The Legend Of White Lady Lane In North Dakota May Send Chills Down Your Spine
By Tori Jane|Published January 05, 2022
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Tori Jane
Author
Tori Jane is a storm chaser, writer, photographer, and the village idiot - in that order. When she's not out and about dancing with the meanest storms on planet Earth for funsies she can be found wandering, shooting landscapes, writing, editing photos, and otherwise up to no good. Legend has it that she can also be occasionally spotted typing up short bios in the third person, but those rumors are unsubstantiated.
No matter where you go – be it a state or even a nation – you’re sure to find all sorts of spooky legends and tales ranging from those about cryptids to those about jilted lovers, homicidal parents, and more. It seems like there’s a creepy urban legend for just about every city, town, and county, and North Dakota is no exception. Today, we’re going to look at one such legend that floats around the small town of Walhalla; it’s the legend of the White Lady, and although it has many variations, this version is the most commonly told. It’s one of the strangest, creepiest urban legends in North Dakota, and whether it’s true or not remains to be seen…
The legend (or one version of it, anyway) goes like this: in the early 20th century, a 16-year-old girl named Anna Story caught the eye of an older man by the name of Samuel Kalil passing through the town of Walhalla selling his wares from a dilapidated old cart.
For Sam, it was "love" at first sight. He approached Anna's mother and asked her for permission to marry her daughter, but her mother would have none of it. She was too young, Mother said, but if Sam allowed her to use some of his wares and came back in a year, she would grant him permission.
And so it went: Sam agreed to her terms and offered up all sorts of valuable items to Anna's mother for her use over the next year.
A year came and went, and Sam returned to Walhalla to retrieve the young woman whose hand he now felt entitled to. Once more, however, her mother said no - and she refused to return any of the items she had "borrowed" in exchange for the passage of time.
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This infuriated Sam, and he impulsively decided that something must be done about the situation.
In a blind rage, he threw Anna's mother aside and accosted Anna. A struggle ensued in which the young woman fought for her life from this strange man whom she'd never met, but it was too much: he shot her, point-blank in the chest, killing her instantly. He then turned the gun on her mother and fired once, the bullet hitting her in the jaw and shattering it, though she survived the attack.
He tried to end his own life then with a dull pocketknife he carried on his person, but that, too, was unsuccessful, and police apprehended and arrested him without incident.
The terrifying, dark events of that night are said to still reverberate around Walhalla to this day; locals claim that Anna's wayward spirit can still be spotted on some nights.
"Anna sightings" are said to be most common around an area called "Eddie's Bridge," though we are unable to find any information about a bridge with that name in the area. We were, however, able to find real records of a man by the name of Samuel Kalil who, in 1921, shot a 16-year-old girl named Anna Story in the chest, killing her, as a result of a jealous fit. The rest of the official story is a little different than the legend (as legends tend to go), but the fact that we were able to find an actual murder involving people of the same names to back up the legends is absolutely eerie.
Rumor has it that should you drive on White Lady Lane (so nicknamed for the white nightgown Anna was wearing when she was shot), you might just see her apparition, still in that nightgown, pacing up and down the road.
Reports of a woman crying and/or screaming are also common.
To find White Lady Lane, you'll want to find the road in the Tetrault Woods between the towns of Leroy and Walhalla. "Eddie's Bridge" can supposedly be found along County Road 9.
So, what do you think? Could this be one of the creepiest urban legends in North Dakota? We think so. Are you brave enough to try and drive White Lady Lane? Have you done it before? Tell us all about it in the comments, and if you need more creepy North Dakota in your life, check out this bone-chilling haunted park!
