Do ghosts and spirits really haunt this earth? Kyle and Janell Brown are no longer sure.
Last March, they turned their 150-year-old farmhouse on 28th Road into an Airbnb. This month, they created Farmer Brown’s Field of Screams, a haunted farm experience, on the property, but two summer guests say ghostly spirits have been flitting freely around the place long before October.
Creepy masks sit on the farmhouse kitchen table, ready for the Farmer Browns' Field of Screams event, but they will be put away when the house reverts to an Airbnb next week.
MARY JANE SKALA, KEARNEY HUB
There are no streetlights along Highway 150. Only the rare, fickle light of the full moon casts a shadow. It’s eerily quiet and still as you arrive at the farm on unpaved 28th Road.
In July, Nadia arrived with her two sons and two dogs. “I am a medium. I have stayed in dozens of spirited places, but I felt absolutely terrified in this place,†she wrote on the Airbnb’s website.
She was so uneasy that they all fled to the car for the night, but during the night, they heard “horrifying screams.†A light came on inside the house, stayed on for 30 seconds and then went off.
New lesbian-owned lounge opening in Lincoln hopes to foster 'authentic' atmosphere
Nebraska principal placed on administrative leave
WWE star Hulk Hogan promoting beer’s introduction to Nebraska
No. 2 Nebraska volleyball wins 13th straight match; No. 1 Pittsburgh falls to SMU
Papillion dog, who loved pears and a select few, euthanized after tough life
Winter outlook not favorable to drought relief in Nebraska
Cover Five: Is the running back carousel sustainable? And, Nebraska not closing book on Merritt
Hulk Hogan, WWE Hall of Famer, visits Lincoln to promote new beer
Lincoln couple dies in Grand Canyon accident
Rare, 'very, very bright' comet expected to make an appearance for Midlanders
Amie Just: How Nebraska volleyball beat Purdue on a night the Boilers had it rolling
Lincoln Journal Star 2024 Election Voter's Guide: Local candidates on the issues
After tumultuous upbringing in Nebraska, new state IT head hired to 'be a change agent'
Grand Island, the largest high school in Nebraska, cancels girls varsity basketball season
Large wildfire in northern Lancaster County prompts evacuations
“We immediately packed up and left. My heart was racing. I’ve never been so terrified,†Nadia wrote.
A few weeks later, a 28-year-old woman arrived with her dog. “From the moment I entered, I felt creeped out. I was filled with an intense fear and dread,†she posted.
When she went to bed, she felt “some sort of male presence†inside the house. “I didn’t ask him who he was because I would not have been able to handle the answer,†she said.
She was so alarmed that she thought about texting Janell, “but I knew that if she said anything affirmative, I would not have made it through the night,†she said.
Outside her “terrifying†back bedroom, she could see the doorway to a rusty shed, the “creepy†rusting barn and a pile of fake birds. “It reminded me of a scene in a horror movie,†she wrote.
All night long, she tried to ignore the sounds she heard upstairs and outside, “but I felt pure terror.†She thought about leaving and getting a hotel room in Kearney, but she had already paid to stay here.
Listen now and subscribe: | | | |
Many countries around the world have their own unique ways of celebrating Halloween.
As she laid in the dark, she remembered the disturbing, decades-old kitchen-wall photo of the family who once lived in the farmhouse. “I laid awake all night, drenched in sweat, literally shaking with fear,†she said.
She felt like she was being watched. Even her dog was anxious. Desperately, she prayed for protection.
She considered sleeping in another “less creepy†bedroom, “but both of the windows were open. Most of the windows in the house were propped open, so I couldn’t lock myself in,†she said.
She managed about an hour of sleep. “As soon as I woke up, I left as fast as I could. I have no reason to make this up. I felt something spiritually that made me feel more afraid than I’ve ever felt,†she said.
Kyle chuckled as he talked about the frightened guests during an interview about his Field of Screams last week. He and Janell bought their farm in 2018 after leasing it for farming for many years.
“I think those screams were probably a coyote killing a rabbit, and she let it get to her,†he said. But he didn’t dismiss them entirely. “This land probably has stories like you wouldn’t believe,†he said.
We walked down toward the Platte River on that frosty morning, and Brown pointed out old ruts from the Oregon Trail.
“It cut up through the trees and crossed the river at a northwest angle. We’re one mile east of Dobytown. We’ve found buried whiskey bottles. We find stuff all the time out here,†he said.
Janell is “disappointed†that she has never experienced the supernatural in the house. She doesn’t dismiss those stories. “With the history of the house, I can only imagine this spirit’s story. I’d love to hear it,†she said.
