jungle atmosphere of lush and beautiful scenery and dark waters of unsolved mysteries.
Poe is said to have visited the lake and possibly could have been inspired by the lake's creepy history.
According to legend, the lake is haunted by the supernatural canoeing spirits of two star-crossed lovers and the ghostly Lady of the Lake. 

Edgar Allan Poe

First, it's the tragic story of a young Native American couple who lost their lives on the lake. The young woman had died on their wedding day. Mad with grief, the young man has a vision of her paddling her canoe in the distance. He fashions together a raft that comes apart while on the lake and drowns while attempting to reach her. It is said that at night one can see this ghostly bride and groom floating together in the moonlight.
Over the years, many have also claimed to see the Lady of the Lake paddling a white canoe holding a firefly lamp.
Could Poe have heard these tales to inspire his poem or perhaps have seen them for himself? The answer is unknown. But what we do know is folklore has a way of spilling into our waterways, especially after dark.
So whether you're courageous or skeptical, here are a few of our nation's haunted waters you just might want to paddle (if got the nerve) this Halloween or anytime for your chance to see a ghost.

Saco River, New Hampshire & Maine 

The Saco River is a popular recreational river that draws canoeists and kayakers across the northeast. While there are a few rapids, for most of its 136 miles, it's steady, calm, and it's cursed. Most of the locals have already heard the story that dates back to 1675. It's been told, three white-drunken sailors were rowing upriver when they came upon a Native American pregnant woman and her young son in a canoe. According to the story, the sailors believing in a myth that all baby natives could swim, attacked the canoe, grabbed the baby, and much to the horror of the child's mother, tossed the baby into the river. The infant sank, and the mother dove in and retrieved him. However, it was enough, and the baby and pregnant mother would tragically die not long afterward.

 

Saco River

As it turned out, the husband and father of the baby was the chief of a local tribe by the name of Squando. He was in despair and rage at the death of his pregnant wife and his young son. The incident would soon ignite violence between the tribe and white settlers. But Squando would conjure a more sinister type of vengeance. He asked the spirits to lay a curse over the waters of Saco saying, the river would "claim three lives a year until all white men fled its banks" to replace the lives of the three lost that day.
For the record, there are no official records of drownings and deaths on the Saco River, but locals swear that “Curse of the Saco River” is real and do not go near the river in fear of the ominous prophecy. Skeptics say it's just an old superstition. They say the river can be dangerous because it flows through many deep gorges with stronger currents. Over time accidents are bound to happen. However, in 1947 the Maine Sunday Telegram proclaimed that the curse was broken with the headline, "Saco River Outlives Curse of Indian Chief," after no deaths were reported that year.
Squandro eventually made his peace with the whites, but he never rescinded his curse. News of deaths is still reported during the summer months as the curse still looks for victims up and down the length of the Saco River.

Pocantico River, New York

The Pocantico River in western New York was made famous by Washington Irving's Halloween classic The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Ever since people have been keeping a keen out for the Headless Horseman. Who, as the story said, would ride alongside the river looking for hapless victims.
The Pocantico is a nine-mile-long tributary of the Hudson River following an urban setting, But even today, it has a dark and unnerving nature. "The Pocantico winds its wizard stream among the mazes of its old Indian haunts, sometimes running darkly in pieces of woodland," wrote Irving.
He had obviously had heard the tales surrounding the Old Dutch Church, Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, and Spook Rock to inspire his story of the Headless Horseman. 

Pocantico River

Spook Rock, sit on the east­ern side of Rock­e­feller State Park, next to the Saw Mill River Park­way. Just its name conjures up ghosts. The his­tory of Tar­ry­town tells the leg­end of the Lady in White who haunts the rock after dying in a snow­storm. It's said you can still hear her cries of the howl­ing of the wind and see her ges­tures to warn of impending winter storms.
It also tells of the ghost of a colo­nial girl, who jumped to her death there to escape a Tory raider dur­ing the rev­o­lu­tion. As well as the heartbreaking tale of Star Girl the spirit of an In­dian girl who roams the area lament­ing her death of for her lover and son.
It is said that even to­day, on a quiet spring night, one can stand on the banks of the Pocan­tico River and still hear Star Girl cry­ing out for her lover and child.

