Echoes of a Haunting - Revisited Read online

  I learned later this evening that the two boys had an accident on the Burton Road. The car went off the road and turned over. No more volunteers!

  Sunday–December 16, 1973

  Craig came to visit today. He had joined the Air Force and was home on leave for the holiday. His friends were happily chauffeuring him around to visit everyone. I asked the boys to take Pam, Laura’s girlfriend, home. She was going to spend the night and needed to pick up her pajamas. Pam lived with her mother and step-father in a small trailer near where Mary, Bob, Matt and Pat had lived before moving to Buffalo. The trailer is visible from our house and sits high on the hill opposite us. Laura, Mary and Pam got in the car with Mike, Randy and Craig. On the way back from Pam’s house, just as they passed the old barn near the entrance of our road, Craig suddenly cried out, “Where are the horses?”

  When they pulled into our yard, Craig left the car and started toward the pond. Remember–a barn once stood on the site of the pond. The boys tried to stop him but he pulled away and said, “I gotta help pa with the chores.” Suddenly, he stopped; looked around in confusion and asked where the barn was. Randy told him he had passed it and led him into the house.

  I looked into his glazed eyes and asked what was wrong. He said, “Where’s pa?” I don’t think he was really conscious of me. Phil broke an ammonia capsule under his nose and the glassy look in his eyes disappeared. He was very confused and couldn’t remember anything after getting in the car. I guess Beth wasn’t the only one who has been affected. Strange, they both headed toward the pond. The barn?

  Tuesday–December 18, 1973

  Thinking about it, we were really alarmed by the new development in the house. Seeing apparitions was bad enough but when the kids start changing personalities, it was really frightening. And dangerous! What if this change were to come over them when they were alone with no one to stop them from going to the pond? Would they drown, believing it to be a barn? Did this have anything to do with the specter who appeared there?

  This evening, Dave told us that Beth had tried to kill herself twice in school today. Once, by trying to jump out the window in the girls’ restroom and once by trying to strangle herself in the chorus room! Most of the other students thought she was kidding but Dave had been at the house when she went “out” before. He said she had been acting strange when he saw her in the morning so he decided to watch her.

  He was in most of her classes but he obviously couldn’t follow her into the girls’ restroom so he asked her friend, Mary K to watch her when he couldn’t. Mary stopped her from jumping out the window and Dave pried her hands off her throat. Again, her eyes were glazed and “funny” although they didn’t notice a change in color this time. What the hell was happening?

  Saturday–December 22, 1973

  Tim came home on leave from the Air Force. He, too, had joined the service so we lost our outside “patrol”. It was apparent that he planned to spend a lot of time at the house. It was hard to miss the fact that he liked Beth–a lot! We thoroughly approved. Over the short time we had known him, we came to like him immensely. I felt he was a perfect match for Beth. Now, if I could only convince her.

  Thursday–December 27, 1973

  Tim has been coming over to the house every night to visit and every night Beth managed to be out. Tonight, at last, he caught her home. We were all sitting in the living room. Beth was on one side of Tim and I was on the other. Suddenly, I caught a glimpse of Beth’s eyes–they were definitely blue and she was staring at Tim. I said, “Beth, is that you?” I had my doubts by this time. She didn’t answer. Tim turned toward her and said, “She’s looking at me!”

  Beth had the strangest smile on her face. Her lips were in a straight line across her face and they bent up only at the corners. It was totally unlike her usual friendly smile. The hair on the back of my neck rose. Phil had fallen asleep on the floor. However, one word from Laura and Mary and he leaped up to get the last of the ammonia capsules. Luckily, one sniff of the noxious brew brought her out of it. She remembered nothing. I wonder if Tim will come back.

  Sunday–December 30, 1973

  The kids had asked if they could have a New Year’s party tonight. We thought that if we did it might relieve some of the tension in the house so we gave our permission. The kids’ friends came over to help with preparations. We had stipulated that those who could should spend the night rather than drive down the hill after dark. Since all the accidents, I have become paranoid about that hill.

