Bragg

NOTE: This is a FICTIONAL interpretation of the tall tales we have heard for years explaining the baseball-sized light at the end of Bragg Road near Saratoga, Texas, which is one of the most haunted places in the state. For decades, people have seen a mysterious light dancing in the darkness across the road. There have been numerous explanations and theories of what it could be including a scientific reason which claims it's simply a gaseous light from the swamp emissions. Then, there are the more supernatural explanations including a railroad worker who was beheaded in a work accident and he is searching for his head; and the honeymooning couple who was staying at the Bragg Hotel, built at the end of the road. The wife was mysteriously murdered and it is her husband still searching for her killer to this day.

The year is 1903 and oil is booming in Southeast Texas. Metropolitan cities like Beaumont are thriving because of the Spindletop Gusher. The boom even spread North to the tiny rural towns located in a thick, forested area known as the Big Thicket. When the railroad moved into the area in 1903, the area around the tiny Hardin County town of Saratoga flourished. An area near what is now known as the Big Thicket provided a commodity that made the area more attractive: timber. A sawmill was built in the town of Bragg which warranted the railroad company to lay tracks to connect Bragg with booming Saratoga. Then, for 30 years, the area prospered which meant many buildings had to be built including a hotel.

The Bragg Hotel was a two-story, white wooden structure sitting near the corner of the main railroad line and the line to Saratoga. The new sawmill was just down the tracks. On this particular breezy, autumn day is the grand opening of the new mill after the old mill mysteriously burned to the ground. The majority of the rising population of the very rural area were workers with the timber company either in the mill or out cutting the logs in the woods and those working for the railroad. There were those passing through, staying in the hotel, who were going on to bigger cities like out west to Houston or up North to Tyler. Even honeymooners would make their way to the hotel. A young couple, probably from Beaumont, was staying at the hotel when the husband got back to their room one evening to find his wife brutally murdered in their bed. The culprit was never found; people figured it was the doing of a drifter. The incident rocked the town of Bragg. The husband stayed around for months after, but finally left when it seemed the murderer was never going to be captured. They were a young couple of means and some townspeople claim they see the husband roaming around from time to time, that he never left.

It was mostly poor laborers walking around the tiny town of Bragg in the evenings after their shifts ended at the mill. The owner of the hotel, Mr. Roy Williams would be considered middle-class, as well as the owners of the local tavern and general store, which was the only place to buy anything in the tiny, one-road town. Mr. Ashcroft, the president of the timber company would be considered a wealthy man. Saratoga was the nearest nearby bustling town that had access to any goods and services, but unless you had your own horse, one could not travel the ten miles, that is except if you were able to sneak a ride on the train, which many campers did.

Henry Donaldson was a young dreamer in the town of Bragg, working in the mill, hoping to earn enough money to be worthy of Miss Anna Lee Williams, the daughter of Roy Williams, owner of the hotel. He lived in the encampment just outside of town, where many of the workers lived. The mill workers labored themselves to the bone, but could not afford to stay in the hotel, live in town, and definitely weren't able to own a house on a piece of land. The townies called those living there, campers. Even though they were mostly laborers working hard to keep the towns booming, they were still considered the lowest of the low for simply being poor.

Henry’s mother died in childbirth and his dad ran off under mysterious circumstances when he was just a child, so he stayed with family until he was 17 and then, struck out on his own. Henry was living in Beaumont when he heard of millwork in Bragg. He was now 25 and dreamed of owning his own farm one day with Anna Lee as his wife and a whole bunch of children. He got to his shanty at the encampment to grab his nicer clothes, hoping to attend the party at the hotel. The party was for townies, yet he hoped Mr. Williams would allow him to attend since he often worked odd jobs at the hotel for extra money, including helping set up for the party. But first, he had to make himself presentable for his lady love. He had a secret place at the nearby creek where he could bathe in privacy.

When Henry got to the banks of the small waterway, he disrobed and walked into the chilly water. While quickly bathing, he heard noises coming from the darkening thicket, which was littered with small sloughs and swamps. It sounded like doors slowly opening and shutting, almost like creaking sounds. He stopped washing himself to listen more carefully. Even though the crickets were in full force, the creaking sounds were clear. The sun was starting to set, but still out enough to light his way home. Even though he knew his way back to and from his shanty with his eyes closed, he brought his lantern just in case. He had never been bothered before by the wildlife that resided in the thicket outside of town. However, it wasn’t the wildlife that he and everyone else needed to worry about this night. Henry was being watched but it wasn’t the local woodland creatures; it was something much more sinister. Tonight was, in fact, was All Hallows Eve in Bragg.

