Squeals with Piggy Fright

There I was minding my own business and doing my constitutional when I look over.  OMP heavens!  I squealed and had absolutely *no* problems making water then.  Who in their right mind drives around with this as their companion?  Can you tell me that my friends?  I mean heck I’m all for getting to ride in the carpool lane but this is ridiculous.  To say I squealed is an understatement.  I do believe people from the next state over *might* have heard me.  And hey, I’m big enough to admit it scared me.  Wouldn’t it you?  Come on admit it my friends.  You would have screamed too… right?

 

31 Days of Spook – St Louis Cemetery #1, Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery and Howard Street Cemetery

So you were brave enough to come back for another scare my friends?  How brave you are.  You may want ask your human to get you a night light tonight because it can only get worse from here – insert evil snort.  Today we are going to highlight some famous and eerie cemeteries.  Are you brave enough to enter my cemetery of the famous dead? I’ve wandered throughout the internet and done a lot of research to bring you some intriguing places of final rest… or is it?  I hope that you find them interesting.

 Let’s take a little stroll amidst the stones shall we.

When I think of scary and mysterious cemeteries, my first thoughts have to go towards New Orleans.  Let’s visit the St. Louis Cemetery #1.   This cemetery opened in 1789 and there are over 100,000 residents.  With that much of a crowd, you know some have to be a little unhappy with their final resting place.  I know I would be.  The most famous tenant here is Marie Laveau.  Marie Laveau was a famous voodoo priestess.  People visit her grave site often and mark three “X’s” on her grave.  People that do so believe that by marking the three “X’s”, Marie Laveau will grant them their wish.

The next that came to mind were two different cemeteries in the Chicago area.  One was Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery in Chicagoland.  I’ve heard about this place a lot over the years.  I’ve seen specials on television and mommy has read me different chilling facts in books.  Not only does this cemetery have a history of unexplained lights and ghosts, it has an entire house that mysteriously appears and disappears.  Many people that have seen the house describe it as a white farmhouse with pillars and a swing.  The other cemetery was Resurrection Cemetery in Chicago.  This story sends chills up and down my spine every time I see it on television.  It starts off with a beautiful girl who was walking home from a dance one late night.  She was hit by a car and killed and has been looking for a ride home every since.  I saw a story one night where a man picked up this lady at a dance.  They danced into the late hours and he admitted that she felt cold to the touch.  Upon taking her home after the dance, she asked him to stop in front of the cemetery.  She got out and disappeared into the air.

And how can we forget the most eerie of places in Salem, Massachusetts at Howard Street Cemetery.  With all of the witch hunts that took place here, this has got to be one of the most haunted places in the United States.  Just think of all of the innocent people that were slowly tortured and burned at the stake for the public believing they were witches.  How many of those spirits still walk around wanting people to know that they were innocent but forever labeled a witch.  Talk about your unfinished business in setting things straight.  This reminds me of a story that mom told me about a guy named Giles Corey.  He was officially the only person to die by torture during these Witch Trials.  He wouldn’t say that he was a witch so the sheriff of the time made him lay down in the middle of his field.  The sheriff then had a board placed across his chest and slowly added stones on top of the board.  Eventually two days later, Corey was crushed to death in a slow and agonizing way.

 

31 Days of Spook – Dad’s Aunt Dorothy

Today’s spook tale is a real scary story, something that happened to my daddy when he was a young boy.  Are you ready for this?  Are you sure?  You might want to hold someone’s hand.

When dad was around was 10 years old, his mom’s Aunt Dorothy passed away.  She had a house in Blue Ridge, West Virginia.  It looked similar to this picture.  Up on a hill top, had a wrap around porch and was two stories with a full basement.  The house looked normal but had a little bit of an eerie factor… especially to a young child.  Let me give you a little bit background on some chilling history of the home.

