A Guide To The Paranormal Side

Seven Sisters Road

    It's hard to remember my first encounter with something paranormal in my mother's childhood house. I was very young when it happened. The incident was actually peaceful. I had told my family who I have seen. To make a long story short, the apparition I saw was the same person I had seen in many family photos. To my surprise, she died many years before I was born. She looked so real and alive when I saw her. It was my late great-grandmother.

    It wasn't until my mid-teens when I became "more interested" in ghosts, haunting and the supernatural.

    I want to share a serious story. One that has been bothering me for some time! Why? Well, haven't you ever experienced something that you cannot explain? Many pasts have been forgotten. Along with them, many secrets have  gone with them. Mostly those secrets are best hidden for good reasons, in my opinion. There is an old, dark, historical event that had been kept in dark secrecy, locked behind every door in an old urban town called Nebraska City.

    If you have ever played the Oregon trail back in the 80's you might remember this little nostalgia history lesson. Back in 1846 the original Fort Kearney was in Nebraska City. It is now south of the present day Kearney Nebraska. Yes, it is believed to be haunted as well. However, we're not talking about that haunting just yet.

    Nebraska City is known as "The Home of Arbor Day" due to its close proximity to Arbor Lodge, home of the first Secretary of Agriculture of the United States, J. Sterling Morton, who enthusiastically promoted the planting of trees on the prairie for shade, fruit, and windbreaks. The National Arbor Day Foundation has its headquarters near his home in Nebraska City. To offer a little horrible history fact: Slaves were first bought and sold in the 1850s in Nebraska City.

    The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 allowed legal settlement in the region. In 1857 three town sites along with Prairie City joined, incorporating as present day Nebraska City. Steamboats were a very important essential to Nebraska. They brought commerce, people and freight to the new world of the west. Freighting supplies were brought up the Missouri River by steamboat and then taken out by wagon train.

    A once well respected farmer, whose name I changed for respectful reasons, named Alex Barrens owned a large amount of land. The Missouri river flowed thru 2 miles of his land which made him unease to allow the city to let passengers on steamboats to travel thru. He would not give up his rights to do so, even though the city was willing to pay him a large sum of money to buy the property.

    Alex had seven sisters, whose names also have been changed, who all but one never married. From youngest to oldest was, Heather, Emily, Sue, Mandy, Erica, Betty. The oldest one who was married was Mrs. Gloria Boyd. All seven of his sisters lived together after the death of Gloria's husband who died of the Flu. Heather was a teacher. Emily and Sue worked nearby at a local grocery store. Mandy was a bartender. While Erica and Betty helped Alex at the farm throughout the day.  Every night all of his sisters would work in the fields to harvest corn when the seasons were right. It was a tough time for them. Many people from Nebraska City did whatever they could to help out.

    Alex argued with the court that under any circumstances he will "NOT" allow the city to take away his land and or allow any steamboats to port illegally at "his" owned portion of the river. The court testified that no person shall own property of the river and it was given to all rights to travelers to cross through. Alex again testified and fought with the system. He swore that he will have his revenge upon "anyone" who steamboats at his land.

    At harsh times the steamboat traveled but once a week. Work was lacking and people were beginning to run dry of resources and or work, but people still managed to travel by steamboat from time to time. As for Alex's revenge, Every time he spotted a steamboat across "his portion of the river" he would become outraged with anger and fire his rifle at different directions to scare off travelers. His sisters constantly discussed with him to sell or give the land to the city and move to better grounds. But Alex refused. He felt as if his sisters were against him. He feared that the city had tried to talk sense into them. They fought night after night. All Alex could think of was hatred and revenge. Alex truly believed the courts manipulated his sister into "giving" up his land, and for what? Money, because they were not married? A conspiracy?

    What made things worse was that the city was building a road that would pretty much cover the remaining portion of what Alex had owned. He was furious. He would not allow anyone to cross his land.

Warning: What you are about to read is disturbing. If you wish not to read anything gory, please skip to "The Haunting."

    Four hills erect on the land that Alex once viewed at sunrise every morning. It was there where he had cast his warning to the city. One night Alex drugged his sister's waters during supper. They died from the poison. Alex then dragged their bodies, one by one to the top of the hills and hung them by their necks.

    At dawn a small group of people from a local church had planned a service of Christian worship at the hills as they usually have over the years. The cool early summer morning breeze was a good place for service. But this particular morning, they didn't realize they were about to walk into a hellish nightmare. To their surprise of a horrifying sight, the church group stood in horror as Bettie's body swung back and forth from a single tree on an Eastern hill. Sues body swung from one of the trees on the Western hill. Her face was badly beaten in. Mandy and Erica's bodies both swung from two different trees on the Northwestern hill while Heather and Sarah's bodies swung from a tree on a Northeastern hill. All their throats were slashed open as their dead bodies swung while tied by a rope around their arms tied upwards.
    Sheriff Andrew Schwarz discovered the body of Gloria's Boyd. He and a couple other city officials noticed she was hanging by one leg tied to a rope wrapped around a high branch of a tree on a fifth and center hill approximately 60 yards from the other bodies. Gloria's  stomach was cut open. Horrifically her intestines were hanging out, spilled along the ground. After shooing away wild crows and a dog, the Sheriff soon discovered another body, dead, on the ground under Gloria's swinging corps. It was her unborn child. Gloria was 7 months pregnant.

    Alex was later executed after his confession of his murderous plot. He warned the court that all he wanted was to keep the promise that he gave his father when he once owned the land before it was handed down to him. "Do not giveaway my land that I worked so hard for, no matter what the cause." But did that give a reason as to killing his sisters? Definitely not.

The Haunting:

    After the construction of a road that paved through what was once Alex Barrens property, many travelers have experienced unexplainable phenomena. Today people call that road "7 Sisters Road." At night, passing vehicle headlights had flickered or burned out. Cars and trucks of all sizes had stalled or broken down from unexplainable causes.

    One person reported that he and his wife had traveled through thick fog over the road when all of a sudden, their car broke down. The husband got out of his car to pop open the hood to check the engine to look for the problem. A short while later his wife got out of the car to help out. After examining the engine the husband found nothing unusual. He closed the hood down. Then eerie screams came from a distance from the West. The evening sun was setting; the couple had looked to the West. From where the screams were coming from they saw five hills, aligned in a V shape. The screams faded. Their vehicle started on its own. They quickly jumped back into the car and sped off. Since then they claimed that they had never driven down that road, ever again.

    Three miles to the south of Nebraska City lies the "Camp Creek Cemetery" where it is said that Alex Barrens and his seven sisters are buried there. No report is documented of Gloria's baby being buried there. But one thing remains a mystery! Hundreds of people have reported hearing a baby crying in the Camp Creek Cemetery and then suddenly stops as if its cry had been cut silent. It is also rumored that a baby's cry can be heard at Seven Sitters road after their vehicle stalls.