When you’re a child, stories about spirits and haunted houses are captivating. But what if the spirits in the house are a kindred spirit, and just want another kid to play with? The Morton Mansion in Douglas is a beautiful home, but it’s also got the local legends of being a haunted house, and kids growing up in the small Wyoming town have their own tales to add to it.
I grew up in Douglas for a few years when I was young. It was my mother’s hometown, as she’d graduated from high school there and she brought her young family back to Douglas after I was born. We used to go to the pool at the top of the hill, go trick-or-treating among the historic and beautiful houses in the tree area, and get the best donuts in the world at the Hometown Bakery.
But when riding my bike around town with friends, there was one house that we’d always discuss as we passed it by- The Morton Mansion. The legends said that someone was cleaning the windows at the top of the home when a baseball crashed through the glass and cut the wrists of the window cleaner, and she bled out before help could be fetched. The local kids used to say that in the right light, you could see the words “Help me” written backwards on the window- in blood, of course.
The true tale of the Morton Mansion may be more tragic. Built in 1903, the mansion was the home of John and Sarah Morton, as well as their two children Margaret and William. The children died within a week of each other of tuberculosis, a horrible tragedy for any family to experience.
It’s said that Margaret Morton still plays in the halls of the home. Her spirit can be seen walking up the stairs, opening and closing doors, and playing pranks on visitors. It’s even known that, if you’re lucky, you’ll see Margaret wave to you from one of the upstairs windows. As a kid growing up in Douglas, was that the basis for the schoolyard legends about the windows on the upper floor?
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Born in Death Valley and raised on the prairie, Deborah is a Wyoming-based paranormal researcher and University of Wyoming graduate. Her interests lie in folklore, history, symbolic interaction and research. She also researches the paranormal academically and is a graduate student studying sociology.