The Police

The police noticed a car running above the mandated speed limit on the highway. It was coming from Golden Gate Park. The officer decided to pursue the vehicle to issue him a ticket. So he put on the blinkers and armed the sirens. He was able to catch up with the car and asked that the driver come out of the vehicle with his driver’s license and registration. The man took a long time to get out of the car. He also appeared to be near-fainting, given his pale complexion. The officer held on to his gun as the situation seemed to be suspicious. The man was Arthur, and he was apparently stopped by a police officer on his way from a most frightening experience. “Forgive me, sir, I am, to the highest degree, afraid at the moment,” he said.

He Sounded Crazy

“Come on, son, do not be afraid. I just need the license, registration and the insurance card,” the elderly police officer said. Arthur obliged. The officer asked him whether he was aware that he was speeding. Arthur responded that he might have, or that he had to. “Why did you have to? Is anyone chasing you?” the officer asked. “Well, you would not believe me. I just saw a ghost at Stow Lake! She was as clear as you are to me right now!” The officer’s face registered distaste, and responded “You do not need to make an excuse, Mr. Pigeon.” Arthur retaliated, “But I am not! I did see one, she was standing right in front of this door, and so I had to hurry and drive off. That is why I was speeding.”

Arthur Receives A Ticket

“Well, that is not a valid reason.” The officer thought he had been drinking, so he asked Arthur if he had a drink. Arthur said, “I had a beer or two. But I am not drunk.” The officer did not smell a hint of alcohol on him. “Well, I am going to let you off with a ticket today. Just be careful and do not step on that gas recklessly. There have been many accidents on this road that is why we want motorists to be extra careful”, the office said. Dejected, Arthur accepted the ticket and asked for his papers back. “You have to believe me, officer; there was a ghost in there. Perhaps other people must also be warned.” The officer thought nothing of the incident until he heard other stories surface later on.

More Stories

Stories then emerged about the white lady ghost at Stow Park. People, later on, shared that they had seen the white lady, and some claimed that they spoke to her. A woman shared her encounter with the lady when one day she found herself walking by the lake in Golden Gate Park. She got tired and decided to rest by one of the benches. She reported seeing a lady, talking to her about life and children. After a few minutes of chatting, however, the woman simply vanished into thin air. She could not be located elsewhere no matter the degree of effort was put in to look for her.

It Gets Scarier

As time goes by, however, the stories get scarier and creepier. There are at least four versions of the legend, but it always involved two key people, the white lady and someone else. Who do you think the other person is? If you guessed a child, then you are right. In one story, a woman, let us call her Mary, was strolling around the park, similar to the previous story, and got tired and rested on the benches. She was approached by a woman with a stroller in tow. She did not look like an insurance agent, so Mary decided to have some small talk with her. The baby in the stroller probably moved, causing the stroller to roll away into the lake.

Lost Baby

The woman, not knowing that her baby has already rolled away, continued to talk to Mary. After a while, she noticed that no sounds were coming from the stroller. When she looked, she was surprised to see the stroller gone. She asked Mary if she noticed where the stroller had gone, but Mary, being engrossed in the conversation as she was, did not notice anything amiss. The woman and Mary looked around, looking for the lost baby. They asked other park-goers if they saw the stroller or the baby, but no one saw anything. To their credit, the two did their best to locate the missing baby.

Over 100 Years

The story has been going around for over 100 years now, and it was speculated that the stroller and the baby fell in the lake, dying in the process. Rumors say that the woman made a degree of effort and continued to look for the baby around the park. The last place she checked was the lake, and she was not heard from since then. In this version of the story, the woman was a victim of her circumstances, and it was likely that she killed herself at the lake after finding out that the baby was dead. She might have blamed herself for not taking care of the baby and decided to join him or her in the lake. She refused, however, to move to the afterlife and haunted Stow Lake instead.

Be Careful

It is now rumored that in the succeeding years, the lady ghost of Stow Lake had made herself visible to those visiting the park. At times, strange events would happen at night, and she would come up to joggers in the area and then ask them where her baby was. She would then disappear, scaring visitors away. If there were some type of home security system in the area, we probably have seen sightings of the white ghost. In modern times, however, no one has captured an image of the lady yet, despite the presence of cameras and the numerous apparitions she has allegedly made. Visitors just need to be careful when visiting the area and not go around looking for ghosts.

Before The 1906 Quake

In another version of the story, a more definite timeline was given. The incident apparently happened right before the devastating 1906 earthquake. The April 18 earthquake was one of the most deadly and catastrophic earthquakes in the San Francisco area. Many would have contacted the moving company to move out of San Francisco after the quake. In this backdrop, we can see the events we previously narrated unfold. By juxtaposing the incident with the quake, we see a more dramatic twist to the story. We can guess two reasons why the dead woman refused to move to the afterlife: her kid and the effects of the earthquake that killed many others. Perhaps she joined those whose death was sudden, and it made her unwilling to move forward.

The Story Resonated With The Locals

The story was classic in a sense, and it resonated with the locals. For one, the woman was given credit for looking fervently for her child, though it was also her fault that she lost the baby. People of the time also love hearing ghost stories. Ghost hunters even frequented Stow Lake in an attempt to find the lady and figure out why she has not moved on. They have speculated as to why and also caused the legend to spread even outside of San Francisco. But what could be done when someone encounters a ghost in the middle of a park and in the dark? It is a scary thought. But is there any truth to the legend behind the story of the White Lady of Stow Lake?