2

On his way back through the woods, wearing nothing but his trousers and shoes so he could air dry some more, the creaking sound commenced but louder this time. Henry halted in his tracks. It’s just the sound of limbs in the thicket, he thought. He turned all the around to survey the entire area and saw nothing but forest. He could smell the town which was not far away.

Henry took a couple of more steps and suddenly heard voices, which would not be too unusual to him, especially on this night. He had read about All Hallows Eve and knew the occasion brought with it, mischief, mostly at night and what better place was there for that than the thicket. He turned to the right where the voices were coming from and it wasn’t long before he came upon a young woman, pressed up against a tree and a much older man having his way with her. Henry almost charged over there until he figured out, she was not being attacked, so he quietly made his way back where he came from.

Once he was a little closer to town, he put his shirt on and tucked it in his trousers. The creaking sounds returned, so he felt he had to investigate because they were all coming from the same place, which was off to his left. Henry knew the woods that surrounded the town very well since he walked them often working for the mill. He was nervous walking in the direction he was going because it was going to turn swampy soon which meant snakes and even bigger swarms of mosquitos. The nights were cooler this time of year but not enough to rid them of those pests for good.

An odor as fowl as he had ever smelled filled the air. It was quickly getting worse the closer he got. He could hardly keep his lunch down from earlier in the day because the odor was so vulgar. He came to a clearing where the immediate sight of the dead horse almost knocked him to the ground. Henry had seen plenty of dead horses in his time, as the same for many others, but this horse had been slaughtered. It was almost like something had burst out of it. A wind blew through the thicket which caused the creaking sound to become louder. Henry looked up to find four men hanging from the trees above. This time, he fell backward onto the ground and backed up as far as he could until he hit a pine tree. The sight was so terrifying, his mouth was already dry from his erratic breathing. Nevertheless, Henry did not hesitate, he jumped up and ran back to town.

3

Anna Lee Williams was brushing her hair in her room, staring into her vanity mirror, excited about the All Hallows Eve party in the hotel that night.

“You look beautiful Anna Lee,” her friend Sarah said from the other side of the bedroom.

“Thank you, Sarah. Daddy bought me this dress in Beaumont last month and I have been saving it for this night.” Anna Lee stopped brushing and looked out the window. “I hope to see him tonight at the party.”

“You’re quite taken with him, aren’t you?”

“Yes, but daddy is not. I know he means well but I am not in love with James Ashcroft. He is so stuffy and boring. I know with him, I will not want for anything for the rest of my life, except I will not have a life; I will just be Mrs. Ashcroft and no one else ever again. I won't be me. I want to be in love.”

Sarah looked sad for Anna Lee. As Anna Lee stared out the window, she looked over at her best friend, “I feel tonight will change everything. I talked Daddy into having this party so we can get some interesting people in this town if you can even call this place that. It's just a muddy road with some run-down buildings on each side with a hotel and a mill. We need some excitement around here and a party at the only hotel in these parts is perfect."

“There is something evil in the air tonight,” Sarah said.

“Well of course Sarah, it's All Hallows Eve. It is the night when the spirit world opens, and the dead can roam the Earth. This night is only for the wicked. But rest easy my dear Sarah, the wicked and dead have better places to be than Bragg.”

"I am also not a fan of this town," Sarah began. "Something inhuman happened to me here, right in this hotel." Sarah looked down at the floor. "I will never get over that night."

"I am so sorry for what happened to you here Sarah. I feel awful that I wasn't there for you that night, but of course, I did not know you. If you're ever able to confide in me on what happened to you, I am here for you now."

"Do not fret yourself, Anna Lee, I have my absolution now. All is clear now and my burden feels much lighter."

It was at the moment, a familiar voice was echoing through her open, second-story window. It was that of Henry Donaldson, the man she truly loved.

4

When Henry got to the small Sheriff’s office next to the general store, his shoes were already caked with mud from running down the road and dirt covered his entire backside. These were the closest he had to nice clothes and he was trying his best to keep them presentable for Miss Anna Lee, but now, his plans had changed.

