Past Glory

It stood on the edge of town, what used to be called Prosper Hill, empty and run down somewhat from what must have been a glorious past. My Father loved walking by the Glickman place as a boy and I did my share as well. The history dates back to the end of the last century and the beginning of the Victorian era.

As I grew, I became interested in History and Architecture, like my Father, but mainly in the History of everything. I read anything I could get my hands on. While the other kids were outside playing, I was inside reading.

The Glickman House is supposed to be haunted. I do not know if that is true or not, but most of the kids in town would not go onto the property where the house sat. An estate that includes some fifty acres easily. Old gardens and water features, now overgrown and busted, manicured lawns once surrounded the house and there is plenty of woods, dark and creepy.

Three stories tall with an attic on top, not counting the tower. A basement and sub-basement sat underneath and there is talk of hidden tunnels radiating outward. Who knew for sure as nobody had been inside the place for almost Forty years. Not since the last family member had died and he was rumored to be around a hundred years, but nobody knew for sure.

I had taken many pictures of the house over the years with my old Kodak camera. None of the kids in town went by the place on Holloween, none except for me. This year a storm blew above us with lots of Thunder and flashes of light across the sky. A few raindrops did little to dampen the spirit of the day.

My Mom thought I was nuts for not going out Trick or Treating like the other kids. With my good teeth and oily skin, candy I did not need. Instead, I stood across the street from the Glickman House surprised more windows had not been busted out this past year. The wind through the trees sounded like someone moaning. Kind of spooky and I liked it. Is that strange?

As I stared at the house a flash of light appeared in one of the upper windows. Was someone in there? Or did old Jake Glickman return from the grave to haunt the house as he claimed to have said in one of his last gasps of breath.