The Ghost in the Evergreen Cemetery
Story
by Samuel Blackwell
What makes a good ghost story? I believe you need three things to make
a good ghost story. A ghost, a tragedy, and of course it has to have been real.
This story I'm about to tell is no exception, yes it really happened, you
can take my word for it.
Lets start with the tragedy. Dean Cain was the groundskeeper for the
Evergreen cemetery from 1920 through to the early 1940's. In 1925 he
married his child hood sweet heart, they were wed at the First
Congregational Church in Riverside. They lived on the corner of 13th and Cedar
right next to the Cemetery grounds. The house was owned by the Evergreen
Cemetery, it was built for the groundskeeper and his family to live
there. Dean and his new bride had a pretty good life, from 1925 to 1929,
theirs was a constant honeymoon. Dean Cain was known for being a very
romantic man. In honor of his new bride, Dean had planted rose bushes all
over the cemetery grounds. Sometimes Dean would move the Victrola to
the front porch of the house and play records as the two of them would
dance under the moonlight.
In early May 1928 Rose became pregnant with their first and only child.
When Dean found out he immediately built her a rocking chair and put it
on the front porch, so when the baby was born she could nurse in a nice
and comfortable place. In early January of 1929 Rose gave birth to a
beautiful baby girl they named her Ruth Ellen Cain. As I said earlier in
the story they had a honey moon from 1925 to 1929. Things changed
almost immediately, when Dean took Rose and the baby home. Rose became very
ill, with what they called back then the baby blues, more commonly
known today as postpartum depression, and she had it bad. This meant that
Dean had to not only take care of the cemetery grounds, but also take
care of both Rose and baby Ruth. One night the baby would not stop
crying. Dean had tried every thing to calm her, he had lost his temper and
shook the baby, he felt something snap inside her, and she immediately
went silent. That night Dean Cain's world ended. Rose lay in her bed
sleeping and she was awakened by the silence. She walked into the nursery to
find Dean on his knees cradling the now limp baby in his arms, sobbing.
Rose began to scream.
The town doctor ruled Ruth's death, crib death so as not to cause any
more pain and suffering to the family. Rose could not get over this, she
knew that it was an accident, but every time she looked at him all she
could see was Dean holding their dead baby, the baby that he had
killed. One afternoon Dean came in from working the grounds to find a note
left on the door. A note that simply read, I can't be here any more.
Rose was gone.
Dean began drinking heavily. He worked the grounds and lived an almost
hermit life style for the next 15 some odd years. One morning in early
fall of 1944 before the sun came up, Dean took his life. At about three
in the morning, after another night of heavy drinking, Dean carried the
rocking chair he had built for Rose and Ruth, to the old oak tree at
the center of the cemetery. He tied a rope around a branch and around his
neck and quickly kicked the chair out from underneath him. He was found
the next morning, hanging from the tree. In his pocket was the note
Rose left him, He had written underneath it, You are my sunshine, my only
sunshine.
The strange thing is, that morning all the roses in the Evergreen
Cemetery were dead. No roses ever bloomed at the Evergreen Cemetery again, until 1962.
November 22, 1961, Connie and Don Stevens were married at the First
Congregational Church in Riverside. They had met back east while Don was
at college. She agreed to marry him, and they moved back to his hometown
of Riverside. They had bought the old Cain house. Don had gotten it for
a great deal, due to the fact that it was right across the street from
the cemetery, the house was also rumored to be haunted. Connie being
from back east knew nothing of the rumors, and Don didn't believe in
ghosts. Along with the new marriage and the fixer upper house, Don was starting a
new job. He was the low man on the totem pole at an ad agency in Los
Angeles.
Soon after moving in Connie became very lonely. Don would spend long
hours at the new job, Connie didn't know anyone in town, and her family
and friends were back east. She spent most of her time working on and
around the house. The house spent many years without anyone living in
it. After Dean Cain's suicide, there was a string of groundskeepers who
worked at the Evergreen Cemetery, none of which felt comfortable living
in the house. In the forties a spinster bought the house from the
Evergreen management. She became a recluse; she passed away in the house
sometime in the fifties. Her body was left in the house for almost a month
before someone found her; in fact it was due to a strong odor from her
rotting corpse, coming from an open window that led to her discovery.