“Sheriff, you got to get out to the thicket right now! There are four men hangin from a tree and a horse on the ground below them, slaughtered as if something burst right out of its stomach.” Sheriff Willard Adams looked up at him from the simple wooden table he had his scuffed boots propped upon with no concern on his gruff face.

“Henry Donaldson, it is All Hallows Eve and I have to keep order in this town tonight. I cannot tend to a dead animal in the thicket.”

“There are dead people too Sheriff.” Suddenly, Henry was startled by a group of young people stomping along the walkway. Their hideous masks, mostly made of paper and potato bags with crude holes cut out for the eyes were enough to give even the bravest man nightmares for the rest of his days. They stopped in front of the Sheriff’s office and peered at Henry in such a way that nearly froze his entire body. They just stood there as still as the dead and stared, not making a sound. Even the sheriff and the other officers stood in silence. For a second, all anyone could hear was breathing through the masks.

“Ya’ll get on now,” Sheriff Adams yelled at the heathens. “Damn kids.”

They slowly made their way further along and in no time, there was Anna Lee, standing in the doorway of the Sheriff’s office. A wave of relief came over Henry at the beautiful sight of his love, but just briefly.

"Those five younguns are grotesque," she said as she stepped into the station and all the men took their hats off and bowed just a bit.

"Funny Anna, there were only four of them at the door," Henry told her.

"That's so strange, I counted five." Everyone looked at each other and shrugged off her statement.

Henry continued on with his frightening news. “Sheriff, their faces were messed up, but I think one of the men in the trees was ‘ol Bill Jameson, the Irish fellow who works along my side at the mill. I was just with him a matter of hours ago.”

“Okay alright Henry, I will send a couple of men over there. You just point them in the right direction.” After Henry did just that, he stepped back up on the walkway in front of Anna Lee. She hugged him even though he was covered in filth. Anna Lee was not like other middle-class ladies which is one of many things Henry loved about her. She didn’t care what others thought.

“Henry, are you alright? You are shaking. That must have been such a sight for you.”

“I’ll be okay Anna Lee but it was a scary thing to see.”

“Henry, I know it is All Hallows Eve, but there is something more wicked and sinister about tonight.” They both looked over at the hotel and could hear the party underway. “Daddy expects me at the hotel right now.”

“You should go Anna Lee; you’ll be safe there. I must go back into the thicket and help the deputies.”

“Please, wait Henry. I will make sure Daddy sees me at the party then I will sneak out and come with you. As long as the liquor and conversation are flowing, he won't miss me.”

“Fine Anna Lee.” Henry knew not to argue with her. “I will meet you at the edge of the thicket near the encampment in one hour.”

The sun was now out of sight, the lanterns in town were bright, and the moon was rising. While Henry was hurrying toward the thicket, he was stopped at the sight of a tall man, standing about eight feet from him. He was in a suit, but his face was hard to make out. He just glared right at Henry, not moving an inch. On the other side of Henry, were what looked like the same group of kids, also standing completely still, just glaring toward him, as they did in the door of the sheriff's office. Henry felt as if he were in some vortex of pure evil. Luckily, his lantern was still sitting where he left it. He lit it ignoring those who were focused on him and made his way back into the thicket.

He knew he was going in the right direction, but some unusual noises stopped him in his tracks. He turned every which way and saw nothing. Suddenly, there were mumbling noises coming out of the darkness of the thicket. He wasn’t far from town, so he chalked it up to townspeople performing mischief in the woods. He kept walking and suddenly, the familiar fowl odor engulfed him once again. He was once again at the site of the hanging but saw no deputies. The mumbling continued, getting louder and louder. The creaking sound from earlier also continued when a North wind blew in. His lantern also grew a little brighter which forced him to notice barbed wire wrapped around a large pine tree. He did not hesitate to go over there where he found one of the deputies on the other side of the tree, pinned to the large trunk with the barbed wire. The other deputy was nowhere to be found. Henry stepped back and immediately backed into someone, which made him yell out and nearly drop his lantern. He turned around to see Anna Lee. She had already changed into trousers and boots and a hat.

“My God Anna Lee, what are you doing here?”

