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“It always acts up when the snowstorms blow in. I’m sure we’ll have one before too long,” she said with a knowing grin. “It’s only an every-other-week occurrence this time of year.”
She rolled her eyes, earning a chuckle out of a few people who had turned to listen in again.
“She’s right on that one. It’s always been like that here. On the dark, snowy nights you’re more likely to hear voices on the wind or have eerie things happen,” an old man added as he sipped his mug of black coffee.
“Can you tell us any stories about the town or the castle?” Ben asked in an offhand voice. He might be acting as if it was a casual question, but we knew damn well he was salivating for more of the local history.
“Oh, I’ve got a few,” Sadie’s dad said, nodding slowly and rubbing the stubble on his chin. “Every Christmas they have a community dinner up at that castle. A few years ago, while Patrick Bellmore was still alive and running them, I went. It had gone on a little later than usual. The dinner was done, and drinks were being served, and I stepped away to go to the bathroom. It was a bit of a trek from the dining hall, that place is huge.”
“I got lost finding that same bathroom this morning,” Lincoln said with a shake of his head. “And we have maps.”
“The sound of the party was muffled the further I moved into the castle. My footsteps echoed in the hall as I walked.”
The man stopped talking and glanced around, a small smile on his face. He was clearly a storyteller and was loving the engagement he was getting from the room.
Hell, even I was hanging onto his words, wondering what was going to happen next. It had been far too long since we had been somewhere with this much history.
This might be the first time this many locals were willing to share, too.
“I had just found it and started opening the door when something pushed it closed. Of course, I thought I was about to walk in on someone and was horrified. I apologized profusely through the wooden door.”
“Was anyone there?” someone asked in a hushed voice.
He chuckled. “Well, I could even hear someone moving around on the other side, but I also heard sobbing. So, I leaned forward, pressing my ear to the wood, just listening to see if I truly had heard someone crying.”
He paused again and I bit back a laugh. This man was living for the crowd’s reactions.
“What did you hear?” an older man asked, his eyes wide and face a bit pale now. Clearly, everyone wasn’t loving the thought of ghosts so close to home. Ironic since the town seemed to embrace them.
“Silence. I called out to the woman. I asked if everything was all right, and apologized again, but there was nothing. I put my hand up to knock on the door one final time but barely got one knock out when it sent the door swinging open like it was never closed in the first place.”
“No!” a woman whispered as she fought back a shudder.
“There was a slow creak before it revealed a dark room. I ran my hand along the wall, reaching for the light, and when I flicked it on… empty.”
There was a collective gasp at the conclusion of his story, and I almost had to bite back my laughter. I believed every word of it, but damn, the man could tell a story. He was going to make the ghost tour amazing, and I couldn’t wait to go on it.
“That’s not the only haunted place in town,” Sadie said quickly.
“My wife is a librarian,” a man in the crowd yelled out.
Sadie took a sip of her coffee and raised it to the room as if giving a toast.
“When she first started, they told her about the historical section. Apparently, it was widely known to be a bit of a mischievous ghost.” He chuckled. “They would put things away, and then all of a sudden the books were stacked along the floor. Then when they’d go to get a cart to help them sort it and come back to the books right back on the shelf. Nothing out of place.”
“Oh, that’s nothing, Harry, I swear” a woman said, waving him off. “One time at the grocery store I was getting ready to close up shop. I checked out the last customer and did my usual sweep to make sure we didn’t miss anybody. We have those old mirrors up in the corners. You know what I’m talking about, those circle mirrors to make sure you can see around?”
We nodded to let her know we were following and she continued, barely taking a breath in between.
“I could see somebody in the back aisle. They weren’t pushing a cart, but they were walking along in a long, black coat. At least I thought it was a coat. It was long… could have been a cloak. Maybe it was a grim reaper,” she said, freaking herself out now.
“Oh, you’re full of shit,” somebody in the crowd said. She just scoffed, flipping them off, not even the least bit deterred by their skepticism.
“I would agree with you if it wasn’t for the fact that I never found a single soul. I walked those aisles twice, and when it was still empty, I locked up for the night. There would have been no way for them to get out without the doors being unlocked in the morning. There was no one ever there.”
“This town is full of stories like this,” Sadie said to us as the others started bickering like siblings. “I’ve heard them my whole life, so if you want to know anything, feel free to ask.”
“Oh, I’ve got one,” somebody else said.