Aunt Dorothy had a brother named John that also lived with her. There’s two different stories that circulated about what happened to dear poor John.  One was that Aunt Dorothy and John had dinner one night.  Afterwards, he stood up, crossed himself and then fell over dead.  They other story was they had a fight one day and Aunt Dorothy left the house.  When she returned from cooling down, he was dead.  No one knows which tale is how poor John really died.  Only one fact did remain – John was dead.  From that day forward, Aunt Dorothy locked his room and no one was ever allowed to enter his room.   And although the room was locked and she had the key, she would often mention how it sounded like someone was in the room at night walking around.

Upon Aunt Dorothy’s death, daddy’s mom and dad took him to the house so they could start cleaning some things up to sale the home.  They traveled out of state and got to Blue Ridge, West Virginia on a Thursday evening.  They went to Aunt Dorothy’s home the next day to start the clean up.  They went inside and it was cool inside, almost like goosebump kind of cool with the hair on your arms standing up.  This was strange because in that time during the 1970’s in this area, there really wasn’t central heating and air.  It was the middle of August and it was hot outside, in the 90’s plus.  Typical summer time weather – hot and very humid.  But, in the home it was cool and comfortable, almost ice cold.  They commented on how it was so cold that you could almost hang meat.  But they started to go through the home to see what they wanted, starting with the upstairs.

They found the key to the locked room that once belonged to Aunt Dorothy’s brother John.  The room had just been locked and never touched – as if he was returning back home one day and it was just frozen in time.  There was a book on the bedside table that was still marked where he had left off from reading.  Clothes were still scattered about the room.  The bed was still made.  There was a partial letter written on the desk to an old friend that was never finished.  The room had a eerie feeling like someone was still there and it was cold in this room as well.  One thing that was strange about the room.  There was no cob webs, no dust, nothing that looked like this room had been vacant for over 15 years. It was bizarre but they figured Aunt Dorothy had been in dusting.  But why dust and not pick up the scattered clothing?

Daddy’s father wanted him to go down into the basement alone to check for any tools that they possibly might want to bring home.  Daddy being all of 10 said sure.  How very brave of him.   Each step he took going down into the dark, cold and dank basement, he felt like he was being watched.  At times, it was like someone was following him but no one else was there when he looked around.  He found some things that they might possibly want and he gathered them up.  Slowly, he took everything upstairs with each step still feeling like he was being watched and followed.  And yes he was a child and you might be saying that he was scared because of his age.  Well, was he?  Let’s continue our story.

They stayed at the house on/off for the next couple of days cleaning.  They would go back to the hotel each night and return in the hot August weather with the coolness inside of the home.  Each day they were there cleaning and fixing things up, the house remained cool like there was an air conditioner on… but there wasn’t one. 

On the last day, dad’s mom asked him and his father to start cleaning up the living room area while she was starting in the parlor.  There was an old china cabinet that had french doors on the front.  When you looked through the glass panes, you could see a locked latch across the front.  Dad’s mom tried the doors, but she couldn’t get them open.  They were firmly locked.   Inside of the china cabinet, there was some sterling silver and china that dad’s mom wanted to take back home.

She didn’t want to break the doors in hopes of selling the antique furniture.  On the opposite side of the wall, there was a hutch.  She asked for the boys to come over to possibly help find a key to the china cabinet.  While the boys were searching the hutch, all of a sudden dad’s mom let out a chilling scream.

They turned around immediately and the french doors to the china cabinet were standing wide open as if someone had opened them both at the same time.  Dad’s mom took full advantage of the opportunity and removed the pieces she wanted.  Afterwards, she pushed the doors back together and the cabinet locked itself back up.  You could hear the click-click sound of the latch going right back to where it was previously.

We took the items we wanted out to the car while dad’s father took the trash out.  We came back into the house to lock it up to leave our final time.  We noticed that the house had lost the coolness feeling that it had and had become hot just like it was outside in the August air.  Three days of air conditioning, goosebump coolness, hair standing on your arms and now hot humid heat.  We left that day and never returned.

