We’ve been reading ghost stories lately – the ones about our oldest Windham cemeteries. The really old graveyards are located in the southern part of town. There never seems to be an end to the stories that are repeated, year after year.

In Maine, there are several ghost-seeking groups and organizations devoted to the paranormal and most have websites. Some of these groups have visited Windham Historical Society, looking for information about places that may be haunted.

Having grown up on Chute Road, the stories I’ve heard about the two “lost” sisters who danced around playfully near the ancient Chute Cemetery fascinated me until I got bit by the research bug. A complete list of those who were buried at Chute Cemetery did not reveal any sisters buried here, although a website gives details about the two young girls who met their demise by falling into a well or a mineshaft. It’s written that “although their bodies were never found, they each have a tombstone in the cemetery.”

As an old-time reporter, I’d like to know their names and see those tombstones.

The search goes on.

Down at Anderson Cemetery, or as most of us know it, Smith-Anderson, there’s a lot of speculation about visitors’ parked cars being moved, doors opened, and assumptions about existing structures in the cemetery itself.

It was startling to see a photo of the earthen tomb of Parson Smith being identified as “dedicated to an American Soldier,” of which we were unaware.

What is referred to on this site as the “den” area, setting against the back boundary and occupied by a male spirit is actually a “receiving tomb.” In 1872, an organization known as the Union Circle, composed of ladies living in the south part of Windham, erected in this cemetery a receiving tomb, which they donated to the town. The deceased could be placed here while a grave was being dug.

The report describing this graveyard tells of hearing loud noises coming from the “den” and cheering and roars from a neighboring school. (There is no neighboring school.)

We often hear people remark on information they find on the Internet as actual fact. In fact, it is not.

The last report on haunted Windham cemeteries referred to the Brown Cemetery on Chute Road near River Road. The information (below) sounds exactly like the information given about the haunted Chute Cemetery. It makes one wonder.

“The Brown Cemetery is located on 9 Chute Road, Windham, Maine. This cemetery is quite old, surrounded by a wooden fence. Some graves date back to the late 1700’s. The land and grass is kept nice, but there are a lot of broken gravestones and sunken, unmarked graves. Many people who have lived near this cemetery report that at dawn, they can see two little girls playing in the cemetery. The little girls are not always dressed for the weather. They usually are seen wearing long, ankle-length dresses with wool stockings and sunbonnets.

“They chase each other as if playing a game of tag, giggling. Hiding behind the headstones and popping back up. They are the ghosts of two sisters whose grave markers are there in the cemetery, but their bodies are not. Many believe that the girls died when they fell in an old well or mineshaft. They were reported missing very shortly after. They were never seen alive again and their bodies were never recovered.”

Internet sources: www.talkparanormal.com, strangemaine, maineghosthunters and shadowlands.

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