“I’m Stefan,” he said. He had brilliant blonde hair that was almost white, he was tall and broad-shouldered.
“Sorry, I didn’t see you there, I was rather struck by how imposing the house looks.”
“It’s something alright isn’t it, look, come in and we’ll get you settled and then we can talk about the article.”
She followed him in. The instant she walked through the heavy wooden doors. The warmth from outside was replaced with an icy chill. The high-ceilinged chamber had a large chandelier hanging from it. Images of gods and birds were etched in obsidian wood, so black that it almost seemed to shine in the slivers of light that broke through the darkness. A spiral staircase wound up to another level. The stairs were covered in a faded scarlet carpet. Thick layers of dust coated the floor. A grandfather clock stood nearby but the pendulum was motionless and rigid. As they walked through, Rita gazed in awe. It was the same feeling she had when she had gone traveling in Europe and had visited some old churches. Entering them filled her with a sense of something greater, and she gulped at the prospect of her initial assessment being wrong. Rationally, she knew that there were no such things as ghosts but if there was a place that housed a ghost then this would be it.
Stefan took her through the main chamber and as they walked through the corridor she peered into the rooms. Various people were installing equipment and lights, and this returned a sense of normality. By the time they had reached their destination she was quite calm and had regained her composure. The room in which she eventually ended up seemed to be an old library, filled to the brim with books. A wide desk sat in the middle, and it was behind this that Stefan took a seat. A number of people came up to him and thrust papers in front of him. He glanced at them and signed them.
“My apologies, but getting these places ready on time is always a busy period and we have to meet our deadlines. Well, welcome to the manor!” he proudly said.
“It is rather impressive,” she admitted.
“I’ll give you the full tour later but I thought for now we could talk about how the article is going to go. What I really hope for this piece is that it shows people how seriously we take our jobs and the work that goes into it. A lot of people think that it’s just a show but we put a lot of effort into this so we want to make that clear. Ghost hunting is a legitimate business, and we hope that you can put that through in the article. I plan to show you our equipment and how we find the ghosts, and once you’re familiar with our set up, you can then join us! I want to give you a great deal of freedom so feel free to ask around and if you want to interview anyone in particular let me know and I’ll arrange it. I would caution you not to wander off and explore the house too much.”
“Is that because of the dark spiritual energy flowing through it?” she joked. Stefan looked at her curiously.
“No, it’s because the house has been abandoned for a long time and there’s some structural damage. I wouldn’t want you walking along and finding the floor crumbling beneath your feet.”
Rita felt stupid and nodded her head. She found Stefan to be a confusing man because he seemed so rational and level-headed, and yet seemed to believe his own hype. He seemed to actually believe he was hunting ghosts, and Rita found that incredible. Rita began with a few questions and asked him about how he got into the ghost hunting business.
“In Sweden, there are many ghoulish tales and lots of bedtime horror stories. I’ve always been fascinated by them even as a child, so I made it my mission to find the truth behind them. That led me to meet some fascinating people, and we started to explore places of high ectoplasmic energy. And now we’re doing the same in America.”
Rita listening intently although she still felt strange. It was almost like being the only atheist in a church of devout believers. She almost felt ashamed of not agreeing with their beliefs, but she didn’t voice it out loud for she reminded herself that she was there to do a job and not get involved or let her opinion influence the article too much. Still, it was difficult to listen to him and not roll her eyes, but somehow she showed restraint. They walked around the interior of the house and Stefan introduced her to other members of his crew. Some had been working with him from Sweden but others had joined him in America. It all looked very technical and Stefan explained it in a way that left Rita scratching her head. It sounded impressive but for all she knew it may have just been meaningless strings of words.
He showed her a number of devices, most of which looked like things from Star Trek, but he insisted they worked. He showed her one of the detectors they used. It was a long thing with a screen that looked like a radar. He pointed the antennae away from him and scanned the nearby area. Unsurprisingly, thought Rita, it didn’t pick anything up. As they walked and talked, the house started to become more normal and was losing its creepy aura. They ventured outside where more people were milling about, framing shots and shooting some scenes of the exterior. Stefan continued evangelizing her work and Rita’s attention began to wane. She appreciated his passion but it struck her as hollow for she was convinced that this was all just a big con, and all this effort could have been poured into something far more important and valuable.
But she had a job to do.
“So what is the story behind this place? What was the allure of investigating this area?”
Stefan puffed out his cheeks before he answered. “This is one of the most spiritually-rich areas in the country. There have been so many stories passed down from generation to generation that it seems to have a high level of activity, although since the people have left it’s been left unobserved. I spoke to a few old residents of the town and whenever I mentioned this place, the same look came over their eyes. It’s a look that I’ve seen many times during my career, one of absolute horror, like they’ve seen things that no human should ever see.”
“But why? What happened here?”