The Tar River, North Carolina

Known as a river for large catfish and kayak fishing, but if you encounter The Tar River Banshee and live, you'll tell a different tale of the one that got away.
The Tar River meanders past the farm fields and small towns for some 200 miles through the northeast part of North Carolina toward the estuary of Pamlico Sound. The river gets its name when the British Navy used the area's dense longleaf pine forests to provide much of the tar, turpentine, and pitch needed for shipbuilding. The name stuck when it became a major shipping route for tar-laden barges transporting goods throughout the colonies and abroad. 

Tar River

It's also about that time when the legend of the river's banshee, was spawned. It was during the Revolutionary War when British soldiers gunned down an Irish miller on the banks of the river. His crime, supplying aid to the patriot militia and not being loyal to the crown. As the water turned red with the Irishman's blood, he swore his revenge on the soldiers. He told them that they would be visited by a Banshee, a wailing and shrieking messenger of death. They shot him again, and he disappeared under the murky brown water.
Later that night, true to the Irishman's words, the British soldiers were awakened by the sorrowful wailing of the Banshee, the female apparition told them they did not have long to live and, they would soon all die in battle. And Not long after, the soldiers were all shot and killed in a skirmish with North Carolina militiamen.
Area folklore says the Tar River Banshee still roams the river shore. To this day, anyone unlucky enough to wade into the waters where the Irishman died so long ago, will be visited by the Banshee, who will wail her sorrowful song into the night and foretell their deaths.

The Wolf River, Tennessee

One would think that a section of the Wolf River in west Tennessee fittingly called the “Ghost river.” would be haunted, and you would be right. The Wolf River is a paddling favorite. The river is known for beautiful pristine and unspoiled countryside that meanders through bottomland hardwood forests, cypress-tupelo swamps, and open marshes. One missed sign on the 8-mile Ghost River canoe trail, and you could find yourself hopelessly lost drifting the cool and dark swampy waters shaded among spooky 100-foot moss-draped cypress tree on a river with no current. Some suggest that this eerie stop of flow is how the river section got its name. Others, however, point to the river's forlorn history. A Native American scout vanished without a trace in these waters in 1682. While on December 4, 1863, Union and Confederate forces clashed in a desperate struggle on a railroad bridge over the river. 

Wolf River

Pvt. Augustus Hurff of the 6th Illinois Cavalry described what happened, "We had no sooner crossed the bridge than were fired upon from ambush. This threw our forces into a panic. They forced us back to the river; we were ordered to draw our sabers and charge... but the rebels were reinforced. We dismounted and fought as infantry. Many of our horses were shot in the river, as were a great number of our men. The rivers seemed like running blood instead of water."
In the disorienting maze of willow, cypress, and tupelo, you will have to figure out on your own how the Ghost River section got its name. Is it because the river seems to get lost while running through a swamp? Or as others claim, because they still see ghosts of Civil War soldiers wandering about the shores.

Chicago River, Illinois

You will be traveling through the heart of the Windy City when paddling down the Chicago River. Looking up, you will find yourself surrounded by Chicago's legendary skyline. However, while gazing into the river's dark waters, you might see a strange reflection that is not your own staring back and possibly hear sounds of Screams, moans and splashes coming over the calm waters. Local paranormalists say without a doubt, they are the ghosts of the sinking of the SS Eastland.

The Eastland Disaster on the Chicago River 

The morning of July 24, 1915, passengers were boarding the Eastland for a summertime excursion at a dock in downtown Chicago when the ship began listing on the starboard side. To correct the imbalance, the ship’s crew let water into the ship’s ballast tanks. Only to have the vessel began listing again, this time on the port side. By this time, the boat had reached its limit of 2,500 passengers. Minutes later, the ship began taking on water. The vessel drifted away from the dock. At approximately 7:30 AM, the Eastland rolled onto its side. Onlookers were horrified as hundreds of people began to drown before their eyes.

"I looked across the river," reported one witness, "As I watched in disoriented stupefaction a steamer large as an ocean liner slowly turned over on its side as though it were a whale going to take a nap. I didn’t believe a huge steamer had done this before my eyes, lashed to a dock, in perfectly calm water, in excellent weather, with no explosion, no fire, nothing. I thought I had gone crazy."

On the upper deck, the panicking passengers, many holding children, spilled into the river. While below deck, other passengers were crushed by heavy furniture as the water poured inside the capsized ship.