It took two years with lots of cleaning and re-flooring to finally make
the scent disappear. The house sat dormant until Don and Connie bought
it.
Don had to go on a business trip to New York; he would be gone for two
weeks. This left Connie all alone in a town where she didn't know
anyone; Don had asked his friend Tom Patton the town pharmacist to check on
her every couple of days. Being left alone Connie began to slip into a
depression. She tried to keep busy working in the garden during the
day. She even went out to the old shed in the back yard and tried to clean
it out, there she came across an old rocking chair. She thought this
would be a fun project to refinish, and it would look so nice on the
front porch. She decided that the shed and the rocking chair would have to
wait until Don came back; it would be a good joint project for them to
do together. One night she woke up at three in the morning, after lying
in the bed sleepless for awhile, she went down stairs to make coffee
and read a book. Walking passed the window in the front polar she noticed
a thick fog outside, she stopped to look out the window the fog lay low
on the grave yard, it was eerie like in an old horror movie. As her
eyes focused it seemed as if there was a figure standing by the oak tree
in the middle of the cemetery. As she looked closer the figure seemed to
be staring back at the house, the thick fog seemed to engulf the figure
and it was gone. Was it ever there or was her mind playing tricks on
her. She hid behind the curtains until the sun came up peeking out
periodically.
Connie fell asleep on the couch in the front parlor and was startled
when the phone rang in fact she screamed and jumped practically out of
her skin. Composing herself she answered the phone, It's Don. She decided
during the phone conversation not to tell Don about the figure in the
fog. The day would be spent reading a book and sleeping. There is much
to do around the house, but today she has no energy. The next night she
wakes up again at three in the morning, she goes downstairs for a drink
of water. Passing by the window she remembers the night before, No I'm
not going to look out. As if she has no control over her body she
is standing by the window peeking out of the curtain. Ok, she thinks
to her self, no one by the tree, nothing but thick eerie fog. She
begins to step back when she realizes there is a man standing at the foot
of the steps of her front porch. She watches as he begins to make his
way up the stairs, her heart practically beating out of her chest, she
is breathing so hard that the window fogged up instantly and she could see
nothing. She wipes the moisture away with her hand and presses her face
against the window. He was staring back at her; she jumps back. As she
stood there frozen in fear she realizes that the figure she is looking
at is no longer on the porch looking in, but rather a reflection of a
man standing behind her. She quickly turned around and there was no one
there, she fainted.
The next morning she woke up in her bed. She dismissed what had
happened the night before as a dream, yes that's it, a dream a very bad
dream. Being alone in this house is starting to get to her. Connie shakes
it off and gets out of bed. She looks at the floor and gasps. There are
dried muddy footprints of rather large boots leading to her bed. She
slowly follows the footprints down stairs; they stop at the front window.
She is startled by a knock at the door, it's Tom. Connie was visibly
upset, as she told Tom what had happened. She invited him in the house,
but the foot prints were gone. Tom did a thorough walk through checking
the whole house, everything was secure. He decided that with her being
alone in the house, her mind must have been playing tricks on her. After
speaking with Don on the phone, Don asked Tom if he could keep a closer
eye on her. Tom offered to give her sedatives to help her sleep, both
men thought this was a good idea.
