06 October 2016
Story #829
R. Linda:
When I lived in me old antique abode, I never really saw any "human ghosts," just the spooky dark cat that would appear at times (mainly in September), and that was pretty much it. Imagine me surprise when buying a house built in the mid-1990s, to find the activity level of the spirit world alive and well inside me doors. Yes, R. Linda, it can be somewhat disconcerting to think that one hears voices, sees movement, and gets an overwhelming feeling of dread in a relatively newer home, but that has happened.
I remember the time I slept in the house on me own before we moved and the mattress near about ate me. Do you remember that? Now I be wondering if that was an accident or . . . demonic plan. The master bedroom is rather a large affair (and the reason we bought the abode), and in it are the antique furnishings we had in the old abode. These antiques have been accused of bringing their former spirit owners to the new house. I have to wonder. There have been nights I have heard (and Tonya too) someone cough, and it wasn't us. We have both been awoken on occasion by this sound. At first, I thought it was Tonya's mobile phone making a strange noise as it charged overnight, but no. We used me own mobile to call it, and it does not cough, it vibrates. So we eliminated the phone.
We checked the windows, and all are shut well; no draft is coming through. Although when we have a northeaster, we can hear the wind howling around the casings, yet no draft gets in to make a coughing sound. We thought it was the wood, as we have a pine ceiling, the pine coming from the trees that used to grow on the property, but were cut down to be used inside the home. Not that either, though the ceiling is very high. On windy nights, you can hear the wind lift the roof tiles, but that doesn't sound like coughing either.
Then there are the doors that close and open by themselves. You'd find this in older homes where the foundation be not plumb, but our house is not an older home and all seems level. No humps or creaks in the floor, no parting of door frames, no locks that click when the doors are closed and click when opened. So, how they open and close on their own, we have no clue.
There was one night when I was alone in the house; the wife and kiddos, along with Mam, went to Jersey for a long weekend. The dog was going nuts barking, and I could see nothing in the blackness outside, but when she was still, I could hear someone tramping through the woods on the side of the house. I could see nothing, but there was something or someone outside. That was unnerving, especially since we live in a forest.
Add to this, the very next day, with daylight shining, a black car came down me long, hidden driveway all the way to the back of the property, turned around and sped out. This has happened several times day and night. Because the house cannot be seen from the road and the driveway is long and winding, I was of the mind that these people who drive up to the house think it is a lover's lane of sorts and are looking to park for a make-out session. Who knows? But for a house off the beaten path, we do get a lot of traffic where we should have none.
There is a ghost cat here, too. It could be the same one from the old abode that came with us. We don't know the answer to that either, but we do know it's outside too. There was an evening when one of our cats was on the back deck crooning at an imaginary something. There was nothing out there, but our cat WAS looking very distinctly at something that wasn't there. This has happened on three occasions so far.
Last Halloween night at midnight, Tonya and I were both awakened to wolves howling outside our bedroom window. We were both unnerved until I said with a mock Transylvanian accent, "Tonyah, the children of da night dey sing to you." She was not happy with me. Shortly after, THE cough sounded. How we slept that night, I don't know.
The meadows behind the house are always filled with mist in the morning, making it look like ghosts had a party and were slowly departing with the morning sunrise.
Oh, and at sunset, we have bats that fly around the chimney, making for a very spooky atmosphere at dusk.
There was the night we were getting ready for bed when an awful stench came in the open windows. We were discussing this when a bellow sounded from outside. It was a bear, we are sure. The next morning, we found it had ripped up some of our front lawn ferreting out hornet nests. The bird feeder was gone, and we still haven't come across it, which makes me wonder about beavers after me experience with them and mailboxes. Me Mam be sure it wasn't a bear but a leprechaun followed her over from the old sod. Right. I said to her, "Since when do leprechauns tear up the yard and eat hornets?" She thought for a moment and quipped to me, "That be a certain leprechaun, he likes chewin' on wasps because he be his bad self. He's the one makin' things weird round here. He be the tallest leprechaun, be named Reginald." Oh, ok, that makes perfect sense.
One of our cats has come home with a large piece of his tail missing. That be not because he tangled with some animal, but because that self-same leprechaun took a bite out of him. Thank you, Mam.
