The+Ghost+of+Joe+Bush



The Ghost of Joe Bush "The stories of a ghost haunting the decks of the Sumpter Valley Dredge date back to its days of operation. Former employee, Wes Dickison told the Baker City Herald that "//...it all started as a joke, and I'd blame George Hansen.//" Yet, when Dickison was pushed further to confirm that it was nothing more than a story, he balked, "//You wondered, when water started running for no reason. It was a spooky place in the middle of the night.//" He later relented further when asked what the other employees thought - "//We all say it was haunted.//"

When the dredge was in operation and mechanical issues occurred, workers left the site to go notify the "dredgemaster" leaving one worker behind. It is not clear whether the man that was left behind was to keep watch and what the purpose was for him to be left alone. It was most likely while the men who were left alone to sit in the pitch blackness understandably began to hear strange noises in the dredge and ultimately began to believe that the spirit of Joe Bush was present. "Further bolstering these beliefs were the strange and sudden opening and closing of doors while no one was around and, most eerily, the sight of wet, bare footprints on the deck of the dredge."

Today, staff members at the Sumpter Valley Dredge have reported the same type of ghostly activity that the workers years ago were witness to. Amazingly, staff and tourists have reported seeing the ghostly figure of a man that appears and then disappears. There have also been witnesses to the sounds and footsteps that are by some believed to be old Joe Bush.

No one is sure of how the rumor of the ghost of the dredge at Sumpter Valley originated. Some maintain that a former worker was killed while working on the area's first dredge and possibly was transferred inadvertently to the third dredge in the area. There is a plaque on board the dredge in honor of George O. "//Buck//" Mosley, who died in February of 1942 while working on the dredge. Joe Bush was never listed in the records of employment at the Sumpter Valley Dredge, however, former workers have made reference to a Joe Bush who worked on another area dredge. There is no further information that has been found about this supposed worker.

Whether the story of Old Joe Bush is just a frightening tale or actual true events, many of us today still enjoy speculating about the truth.

http://www.thecabinet.com/darkdestinations/location.php?sub_id=dark_destinations&letter=s&location_id=sumpter_valley_dredge