 

31 Days of Spook – Dad’s Aunt Dorothy

Today’s spook tale is a real scary story, something that happened to my daddy when he was a young boy.  Are you ready for this?  Are you sure?  You might want to hold someone’s hand.

When dad was around was 10 years old, his mom’s Aunt Dorothy passed away.  She had a house in Blue Ridge, West Virginia.  It looked similar to this picture.  Up on a hill top, had a wrap around porch and was two stories with a full basement.  The house looked normal but had a little bit of an eerie factor… especially to a young child.  Let me give you a little bit background on some chilling history of the home.

Aunt Dorothy had a brother named John that also lived with her. There’s two different stories that circulated about what happened to dear poor John.  One was that Aunt Dorothy and John had dinner one night.  Afterwards, he stood up, crossed himself and then fell over dead.  They other story was they had a fight one day and Aunt Dorothy left the house.  When she returned from cooling down, he was dead.  No one knows which tale is how poor John really died.  Only one fact did remain – John was dead.  From that day forward, Aunt Dorothy locked his room and no one was ever allowed to enter his room.   And although the room was locked and she had the key, she would often mention how it sounded like someone was in the room at night walking around.

Upon Aunt Dorothy’s death, daddy’s mom and dad took him to the house so they could start cleaning some things up to sale the home.  They traveled out of state and got to Blue Ridge, West Virginia on a Thursday evening.  They went to Aunt Dorothy’s home the next day to start the clean up.  They went inside and it was cool inside, almost like goosebump kind of cool with the hair on your arms standing up.  This was strange because in that time during the 1970’s in this area, there really wasn’t central heating and air.  It was the middle of August and it was hot outside, in the 90’s plus.  Typical summer time weather – hot and very humid.  But, in the home it was cool and comfortable, almost ice cold.  They commented on how it was so cold that you could almost hang meat.  But they started to go through the home to see what they wanted, starting with the upstairs.

They found the key to the locked room that once belonged to Aunt Dorothy’s brother John.  The room had just been locked and never touched – as if he was returning back home one day and it was just frozen in time.  There was a book on the bedside table that was still marked where he had left off from reading.  Clothes were still scattered about the room.  The bed was still made.  There was a partial letter written on the desk to an old friend that was never finished.  The room had a eerie feeling like someone was still there and it was cold in this room as well.  One thing that was strange about the room.  There was no cob webs, no dust, nothing that looked like this room had been vacant for over 15 years. It was bizarre but they figured Aunt Dorothy had been in dusting.  But why dust and not pick up the scattered clothing?

Daddy’s father wanted him to go down into the basement alone to check for any tools that they possibly might want to bring home.  Daddy being all of 10 said sure.  How very brave of him.   Each step he took going down into the dark, cold and dank basement, he felt like he was being watched.  At times, it was like someone was following him but no one else was there when he looked around.  He found some things that they might possibly want and he gathered them up.  Slowly, he took everything upstairs with each step still feeling like he was being watched and followed.  And yes he was a child and you might be saying that he was scared because of his age.  Well, was he?  Let’s continue our story.

They stayed at the house on/off for the next couple of days cleaning.  They would go back to the hotel each night and return in the hot August weather with the coolness inside of the home.  Each day they were there cleaning and fixing things up, the house remained cool like there was an air conditioner on… but there wasn’t one. 

On the last day, dad’s mom asked him and his father to start cleaning up the living room area while she was starting in the parlor.  There was an old china cabinet that had french doors on the front.  When you looked through the glass panes, you could see a locked latch across the front.  Dad’s mom tried the doors, but she couldn’t get them open.  They were firmly locked.   Inside of the china cabinet, there was some sterling silver and china that dad’s mom wanted to take back home.

She didn’t want to break the doors in hopes of selling the antique furniture.  On the opposite side of the wall, there was a hutch.  She asked for the boys to come over to possibly help find a key to the china cabinet.  While the boys were searching the hutch, all of a sudden dad’s mom let out a chilling scream.

