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Les Anglosaxons sont incontestablement les maîtres des histoires de fantômes. Il en est une, tout de même, qui concerne un Français : Henri Le Clerc qui perdit sa tête à cause d'une belle indienne (Ah ces Français, fidèles à leur réputation de charmeurs !). Il hante à présent Old Fort Niagara, situé au nord de la ville de Buffalo aux USA, tout près des célèbres chutes du Niagara. L'histoire se passe en 1759 pendant la guerre contre les Anglais. Henri Le Clerc et Jean-Claude de Rochefort se battent en duel pour le cœur de la belle Onita. Le malheureux Henri tombe dans les escaliers et se fracasse le crâne contre un puits. De rage Jean-Claude lui coupe la tête. Pour éviter la pendaison, il veut jeter le corps de Henri dans le lac Ontario. Il n'a le temps que de jeter sa tête. Il se débarassera du corps en le jetant dans le puits sur lequel Henri s'est cogné. Depuis, Henri hante le fort à la recherche de sa tête !

Here is the article of the New York Times concerning this ghost story :

The Headless Ghost of Old Fort Niagara

As is often true of restless spirits, love is central to the story of the headless soldier said to haunt Old Fort Niagara, north of Buffalo. The legend, as described years ago by the folklore expert Louis C. Jones, dates to before the nation’s founding.

It was 1759, in the middle of the French and Indian War, and the British had isolated Fort Niagara, which sits on a piece of land that juts out at the point where Lake Ontario and the Niagara River converge.

Life at the fort had been stressful enough, but then, for two weeks, the British bombarded the French soldiers and their Native American allies stationed there.

“Petty jealousies, long controlled irritations, a thousand annoyances united with the normal fears of battle to make life close to unbearable,” Mr. Jones wrote in a 1944 speech before a joint session of the New York State Historical Association, which he led for a quarter-century, and the New York Folklore Society. (He later included the account .)

Two French officers stationed at the fort had fallen for a Native American woman, according to Mr. Jones, and it was during the siege that they decided to settle the matter once and for all.

Mr. Jones said that the two fighting soldiers, whom he did not name, caught the attention of those around them, their swords making “bright arcs of light” as they fought in a central courtyard. Other accounts of the fact differ, reporting that the battle unfolded in private, between Jean-Claude de Rochefort and Henri Le Clerc.

In the end, de Rochefort won and Le Clerc lost his head. As the story goes, his body fell into a nearby well (or was hidden there intentionally by de Rochefort). Le Clerc’s ghost, it is said, can be seen from time to time emerging from the well in search of its head.

Photos : http://niagarafallsupclose.com/headless-french-soldier-of-old-fort-niagara/