50 historical (and sort of creepy) photos from Halloweens past
One of the games played at every Halloween party is eating, or rather, trying to eat apple suspended on a string with your hand behind you. They were few of the children of New York's Little Italy who were guests at the Annual Halloween Party sponsored by the Children's Aid Society in New York, Oct. 25, 1939. (AP Photo)
AP
Mary Woevodsky, English girl on the staff of the American Nurses Club, ties the chin ribbons for Captain Raymond J. Goodhart of Arlington, Va., at the Gala Halloween party staged by the club in London, England, Oct. 11, 1942. (AP Photo)
Anonymous
U.S. servicemen bob for apples with their USO hostess companions during a Hallowe'en party hosted by the tenants of a 14-story cooperative apartment building in Beekman Place in New York City, Nov. 1, 1943. (AP Photo)
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Pictured here is the Halloween festival in Anaheim, Calif., Oct. 20, 1962. Nearly everyone turns out to watch the parade, and thousands are on hand to watch the show that launches it at the Palma Stadium. Another 7,000 or more school children take part in a youngsters' parade and there is breakfast for 2,000 costumed citizens. (AP Photo)
Anonymous
Pictured here is the Halloween festival in Anaheim, Calif., Oct. 20, 1962. Nearly everyone turns out to watch the parade, and thousands are on hand to watch the show that launches it at the Palma Stadium. Another 7,000 or more school children take part in a youngsters' parade and there is breakfast for 2,000 costumed citizens. (AP Photo)
Anonymous
Pictured here are children preparing for the Halloween festival in Anaheim, Calif., Oct. 20, 1962. Nearly everyone turns out to watch the parade, and thousands are on hand to watch the show that launches it at the Palma Stadium. Another 7,000 or more school children take part in a youngsters' parade and there is breakfast for 2,000 costumed citizens. (AP Photo)
Anonymous
Pictured here is the inside of a pumpkin, all set up for Halloween with a candle, Oct. 20, 1964. The three youngsters whose eyes are looking from the other side see a 180 degree fisheye camera and a cut out in the back of the pumpkin. (AP Photo/Ruben Goldberg)
Rueben Goldberg
An unidentified girl reads a hair-raising story on a pre-Halloween night in New York, Oct. 20, 1964. (AP Photo/Ruben Goldberg)
Ruben Goldberg
These jack-o-lanterns offer Dickie Clark, 13, of St. Paul a stern warning to mind his manners on Halloween, Oct. 29, 1965. (AP Photo)
Anonymous
With the help of some fake teeth and multiple exposures, New York AP photographer Eddie Adams' daughter Susan is transformed into a little ghoul on Halloween night, Oct. 31, 1966. (AP Photo/Eddie Adams)
Eddie Adams
Comic strips come alive this Halloween as Batman, the Green Hornet, Superman and a host of other comic strip characters are getting geared up for a one-night stand Oct. 31. At least according to costume makers who say that the comics are providing most of the ideas for this year's kiddy getup. Here a group of small fries warm-up for the big night in Oakland, N. J., Oct. 14, 1966. (AP Photo/Eddie Adams)
Eddie Adams
Kids in Halloween costumes are seen through a fisheye lens, Oct. 31, 1966. Location is unknown. (AP Photo)
Anonymous
Youngsters parade through Central Park in New York dressed in their Halloween costumers when the city arranged a party for the kids Oct. 30, 1966. Some 20,000 kids attended the party in the Park. (AP Photo/Jacob Harris)
Jacob Harris
With Halloween approaching, an unusual sight was seen in the skies over Bowie, Md., Oct. 28, 1966. Close checking revealed that Marleen Luckman, 17, was playing the part of a witch riding a broomstick. She was caught in mid-air, leaping from a trampoline, on a double exposed film. (AP Photo/William A. Smith)
William A. Smith
Two children dressed up for Halloween emerge wet, happy and a little richer from a pool outside the Time-Life building at New York's Rockefeller Center Oct 29, 1969. Mark Feasel, left,10, and his sister Florence, 8, went wading in the pool to retrieve money thrown in by passers-by. (AP Photo)
Anonymous
First lady Betty Ford greets costumed school children from the Washington area Thursday, Oct. 31, 1974 during a Halloween benefit for the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund on the White House South Lawn. Mrs. Ford gave each of the children a bag of trick-or-treat candy, an apple, and reached into her pocket to put a quarter coin into the UNICEF collection boxes they carried. (AP Photo/Henry Griffin)
HENRY GRIFFIN
Dressed in their bunny outfits, Warren and Missey (below) Millard of Miami, Fla., Oct. 25, 1974, are ready for a night of trick or treating on Halloween. (AP Photo)
