Half a Ghost
There is a curve in the tracks near Wickes, Missouri, that skirts a rock formation called Sentinel Rock. Starting around 1885, railroad workers passing by saw a ghost standing on top of this rock. Maybe standing isn’t quite right, since the apparition was that of a “half man,” the figure a person from the waist up, according to a lengthy article in the May 27, 1906, issue of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. That report also says that tales of the ghost had been circulating among railroaders for twenty years, and “today it is probably the most talked-about railroad ghost story in the world.”
The article identifies the ghost as Philip Toland, who had been killed in that location when his southbound train collided with one charging north. Toland “was crushed, his lower extremities being consumed in the firebox of the engine, into which he was forced by the shock of the impact.”
These injuries are consistent with news reports of the tragedy shortly after it happened, but the 1906 article mistakes the year slightly. The wreck didn’t occur in “the summer of 1884,” but in the spring of 1885, as revealed by Chicago’s Daily Inter Ocean and, closer to Toland’s home, The Philadelphia Times. Still, it’s interesting that the spirit reputed to haunt the spot is identified as someone who actually had died there two decades earlier.
Was Toland Warning of a Future Wreck?
Some of these railroad hauntings feature an apparition presumably trying to signal “DANGER AHEAD,” whether it’s ahead in terms of distance or of time. If that’s the case here, the ghost of Toland seems to have lingered very patiently to warn about another deadly train accident that occurred near Wickes in 1904. This was a derailment instead of a head-on collision. At least nine people were killed and many more were injured, according to an early report of this second wreck. The 1906 article about the ghost mentions this event, explaining that, two weeks prior to it, “the crew of a southbound freight train had seen the dimly outlined of the half man on top of the rock….”
Toland probably wasn’t hanging around to forewarn of that disaster, though, because his apparition continued to manifest on Sentinel Rock afterward. “Not long ago,” says the 1906 article, a man wanting to see the ghost accompanied an engine crew as they traversed the haunted spot.
The moon shone brightly from the full orb and one shriek of the whistle was the signal for Wickes Station. At the end of a sharp turn Sentinel Rock came into the vista. There was a wavering, uncertain movement on top of the rock [but the speed and smoke prevented clear observation. The men looked back after passing, and the man who stoked the engine's fire] said he was sure the ghost was there and that the bright moonlight had prevented a good view of the specter.
Maybe that fireman was simply keeping the story alive. But maybe the ghost on Sentinel Rock was holding firm to his trackside lookout.
Visiting the Site Today
The area around Wickes Station, called Wickes, is now a neighborhood in the city of Arnold. Probably the best way to visit the haunted site is via Wicks Road. Heading southeast, cross the tracks — yes, the tracks are still there! — and then take Dickerman Drive northeast toward the Arnold Ultra Light Airport. I can’t pinpoint where Sentinel Rock is, if it is still there at all, but clues in the 1906 article put it somewhere between Dickerman Drive and the tracks running parallel to the northwest. It strikes me that any interested ghost hunters must first apply their bloodhound skills to finding that rock formation before determining if Toland’s patient and persistent ghost remains to this day. If you give it a go, please share what you have or haven’t discovered in the comments below.
And if you’re planning to make a weekend trip of it, nearby Kimmswick offers a lot of history and a long list of old buildings. Surely, there’s got to be a ghost or two lurking there somewhere.
Discover more “Railroad Hauntings You Can Still Visit” at the page for
After the End of the Line: Railroad Hauntings in Literature and Lore.
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