“Are you sure you want to know?” he asked with a wicked smile. Rita pouted and this time she couldn’t help but roll her eyes.
“There used to be a wealthy family that lived here. They moved into the area but were socialites for the city and the head of the household had influence in a number of businesses, so they had traveled all over the country, and when word came that they were settling in this place, the people welcomed them with open arms. They were kind and a number of opportunities opened up. They also held regular events here. Once upon a time these hall would have been filled with the sounds of laughter and joy,” as he said this he looked up and a wistful expression came over him before he continued his story.
“One summer, a cousin and his friend came to visit. I should say a distant cousin. They were welcomed with open arms but then murders started happening. The sheriff tried to investigate but it was a small community so the natural suspects were the two newcomers. The family protected their own, naturally, but they pointed the finger at the friend. Well, the cousin didn’t like the sound of that and he protested the innocence of his friend. They were young as well, probably about the same age as you, and once the townspeople were convinced they had no chance of defending themselves.
They were hung quickly, and the people rejoiced that such evil had been vanquished. But there was one person who wasn’t convinced. He did some investigation and found that there had been a trail of murders over the country, in the exact same places as the family had visited, and each had coincided with a visit from a friend of the family or a distant relative, and they had been blamed. Once the community found out they were shocked, not just at the deception but that they had been fooled into murdering two innocent young men. This shared guilt hung over the town and was passed down from generation to generation. People ebbed away as they tried to forget, but none could. The family was finally arrested but before they could be tried they escaped to Japan and as far as anyone knows they were never punished for their crimes. This mansion was left like this and nobody ever came here until years later, when teenagers used to come and get away from their parent
s. They were the first to experience the ghosts but nobody believed them. However, over time, more and more stories emerged and the citizens had to face the truth. Word spread and people refused to come, aside from people like me who are intrigued by these things. But the town never recovered and it is what you see now, a mere shell of what it once was.”
The tale riveted Rita and although she didn’t wholly believe it she could see that Stefan was a skilled storyteller and he spoke with such conviction that it was easy to be swept up in it. She nodded along and took some more notes but she was sure that there must have been some other explanation. Things just didn’t work like this in the real world.
They came to the west wing of the house and again people were working hard to get things ready. Even though she didn’t agree with the concept of the show, she was impressed by the efforts they made to make the show a professional one. In front of them was a dark passage, and was one of the areas that suffered from structural integrity problems. They had one of the ectoplasmic scanners though, and as Rita was talking to one of the engineers it started to beep. They all froze.
“Remarkable,” Stefan said. The engineer picked up the scanner. The green line rippled over the screen and it got fuzzier as he pointed it at the passageway. Rita froze, unsure of what was happening, but the air around her suddenly got colder and a chill ran down her spine. The engineer slowly turned and the followed the rippling effect until he pointed it right at Rita. He glanced at Stefan, and a concerned look came over his eyes. He raised his arm and looked directly at Rita.
“I don’t want to alarm you, but whatever entities are here are standing either side of you. It seems we have two ghosts, the cousin and his friend no doubt. They don’t usually come out in the daytime like this. I wonder what brought them out…” he wondered aloud. Rita gulped and her eyes darted either side of her. She could see nothing but she could feel a slight crackling the air either side of her. It was an unearthly experience and one that set her heart thumping. Fear rose within and her breaths became short and sharp, but it was also mixed with an odd sensation, for the air made her skin tingle and a surge of pleasure tore through her. Rita’s froze rigidly and didn’t dare move, even though she didn’t believe that anything was happening.
Chapter 3
“Don’t worry, you’ll be fine,” Stefan reassured her, “This has happened before. They have probably just been alerted to our presence. Have you ever had spiritual encounters before?”
Rita shook her head. Stefan furrowed his brow. “Hmm, that’s surprising. Usually they’re drawn to people who are somehow tethered to the spiritual world. Okay, I’m going to try to talk to them, but nothing is going to happen to you. You may hear some strange sounds or feel some rattling, if that’s the case it’s probably them just trying to scare us away. Most ghosts like to be left alone, I suppose like anyone they hate people poking around in their territory.”
Stefan cleared his throat and tilted his head up. His voice bellowed out and echoed through the house. By now, word had reached other members of the crew and they all came up to watch Stefan do his thing. Before he spoke, however, he turned to his cameraman and told him to shoot it to save them having to capture it later.
“Spirits of the house! We can sense your presence. We know you are here. We apologize for trespassing on your home but we mean you no harm. We are simply here to tell the world your story, to show them that you do exist and that you still matter to the world. I appreciate that you’re confused and you might not realize how much time has passed, and much of what we have must seem strange to you but we are simply people just like you once were. Please co-operate with us and once we have completed our task we will leave you in peace once more.”
Rita felt static electricity sizzle around her. Her hair started to float up, away from her scalp, and her eyes widened in panic.
