The Legend of Old Man Carter

From: Tony Sturgess (TonySturgess@hotmail.com)
Story type: Ghost
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada
Source: Form Submission

First of all, this haunting really did occur. It turned from a dream, or vision, I had, to reality.

A few years ago, in Summer of 1996, I began having these dreams, visions, if you will. They all consisted of me being lost in a forest I have never seen. In the dream, I was wandering through the forest, on a sunny day, and I entered a particular part of the forest, and felt everything was alive. I felt a presence in my mind, not my own, either. It was all around me, pushing me further and further. It was an ominous feeling of despair I got on that Autumn day, in my dream. I eventually, after wandering a bit, came across a clearing. It was a large field, surrounded by trees on all sides. I stood in the field and stopped walking.

I remembered that it was Sunny earlier, and I began hearing thunder crackling overhead, loud and vicious. Surely the clouds couldn't move in that fast. the ominous feeling of despair got more sinister and sinister, until it faded out. The clouds cleared, only to reveal the Moon. One minute it was noon, the next it was night. I glanced down at my watch and realized it was scrambled. (You can't read in a dream, because the left side of the brain controls dreams and other mental functions, while the right is for physical things, like sight.) I looked up again, away from my watch, and, out of the corner of my eye, thought I saw a man, covered with blood, with a sinister look on his face. I knew, at once, that this was the "ghostly" force invading my mind. I batted a glance over in his direction, to the left of the clearing, to find no one there. I looked straight again, and this time, before my very eyes, I saw a bright flash in the darkness, a speedy and shocking flash, like a lantern, traveling at the speed of light. I rubbed my eyes. Then, again, from left to right, the same flash came, only closer to my, by at least a few meters. Again, I rubbed my eyes, hard. My vision was blurred, but nothing could of prepared my for what I saw:

An man, looked like a working man, perhaps a logger, stood, bathed in light by his lantern, which dimmed after a few seconds, and as it did, I heard the sound like tearing skin and clothes being torn, and blood-curdling screams, sounding like a women and a few children. I could not see anything, for it was total darkness as the flame died out. Then, slowly, the flame again brightened, without sound, or effort from the man in front of me. The flame changed from it's original colour to a blood red. And I saw a bloody man, covered in blood, holding an axe over his shoulder, with angered look on his face. He reached a blood-covered hand out for me, and I, paralized by fear, took his hand.

At once, I felt the same, horrible presence in my mind. Of a man in earthly hell. His name was Carter. Known in my native Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada, as Old Man Carter. He, too, had a story. In my mind, his story is played again and again each time think of him.

He lived in a shack, on Kelly's Mountain, with a few neighboring towns a few miles away in all directions. He had a family, in the late 1800's. He had a beautiful wife, and 2 sons, one the age of 4 and the other of 5.

One night, in a horrible storm, he went off to collect fire wood. His Wife was downstairs, sewing, his children asleep. She heard a loud knocking at the door, and went to look through the glass top see who it was. It was a total stranger, unshaven, light, but strong build. He had few teeth, the few of which were semi-sharp. He looked very menacing. He demanded shelter from the storm. Mrs. Carter, remembering how wild this place is, and feeling afraid of him and the storm, said no. He pleaded with her, but she said no. The stranger went away....for the time being, and Mrs. Carter went back sewing. She heard a faint sound of something being hit against the house, but figured it was the storm. She then heard something upstairs, like rumbling and a muffled cry. She wasn't sure if she imagined the cry, and went upstairs to check on the children. She entered the bedroom to find one with a large gash in his arm, bleeding, the arm nearly hanging off. She felt tears sting her eyes and then saw the headless corpse of her other son, and a bloody axe dropped on the bloody wood floor. She let out a heart wrenching scream, Carter hearing it without a doubt. She then felt something sharp penetrating her chest, and looked down, at her breast, to see the tip of a long bowie knife protruding. She felt blackness encompass her as she died, a bloody lifeless heap on the floor.

When Carter arrived home, he found the door locked. He knocked on the door, and got no answer, and went around back, and found a ladder at one window, the children's, and started to climb, but almost slipped on a slippery substance (Blood). He then entered his house and saw the blood stained room that his family died in, the bowie knife in his wife's chest, his son's arm, severed, and his other's son's headless corpse. He got down on his knees and let out a scream. He searched for days on end. He left his house and followed the footsteps to a cave on Kelly's Mountain. Inside, he found a blood-soaked man asleep on the dirt floor. He then saw a bloody axe leaned against the cave wall. He grabbed ant yelled at the murderer, awakening him. He opened his eyes to see Carter raise the axe, the blade being parallel to his next, and heard a loud clang and skin tearing, bones cracking, and knew it was the sound of the axe hitting the ground after beheading him. Then he died. Legend has it, to this day, you can hear the sounds of that night, being played out, over and over again.

One day, with Scouts, we were in the woods on and near Kelly's Mountain. I, one day, got lost from a hike.

I was wandering through the forest one day, in Autumn, the leaves bright red, it was October, I think, if my memory serves my right. I knew the woods well, but not well enough. I had flashes in my dream, of the presence taking over my mind. Then, I felt it. I clutched my head, but I knew the presence took over my mind. I wandered through the forest, not knowing what to find. And, once again, I came to the clearing, saw the lantern fly past me, saw Old Man Carter, saw his anguish, and touched his heart, the pain it held, and the torment it suffered. I remember waking up from my "Dream." in the nurses cabin. The nurse said to my "Tony, your lucky to be alive, , you were found by the entrance to a cave, late last night."

I was relieved it was just a dream, and I went into the cabin for a shower. I took my clothes off, still dazed. I looked scratched my right arm, and felt something that wasn't my skin on my left nails. I raises them to my eyes and saw wet, red liquid, feeling sort of dry , that I knew all too well to be blood. My eyes filled with horror as I glanced at my right arm, covered in Old Man Carter's bloody finger prints.

I prayed for his soul in my locker room, adjacent to the shower stall, and walked in the the stall, expecting to see my nude body in the mirror. I saw Carter's washed self, clean-shaven, smiling, not covered in blood, like I first saw him in my dreams. My back ground faded and I was encompassed by lights. Beyond Carter who was in front of me was a huge portal of light I thought to be the Gates of Heaven. Carter turned to me, and said, smiling, "Thank you, my friend, for setting my soul free with your prayers. You have done great honour to me for letting me return to se my family in Heaven. To see them once more makes my life have meaning." He then turned his back to me, hi words still filling me heart with grief, and yet happiness, for his soul, and he walked slowly into the portal of light, but thanked me once more, when he stepped in, and a huge flash of light blinded me, and when I opened my eyes again, I was in front of the mirror, staring at my own reflection again.

I don't expect you to believe if you don't believe in ghosts, but, happen it did.