Sims, North Dakota in Haunted North Dakota

History of Sims, North Dakota
Sims, North Dakota, is a Morton County ghost town that was initially a coal town back in the late 19th century. However, the town never grew very large, having a population of around 1,000 people at its peak. Sims also has a Scandinavian Lutheran Church built in 1884, making it the oldest Lutheran church to the west of the Missouri River. The church still has about 50 members, though none living in the town itself. The church is also home to the Sims Historical Society Museum. The last living resident of Sims, North Dakota, was a mobile home at the center of town, but it was left vacant in 2010.

The Sims, North Dakota Hauntings
The most famous resident of Sims, North Dakota, is said to be the Gray Lady Ghost, a former pastor’s wife who haunts the old parsonage after dying sometime between 1916 and 1918. The pastor’s wife became ill, and her sister came to the church to help the family. The pastor married her sister when the wife died and moved out of Sims. It wasn’t until about 15 years later that people started to talk about the spirit haunting the church. Visitors to the parsonage report seeing her wandering through the rooms, and sometimes the organ mysteriously starts playing. She sticks mainly to the second floor of the parsonage, occasionally opening or closing windows. She even visits the well. She seems to go after the pastors, to the point where a few have fled the church. Apparently, she chose these men because they were married and possibly neglectful of their wives, as there was a bachelor who lived there for almost 30 years, and she never bothered him. The ghost’s presence has caused enough trouble that in 1938 Terri Nelson wrote a letter to the area’s bishop asking for help, but there’s no record of the bishop’s reply.