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News-Sun photo by KATARA SIMMONS It has been rumored that the spirit of former Sebring Fire Chief Forrest Howard may still linger at the main station in downtown Sebring.

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published: Friday, October 30, 2009

Plenty of local ghost stories to tell this Halloween

By ED BALDRIDGE

ed.baldridge@newssun.com

SEBRING -- Halloween is upon us, a night where ghosts and goblins travel from door to door, passing those who give them a treat, but laying a trick at the door of those who ignore their haunting.

Around Highlands County, many of those beyond the barrier between life and death have been spotted over the years, and Halloween is a perfect time for ghost stories about a few of those sightings.

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In Sebring, one of the biggest places in the area for reported paranormal activity is Harder Hall.

It is sure haunting the Sebring city council with all the financial trials, but the other-worldly activity has been pointed out in several articles that have been written over the years about Sebring's Grand Lady on the Little Lake Jackson.

Harder Hall is a large hotel that was built in the 1920s, and passers-by have noted strange lights and faces in the windows late at night from the road.

It is now chained off from the public, but witnesses have claimed to have seen several ghostly apparitions around the building looking for something.

Guests visiting Kenilworth Lodge on Lakeview Drive have reported an spooky feeling on the stairs, and some guests have reported doors opening and closing on their own accord down the historical hallways.

Forrest Howard, Sebring fire chief from 1942-61, has been known to patrol the halls of the downtown fire station, even though is was renovated in 2008.

The chief cared about the men in his command, and is often seen checking the sleeping firemen on duty. Several have reported seeing him, his shadow, or even catching a whiff of his infamous cigars.

Some have reported that he even gently rocks the beds at night for those who have had a hard day saving lives.

Avon Park appears to be like any other small town, but stories abound about ghost sightings in and around the City of Charm.

On foggy early mornings, a ghostly mailman can sometimes be seen in full uniform walking Main Street and Lake Avenue.

When approached, by car or by someone walking, the mailman fades into the fog.

Back when phone booths were around the downtown area, he could sometimes be seen trying to make a call.

Sightings have happened along Lake Avenue among some of the older homes, especially north of the First Baptist Church, but the mailman can only be seen making his rounds in the early morning hours, when it is foggy and before the town is fully awake.

Late at night, at the edge of what is now a dried up Lake Arcola, a ghost of a woman has been spotted fishing with a cane pole.

The woman is always barefoot, and if you look closely, you can see some kind of letters carved into her feet.

Drivers along North Buckingham Road have spotted the female angler and her cane pole in late hours and have often wondered where she was going to fish.

The story goes that she was drowned in the lake, and returns nightly for a brief time.

Luckily, you don't need a fishing license if you are using a cane pole in Florida.

Old Venus was a town of agriculture workers, cattlemen and, very common for Florida, the remains of the turpentine industry.

The old town was a stop on the former Atlantic Coastline Railroad, along the Haines City-Everglades branch.

The site was located just west of the tracks, and the remaining foundation of the Venus General Store can be seen on the north side of the road.

Concrete curbs of where the city once stood still remain, and there are still remains of the school and church.

Some bricks and broken concrete can be found in the area that the old town burned down many years ago, and some say that when the moon is right, you can still see part of the old church shimmering where it used to be, refusing to give way because the strength of the faith that maintained it for all those years.

Arbuckle Creek flows near the little settlement of Lorida, and history has it that an old woman lived out near where the landfill is located on that old, slow-moving waterway.

No one remembers her name, but before there were a lot of modern vehicles, folks would take a trip out to see her for love potions, or cures, or anything that ailed them, especially when the local doctor could not help.

According to local legend, the old woman died under suspicious circumstances.

It seems that a local man approached the old woman for a potion to help him secure the love of the daughter of a large landowner and rancher in the area.

When the old woman refused unless he paid with his first-born child, he became angry and struck her in a fit.

She landed hard, and hit her head on the knee of an old cypress, which speared her from temple to temple.

The man tried to sink her body in a soft mucky spot surrounding the creek, but she was discovered a few months later by another person seeking her magic.

When the crime was discovered, the man fled to avoid hanging, but the old sorceress' spirit would not rest until she was avenged.

Several of the local ranchers burned her old homestead one night, hoping that it would allow her to move on, but to no avail.

Some say that the phantom of that old woman is still roaming the area, especially late at night near Arbuckle Creek Road where it crosses the creek.

She seems to be still seeking justice.