Uncle Louis' Sepulchre

The Twenty-Seventh Duke of Glaring sighed as he stared down from the barrister at the hordes of tourists snooping around his home. He considers Glaring Castle a lovely home for his young family. But the high maintenance costs were too much. And he can't afford its upkeep on his bank manager's salary.

Begrudgingly, he opened his home to the public for paid tours.

But a ghost has also decided to visit the castle, and it's not for the tour. In fact, the ghost knows exactly where to go: the Blue Room.


On three separate occasions, visitors reported to the Duke a visitation by this other world being in the Blue Room.

All of the visits were the same: First, a green light appears in a corner of the Blue Room. Then, the light moves around before slowly dimming out. A few seconds later, the lights in the room turn on, and a tall, skinny man with short black hair, wearing a military uniform, stands at the bedside. He doesn't say a word; only smiles. Then, in the blink of an eye, he vanishes, and the lights turn back off.

Disturbed by these identical reports, the Duke of Glaring invited a noted exorcist to Glaring Castle to purge it of this visitor.

When the exorcist arrived, the Duke took him to the Blue Room.

Almost immediately upon stepping over the threshold into the room, the exorcist sensed an otherworld presence attempting to communicate.

"Who's there!" The exorcist exclaimed into the empty room.

No response. "Speak! Show yourself!" He shouted.

A greenish light suddenly swirled around the exorcist. It lifted him slightly off the ground for a moment, and put him back down.

Then, in a flash, the greenish light disappeared.

Drained and exhausted, the exorcist went to speak with Lord Glaring.

"I know the identity of the spirit that haunts this room," said the exorcist as he wiped sweat off his forehead.

"Well, expel it then," Lord Glaring replied, shocked the exorcist didn't just expel the spirit on his own.

"He wishes to stay," the exorcist said. "This castle belongs to him too. He's your great uncle Louis Glaring."

"Uncle Louis?" Lord Glaring remembered his grandfather, Lord Richard Glaring, discussing his wayward brother. But Lord Glaring forgot about his great uncle.

"But my guests told me the apparition wore a military uniform. Uncle Louis never served in the military."

"Your family deceived you, my lord." The exorcist said. "Your uncle not only served in the armed services, he served with high distinction."

"What does he want?" Lord Glaring asked. "Why does he appear now? What does he want to tell us?"


"After Britain declared war on Germany in 1939," Lord Glaring began, "thousands of young Britons volunteered to fight in the war.

"Your Uncle Louis was one of them. He enlisted and joined the First Battalion Grenadier Guards. Uncle Louis' mother, Lady Penelope, feared for her youngest son. She knew he was a natural leader and would be sent straight to the front. She tried to talk Uncle Louis out of joining to fight in the war, but his sense of duty overcame him. Soon he left for France to assist with defending against the German advance."

"I never knew he volunteered," Lord Glaring chimed in. "I thought he was drafted in."

"While your uncle was gone," the exorcist continued, "Lady Penelope waited desperately for news on her son's location. Weeks went by. Finally, news reached home of the Dunkirk evacuation. She asked her friends who had sons fighting in the war if they knew of Uncle Louis' location. They did not."

"I was always told Uncle Louis' job was administrative," Lord Glaring said with an air of sheer amazement in his voice. "But he was on the front lines." Lord Glaring was caught off guard by these details and had to take a seat as the exorcist continued.

"Days later, when Uncle Louis was not amongst the British troops from Dunkirk returned to British soil, Lady Penelope feared her son had indeed perished. In a desperate search for answers, she traveled to the British Foreign Secretary and inquired into her son's location. Unfortunately, despite an exhaustive search, British Foreign Intelligence could not locate Uncle Louis."

"Oh my god," Lord Glaring exclaimed, clasping his hands on his face. He could not believe Lady Penelope never told him.


"But Lady Penelope soon had worse to fear," the exorcist continued. Lord Glaring could not believe the story gets worse. "She heard through the grapevine the Germans had captured Uncle Louis and the rest of his unit fifty miles from the beaches at Dunkirk. At the hands of their German captors, Uncle Louis and his comrades were subjected to unspeakable torment. The horrid conditions resulted in Uncle Louis suffering from typhoid fever, which killed him. German military officials, unwilling to face the consequences for the horrid conditions in the camp, buried Uncle Louis' body in an unmarked grave near a railway embankment."

As the exorcist went on, Lord Glaring's eyes stayed open in astonishment, and a single tear rolled down his cheek.

"But Uncle Louis was not intent on being forgotten -- even from beyond the grave," the exorcist said, changing his tone to one of hope." He decided to pay his dear mother a visit. He provided Lady Penelope with the location where the Germans buried him. Immediately, she sent a search party to retrieve her son's body from that site. The search party was able to locate Uncle Louis' body at the railway embankment and returned it to Lady Penelope. She threw together an elaborate burial service for her late son. And finally, his body was laid to rest."

"Wait." Lord Glaring said. "That's it? If he was buried, why is the spirit still haunting the castle?"

The exorcist looked at Lord Glaring. "Uncle Louis' body was not returned home. It's still buried near that railway embankment."

"What?!" Lord Glaring exclaimed. "All this time? Who did my aunt bury?"

"Another soldier."

"But my aunt must have noticed she buried the wrong person?" Lord Glaring asked. "Why didn't he come back to tell her?"

"Your uncle did not wish to cause Lady Penelope any further pain. In her grief, she failed to see the body she buried was not her son's. So, he waited until she died to return to his ancestral home."

The exorcist stopped speaking for a moment and pointed directly at Lord Glaring. "Uncle Louis wants you to find his body and bring it back."

"But by now his body has rotted and decomposed," Lord Glaring said. "How am I supposed to find it now."

"He will help you," the exorcist said. "Uncle Louis plans on visiting you tonight with instructions."

Lord Glaring didn't know what to think. But he thanked the exorcist and sent him on his way.


To be continued . . .