As the tour continued, Josie found her mind wandering throughout the entirety of the tour. Griselda droned on and on, pointing out every nook and cranny of the magnificent house. Lightning interjected often, correcting Griselda on more than one point, which made everyone antsy and uncomfortable. The Paranormalists were filming everything and adding in whispered commentary that was louder than they realized. Josie had decided that the couplings were Avery and Simon, Sam and Cody, as that seemed to be the way they naturally paired off. It was also interesting to see Simon in this environment. He was clearly a director of some kind or in charge. He told them where to shoot and made sure they said certain things on camera or didn’t say other things. Cici was less interested in the tour and more interested in what they were doing. She followed them closely and hung on to their every word.
Verny and Cookie seemed engrossed in what Griselda was saying, and even the high school kids were enjoying it. Josie couldn’t seem to focus on the things that were being said though. She was preoccupied with expecting something to jump out at her around every corner. Every time a curtain blew from an open window, a light flickered, or a pipe creaked she felt a chill down her spine.
“Now that we have returned to the dining room, dinner will be served,” Griselda said, surprising Josie. She hadn’t even realized that they were back in the dining room. “I will leave you for the evening and to enjoy your dinner, shortly. If there is an emergency, all numbers you might need to call are listed on the inside of the front door.”
“Shouldn’t we just call 911 if there is an emergency?” Josie asked.
“Yes, that should be your first call. Nigel, the man who let you into the house sleeps in the guest house out back, so if something minor happens or there is an issue with electricity, he can help with that,” Griselda said with finality, as though she expected they would need him at some point. “Dinner will be served momentarily,” she added. “Please sit.”
“Are we supposed to sit where the name tags are?” Cookie asked grimacing at hers. She was situated on the opposite end of the massive table near the family with the young boy and the high school gang. She was nowhere near where Verny and Josie had been seated.
“I suppose you don’t have to, but that is what they are there for,” Griselda said dryly. Clearly, they were not meant to move, but Cookie didn’t really care and plucked her name tag placing it by Josie and Verny. It didn’t take long for everyone to move their places so that they were sitting where they wanted. Griselda looked on with her lips pursed annoyed by the proceedings. They mixed groups at the dining table to encourage people to meet others on the tour. It was meant to be an experience, not a regular dinner.
“What is for dinner?” Josie asked curiously, all she knew was that they were going to be served the favorite meal of Nathaniel Charleston. No one had bothered to tell them what that was going to be.
“Nathaniel Charleston’s favorite meal was a vegetable stew starter, roast turkey with a cranberry sauce side, cooked green beans and boiled ham,” Lightning answered before Griselda got the chance. The guests unfamiliar with Lightning looked shocked that he would know such a nuanced and small detail. They had been impressed with his interjections during the tour. Griselda was less than impressed. It was only a moment or two later when a bunch of servants dressed in old livery brought out the food.
“He also enjoyed custard and stewed fruit for dessert,” Griselda added giving Lightning an annoyed look. The tour had ended up taken nearly twice the length she had originally stated. That was mostly because of Lightning, but the Paranormalists were to blame as well. They stopped the tour’s natural flow often to get a better shot of something or to have Griselda repeat something that she had already said. “Now that your stew is served, I will leave you.” She didn’t even wait half a second before vacating. Josie was certain that this was her least favorite tour she'd ever given.
They enjoyed their dinner mostly in silence, the tour had gone on so long that it they were all starving by the time dinner arrived.
“This is all delicious,” Josie commented, which most everyone nodded in agreement. One girl was eating a sandwich because she had some kind of dietary restriction that made her unable to eat almost everything else that was prepared. She looked like she enjoyed it, but Josie still felt bad about eating all the other food in front of her.
“I don’t blame him for having this as a favorite meal,” Verny agreed.
“Still regretting coming?” Cookie asked Josie as conversations started all around the table. Cici had finally gotten the courage to introduce herself to the Paranormalists and was peppering them with questions. Cody, Avery and Sam seemed happy to meet a fan and indulge her in answering all of her questions. Simon had returned to his standoffish ways and was sitting silently with his arms crossed. He seemed annoyed by Cici’s questions but didn’t say anything to make her stop.
“No,” Josie admitted with a sigh. “I guess it’s just an old house,” she shrugged. Almost as soon as she said it, the lights flickered and then turned off, leaving them in complete darkness. Josie screamed but stopped herself short feeling self-conscious about her over reaction as no one else let out more than just a gasp.
They waited for a moment to see if the lights would come back on. When they didn’t, everyone began slowly milling around. The Paranormalists flew into action, recording immediately.
“Switch to night vision,” Simon ordered. “If this is because of a spirit, I want to catch it.” Lightning scoffed.
“Night vision is on,” Sam assured him.
“I’ll get the EMF reader out,” Avery said. “I’ll bet there is some crazy activity going on right now.” Josie felt her heart leap into her throat. This was like a nightmare come to life.
