Patapsco River Horror Story

Chapter 4

As Neil walked down Maryland Avenue toward Main Street, he kept looking over his shoulder. It seemed like someone was watching him or following him.

“It must be the dream I had this afternoon that is making me so dam jumpy. A few drinks should com my nerves.” Neil said to himself.

He saw as he drove by the parking lot behind the old post office off Old Columbia Pike that it was full so Neil had to park his truck down by the railroad tracks after he drops Debbie off at the station. He would have a longer walk to the Courthouse Tavern tonight. It was about a quarter of a mile up Main Street. The night air was cool and crisp, not a cloud in the sky. He could see about a dozen stars in the sky. The sidewalk was mostly deserted by now most people were in the bars and pubs and the shops along Main Street were closed or getting ready to close.

Just a few cars past him as he walked up the sidewalk, Neil could almost taste the stake that was being prepared in the restaurant on the other side of Main Street from the smell of the spices in the air. It was starting to make him hungry. He had not eaten anything after he had lunch. Neil turned left and started walking up Main Street. He heard the chattering of the people in the pubs. It was Friday night and they were glad the week was over. He heard people laughing, talking and singing. Neil even felt a little more up beat then he had earlier in the week.

The Tiber River ran through and under the historic town of Ellicott City. As Neil walked up Main Street, the river was to his left running under the building on the south side of Main Street. There was a gap between a few of the building and a small walking bridge that goes over the Tiber River that leads to one of the side streets. Neil heard the water running under the buildings as he walked up the street. Neil took a detour off Main Street and walked up onto the small walking bridge that spans the river.

The Tiber was only about ten to twelve feet wide at this part of the river. He leaned on the railing and looked at the water below coming from under the building. The water ran under the walking bridge back under a few more shops and pubs, and then it flowed through an underground tunnel that goes under Maryland Avenue finally emptying out under the train bridge into the Patapsco River. He stood there for a few moments listening to the water trickling over the rocks. Once again Neil pondered the events of the past day and tried to make scents of them, as he stared at the waters running under the bridge, his mind wandered. Neil was brought back to reality when he heard a noise from behind him.

He turned around and took a few steps to the other side of the bridge. The sound was like someone walking on gravel or rocks. He bent down and tried to visually follow the water under the buildings, it was to dark under the building and he saw nothing. Neil stood back up and looked to his left out onto Main Street all he saw were a few cars driving by. He turned to his right toward a restaurant at the other side of the walking bridge and again could find no signs of where the noise came from.

He stared at the restaurant for long moment thinking about all the time he had been in it and all his friends that would go there. Out of the corner of his left eye, Neil saw something move. He jerked his head around to see what it was. All he saw was a small foot under the building. When the foot-had moved out of site, Neil decided he wanted to get a better look at what it was.

The foot was wearing a boot and it was dark in color but that he assumed because there was very little light to see it by. He looked over the railing down at the river bank. He could tell it’s only about an eight-foot jump down to the bank of the Tiber, swinging his legs over the railing of the bridge. He was sitting on the railing with his legs dangling over the river.

“It’s only about six inches deep.” He said to himself.

Pushing himself off the railing Neil fell to the bank of the small river. He could hear the sound of his feet hitting the rocky ground echoing off the stone wall on ether side of him the sound of the water trickling over the rocks, and echoes off the old stone walls. The walls amplified the sound of the Tiber River.

Neil felt like he was in a different world. He was only about eight feet below street level. He could no longer hear the car on Main Street and it was only a few yards away from where he now stood. He could feel the dampness on his face and hands. He looked to his right at the stone wall on the other bank of the river.

Parts of the wall were missing stones. Many small saplings and weeds were growing out of the walls. The walls had a greenish slimy tint to them. The walls were at least two hundred years old and they looked it, Neil thought. They were built to keep the small river from eroding the dirt out from under the building so they would not fall into the river.

Neil turned his attention back to finding out who was under the building. He had to bend over a little to look under the building, it was too dark under there to see anything, and he would have to wait until his eyes adjusted to the darkness. Neil began to move slowly in under the building, the sound of his feet on the rocks and mud on the river bank was almost too much for him to bear, now that he was under the building. The sounds were echoing off the stone walls, river bed and the building above him. Neil stopped for a moment and listened for anyone or any movement.

He heard nothing but the Tiber trickling over the rocks and his own heart beating. He slowly started moving forward into the darkness. He could smell the heavy mustiness all around him. Neil peered into the darkness; up ahead he thought he saw some light. The light looked like it was coming from out from the floor of one of the building that was above him it seemed to be five or six buildings down. He was trying to remember which store or pub it was but he could not place it in his head.

Neil thought about turning around and heading back out because the pain in his back from bending over for so long was getting to him. Instead he moved on forward. He was getting tired the mud under his feet was heavy and thick his feet felt like they had suction cups under them. When Neil finally trudged his way through the water and the mud to the building where he saw the light, he looked up at the bottom of the building the glowing light was coming from what looked to Neil to be an old trap door. He felt around the door for a handle or a latch to open it with, he could find nothing, as he was feeling around the light slowly faded away.

This startled Neil because.”The light did not flick off like when you flip a switch.” He thought to himself.

He moved back from the door above him, staring at it for a moment.

He said to himself. “I wander what this door was used for?”

Neil also wanders why the light just faded away instead of disappearing quickly; as he stood there in the middle of the Tiber looking up at the building, Neil heard a creaking sound above him. It sounded like somebody or something was standing in the building right above him.

