A Ghost story

Many years ago, when I was a young man and reckless in my endeavors, I ventured to the old Bon Aqua Springs Hotel. It still set high on the bluff, overlooking the springs themselves, but had fallen into disrepair. The proprietor informed me that the rooms on the second floor were in livable shape, but came at a hefty price. Being young and poor, I inquired as to the rooms above. He grimaced and informed me that no one had stayed on the second floor for many years, but offered a more reasonable price. I jumped and the chance and grabbed my bag. Upon climbing the landing, I realized why the Innkeeper grimaced. Invisible cobwebs clung to my face and dust covered my clothes. I had a feeling, not of walking down a hallway, but one of walking among tombstones. Not being a superstitious person, I still felt uneasy. Undeterred I made my way to a room that would give me the best view of the springs below.

The room I chose looked promising, A sturdy bed, if somewhat dust covered, two fine Queen Ann chairs, a nice table to stow my things. I began to think, this might turn out better than expected. I made a small fire in the stone fireplace to take the chill out of the air and settled in for the night.

As the fire died down and I began to drift of to sleep, I heard the sounds of a man walking down the hall. It must be too late for the innkeeper. I was sure I had locked the door...hadn't I? The footfalls were of a man, I was sure, a rather large man, dragging a chain. I was perplexed. Who could this be? As I clung to my blanket, it started to be pulled from me, as if someone was on the other end pulling it towards the door. I let out a slight gasp and pulled the blanket up to my chin. For long moments, I heard nothing. It was a dream, it must have been. Yes, that is it, a dream and the uncheeriness of the place, has played a trick on my slumbering mind.

As I leaned to light a candle and bring some light to the situation, I heard the footfalls again, outside my door. He was moaning, that I must let him in. Of course not! "Go Away", "Come back in the morning"! From the light of the candle I could see the door turn gray, as if cloaked in a fog, then a ghostly form was in the room! I started to cry out, when I realized it was Ole' Jim Duncan. How could that be, Ole' Jim was long dead, pert near 10 years ago. I saw his corpse at the Hardware store. Gary was charging a quarter for everyone to see. I was but a lad then. Ole' Jim asked if he could take a seat, but I advised against it, since he was a ghost and all, I wasn't sure what would happen. Sure enough, before I could get the words out, Ole' Jim sat down in one of those Queen Ann's and went right through it. When he landed on the old hardwood floor a piece of his tailbone, broke off and rolled clear across the floor and to the fireplace. Ole' Jim apologized for making a commotion and attempted to straighten the place up, to no avail. Ole' Jim explained that he was truly tired and only wanted to rest, but since Gary had taken his body and put it on display without a proper burial, he was left wandering around. He didn't know what else to do, but haunt the place and no one was at the Hardware store at night, it did no good. So, he figured he would amble over here and haunt this place for a while, but nobody came by, well, until me.

Jim and I worked out a plan. We would break into the Hardware store, steal his body back and give him a proper burial before the Sun came up and no one would be the wiser. Problem was, no one had seen the body in years and unbeknownst to us, Ole' Ron had hidden it in the back. Well, he didn't really hide it, but it might as well have been. Darn that Ole' Ron, always moving stuff. It was no problem for Ole' Jim to move about the place, the locked gate gave me a spot of bother. Soon enough Ole' Jim found his body and I drug it out to a nice place behind the old Post Office. Didn't figure anyone would look there. Digging graves is hard work. For the life of me, I still can't figure out how I got so much dirt, for such a little hole, but finally the deed was done. Before I covered Ole' Jim up and said a few words, he gave me a bit of a warning. It had taken him soo long to find his body and get a proper burial, that he asked some friends to help him out. Some not so nice friends. So if you go to the hardware store or the old Hotel, don't go at night... you might run into some of Ole' Jim's, not so nice friends.