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Laurie Cabot, the "White Witch of Salem," shown with friends at a recent Halloween party in Salem, Mass, Oct. 31, 1974, is stirring up controversy with her scheduled address to an adult education class in nearby Georgetown. (AP Photo)
RW
Channing Watson-Boal of Westport, Conn., looks over some of the typical handicrafts on display in Mexico City for the ancient Mexican celebration of the Day of the Dead, Oct. 31, 1974. The celebration goes back to pre-Columbian days and coincides with Halloween. (AP Photo/HEM)
HEM
William Franklin, 9, left, and Tom LePere, 8, who perhaps care only that Halloween is coming, are sitting atop a pumpkin problem at Brewster, N.Y, Oct. 29, 1976. The problem? Are they pumpkins or curcurbitas, fruit or vegetable? Whatever, the boys know they make great jack-o-lanterns and tasty Thanksgiving Day pies. (AP Photo)
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Halloween revelers at New York's Studio 54 dance the night away in costumes ranging from burlesque to stellar. The party was held at the New York Discoteque Oct. 31, 1977. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Richard Drew
An estimated 100,000 persons, including the three shown, jammed eight blocks of Polk Street in San Francisco for a Halloween celebration that began peacefully but ended early, Nov. 1, 1977, with a rash of violence. Police said that about five persons were arrested on charges ranging from drunkenness to robbery. (AP Photo)
STF
A White House guard offers some conversation but no treats outside the White House in Washington, Oct. 31, 1977, as he turns away trick-or-treaters. The group of youngsters visited some other well known Washington addresses during their Halloween travel. (AP Photo/John Duricka)
John Duricka
Anita Rosenblum holds her dog, Samson, who, dressed as a crayon, was among the finalists at a Halloween costume contest for pets held at a Chicago pet store on Oct. 29, 1978. The shaggy crayon won the “Creative Playthings Award.†(AP Photo/Fred Jewell)
Fred Jewell
Bug-eyed monsters from outer space and pharaohs from ancient Egypt vie for attention at the Halloween party at Studio 54, Tuesday, October 31,1978, New York City. The man shown is unidentified. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Richard Drew
Bug-eyed monsters from outer space and pharaohs from ancient Egypt vie for attention at the Halloween party at Studio 54, Tuesday, October 31,1978, New York City. The man shown is unidentified. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Richard Drew
Dr. Frankenstein, left, holds the hand of his monster during a performance for Halloween in England, November 1979. Tony Silver from San Jose, California, of the U. S. Army in Germany plays the part of Dr. Frankenstein and the role of monster by public relations agent Brian Hill of West Palm Beach, Florida. (AP Photo)
Anonymous
Teenagers, from left, Kristi Hale, Jody Johnson, Tammy Winton and Katy Thorp, scream during a visit to a “haunted mansion†in suburban Sacramento, Calif., Oct. 30, 1979, when they were caught off-guard by one of the Halloween monsters inhabiting the site. (AP Photo/RCP)
RCP
Customers, left, scream while a volunteer psychopath steps on severed head and swings ax at victim in Halloween Haunted House for charity at Florence, Ky., Oct. 22, 1981. Designers say public wants violence instead of Frankenstein. (AP Photo/Jeff Hinckley)
Jeff Hinckley
Youngsters wearing E. T. masks check out phone at a Halloween party at the Museum of Science in Boston, on Friday, Oct. 29, 1982. The phone is an exact duplicate of the instrument used in the movie and is on loan from New England Telephone. (AP Photo/Mike Kullen)
Mike Kullen
Julie Babbin, left, with Diane Hanssen, right, sport the latest garb for Halloween as they check their jack-o-lanterns in their Boston home, Oct. 31, 1983. (AP Photo/Ted Gartland)
Ted Gartland
Participants in the 10th annual Halloween Parade in New York, Oct. 31, 1983, don't have time to loaf as they move with the flow of marchers through Greenwich village. The event attracted some 250,000 people who watch marched in the parade. (AP Photo/Ray Stubblebine)
Ray Stubblebine
A participant in the 10th annual Village Halloween Parade in New York City rides in regal style as the parade moves through Greenwich Village, Oct. 31, 1983. An estimated 250,000 people turned out to watch or take part in the event. (AP Photo/Ray Stubblebine)
Ray Stubblebine
Spectators line the streets of Greenwich Village in New York City to watch the Halloween Parade, Nov. 1, 1983. Some 250,000 people turned out to march in and watch the parade. (AP Photo/Ray Stubblebine)
Ray Stubblebine
A Halloween parade of some fifty costumed horseback riders head toward Central Park from the Claremont Horse Stables on 89th Street in New York City, Oct. 30, 1983. (AP Photo/David Handschuh)
David Handschuh