  Beth went to drag the sleeping bags from the closet for our anticipated guests. Somehow, she twisted the wrong way and hurt her back. When it hadn’t cleared up in an hour, she took some muscle relaxant to relieve the spasms. At my suggestion, she also lay on the couch on a heating pad. Since she put my back support belt on, she couldn’t have been very comfortable. Even so, she fell into a light sleep.

  In the meantime, the boys came in to tell me they were going to Randy’s house to pick up some pizza mix. Suddenly, Beth jumped up, flipped off the support belt, and declared she was going to ride along. She was very excited. I was more than a little surprised. The muscle relaxant should have made her drowsy, not overactive. Ordinarily, too, she would never have taken the belt off in full view of everybody. In spite of my objections, she said she felt fine and virtually bounced out to the car.

  By the time the boys got back, they were alarmed. Beth told them she had taken ten muscle relaxants. I knew that if she had she would have been unconscious. Nevertheless, I checked the bottle and found it almost full. There was no way that ten could be missing. She came into the house laughing and talking much louder than I’ve ever heard her.

  I told her she should lie down for a few minutes. She told me she only took the normal dosage of medicine...one. Though she tried, she was incapable of lying still. At that point, Tim arrived. I asked him to find out how many pills she had taken. She told him ten.

  Without any warning, she slid off the bed and onto the floor. Tim carried her to the bathroom and tried to make her vomit. In the meantime, I called the hospital and they advised me to bring her in. Just then Phil drove up with supplies for the party. When I told him about Beth, he rushed to unload the car so he could take her to the hospital.

  He carried her to the car. Tim got in the back seat with Beth and I climbed in the front with Phil. Half way down the hill, I had to get in the back seat to help Tim. He couldn’t handle her by himself. She wasn’t exactly fighting but she was moving around so much that it was difficult to keep her on the seat. She kept slipping onto the floor. The ride to the hospital, only about eight miles away, seemed to take an eternity.

  Phil started to carry Beth into the Emergency Room and she went completely limp. They both almost fell to the ground. Tim grabbed her and she immediately went as stiff as a board. She continued with the same behavior once she was finally in the examining room. One minute she was lucid, the next she was almost incoherent, seemingly speaking a different language. Her stomach was pumped and they found no sign of drugs. No drugs! And yet, her brown eyes were blue!

  Finally, the doctor--frankly and openly baffled--decided to keep her overnight for observation. The attendants tried putting her in a wheelchair to take her to her room. Again, she stiffened like a board. They finally had to load her on a gurney and take her upstairs lying flat.

  Mike and Keith, who had been standing by, took Phil home to supervise the party while Tim decided to stay with me for a little while. He was so upset, though, that I finally insisted that he go to the party too. He took our car and went home. I was left without transportation and would have to wait until Phil came and got me to go home.

  I kept an anxious vigil at Beth’s bedside until about 11:30 when Phil came to pick me up. Beth was sleeping peacefully at that point and I felt it was safe to leave her. I talked to the young woman in the next bed, explaining the situation as best I could, and she promised to keep an eye on Beth for me.

  When we got home, the party was in full swing
. Everyone was having a good time except Tim, who sat glumly by himself. At midnight, I got a call–from Beth! Her first words were, “Ma, I just woke up in the hospital! What happened?” the last thing she could recall was falling asleep on the couch with the heating pad on.

  The kids, who had to leave, started pulling out. One of the boys got his car stuck in the snow on the front lawn so Phil went outside to help push him out. He was back in a minute, blood streaming from a deep gash in his thumb. I knew by the look of it that he would need stitches. He absolutely refused to return to the Olean hospital, too embarrassed to have to seek treatment himself. Finally, Tim and I talked him into going to the hospital in Cuba and two of the boys drove him. Six stitches later, we were all in a rather subdued mood.