They turned around immediately and the french doors to the china cabinet were standing wide open as if someone had opened them both at the same time.  Dad’s mom took full advantage of the opportunity and removed the pieces she wanted.  Afterwards, she pushed the doors back together and the cabinet locked itself back up.  You could hear the click-click sound of the latch going right back to where it was previously.

We took the items we wanted out to the car while dad’s father took the trash out.  We came back into the house to lock it up to leave our final time.  We noticed that the house had lost the coolness feeling that it had and had become hot just like it was outside in the August air.  Three days of air conditioning, goosebump coolness, hair standing on your arms and now hot humid heat.  We left that day and never returned.

 

31 Days of Spook – Cemeteries

So you were brave enough to come back for another scare my friends?  How brave you are.  You may want ask your human to get you a night light tonight because it can only get worse from here – insert evil snort.  Today we are going to highlight some famous and eerie cemeteries.  Are you brave enough to enter my cemetery of the famous dead? I’ve wandered throughout the internet and done a lot of research to bring you some intriguing places of final rest… or is it?  I hope that you find them interesting.

 Let’s take a little stroll amidst the stones shall we.

When I think of scary and mysterious cemeteries, my first thoughts have to go towards New Orleans.  Let’s visit the St. Louis Cemetery #1.   This cemetery opened in 1789 and there are over 100,000 residents.  With that much of a crowd, you know some have to be a little unhappy with their final resting place.  I know I would be.  The most famous tenant here is Marie Laveau.  Marie Laveau was a famous voodoo priestess.  People visit her grave site often and mark three “X’s” on her grave.  People that do so believe that by marking the three “X’s”, Marie Laveau will grant them their wish.

The next that came to mind were two different cemeteries in the Chicago area.  One was Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery in Chicagoland.  I’ve heard about this place a lot over the years.  I’ve seen specials on television and mommy has read me different chilling facts in books.  Not only does this cemetery have a history of unexplained lights and ghosts, it has an entire house that mysteriously appears and disappears.  Many people that have seen the house describe it as a white farmhouse with pillars and a swing.  The other cemetery was Resurrection Cemetery in Chicago.  This story sends chills up and down my spine every time I see it on television.  It starts off with a beautiful girl who was walking home from a dance one late night.  She was hit by a car and killed and has been looking for a ride home every since.  I saw a story one night where a man picked up this lady at a dance.  They danced into the late hours and he admitted that she felt cold to the touch.  Upon taking her home after the dance, she asked him to stop in front of the cemetery.  She got out and disappeared into the air.

And how can we forget the most eerie of places in Salem, Massachusetts at Howard Street Cemetery.  With all of the witch hunts that took place here, this has got to be one of the most haunted places in the United States.  Just think of all of the innocent people that were slowly tortured and burned at the stake for the public believing they were witches.  How many of those spirits still walk around wanting people to know that they were innocent but forever labeled a witch.  Talk about your unfinished business in setting things straight.  This reminds me of a story that mom told me about a guy named Giles Corey.  He was officially the only person to die by torture during these Witch Trials.  He wouldn’t say that he was a witch so the sheriff of the time made him lay down in the middle of his field.  The sheriff then had a board placed across his chest and slowly added stones on top of the board.  Eventually two days later, Corey was crushed to death in a slow and agonizing way.

 

31 Days of Spook – Story Submission

Hello my spooky friends.  Thank you so very much for staying with me during my 31 Days of Spook. We really hope that all of you are shaking and shivering by now with our scary stories.  Here at the Hotel Thompson, we just want you to enjoy every single spooky day that October has to give!

Today, we have another guest story submission.  This one is from my friend Lori.  Do you know Lori and her ducks?  If you don’t know them, you are definitely missing out on beautiful pictures, wonderful stories on her ducks.  You just have to go visit their blog.  Please make it a point to visit my friend Lori  – tell her that Bacon sent you.  This is her tale – enjoy my friends!