We have one piece of furniture I will tell you about. It is a lovely Edwardian affair that has some history to it. It was passed down from father to son in the O'Sullivan family, starting in the Edwardian period across the pond in old Eire. Each son would put it in their room to sit in it to put on socks and shoes, I assume. This old thing was me grandfather's, and he'd let no one sit in it as long as he was alive. He used to tell me not to sit in it at night because "ole' Reggie will be sitten' in it." When he passed, it went to father, who never liked the chair and gave it directly to ME, so it skipped a generation of use. This Mam accused him of putting a curse on himself, and well, the way things went with him, losing his mind and all, I have to wonder at that. The old thing was pretty ratty, and I reckoned to leave it in me old room at home in Newry, Ireland, when I came over to Boston, Mass. I thought I'd seen the last of it until I got married and, after me honeymoon, came home to find a large crate from Ireland sitting on me front porch. Well, I was thinking it was some wondrous thing being gifted to us and was ever eager to open it. Well, imagine me surprise when I found THE chair was sent over the sea to me.
The note on it said, "Sonny boy, here be yer grandda's chair and his before him, and his before him, and well ye know how it goes old Reggie's favourite chair. Yer father has no use fer it here, so we have shipped it to you there for you to hand down to your sonny boy if yer ever blessed to have one of those. If it be daughters, then give it to yer daughter's husband. All our love, yer old Mam and Da."
You don't know how unhappy Tonya was to see that shabby thing. She was all for taking it to the dump, and she had a point. But I could see the worth in the wreck and said to her that we'd have it reupholstered one day, to which I was told that'd cost a lot of money. I didn't think so, so I stuck it in me office and used it to put files on and forgot about it until we moved here. That was when Tonya told me it wasn't coming with us.
"That shoddy thing has been in me family for too many years to count. I can't not keep it. I will move it and get it redone." I gave her a dubious look.
And so I finally did after Mam discovered it down in the cellar where I had covertly moved it. You know, out of sight, out of mind.
Here, take a look:
I had a good tax return for a change, and so I took The Chair to an upholsterer who happened to be a Brit. He told me as soon as he saw it, "They don't make 'em like that anymore." I'd to sigh, 'no, no they don't,' and I knew me wife thought it an ugly thing, and she really wasn't happy I was having it redone. However, she was hoping Mam would like it so much that she'd put it out of sight in her room. That's the reason I took me little grey-haired, apple-cheeked Mam with me. I didn't tell her why; I just said I was no good at these sorts of things, and so...
Well, it didn't take long, as soon as the upholsterer pulled out the array of fabrics, she was on them like a bear on honey. She found a rather fetching burgundy that she thought would go with the burgundy rug in me room, and I was thinking, 'Good, because from me eyesight, it didn't look burgundy, it looked red.' Tonya would never allow the clash of colours, so I agreed, and that was that. Off we went until the call came that the chair was ready.
I must admit, I was more surprised than anyone when I saw that chair. It is quite beautiful. The man bolstered the framework, cleaned it up, and stuffed it so that when you sat down, you didn't sink into a hole full of springs. And, well, the fabric was a wow.
"Wot's it worth now ye tink?" Mam asked.
"Many a fine pound," he said, and threw out a figure that astounded us.
Silence fell between us as we exchanged looks. After the man went away, well paid for his art, we stood looking at the chair in me office, where it was temporarily deposited.
"If ye don't want it, I'll take it," Mam said, almost drooling.
"I dunno, it looks pretty fine to me. Depends on Tonya, and so if she says no way, I'll give it up to ya." I said, hoping that didn't happen. I sat in the chair, and oh, the comfort.
Well, the wife, when she saw the refinished product and learned how much it was now worth, was all about it being in our room, and guess what, it matches the burgundy rug, so that's that. Here, take a look:
That night, with the chair firmly placed in our room, we went to bed. It must have been 3:30 a.m. when we were both awakened by a noise that we couldn't pinpoint. We lay there silent for a bit, holding hands, when the sound of someone saying "ahhhh" came. Both of us sat bolt upright in our bed, Tonya grabbing onto me arm as we looked in the direction of the sound. It wasn't from the usual side where the cough always occurred; it was coming from the chair. For a moment, what we THOUGHT we saw was a dark figure seated in the chair, one leg crossed over the other with a top hat on. Then it faded!
"OH MY GOD WHAT WAS THAT?" Tonya shouted loud enough to wake the entire house as she jumped out of bed.
I switched on the light right away, and nothing, notta thing in the room but us two upset people.