  Tim went to Mary’s room, at Phil’s suggestion, and went to bed. He fell asleep right away. Poor guy–this day would have knocked anyone out. Phil realized how upset Craig was by all the crazy things that were happening. He told him to go to Mike’s room and get some sleep. The rest of the kids found room to sprawl out on the floor. The girls filled the kitchen, lying side by side and the boys did the same in the living room. We had wall to wall people!

  I went to bed but noticed that Laura was awfully restless. She kept getting out of bed, her room and standing at the top of the stairs like a sentinel. I thought she just wanted to be with the rest of the kids. Suddenly, she called quietly to me, “Ma, come quick! Craig’s under!”

  Usually, when I negotiate the steep stairs, I am extremely careful. I have taken two falls which I could never explain because I know I didn’t trip. Tonight, I forgot my caution in my anxiety and hurry to get to Craig.

  I could hear the most awful banging coming from downstairs. The girls’ frightened voices were high and unsteady. I started to fall. Funny, I knew I was falling and, at the same time, got an impression of Laura reaching for me. She saved me from going all the way down. To do that, she had to start reaching for me before I started to fall. How she knew is beyond me.

  When we got downstairs, Laura close behind me, Phil was already in Mike’s room with Craig. Craig was jammed in the narrow space between Mike’s bed and his chest of drawers. Every piece of furniture in the room was dancing! Did you ever have reality suspended for a moment? I did just then.

  His wardrobe, chest of drawers and his heavy raccoon’s cage, not to mention his bed, were bouncing around as though they weighed nothing at all. And there was Phil, right in the middle. He was trying to bring Craig out of it. He finally opened a bottle of plain household ammonia and held it under his nose. That did the trick. As soon as he woke, the furniture returned to normal. After that, Craig slept the rest of the night in Phil’s recliner in the living room, surrounded by a shaken group of boys.

  Monday–December 31, 1973

  We decided to leave early to pick Beth up at the hospital. Tim had to go back to the base today so he went home early too. Before we left, we asked Craig about last night. He said that he was dimly aware of what was happening but could do nothing about it. He knew it was Phil trying to wake him. Two of the boys who tried before Phil had gotten hit for their trouble. But Craig remembered, even in his trance (or whatever) that Phil had just had stitches in his thumb. Thank God he fought the impulse to hit him. He’s bigger and younger than Phil.

  When we got to the hospital, Tim was already there waiting to be allowed in to see Beth. We could see that this friendship was getting serious, at least as far as Tim was concerned. I was less sure of Beth’s feelings since, in her more lucid moments last night, she had called for Randy. When we were finally admitted to her room, Tim kidded Beth unmercifully about her actions of the day before. Beth countered with tales of having run a wheelchair race in the halls when the aides took her for x-rays. This sounded more like our Beth.

  When the doctor finally arrived, he confirmed that the tests revealed no drugs of any kind in Beth’s system. Not surprising since it had been quite a while after she took the muscle relaxant that she began acting strangely. He then asked if she were the same girl he had seen the night before. He explained his odd question by stating that her eyes, which today were an obvious brown, were just as obviously blue the last time he had seen her. I had wondered why he was giving her such searching looks. When I explained the situation, he asked very seriously, “Why don’t you get out of the house?” Not quite as seriously, I asked, “Do you want to buy a house, Doctor?” I don’t have to tell you what he answered to that.

  Tuesday–January 1, 1974

  Tonight a group of Beth’s friends decided to have a New Year’s Party for her. I know it made her feel a little better but nothing would ever make up for missing the party she had looked forward to for so long. In addition, someone had spread the rumor that she had been rushed to the hospital after having taken an overdose of “drugs”. This rumor had upset her very much. Thank God, tonight’s party went off without incident.

