Echoes of a Haunting - Revisited Read online

  Saturday–April 6, 1974

  Beth left for Chicago today. Tim wanted her to spend Easter with him. He had only a little time off but he wanted her there. She was to stay with friends of his. Beth and Tim’s friendship had come a long way and everyone knew they’d want to get married soon.

  Sunday–April 7, 1974

  Mary and I decided to walk up the camp roads today. On the way up, Keith’s trailer was clearly visible. Some of the boys had stayed overnight with him so we half expected to see them. Since the weather had begun to warm, Keith had been staying in the trailer instead of at our house. The rear door of the trailer was standing wide open. We could see Randy sitting on a kitchen chair, his elbows on his knees, staring at us. He was right in the doorway. It would be hard to mistake him for anyone else since he has silver-blond hair which, on this day, almost glowed in the brilliant spring sunshine. We shouted to him but, instead of acknowledging, he got up, picked up the chair and walked away.

  I was puzzled and could think of no reason for his actions so we decided to investigate. After knocking a few times on the door (which was now pushed to) and waiting perhaps five minutes, a very sleepy looking Dave came to the door. I asked where Randy was. He said that they had to take him home last night because he was sick. I asked who else was in the trailer. He replied that only he and Mike N were left since Keith had taken the other boys home and hadn’t returned as yet. I told him what we had seen. He turned white and went to wake Mike N. He was equally sleepy and equally puzzled. The only exits had been plainly visible to us all the way up the hill. We checked the trailer and found no one else there. What’s the point?

  Thursday–April 11, 1974

  Tim called today to ask if Beth could extend her stay until Monday. He didn’t want her at the house when Alex came for the filming. He was afraid of the emotional upset it might cause her. I could understand his concern although I felt Beth was made of sterner stuff than he realized. We finally decided to let her stay.

  Friday–April 12, 1974

  All day today we stayed close to the phone not knowing what time Alex and his party would be arriving. It was late, about 10 p.m., when we finally heard from them. They were at a truck stop about eight miles from the house so I drove out and led them in. It would have been impossible for them to find their way up the unlighted, twisting back roads. There were three cars of them and with the exception of Alex and a representative of the Institute, they were all about college age. Jan was the only girl. They had coffee and homemade doughnuts, unloaded their equipment and, after a cursory look at the house, left for the motel in town. The motel was owned by Eddie G’s father so they would get a discount. Eddie is one of Mike’s classmates and the star of the Hinsdale basketball team. The brave little group would be back in the morning. As I got ready for bed, I wondered if they knew what they were getting into. On the other hand, I wondered what would happen if whatever haunted this house would refuse to cooperate. I’d hate to have wasted their time. It would be just like our resident spooks to go on strike at this point and refuse to respond.

  Saturday–April 13, 1974

  Well, our guests were here bright and early. I was afraid Alex would wind up bald as they taped a lock of his hair on every piece of equipment they had. That is, they thought they protected every piece but inadvertently forgot one of the camera lights in Beth’s room. Father arrived to assist in the proceedings. We were told to take the kids and disappear for a few hours as they thought things might get dangerous. We obliged.

  We came back about supper time and everyone was very excited. In Alex’s attempts to clear Mary’s room he wound up with a small burn on his back. Father had to hold him up as his strength was seriously depleted in the encounter. He said a young woman had died in that room and didn’t want to leave. He felt she had been locked in the room for a long time before she died. However, he was sure he had been able to convince her otherwise. We were to be a part of the filming tomorrow. I learned from Jan later that some of the men in the crew were so emotionally keyed up by the events of the day that they actually burst into tears when they returned to the motel.

  In the meantime, the inner man had to be fortified, ghosts or not, so I made a huge pot of spaghetti. We all sat down to eat when Jan asked what the delicious drink was. It was water from our well! She never knew water tasted like that. So much for New York City water!

  Sunday–April 14, 1974

  Today we filmed interviews with our family and friends, including a description of Beth’s breaking the cot, a walk up the road to the “hanging tree” and Alex’s explanation of that particular phenomenon and, finally, the ceremony to rid the house of our unwanted guests. During one interview, filmed in the living room, the one camera light suddenly fell and smashed, narrowly missing Paul. It was the lamp they forgot to “protect” with Alex’s hair.

  The interview about the cot was filmed on the front lawn and the soundman had a bit of trouble because of the wind. We then walked down the road to the old shed. The scene at the “hanging tree” there surprised even me. As Alex and I approached the tree I told him that the branch I had seen the “body” hanging from had long since fallen and was piled with the multitude of other limbs, victims of wind and ice. I knew which branch it was, yet without my guidance, Alex walked directly to it and said, “This is the one, isn’t it?”

