Legend of Catherine's Mountain
This story takes place in the black woods up in Downeast Maine north of the city of Ellsworth and south of the township of Cherryfield. It is said that the hilly forests are haunted.
"True story"
Franklin, Me, circa 1950's
Young woman disappears one autumn evening driving home along the Black Woods road north of Franklin. Her car is found at the base of a hill along the shores of Tunk Lake.
The next morning the police find her body in the woods a victim of a hit and run accident. Neither the driver or vehicle are ever found. The crime remains a mystery.
Police surmise that her car stalled and she was forced to walk. She seemed to be heading back to Franklin when a logging truck struck young Catherine
"Here's where the legend begins."
A few years pass.......
The black woods are indeed truly black, there are no streetlights and few people live on the old logging road. The road had become paved and more people used it as a short-cut instead of the more heavily travelled Route 1. People who drive the hilly road often will see strange lights above the cold waters of Tunk lake. On a particular night an old guy was driving his truck through that area and happened to spot a young woman walking along the side of the road. He stopped to pick her up, opened his side door and she was gone. He didn't think much about it. That same year another man stopped to pick up a girl and she also mysteriously vanished... people started talking. In small towns legend and lore build quickly and most folks thought it was probably poor Catherine.
One night it was getting late and a young man was hurrying home. He sped along the dangerous curves and hills that lead to the lake. He saw the girl up ahead but his wife would be waiting on him at home, wondering why he was so late. So he zipped by her.
He felt that something was wrong and as when he turned his head he saw a young woman sitting in the seat beside him.....
So the locals will tell you, if you're ever driving through the "Black Woods Road" in the dead of night and you see a woman walking on the side of the road........you'd better pick her up, because if you don't she will appear in the seat beside you.......
There is a mountain on that stretch of road that the forest clings heavily to called Catherine's Mountain. It's in the Maine Atlas
