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In the late 1800's a man by the name of Harold Brown and his new wife Dorothy bought a farm outside the small town of Stoughton. Harold and Dorothy were very successful growing corn and raising many children. As the children grew up they would help in the fields and stayed with their parents and worked even after they had grown.
They were a very close family and made a very good living working off the land. Then in the year of 1892 came a drought and all the crops were dying, leaving Farmer Brown and his family struggling to make a living. The money was drying up as fast as the crops.
Harold was in town at the local saloon drinking whiskey and trying to figure out how he was going to feed his large family. As he was heading out of the saloon on his way to the bank to beg for a loan he noticed a group of gypsies that were passing through town. They strolled up to Harold and asked him if he knew of any place they could find some work. He told them that he would be happy to hire them except that his crops had dried up and although he had a lot of work, he had no way to pay them.
The Gypsies offered him a deal, if they could get the crops to grow they could stay at the farm as long as they wanted. Knowing he had no way to pay back a loan even if the bank would give him one, in desperation he decided to take their offer and took the gypsies home with him. |
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755 Hwy. 51
Stoughton, Wisconsin | |
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Well Dorothy and the children were not happy about having gypsies around the farm and told Harold they didn't think it was a very good idea, but since Harold was the head of the household he had the last word, and the gypsies were staying. After working in the fields for three days straight Harold started to notice his crops coming back to life. Soon the corn was growing tall and healthy making all the other farmers scratch their heads in astonishment wondering what Farmer Brown was doing that they were not.
Well after all the crops were in Harold thanked the gypsies for all their hard work and told them they had a place to stay as long as they could keep the crops growing. Through the winter the gypsies stayed in the barn and had many late night parties inviting half the town to their celebrations to the displeasure of Dorothy and the kids.
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After one very loud late night party, Dorothy had enough, and the next day while Harold was in the house taking a bath, Dorothy went to the barn and told the gypsies that the family had a long talk and thought it best that they leave. The gypsies did leave, but they were not happy about it, after all they had a deal with Farmer Brown. They packed up their things and were on their way, but before they left one old gypsy woman raised her hands to the sky chanting some strange words, and putting a curse on the farm. She told the others "As long as the crops grow here, anyone who lives here will die."
With that the gypsies took off down the road never to be seen again. Dorothy, very proud of herself, turned and started walking towards the house to tell Harold that she had sent the gypsies packing. "Harold!" she called out as she entered the house, but no answer. She went into the bathroom and there was Harold lying on the floor, dead. The doctors told Dorothy that he had died of a massive heart attack and was probably dead before he hit the floor. Dorothy and the children took the body home and buried Harold in the family cemetery out behind the barn.
The weather was bitterly cold that winter and some of the children caught pneumonia and died. Dorothy was devastated, first her husband and now three of her children. Over the next couple years all of her children died one by one, leaving Dorothy all alone. Unable to run the farm by herself, the crops didn't even get planted that spring. Dorothy was psychologically gone and after burying her husband and all of her children, she spent all her time sitting in the family cemetery out behind the barn. Many times you could see her sitting there in the middle of the night just rocking back and forth and talking to herself.
Nobody really knows what happened to Dorothy, the Sheriff stopped by to check on her because he had not seen her for quite some time, but he could not find her anywhere on the property. The house was empty too and for days the Sheriff and his men looked for Dorothy but they never did find her. The farm was eventually sold but soon there were stories being told around town saying that the farm was haunted and there was a ghost who had been seen in many places around the farm. They say that the ghost would make sure that the crops would not grow, and everyone who tried would end up selling the farm.
There are still some people that say they have seen the ghost wandering around up in the old cemetery and the kids around town still tell ghost stories about the old Brown farm.
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