Ghost Valley – The Neil Eastman Story
The year was 1850 in the new state of Wisconsin. Most of the time the roads were sand trails
with deep ruts. In the winter the snow
laid on them until spring and then they became barely passable with deep mud
that could bury wagon wheels to the axle.
Summer rains could make the roads impassable and strand travelers until
they dried out. With no weather reports
to give people an idea of what may happen on a trip if the weather seemed favorable
they took their chances. The greatest
danger was in the winter when a unforeseen blizzard would strand a traveler
between places of safety.
A trip on an old Indian trail from Weyauwega to
Waupaca took one day if the weather was passable. Neil Eastman was moving his family to Waupaca
for the winter as they could stay in a warmer house there. Their “house” on their farm near Wey was a
hastily built log cabin. The mud that
they put between the logs did not have enough clay in it and would not stay in
place. Clearing and working the land
took so much time that the cabin would not shelter the family in the cold
winter to come. The time was mid November when Neil and his family packed up
and headed to Waupaca to stay with Neil's brother's family in a fine warm
house.
Early in the morning the two adults and three children
packed the last items on the farm wagon.
The sun was climbing into the sky and the temperature was mild. It seemed that the day would be ideal for the
trip to Waupaca. The trail that they
would follow that day would take them through the middle of Ghost Valley. They could not see the storm clouds that were
gathering to bring in a huge blizzard.
The team of horses was hitched up to the wagon. The children were excited about the adventure
and waved good-bye to the hut that was their home.
As the wagon bounced along on the rutted trail a black
cloud approached from the west. A cold
breeze became a cold wind. Snowflakes
stung their faces. The promise of a good
day was deteriorating. The children
wrapped a quilt around themselves and huddled together. As the snowfall became a blizzard they were
half way to Waupaca. Whether if the
family turned back or kept going forward would make no difference the distance
and rough trail would be the same. Neil
chose to keep going ahead.
The going slowed down as a blinding snow piled up in
drifts. The horses had to be rested
every mile as they floundered in the drifts.
Neil fed them some oats that he had packed on the wagon to keep up their
strength. It was easy to see that the
horses would soon be played out.
The cold wind dropped the temperature below zero and mounded the snow
into three-foot drifts. Ghost
Valley was an open area where the wind
piled up even deeper snow drifts. The
horses fell in the snow and struggled to their feet several times and move on
just a few more feet. Then one of the
horses fell and did not rise up again.
It had died from the struggle.
One wore out horse could not pull the wagon nor could it carry two
people and three children.
It was decided that Neil would ride the remaining
horse to seek help. The mother and
children huddled under quilts and bid Neil farewell. There was no chance that the ones left at the
wagon could build a fire. There was no
shelter from the wind that would blow it out before it could do any good.
Not far from the abandoned wagon the horse Neil rode
died. He tried to fight his way through
the storm, but he too died on the trail a short distance from the horse. When the weather cleared a traveler found the
Eastman family all frozen stiff. Their
bodies were stored in a shed in Waupaca until the ground thawed in the spring and Neil's brother buried them
there.
People who traveled through the valley on a warm day
often felt a chill in the air there. At
night they saw lights that seem to move around the spot where the wagon had
stopped. It was said the lights were
from the ghosts of the Eastman family searching for each other. Others said the lights were only fox fire caused
by a florescent fungus. Believe what you
want about the ghosts in Ghost Valley.
Many mysteries should never be positively solved.
Note: This story is based on a real event. There was a Neil Eastman who lived in Rural
Wisconsin who may have been a nephew of the Neil who died in the blizzard. He might be the grandson of the brother the
family planned to stay with in Waupaca.