“I’ll bet that this is some kind of gimmick and they turned off the lights,” Lightning said calmly. He was watching the chaos from his chair at the table. Everyone else had gotten up and were stumbling around in the dark. The only light was from the front of the camera that Sam was recording with.
“It’s too dark, someone is going to get hurt,” Verny said stumbling into a foot stool.
“I think I saw matches for these candles in the study,” Cookie offered. “Someone with a phone that has a light on it come with me.” Josie wasn’t about to go anywhere. She had clutched onto Verny’s arm and had no plans of letting go any time soon.
“I have one,” Verny said. “But Josie will have to allow me my arm back,” she said prying Josie off of her.
“I’ll come too, I guess,” she said unenthusiastically.
“Maybe someone should call Nigel. Isn’t that what the tour guide told us to do?” The father of the young boy suggested. “While you go to the study get the number.”
“Will do,” Verny said with a nod in the direction she thought the voice was coming from, though no one could see her.
“I’m sure that it’s a set up,” Lightning said. “Why else would she have even mentioned that we could call him if something went wrong with the lights? Not to mention the fact that they have all these candles in here and none of them lit, but conveniently they put the matches in a place where we could find them.” Josie found his logic comforting and thought along the same lines. That didn’t make her less logical side any less terrified.
“Regardless, we need to be able to see,” Verny replied.
“Everyone, quiet!” Avery said. “I’ve got something.” The machine in her hands started to whir and make feedback noises.
“There is definitely a presence here,” Cody said looking at the hand-held machine over her shoulder.
“That’s undeniable proof,” Cici agreed. She pointed at the EMF reader in the dark. “That detects movement of electrically charged objects, and it’s going crazy. It has to be detecting some sort of spirit.” Verny was impressed by her knowledge, even though it was on something that wasn’t real.
“Pfft, undeniable,” Lightning said.
“Hold on,” Sam said. “What was
that?” She asked looking at the view finder of her camera. Rapidly she moved the camera across the room as if she was following something from one end of the room to the other.
“What was what?” Josie asked, wishing she was anywhere but there.
“I saw something go across the screen. I don’t know what it was,” she admitted.
“That’s because it was dust or a breeze,” Lightning replied.
“No,” Cici disagreed. “I saw it too,” she insisted, nodding.
“Let’s go get the matches,” Cookie said grabbing Josie’s arm. “Then we can all regroup and try to give Nigel a call.”
“Okay, maybe we can go home,” Josie suggested in a small voice. “If he can’t fix the lights,” she added trying to save face. Verny clicked on the flashlight app on her cellphone. She and Cookie pulled Josie from the dining room as quickly as they could. Any more talk of ghosts and spirits and Josie might have a heart attack.
“You okay?” Cookie asked her as they walked towards the study. Josie shook her head no in reply. The lights turned back on.
“Oh thank goodness,” Josie sighed in relief. The house seemed to transform in the light, returning to an nonthreatening house. With the lights off, it felt like it was possessed with something evil.
“See, with the lights off it’s not so bad,” Verny assured her. She rubbed her shoulders a bit trying to comfort her.
“No, I guess not,” Josie agreed. “I wish I could go home though,” she admitted.
“I’m sure the rest of the night will be uneventful. I bet they do that just to add a little intrigue. Lightning is probably right that it was only a gimmick. They want people to leave with a story,” Cookie said, giving Josie a pat on the arm. “The haunted angle is the one they have to play up. It pays better than simply a historic home.”
“Yeah,” Verny agreed. “The rest of the night is sure to be uneventful.
“I’m sure you’re right,” Josie said with a nod, trying to pull herself together.
Chapter Five
The rest of the night was mostly uneventful to Josie’s delight but to the Paranormalists and Cici’s disappointment. They replayed the footage that Sam took tracking whatever she thought she saw go across the room. Cody set it up on his laptop, so everyone could watch what they recorded. Simon argued with him over it, he didn’t want to give anyone a preview, but Cody said that no one here was going to steal their thunder. Besides, they were all there when it happened.
“I don’t see anything,” Cookie said leaning closer to the screen.
“You didn’t see that?” Cody asked her. She shook her head along with most of the group. It seemed the Paranormalists and Cici saw something no one else did.
“Let me slow it down and I’ll replay it,” Cody offered. He changed some settings quickly and then played the clip again. He pointed at the screen when the supposed entity crossed the frame. “There!” He announced.
“Did you see it that time?” Sam asked the general group. Cookie shook her head, but a few people seemed to notice something this time around. Lightning refused to indulge them in watching the video, although he did seem to enjoy the fact that no one could see what they saw until it was pointed out. Most paranormal footage or proof was video of dust motes or dirty lenses. It wasn’t proof if you had to circle it and manipulate footage for it to be clear.
“I saw it,” one of the high school students said confidently. “I definitely saw something that time. It’s really subtle, but it’s there.”
“I still didn’t see anything,” Verny said, which earned her a glare from Cici. “Sorry, I didn’t!” She said holding her arms up in defense.
“We can go through it frame by frame,” Avery offered, taking the laptop from Cody.
