White Witch

Greetings family and friends! Halloween is less than a week away and I'm reminded of the legend of the "White Witch of Niles Canyon" and the mysterious encounter my longtime friend Gary Head had on a dark night more than fifty years ago.......Bill

THE NILES CANYON GHOST

The local legend of a ghostly woman that haunts nearby Niles Canyon, particularly of All Hallows Eve, has been passed on from generation to generation for nearly a century. Unaware of the popular ghost story of a young woman who suffered a tragic death in the canyon on her wedding day and flags down passing motorists for a ride home, my friend and co-worker at Wadsworth Publishing Company Gary Head described a mysterious encounter that he had just experienced on the local dark roadway. Did he unwittingly become another witness of the elusive White Witch of Niles Canyon? Here’s Gary’s recollection of that unnerving night more than fifty years ago. You decide.  -Bill

One night, likely in 1970 soon after I got out of the Navy, my dad and I were coming home from a late dinner at a burger and beer joint in Niles. I was driving and on the short drive home and we were were on a very dark stretch of a two lane road running past the old Pacific States Mill. This was long before the area was filled with houses and apartment buildings. On the way home all of a sudden my headlights lit up a figure that seemed to just materialize in the middle of the roadway swinging a large white purse. I slammed on my brakes and heard a thud. Yikes, I thought. I just hit someone! We both jumped out of the car only to find a middle-aged woman standing alone on the side of the road. She said we didn’t hit her. The thud we heard was likely her large purse. She seemed a bit apologetic for walking in the roadway, but she quickly asked us if we could give her a ride home. Of course, we were so relieved that she was OK that we didn’t even consider saying no. Following her directions we drove her a couple of miles to an apartment complex. Once the car stopped, she quickly climbed out. She thanked us and she didn’t ask for our names and we didn’t ask for hers. We were both quite glad that, in the end, everything turned out OK .

The next morning at Wadsworth I told you the story and you were convinced that I had encountered the “White Witch of Niles Canyon.” Looking back on this episode, I believe you were correct!