Halloween Bash 2007: Ghost Story 4 - In the House

When we were young we played crazy but not dangerous pranks among us, but these pranks turn into scary feeling. The house we used to live was an old house built by Germans. I think Germans used to keep deceased in the funeral home right at the cemetery. However, that tradition changed when Polish moved into the area right after the war. A dead person was prepared and kept in the house for three days. When my grandfather died, they did the same, they kept him for three days in our house. All I remember is that a lot of people came every day, sat around the coffin, and either prayed or again gossiped about the latest and greatest, and also told stories or little things just enough to make us think about it. I was only five years old then, but I was quite aware of the ghosts too. So they used to say that kids had tendency to see more, and they told once a story how a little girl saw her dead mother just beside the coffin. No body saw anything, but the little girl was talking to her dead mom as she was alive.

Going back to pranks. Sometimes my parents and grandparents would work late in the field or for some reason leave us in the house alone. I think then it was three of us, my older sister probably eight years old, me just about seven year old and my other baby sister probably year old. For some reason we would sit tight in the house, but then one of us would start tell the ghost stories and even embellish them and act like one too, lol. On the end, we both would get so scared that we would take are baby sister and sit outside the house until late evening when it was dark, and wait for someone to come back home. We were much more comfortable outside, I guess we had more freedom just in case we had to run, better than hiding in the small rooms with an imaginary ghost, lol.

So the Halloween is around the corner. I will conclude the Halloween Bash 2007 with this story. So for all those kids and everyone else celebrating Halloween - have fun, play safe, and never know may be you will see the real ghost too.

[TRUE STORY]

Halloween Bash 2007: Ghost Story 3 - Man Without Faces

This story unfortunately makes me laugh now, but not then. This is the second cemetery story I am going to tell you. I will keep it short today. The story was by this one man in our town, and I think this time it happened on the side of our cemetery, because I recall them talking about him biking to work to the milk processing plant that was few kilometers away from the cemetery. Yes biking was very common in Europe then, now days many treat bicycles as exercise mechanism but then it was main transportation mechanism.

This man was working evening shift, so around seven in the evening he was biking to work. It was fall season so around that time it was getting darker. His main routine was biking by the cemetery. So one day he is taking his regular routine to work, and he sees this army of seven to ten man standing at the entrance. It was a bit dark, so he didn't really see all the details meaning - do I know them. However, they were all dressed elegantly, and just standing around, no real movement. As he kept biking towards them, he could clearly see them, but still could not recognize who they were and if they were from this town. He got scared, so he moved to the other side of the road and kept biking, biking fast. He eventually passed by them but was scarred to look at them. But his curiosity did not stop him from looking behind, and he did. To his surprise, he saw these man in uniforms and their blank faces, its almost like there was a cloud front of their faces distorting all face features. Now he was paddling very fast and when he was now farther he gave this one more look back - but there was no body there anymore.

Well I don't know how much I can believe this story. There are few things that I have not included, the man who saw the army of man in the uniform without faces, liked to drink. It was later in the day, so being a bit drunk and scared might have disturbed his vision. What I cannot explain is why they were there in the evening and all dressed the same. So this story remains a mystery to me, but again in our town it was very much believed to be another ghost encounter or encounter of many ghosts.

[TRUE STORY OR NOT]

Halloween Bash 2007: Ghost Story 2 - Beautiful Cherries

Small town, lots of gossip and lots of ghost stories. We all know what happens to the story when the story is passed from one person into another and then another - embellished story. People want to make it more exciting so they add stuff and remove stuff. Therefore, I cannot confirm the stories I write here are one hundred percent real. However, our parents and grandparents always claimed that they were real. By the time I was fourteen I heard many ghost stories that I start fearing them, and this continues until today.

