Lincoln, NE

As I confessed to my traveling companions on the road, in 5th grade, each student in my class was assigned a state. We spent months compiling information about the state, corresponding with a pen pal and making a topographical map out of homemade play dough. My state was NEBRASKA! Although I remember nothing of my rigorous 5th grade research and my pen pal, Tyler, and I never really bonded like pen pals should, I was eager to get here.

We drove into town on a bright, sunny, home game day. The city was packed, but only in the stadium and nearby bars. Strangely, game day was not a hopping day at the capital. The day before we had seen Kansas' statehouse under construction, and Nebraska's capitol had obviously gotten jealous of the face lift and also started a construction project.

The building reminds me of Louisiana's capitol - tall and skyscraper like - but with an exception... a ghost. Now this is nothing official, but I don't remember being so truly scared in the daylight in public before.

Entering a capital building, particularly on a weekend in a non touristy area, is very quiet. There were a couple people milling around or taking a tour, but you could hear everyone's foot steps and muffled voices. We took pictures of the beautiful interior and statutes and then when to the lower level to get back to the car. As we started to walk down the corridor, we heard a raspy sigh. Of course, we all looked at each other and questioned who was doing it - which was not any of of us. As we kept walking down the hall, the raspy sigh was still there. And again... and again... I was sufficiently spooked when several children accompanied by parents came down stairs. But we could still hear the raspy sigh... and it wasn't the children and it wasn't us.

The capitol in Lincoln could not possibly be haunted, but I've checked this off my list and I'm not eager to visit again now.