Old Squeezepenny and Haunted Crossing (Collin County)

As today is Halloween, I was reminded of a location which is mentioned in Captain Roy and Helen Hall's classic history of Collin County. Within those pages, the Halls describe how a man and his son were mistakenly shot and killed sometime during the Civil War ... while riding horseback and crossing Indian Creek. This tragedy may have taken place under the cover of night; in any event, the location was remembered in the collective consciousness as 'Haunted Crossing.'

In their book, the authors did not pinpoint the exact spot along Indian Creek where the shooting was thought to have occurred. But now that several of Capt. Hall's informative columns of local history -- published over fifty years ago in the McKinney 'Daily Courier Gazette' -- have been brought online, Haunted Crossing may be more readily (or at least a little bit Wink

) ascertained. According to the words linked to below, the Crossing was in the vicinity of Squeezepenny, and on the ranch later occupied by a Mr. J. D. Neal. The old road evidently ran right through his place, though he " ... had it moved westward to its present location about 1910."

Do these hazy way-marks and directions ring a bell with anyone?

This area possesses much interest, not only for its alleged Haunted Crossing but for the local mill, which produced cloth during the Civil War, and for its prominent hill ~ called 'Lincoln Ridge' for the President of the same name. And once almost 200 acres of virgin timber standing on the Neal Place ... now that is something to consider today when gazing over rooftops.

Thanks in advance for any direction that someone might be able to provide!

Holly

http://www.geocities.com/genfriendsghl/communities/commune/squeezepenny.htm
_________________
The woman of the frontier made the best of her situation, for she had developed a respect for the land that gave her freedom as well as the courage to live in it.
~~~ from the perspective of Anne Seagraves