Ghost Cottage has an interesting history, and apparently has quite a reputation in the local area. Debbie had introduced me to Kelli and Riley, who live there, and on our first evening together they told us tales of things they had seen, felt and heard in the house. They seemed to be a reasonable and sane couple, and that night I went to bed with an air of expectation, but as reported in yesterday’s blog, heard or felt nothing.
Bill was a previous owner of the house, born on 6th December 1945, and died at the age of 32 in late 1978. As reported in the local newspaper, The Curry County Reporter, he died of head injuries caused by a car accident when on a hunting trip with friends. However, all is not as it seems, and Bill now haunts his old home, with a tale to tell, somewhat similar to the movie Ghost. Apparently in town, what really happened to Bill is fairly common knowledge. Kelli and Riley moved here 2006, and Bill told Kelli the true story of that night. A group of friends on a hunting trip, having had more than a few drinks that night, decided to throw axes at a tree. Unfortunately Bill was hit by a thrown axe and died. His death was covered up by his friends, who put his body a car, rolled it down a hill, and reported the accident. Bill has told Kelli all of this, and she has had many things she has discovered confirmed by people at the hospital who examined his body, and with many of Bill’s friends in town. All sorts of little details that she could not know any other way. Bill is not upset about the coverup, but that his his favourite pickup truck was sold, not to one of his friends as he would have liked, but bought a complete stranger! This pickup truck buyer eventually married Bill’s widow, who had received a large life insurance payment, bought a plane and set up a local business with the proceeds. He then proceeded to rip off many of the local people, a lot of them Bill’s old friends. The pickup truck buyer apparently died on the anniversary of Bill’s death, by flying his plane into the side of a mountain. Bill is currently writing a book, dictated to Kelli, who acts as his secretary.
So last night I was left to my own devices, and from about 9.30pm onwards I sat in the house alone, writing some stuff on the computer. I didn’t put any music on, just worked in silence, the only noise being my slow pecking on the keyboard. A couple of times I had to go outside to get something from the RV, and it was cold, quiet and dark out there.
By midnight I was ready for bed, but before turning in for the night I wandered around the house a bit. As Kelli had suggested, I talked to the ghosts, and asked Bill if he could make some noise if he was there. I also, as suggested, played guitar a bit, and invited the lady ghost who lives in the back bedroom to pluck a string on the harp in there. Finally I turned the house lights off, and took some photos in the dark, and before bed I went to the bathroom with the door shut, lit just by candle light, another of Kelli’s suggestions.
Nothing! Nothing at all! I was disappointed. Although I had felt some trepidation about the evening alone, I was keen to experience something unusual or unexplainable. The only thing that did make me jump a bit was a scrabbling noise at the patio window as I had worked on the computer. Just a possum, my logical mind says.
I wonder if people are like radio receivers, and I am just tuned to the wrong channel? I guess for now I remain an open minded skeptic!
Thanks again to Debbie for her marvellous last minute organisation on such short notice from me, and to Kelli and Riley for being kind enough to leave me alone in their lovely house.
