The Locket . . . a ghost story with a surprise!

[TessaNoel]

If you like ghost stories then you will love this one!  This is the story of The Locket and the setting for the story is Renfroe (Talladega County), Alabama.  It's long but well worth the time spent reading it!  Somewhere in the story is a surprise but you will need to read the story in order to find out what it is!

Jacob Hammer left his native Indiana and moved to Alabama and none of his descendents now knows why.  Family Bibles record that Jacob was living in Talladega County when he married his wife Martha on December 1, 1887.  He was 34 and his bride was 21.

Jacob had taught school in Indiana and also engaged in merchandising there.  After coming to Alabama, according to family tradition, he taught school, ran a store, and farmed.

Five children were born to Jacob and Martha in the first 6 years of their marriage but there are only two that we will call by name in this story.  The first of those children was a daughter that Jacob Hammer named Cassandra but who the wife insisted on calling Cassie.

Cassie was nine years old when another child was born - a baby brother who was named Harvey.  Cassie was considered a "big girl" then, and old enough to take on the responsibilities and care for her new baby brother.  Being the oldest in the family and also a girl, Cassie knew how to take care of house, clean, milk a cow, sew, mend, darn, iron, wash clothes, wring a chicken's neck and dress it.  She also knew how to care for her younger brothers and sisters.

Cassie was much too busy helping her mother care for her younger brothers and sisters, especially Harvey, to have much time to play.  But, she didn't mind because she loved her baby brother.  He was such a special baby and there was something different about him. 

Harvey was a good baby and he was a beautiful with blonde curls that would shine in the sunlight and big eyes that seemed to see so much.

Mrs. Hammer was not an affectionate woman and it was hard for her to show affection but she would take Harvey into her arms and kiss him.  There was a quality about him that she could not define that made her want to hug him, cuddle him, and call him "my precious baby."

Harvey was such a beautiful baby that Mrs. Hammer longed for a photograph of her child.

Everybody loved Harvey, not because he was the youngest in the family, but because he was such a loving baby.  His little arms would go out to anyone who came near. and pure joy radiated from his smile.  His laughter was musical and refreshing.

Although Jacob Hammer was a busy man trying to earn a living for his growing family, he would take the time to play with Harvey and bounce him on his knee or sing him songs from his boyhood days in Indiana.  He would also talk to Harvey about things that only the two of them would undestand.

Jacob Hammer would talk to his wife and exclaim that one day Harvey would see such fantastic things like flying machines because big changes were coming to the world and Harvey was going to be part of those changes.

Mrs. Hammer's reply was that Jacob Hammer had a wild imagination.

Mr. Hammer would tell her that they were not wild imaginings and exclaim that Harvey knew what he was talking about.  Harvey would just smile with shining eyes as if he did indeed had shared these things with his father as they looked into the future.

Harvey was just beginning to walk and talk when the family moved to Renfroe.  Mr. Hammer was devoting most of his time to farming.  Cassie continued to be Harvey's protector and Harvey adored her.  Mrs. Hammer tried not to show it but she did feel some jealousy and would tell Cassie that she hoped one day Cassie's baby would love Cassie as much as Harvey loved her.

Cassie would reassure her mother and tell her that Harvey loved her, too.  He loved everybody.  Cassie told her mother that she felt like Harvey loved the gold locket that she wore more than he loved her (Cassie).  Harvey would play with the locket every time Cassie would wear it.  Cassie felt that Harvey wanted to wear the locket but Cassie told him that boys do not wear necklaces.

Cassie's gold locket had been a gift from her father and was her only piece of jewelry.  It was shaped like a heart and hung on a slender chain.  When Harvey would reach for the locket, Cassie would tell him no, that the locket was hers but maybe one day she would let him wear it.

Late in September 1898 on a stormy night, Cassie woke up and heard Harvey crying.  He was in her parent's room. When Cassie entered the bedroom, she found her mother holding Harvey and her father was rubbing the little boy's chest with melted tallow.  They then wrapped Harvey in a flannel cloth.  

Harvey was limp and listless.  His breathing was raspy and Mrs. Hammer told Cassie that Harvey had the croup.

Nothing else could be done for Harvey and they would have to wait to see the outcome.  Beautiful and loved Harvey Hammer, only twenty months old, died just as daylight marked the end of that long night. 

Word spread of the child's death throughout the community and their neighbors came.  Some were silent in their grief and others tried to comfort by talking about "understanding some day" and it being "God's will." 

Mrs. Hammer's grief was so deep that she could share no tears and could only repeat over and over again, "My baby.  My precious baby.  He's dead and we don't even have a picture of him.  We never had a picture made of our precious Harvey."

Mr. Hammer promised to send for the photographer in Talladega to come and take Harvey's picture in his coffin so that they all could remember Harvey.  He hoped this would ease some of Mrs. Hammer's grief over the loss of her beautiful and precious baby.

Outside it was raining a cold rain and the household was just as gloomy on the inside.  Nearby neighbor men fashioned a small coffin for Harvey and the women padded it and lined it with cotton and soft white cloth.  They also made a little white dress for the baby to be buried in.  It was a beautiful burial garment with a wide, ruffled, lace-trimmed collar.  But when they put the garment on the child, it was too big and the neck hung low on his pale little shoulders.  The ladies decided to tuck the garment underneath Harvey and by doing so the collar would be pulled into place.  No one could tell then that the little dress was too big for the child.

Although it was hard, the ladies encouraged Cassie to look at how peaceful her little brother looked - just like he was sleeping.  Cassie did look at her little brother but couldn't say anything.  Instead, she stood silently there just looking at him and pondering things.  Slowly, she removed her gold locket from around her neck and fastened it around Harvey's neck.

