RIP Flo

One of my favorite life stories to share and laugh about is the time I saw a ghost.

So let's journey back to either my senior year of high school.  In Morgan, it's a small town. There are only so many things you can do over and over on the weekends with your friends before you have to get stupidly creative, or branch out to new territory.

By the time we were seniors, we frequented Ogden.  We would head down for dinner, a movie, maybe "drag" Washington Boulevard with all the gangsters for some good laughs.  Then we went through this phase in our group of friends (we had lots of weird phases... poker phases, night game phases, hair-dying phases, etc.).  However this phase is what I'll call, "the scary" phase.  We wanted to do anything scary!  We went to the cemeteries in Morgan, visited "The Porterville" house (an old abandoned house in Morgan), and a few friends in this high school posse got brave enough to try a Ouija board (I think the board started out homemade, and eventually was purchased at Wal-Mart.... and for the record I did not participate in this! But this is a great story for another time!)

So part of "the scary" phase was going to the Ogden City cemetery to see "Flo". The story was that many years ago, there was a girl named Florence Grange, Flo for short. It was just her and her mom, there was no dad in the picture. Her mom worked really long hours to support the two of them, so Flo would go across the street to a neighbors house until her mother came home.  Her mother left really early for work, and wouldn't come home until after dark each night. This street they lived on had no street lights at the time. So, to make sure Flo crossed the street safely in the dark each morning and night, they had a system.  Flo's mother would get in her car and flash her headlights three times, and that was when Flo knew it was safe to cross.

Well tragically, on the night of December 29th, there was an accident.  Flo's mother had returned home from a long night of work and flashed the headlights three times for Flo to cross the street. Unfortunately, in the time the headlights were flashed and Flo crossed the street, a car came speeding down the street at such a rush there was no time for them to stop once they saw Flo.  This is how Flo died. She is buried in the Ogden cemetery.

It's said that if you go to the Ogden cemetery on a full moon (of course, you can't do anything scary without a full moon), and drive to this particular street in the cemetery that has a slight hill at the top of it and park, flash your headlights three times, Flo's ghost will appear.

Okay, so I can't remember the story perfectly, and may have thrown in my own details, but this is the gist of it. Moving on to when I saw a ghost.

So we heard this story of Flo and had tried a few times to go test out the myth, but were chased out by the Neighborhood Watch.  BUT, finally, we had the perfect night.  We went late enough that Neighborhood Watch was gone, and you better believe there was a full moon out!

I was the driver, my best friend Brandon in the passenger seat, and our three other best friends Nick, Natalie and Stacey were crammed in the back seats (I think!). We had driven slowly and with our lights off to the top of this inclined street so that no one could here us.  It was time!

I parked, turned off the car, and flashed the lights three times.

We sat there and waited.

Now to be honest, I had NO expectations of seeing anything. I mean come on.  It's just a fun thing for teenagers to do on the weekends when their bored and looking for a good time.  It was exciting and challenging to get even get to this point of being in the cemetery without being chased out.

Keep in mind, it was a full moon and a clear night. We could see pretty well around us.  We'd been sitting in the car long enough that the backseat of the car had lost a little interest I think and weren't paying super close attention.  Brandon and I however had our eyes fixed on the road in front of us, just kind of listening to the conversation going on in the back seat. Then, it happened.

Suddenly, this haze appeared... it didn't really have a form at first.

I was too stunned to say anything, and didn't really trust myself to believe what I was seeing, let alone say anything out loud about it. I heard Brandon say, "Do you see..." and all I could say was "uh-huh..."  as we watched this haze gain a more human-like form by the second.  It was transparent and kind of an eery green glowing color.

It started to look like it was getting closer to the car, but I couldn't tell if it was just my eyes playing tricks on me.

I asked Brandon, "Does that thing look like it's moving to you?"

He replied, "uh... yeah.. I think so!"

Brandon and I were freaking out!  By the time the backseat caught on to what was happening, Brandon was yelling "Let's GO!!! Get us out of here!"  I panicked and started the car with our headlights flashing right into the ghost of Flo! Backing the car up seemed like it would take too much time, and Flo was coming fast! So I started to hit the gas driving straight for Flo.

Brandon screamed "NO!!!! Don't drive through it!!! Are you crazy!?!?" But, it was too late, my foot was on the gas, and we were getting out!

We made it out of the cemetery alive, and none of us seemed to be possessed by the ghost of Flo after we drove right through her.  I know that very few people believe me when I say, I SAW A GHOST! But people, I really did! And I have a witness!

So that was the time I saw a ghost, and then ran it over.  Sort of ironic that her ghost relived the experience of being run over just how she died the night we visited her.

Rest in Peace Flo! May you continue giving bored teenagers stories to tell for generations in the Ogden cemetery.