Little Girl Lost | Haunted Rockford

There is a warehouse on the Southeast side of Rockford that has an unusual problem. The problem isn’t with wiring or plumbing; this warehouse has a ghost. Actually, it has a couple of them. But the most disturbing one is the ghost of a little girl. No one can remember when they started hearing stories about this little girl, but all agree it has been years.

The little girl is seen all over the area but mainly near the intersection of Samuelson and 6^th Streets. Yolanda Weisensel, owner of Command Post Restaurant and Camp Grant Museum states that she has heard quite a bit about the child. She is 5-8 years old, has long light brown hair, and wears a dress with stockings and boots. “She seems to be from the 1910-1920’s era. I have heard several stories. Someone told me they can remember a little girl that got hit by a train back when the train tracks ran down 6^th Street,” Weisensel states.

There is one person who is reluctant to talk about the little girl, however. He works in the previously mentioned warehouse and we will call him “Sam.” “I was moving some pipes in the warehouse. I would bend over and pick up a pipe and move it to its new location,” explained Sam. There is a door that has a window set the top half, right across from where Sam was working and what he saw in the reflection of the window startled him so much that he no longer likes to be in the warehouse at night by himself.

When Sam stood up with a pipe, he caught his reflection in the glass of the door. He had seen that same window at least a dozen times, but this time something was different. When Sam looked into the glass, he saw more than his own reflection. Standing next to him was the reflection of a little girl. She was about 6-7 years old, had light brown hair and was wearing a dress. Even more alarming to Sam, the girl reached out for his hand and just as he saw the little girl’s hand touch his, his whole right arm went cold. Sam quickly looked next to him. There was no one there.

Sam turned to look back into the window and the little girl was still there.

Sam is not a man to frighten easily. He’s a large man, 6 foot 3inches or so, and probably 230 pounds. But he shared with me that he was Samoan and his Pacific Island people were very superstitious about the dead. The Pacific people believe that objects that reflect one’s image are a portal to the Spirit realm. To steal the souls of the living, evil spirits sometimes take on the appearance of loved ones that have passed away.

While others might have been curious and even possibly thrilled that the little girl had contacted them, Sam was not. He does not want to be disrespectful toward the little girl, but he really doesn’t ever want to see her again.

Other people have seen this same little girl outside of the building, skipping along both 6^th Street and Samuelson Roads and picking the wildflowers that grow up along the roadside. They claim that she is just as solid as any other living little girl. The only thing odd about her is she is dressed in clothes from another time.

Despite our research into the train accidents in that particular area, and reviewing news reports on a child that died at that intersection, the little girl’s identity remains as elusive as her reason for lingering here.