At the turn of the 20th century, the world was changing rapidly. Industrialization and scientific advances brought both awe and anxiety. People began to question long-held beliefs about the supernatural, yet paradoxically, this very uncertainty helped fuel the rise of ghost stories in everyday life. Newspapers of the time, especially in smaller towns and cities, often featured accounts of paranormal encounters, providing both a source of entertainment and a way to grapple with an increasingly mechanized world.

Newspapers were one of the primary forms of entertainment before radio and film, and their audiences craved stories that offered a glimpse into the mysterious. These ghost stories, often printed in the same sections as local news, filled the pages with unsettling accounts of hauntings, apparitions, and unexplained phenomena. Why? Because in an era dominated by reason and technological progress, the supernatural offered a comforting escape—an acknowledgment that, despite all that had been explained by science, there was still much about the world that couldn’t be understood.

What’s more, these tales were often shared as firsthand accounts from local citizens, which gave them an air of authenticity. Whether it was a farmer who had seen a figure in the fog or a doctor who had witnessed an unexplainable apparition, the connection to familiar, everyday life made the stories all the more compelling. They weren’t just rumors or folklore; they were real people, sharing strange and inexplicable experiences, creating a sense of shared mystery and intrigue in the community.

It’s in this context that a certain newspaper article, buried in the pages of a 1903 issue of The Daily Journal in Salem, Oregon, can be understood. It’s a tale that captures the essence of how these ghostly stories were woven into the fabric of everyday life.

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A Tale of the Thanksgiving Ghost

The article, tucked away in a walnut sideboard, begins innocuously enough with the headline “A Thanksgiving Ghost.” The story follows a Salem doctor who, in 1903, visited friends on Thanksgiving night. What began as a simple social call quickly turned into something much stranger. The doctor’s friends described a recurring event: each night at midnight, a small, childlike figure dressed in white appeared in their parlor, knelt in silent prayer, and vanished before anyone could approach her.

Naturally, the doctor, a rational man, was skeptical. He suggested an experiment: he would use hypnotism to compel the ghost to return at a different time. The next night, at the stroke of noon, the child appeared again—but this time, she was not an apparition. She was a real girl, alive yet sleepwalking, as though acting under an invisible command. While the experience seemed to have a rational explanation in the form of sleepwalking, the witnesses were adamant: they had seen something otherworldly.

This blend of the unexplained with the scientifically plausible is what made such stories so captivating. Ghosts and spirits weren’t merely relegated to the realm of fantasy; they were framed within the context of a world that was rapidly modernizing. Even as science advanced, there was still room for the mysterious.

It’s no wonder, then, that ghost stories like this one became a staple of early 20th-century newspapers. They didn’t just entertain—they also allowed people to confront the anxieties of a rapidly changing world.

Cover: Clip from the Daily Journal of Salem, Oregon