“I was worried about you Henry.” She then looked up and saw the men hanging. She nearly screamed when Henry covered her mouth. “Shhhhhh, we have to get back to the Sheriff’s office right now. "

Suddenly, they turned around, and there stood the other officer, white as a sheet, eyes wide open, not blinking, not one time. He just stood there, not moving an inch. Anna Lee went to touch his arm when the officer started screaming. The sounds were so chilling that tears rolled down Anna Lee's cheeks. Henry went to grab his other arm and the screaming stopped. Then, he fell to the ground.

"My God in heaven," Anna Lee began, "is he dead?"

"I don't know," Henry said. He started to bend down to see if the officer was alive when the young people in the ghoulish costumes suddenly appeared out of the darkness. Just like earlier, they only stood there and stared at them with a slight wheeze coming through the holes in the masks.

"Henry, who are they?"

"I don't know Anna Lee," Henry said as he turned toward them. "What do you want?" They stared a few seconds longer, then turned around and walked the other direction, just as if there were no dead bodies around at all.

5

They made their way back to the edge of the thicket at the end of town. The sawmill towered over them on the other side of main street with one lone light on towards the back of the bottom floor. Between the raucous patrons at the tavern and the party at the hotel, Bragg was not a quiet place at the moment. The end of town they were on was nearly deserted. Suddenly, without warning, Anna Lee was jerked backward, and Henry didn’t hesitate to attempt to grab her hand, but he was too late. The tall man from earlier had his arm around her neck and a large knife at her throat.

“Mister, I don’t who you are or what you want but you best let her go!” Henry lifted his lantern and saw the man’s face was severely burned. His injuries did not appear to be very old because scarring hadn't even started yet. The sight nearly made Henry want to vomit for the second time in a matter of a couple of hours.

“Someone in this town will pay for killing my wife. One year ago this night, I found her, dead in our room in that hotel. I will burn this town to the ground if I have to and kill every last one of you until I find the mad man.”

"Why did you kill those men in the thicket," Henry asked.

"I had to get this town's attention. Everyone is partying, drinking, and living their lives as if nothing happened!" The man yelling startled Anna Lee which made the knife slip on her neck. She cried out which made Henry step forward. "Stay back!"

“Mister, I am sorry for your loss,” Anna Lee began, “but we are not at fault for what happened to your wife.”

“The person who killed your wife could have easily been a transient, just passin through like ya’ll were that night,” Henry said.

The man’s grip got tighter for Anna Lee whose eyes widened. A single tear rolled down her cheek when a gun appeared out of nowhere and was pressed up against the man’s temple.

“I suggest you let her go sir or I's gonna put a bullet in your head.” It was Jasper, Henry’s best friend. Henry was often tormented by townsfolk for having a black man as a friend, but he did not care what other people thought because Jasper was his best friend. Anna Lee elbowed the man in his stomach and stomped on his foot and he immediately let her go and Jasper kicked him to the ground. Right then, Jasper yelled at Henry and Anna Lee to run but when his attention was off the man, the grieving husband stabbed Jasper in the thigh. Jasper screamed in pain and the man stood up off the ground. Henry and Anna Lee ran into the darkness toward the camp.

They ran through the cluster of ramshackle shanty houses and towards the sawmill. It was then, a young man came out of his shack to see what the commotion was about, and Lillie’s husband stabbed him without hesitation. The man's screams echoed into the thicket.

"C'mon Anna Lee, we can hide in the mill." Once they were in the tall wooden structure, Henry quickly locked the door behind them. The entire bottom area was dark, but he knew his way around very well since he worked there most of the week. There was a light flickering in a room up the stairs.

"That is my boss's office," Henry began, "we can go up there." The sawmill was a very big building, so once they ran past one of the big table saws and were at the foot of the stairs, they heard a crash erupt from the door they came through. The young couple stopped at the stairs when the eerie whistling started from the darkness and was slowly coming toward them.

"You can't hide from me Anna Lee. I know this mill like the back of my hand because I designed it, just like the other one." At one moment, no one was making a sound and the partying from the other end of town could be heard. "You see, I was in the fire that burned the last one, which did this to my face." Suddenly, the man came out of the darkness as steps were heard from the platform up the stairs. "Mr. Ashcroft just used my designs to build an exact replica of the last mill, with some modifications of course."

He started whistling again, which was a chilling sound in itself. Anna Lee happen to glance out the window to her right and caught a horrifying glimpse of the same five grotesquely dressed teenagers she saw at the sheriff's station earlier in the evening.

