The story is told that a man named
Hal, a welder who had worked for several
long hard years at Ingalls Shipyard
in Pascagoula, Mississippi. Haunts
a lonely stretch of Haunted Mississippi
Highway. Many still see hom and several
Gulf Coast Paranormal groups investigate
the sightings to this day.
Old Photo show
the hotel where guest checked in but
never checked out.
Hal was laid off from his life long
job. On a rainy dark Friday night
just as he had arrived at work to
start his shift. He left the shipyard
lost, mad enraged and crying and upset
because of all the future plans he
had made were now dashed to pieces.
That is what he told a co-worker as
he left through the front gate. And
what was supposedly the begining od
the tragedy that filled that Rainy
night.
Hal's wife, Susan and their 5 children
had family drove the stormy highway
from New Orleans. The little family
planed to meet at a motel in Gautier,
Mississippi. The Sugar Pine Tree Motel
was old and cheap even for it's day
back then.
Their eager plans were to visit with
Hal that next day instead of having
him make the drive back to visit with
them as he so often did weekly. With
plans to visit the coast and have
a wonderful family day at the beach.
This is the story Susan told the
young new Motel Clerk as she checked
in with her five children ranging
from the age of 8 years old to the
youngest child just 6 months. Susan
went on to tell the clerk how their
lives were so brightened and that
plans were made to buy a new home
in the area and that they would put
the deposit down in a few weeks when
the bonus Hal was due would come.
Photo Submitted
by Hotel Desk Clerk. Photo of Haunted
Room with Rosary hanging on wall.
Photo was taken day of the motels
demolition. Photo by Meryl Krause
1992. Room A 6.
Sometime in his lonely ride to the
Motel the poor man apparently lost
control. he ran his truck off the
road. He was not seriously hurt but
the truck was immobile. so he got
out and walked the lonely highway.
Rain pouring hard and the full fury
of a great storm growing even stronger
around him.
He could not face the wife and kids
they had been counting on his upcoming
bonus to pay the deposit for a new
home that was so badly needed. Some
witnesses say, Hal walked the rainy
highway screaming out loud... "Why
did this happen to him". The
lightening would flash and he thunder
would crack. "Why is it every
time he felt like he had what he wanted
it is taken from him." The lightening
would again flash and he thunder would
crack. His insanity must have took
fast hold and downright evil madness
glazed his vision. for it was reported
that he staggered and punched at the
rain as if he argued with some invisible
force.
Recently it was told by some witnesses
that his secret voices told him what
to do. And how to do it. A co-worker
told the Mississippi authorities on
how he always would seem to talk to
some invisible friend. and how in
the lunch room one employee walked
in to find him in a deep conversation
in a empty room.
The
only tomb of it's kind in this
cemetery. The Remains of Hal
his wife Susan and their 5 chidren
entombed in this small roadside
Mississippi Cemetery.
|
The
family car stayed on the property
for many years in the parking
lot. Some locals say they had
no family to take it away. Others
said that the families ghost haunted
it. And they were afraid to move
it. |
Hal returned to the little 20 room
motel and greeted the family acting
if nothing had changed and that he
had just finished his long double
shift and they sent him off early
to be with his family in the storm.
Hal had explained that the truck had
gotten a flat tire a mile down the
road . This is the story the Motel
Clerk tells because Susan had called
explaining that she needed the number
for a two truck and some extra towels
to be delivered to the room. They
all settled for his answer laughed
a bit about how he was soaked to the
toes.
They must have shared stories of
what had been happening since last
they were together. Then off for bed
sometimes before 10 pm it is reckoned.
They all went and fell asleep quickly
thinking of what tomorrow would bring
and how the new home and new life
would be what they always wanted,
and how close this reality is to happening
soon.
The hours ticked by Hal pretending
to be asleep still listened to the
haunted voices in his head. They told
him to quietly get dressed and come
with them to see what they had for
him to make things change. This is
what he told the front desk clerk
as he bumped into him as he wandered
past him in the rain.
Lost in his crazed depression he
scoured the dark rainy highway again.
Listening to his haunted inner voices.
His horrible mental pain had taken
him into lunacy. His overwhelming
worry became madness. Hours passed
and he sank deeper and deeper into
the realm where sanity and reality
no longer coincide. At 3:am in the
morning Hal returned to his darkened
room. His lovely young wife asleep,
baby beside her.and their other 4
children all nestled in dreams of
a bright new future. With a fire axe
in hand, wild eyed Hal proceeded to
mutilate his entire family while they
slept in their beds. Killing them
one by one as they dreamed their last
sweet dream.
He might have gained control and
realizing his horrible crime. or sheer
panic? Hal wandered from t room to
room knocking on each door and sobbing
loudly. The bloody, axe in his tight
hands. If some poor soul happened
to answer the door their life might
have ended it is conjectured.
Whether it was his mind lost because
of shattered dreams or just madness.
Some say it was the reality of what
he had just done. Driven by his voices
he then ran out onto the dark highway
once more swinging the ax wildly in
the rain. Where he was struck and
killed by -- of all things -- a truck
carrying a huge propeller for one
of the vessels at the shipyard where
he had been fired.
For many years well into the early
1990s many who stayed at the Haunted
Mississippi Motel related the story
of that rainy night. And how long
loud hard knocks at the door happen
often . The sound of a sobbing man
was the only sound that would be heard
on the other side of the motel room
door. When braving their fears the
Motel occupant would open the door
to investigate. No one would be standing
there only a cold, damp chill filled
the air.
The Haunted motel is now long gone,
a victim of hard times and progress.
Many locals still drive the lonely
strech and point out to a empty broken
field, they say "thats where
it was, and it still Haunts their
memory even today." Many more
say that the ghost of forlorn Hal
still wanders out onto the highway
on rainy stormy nights, frightening
motorists who think they have struck
someone, but to their surprise, on
stopping to investigate, They find
themselves alone on the road with
only the chirping of frogs, falling
rain and the ghostly glow of lights
of nearby Ingalls Shipyard in the
sky.
