The Field of Paths
PA, USA
February 2001
I'm going to try to make this short and sweet and to the point.
I've always believed in ghosts ever since I was little. I don't know why, I just have. I've had a few things happen to me that made me think twice, but nothing like what I'm about to tell you. Here goes:
I was born and raised in the country, always played in the cornfields and in the haystacks which were kept in the barn. Making either of them our little safe haven for that particular day. (In the country you make a lot of your own fun.) Anyway, time moved on and so did my sisters and brothers and neighbour friends. I was soon a young woman in my late 20's.
It was the end of summer, beginning of fall, corn was tall... I'll never forget that. I was on my way to work one afternoon. I worked in a manufacturing plant about an hour from where I lived. We worked swing shift at that time. Leaving to go to work at approximately 1:45 p.m.
I'm one who always takes the back roads, I know them better and there isn't much traffic on them. About ten minutes into my ride, I get on a straight road with cornfields on both sides of the road. There is one older farmhouse on the left, right by the road. A little further down sits a newer home nestled between the cornfield on the right. A little further down on the right sits an old farm house with some outside sheds and a huge barn/horse stable (which has since been rebuilt due to a fire there a few years ago).
I'm supposed to be making this short and sweet aren't I?
Anyway, as I'm coming down this straight and very long road, in the distance I notice a woman and a little child walking across the street from the old farmhouse. You know the one that has the huge barn/riding stable.
Here's where it gets very abnormal. I noticed that the woman and child had Amish clothing on. The woman had the full length black dress with a matching cap on her head. The child was a little girl with the same type of outfit. I thought, now what are they doing down here?? Having some kind of Bicentennial or Heritage type celebration?? Right away I was thinking, "Great, now I'm gonna be late, or I'll get stuck behind some goofball in a carriage or something."
Much to my surprise, the closer I got to these people crossing the road, I noticed it was no longer two people like I had originally seen. It was only one woman, and at this point she was only halfway across the road (going away from the farmhouse). As I got closer, I could see the parking area in front of the house, no cars. I also could see in front of the barn, no cars.
This was weird, why is this woman dressed like this? There is obviously nothing going on up here. Oh, I thought, maybe there doing some kind of re-enactment of something. I was now about 200 feet from her. She whisked crosse the road, not even looking at me. Of course I slowed down and thought, "Lady watch where you're goin' you're gonna get hit!!"
She was complete down to the shoes, they were black boots, not shoes. I noticed she didn't look at anything except straight ahead, at the cornfield facing her. This whole scenario only took about two or three minutes...but believe me, it seems like it lasted a long, long time.
As I got within ten to fifteen feet of her I was then directly in line with the farmhouse and the barn was right in front of me on the right. There was nothing going on at the house or stable, just the regular four or five cars of the people who pay for lessons at the stable. The woman was now across the road, and I thought what is she doing and why is she dressed like that?
Yes, I was staring like there was no tomorrow. I was completely baffled, we have Amish Folks about 100 miles West of us. I wont apologize for staring because I was trying to figure this out.
Here's the clincher!! As I was passing this woman, (she was now all the way on the opposite side of the road, at the cornfield), she turned completely around and looked right through me. She was the oldest looking woman I have ever seen in my life. I know what my expression was, cause I still have it every time I remember this. She turned promptly around at the cornfield, parted the corn and walked in. She was gone.
As I continued up the road I kept looking in my rear-view mirror, and saying, "I Did Not Just See That!!" I will never forget that day.
Just for icing on the cake:
This past summer we were house hunting, we never knew this but, directly across from that old huge barn/horse stable and across the country cornfield, sits an old farmhouse, which you cannot access from the public road. This old house is about 100 to 150 years old. That's when I realised this:
There had to be a shortcut to the neighbours a long, long time ago. It's obviously still being used by someone, or something...this...Field of Paths.