“Please, believe me,” Stefan said, his eyes searching for some sign of ethereal movement, “we mean you no harm. We will not hurt you or affect you in any way, we are simply here to tell your story, no more and no less. Leave us in peace and we will do the same to you. There is no reason why we have to be enemies.”
The electricity around Rita dissipated and her hair fell against her head. The beeping on the scanner grew slower as the ghosts seemed to disappear down the passage way. Rita felt light-headed and almost collapsed to the floor, such was the intensity of the experience.
“Are you okay?” Stefan asked. He glanced down the dark corridor. “Seems like they believed me, but it’s going to be hard to get a good reading down there for the show. It doesn’t look safe at all. I think we’re going to need to get some scaffolding up and re-inforce it. That’s where the money shots are going to be. Think we can get it done on time?”
“We always do,” the engineer said gruffly. They went off to do some more work, but Rita was still shaken from the experience. It was like nothing she had ever felt before. Stefan came up to her and placed his hands on her arms, and looked directly into her eyes.
“That was…that was…wow. I don’t…for a moment I could actually feel them,” she said.
“It’s an unusual experience. I remember the first time I felt another presence, when I could actually comprehend and understand it anyway, for I had many when I was a child. But when I was a teenager I felt one standing right beside me. At first I was afraid but then I realized how wonderful it was, for I had made a connection with another human being that went beyond this physical world. It’s not everyone that can do that. You must have a lot of spiritual energy within you to draw them to you like this. You’re gifted Rita, and you should take pride in that.”
She smiled weakly, not feeling proud at all. In fact she felt rather embarrassed and confused. She had been so scared and yet for what? For all she knew it was theatricality and deception that had caused this, it could have been a pure act of showmanship. And yet…and yet…it felt so real that she had a difficult time denying it to herself. She couldn’t simply dismiss the way the air had crackled around her or the way her skin had tingled. Stefan was right, she had felt their presence either side of her and it felt like something wonderful. Yet it was devastating to have her whole belief system crumble by an experience that lasted a matter of minutes. She had to have more evidence, she had to know for sure.
For the rest of the day, she followed Stefan around dutifully and took notes. To his credit he kept checking that she was alright, and she started to believe that it wasn’t simply showmanship because to commit to such an act would have been a total lie, and he seemed too kind-hearted for that. She interviewed a number of other people and they all praised Stefan for his drive and vision. Some of them even confided in her that they had thought of this only as a job and hadn’t believed in it at all, but after the things they had seen they had changed their opinions dramatically. Part of Rita was still hoping that this would all turn out to be a big con but the more she spoke to the people the more she was becoming convinced that it was all too real.
At the end of the day she went back to her car and collected her notes. She got deeply into reflecting upon the day, when a knock on the window disturbed her. It made her jump, for she had been consumed with thoughts about the phantoms. It was Stefan, who invited her to stay with them in the tents they had set up. She had intended to sleep in her car, and although sleeping outside the haunted house wasn’t an ideal situation, she had to admit that it was preferable that she be around other people. She agreed and joined them. They had a small fire going and grilled some meat. Soon enough, alcohol was passed around as well, and the mixture of Scandinavians and Americans soon crossed the cultural divide as they got drunk. Conversation flowed freely and Stefan’s eyes appeared glazed over. Rita sensed an opportunity to get to the truth. She sidled up to Stefan and took a bite out of a hot dog. He was swaying along as another member of the group played a guitar softly, lulling him into a trance.
“So be honest with me Stefan, do you actually believe what you’re doing here? Like, t
his isn’t some big con, is it?” He smiled and gazed at her, but it was a strange gaze, almost as though he was looking straight through her.
“Do you deny what you felt today?”
“I…I’m not sure. It felt real but my senses can be deceived. You’ve been doing this a long time. Are you really telling me that you’ve never faked anything?”
Stefan sighed. “Are we off the record now?” Rita reluctantly agreed for her need to know overpowered her need to tell the world, and no matter what she may have done in the past she wasn’t going to breach her professional ethics. “Very well. For the purposes of entertainment, yes, I have had to fake some things, but that is the nature of making a television show. I am not proud of it but the producers want entertainment, and when the show ends with nothing happening it’s not good for the audience or the sponsors, so I have to do a dance with the devil and make a compromise. But it’s all worth it because when something real does happen, like today, then I get to capture it on camera and I get to make people see the world in a different way. Like you, I knew when you came here that you did not believe. You might have thought you were hiding it but I saw the way you looked when you were writing things down. I have had to deal with those looks all my life so I know them well, but I do not blame you because it is not an easy thing to believe. Yet now I see you have changed. There is belief in your heart now. Your eyes sparkle with the truth, and I know it is difficult but for your own sake you must accept what happened. The easiest thing is to deny, deny, deny, the harder path, the one that takes more courage, is to believe.”
Shifters in the Shadows Page 23