Christmas at Hanging Rock

By Lori Fontanes

There’s a visitors center at Hanging Rock but on that stifling day right before Christmas, we pretty much had the place to ourselves.  I vaguely recall one other couple, possibly on their way out, but after that, no one.  And it really was hot, even by Australian standards, and even though antipodal December means the end of spring, it must have hit triple digits.  That year, summer had come early, or maybe only at the Rock.

I’d wondered about the strange site known as Hanging Rock ever since watching Peter Weir’s lyrical film, which takes place on its stony peaks.  “Picnic At Hanging Rock” dreamily reenacts the supposed real-life disappearance of a teacher and her students on Valentine’s Day in the year 1900.  The girls and their chaperones go for a picnic but some don’t come back.  They disappear between the silent stones, without explanation.  Where did they go and why?  If they were taken, why not the others?  Since the movie doesn’t provide answers, we’d decided to see for ourselves.  One hundred years after the alleged events, we thought it would be fun to pretend to investigate.  We left our rental car in the parking lot, grabbed two water bottles and started climbing.

I’m not really good in hot weather.  It’s my husband who thrives in the heat.  Like a desert creature, he absorbs the radiance and turns it into useful energy.  I wilt.  As we slogged our way to the top, weaving among the huge boulders, he tried to joke me out of my increasingly foul mood.  It had to be 100 degrees or close to it and I felt thirstier than our water could satisfy.  Nonetheless, I suggested we ration the supply carefully.  Since it wasn’t supposed to be a long hike, my husband merely shrugged.   See, he’s the optimist and I’m the realist.  I like to be prepared; he likes to leave for the airport at the last minute.  And there we were, alone, on this weird outcropping of volcanic rock in the middle of rural Victoria.

As I think about it now, I realize that no one knew where we were.  We didn’t tell the hotel staff, our families were celebrating the holidays thousands of miles away and in these pre-smartphone days, no one expected you to stay in constant contact.  It was 2000 (yes, Y2K) so I guess we had a cell phone but I doubt we could have gotten reception.  Hanging Rock is that type of lonely, an inland Bermuda Triangle, buzzing with insects, desolate and blistering.  In fact, I wonder if the igneous formations hold a sort of magnetic charm that distorts compasses and makes minds struggle.  That day, I told myself it was just the heat.   It’s hard to think straight when the mercury hits those highs.

About halfway up, when it didn’t look like we’d meet anyone else, my husband started in with his silliness.  I guess you could call it romance.  Either way, it was the last thing I needed so I ignored his playfulness.

“Let’s keep going,” I said.

“Let’s go this way,” he said.

His way didn’t feel right.

“No, I think the sign says this way,” I demurred.

He wouldn’t listen.  I hung back as he entered a small archway that somehow I knew wouldn’t work.  Stubbornly, I stood there and watched him go.  I don’t remember the details.  He may have cried out.  Like I said, I can’t remember.

He emerged pretty quickly.

“You’re right, it’s not the way,” he said.

“What happened?”

I moved past him to see.  The path he’d chosen led to another opening and then, a sheer drop.  He must have stopped in time but he may have slipped because somehow he lost both bottles down the slope.

We kept going.

I tried not to think about losing the water.  We had a distance to hike before reaching the top.  Or should we turn around now?  Should I say something?  Would it matter?

And then, we arrived.  It looked like the summit or close enough.  Was there a rock like an altar?  A platform?  Or maybe nothing at all, my memory doesn’t say.  All I know is how bright it was and still.  Quiet, like the inside of your breath when you hold it.  I didn’t know what that quiet meant.

My husband tried to kiss me.  I sidled away.  It didn’t seem like a good idea.  I might have said, are you crazy?

He might have said, yes.

“Let’s go.”

