Source Location: Old Faithful Inn, Yellowstone N.P.

Original teller: George Bornemann

A former bell captain of Old Faithful Inn, George Bornemann, had been pressured by guests who wanted to know the Inn’s ghost stories. He repeatedly refused such stories existed for some time. That is until he started telling a story of the headless bride. He admitted to making the story up, which explains why so many details are missing from his story. One of the great things about folklore is that it can be retold by different storytellers in different ways. The improvements are accepted, and the rubbish adaptations are cast aside. However, an important thing about any story is that just because it may or may not have happened, doesn’t devalue its importance.

In full disclosure, this is Demon Bard’s adaptation of George Bornemann’s original Headless Bride.

Corona was the daughter of a wealthy New York merchant. She had every desire provided to her. She wanted nothing. Yet she had eyes for one of the servants, Vince. They were open about their attraction, making displays of affection when they could. Her father found out and attempted many times to talk his daughter out of the relationship. He was falling ill from worry witnessing his daughter’s choices spiral out of control.

He gave her a choice. “You have refused to listen to reason. I can no longer suffer watching you throw the opportunity I built for you away. I am making sure Vince will never be seen here again. Stay at your home where you are loved and looked after. If you stay with him you can never come back.” Corona leaves with Vince. Her father, heartbroken, gave her a dowry large enough they could live off for several years, longer if it was managed well.

Halfway across the country Corona and Vince honeymooned at Old Faithful Inn. Vince was an avid card player. He enjoyed his leisure of luxury, eating, drinking, and gambling. In one month, the dowry Corona’s father provided was gone. “Father please.” Corona telephoned her father. “We’re broke. We need more money.”

“I am sorry. I honored our deal. I provided you with a dowry. I expect you to honor your end. You left the family. You no longer have a claim to this estate or its resources.” The father hung up refusing to answer any more calls from her.

That night hotel staff could hear the newlywed couple arguing through their think wooden room.

“You must stop. We have no more money.”

“Do what I told you. Ask your father for more.” The staff said they saw Vince enter the room with a bloody beaten face.

“I did that. He cut me off because of you. I should have listened to him. You know nothing about funds.”

“Do you think the debt collectors will accept that excuse? Your father is a coward. He lives in luxury. We are starving and about to be kicked into the wilderness. We deserve that money.”

“Our misery is caused by your choices. You wasted our fortune.”

“You chose me. You knew what I am. I am not at fault.” The argument grew quiet before the husband stormed out of the room, down the hall, and out of the inn, never to be seen again.

Later men in suits knocked on the newlywed’s room. Corona didn’t leave the room. The staff assumed she was grieving and ashamed. After a few days, they worried about the new bride. She was found in the bathroom bloody, hacked, and headless. Her head was found in the Crow’s Nest where the band played overlooking the lobby.

The staff never found who killed Corona. Many say it was obviously her husband Vince. Some think the men in suits were debt collectors looking collect from her Vince’s debt, and collected from Corona’s body to leave him a message. A few consider her father had his daughter silenced so she would never bother them again.

George Bornemann claimed he made the story up after years of guests pestering him for a ghost story. One explanation for his silence was that Corona’s father had bought his silence. Once the old New Yorker passed away George was free to tell the story to explain how the headless bride was seen in the crow’s nest late at night. The plot holes and lack of details that exist in his version were him keeping the privacy of the merchant and his family. One might ask, was this all a made-up story from the imagination of a former bell captain, or was there a conspiracy that makes him part of the story?