March 26, 2007

The Lady in Black

Rate this encounter:[an error occurred while processing this directive] Kathy and Frances, Rosebud, Texas, November 1992

In November of 1992 I had just started a new job with an ambulance service in Bremond, Texas. In order to take the position I was required to take courses in emergency medicine in order to pass the state certification for the position. My partner and I had to travel several miles to Rosebud where the classes were held. On one occasion I had my husband bring my two daughters to Rosebud to the classes, they volunteered to be our practice dummies, for our practice lab on caring for small children and adolescences.

My partner and I left for Rosebud for the classes and my husband and daughters came later. After class was over we started for home -- my partner and I in one car and my husband and daughters behind us in our pickup.

It had been unusually warm that day but when we came from the building it had turned extremely cold and it hadn't even gotten dark yet. As we drove along my partner and I were talking, not really about anything in particular, just general conversation. Every now and then I would glance back to make sure my husband wasn't lagging back, as he had a tendency to do.

The road between Rosebud and Bremond is mostly isolated and deserted as most country roads tend to be at night. We had just passed the country store outside of Rosebud and were well on our way home. I glanced back to make sure that my family was still behind us when out of the corner of my eye I saw an old woman standing at the side of the road. I thought that I was mistaken and took a second look to be sure of what I saw. The woman was dressed all in black. She had a long black dress and coat and had her head covered with a black shawl. I couldn't see her face because she was turned to the side. She also had a cane and was just standing there, however she had no hands or feet, but you could tell that she was old because she was hunched over by age. I asked my partner if she saw the old woman on the side of the road and she said "no" I must have seen a shadow or something because she would have seen it too if it was actually there. I dismissed it as just my eyes playing tricks on me.

We arrived home and I was getting out of the car when my husband and daughters arrived. Both of my daughters were in hysterics and crying as they jumped out of the pickup. They grabbed onto me and wouldn't let go. I asked my husband what in the world was going on. He even had a strange look on his face as he asked me if I had seen the woman that was standing beside the road. I told him I had seen her but the lady that was with me hadn't.

I asked him if he knew her and he said no she was the ghost of a woman that had lived on that land a long time ago. The house that she had lived in and raised her family in was just across the road and now long abandoned (it was a log cabin) and in very bad condition was still visible from the road where we had seen her. My husband knew the story of the lady as folklore around Rosebud, where he had spent most of his life, but this was the first time he had actually seen her.

After several days my family and I were visiting in Rosebud with some friends, Artis and Nete, we brought up the lady on the side of the road. They both looked at us and kind of laughed. Artis said that the lady was Nete's aunt and that we weren't the first ones to see her. In life she often would walk the property and she still did even in death. Nete said she guessed that her aunt loved that place so much that she refused to leave. We've never seen her again to this very day. However, we always looked for her whenever we travel that road.