Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Ghost Story: part 2

In the last moments of the first part of this story, we were about to hop out of the car and face our destiny. The forest was dark, the forest was scary, the trees were also scary. Thus, we exited the tiny vehicle and set off towards the normal looking farm house, apprehensively but still curious. The house was a two story victorian style with one of those wrap around decks and some nice gables on what remained of the second story, but there the similarity to a This Old House project ended. Actually, in retrospect, this could very well be featured on This Old House, because the entire back half of the house was destroyed, and sunk into the basement.

Of course, an exploded house that is rumored to be haunted and turns out to actually exist is quite a shock. This wasn't simply a collapsed house, it was charred and shattered, boards were broken and splintered from what looked like the old kitchen in a clear radius of absolute houseplosion. We stepped closer and closer to the mess, avoiding splinters and thistles, until we could finally see directly into the old house's basement. The boiler was clearly visible through a hole about 10 feet by 8 feet, and it was through this hole that we shone the flashlight first.

Directly onto a pair of eyes.

Several minutes later, after a brisk sprint to the car and a change of pants, we rallied our spirits and several extra pen-lights and cautiously tip-toed back to the scene. The aforementioned eyes were no longer there on second glance, but this only added to the mystery. Was the creature watching us from farther in? Was it waiting behind us? Was it about to steal Melissa's car? We had to find out. Slowly but surely we climbed into the gap, down into the icy basement, full of lichen and windblown pine needles. The basement was quite a bit bigger than it appeared, and in its day the house itself must have been a fine place. Now it was a forest of fallen beams and pipes, with danger around every corner.

Shoulder to shoulder we crept further into the crypt, until we came up against the wall the boiler was resting against. With one final triumphant sweep of the flashlight, our exploration complete, we were greeted by the same dull glow of eyes. Except instead of the pair that surprised us the first time, our beams were met by 10; no, 20 eyes, all focused dully at our frightened teenage bundle of scaredy cat-ness. With trembling hands we shone the lights further on and were greeted with the biggest shock of our lives:

Cows. Over a dozen. They must have wandered into the basement. Case closed.

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