  He then said the woman, about 21 years old, was hanged by the inhabitants of a house only a short distance away (not our house). He then pointed directly at a thicket which I knew contained the foundation of an old house. There was no possible way he could have known it was there. He said the woman was traveling by coach to meet her husband in Pennsylvania and that she was expecting a child. The residents in the house, which was used as a kind of way-station, branded her a “scarlet woman” and executed her. He thought they were members of a fanatic religious cult.

  Later, when her husband came looking for her, they refused to tell him where she was buried so he planted two sections of daffodils in her memory. In the wooded area just near the old barn were, in fact, two circular patches of daffodils which I had never noticed before. He also said there was a stream nearby with strange blue feathery flowers above it. The water fell into a pool and, if you listened, it sounded like the water was whispering the name “Clarice”. There is such a stream in the gully near the road. The feathery flowers were not yet blooming but would appear among the elderberry bushes in June. I don’t know how he knew about them. I never did listen to the stream.

  While Alex was still at the tree talking to the crew, I walked across the road and climbed a small rise overlooking the whole scene. I guess I was trying to picture what the movie would be like. I was only half listening and could hear wind gently rustling through the leaves of the apple tree behind me.

  Gradually, without my being aware of it, something changed. I felt as though I were in a different world. I looked down and saw, not my jeans but a long, blue patterned dress and brown, old-fashioned shoes. I was no longer in the field but stood on rough boards and I was terrified. I could hear someone yelling at me. I don’t know what, I only knew the words were hitting me like fists. It only lasted a moment and then I was back on the hill watching Alex. Just then Pam’s mother, Charlotte, came down the road and called to me. She asked if I were sick as I was very pale. I didn’t tell her what had just happened.

  Later, Alex gently asked me if I had undergone some type of experience out on the road. When I told him he said that often happened when he was around and not to worry about it. Not worry about it?

  In the evening, the family knelt in the center of the living room floor with Father Al and Alex and we all held hands. First, Alex drew all negative powers present into himself and dispelled them and then Father Al read the Church’s simple exorcism rite. When they were finished we expected to be able to rise. My knees were beginning to give out (I never was a very good kneeler) and I began to have visions of fainting dead away (nothing ghostly about these visions).


  Glancing surreptitiously around, I could see no one else in the circle was in much better shape. We were all wobbling and still the cameraman did not tell us to break. Finally, when we had all about given up, they told us to relax. It seems that during Alex’s ceremony and the whole time Father was performing the age-old exorcism rite there were horrible screams and groans outside which seemed to be coming from the house itself. They continued to roll the cameras (and the sound equipment) for as long as the incredible sounds lasted. Well, it certainly was an interesting ending to a very interesting weekend. But who screamed?

  Monday–April 15, 1974

  I drove into Buffalo today to pick Beth up at the airport. It was good to see her and from her radiant face it was easy to see she had a good time.

  There was a sense of complete peace in the house and for the first time in years the place seemed normal. It was a good homecoming for Beth. Perhaps the best proof of the change in atmosphere–Mary moved back into her room.

  Tonight for the first time since Alex left, I had time to think. It rather upset me that he had changed his first diagnosis. The first time he came, he picked up so many spirits we had seen and the deaths seemed to fit so well with the signs we had been getting. Was he wrong the first time? Remembering the look of shock on his face then and comparing it to his almost jovial attitude during the filming, it was hard to believe. What was really frightening was the nagging thought that perhaps he had been wrong the second time. What if whatever was here was manipulating him? Was that possible? Were they able to fool him? In that case, was the welcome respite only temporary or worse, an illusion? I felt like Damocles! I wish there were some foolproof way of knowing. Over time I have come to believe that different entities enter the area at different times. I think the person experiencing the phenomenon affects what they see and how they see it. Guest ghosts?

  Friday–April 23, 1974

  Once again, we were written up in the Buffalo paper. This time Bob C’s column was titled “That Old Haunt In Hinsdale Got a Large Share of Exorcize”. He has a flair for titles. This commentary synopsized Father Al’s audio tape about the exorcism that took place over the weekend. The details were pretty accurate since most of it was quoted verbatim. If this experience has taught me anything, it’s that reporters don’t always hear what you’re trying to tell them. Maybe they feel obliged to put their own spin on things. Hopefully, this will be the last article we’ll have to deal with.

  Wednesday–April 24, 1974

  Today Tim called long distance and asked if he could marry Beth. She had been supposed to ask us herself but had been afraid we’d be angry. I promised to talk to Phil but I was sure he’d approve. We only worried because they were both so young. The reason they were in such a hurry was that the Air Force was transferring Tim to California in August and they didn’t want to be separated. Instead of a May wedding, which she had initially requested, I talked Beth into setting the date in August. We decided on August 3, the day before Tim’s nineteenth birthday. Beth would be only seventeen.

  I didn’t say anything but the thought of how we would pay for the wedding was already worrying me. Phil had finally taken the big step and changed to a job in Olean. It paid much less than Ford so he was also tending bar part time in town. Even with the two jobs our income had dropped drastically.