“Did they cover a light with a blanket or a piece of clothing? Is that why the light slowly faded?” Neil asked himself.

He wandered if he should call out to whoever was inside but he didn’t. He just stood there and stared. Finally he hammers on the door three times with his fist. Neil stands silently for a moment to see if he gets a response. He was almost knocked off his feet from the thunderous bang that comes from above him.

The floor boards over his head buckle like a grand piano had been dropped on them. Neil grabs a support beam above him to catch his balance. The trap door shakes and clatters violently and the bright white light came shining between the trap door and the door frame again. Dust and dirt starts to fall from the floor boards into Neil’s hair and eyes, blinding him for a moment. His first thought was to flee but he most get the dust and dirt out of his eyes.

Pieces of wood and other objects are falling on his head. Neil clears his eyes of dust and dirt then he stagers back the way he came. The clattering seems to be getting louder.

“It sounds like the building is coming down.” He said out loud.

The journey back out was not an easy one. It was hard for Neil to run while he had to bend over, his feet were sticking in the mud and the loud clattering was disorienting him. He struggled to keep his balance on the slippery rocks of the river bed. His pants were wet from his feet pounding the water. Neil looked over his shoulder to see a cloud of dust forming from the falling debris.

He could still see the white light behind the dust cloud and could still hear the thunderous clattering. Neil looked ahead to see he was almost out from under the buildings. His heart was pounding in his chest, his lungs were burning and his ears hurt from the noise. As soon as Neil emerged from under the building he noticed that the noise and clattering had stopped. He turned around and leaned over to peer under the building.

His heart was still pounding in his chest, he is breathing heavily from the running and his ears were ringing from the loud clatter, with his hands on his knees he gulped air. All Neil could see was the dust cloud, the floor boards had stopped clattering and the glowing white light had disappeared.

“What just happened?” Neil said to himself.

He looked down to see that his hands were shaking. Slowly Neil walked over to a corner where the bottom of the walking bridge and the top of the stone wall meet; he leaned on the wall for a moment to catch his breath. Neil watched as the dust cloud escaped from under the building and dissipated in the night air. He put his hand to his forehead to wipe off the dust, dirt and river water and noticed he was sweating profusely. With all that had just happened Neil had not realized how sweaty he had become and now that his pants where also wet he was starting to feel the chill of this late September night.

Once Neil had taken a moment to rest, he slowly climbed the stone wall. It took him longer then he thought it would. His foot slipped off the slimy stones a few times he loosed his grip and slid back down to the river bank. He blamed it on being old and out of shape. After he climbed the wall, Neil sat there for a moment collecting his thoughts. He looked around; there was no one on the sidewalks, no car driving up or down Main Street. It was eerily quiet. This was unusual for a Friday night.

“This whole day has been like a nightmare since I woke up in my truck this morning.” Neil said to himself.

He thought about driving back home to change his cloths and then coming back to the bar or even calling it a night, but Neil needed to find out what building the light and noise came from before he did anything else. Neil picked himself up off the ground and started to brush the dirt that stuck to the back of his wet pants. As he was brushing his pants off, he heard footsteps coming up the sidewalk. A young couple comes walking up the sidewalk. They gaze at Neil cautiously, they whisper to each other as they look him over. The young woman looks over her shoulder at Neil as they walk past him, she giggles and the young man laughs then they disappear into one of the pubs up the street. Neil did not know what to think of this. He had other things on his mind.

Neil headed back down Main Street from which he came. He quickly walked down the sidewalk anxious to find out which shop he was under when ‘all hell broke loss’ just a few minutes ago. When he stopped in front of the shop he thinks is the one he was under, Neil looked into the window. It was dark inside the shop was closed and the lights were all out but one. He looked for any movement inside but saw nothing. Frustrated, that he could not find the source of the phenomenon he just witnessed Neil put his head back from the window.

A car full of teenage kids drove up Main Street. One of the teenagers whistled at Neil as they roar past him. He turned around and watched the car roar up the street with kids hanging out the windows. This gets Neil thinking about Debbie. He wondered if she was staying out of trouble and hopes she was not in that car.

He walks out to the curb and watched the car turn left up Old Columbia Pike. Neil turned around and looked down toward the Museum; he watched the kid’s mill in and out. He could hear the DJ’s music play. Then he turned back toward the shop that he was looking in to. He looked up at the building’s facade, above the window it reads ‘Eaton & Sons’ what was now a coffee shop was at one time a funeral home.

Neil remembered his grandfather telling him stories about his father being a carpenter who made casket and he worked for the Eaton’s. His great-grandfather must have worked there around the time of the Civil War; Neil was told his great-grandfather was a young man when he started work there. He looked at the sign in the window; it said the shop closed at nine o’clock tonight. Forgetting to wear his watch tonight Neil still knew it was past nine o’clock.

“I would like to get in there and look around.” He said to himself.

He knew it had been a funeral home for at least a hundred years or more. His late father was an accountant, he did a lot of work for the shop owners on Main Street and Neil had boxes of his father’s paperwork in his basement. He knew he should go through them to see if his father did any work for the Eaton’s Funeral home.

Neil was still shaken from the frightening experience he just had and sat down on the steps of the coffee shop. He Looked up at the sky, Neil noticed that it had clouded over, in less then fifteen minutes. The stars he saw a few minutes ago are covered by large gray clouds. The night was dark and gloomy and so was Neil’s mood. The night started off pleasant but the pleasantness had been washed away like an old soda can on the Tiber River. He slowly walked up the sidewalk heading toward the Courthouse Tavern.