That night Connie took the sedatives and immediately went into a deep
sleep. She was awakened by music coming from downstairs; it was in the
middle of the night she tried but could not focus on the clock. All she
knew was it was pitch black outside as she made her way out of her
room she noticed a flickering glow coming from downstairs. She wondered
why she wasn't frightened, she must be dreaming. As she makes her way
downstairs she realizes that the front door is wide open and the fog has
engulfed the whole down stairs. The flickering glow is coming from
candles that have been lit and are all over the downstairs area. In the
corner of the parlor is an antique Victrola playing, You are my sunshine,
My only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are gray. You'll never
know dear how much I love you please don't take my sunshine away. She
looked out the opened front door and she could see a silhouette of a
man standing in the shadow of the fog. She moved to shut the door as he
simultaneously moved to enter the house. Ring! Ring! The phone brought
her out of this dream, she was in bed, it was morning and Don was on the
phone.
She told him she was feeling a lot better and that the sedatives were
helping. After he hung up she thought for a moment that maybe she should
have told him the truth, but dismissed it, it was better he thought
everything was all right. There was nothing he could do anyway. She tried
to spend the day doing chores around the house. But couldn't finish
anything she started. Out in the garden she began to get a strong feeling
that someone was watching her. She looked out at the cemetery it was
eerily quiet no one was around, but the feeling kept getting stronger.
She couldn't take it any longer; she threw her gloves down and ran into
the house. She locked all the doors and shut all the curtains, sat on
the couch and began to cry uncontrollably. Connie didn't understand why,
but she couldn't shake this feeling of loneliness and sadness. Mid
afternoon she took more sedatives, and immediately passed out on the couch.
As she falls into a deep sleep she begins to dream. In her dream she is
on the couch in the parlor as she had fallen asleep. There was a knock
at the door, a slow methodic pounding. Boom, Boom, Boom. She answers the
door but no one is there. Stepping out on the front porch she looks
over the graveyard the sky is dark and covered in clouds, there is a
strange glowing fog blanketing the Cemetery.
As she looks out at the cemetery he appears in the fog standing by the
oak tree he holds his hand out to her and begins to sing soft and low.
"The other night dear as I lay sleeping I dreamed I held you in my arms,
when I awoke dear I was mistaken and I hung my head and I cried.... You
are my sunshine, my only sunshine you make me happy when skies are
gray. You'll never know dear how much I love you please don't take my
sunshine away." As he sang on, she begins to walk off the porch and into the
graveyard toward him, she thinks to herself, Connie what are you
doing, STOP! Don't go toward him. But her body is not in her control. She
takes his hand and they begin to dance. As they dance she looks into his
eyes; they were like deep dark holes she could see his loneliness, no
she could feel it deep in her soul, she begins to cry.
Connie woke to the sun shining through the curtains. She realized that
she had been crying in her sleep. She starts to wipe away the tears
when a loud knock came at the door. It was Tom coming by to see how she is
doing. She assured him she was doing fine. After he left she had taken
more sedatives the following days were spent in and out of
consciousness. She had a strange sort of fear and desire for this shadowy figure
that came to her, in her dreams. Over the next few days her dreams were
spent in the cemetery with him. Few words were spoken but the feelings
grew stronger. They would dance to music that came from no where and
everywhere at the same time. In one dream they played hide and seek
running from one tombstone to another. She spent her waking hours
alone in the house thinking about this person in her dreams. It was as if
she was falling in love with him. Don called bringing her back to
reality. She decided that this situation was getting a bit strange and at
once tried to fill her waking thoughts with chores around the house. She
immediately stopped taking the sedatives.
That night she reads a book trying to take her mind off of her dreams.
Growing tired she turns off her light, lays her head on the pillow and
notices a man standing at the foot of her bed. She is fully awake; she
sees his figure by the moonlight coming in from the window. She is
frozen in fear, they both are there for what seems to be an eternity, and
then he speaks. Where have you been? I've missed you. He held his hand
out to her, and she took it. They were immediately transported to the
grounds of the cemetery, he told her he loved her and he knew she felt
the same. Yes she was in love with him deeper then she had ever felt; no
she was married to D... D... what was his name for the life of her she
couldn't remember his name. She was brought back to reality
by the phone ringing. It was her husband. Oh hi, Dean how are you?