A big banana seen with a fudge sundae makes its way through New York's Greenwich Village for the 11th annual village Halloween Parade, Oct. 31, 1984. Thousands of spectators, many in costumes jammed the streets as the loosely-organized parade walked by. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Richard Drew
An artist puts on the finishing touches to his masterpiece during the annual Halloween parade in New York's Greenwich Village, Oct. 31, 1984. This artist seems to achieve unusual depth in his painting. (AP Photo/Rande Anmuth)
Rande Anmuth
Teresa Forrest puts the finishing touches on a personalized Halloween pumpkin at the roadside stand she runs in front of her home on Route 1-A in Winterport, Me., Sept. 25, 1985. She and her daughter will hand decorate an estimated 3,000 pumpkins between now and Halloween. (AP Photo)
STR
Al Nipper of the Boston Red Sox sports a Halloween mask prior to game three of the AL playoffs against the California Angels at Anaheim Stadium, Friday, Oct. 10, 1986, Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo)
Anonymous
Dressed in her Raggedy Ann costume, Becky Lanning, left, shares a laugh with onlookers viewing a stuffed crocodile during a scarecrow contest at a Vacaville, California restaurant and tourist center, Oct. 13, 1986. (AP Photo/Walt Zeboski)
Walt Zeboski
Ignoring "crash fever" of the previous week, the bulls were back on Wall Street, a "herd" of six, walking on stilts and carrying Halloween "trick or treat" bags past the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Oct. 30, 1987. (AP Photo/Mario Cabrera)
Mario Cabrera
Several marchers decked out in imaginative costumes participate in the annual Halloween parade in New York's Greenwich Village, Oct. 31, 1987. Costumes ranging from dinosaurs to Tammy Faye Bakker turned out in force at celebrations across the country. (AP Photo/Frankie Ziths)
Frankie Ziths
They were a matched pair of bovines, Lise Dominique and Steve Bauer, as they recited Halloween wedding vows in Saratoga, Calif., Oct. 31, 1988, before Rev. Ward Atwood and a host of friends. High school sweethearts 17 years ago, they began dating again a decade ago. The costumes? They started as a joke in August but delivery delay brought the outfits to Halloween. Lise is a radio station news director; Steve, a high school football coach. (AP Photo/Annie Weels)
Annie Weels
A pumpkin-headed family sits out on their front porch at their country home in Laytonsville, Md., Oct. 24, 1989. the family, which appears to watch the passing motorists, was found on Brink Road. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
Carlos Osorio
Marchers in the annual Greenwich Village Halloween Parade assemble on Sixth Avenue in New York, Oct. 31, 1990, just prior to the start of the parade. (AP Photo/Jonathan Elderfield)
Jonathan Elderfield
An unidentified Halloween reveler dressed as Casper the Friendly Ghost parades down Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood, Calif., Tuesday, Oct. 31, 1995, during the city's annual Halloween parade The street was closed as thousands of party goers and onlookers walked in and out of costume. (AP Photo/Rene Macura)
RENE MACURA
Guy Bourasse of Cudjoe Key, Fla., shows off his rendition of superstar Madonna and her newborn daughter at the Fantasy Fest Parade late Saturday, Oct. 26, 1996 in Key West, Fla. Bourasse said he conceived the idea for the costume after learning that Madonna did not wish her and her newborn daughter to be photographed. The parade highlights the nine-day-long Fantasy Fest celebration that concludes Sunday, Oct. 27, and is Key West's pre-Halloween answer to New Orleans' Mardi Gras and Rio de Janiero's Carnivale. (AP Photo/Andy Newman)
ANDY NEWMAN
David Arnott pets his Golden Retriver, Askem, dressed as a three headed dog, before the start of the fifth Annual Halloween Costume contest for dogs, Sunday, Oct. 26, 1997, in New York. Askem won first prize, which consisted of 40 pounds of dog food, free grooming and free boarding. (AP Photo/Jennifer S. Altman)
JENNIFER S. ALTMAN
Ernest Esquer of Whittier, Calif. strikes a pose as Cruella DeVil from "101 Dalmations" during Halloween night festivities on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood, Calif., Friday, Oct. 31, 1997. As many as 150,000 people showed up for the city's annual costume carnival, which is billed as the nation's largest Halloween festival. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
CHRIS PIZZELLO
Tim Dey, left, and Jim Nussbaum of Laguna Beach, Calif., dressed as Marie Antoinette and King Louis XV respectively, stroll down Santa Monica Boulevard during Halloween night festivities in West Hollywood, Calif., Friday, Oct. 31, 1997. As many as 150,000 showed up for the city's costume carnival, billed as the nation's largest Halloween festival. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Chris Pizzello
Be the first to know
Get local news delivered to your inbox!