I remember every November 1st on the Souls Day in Europe we used to go to the cemetery and light candles on my grandfathers grave. All was fine when this happened on the weekend, because we all went, but when Souls day fell on the weekday and when I was old enough, my mother asked me to visit the grave by myself after school. Oh, I used to bag her not to make me do that. One year I went, and I was so focused that I never noticed beautiful flowers placed on my grandfather's grave, plus the other conditions I experienced - increased heart rate.

Therefore, I will tell stories that I heard related to people seeing ghosts in the form of people, around cemeteries of course. There were two everyone was talking about, today is one of them.

This happened in the neighboring town. There was this poor woman with a small child. She had tendency to walk around the neighborhood and gather fruits and vegetables form others. Collecting fruit from wild fruit trees that grew on the side of the road was also very common. Everyone in the town knew about the beautiful cherry trees that grew on the side road just beside the town's cemetery, but everyone also knew that they shouldn't eat them. They did not really say why, but it all makes sense now, the cherry tree roots got all their nutrients from the cemetery, and I will not expand on that any further. This woman knew about that too, but one day she ignored the message. She and her child were passing by and decided to collect some beautiful cherries. She put the child on her sweater under the tree, gave him some tree branches and flowers to play with. The tree wasn't really small so she had to climb, and she did. Once in a while she would look down to see if everything was okay with the child, and everything was, until that one time. Yes that one time she looked down and she saw this beautiful young woman playing with her child. The child wasn't really replying just playing with the branch sticks while it looked like the woman was saying something and trying to get the child's attention. The mother couldn't hear anything. The mother felt something was not right, and without thinking she literally jump off the tree. To her surprise she found no one with her child, and the child continued to play with the sticks.

Now you know why I will not go to the cemetery alone. These are not very huge ghost encounters, but enough to make me think twice when I am passing by the human resting place.

[TRUE STORY ENHANCED]

Halloween Bash 2007: Ghost Story 1 - A Deadly Prank

Until I was 14 years old I lived in a small town, a small town of about three thousand people where everyone knew each other, everyone attended everyone's wedding party, everyone celebrated new born baby, or everyone gathered at someone's funeral. Everyone knew everyone's affairs. Everyone watched the same shows and patiently waited for the next episode. And by the way there was only one channel, and no commercials and the TV was still black and white. Beyond all this the gossiping was big, and there was not a single day when we didn't have a gossip or story to tell. As title states, there were many ghost stories going on in our town. Sometimes it was parent's greatest tool to keep children disciplined by scarring them with ghosts - not very bright idea. We as kids never saw ghost, but we knew and we had to believe that they existed as our parents and grandparents made us to believe.

When someone died, at that time the body of the deceased was kept in the house for three days. For three days most of the time grandmothers and sometimes mothers, and may be grandfathers, would gather around the body, sit for hours and talk. Sometimes they would bring us kids so you could actually listened to the real prayers - gossips and ghost stories, lol.

Not to go into scary mode immediately, this ghost story told here is a ghost prank played among few guys - unfortunately tragic. One day bunch of twenty year olds decided to play a prank and bet some money on two guys who claimed that are not scarred of ghosts at all - they believed that there were none. One of the guys was told, if you such a hero, then go to the cemetery's funeral home before eleven at night jump into the coffin and close the lid. He was instructed to lay in it until pass 12 am. At 12 am - the so called ghost hour, a ghost will come to the funeral home. The cemetery had this old funeral home which was not used at all, I think it was build by Germans who lived in our town before. However, it was well maintained by the cemetery's gate keeper.

Later on, the pranksters told other guy, if you such a hero, then go to the cemetery's funeral home just before 12 am. Bring some hazel nuts with you and start cracking them on top of the coffin at exactly 12 am. We are sure that the ghost will show up. There may be even one in the coffin.

The bet started. The ghost non-believers went for free cash believing that they will win the bet. What happened next? Well that one day first guy showed up at night at the cemetery's funeral home. What he did exactly, how he felt, and was he scared? - no body knows, it is just him, and I cannot speculate on this. He jumped into the coffin, covered with lid and waits. There is probably more to the story, he probably showed up during they day and ensured that the doors were open, and the coffin was free of dust, may be or may be not. Note, at those times life was different, so doing things like that was very normal. Yes, what do you do with all this time when shows on TV were only for limited time, there were no computers, no video games, and no work for students.