Connie said. Dean? Don replied, who's Dean? What? Connie shot back
not realizing what she just said. You called me Dean, Don said. No I
didn't , Connie replied. They dropped the subject, Don told her he had
good news, they got the account and would be coming home in a couple of
days.
Don would be home soon. The thought bounces around in her head, and
then she begins to sing. "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine." Her day
was spent trying to get this song out of her head. She spent the whole
day in bed. Tom came by at about noon, but she didn't answer the door,
he eventually went away. It was at dusk as the sun was just dropping
under the horizon when she heard it, lightly, low and soft. Rose. It
was a whisper. Rose... Stay with me. She got out of bed and made her
way down stairs there was a strong scent of roses throughout the house.
Rose, please stay with me. She could hear him loud and clear now but
she couldn't find him anywhere. Where are you? She called.
He would not answer, he just kept saying over and over. Rose. Rose.
She ran through the graveyard calling out to him. Here I am! Please let
me find you! She shouted. As she stood in the
fog-covered graveyard the moon was bright. Connie looks down at her feet. There
is one rose, she bends down to pick it up. She holds it in her hand and
begins to cry. He was no where to be found. She missed him. Then from
somewhere far away she heard her name Connie. Connie, are you all
right? She opened her eyes. Connie, I was worried about you, are you ok?
It was Tom; did you sleep out here last night? He asked. She realizes
that she is on the front porch in her nightclothes.
Where did you get this old rocking chair? Tom asked. Her mind is
still cloudy from waking up. She is sitting in the old rocking chair she
found in the shed. How did this get out here?, She thinks to herself.
Looking up at Tom, she says I'm fine, I must have dozed off last night
while I was watching the sunset. She lied. Did you notice the rose
bushes? Tom asked. They're in bloom. That hasn't happened for a while.
She quickly shot up out of the chair she could see roses everywhere. These are for me, she
thinks to herself almost blushing. Tom, she said dead pan. Dean will
be coming home tomorrow, I have to get the house ready. Tom replied, You
mean Don, Don your husband. Connie went into the house shut and locked
the door. Tom stood for a few seconds, not quite sure how to take that.
It must be the sedatives. He thought to himself, and with that thought he
left.
Connie spent the day lost in her thoughts, occasionally looking out the
closed curtains at the beautiful rose bushes. Once again she would try
and clean the house, but kept finding herself on the couch thinking
about the man in her dreams. This was wrong and she knew it. She tried to
put the thoughts out of her head, but they kept popping up, and of
course she couldn't get that stupid song out of her head. "You are my
sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are gray." As the
day wore on she felt this knot in her stomach. She was excited and
guilty at the same time. Don would be coming home tomorrow, and all she
could think about was this man, this man in her dreams.
That night in her bedroom, she took a sedative and lay down to sleep.
As she drifts off she is singing. "The other night dear as I lay
sleeping I dreamed I held you in my arms...." She wakes at three in the
morning, sad and disappointed, she didn't dream of him; in fact she has had
no dreams at all. Connie sits up in her bed, as her footsteps onto the
floor she lets out a yelp and quickly brings her foot back up. She
holds her foot in her hand and watches as the blood begins to ooze out of a
tiny hole on the bottom of it. Looking down at the floor she sees one
red rose. Kneeling down to pick it up, she notices another red rose in
the doorway of her bedroom. She picks it up and then another on the
stairway, and a trail down the stairs. She follows the trail of roses
picking them up along the way. Connie finds herself standing in the kitchen
holding a bouquet of eleven roses, the last rose lay on the open door
of her oven. Picking it up she put her dozen roses in a vase on her
kitchen table. She sits on a chair at the table looking at her roses and
then back to the open door of the oven. She doesn't know what to make of
this. What does it mean? She thinks out loud. Just then she gets a
chill; she can feel his breath on the back of her neck. Then he whispers.
Stay with me... forever. Then she understood. She sits at the chair
for a moment. Forever, but what about her husband Dean, or, Don. What
was it again?