“Why are we even wasting time on this?” Simon asked. “We’re not here for them. We need to gather evidence, film the house and get content. We don’t need to show this clip to a bunch of non-believers.” He sounded frustrated by the length of time this was taking.
“We can take a few minutes to look over the footage, it’s not that big a deal,” Cody argued. “Besides, we can be friendly.” Simon huffed and stormed off but didn’t fight anymore. Avery shot Cody a look and stood to follow him.
“I’m going to make sure he’s okay,” she said quietly.
“I could go,” Sam offered. Avery shook her head and left. Sam gave Cody a look as well.
“What?” Cody asked. “It’s not like I was mean.”
“No, you weren’t,” Sam conceded. “Here, I’ll play it frame by frame.” She grabbed the laptop from the spot on the couch where Avery left it.
“Do you still want to see it?” Cody asked everyone.
“Yeah, let’s watch it,” Cookie said enthusiastically. They clearly felt uncomfortable and were trying to detract from Simon’s outburst. It wasn’t exactly his first one of the night. He had made a few statements about wasting time and needing to get content already. Sam smiled gratefully at Cookie and replayed the footage frame by frame, pointing out a small orb-like thing that went across the screen.
“I definitely saw it that time, thanks,” Cookie said, though she didn’t really see anything. She was just trying to be nice. Simon and Avery could be heard arguing in the other room. They were clearly trying to be quiet but not really succeeding.
“Yeah, us too,” the other high school students agreed. Josie hadn’t seen anything and that made her a little bit more comfortable with the idea of spending the rest of the night there. If she had seen anything, she might have made a run for it.
“This is so cool,” Cici gushed. “I’m watching paranormal footage with the Paranormalists.”
“I’m glad you see it that way,” Sam smiled at her. “Do you want to help us grab some b-roll footage?” She offered. Cici had told them all about her film classes that she took at school. She'd been inspired by them to learn how to film and edit videos of her own.
“I’d love to!” Cici said, unable to contain any of her excitement. “Can I really?” She asked, to which Sam laughed and nodded.
“I’ll show you what kind of thing we're looking for,” she said standing up from the couch and grabbing the camera. Cici followed her as quickly as she could. She gave Verny a wide smile before leaving the room. As they left, Simon and Avery returned.
“What are they doing?” Simon asked watching them leave.
“They’re getting B-roll,” Cody replied tersely. He was clearly still not over their earlier discussion. “Or is that not okay?” He added sarcastically. Avery shot him a warning look.
“Stop it,” she whispered to him. He shook his head but let it go and Simon seemed to pretend as though he hadn’t heard Cody speak.
“Well, I’m going to explore,” Lightning said. “I’d like to see the house without all that incessant chattering in the background.”
“You mean the tour guide?” Verny asked him.
“Exactly,” He replied. “Not to mention all the other interruptions we've had,” Lightning said not so subtly referencing the ghost hunters. “I knew more than that woman did. She had half the information wrong.”
“I’m sure she did,” Cookie said, not listening to him. “Go, enjoy the house. You’ve been waiting decades.”
“Anyone interested in a more in depth and factually correct tour?” Lightning offered, looking at everyone who was there.
“I might take you up on that,” the father of the young boy said.
“You go, I’m going to put Max to bed,” his wife said. No one else took Lightning up on his offer so the two men left. They could hear Lightning enthusiastically begin to regale the man with the entire history of the house and those who inhabited it. The man’s wife bid everyone goodnight and left with her son who looked like he was about to fall asleep on his feet. The sight of him made Josie realize how late it was.
“I’m pretty tired too, where are we setting up shop for the night?” She asked Cookie and Verny. They had been told that the bedrooms were off
limits and they would need to find a place to sleep in any other room. The young family had already taken the living room where the most couches were. The rest of the house had more than enough couches and chairs for them to sleep comfortably.
“I thought we could take the study?” Cookie said, making sure that no one else had planned on it. Simon, Avery and Cody weren’t paying attention and were taking different readings with various loud instruments and machines. The remaining high school students were watching something on one of their phone’s, clearly bored.
“The study it is then,” Josie said nodding to Cookie and Verny. They collected their things and brought them to the study.
“You’re ready for bed already?” Verny asked after they unpacked their pillows and sleeping bags.
“I doubt I’ll sleep at all,” Josie admitted. “It’s been a bit too eventful for me.”
“I’m sorry,” Cookie said. “I really didn’t think they would play up the scary as much as they did. Their brochures didn’t say anything about it.”
“It’s okay, it’s not your fault,” Josie said. “We don’t even know if the power outage was a planned thing. It could have just been some freak incident in an old house.”
“I doubt that,” Verny said. “But they should be more transparent about things like that. The creepy tour guide and things like that. I was worried that the young boy would get scared and start crying or something.”
“Let’s be real here,” Josie said. “You were more worried about me than the kid,” she laughed. She felt more at ease without the Paranormalists around. Josie was able to relax a bit and remember to think with logic. It was easy to get wrapped up in the excitement of whatever they said they sensed. A soft knock on the door interrupted her calm.
Haunted Homicide Page 4