Very close to 12 am, the second guy showed up with flashlight, hammer and sack of hazel nuts he probably stole from someone's property. At exactly 12 am he sat on the coffin and started to crack nuts. What happened next? Well the guy in the coffin puts his flashlight on and checks the time - and its 12 am. He is not scared - just curious. Now the guy who was cracking the nuts noticed the small illumination coming out from the coffin, and he probably started to think that may be ghosts do really exists. He continued to crack the nuts now more eagerly. Well the guy inside the coffin is now very very curious as he hears harder knocks - he decided to get out. This did not help the other guy, when the lid moved and more light escaped from the coffin, and it is only speculation, the guy probably got into a shock first. Well for sure he collapsed. As the lid continued to open, and the curious guy is walking out, thinking - someone is probably playing a prank on me. He is right, however, to his surprise he found his friend lying dead and realizing what just happened.

[TRUE STORY, SOURCES: MY TOWN]

Racing the Rain

We must go now. The sky is getting darker and darker. The storm is on the way, and it is really bad storm. I don't think we can afford to hide under the trees - its dangerous. We packed everything. The car is a mess, but we must go now. It started to spit with rain a bit, but it stopped. I am sure it will start to rain hard very soon. Did we get everything in, I don't know. At this point we cannot see anything - its really dark. We know that there is still stuff on the ground, but if we start picking everything up we are not going to make in time from here to the bridge. I know that we still need to drive out from here, and it may take us some time to get out. Okay, I think we got everything now. I used flashlight to pick the rest of our stuff, but it does not matter anymore - it may be fun for bears to play with it and I probably wouldn't miss it at all, probably not even remember what it was. Driving now through signed path, signs by us. This camp was really fun to visit, however, hopefully we can get out from here on time. Lots of hiking trails, good thing we had the GPS, otherwise, our adventures would turn into a disaster, but hey its already been disaster. We are still driving through the forest, cannot see much, it is dark. It is spitting again. What is going on with this weather? Just come from nowhere in matter of minutes. It is going to rain badly, and if we don't get out from here on time then I don't know what we are going to do again, we will have to camp out again. The rain is going to go over the bridge and we will not be able to cross it, and there is no other way out. We are still driving, going through a bumpy road, and - oh no, rain. Rain suddenly started to come down hard. Pouring. We are driving very fast, but the rain is pouring even faster. Definitely the rain is racing us. Now, I am thinking desperately, we are not going to make it. How could we miss these clouds on the horizon, we should have left earlier. We are almost there, still driving over the bumpy road and now filled with water. Paddles are not helping us. Oh, I can recognize the area, yes I can see the bridge. The bridge is here, I shout. Then the break squeak. We are suddenly stopped. I guess rain won this time again. Lets go back to camp and try this bridge in couple of weeks once again when the water dries out. Hopefully we can cross this bridge next time.

[FICTION]

