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.