"Wot be goin' on in 'ere," Mam came in as she got her bathrobe on, kiddos behind her rubbing their eyes.
We told her what happened once we got the boyos back in their beds. She looked at the chair and then, with a wistfulness I hadn't heard in her voice ever, she said, "Oh, dat be Mr O'Sullivan, Reginald, the first owner of THE chair. He has been tellin' ya fer months he wants his chair, and now here it be, all done up so fine fer the old gent. He won't be coughing to gain yer attention now, will he? He's got his chair."
Tonya and I stood mute. What was there to say to that? Finally, I stuttered out, "Did this Reginald happen to wear a top hat?"
"Oh fer sure he did, was quite the dandy accordin' ta yer old grandda," Mam said, still looking dreamily at the chair. "He used ta cough when he wanted sumthin', now he's got his chair, ya did good there, Gabriel."
Since that night, we have heard no coughing, though on occasion we think we hear someone settling into the chair. Tonya said she saw a tall man with a top hat almost reclining in the chair, legs on the hassock, all set, and then he faded out. This creeps her out, as you might wonder it would. As for me, I've seen no more dark shapes, but I do hear the sounds of someone sitting in that chair. I should have had Mam take the chair since she gets all dreamy of Reggie when she speaks of him. I asked her how she knew old Reg was a handsome devil of a dandy.
"Well, from yer grandfather mostly. He told me all kinds of stories about Reginald and how his luck changed after leading a scandalous life. He was found tied to that chair dead one night."
I sat up, suddenly attentive.
"He owed a great deal of money and ruined some landowner's daughter. The man came lookin' fer him one stormy night and surprised Reginald, who was full of the drink. Then he tied him to the chair, YOUR chair and strangled the life out of him in revenge for his daughter's ruination. Took what money Reggie had and was found out several weeks later and was hanged."
I was speechless. MY CHAIR, MURDERED IN MY CHAIR?
"Then why is he so happy to get in that chair if that's what happened to him?" I asked, stymied.
"Because, as ye know, spirits tend to stick close to the last earthly place they were before they passed on. For Reggie, it was your chair."
"STOP saying MY CHAIR," I demanded.
"All the phenomena you have been hearin' was old Reginald looking fer his chair, openen' and closin' doors, coughing to git yer attention, takin' a chunk outta da cat's tail, trampin' through the woods at night, all dat he was doin' cause he was missin' his chair. He kept it up until you got it done up and back."
"You really think that?" I was incredulous. "Next, you're going to say that was him and not the wind flying around the rooftop? Was he the one driving all those cars up and down the driveway, too?
"Well, it be yer chair and yer both sittin' in it," said she with her cup of tea, and herself disappeared upstairs, leaving me to feel chills up and down me spine.
"THANKS, MA!" I yelled after her. "I'll sleep well tonight, thank you very much," I muttered more to meself, and that's what happened. I have not had a good night's sleep since Reggie got his chair recovered. Oi!
Gabe
Copyright © 2016 All rights reserved
R. Linda:
When I lived in me old antique abode, I never really saw any "human ghosts," just the spooky dark cat that would appear at times (mainly in September), and that was pretty much it. Imagine me surprise when buying a house built in the mid-1990s, to find the activity level of the spirit world alive and well inside me doors. Yes, R. Linda, it can be somewhat disconcerting to think that one hears voices, sees movement, and gets an overwhelming feeling of dread in a relatively newer home, but that has happened.
I remember the time I slept in the house on me own before we moved and the mattress near about ate me. Do you remember that? Now I be wondering if that was an accident or . . . demonic plan. The master bedroom is rather a large affair (and the reason we bought the abode), and in it are the antique furnishings we had in the old abode. These antiques have been accused of bringing their former spirit owners to the new house. I have to wonder. There have been nights I have heard (and Tonya too) someone cough, and it wasn't us. We have both been awoken on occasion by this sound. At first, I thought it was Tonya's mobile phone making a strange noise as it charged overnight, but no. We used me own mobile to call it, and it does not cough, it vibrates. So we eliminated the phone.
We checked the windows, and all are shut well; no draft is coming through. Although when we have a northeaster, we can hear the wind howling around the casings, yet no draft gets in to make a coughing sound. We thought it was the wood, as we have a pine ceiling, the pine coming from the trees that used to grow on the property, but were cut down to be used inside the home. Not that either, though the ceiling is very high. On windy nights, you can hear the wind lift the roof tiles, but that doesn't sound like coughing either.