Despite the Eastland being in just 20 feet of water and just a few yards from shore, its sinking killed 844 people, ranking it as one the worst maritime disasters in American history. It was among the city’s deadliest catastrophes. Hundreds of more died in the Eastland disaster than in the Chicago fire of 1871.

For years now, people have sensed paranormal activity along the river. Pedestrians on a river walk stroll have heard what sounds like a loud commotion coming from the water. Screams and splashes accompany the murmurer of a large number of people are floundering around in the water. Of course, they look to the river, and the water is perfectly calm. Some have seen a large wash of water suddenly overflow the area, while others have been shocked to see the ghost-like reflections staring back at them from the depths of the Chicago River.

Medina River, Texas

It is hard to scare Texans. But the tale of the Donkey Lady Bridge over the Medina River south of San Antonio for over a century has had them shaking in their boots. The Medina River is one of the gentlest rivers in the Texas Hill Country. Paddlers will enjoy amazing views and face very few hazards while journeying down this 120-mile waterway, that is until they approach the Donkey Lady Bridge. "It is extremely scary, very frightening. It's the most haunted places of ALL haunted places," wrote one visitor. 

The Donkey Lady Bridge

In one of Texas' legendary ghost stories, it's told that a man went mad and murdered all of his children and set his nearby farmhouse on fire. Escaping the house, the wife ran away, burning alive and throwing herself over the bridge into the water to extinguish the flames. Her body was left horribly disfigured. Her face was charred, and her hands had been melted into hoof-like stumps of a donkey. Over the years, she has become one of Texas' most terrifying apparitions in all of Texas.

Witnesses have report screeches, screams, and the sound of braying coming from the bridge.  Others have said they were attacked by the menacing specter while driving over the bridge. It has been told that the Donkey Lady would jump on the hoods of cars, leaving dents and broken windshields behind.

Since the bridge has been converted pedestrian bridge as part of the Medina River Green Way Trail System, but paddlers still might consider crossing under the bridge.

Missouri River, Nebraska

Blackbird Hill is a distinctive 300-foot-high landmark on the west side of the Missouri River in northeastern Nebraska. It was well known to river travelers throughout the 19th century. In 1804, Lewis and Clark climbed the rise to visit the grave of an Omaha chief, while famed frontier artists George Catlin and Karl Bodmer painted it in the 1830s. Traditional Native American accounts say that Chief Big Elk is buried at the site. It is also said to be haunted by the spirit of a young woman who was murdered on the hill more than a century and a half ago.
According to local folklore, a young couple fell in love and agreed to marry. But first, the boy had to make his fortune, promising her he would return for her. But after years of waiting, the young girl finally gave up, thinking her husband-to-be was dead. She married another man and settled atop Blackbird Hill.

Blackbird Hill by Karl Bodmer

 As the story goes, it was years later when the former lovers were once again reunited, when the young man came looking for her on the banks of the Missouri River. Overjoyed to see him, she confessed that she had never stopped loving him and only married another because she thought he was dead. Surely, it was fate that brought the long-lost lovers back together. She told him that she would go home to tell her husband that she wanted out of their marriage, so they could leave together in the morning.
When the girl returned to the cabin, she explained the situation to her husband, saying she did not love him and intended to leave him to marry her first love. At first, the husband begged her to stay. But when she refused, he went into a bitter rage and attacked her with his hunting knife. Mortally wounding her and with nothing to live for, he carried her to the cliff of the hill overlooking the river and leaped with her into the river far below. The woman’s death scream pierced the air until it was silenced by the muddy waters of the Missouri River. The young lover witnessed the couple tumble and drowning in the river, and he also became a victim as he later died of a broken heart.
A century and a half later, the river no longer touches the base of the hill Blackbird Hill, but the young woman’s restless soul remains. According to the legend, on October 17th the anniversary of the murder-suicide, the woman’s chilling screams can be heard at the top of the hill. Over the years, dozens of people reportedly have heard her cries of terror.

The Colorado River, Lake Mead & Hoover Dam, Nevada and Arizona

The massive concrete arch-gravity Hoover Dam spanning the Colorado River is an American icon. It's 660 feet thick at its base, over sixty stories tall, and over 1,200 feet wide. It supplies both significant amounts of hydroelectric power and irrigation water to the southwest United States.  Many maintain that the dam is haunted by the workers who lost their lives while building the colossal structure.

