Sarah Jane is described by a museum employee in a 1989 issue of “The Prairie,” West Texas A&M University’s student newspaper, as a semi-translucent woman with red-brown hair, a calico dress and a bonnet—a ghost who appeared from nowhere and seems to have no confirmable origin. Her haunt? The Panhandle Plains Historical Museum.

Workers claim to have seen her on the north side of an old WWI Red Cross wagon, wringing her bonnet and staring wistfully at something. Some visitors claimed to see blood or feel panicked when near the wagon, while others feel suddenly at peace.

“The best accepted story about Sarah Jane is that she was hit and killed by the ambulance wagon and has haunted it since then,” said Warren Stricker, director of the research center at PPHM. “I’m inclined to be skeptical. I spend a lot of time up here by myself and haven’t seen anything suspicious.”

However, others are not as doubtful of the ghost’s existence. In fact, a team of ghost hunters once asked to record the museum at night for ghostly activities. They set up two cameras around the research center on the third floor, turned off all of the lights, and recorded all night.

“Paranormal investigators videoed the floor and saw things they found significant,” Stricker said. “They saw a streak of light on one camera, then small points of light on another. I admit the video was a little weird, but I don’t stop coming here because of it.”

Though the “haunted” Red Cross wagon is no longer on exhibit, some ghosts, be they Sarah Jane or Casper, are still rumored to walk the halls of the museum.

“There’s too much stuff that’s happened here for there not to be something, be it mice, pigeons or something else,” PPHM Operations Coordinator Buster Ratliff said. “It’s enough to make you wonder.”

Editor’s note: This photo and story first appeared in the Oct. 14, 2011 print edition of The Eagle’s Tale. Information in the story refers to the October 2011 time frame.