I kept my voice as weightless as possible.  Bugs sang in counterpoint to my clattering heart.  I walked quickly in the direction of escape.

My husband made an off-color comment then followed.  I fought my rising anxiety, wanting to read the path with clarity, not fear.  We decided to go down a different way.  He might have suggested it.  I might have agreed.

It might have been the heat.

We came to an intersection where once more, he wanted one way and I, the other.  I don’t know how I knew it but on this point I’m perfectly clear:  If we’d gone his way, we might not have come back.  At that moment, I felt completely certain that the Rock wanted him to stay.  And I couldn’t tell him that.  So I had to convince him to follow me.  I ignored the insects, the heat, my thirst, our dusty isolation and said, in my calmest voice, “Let’s go this way.”

The words hung for a moment.

“Okay,” he said.

 

Copyright 2014, Lori Fontanes

 

31 Days of Spook – Aunt Dorothy

Hello fellow ghouls and goblins – welcome back to my 31 Days of Spook.  Today, I’m going to tell you a real scary story, something that happened to my daddy when he was a young boy.  Are you ready?  You might want to hold someone’s hand.

When dad was around was 10 years old, his mom’s Aunt Dorothy passed away.  She had a house in Blue Ridge, West Virginia.  It looked similar to this picture.  Up on a hill top, had a wrap around porch and was two stories with a full basement.  The house looked normal but had a little bit of an eerie factor… especially to a young child.  Let me give you a little bit background on some chilling history of the home.

Aunt Dorothy had a brother named John that also lived with her. There’s two different stories that circulated about what happened to dear poor John.  One was that Aunt Dorothy and John had dinner one night.  Afterwards, he stood up, crossed himself and then fell over dead.  They other story was they had a fight one day and Aunt Dorothy left the house.  When she returned from cooling down, he was dead.  No one knows which tale is how poor John really died.  Only one fact did remain – John was dead.  From that day forward, Aunt Dorothy locked his room and no one was ever allowed to enter his room.   And although the room was locked and she had the key, she would often mention how it sounded like someone was in the room at night walking around.

Upon Aunt Dorothy’s death, daddy’s mom and dad took him to the house so they could start cleaning some things up to sale the home.  They traveled out of state and got to Blue Ridge, West Virginia on a Thursday evening.  They went to Aunt Dorothy’s home the next day to start the clean up.  They went inside and it was cool inside, almost like goose bump kind of cool with the hair on your arms standing up.  This was strange because in that time during the 1970’s in this area, there really wasn’t central heating and air.  It was the middle of August and it was hot outside, in the 90’s plus.  Typical summer time weather – hot and very humid.  But, in the home it was cool and comfortable, almost ice cold.  They commented on how it was so cold that you could almost hang meat.  But they started to go through the home to see what they wanted, starting with the upstairs.

They found the key to the locked room that once belonged to Aunt Dorothy’s brother John.  The room had just been locked and never touched – as if he was returning back home one day and it was just frozen in time.  There was a book on the bedside table that was still marked where he had left off from reading.  Clothes were still scattered about the room.  The bed was still made.  There was a partial letter written on the desk to an old friend that was never finished.  The room had a eerie feeling like someone was still there and it was cold in this room as well.  One thing that was strange about the room.  There was no cob webs, no dust, nothing that looked like this room had been vacant for over 15 years. It was bizarre but they figured Aunt Dorothy had been in dusting.  But why dust and not pick up the scattered clothing?

Daddy’s father wanted him to go down into the basement alone to check for any tools that they possibly might want to bring home.  Daddy being all of 10 said sure.  How very brave of him.   Each step he took going down into the dark, cold and dank basement, he felt like he was being watched.  At times, it was like someone was following him but no one else was there when he looked around.  He found some things that they might possibly want and he gathered them up.  Slowly, he took everything upstairs with each step still feeling like he was being watched and followed.  And yes he was a child and you might be saying that he was scared because of his age.  Well, was he?  Let’s continue our story.