Built during the height of the Great Depression between 1931 and 1935. It's said, some 112 people died during its construction. The deaths were all typical industrial accidents such as drowning, most common in dam construction, being struck by equipment or debris, and of course, accidental falls. A traditional story often told says that a few of those killed fell into the concrete while it was being poured and now encased the dam itself. While a popular myth, it isn't true. Experts say having human bodies mixed within the concrete would make the dam structurally unsound. 

Hoover Dam by Ansel Adams

However, the construction company said 42 workers not listed in the body count died of pneumonia. Most think that they actually perished from carbon monoxide poisoning while operating vehicles inside the diversion tunnels, and the company made up the pneumonia story to avoid any lawsuits.

No matter what the actual number of people who died may be, many think the dam is a harborage for all the lost souls. Dam workers and visitors have reported experiencing temperature drops in hallways and flickering lights and hearing footsteps in empty corridors of the Hoover Dam facility. Some have even been startled by the creepy apparition of men dressed in old-fashioned worker's clothing wandering the area. 

This year, with Lake Mead forecast to be at 34 percent of full capacity, the lowest level since the completion of the Hoover Dam in the 1930s, the lake too is a ghost of what it should be. 

Pinto Lake, California

Native American legends, a history of tragic drownings, and an unsolved murder plague this Northern California lake. Add in a paranormal activity along with massive algal toxin blooms will only add to the creepiness of Pinto Lake. 

Pinto Lake

Pinto Lake is a 120-acre recreational lake in Watsonville, CA. It's a great place to bring your kayak or canoe for an afternoon float, but according to the local folklore, you might want to be off the water after the sunsets. Allegedly it was an old Native American burial ground. Over the years, both artifacts and remains have been found in and around the lake. Some believe the spirits of those Indians still reside along the banks.

Over time several drownings have also taken place at the lake. Many think these lost souls walk the shore after dark. It's said, the apparition of the young woman in a white nurse's uniform dating back to World War II.  In the 1970s four locals, all claimed to have seen the phantom nurse from across the lake.

 “Talk about being scared," reported one witness, "This silhouette of this girl chased us all the way until we got out. We swore never again to be caught there after dark.” 

However, the ghost of whom some people think is Bonnie Brashers will send shivered down anyone's spine. In 1973, Bonnie, a local housewife, and mother of nine went out for a walk along Pinto Lake and never returned. Her husband was the main suspect in disappearance yet never was charged for her murder since her body was never found. Many believe, Bonnie was murdered by her husband. They say, he threw her body in the murky waters of the lake.  Her ghost now roams the shores there on occasion seeking justice and waiting for her body to be finally found to solve the mystery. 

So what do you believe? Are these just good old-fashion ghost stories passed down over the years?
Or are there really haunting spirits out there at the edge of the water?
Whatever you believe, these tales have intertwined with the history and folklore of these waterways. They have captured our imaginations and can provide us, that is if you’re feeling especially brave, a spooky paddling adventure where you can go see for yourself. But, only if you dare.

Happy Halloween

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THE TRASH PADDLE SCAVENGER HUNT

Environmental pollution is not only humanity’s treason to humanity but also a treason to all other living creatures on earth! --- Mehmet Murat ildan


"Over there," called out one of my fellow paddlers, Mark, "Up there. Do you see them? You might have to get out the boat."

I turned my Necky tandem kayak around and paddled up alongside him. He was pointing at three glass beer bottles that had been aimlessly tossed into some blackberry bushes along the lakeshore. They were out of reach and tangled in a web of thorns. They would be difficult to retrieve.

I beached my kayak and waded into chilly ankle deep water and climbed onto the embankment to look into the underbrush to see the glass bottles. The first one I could reach and I carefully pulled it through the vines of thorns and tossed over my shoulder into the water for Mark to retrieve. The second took a little more work as I used my paddle to bat closer to me and the edge of the bank. The third was even further out of reach. I stretched in the brush with my paddle and similar to a hockey player trying to get a hold of the puck as I used it to force the bottle out of the thorny bushes to the edge of the bank. After rolling toward me, I grabbed like it was a treasure and carried it to my kayak with a trash bag the cockpit.

