Many ghost stories start with a real story. Jilted lovers, murdered brides, and tales of revenge bind legends and historical narratives together to root them in a place’s memory. Known for sweeping, prairie spaces, North Dakota is associated with oil wells, the Badlands, and Theodore Roosevelt. What you might not know is that the state also has widespread paranormal activity. White Lady Road, linking Leroy and Walhalla near Eddie’s Bridge on County Road 9, is one of those hotspots.
While locals may tell different stories behind the woman dressed head to toe in white who haunts White Lady Road, they center on a woman who died from violence. Despite these vague folktales, there’s likely a true story behind White Lady Road’s spooky reputation. It’s a dark one. On November 10, 1921, the Ward County Independent published an article entitled “Pembina Peddler Kills Girl and Then Attempts Suicide” about a murder-suicide attempt that occurred in the area. Fifteen-year-old Anna Story lived with her mother and father in a shack near the railroad tracks at Leyden. Meanwhile, Sam Kalil, an old Syrian salesman, traveled around the Walhalla area peddling a wagon full of pots, pans, and other goods. When he saw Anna, he asked to marry her. Her mother turned him down. But she suggested that he return when Anna turned sixteen and agreed to the marriage, on one condition: she could take what wares she wanted in the meantime. Kalil agreed to the deal. A year later, he returned to claim his bride. Instead, Anna’s mother told him to go away. An enraged Kalil shoved the mother aside and burst into the house. He shot Anna’s mother in the face when she tried to stop him. The bullet smashed through her jaw. Coming face to face with Anna, who wore her nightdress and had never seen him before, he shot her in the chest. Her mother survived the attack, but Anna dropped dead.
The rest of the family, hearing the shots and commotion, leaped out of a window and ran towards a neighbor’s house to get help. After shooting the two women, the peddler attempted to kill himself, but the gun either misfired or ran out of bullets. Then Kalil tried to off himself with a dull and rusty penknife. This attempt failed, too. When law enforcement arrived, the peddler gave up without a fight. Sentenced to life imprisonment in the Bismarck State Penitentiary, Kalil gained early release at age 71 after 10 years.
Anna Story, her life stolen from her by a man who felt entitled to have her in exchange for some pots and pans, lay dead and cold in the grave. Some say that she wasn’t ready to die. That’s why she walks, sometimes on Halloween, other times on the anniversary of her death, along the road that runs close to a foggy swamp in Tetrault Woods near Eddie’s Bridge. Wearing a white flannel nightgown, Anna searches for the life that she lost. If you drive along County Road 9, you’ll find that the road narrows until it feels like your car will run off the road. Then a small, dilapidated bridge appears. An unsettling atmosphere settles over the place. Locals report that they can still hear terrible screams and sounds from that night. If you dare to drive onto the bridge at night, you might catch Anna’s restless spirit drifting in a space between land and water, and between the living and the dead.
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