A Midnight Dreary

 

I not only write ghost stories

I’ve lived some.

enjoy 

About 10 years ago my husband and our three kids moved back to Mountlake Terrace. When we moved to Terrace we moved into a brand new Apartment Complex, I think there had been less then a half dozen renters in the place.

So it was new and spiffy and energy efficient.

About two weeks after we moved in I was in my bathroom brushing my teeth before bed.

It had been raining and thundering all evening, so when I started to see flashes of lighting it wasn’t exactly a surprise.

Anyway, I was looking into my bathroom mirror- I saw myself, I saw my bedroom window over my shoulder and then I saw blinding white light in the mirror and then my teeth slammed together and there was this deafening roar and all I could think was, ” I’m in trouble. ”

I wasn’t in trouble- but the tree outside my bedroom window was.

 The next day we found out it had been hit by lightning and you could see the scorch mark down one side and two of its limbs were blasted off and another was left dangling.

The kids played and tugged at the damaged tree limb until it came off. I remember them dragging it around for a while and the maintenance man broke it up and threw it away.

It was shortly after that  when the ghosts came.

My youngest son is a social animal.

At the age of  7 and after only a few weeks of living in our new place he knew everyone. By that I mean he knew names and who lived where and what they did and their pets names and millions of other little details.

Don’t ask me how he did it.

Then he changed.

It was a gradual change-  my son started to sleep a lot during the day,  he started getting dark circles under his eyes and when he started hiding his favorite toys around the living room I thought that maybe the move had affected him after all.

One day I was pulling his collection of Ninja Turtles from out of my bookcase (he had hidden them behind the books) when he went walking by with his skateboard under his arm and said he wanted to take a nap.

It was about 2:00 in the afternoon and enough was enough.

I asked why he was so tired and he said, ” this little boy comes into my room at night and plays with my toys and he’s keeping me awake.”

” Is that why you’re hiding your toys? ”

” Yeah. ”

 Is it working? ” I said trying to play along.

My son shrugged and went into his room and took his nap.

It was a little while after the toys in the bookshelf incident when my Sister came over for a visit.

My kids had insisted on a pet hamster because not only did their Mom have a cat she had pet rats and the boys decided pets shouldn’t be something only Moms got to have.

They named  their new pet Scooter.

My Sister and I were alone in the apartment- the kids, my husband and her husband were all out buying pizza.

We were in the kid’s room playing with Scooter.

We put him into one of those little balls hamsters  can run around in and I remember my cat was sitting in the doorway and I was going to push the ball with the hamster in it towards him.

My cat had been raised with my rats and he had this thing were he wouldn’t go for rats or hamsters and my Sister didn’t believe it.

So we both look up to where Wolfgang had been sitting when this little boy ran right passed the bedroom door and down the hall towards my bedroom.

” Who’s that? ” my Sister asked.

” Probably a neighbor kid. They walk in all the time. ”

I went to get the kid when my cat sort of slinked around the corner and he looked up at me and growled.

I don’t mean that cat growl- it was big and deep and his ears flattened against his head.

I went to push him out of the way with my foot and he reached forward and grabbed my ankle with his teeth. Then he started to  jerk backwards with these little snaps to his neck and the entire time he’s doing this he’s looking up at me and growling.

Then he sort of turned without letting go and tried to pull me back into my kid’s room.

My sister was yelling, I was screaming  because my cat was holding onto my ankle and the blood was starting to run and no matter what we did or how loud we yelled he wouldn’t let go.

Then his ears went back up; he let go of  my ankle and he walked out into the living room.

” There’s no one in the apartment except us…is there? ” my Sister asked.

I remember I couldn’t answer because I didn’t know.

I’ll leave you with this final ghost story-

Out of a dead sleep I woke up at exactly 1:45 in the morning and standing beside my bed was my Grandfather.

I was really glad to see him- it had been about 14 years since he had died. He’d missed my Wedding and my High school Graduation and a million other great things.

Now I was going to get the chance to tell him all about it and I remember trying to wake up more so that I could get my husband to wake up and meet my Grandpa.

I was surprised- but not that my Grandfather was there but that he looked so young.

He looked like he did in his late 30’s- I’d only seen pictures of him in those days and I wasn’t sure why he looked like that and not like the man I’d known.

But that was okay- all that mattered was that he was here now.

This went on for a week- I’d wake up at the same time and there he was standing by me looking happy and relaxed and pleased to see me.

At the end of the week my Grandfather’s sister passed away.

I was heartbroken- she was a great lady and she use to tell this great story about performing in a childrens choir ‘back in the day’ for Prisoners in an honest to goodness Prison.

They were singing for genuine convicted killers and robbers.

I use to ask a million questions about what it was like inside of a Prison and she was happy to tell me.

Plus she could whistle through her teeth.

She had a great life if you ask me.

Anyway, I never asked what time she died- I was sure I already knew.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

So there are my stories- are they true?

Did they really happen?

Did they?

There’s This Place …

From The Guys At

Weird New Jersey

watch this alone…at night…with the lights off

 go one…give it a try

it’ll be a scream.

amm

Did You See That?

Just doing my part to spread the Halloween fun…

so here are some treats to get you in the Halloween Spirit

enjoy

For some Devilish Delights ( and I DO MEAN Devilish Delights)

 visit

at

The Hungry Ghost

He says it’s all about Pies, but for real Tony loves that spooky stuff so check him out at Tales at Twilight

I AM NOT WORTHY I AM NOT WORTHY visit my heroes Mark and Mark at Weird New Jersey –they so rule.

