Читать книгу Twin Cities Haunted Handbook - Jeff Morris - Страница 27

MONTGOMERY NATIONAL GOLF CLUB

900 Rogers Drive, Montgomery, Minnesota 56069

directions

From downtown Minneapolis, take I-35W South for about 16.5 miles. I-35W South will change to I-35 South. Continue to follow the highway for another 21 miles until you get to exit 66, the Montgomery exit. At the end of the exit ramp, turn right onto Millersburg Boulevard West and follow this road for another 7.5 miles. Turn right onto Independence Avenue and then take the first left onto 100th Street West. Follow 100th for a little more than 6 miles and then turn right onto Deer Trail South. After another half mile, turn left onto Deer Trail and then right onto Rogers Drive. This will take you directly into the golf course.

history

While this site has been a golf course since the early 1970s, the land itself once was comprised of farmland. The farmland was owned by a man named Alfred Bury, and for many years, he and his family lived and worked on this land on the outskirts of Montgomery. Alfred Bury died in the 1960s, and eventually his wife sold the farmland, which was turned into the golf course. At least four of the early settlers who worked this farmland in the mid-1800s are buried on the property. Their headstones are still standing. They are currently positioned near the first hole of the golf course.

The course itself was designed in the early 1970s by a famous golf course designer named Joel Goldstrand. The course was originally only nine holes, but was eventually expanded to 18 holes in 1994. Since that time, it has become one of the most popular and beautiful golf courses in the area.

ghost story

The ghosts here at the Montgomery National Golf Club are typically spotted as the golf course is closing for the night. Employees who are closing down the clubhouse often see these ghosts from inside the building. The first ghost is reputed to be one of the early farmers of the property who is buried near Hole #1. People see a man on the golf course in overalls and a straw hat. From time to time, employees approach the man to inform him that the course has closed for the evening, but as they approach, the man mysteriously vanishes.

The other ghost at the course is reputed to be one of the early owners of the golf course who had since passed away. This ghost is typically seen inside of the clubhouse. Near closing time, employees see him sitting at the bar for a split second before he disappears. Other times, people see him standing outside a window of the clubhouse. He vanishes shortly after being spotted.

Besides these two apparitions, other strange things happen within the clubhouse. Televisions turn on and off by themselves, and the thermostat drops to almost freezing temperatures for no reason.

visiting

It’s rather difficult for someone who doesn’t golf to experience the ghosts here at the course. If you are a golfer, you can always reserve one of the later tee times so that you are finishing your game around the time the course closes. If you have a tee time, you can hang out in the clubhouse and perhaps experience some ghostly activity there.

For those of us who are not golfers, it is a little harder to find these ghosts. If you are not there to golf, you shouldn’t enter the property. Since the apparition of the farmer is often seen throughout the course near closing time, however, there are places you can go and perhaps spot him still. Northside Park on Rogers Drive touches the course, and you can go there and look for a ghost on the course. There are also public roads surrounding the course from which you can watch the course for a man with overalls and a straw hat.