They stayed at the house on/off for the next couple of days cleaning.  They would go back to the hotel each night and return in the hot August weather with the coolness inside of the home.  Each day they were there cleaning and fixing things up, the house remained cool like there was an air conditioner on… but there wasn’t one. 

On the last day, dad’s mom asked him and his father to start cleaning up the living room area while she was starting in the parlor.  There was an old china cabinet that had french doors on the front.  When you looked through the glass panes, you could see a locked latch across the front.  Dad’s mom tried the doors, but she couldn’t get them open.  They were firmly locked.   Inside of the china cabinet, there was some sterling silver and china that dad’s mom wanted to take back home.

She didn’t want to break the doors in hopes of selling the antique furniture.  On the opposite side of the wall, there was a hutch.  She asked for the boys to come over to possibly help find a key to the china cabinet.  While the boys were searching the hutch, all of a sudden dad’s mom let out a chilling scream.

They turned around immediately and the french doors to the china cabinet were standing wide open as if someone had opened them both at the same time.  Dad’s mom took full advantage of the opportunity and removed the pieces she wanted.  Afterwards, she pushed the doors back together and the cabinet locked itself back up.  You could hear the click-click sound of the latch going right back to where it was previously.

We took the items we wanted out to the car while dad’s father took the trash out.  We came back into the house to lock it up to leave our final time.  We noticed that the house had lost the coolness feeling that it had and had become hot just like it was outside in the August air.  Three days of air conditioning, goose bump coolness, hair standing on your arms and now hot humid heat.  We left that day and never returned.

 

This Is What Nightmares Are Made Out Of

My Aunt Tina recently emailed me something frightening – I mean out of this world frightening.  So frightening that I should have saved this post for one of my Bacon’s Tales of Terror postings.  Deep breaths here.

Here you go – may I present to you what my Aunt Tina found in the Chicago, Illinois area – Choco-Bacon-Bar – piggy down – THUD.

Someone save me.  I may need mouth to mouth to resuscitate me.  I understand milk chocolate.  But milk chocolate with BACON BITS?!  Oh dear piggy heavens.  I need all my bacon bits.  I can’t afford to lose my bacon bits.  Someone help a pig out here!  It’s not good being on the food chain – squeal!

 

31 Days of Spook – Day 9

Hello fellow ghouls and goblins – Count Baconula here.  I’ve been waiting for this day for several months now.  I’m so excited.  I’m so thrilled.  I’m sure that won’t last long though when I watch one of my favorite shows tonight.  Then, I’ll probably be scared, shaking and watching with one hoove over my eyes.

Tonight my blogville friends, starts the mid-season of Ghost Hunters.  Bring on The Atlantic Paranormal Society, or TAPS – shivers.  I’ve been waiting for some time to see my friends –  Jason Hawes, Steve Gonsalves, Dave Tango, Amy Bruni, Britt Griffith, Adam Berry, Michelle Tate and Maddie – their K9 ghost detector dog.  (See, I think I can be the first pig detector – that would be cool!)

I’ve been watching all of the DVD’s with mom getting caught up to the mid-season.  What?  You don’t think this post is scary enough?  Even with the ghost graphic?  Okay, I’ll match you’re scary and bring you to a BOO.  I’ll tell you a real scary story, something that happened to my daddy when he was a young boy.  Are you ready?  You might want to hold someone’s hand.

When dad was around was 10 years old, his mom’s Aunt Dorothy passed away.  She had a house in Blue Ridge, West Virginia.  It looked similar to this picture.  Up on a hill top, had a wrap around porch and was two stories with a full basement.  The house looked normal but had a little bit of an eerie factor… especially to a young child.  Let me give you a little bit background on some chilling history of the home.

