Haunted Sierran Camp?

“I found the following linked by [url]fark.com[url]. Have any of you all heard of the location/stories before?

Lewis Stringer is a campsite up on the Kern Plateau in the Golden Trout Wilderness, Inyo National Forest, CA. Sam Lewis ran sheep there in the late 1800's with his wife. Lewis Stringer was her favorite place on the Kern Plateau and for many years they spent each summer camped there. Around 1910 she died and Sam had her body cremated and the next spring he scattered her ashes at her beloved camping site.

Starting in the 1920's, people began reporting strange incidents that occurred at Lewis Stringer. Many people started to avoid that area. But then many years passed without any reported incidences. But recently it seems the ghost has been out and about.

Three years ago a Wilderness Ranger, Bob Olen, and his wife Pat camped there. The next day, items in their camp had been rearranged from how they had left them the night before. Today Bob is the law enforcement ranger for the Inyo NF out of Lone Pine and he refuses to camp there now.

Earlier this year 4 horsemen were camped at Lewis Stringer. Two went for a day ride and on coming back to camp one of their reins came loose. Both unsnapped from the bit and fell free. On inspection, nothing seemed wrong, and he snapped them back on, but thought it very odd that both unsnapped at the same time for no apparent reason. Later that night, all four saw a glow coming from an old fire pit and heard a woman talking in a soft voice. The next morning they found items arranged in a different place. That night all were awakened by noises and again the sound of a woman's voice. Again a red glow could be seen in the fire pit. The next few nights things began to disappear. They left soonafter and all report they are wary to ever stay there again.

A lady veteran backpacker was passing through the area recently and decided to camp there. It was her first stay there and she knew nothing about the stories about the place. In the middle of the night she was awaken by strange noises, the red glow, and she observed what she thought to be a woman dancing. She was so frightened she walked out to Horseshoe Meadow, leaving all her gear at Lewis Stringer. That morning she walked into the pack station and told the owner what happened and hired him to send a packer in to retrieve her gear. She has said she'll never go back.

Recently an Inyo NF trail crew was working in that area and was moved by a packer to Lewis Stringer. It would be their base camp for several days while they worked on the trail. Again, they did not know of the story of Lewis Stringer. Just after midnight, they were awakened by the sounds of a woman singing. Looking around they saw the ghostly figure of a woman dancing in front of the old fire pit. They were so startled they packed up and moved to a nearby location. The next day the packer located them and moved their supplies.

On October 26, 2003 three horsemen were about 3/4 of the way through a pack trip (I know one pretty well and I actually issued them their wilderness permit for this trip!) when they reached Lewis Stringer and decided to camp for the night. They unpacked their mules, removed the saddles, and put the animals to graze. They started dinner and were startled by noises coming from just below where the horses were grazing. They investigated but found nothing. Just about when they were about to turn in for the night, they heard splashing coming from the area of the creek. They got out their flashlights and investigated but again nothing was found. So they were crawling into bed when one shined his flashlight once more towards the creek and yelled, "Look at that! Look at that!" What John saw was two red glowing eyes. They were startled but thought that it was probably just a bear.

In the morning they were packing up and noticed a few items had disappeared during the night. But they packed up and headed out to the Jerkey trailhead and soon forgot about the strange incidences.

A few days later they were talking to a fellow packer out of Lone Pine and he told them the story of the ghost of Lewis Stringer.

http://www.rrbbs.com/cgi-bin/bbs/thread.pl?13-688”

“Do you believe this stuff? It's very weird. Do the topos identify Lewis Stringer campground? Seems like a good idea to pass through there in the daytime.”

“Maybe it's bigfoot”

“I'll tell you my real life ghost story some time around a camp stove. I believe. Seriously. She may need an Exorcist. Thanks for the story Rockman.”