The Recruiter

The phone rang, the call display showed unknown number, however, the housekeeper girl answered anyway. I guess sometimes never know this may be important phone call. The owners of the house did not mind if she did or she didn't answer the calls and did not mind her taking verbal messages. They liked the idea that someone was always home. It felt like this call needed to be answered, so she did, with her sweet young voice she said -'Hello'. She was only 22 years old and came from very small town where she only was able to finish high school level education, and later she would help her parents around the farm. When she came to the city, she did not know anybody and she still doesn't. The housekeeping position was placed with help of some old family friend that one day contacted them and asked if Maya would consider the housekeeping position. He convinced family that the people are older couple who still like to work, but do not like doing anything around the house. He convinced them that the people were very nice and would pay nice money and provide living. Maya did not really want to leave her parents and her younger siblings. She loved her family and going away and going far away was sad. But then her parents finally convinced her. What are you going to do, marry neighbor's son - probably not, because he already had many girls dropping by his place and he never seem to be happy with any of them. What a waste, her parents thought. After many days of contemplation, Maya finally convinced herself that yes it will be good for her to get a job in the city. When finally she arrived, she never seen such a big house in her life, may be one day on the TV and back then she thought that things like that were not real. The owners must have a lot of money, and she though why do they need such a big house, there is only two of them - what a waste, she thought.
The voice on the other side of phone sound familiar, and said - Hello Maya, how are you? She answered not knowing who that was - I am fine.. And how are you? - she asked back politely. I am fine Maya. Is this a good time to talk? - the voice asked. Yes, and who am I speaking to? - she asked. The voice on the other side answered, this is Tom Miko. I am the person who got you this housekeeping work. I wanted to find out if you were happy with what you are doing? Yes, I am - Maya answered without hesitation. She never really was very talkative person, she usually listen and answered whenever someone asked questions. So I hear, I spoke with your parents and they said the same thing, just wanted to find out directly from you. Maya was thinking, what does all this mean? Anyway, Tom Miko decided to be more direct, and asked if she would consider even better job opportunity. Not far away from here and she will be doing same kind of job and getting pay even better. She stayed silent, while Tom was going on and on about this new opportunity. Here she is alone, no parents, and trying to make this decision if she should leave current job and go to that other place. What am I going to say to the current house owners? - and before she even was able to finish her thought, the voice on the other side of the phone answered. I will talk to your employers, you don't have to say anything. Really she though, but also she thought why this voice sounded more and more familiar. Something is going on here, and I don't know what it is - she thought. So she decided to think about it. Maya finally answered, after Tom mumbled something on the other line. She interrupted - I will have to get back to you on this. Tom was silent. She thought she offended him at first, but the voice came back as calm not knowing if this was different person talking on the phone. Okay, Maya - can I call you back tomorrow same time. Yes Tom, and you have a good night - she said and hang up the phone.She finished up cleaning the kitchen table top, where she started before the phone call. The phone call lasted only about ten minutes, however it felt like ages. She decided not to think about it. She finished up all her work for today and headed up to bed. She liked to go early to bed. She always left a little good night note for the owners. They always came home late, I guess they would eat out most of the time. Cooking was not in her job description, but her duties included to serve morning continental breakfast and coffee. She dropped by the rooms to ensure that everything was in its place. Again she did not have to worry about much because the owners only made some very small mess on the weekends, but they were very good cleaning up after. So how much did she had to do, not much. All the money she earned she was saving. She had a pile of check in her room in the night table that she collected over 1 year. She sometimes wondered why they came through the mail. I guess she never asked how she can even cash these checks. Where she was she really did not have to do anything, everything she needed she had, including food. The groceries were regularly delivered to the house, so she always ate well and cook for herself. Maya stay in touch with her parents, but as time passed she called less and less, since not much was happening around her. She was in bed reading newspaper dated from two days ago. She recalled the earlier call and started to think about it, and most of all not about the offer but why was the voice on the other side of the phone familiar. Of all this she could not sleep, so she decided to watch some TV in the guest room. There was nothing on TV as she was flipping through the channels, so she decided to watch the local weather network. Looked like tomorrow was going to be a nice sunny day, not too cold and not too hot. Enough to spend some time in the garden. Sometimes, she would go and take care of the garden, knowing that some local company would come on the weekend anyway to do all gardening stuff. She would pick some weeds, water some wilted plants and sometimes move plants from one place to another. These people don't know anything about gardening, they just place plants wherever they want. The plants that needed shade were on the direct sun and some would be in the shade crying for sun all day long. She stared to follow sleep, but the familiar voice woke her up. It was the voice on the commercial. It was the local real state sales representative, and she caught the last glimpse of it - 'selling fully furnished houses with the housekeeping services'. Suddenly she realized why on first day of her housekeeping job the owners did not arrive from a long trip.

[FICTION]