Ghostly Samples
just two of what might be told at YOUR next fun event!(Esther)
My father-in-law was in a terrible automobile accident. He wasn't killed, but he was badly banged up and couldn't walk. I'd had my son, Dean, some months back. Dad used to watch Dean try to walk and, as the sprightly little guy would pull himself up on the edge of a coffee table, Dad would say, "When that boy learns to walk, I'll be walking, too."
Sadly, it wasn't to be. He died not long after.Now, I had a housekeeper named Rowena. She'd come to work at ten in the morning, and she'd leave around four. Consequently, she'd never met my husband. One day I came home early and found Rowena shaking and pale. As I came through the door, she blurted out, "You see that mail laying there on the dining room table?"I did indeed see it"Well, just before noon, I was at the kitchen counter fixing lunch for myself and the baby when I saw a man come through the front door carrying that very batch of letters. I thought to myself, that must be Esther's husband. So I said hello, but he didn't answer me back. He just set the mail down and continued on through the dining room, to the hallway."The way the house was laid out, the kitchen was at the back, visible from the living room and the dining room. If someone came in, they would be able to see someone in the kitchen as they crossed the dining room. They'd go to a doorway that led to a small bathroom straight ahead, the master bedroom to the right, and the nursery to the left. Rowena was still talking. "I figured he was going to look in on Dean, so I just kept on working at the counter, then it began to trouble me that I didn't see him again. And I didn't hear him either. I thought, Lord, what if that wasn't her husband! What if it was a stranger! So, I walked real quiet to the hallway and I craned my neck around to see if he was in the nursery, but he wasn't! I walked cautious-like to the master bedroom, but he wasn't there either - and the bathroom door was open, so I could see he wasn't in there!"The poor dear was working herself in a tizzy and I could understand why; there was no way out of the house except through the front door! Where had the man gone?Rowena narrowed her eyes at me when she said, "You got anybody that just crossed over?"I told her I did.Rowena said through pursed lips, "He 'bout six feet tall, kinda round shaped with a little ring of gray hair and wears glasses?""Yes," I replied, astonished. "That's my father-in-law.""I quit!" With that, she grabbed her purse and stormed out the front door. And that was the last I ever saw of dear ol' Rowena.The postnote to this remarkable story is that Rowena had never seen my father-in-law, not even a photo of him, yet she described him perfectly. So, I had to ask myself, if this was real - and I had no reason to doubt it - then what was my father-in-law's point in manifesting in front of a total stranger? Now, all these years later, I think I know. You see, if he just wanted to look in on Dean, I don't think he had to create a body for that. Nor did he have to walk in through the front door. Or leave mail on the table. I think he did all of those things so that Rowena would report to us exactly what she reported. I think he chose a stranger for obvious reasons: Proof that he was all right. Proof that he still lives and that he still cared about Dean. He chose very carefully the person to show himself to - so that there would be no doubt of the truth of the tale. He even used the mail, something tangible, to make his point: that life is, indeed, eternal.(Jo)
Is the phantom black dog haunting a sleep English village, a harbinger of two mysterious disappearances?
This is the ghostly premise on which I've based my newest book, "A Well Dressed Corpse". Actually, all of my mysteries are set in England. The story I'm about to tell is about a shuck, which is a phantom dog. They are always black and large, the size of a Great Dane or Boxer. They have yellow or red, glowing eyes, large teeth, and they can disappear into thin air in an instant. Shucks usually protect a person, family, or place. There's an old story of a shuck that haunts a lonely lane in Devon, England. This lane runs through a forest and moorland, but the best known patch leads to an ancient inn. The ghost dog seems to guard this stretch of road, for it has been seen for many hundreds of years.There was a farmer living near Uplyme in Devon. He had a large stash of gold coins and he used some of the money to purchase a house. After converting the house into a pub, he named it The Black Dog Inn because a phantom dog lurked on the road.This ghost dog appeared at midnight and those who saw it said that it seemed to be looking for something because it always went directly to the same place.A husband and wife came upon the shuck one night. As they tell it:"We were walking up Dog Lane, the only people around at that late hour. The night was pitch black but we had a small lantern that made the going fairly easy. We could see our shoes as they stepped into and out of the pool of candlelight. As we reached the middle of the lane, I saw an animal about the size of a poodle standing in the road, staring at us."'What's that?' I said to my husband."'What?' he said. 'I see nothing.'"I was so frightened I could say no more then, for the animal had come within two or three yards of us, and had grown larger right before my eyes. It was now as large as a young calf, but it still had the appearance of a black, shaggy dog. Its eyes were bright red, blazing like they were on fire. That stare seemed to go right through my skin and stab my heart. "I tried to look away but its gaze held me fast. When it opened its mouth I could see yellowish, long teeth, but no growl came from it. I grabbed my husband's hand, too scared to speak anymore, and I just stared at the shuck, for I realized that's what it was. I could feel my heart thudding and my knees became as weak as water. A fog had developed suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, and now seeped around, behind and in front of the dog. There was no fog anywhere else on the road or in the woods bordering the road. The dog seemed to be formed out of the fog and walked about a foot above the ground."Although its feet were occasionally hidden by the fog, I could glimpse flashes of his large paws. They looked like they could knock down a man very easily, for they were as broad as dish plates. He walked silently and there was no sound in the lane: no owls hooted, no wind moaned in the trees, no leaves rustled on the forest floor. Dark, heavy clouds masked the moon, but a shaft of moonlight did break free and fall upon the lane where the dog walked. Although the road and ferns shone in the moonlight, the beam of silvery light did nothing to illuminate the shuck. He remained as black and mysterious as if he were draped in a black cloth. I hardly dared to breathe or move, but as he walked toward me, I followed him with my eyes. He came close by me, staring at me yet looking uninterested. As he passed, the air around me immediately grew cold and held the dampness of a cave. My husband and I hurried home and barred our door. We kept a candle burning in the front room and in the bedroom all that night. The next day we heard that the landlord of the inn had died tragically when he fell down the cellar steps and broke his neck."Why does the shuck travel this stretch of road? What is it protecting? Or is it a harbinger of ill fortune to the residens of the area? Would YOU want to camp there overnight and find out?
copyright Esther Luttrell c2011
Jo Hiestand story copyright Jo Hiestand c2011