Then there are the doors that close and open by themselves. You'd find this in older homes where the foundation be not plumb, but our house is not an older home and all seems level. No humps or creaks in the floor, no parting of door frames, no locks that click when the doors are closed and click when opened. So, how they open and close on their own, we have no clue.
There was one night when I was alone in the house; the wife and kiddos, along with Mam, went to Jersey for a long weekend. The dog was going nuts barking, and I could see nothing in the blackness outside, but when she was still, I could hear someone tramping through the woods on the side of the house. I could see nothing, but there was something or someone outside. That was unnerving, especially since we live in a forest.
Add to this, the very next day, with daylight shining, a black car came down me long, hidden driveway all the way to the back of the property, turned around and sped out. This has happened several times day and night. Because the house cannot be seen from the road and the driveway is long and winding, I was of the mind that these people who drive up to the house think it is a lover's lane of sorts and are looking to park for a make-out session. Who knows? But for a house off the beaten path, we do get a lot of traffic where we should have none.
There is a ghost cat here, too. It could be the same one from the old abode that came with us. We don't know the answer to that either, but we do know it's outside too. There was an evening when one of our cats was on the back deck crooning at an imaginary something. There was nothing out there, but our cat WAS looking very distinctly at something that wasn't there. This has happened on three occasions so far.
Last Halloween night at midnight, Tonya and I were both awakened to wolves howling outside our bedroom window. We were both unnerved until I said with a mock Transylvanian accent, "Tonyah, the children of da night dey sing to you." She was not happy with me. Shortly after, THE cough sounded. How we slept that night, I don't know.
The meadows behind the house are always filled with mist in the morning, making it look like ghosts had a party and were slowly departing with the morning sunrise.
 |
| Fog rolling in from the fields on the left |
There was the night we were getting ready for bed when an awful stench came in the open windows. We were discussing this when a bellow sounded from outside. It was a bear, we are sure. The next morning, we found it had ripped up some of our front lawn ferreting out hornet nests. The bird feeder was gone, and we still haven't come across it, which makes me wonder about beavers after me experience with them and mailboxes. Me Mam be sure it wasn't a bear but a leprechaun followed her over from the old sod. Right. I said to her, "Since when do leprechauns tear up the yard and eat hornets?" She thought for a moment and quipped to me, "That be a certain leprechaun, he likes chewin' on wasps because he be his bad self. He's the one makin' things weird round here. He be the tallest leprechaun, be named Reginald." Oh, ok, that makes perfect sense.
One of our cats has come home with a large piece of his tail missing. That be not because he tangled with some animal, but because that self-same leprechaun took a bite out of him. Thank you, Mam.
 |
| Notice the tail |
The note on it said, "Sonny boy, here be yer grandda's chair and his before him, and his before him, and well ye know how it goes old Reggie's favourite chair. Yer father has no use fer it here, so we have shipped it to you there for you to hand down to your sonny boy if yer ever blessed to have one of those. If it be daughters, then give it to yer daughter's husband. All our love, yer old Mam and Da."
You don't know how unhappy Tonya was to see that shabby thing. She was all for taking it to the dump, and she had a point. But I could see the worth in the wreck and said to her that we'd have it reupholstered one day, to which I was told that'd cost a lot of money. I didn't think so, so I stuck it in me office and used it to put files on and forgot about it until we moved here. That was when Tonya told me it wasn't coming with us.
"That shoddy thing has been in me family for too many years to count. I can't not keep it. I will move it and get it redone." I gave her a dubious look.
And so I finally did after Mam discovered it down in the cellar where I had covertly moved it. You know, out of sight, out of mind.
Here, take a look:
 |
| Looks better than it was |
Well, it didn't take long, as soon as the upholsterer pulled out the array of fabrics, she was on them like a bear on honey. She found a rather fetching burgundy that she thought would go with the burgundy rug in me room, and I was thinking, 'Good, because from me eyesight, it didn't look burgundy, it looked red.' Tonya would never allow the clash of colours, so I agreed, and that was that. Off we went until the call came that the chair was ready.
I must admit, I was more surprised than anyone when I saw that chair. It is quite beautiful. The man bolstered the framework, cleaned it up, and stuffed it so that when you sat down, you didn't sink into a hole full of springs. And, well, the fabric was a wow.
"Wot's it worth now ye tink?" Mam asked.
"Many a fine pound," he said, and threw out a figure that astounded us.
