Jeffery W. McKelroy

by Jeffery W. McKelroy

After my visit to the Montana State Prison I traveled east from Deer Lodge. I drove through Butte, Bozeman, and Billings, across the border into North Dakota. After Miles City, Montana there wasn’t much to see until Bismarck, North Dakota and even less to see once I took the turn north to Anamoose.

In 1893 the lonely prairie of what is now the town of Anamoose was home to only one resident and his family, Railroad Section Forman, William McNamara. That was the year that the Soo Line Railroad Company expanded their line. The McNamara house not only served as the family home but also the train depot, a café, and a boarding house for the railroad men. By day, the dining room was used for meals and at night the tables and chairs were stowed away so that those boarding there could sleep on the floor on bed rolls or on crude beds made of straw covered with thick wool blankets. Men from all over the world were hired to help lay the new track. Some from not so far away such as the Chippewa Indians who noticed early on that there always seemed to be a lone black dog off in the distance watching them work. They began to call the place Anamoose which in their language means dog.

In many Native American cultures, there is a special significance to the presence of a black dog. They can be harbingers of evil or in some cases a warning of some danger that might be avoided. The black dog appears in many European folk tales as well, especially in Celtic culture. Usually in Irish tales there are two black dogs that appear to warn those that see them of impending doom. 

As the track was laid a section house was built, as well as a stockyard for the livestock that would feed the workers but there wasn’t much else until after 1897. The years between 1897 and 1899 saw a large influx of settlers move into the area to offer goods and services to the railroad workers and the town began to expand. Businesses began to spring up almost overnight. A Post Office was built, a livery stable, a general store, a hardware store, and a hotel.  There was also a lumber yard, and the town boasted two grain elevators.

Although the town was now on the map it was still not large enough to warrant regular stops by the train. The train would pass every day at 4am and again at noon. If someone wanted to travel by train, they would have to stand on the track and wave a lantern until the engineer spotted them. At which time the engineer would blow the whistle to signal that the lantern had been seen and he would stop the train to pick up the passenger.

In 1898 during an unusually hot and dry summer there was a large prairie fire that quickly advanced on the town. One of the local ranchers was successful in constructing a fire break that saved the town but there were still a few businesses, and homes that were lost to the blaze. In comparison to typical fires of the day the town, built completely of timber, was very lucky and recovered quickly. The people of Anamoose were proud of what they had come to build and had no intention of giving it up easily.

Over the next few years, the town continued to grow with the opening of three banks and the building of a school that opened in 1900. By 1915 almost 700 people called Anamoose home and by the 1920’s it was no longer a wild railroad town. It had all the modern amenities that any other town of its day would enjoy, such as a bowling alley, gas stations, grocery stores, a theater, and an opera house. In 1928 a new school was built to service Anamoose and the neighboring town of Martin. It was known as the White School named after Colonel Samuel White a hero of the Spanish American War. The school itself was an innovation in technology and in education. It was the first rural consolidated school in North Dakota. The building made use of a wind generator to provide electricity that made it possible to provide hot showers for the students as well as a hot lunch every day. At that time and in that area most homes did not even have the luxury of indoor plumbing. The school even provided horse drawn buses for the students.

During the dust bowl of the 1930’s the population of the town declined as many of the residents headed west to California to escape the dusty life on the prairie and to find work. After World War II there was a small amount of growth, but it was short lived, and the population began to decline again. By the mid 1950’s there was little work in the area, and more and more of the town’s children grew up and left for college never to return. By 1968 the White School was forced to close its doors.

There are still a few dedicated residents that hang on because they love their town too much to leave it. There are even a few newcomers that have fallen in love with its small-town charm who lovingly call it home. In 1996 a husband-and-wife team bought the old White School and decided to turn it into the Sage Hill Bed and Breakfast. This is when the first rumors of the hauntings in the old school began. Shortly after renovations began workmen started to report strange things happening. A retired carpenter whom I will call J.D. was one of those men working on restoring the old school and he witnessed some of those events. As J.D. tells it, “At first it wasn’t nothing much. We thought maybe somebody was playing a joke. You would put down a tool for just a second and then reach back for it and it would be clear across the room when you was the only one in there. I thought that was kinda strange, but it didn’t rattle me too bad. Every once in a while though, a door would slam, or a ladder would fall over and the loud noise would get me to jump. That was a little un-nerving.”