Aunt Dorothy had a brother named John that also lived with her. There’s two different stories that circulated about what happened to dear poor John.  One was that Aunt Dorothy and John had dinner one night.  Afterwards, he stood up, crossed himself and then fell over dead.  They other story was they had a fight one day and Aunt Dorothy left the house.  When she returned from cooling down, he was dead.  No one knows which tale is how poor John really died.  Only one fact did remain – John was dead.  From that day forward, Aunt Dorothy locked his room and no one was ever allowed to enter his room.   And although the room was locked and she had the key, she would often mention how it sounded like someone was in the room at night walking around.

Upon Aunt Dorothy’s death, daddy’s mom and dad took him to the house so they could start cleaning some things up to sale the home.  They traveled out of state and got to Blue Ridge, West Virginia on a Thursday evening.  They went to Aunt Dorothy’s home the next day to start the clean up.  They went inside and it was cool inside, almost like goosebump kind of cool with the hair on your arms standing up.  This was strange because in that time during the 1970’s in this area, there really wasn’t central heating and air.  It was the middle of August and it was hot outside, in the 90’s plus.  Typical summer time weather – hot and very humid.  But, in the home it was cool and comfortable, almost ice cold.  They commented on how it was so cold that you could almost hang meat.  But they started to go through the home to see what they wanted, starting with the upstairs.

They found the key to the locked room that once belonged to Aunt Dorothy’s brother John.  The room had just been locked and never touched – as if he was returning back home one day and it was just frozen in time.  There was a book on the bedside table that was still marked where he had left off from reading.  Clothes were still scattered about the room.  The bed was still made.  There was a partial letter written on the desk to an old friend that was never finished.  The room had a eerie feeling like someone was still there and it was cold in this room as well.  One thing that was strange about the room.  There was no cob webs, no dust, nothing that looked like this room had been vacant for over 15 years. It was bizarre but they figured Aunt Dorothy had been in dusting.  But why dust and not pick up the scattered clothing?

Daddy’s father wanted him to go down into the basement alone to check for any tools that they possibly might want to bring home.  Daddy being all of 10 said sure.  How very brave of him.   Each step he took going down into the dark, cold and dank basement, he felt like he was being watched.  At times, it was like someone was following him but no one else was there when he looked around.  He found some things that they might possibly want and he gathered them up.  Slowly, he took everything upstairs with each step still feeling like he was being watched and followed.  And yes he was a child and you might be saying that he was scared because of his age.  Well, was he?  Let’s continue our story.

They stayed at the house on/off for the next couple of days cleaning.  They would go back to the hotel each night and return in the hot August weather with the coolness inside of the home.  Each day they were there cleaning and fixing things up, the house remained cool like there was an air conditioner on… but there wasn’t one. 

On the last day, dad’s mom asked him and his father to start cleaning up the living room area while she was starting in the parlor.  There was an old china cabinet that had french doors on the front.  When you looked through the glass panes, you could see a locked latch across the front.  Dad’s mom tried the doors, but she couldn’t get them open.  They were firmly locked.   Inside of the china cabinet, there was some sterling silver and china that dad’s mom wanted to take back home.

She didn’t want to break the doors in hopes of selling the antique furniture.  On the opposite side of the wall, there was a hutch.  She asked for the boys to come over to possibly help find a key to the china cabinet.  While the boys were searching the hutch, all of a sudden dad’s mom let out a chilling scream.

They turned around immediately and the french doors to the china cabinet were standing wide open as if someone had opened them both at the same time.  Dad’s mom took full advantage of the opportunity and removed the pieces she wanted.  Afterwards, she pushed the doors back together and the cabinet locked itself back up.  You could hear the click-click sound of the latch going right back to where it was previously.

We took the items we wanted out to the car while dad’s father took the trash out.  We came back into the house to lock it up to leave our final time.  We noticed that the house had lost the coolness feeling that it had and had become hot just like it was outside in the August air.  Three days of air conditioning, goosebump coolness, hair standing on your arms and now hot humid heat.  We left that day and never returned.