Silence fell between us as we exchanged looks. After the man went away, well paid for his art, we stood looking at the chair in me office, where it was temporarily deposited.
"If ye don't want it, I'll take it," Mam said, almost drooling.
"I dunno, it looks pretty fine to me. Depends on Tonya, and so if she says no way, I'll give it up to ya." I said, hoping that didn't happen. I sat in the chair, and oh, the comfort.
Well, the wife, when she saw the refinished product and learned how much it was now worth, was all about it being in our room, and guess what, it matches the burgundy rug, so that's that. Here, take a look:
 |
| Chair complete |
"OH MY GOD WHAT WAS THAT?" Tonya shouted loud enough to wake the entire house as she jumped out of bed.
I switched on the light right away, and nothing, notta thing in the room but us two upset people.
"Wot be goin' on in 'ere," Mam came in as she got her bathrobe on, kiddos behind her rubbing their eyes.
We told her what happened once we got the boyos back in their beds. She looked at the chair and then, with a wistfulness I hadn't heard in her voice ever, she said, "Oh, dat be Mr O'Sullivan, Reginald, the first owner of THE chair. He has been tellin' ya fer months he wants his chair, and now here it be, all done up so fine fer the old gent. He won't be coughing to gain yer attention now, will he? He's got his chair."
Tonya and I stood mute. What was there to say to that? Finally, I stuttered out, "Did this Reginald happen to wear a top hat?"
"Oh fer sure he did, was quite the dandy accordin' ta yer old grandda," Mam said, still looking dreamily at the chair. "He used ta cough when he wanted sumthin', now he's got his chair, ya did good there, Gabriel."
Since that night, we have heard no coughing, though on occasion we think we hear someone settling into the chair. Tonya said she saw a tall man with a top hat almost reclining in the chair, legs on the hassock, all set, and then he faded out. This creeps her out, as you might wonder it would. As for me, I've seen no more dark shapes, but I do hear the sounds of someone sitting in that chair. I should have had Mam take the chair since she gets all dreamy of Reggie when she speaks of him. I asked her how she knew old Reg was a handsome devil of a dandy.
"Well, from yer grandfather mostly. He told me all kinds of stories about Reginald and how his luck changed after leading a scandalous life. He was found tied to that chair dead one night."
I sat up, suddenly attentive.
"He owed a great deal of money and ruined some landowner's daughter. The man came lookin' fer him one stormy night and surprised Reginald, who was full of the drink. Then he tied him to the chair, YOUR chair and strangled the life out of him in revenge for his daughter's ruination. Took what money Reggie had and was found out several weeks later and was hanged."
I was speechless. MY CHAIR, MURDERED IN MY CHAIR?
"Then why is he so happy to get in that chair if that's what happened to him?" I asked, stymied.
"Because, as ye know, spirits tend to stick close to the last earthly place they were before they passed on. For Reggie, it was your chair."
"STOP saying MY CHAIR," I demanded.
"All the phenomena you have been hearin' was old Reginald looking fer his chair, openen' and closin' doors, coughing to git yer attention, takin' a chunk outta da cat's tail, trampin' through the woods at night, all dat he was doin' cause he was missin' his chair. He kept it up until you got it done up and back."
"You really think that?" I was incredulous. "Next, you're going to say that was him and not the wind flying around the rooftop? Was he the one driving all those cars up and down the driveway, too?
"Well, it be yer chair and yer both sittin' in it," said she with her cup of tea, and herself disappeared upstairs, leaving me to feel chills up and down me spine.
"THANKS, MA!" I yelled after her. "I'll sleep well tonight, thank you very much," I muttered more to meself, and that's what happened. I have not had a good night's sleep since Reggie got his chair recovered. Oi!
Gabe
Copyright © 2016 All rights reserved
LMAO it's a creepy story with a reepy looking cat tail. I LOVE the chair spooks and all. I even cracked up with your Drac impression. It reminded me of your burrito night.
ReplyDeleteBurrito night! I need one of those.
DeleteLMAO have you ever tried a chorizo burrito? YUM
ReplyDeleteI don't think I have. Don't know what the chorizo is.
DeleteSpicy sausage
DeleteOk yes I have had that and I didn't like it
Deleteyour mom is a hoot love her lmao
ReplyDeleteHey forget the burritos, that's a nice chair! Haunted or not, that woodwork is quite something.
ReplyDelete