She stands up and makes her way to the oven. Forever, she thinks. She
is so tired of feeling alone; she could be with him forever, yes
forever dancing in the graveyard. Don , she thought, what about Don, he's
coming home tomorrow.
He's not coming back. The voice said in her ear. He's left you to be
in this house all alone. I won't ever leave you; I will stay with you
forever. Please stay with me my Sunshine, my Rose. As he whispers in
her ear, she blows the pilot light out and turns the gas on in the oven.
Humming the tune, You are My Sunshine. She puts her head into the
oven and begins taking deep breaths.
As she drifts off he becomes clearer speaking with her through it. She
could hear him as if he is standing right next to her. That's it my
Rose your almost here, we can be together forever. Just then she begins
to hear something strange; it is a baby crying the crying grows louder.
The Baby's crying. She mumbles. Don't listen. He bit back at her.
Ignore it, it's not important.
But the baby's cries grew louder and more desperate. She couldn't
ignore it; Connie pulls herself out of the oven. Don't , he said. Go back
in, you re not done. The baby needs me, she slurred. The crying
seems to touch on every maternal instinct she has. Connie tries to stand,
but can only crawl out of the kitchen. Her head is so dizzy from the
gas, she feels as if she might pass out at any minute. As she moves out of
the kitchen into the parlor, the vase and flowers fly off the table and
across the room hitting her in the back of the head. Knocking her out
for a brief moment, but the constant cries of the baby bring her back.
Connie stumbles to her feet making her way into the parlor. As she
stumbles through the house searching for the crying baby, the ghost of Dean
Cain begins to sing. "You my sunshine. I'll always love you and make
you happy, if you will only say the same, but if you leave me to love
another you'll regret it all the same."
Connie soon realizes that the baby's cries are coming from outside. She
fumbles with the lock on the front door trying to get it opened. He
sings louder trying to drown out the baby's cries. "You told me once
dear, you really loved me and no one else could come between." She threw
the door open and stumbled out onto the front porch. The rocking chair
moves on it's own in front of her trying to keep her from leaving, she
falls over it and tumbles down the stairs landing on her back in the
soft grass. The fresh air engulfs her lungs and she begins to have
coughing fits. She sees him standing at the front door as he sings, "But now
you've left me to love another, you have shattered all my dreams." The
baby's cries call out to her. The baby! She thought as the fresh air
begins to clear her head a bit. The cries are coming from the cemetery.
She follows the cries across the cemetery. Stumbling and falling at
times, using the tombstones to help support and move her along as she
franticly searches for the crying baby, she is almost a block away from the
house when she spots it through the fog. It is a small bundle wrapped
tightly in a blanket, it almost seems to glow through the fog, and it is
lying on a grave. She stumbles down a small embankment and lands next
to the crying baby. As soon as she picks it up the crying stops. She can
feel it is a baby through the blanket, but can not see the child due to
how tightly it has been wrapped. As she removes the blanket from the
baby's face to see the child. Kaboom!!!! The house explodes knocking her
and the baby to the ground. The blast knocks her out.
Connie, Connie, are you ok? It's Don standing over her, it is morning
she can see fire fighters and lots of emergency workers putting out the
fire, her house is gone, just rubble and foundation. Oh Don. She
cried as she threw her arms around him.
It's ok honey, you're alive, he says trying to comfort her. The Baby!
She shouts as she begins to franticly look around her, she reads the
marker of the grave she has been lying on; it reads, "RUTH ELLEN CAIN - 1929"
What baby? Don asked. Connie replies, it's ok, I found her.
The fire chief report reads, that the house exploded due to a gas leak.
And everyone in town spoke for weeks on how lucky Connie was to be
sleep walking at that time.
They used the insurance money to buy a new house, in a brand new track in
the Arlington area. Eight months later she gave birth to a beautiful
baby boy. They named him Donald Ruth Stevens.
The Ghost in the Evergreen Cemetery© COPYRIGHT 2005 Samuel Blackwell.
Reproduction prohibited without permission from the author.
04/12/05