"My name is Lamar, Lamar Beatty. My wife was Lillie." A single tear rolled down his unburned cheek. He tapped his finger on the metal table next to him, then proceeded to tap the sharp edges of the saw blade that sat still in the center of that table. "Anna Lee, you're the one I've been lookin for tonight." She looked at him in total confusion.

"Why me Mr. Beatty? What do I have to do with your wife?"

Then, out of nowhere, a blast erupts from above their heads and the newly introduced Lamar Beatty fell to the ground as Anna Lee screamed. She and Henry turn around to find an older man stepping down the staircase, dressed in a very nice suit, holding a freshly fired 12-gauge.

“Daddy,” Anna Lee yelled as she ran up a few stairs and hugged him. “Thank you daddy, you saved us.”

“Of course, my dear, you’re my baby girl.”

“That man killed several men in the thicket. He is the husband of the woman killed in the hotel last year. I guess he couldn’t bear the pain of losing her.” Anna Lee then ran and hugged Henry. She then noticed the look of disapproval on her father’s face.

“Daddy, I love Henry. I hope one day you can accept that.”

“You know darlin’, there is much I will accept if I have to,” Mr. Williams said as he lowered his shotgun which gave Anna Lee some relief.

"Why was this man looking for me?" Mr. Williams walked down the stairs, past Henry and next to the body of Lamar Beatty.

“Life has been hard since your momma left; you know, she left both of us. I never told you this, but she ran off with a younger man and it’s been hard for me to be forgiving to women ever since.” Suddenly, Roy Williams started whistling, just as eerie as Lamar Beatty was doing earlier.

He then raised his shotgun and pointed right at Henry.

“Daddy, what are you doing?”

“I felt bad for that young man who lost his wife. While he was in Saratoga one afternoon, I caught her with another man in their room. The sounds coming from her bed were ungodly. I did him a favor and rid him of that whore.”

Anna Lee and Henry were both in shock. “No daddy, no!”

"Mr. Beatty showed up some time ago and was starting to get a little too close to the truth so I set fire to the mill with him in it. Little did I know that he did not perish, as you can plainly see."

Mr. Williams cocked his gun as Henry closed his eyes. It was as if seconds passed when Anna Lee’s father fell to the ground from the gunshot that exploded from the direction of the door they entered through earlier. There appeared Jasper, coming out of the darkness holding a pistol. Anna Lee screamed but quieted when she saw her daddy was still alive.

"Sweet Jesus Jasper," Henry said as Jasper limped closer to them. "Are you okay?"

"No Henry, can't says that I am."

"Henry, " Anna Lee began as she was trying to hold back tears, "go help your friend." Henry put Jasper's arm around his shoulder as Jasper set his gun down on the table saw.

"Baby girl, please forgive me," Roy Williams said as he looked up at Anna Lee.

"I'm sorry daddy." She walked over towards Henry and Jasper. "We'll get you the doctor daddy, if he's not too liquored up at the party." As she walked past Lamar Beatty, she saw something sticking out of the pocket of his shirt. She bent over and grabbed it. She put her hand over her mouth when she saw it was a photo. On the back was the word, "Lillie," but on the front was a photo of her friend Sarah.

"How can this be," she asked as she looked up and, as Henry and Jasper walked out the door and into town, the scary teenagers were there once again, staring at her. Now she knew why everyone else saw only four of them, but Anna Lee saw five.

5

PRESENT DAY

It is no secret that these days, Ghost Road, as it is called by locals, is a hotbed of activity around Halloween time. On one particular night, a group of college students from Beaumont decides to take a drive up to the legendary place in the wee hours between Halloween and the Day of the Dead. They have their alcoholic beverages and whatnot as the leader of the group tells the story of the husband still looking for his wife, which some say, is the cause of the mysterious light at the end of Ghost Road, near where the hotel once stood. They all scoff at the story but still enjoy the spooky atmosphere, nonetheless. It is very dark this particular night and the driver of the SUV they arrive in decides not to have the headlights on, so the others use the lights on their phones.

Suddenly, in the distance, a single yellow light appears, and everyone is in awe of the dancing ball before them. What they didn’t see, because they were all distracted by the light, was the knife-wielding man with the scarred face standing behind them.