"Who would bring glass bottles to the lake?" questioned Mark's wife Cathy as she paddled up to join us, ""You would think they would know better."

"You would think they would no better than just tossing alongside the lake too," I growled as I got back in my kayak.

I have paddle along the lakeshore of Lake Natoma many times before. This is my neighborhood lake. The popular narrow 5-mile lake, located near Sacramento, sits on the western end of the California State Parks' Folsom SRA. Open year-round the lake garners a crowd on weekends during the warm springs days into the summer months. This day was no exception

Being my neighborhood lake, usually, when I paddle it, I pick up trash along the way. Over the years, I've made a good the habit of steering toward a floating plastic bottle or fishing a beer can or plastic bag out of a tree. As a steward of any lake or river, I feel it's my obligation to pick up and pack out litter along the waterways I travel.

To celebrate Earth Day, I hosted a clean up on the lake with Bayside Adventure Sports, an active Sacramento based outdoors church group. To make it fun, I turned it into a scavenger hunt by giving the participants a list of the biggest trash culprits most commonly found during river and lake cleanups.

Cigarette Butts  Can you believe they only weigh one gram or less but they account for 30% of all litter in the United States. In recent cleanup at Lake Tahoe volunteers removed 750 pounds of trash and over 6,000 cigarette butts, according to the League to Save Lake Tahoe.

Plastic Bottles and Bottle Caps  As of 2015, around 9% of all the plastic waste ever generated had been recycled, while 12% was incinerated and 79% was sitting in a landfill or the natural environment, according to research published in Science Advances. The bad news doesn't stop there. As reported in Mother Nature Network, our earth's oceans receive roughly 8 million metric tons of plastic waste every year, washing there from its shore and carried there by inland littered rivers.

Food Packaging  The NRCM reports that plastic foam food containers are among the top 10 most commonly littered items in the US. In efforts to curb this the state of Maine has become the first state to officially banned from using food containers made of Styrofoam. According to CNN, this law will go into effect Jan. 1, 2021, prohibiting restaurants, caterers, coffee shops and grocery stores from using the to-go foam containers because they cannot be recycled in Maine.

Plastic Bags  The good news. So far only 2 states California and Hawaii have banned plastic bags. The bad news. But they are still being commonly used across the United States. According to ReuseThisBag.com, the average bag you pick up at the store has a lifespan of about 12 minutes. When discarded, they clog sewage and storm drains, entangle and kill an estimated 100,000 marine mammals every year, and degenerate into toxic microplastics that fester in our oceans and landfills for up to 1,000 years.

Aluminum Cans  According to American Rivers, almost 100 billion aluminum cans are used in the U.S. annually, and only about half of these cans are recycled. The rest goes into landfills or into the environment. Beverage containers account for 50% of roadside litter (though this statistic includes plastic containers), and much of that is washed into our waterways.

And Items That Just Don't Belong  The executive director of Columbia, Missouri based non-profit that focuses on keeping the river clean is never that surprised by what they find in the water during cleanups. In a TV interview, Missouri River Relief's Steve Schnar said, "Anything that floats from our lives, and that's everything from plastic bottles, to styrofoam, to tires, refrigerators, and surprising things, anything that floats."
I can only agree. Believe or not I once found a picnic table that had been tossed into the lake. So my list included those surprising things clothing, construction supplies, fishing gear and just about anything else.

When we paddled back to the access, our garbage bags included all of the above. Most notable to our addition were three car tires that we recovered from the other side of the lake which I strenuously had to tow back.
We were amazed as well as disheartened by the amount of trash we found in and around Lake Natoma. Cleanups like ours are critical to ensuring that lake and rivers remain as beautiful places for us all to enjoy, yet they are only part of the solution. Ultimately if we want to protect our lakes, rivers, and waterways we need to create an awareness to others to reduce the amount of trash being littered into our environment. We should make Earth Day every day by encouraging everyone to pack out their trash and dispose of it properly.

Act Now! Make the River Cleanup Pledge  Outside Adventure to the Max and American Rivers is asking for you to take action and clean up and protect the rivers in our own backyards. We need your pledge. The premise is simple. Every year, National River Cleanup® volunteers pull tons of trash out of our rivers, but by picking up trash you see around you every day, you can prevent it from getting into the rivers in the first place.

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