And to get that little chill- you know the one that runs up and

down your spine just as the lights go off…

read Max’s Ghost Story

Want to see something really strange? Then vist the West Midland Ghost Club in the U.K. ….

or you could stay local like me and hang ( ha ) with the crew from A.P.A.R.T

FOUR MORE DAYS! FOUR MORE DAYS!

NOW GO FORTH AND HALLOWEEN….

 

 

The Unquiet Grave of Iris Winterbark

    

Behind the building called the school house, under a black twisted tree is the Unquiet Grave of Iris Winterbark. 

Iris Winterbark was the teacher in that little schoolhouse and the rotted oak tree out back is where she was suppose to have dispatched her more unruly students by hanging…either that or she was suppose to have hung them by their heals and burned them alive.   

At any rate, the town of Deuil is very famous, or infamous depending on your point of view, and most of the stories you’ll probably come across aren’t true, but the one about Iris Winterbark is.

When Deuil was founded back in the early 1900’s there were 30 families living there- and it was exactly 30 families that live out there to this day. 

That’s a guess of course because the rest of the County leaves Deuil to itself.

You see, up there in the hills the men and women of Deuil had taken Indians and other dark skinned people as their husbands and wives.Worst of all, no request had ever come from the Town of Deuil for a Minister to come out and visit them.

Not that one would have made the trip.

” There isn’t a soul up there ” the people around Deuil would say.

In a way they were right.

                                                

Iris Winterbark showed up to teach school in April.

The new Teacher was small and thin and nobody liked her.

It wasn’t because she was strict and she kept the razor strop on her desk that she could snatch up with lighting speed that you’d never think a woman her age was capable of.

No it was because of something no one could put there finger on –  it wasn’t easy to notice but it preyed on your mind like a starving wolf all the same. 

Iris Winterbark never seemed to take a breath and she never blinked. 

She would spend her teaching days looking out at her few dozen students with disgust because they were filthy little creatures that smelled like they never bathed and she would hiss out history lessons and math lessons and spelling lessons and geography lessons. 

The rest of the time her gaze and face was as slack and expressionless as a corpse’s face. That is until some unfortunate student made a mistake. Then those flat blue eyes would suddenly spark to life and her face would crack into a smile and  then bang! 

The strop would be in her hand and some poor slow pupil would be bleeding and Iris Winterbark would be at her desk again as prim and still as a marble statue in a cemetery. 

And then she would blink…almost.

Now every class has its odd student out and in this class it was a boy named Petty Morel. He’d glare at his classmates and he’d glare at his parents and he’d glare right back at Miss Winterbark hardest of all.

One day after failing an arithmetic lesson and after writing the correct answer 500 times on the blackboard and Miss Winterbark had administered the strop Petty stood at the front of the class and dripped blood all over the shiny wood floor and said, “ you’re just an evil old witch.” 

Miss Winterbark had said, “ There are no such things as witches Petty, but I’m very real and I would be very careful of what you said if I were you.” 

“ Then you’re not a witch? “ Petty had asked as a wide beautiful smile crossed his face. 

“ I most certainly am not.” 

“ I’m glad to hear that Miss Winterbark, I really am.” 

None of his classmates were paying attention to anything Petty and Miss Winterbark were saying. They were too busy watching the blood pool at Petty’s feet. 

                                     

The next day Petty Morel walked up to Miss Winterbark’ s desk after class and he asked her, “ is it true you hang people out behind the school house and they come back to life when you want them too.” 

“ No it isn’t.” 

“ Do you bury people alive?” 

“ I most certainly do not!” 

Petty almost looked disappointed, then he sighed. 

Petty stood  there in front of Miss Winterbark’ s desk with his hands folded behind his back and was about to say something more when Miss Winterbark slammed her hand on her desk and made Petty jump about six inches off the ground. “ I have never a group of such dull slow witted children as I have in this town. And look at those nails and your hair…. dirt and leaves in your hair. My goodness, what do you children do, sleep outside with the rest of the animals?” 

“ I don’t sleep outside in the open, my Parents would never let me do that Miss Winterbark. Its not safe you know.” 

Then Petty watched the sun sink behind the window and he said with his sharp pointed white teeth “I’m so glad you’re not a witch Miss Winterbark, I really am. “ 

                                  

Petty wasn’t really worried about how angry his Mother was, he could deal with her being angry. It wasn’t the same this time because his Mother was furious and she shook his arm so hard it made his teeth rattle. “ Who on earth is going to clean up this mess Petty Morel? “ 

“ I am mother, “ he said. He looked around the blood spattered walls and what was left of Miss Winterbark on her desk and what was left of her under the window and over by the door and he sobbed, “This is the biggest mess I’ve ever seen in my life! It’s going to take me all night to clean up!” 

“ Well, being that you already ate all I can do is deny you dessert and playtime with your friends. This is very serious Petty, do you know how hard it is to get a teacher to come out to places like this?” 

“ I don’t know why we have to go to school at all, I don’t see why it matters anymore.” 

“ Listen to me Petty Morel, we maybe living out in the middle of nowhere in these godforsaken mountains, but our family has been well educated since we left our home in Transylvania and I see no reason now why that should stop. Do you understand me?” 

Then Petty’s Mother handed him a shovel, gave him a good solid whack on his backside and she sent Petty out back to dig the only grave they ever needed in the little town called Deuil.