A House

The locals refused to get any closer to the property than the eight-foot tall walls topped with rusting iron spikes and embedded broken glass pieces that encircled the estate. Close enough, they assured me upon my arrival, to still hear the shrieks from within the walls and see the lights winding through the structure at night when some poor unfortunate soul might chance walking by the grounds. The elders of the village, children when the murders allegedly took place within the confines of the mansion, only remembered vaguely that three souls were set free from their earthly bonds while an insane assailant rampaged over them. Two of the bodies were found in bits and pieces surrounding the outskirts of the estate. Some pieces were never accounted for, so the story went. And, according to the local legend, three souls were still roaming the grounds of the estate searching for the missing body pieces and the perpetrator of the crime. Three deaths that literally destroyed the last known members of the McNome family.

Stories. Legends. Tales. I knew from years of informal investigation that seldom, if ever, were things to happen in a structure rumored to be haunted that could not be justified to physical, living reasons. Am I implying most hauntings are actually explainable by some other means? Yes, in fact, I am saying just that. The reasons for such activities escapes reasonable explanation in most cases but, just the same, I could not argue the conclusive fact that seldom, if ever, was there not identified an earthly tie to a spiritual encounter. And that, I boasted, was why I was interested in dealing with that structure. If the mansion was haunted I would, indeed, be more than willing to assure the townsfolk their stories and legends were still credible explanations. I assured them I would love to be wrong about the tales of the mansion being haunted being true. And, to attempt further authenticating the possibility of a spiritual involvement in the mansion, I brought along my special, psychic companion and friend, Adam.

I had become involved with the McNome mansion and its tales of haunting through a letter I received at work. The letter, from the mayor’s office of the town, was at the request of an old, established legal firm – the same firm that had represented the family while they were living and continued to act as executors to the assets and grounds. The conditions stated in the request said only an investigation by me and my company would be allowed upon the property at the request of the legal executors who had researched me and my psychic dealings before having the letter sent. It was there, at the town hall, our investigation began.

In case you have not concluded by this time I will confirm your suspicions about me. Yes, I am an amateur psychic investigator: a "ghost hunter." Although I own and manage a large conglomerate corporation in which I earn more than a modest living, my hobby is what keeps the color in my face and the spring in my step. I do follow other adventures, of course, but investigating reports of ghosts and mysterious happenings sends sparks of excitement through every thread of my being. Of course, teaming up with Adam was sheer brilliance – and fortune. Finding one of his obvious talents is rare indeed. Repeatedly hearing from those seeing him in action that he reveals details long forgotten or only later rediscovered simply confirms how fortunate I was in meeting him in the first place.

Adam and I shared many experiences in places sworn to be haunted and, although Adam had frequently detected the presence of "life forces" in the structures we had investigated as being haunted, never in all his previous experiences had he felt the spirit world had significantly impacted on the environment. He could detect the presence of past events but always felt these were only left over energies and not active spiritual intervention. He could not understand how he could so vividly experience the happenings of the past but understand all the same that he was detecting what he thought of as "recorded events," not active interaction. Somehow, he always assured me, he would know when there was such a thing as a ghost because he felt this ghost would be able to carry on a conversation or interaction with him and others based on what was currently happening at the time. Somehow, I felt this house might give him the opportunity to prove his theories.