It continued to rain.  There were no roads back then like we have nowadays.  The road was impassable between Talladega and Renfroe because there wasn't even gravel on it.  The photographer would not be able to come and so Harvey Hammer was buried without the promised picture being made.

Mrs. Hammer continued to grieve over her beautiful little son and she would weep because she had no picture of him.

Several weeks after Harvey died, Mr. Hammer was working on a parcel of land some distance from their home. He was trying to clear it.  It was too far for him to make the trip everyday so he made arrangements to stay at an abandoned one-room schoolhouse near his property.  Since there was a potbellied stove, he would be able to cook and the stove would also provide heat for him.  So Mr. Hammer took a cot to sleep on, some blankets, and provisions and moved into the one-room school. 

That evening Jacob Hammer was so tired from working to clear the land that he fell asleep as soon as he had finished eating his supper.  Some time later, he was awakened by a brilliant light.  It was so brilliant that he thought the little schoolhouse was on fire so he jumped up to run outside.

He realized as he became fully awake that the schoolhouse was not on fire and that the brilliant light was coming from the corner of the room and in that corner stood his beautiful baby boy, Harvey, holding a candle.

Jacob Hammer began to walk towards the child and Harvey blew out the candle and disappeared.

Sleep eluded Jacob Hammer for the rest of the night and questions crowded his mind.  Had he truly seen little Harvey?  Or, was he so torn with grief that his mind was imagining the child?  Had Harvey really returned from the dead?  If that was possible, then what was the reason?

The next night the same thing happened and when Jacob Hammer began to walk towards the child, Harvey blew the candle out once again and vanished.

Once again, sleep eluded Jacob Hammer and his mind whirled with questions. 

Suddenly Jacob thought he knew why Harvey was returning.  His little spirit was so upset and disturbed by his mother's grief and yearning for the picture of him that he was returning so that his picture could be made.  The more Jacob thought about it, the more it made sense to him.

The following morning, Jacob Hammer set out for Talladega to borrow a camera from the photographer.  He couldn't tell him that he wanted to take a picture of a ghost child so instead told him there was a landmark on his property that he needed to photograph.  The photographer let him borrow the cumbersome camera on a tripod. He showed him how to use it and warned him to take care  with the glass negative because they broke very easily.

Jacob Hammer took the cumbersome camera back to the schoolhouse and set it up right by his cot.  He focused it on the corner where he had twice before seen the apparition of his beautiful little son, Harvey.  Then, he sat down on the cot and he waited.  He waited and he waited.  Hours passed by and nothing happened.  Jacob Hammer did not go to sleep that night but patiently waited.  The longer he waited, the more convinced he was that he had imagined the whole thing.  Suddenly a bright light filled the corner of the little schoolhouse and there stood Harvey.  Mr. Hammer snapped the shutter on the camera.  Harvey disappeared.

Jacob Hammer dozed fitfully the rest of the night and set out for Talladega as soon as dawn broke.  He returned the camera to the photographer who asked him to wait while he developed the glass plate.  While he waited for the photographer, he wondered what he would tell him.  He decided that it was better to say nothing.

After what seemed like a very long wait to Jacob Hammer, the photographer came out of the darkroom, holding the glass negative up to the light. 

He told Jacob that he thought they did not have a picture of his little boy, the one who had died.  Jacob told him that he did not.  The photographer said to him that he did have a picture of Harvey and showed him the glass negative.  There on the negative was Harvey with his beautiful curls and big eyes.  He was wearing a wistful smile and framed in a strange aura of light.

Jacob was unable to speak and hurried home with the glass negative to show his grieving wife that they did indeed have a picture of Harvey.

When Jacob came running into the house, all the children came running, too, to see what was happening.  Mrs. Hammer burst into tears at the sight of her dead baby.  All the children exclaimed that it was Harvey.  And Cassie . . . dear, sweet Cassie told them to look....Harvey's little dress had fallen away from his shoulders . . . and around his neck was the little gold heart-shaped locket that Cassie had fastened around her little brothers neck before he had been buried.

After the family saw the glass negative and Jacob Hammer told the story of how he made the picture, he took the glass negative back to the photographer to have prints made from it.

In the Fall of 1898, there were three of those prints made.  Although each one has faded with time, they all show the head and shoulders of a beautiful little boy with blonde curls and wandering eyes which seem to peer from another world.  The lace trimmed collar of his little dress has fallen down around his shoulders and about his neck hangs the little gold heart-shaped locket that his sister, Cassie, fastened about his neck.

The surprise is that I know someone who has actually seen and held the glass negative and seen one of the three photographs of this beautiful blonde-headed child who came back to ease his mother's grief.

[emptynest242]

Oct. 24, 2008 at 2:42 PM

I read this entire story, and loved it Teresa! Thank you so much for sharing it with us. I am a true believer in ghosts and know they are all around us. This story gave me goosebumps and made me cry... Wonderful and touching story.  Do you know someone who has touched this glass picture?

[TessaNoel]

Oct. 24, 2008 at 2:55 PM

Yes, I do know someone who has actually held the glass negative and one of the pictures in their hands.  She is Southern storyteller, author, photographer, and journalist Kathryn Tucker Windham, born June 2, 1918.  She's a very spry (for 90 years old) and sweet little lady who has a ghost by the name of Jeffrey who took up residence in her home in 1966.  Click on the link to read more about her: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathryn_Tucker_Windham

(Original Poster)