The Little Girl Who Wasn't There




Story by Marion Kuclo



The Clark family had moved into their large old house on Warren Avenue in Detroit when their youngest child, Rachel, was not yet three years old.

Even before the family had completely settled into the new home, Rachel announced that she had a little friend. She said her friend's name was Kenny Cobb. When her mother said she would like to meet him, Rachel explained that Kenny was a girl, not a boy, and that she was standing right beside her. Naturally, Mrs. Clark had heard of children having imaginary playmates, but she wondered how her daughter had happened to make up such a strange name.

Kenny Cobb soon became part of the household. Although only Rachel could see her, she kept the family well informed about everything Kenny said or did. Rachel's parents did not discourage Rachel since they had read that it was quite natural for a child to invent such a playmate and that it was, in fact, a sign of higher intelligence.

Rachel and Kenny Cobb remained friends for more than two years. Then, about a month after Rachel started kindergarten, her mother found her crying and asked what was wrong. Rachel announced that Kenny had come to say goodbye. It seemed that Kenny had told her that since Rachel now had other children to play with, it was time for Kenny to go.

As time went by, Rachel talked less and less about Kenny and the Clarks eventually forgot all about the little blonde-haired girl they had never seen.

Years passed, and Rachel had grown into a young woman when one night the Clarks attended a party on the other side of town. There they met several people they had never known before. When the Clarks mentioned where they lived, and older woman spoke up and said that many years ago she had lived in the same neighborhood.

"Exactly which house do you live in?" she asked.

The Clarks described their home, and she said, "Oh, yes, the old Cobb house. The Cobb family built that house but they didn't live there very long. They moved away right after their granddaughter was hit by a car and killed in front of the house."

The Clarks gasped at the name, Cobb. "What was the child's first name?" they both asked quickly.

"I can't remember," the woman replied, "but it was a boy's name. They called her by a boy's name Billy, Bobby, Kenny, or something like that."

The Clarks looked at each other in astonishment. Rachel had not made it all up. She really had been playing with the ghost of Kenny Cobb.

The story above was excerpted from "Michigan Haunts and Hauntings"

by Marion Kuclo.