Kentucky Hauntings Read Free Page B

supper. Her parents reminded Bernice that the school needed to raise funds, so she finally agreed to go with them. She covered her box with black crepe paper and added one white rose. Houston decided right away that it was hers, so he bought it when it went up for auction.
    Bernice tried to be cheerful afterward while they ate, but Houston knew she was remembering the previous year. Sadness was in her eyes. He felt a twinge of conscience about the way he had acted the year before and tried to make casual conversation. Two other couples joined them and tried to cheer Bernice up.
    Suddenly, they heard a noise behind them. It sounded like someone stepping on dry twigs. They all looked around and gasped at what they saw. They couldn't believe their eyes. A figure in an army uniform stood there smiling and gazing at Bernice. There was no doubt about his identity. Fred had clearly kept his promise that they would be together at this pie supper. Bernice fainted and Fred's ghost vanished.
    Bernice was never the same after that night. She refused to eat or have visitors. She began to waste away and was dead in a few weeks.
    The story goes that as long as they had pie suppers at that school, a ghostly couple could be seen standing off from the crowd. If anyone approached them, they would vanish!
The Whittler's Trail
    Some of Russell County's finest whittlers, Mr. Hughes, Mr. Ash-brooks, and Mr. Wilson, gathered on the porch of our little country store and exchanged tales as they whittled. All three could have told this story, but Mr. Wilson probably told it most often. Both the telling and the whittling could be considered art.
    Whittling has been around almost as long as mankind itself. It is not a part of Kentucky life now like it used to be, but the tradition is still carried on by some skilled whittlers. In whittling, one cuts or shapes wood, usually into toys, bowls, and the like, using only a knife. The knife is usually a light, small-bladed knife or pocketknife, and the whittler usually whittles objects as a hobby.
    In Kentucky up through the 1900s, whittlers could often be seen whittling on the porches of their homes, at the town square, or in front of an old country store. Huley Stanton was one such whittler. He was often seen at Harmon's store, passing the time by creating images of things he saw around him. Cedar wood was mostly his wood of choice because he liked the smell of it.
    Five-year-old Danny Peterson loved to accompany his father, Lee, to the store so he could watch Huley whittle on the porch. Danny was amazed that Huley could pick up a piece of wood and turn it into a gun, animal, doll, or other toy.
    â€œHow do you do that?” he'd ask.
    â€œI'll show you when you're a little older,” Huley would tell him.
    â€œI don't have a knife,” Danny said.
    â€œWell, I'll leave you my knife if anything ever happens to me,” Huley promised. “This old knife can just about whittle out things on its own.”
    Danny didn't want anything to happen to Huley, but he certainly did want a knife of his own like the one Huley had. Whenever he asked for one, though, his parents always told him he was too young. He'd have to wait until he was several years older to get a knife of his own, so Danny had to be satisfied watching Huley use his for now.
    Huley and his wife and Danny's family lived in the same neighborhood, but dense woods separated their houses. The woods belonged to Huley, and he often cut and sold timber off his land.
    Danny's parents, Hattie and Lee, worked hard on their farm, but they made time to take Danny for walks in the woods. Danny loved all the trees and animals, but he listened to his mom and dad's warning that he must never go into the woods alone. They told Danny that even though the woods held great beauty, they also held great dangers. People in those days made children aware of danger without dwelling on it.
    The Petersons lived in a world before security systems, so, like most