Description:

In 1994, when this story was researched by Norman & Beth Scott, Hastings was a town of around 23,000 people, with a college, and a museum with a great natural history collection of artifacts of the pioneers who founded this Midwestern town. The house itself was probably built in the 1920's, and was rented out to various people, throughout the years.

History Behind Manifestation:

In the 1930's a young woman, by the name of Anna C. Peterson, rented a room here, as she was employed in the laundry room of Mary Lanning Hospital . She had originally came from another small Nebraska town, to live in Hastings. She was described by an older lady who worked with her as a quiet, private, lonely person who was friendly and kind in manner, and really loved babies, but was never married. It is reported that she died in her late 30's, perhaps because of disease, but more likely because of childbirth. It is thought that someone could have taken advantage of her "genial, trusting disposition," and her strong desire to be a married woman with a family. If she had been living now, she would've been able to adopt an older child. However, in her day, the only accepted way was to be married.

Manifestations:

1) Back in 1962, the Nelson family were the current renters. They had just had a baby boy, who was sleeping in their bedroom. One early morning, at 3:00 AM, their son was partially awakened by the rain pounding on the roof. Mr. Nelson awoke, and looking over at the restless baby, in his crib, which was about 10 feet away from their bed, he saw a white misty form of a woman, that materialized into a detailed apparition of a young woman, whose back was towards him. Nelson described her as being a stocky, medium-sized woman, dressed in a green uniform-type dress, with dark stockings and black oxford-type shoes, which was what she wore at her job in the hospital laundry room. She had brown eyes, and her brown hair was pulled back in a bun.

She was gently and skillfully patting his son's back. He could see the crib and the wall through her transparent form. She turned and looked at him, and gave him a kind, loving smile. He got a mental communication from her that her name was Ann Peterson, and the knowledge that she had died in less than happy circumstances. She also communicated to him mentally that she deeply regretted the fact that she had never married and had babies of her own. He wasn't at all afraid of her, and felt assured about her presence, feeling she meant no harm, and just wanted to help.

2) About a week later, the baby once again was awakened by a rainstorm, and again Nelson awoke to find her soothing the baby back to sleep. This time, he wrote down his experience.

3) In their bedroom, there were double built-in closets, with a thin dividing partition between them. One closet was of normal temperature, but the other closet was always cold, despite the weather, with no obvious explanation. Their cat made a point to avoid the cold-aired closet, and always curled up in the warmer closet, no matter how hot it was. Nelson theorized that this apparition "lived" in the cold closet.

Still Haunted?

It's hard to say whether she is still around this old house or not. The Nelsons moved into another house to make room for their growing family. No other sightings of Ann have been reported, but it is interesting to note that the Nelsons never knew she was there, until they brought their new baby home, which brought her out of the closet, into the baby-soothing business for the living.