  Saturday–April 27, 1974

  Beth has already asked the girls who were to be her bridesmaids. Pat P was to be Maid of Honor, Mary K and Tim’s sister, Diane, her bridesmaids, Gary her ring-bearer and Michele her flower girl. The attendants were going to make their own gowns and I would make Beth’s. The girls were already planning a shower for Beth in July.

  Friday–May 3, 1974

  Mike has decided to join the Navy. He has been mulling it over for some time. Tomorrow will be his eighteenth birthday and he will leave for the Navy right after graduation. He has settled on a career in Nuclear Energy so he had to sign up for six years. Phil and I felt he was making a mistake. For one thing, it was too soon after his accident and he was still having trouble with his memory. For another, he hadn’t allowed himself sufficient time to think it over. However, we couldn’t really afford to send him to college so we resigned ourselves to his leaving. In the back of my mind was the nagging fear that he had committed himself to escape from the house and its malevolency.

  Sunday–June 2, 1974

  The days have been passing in a welter of activity. We have met Tim’s family and discovered kindred souls. We have shopped for patterns, material, flowers and accessories. Today was Beth’s first shower. Cathie and Mikki gave it for her in Buffalo and most of our relatives attended. She got beautiful gifts.

  Saturday–June 15, 1974

  I have decided we just can’t afford a big wedding. Again, our long suffering friends and relatives are coming to the rescue. They offered to bring food to the reception so we won’t have to hire a caterer; one friend got a discount at a hall in Olean; two of the boys offered to act as photographers; and the kids’ friends are providing the music. Father Bob is coming in from Buffalo to perform the ceremony.

  Monday–June 24, 1974

  Mike is gone! It seems unbelievable. Yesterday he graduated as salutatorian of his class and today he’s gone. He wanted to sneak away so he went to the bus stop alone. However, one by one his friends spotted him so that by the time the bus left the driver must have thought he was a celebrity he got such a send-off. He felt bad, though, about missing Beth’s wedding.

  Tuesday–June 25, 1974

  Laura didn’t waste any time. She moved into Mike’s room before it was cold! Her old room was so small I didn’t really blame her for feeling anxious. Mary is planning on moving into Beth’s room as soon as she’s married so this summer will bring a lot of changes.

  Sunday–July 7, 1974

  Today was Beth’s shower. Her bridesmaids held the party at Mary K’s home. The weather was so beautiful we were quite comfortable in the copse of trees all decorated with crepe paper. We really had a wonderful time and, again, she received beautiful gifts. I say this in spite of the fact that Mary K’s dog mistook my purse for a fire hydrant.

  While we were having a good time, Phil ran out of gas going up the hill on his way home. He walked to the house and arrived out of breath and annoyed with himself. He had to get ready for his second job. He ran upstairs and stopped, dumbfounded, at the door of our room. A book was floating in mid-air, about three feet above the dresser. For a moment he didn’t move. As he watched, the book dropped slowly to the bookcase next to the dresser. It was the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám.

  Later, when he told me about it, I could think of no message that particular book might have. The marker was at the passage, “The moving finger writes...etc., right where I had left it. This verse could be applied to any situation and didn’t seem to be a message. With a weary sigh, I wondered if it were starting all over again.

  Tuesday–July 10, 1974

  The trouble had started again. Laura had a terrible experience last night. Julie was sleeping with her in her new bedroom when the dog suddenly began to growl. She was looking under the bed, her hair standing on end. Laura, figuring it was one of the cats, leaned over and looked. There was a black, furry ball under the bed and the only feature visible was its mouth full of pointed teeth. The night light in the kitchen sent sufficient light into her room to make it easy to see.

  Laura drew back, startled, whereupon Julie pounced on her bed, pranced around in an obvious attempt to get Laura to follow her. She then jumped off the bed and waited at the door. Laura took the hint and jumped too. As her foot touched the floor, she swore something grabbed at her ankle. She could hear snarls coming from under the bed. She sobbed herself to sleep on the couch and I knew nothing about it until morning. A very depressed young lady moved back into her old room today.

  Friday–July 12, 1974

  Today they’re papering Mike’s old room in the hopes that it will make it possible for Laura to move back in. We chos
e a cheerful white paper with yellow daisies and sunflowers marching in rows. It made a world of difference and seemed to bring the sun into the room. Laura has agreed to try again.

  Saturday–July 19, 1974

  Tonight I went to bed while Phil stayed in the kitchen talking with some of Mike’s friends. There was a strange feeling in our room but I attributed it to my nerves or imagination. After I got into bed, I turned part way over onto my stomach. In an instant I was paralyzed! I almost panicked when I realized I couldn’t move. No pain–just unable to move. I prayed, inwardly, and after a few minutes I was released.