Little Shop of Nightmares
< Continued from page 2
THE SECOND SÉANCE
That night, the spiritualists came up to her apartment with the Ouija board and tried another séance. This time they contacted the spirit of a young boy. They asked him his name. Emmet, he told them, giving no last name. The medium and her friend looked at each other. They said the boy was a spirit they had previously contacted downstairs at their shop. My aunt told them about the nurse apparition she had seen, and they said they had contacted a nurse, too, who died of tuberculosis after World War One ended.
It immediately clicked. Every spirit the medium had been contacting was moving into the building. My aunt asked if they had contacted a preteen girl with their Ouija board. They said that they had contacted a mother who was looking for her 11-year-old daughter in a fire and in doing so died of smoke inhalation.
The flames on the stove and the vision of the daughter now all made sense to my aunt. These women were contacting spirits who were staying in the building. My aunt then asked the women to leave, telling them exactly what they were doing with their methods and that, to say the least, she was not happy about it. All this made my cousin terrified to even be in the apartment.
A few nights later there was another incident. My aunt and her son had sat down to watch a video they had rented. There began what sounded like a rolling, drumming sound from the hallway. My aunt heard it, and after the movie she went to investigate, finding nothing strange. She hoped it was just an ambient sound from the street below.
THE LAST GHOST
Around that same period of time, my cousin was watching TV in his room with the lights low. (His mother had put a TV in there to lure him back to sleeping in his own room.) Suddenly, he got a chill and looked over to his left, then his right. When he turned to his left again, there beside him about three feet away was a weird-looking boy about his age. He had a mean face, blond hair, and was dressed in knickers and a button-down shirt. The boy coldly stared at my cousin. He jumped, frightened, and ran quickly out into the hall. This time his mom knew he was telling the truth.
My aunt had had enough. They both left the apartment and went over to live with my grandmother, who lived a few cities away. They told her nothing about the haunting, but instead made up a lame excuse about heating problems in the building. They decided to stay there until they could find a new apartment.
My aunt and cousin returned to the apartment only once, to gather the rest of their belongings. When they entered, there on the back of the sofa was the Raggedy Andy doll. They got their stuff and left it for good.
Here's one last bit of weirdness. About six months later, the building caught fire, burning almost entirely to the ground and leaving the whole building blackened. The couple who had lived across the hall from my aunt got badly burned by it. The shop downstairs was burned out completely. The local paper reported that the fire began on the first floor, probably due to faulty wiring (which means they really didn't know the cause).
Did one of the spirits cause the fire, or was it just a fluke? Was the ghost girl a pyromaniac who liked to turn on stoves? That has always been my sneaking suspicion, but I guess we'll never really know.
THE SECOND SÉANCE
That night, the spiritualists came up to her apartment with the Ouija board and tried another séance. This time they contacted the spirit of a young boy. They asked him his name. Emmet, he told them, giving no last name. The medium and her friend looked at each other. They said the boy was a spirit they had previously contacted downstairs at their shop. My aunt told them about the nurse apparition she had seen, and they said they had contacted a nurse, too, who died of tuberculosis after World War One ended.
It immediately clicked. Every spirit the medium had been contacting was moving into the building. My aunt asked if they had contacted a preteen girl with their Ouija board. They said that they had contacted a mother who was looking for her 11-year-old daughter in a fire and in doing so died of smoke inhalation.
The flames on the stove and the vision of the daughter now all made sense to my aunt. These women were contacting spirits who were staying in the building. My aunt then asked the women to leave, telling them exactly what they were doing with their methods and that, to say the least, she was not happy about it. All this made my cousin terrified to even be in the apartment.
A few nights later there was another incident. My aunt and her son had sat down to watch a video they had rented. There began what sounded like a rolling, drumming sound from the hallway. My aunt heard it, and after the movie she went to investigate, finding nothing strange. She hoped it was just an ambient sound from the street below.
THE LAST GHOST
Around that same period of time, my cousin was watching TV in his room with the lights low. (His mother had put a TV in there to lure him back to sleeping in his own room.) Suddenly, he got a chill and looked over to his left, then his right. When he turned to his left again, there beside him about three feet away was a weird-looking boy about his age. He had a mean face, blond hair, and was dressed in knickers and a button-down shirt. The boy coldly stared at my cousin. He jumped, frightened, and ran quickly out into the hall. This time his mom knew he was telling the truth.
My aunt had had enough. They both left the apartment and went over to live with my grandmother, who lived a few cities away. They told her nothing about the haunting, but instead made up a lame excuse about heating problems in the building. They decided to stay there until they could find a new apartment.
My aunt and cousin returned to the apartment only once, to gather the rest of their belongings. When they entered, there on the back of the sofa was the Raggedy Andy doll. They got their stuff and left it for good.
Here's one last bit of weirdness. About six months later, the building caught fire, burning almost entirely to the ground and leaving the whole building blackened. The couple who had lived across the hall from my aunt got badly burned by it. The shop downstairs was burned out completely. The local paper reported that the fire began on the first floor, probably due to faulty wiring (which means they really didn't know the cause).
Did one of the spirits cause the fire, or was it just a fluke? Was the ghost girl a pyromaniac who liked to turn on stoves? That has always been my sneaking suspicion, but I guess we'll never really know.
