The morning headlines in the Real Estate section of my paper read: "The Ghost is included in the price". Of course, ghosts, goblins and witches are the main attention grabbers this time of the year.

What intrigued me was mention of a lady who has a "sensitivity to electromagnetic waves". She walks through the rooms of a house holding two angled rods in her hands. Wow! Old fashioned "dousing rods". These, she reported, work on the same electromagnetic principle as looking for water or minerals or grave sites. She further explains that ghosts frequently carry a charge and the rods cross or twitch to the left or right when she encounters their energy.

When the NEGenWeb County Coordinators got together last August by using angled rods they experienced finding graves and the gender of those buried in cemetery plots, so I'm sure that they do not find this to be strange.

What do Akron, Amboy, Antioch, Bazille Mills, Burton, Colberger, Copenhagen, Crookston, Eden Valley, Eldorado, Gatlin, Marysville, Midland, Minersville, Oak Grove, Poole, Rock Creek, Roscoe, Stafford, Thantcher, Wiontger Quarters and Xenia, besides being Nebraska towns, have in common. If it weren't for the time of year this would be a good Trivia Question. However, the season and the quoted headline from my paper would give away the answer pronto. They are all classified as "ghost towns".

Eldorado in Clay County was an agricultural town that once had a population of 100 and now all that remains is a few buildings remaining.

Oak Grove is remembered by an Oregon Trail Marker, two houses, and a graveyard. "It was a small milling community." "It is on the South side of the Little Blue River. The original town was a pony express station where the Comstock ranch was located about a mile away. When the mill was built on the other side of the river the town moved so that people could be closer to where they worked. When the railroad came through the town moved again and changed the name to Oak. Oak is still there. It has a P.O., Cafe [Barb and I have eaten here], Grain Elevator. The Railroad hasn't stopped in Oak for a long time. The Comstock ranch is gone, a marker containing it's history remains. The remains of the mill were recently torn down, a marker remains. Two houses are still standing near the mill area." [Submitted by: J. Lautenschlager at: [http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/ne/oakgrove.html]

Other ghost town stories are at: http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/ne/ne.html

An interesting ghost story is at: http://www.ghostweb.com/zcate1.html

At: http://www.prairieghosts.com/hauntne.html you can read more ghost stories of:

Sure hope y'all have a great Halloween!!!!

Wado,