  Thursday–January 3, 1974

  Mike started back to school today. I had been taking him to school every so often to talk to his teachers about making up the work he had missed. The only problem was that the next day he was unable to remember the conversation. We were a little apprehensive but there was no stopping him.

  Sunday–January 13, 1974

  Keith moved in with us today. He wanted to stay until the better weather arrived. He plans on getting a job and settling in the area. We had to sympathize with him because we had made the same move ourselves. I don’t know how he feels about living in a “haunted house” though.

  Monday–January 14, 1974

  Today I was changing our bed and got a jolt. I had just bought a bright yellow and orange print sheet. As I put it on the bed for the first time, a voice, whether in my mind or actual I can’t say for sure, said, “Don’t you see–that’s the answer!” I stepped back and looked. The cheerfulness of the sheet against the somberness of the dark wood paneling created quite a contrast. The room seemed to come to life and the slanted ceiling didn’t seem quite as ominous. Maybe color would help. I told Phil and he said it was worth a try. We decided that we would use our income tax refund to paper the rooms in happy colors. This seemed to be a quiet period in the house. We have had only the “normal” rappings and footsteps.

  Wednesday–January 23, 1974

  We finally decided that we’d have to buy Mike another car. He was hoping to go to college and would need dependable transportation. He had seen a bright red 1970 Maverick at one of the local car dealers and wanted us to look at it. It seemed to be a good buy so tomorrow Mike will become the proud owner.

  Saturday–January 26, 1974

  Today was a day I’d rather not recall. It cast a gloom on me I couldn’t seem to shake. This morning Phil and I drove to Buffalo for a preliminary hearing about my accident. Mum and dad were at the house for the weekend. The hearing went all right but on the way home my neck began to pay the price of the long drive. I lay down in a rather cramped position on the front seat. Almost immediately I had a “dream”. I shouldn’t really call it a dream as I could still hear the drone of the motor and feel the motion of the car.

  As clear as day, I saw the door to Mike’s room draped in black and a red car, which I took to be a VW, similarly draped. I felt I had to get the draping off so I pulled at the material on the door until it fell. Then I reached for the black still covering the car and Phil’s voice cut through saying, “What’s wrong with your hand?” It was clutching at thin air. I explained what I had seen but was very sorry he called me before I got the final drape off.

  When we reached home I told everyone about my strange “dream”. They were puzzled and had the same feeling of impending doom I did. I decided to lie down for a while in the hope that the pain in my neck would ease up. While I rested the next strange event took place.

  Mike had taken his Maverick to the garage in town to have the brakes checked out. In the house were Phil, mum, dad, Keith and the girls. Suddenly, mum saw Mike’s car drive up to the driveway and stop.
It was obviously Mike as he and his red, white and blue headband (partially covering his scars) were plainly visible. There was a woman with blonde hair sitting in the passenger seat. Mum saw the car first and, surprised that Mike didn’t drive into the yard, called Phil. Phil verified that it was Mike’s car by checking the license number. Just as he started to the door to check, the car backed up the narrow dirt road and disappeared. Now really puzzled, Phil asked Keith to check. He took his motorcycle and drove to town, expecting to meet Mike at any moment. He found him at the garage. The Maverick was up on the hoist where it had been for forty five minutes! Another omen! Of what? I’m still not very good at this supernatural stuff. Do I really want to improve?

  Sunday–January 27, 1974

  Another extraordinary event in a string of extraordinary events! In a desperate attempt to contact Alex when we failed to reach him by telephone, we had tried concentrating on him in the hopes that he’d hear us in some way. I was still very new at this kind of thing and frankly, had no faith whatever in his “hearing” us. However, our concentration bore fruit. Tonight, Alex called us!

  We were sitting in the living room, trying to concentrate on getting a message to him when the phone rang. He had just landed at the Boston airport and said he had an overwhelming compulsion to call. At the very time I was talking to him, Randy was in the living room, supposedly in a deep trance, and he seemed determined to attack Paul.