As work progressed it seemed as though there were always electrical problems, which is not hard to imagine in an old building with old wiring. The flickering of the lights was observed throughout the building and on occasion they would inexplicably turn off completely, leaving the workers terrified. An electrician was called, he painstakingly took to the task of tracing out every electrical connection and associated wiring, fixing any problems or potential problems that he came across. Despite this tremendous effort the flickering continued. As the renovations continued the owners and the contractors noticed the smell of cigar smoke in the building. The owners reminded the crew that it was a non-smoking building, but they insisted that none of them were smoking while working. It is a well-documented fact that one of the original Superintendents of the school was a heavy cigar smoker and often smoked in his office. Is it possible that his spirit lingered like the smell of a cigar in order to keep an eye on the work taking place in his school? Over time the strange goings-on progressed to the sound of running down the hallways and even laughter and the sound of whispering in the old washrooms. J.D. began to feel that as the construction progressed so did the haunting, and the owners were growing concerned. They had invested everything they had into the business and did not want something like this to drive away guests. Eventually the construction was finished and as the sounds of hammering and sawing finished, so too did the strange events that took place.

 As they went about the business of decorating their new Inn the owners noticed that day by day the air seemed lighter and the building more at peace. They opened without incident and to this day have reported no more “ghosts”. Perhaps the spirits of the original town’s people were simply watching over what they had constructed, felt comfortable with what the new owners had done and moved on.

Though the Sage Hill Bed and Breakfast story has a happy ending the same cannot be said of nearby Round Lake which today is a popular fishing destination. The lake has long been a popular spot for the residents of Anamoose to relax but everyone is aware of the Lake’s dark past. There are those that say that the lake is haunted and there are also those that say it is cursed. On July 27^th, 1941, there were several families gathered at the lake for a celebration. It was a hot July, and the cool waters were very inviting. Everyone was swimming in the lake and those that could not swim were wading along the banks. At some point during the day ten-year-old Nanning Nissen went too far out into the water and was unable to swim back to safety. It was too late when it was noticed that he was struggling, and he sank below the water. As frantic adults dove into the water to try and find him the Bromley and Ganske families who were not far away with their teenage daughters, Hulda Bromley (17), Dorothy Ganske (17) and Delores Ganske (15), decided to go see what the commotion was about. The parents told their daughters to wait for them. Nanning Nissen was found but too late. He had already drowned and there was nothing anyone could do for him. When the Bromleys and the Ganskes returned to their picnic spot, the girls were not there. Their shoes and their bonnets were left on the bank but there was no sign of the girls. Another search ensued but it would prove futile. A few hours after they had been discovered missing, their bodies surfaced on the waters of the lake. All three had drowned. No one knows for sure what happened but there are tales of strange whirlpools that develop in the lake, possibly the result of an old collapsed coal mining shaft deep under the lake, but no one really knows. What they are sure of is that the lake is not done taking lives. In 2012 a five-year-old boy fell off a fishing pier and was quickly sucked under the water by an unseen force and drowned.

Today there have been many sightings of the spirit of a little boy wandering alone near the water’s edge that some believe is Nanning. Concerned visitors to the lake often chase after him knowing the reputation of the lake and fearing for his safety only to have him vanish before them. Fisherman in their boats near the location of his death have reported a strange splashing in the water near their boat and there are those that have even heard a little boys cry for help. There have also been sightings of three teenage girls walking together in white cotton dresses which many used as bathing suits in those days. The girls are usually walking hand in hand and tend to fade into the distance like a dissipating mist. Some have seen them playing in the water together and can even hear them laughing and talking.

Whether the lake is truly haunted or the knowledge of the tragic events that took place there tends to play on the imagination of those who visit the lake is hard to say. I suppose you would have to see it to believe it. As for the curse? Well, I think I’ll stick to swimming pools, just in case.

The White School

The Sage Hill Bed & Breakfast. Formerly the White School