The following story comes from The World (New York) - Sunday, August 9, 1896:
A new kind of spook has appeared to frighten timid people in Cambria County, Pennsylvania. A specter cow, with her head severed from her body and dangling in the air in front of her, has appeared to several people who have chanced to pass near her haunts at night, and all unite in saying that the sight wad most terrifying.
Elmer Person, city editor of Pennsylvania Grit, a newspaper published at Williamsport, has investigated the stories told by several people regarding the apparition, and finds that they all agree in every particular. He interviewed a number of folks who claim to have seen the spook, and he vouched for their respectability and declares that they believe the stories they tell.
As described by men seen by Mr. Person, the ghost is a frightful object. At a late hour of night, the spook is seen madly cavorting along the roadside, at times using the rail fences as a path, occasionally careening wildly along stone fences, and again taking to the air. At all times, the head of the cow appears severed from the body, looming fearsomely some feet in advance of the rest of the specter.
The abode of the ghost is a ruined building near Johnstown. The building was formerly used as a slaughterhouse, and innumerable cows lost their lives there. It has been untenanted for years and stands in an isolated and lonesome spot. Ever since the butcher abandoned the premises, uncanny things have been told about it, and children have been afraid to pass the spot at night.
Many people who have passed the place after sundown have seen the bovine spook. The say that the form of a cow suddenly dashes out of the rickety building, which stands some distance back from the road, and runs past them with the speed of an express train. The head maintains a uniform distance from the body, and from the severed and bleeding neck come frightful cries that would chill the warmest blood.