I am Here The old Ash trees swing their arms softly in the night breeze, as the stars flicker softly in the sky. Captain Carrols old manor house is still, it is surrounded by years of overgrowth. The windows of the house are mysterious and lifeless. The front door is open just a little as one hinge has broken, if you did not know it would be like someone had stepped out. Some now consider this a haunted house by its rotting state. Bryn, on the other hand, sees this as a golden opportunity to try out his new ghost hunting equipment. Bryn has always been fascinated by the paranormal and he wants nothing more than to gather his own evidence on it. What he doesn’t know is that he will be entering a split in reality, one where the hands of his world and the paranormal shake. Bryn stands at the doorway of the house, in a few seconds he will enter. He had grown up in the small town not far from here and like all locals knew the history of the manor. Thinking about this for so long, he decided to explore it tonight. The history of the house is summarized in a few sentences at the county library in Thurles. Although the original document was in terrible condition it its history was all on computer. In the 1800s the Carrols set up home here and they managed to build a massive fortune. Over the years some were lucky and built to keep the fortune while other members lost more than the land could earn. So a time came when they moved on, and the house was sold. The new buyers from day one or should that be night, no sleep, the family was terrified. So the house has been vacant since... Bryn like so many more figured the house was haunted, the residents of the town confirmed this. There was a story among the old ones that said the father of the family, Charles, had made another fortune. Jeremiah, Charles’s brother, had become extremely jealous and burned down his brother’s home. He didn’t know his brother was asleep after falling from his horse early that day. There was a story at the time that anyone who tried to hurt the family would suffer with a bad back. The area was named Listnahall-back because of the validity of the legend. Jeremiah heard of the death of his brother and confessed he was hung over a convent gate in a nearby town. But over the years people said that money was hidden in the house, this brought different relatives of the family to tear most of the house apart. They fled, some say after meeting the ghost of the Captain in the dead of night in the great hall of the house, so they ran from the place that very night leaving all of their belongings behind. The terrified relatives sold the house to a family they knew would tear the house down to find the fortune. These people also fled in the night and paid a large sum for a coach to take them to the nearby little town. They told the coachmen what had happened that night and he told everyone he met from that day. It was old Charles they saw, he stood right in front of them as they tried to enter the great hall to remove the floor in their search for the fortune. He threw em out of his house! He knew they wanted his money. Well all that was history now, as Bryn set out to record some EVP and put it online, well face book. He wanted to investigate the paranormal but he believed it stopped at creaking doors and footsteps. Bryn stood under the moonlight with his camera and EVP recorder. He was nervous; the house was large and dark. He didn’t exactly have nerves of steel he just wished he wasn’t alone. He pushed the door open and it creaked long and loud, as if the door was awakening from a long sleep. He turned on his cameras light and the first room became comfortably bright. He made sure all of his ghost hunting equipment was on and recording. He took another step inside and the floor creaked, the ghostly atmosphere was here all right. Most of the furniture was in good condition and the roof did not have any holes as far as he could tell. The decor was very Victorian; you could see these people were well off. Bryn was always bothered by old paintings of people long gone; this house was full of them, even if you could not make out the faces of the places on them. Bryn started to narrate his experience when a picture dropped to the floor. His heart raced and he swung himself around, the picture was of Charles Carroll. He only knew this because the name was etched into little brass plate on the frame. I suppose Charles is awake, Bryn made himself more unsettled with the thought. He thought now might be a good time to attempt talking to the ghost. He lifted up his EVP recorder and spoke out loud, if this is Charles can you let me know? The silence broke in a moment, the EVP device made two static noises. One static noise for yes and two for no, the EVP device fell silent. Bryn admired his strength for a second and proceeded to go upstairs. The house was truly a feat of prowess in the profession of architecture. If only it was lit up and cleaner it could be a popular tourist attraction, even a hotel. Bryn walked up the stairs and shone his light around; there were so many doors on this floor. Bryn figured the best room for EVP would be the room it was said Charles had appeared in. He knew not which room it was so he checked them one by one. Each room had a bed frame of Iron with the remains of some sort of cloth still on them. He figured this was because of the sudden departure of the occupants. He lifted his EVP device again, is Charles here? The device made no sound and Bryn changed some settings on the device. It squealed loudly and Bryn jumped, his heart pounding once again. He sat on the bed and tried to calm himself, sweat was pouring down from his temples. Then to his side a shuffling noise was heard, Bryn slowly turned his head in the direction of the sound. There stood a man, twisted from the waist up. His head hung to the right and he stared in Bryn’s eyes. He wore dark overalls and a half-buttoned shirt. Tied around his waist was a white sheet, bloody on the left side. Bryn tried to lift his camera to face the man but it shut off. He looked down and frantically pressed the power button a few times. When he looked up again the man was at his side looking into his eyes. Bryn scurried over the bed and coiled up in the corner of the room. The man was hit with moonlight and it faintly passed through him. His hair was matted and he seemed to be in terrible pain. He somehow managed to stand with a twisted back, this must be Charles. Bryn stood up and gathered a sentence in his mind, he tried to calm down. I don’t want your money, I’ll go. The apparition turned around and limped towards the doorway, his head hanging to the side. In a few moments he faded away into the dark hall, only the sound of shuffling feet accompanying him. Bryn was feeling wobbly at the knees; he was disappointed in his camera for its sudden loss of power. Wanting to exit the house immediately he climbed out of the broken window and slid off the roof of the porch. He ran through the night into nearby town, nothing would stop him. In a few minutes Bryn could see what he now call home, quietly he entered the house so as not to wake up his family. When he got to his room he turned on his computer, and a light, to review the footage. Though he was still shivering and going in and out of thought he noticed something in the footage. When he turned quickly after Charles’s picture had fallen, his camera had caught something mid-turn. Rewinding and playing the video in slow-motion allowed him to see a figure standing at the bottom of the stairs. The figure was shrouded in motion blur but it stood lopsided, yes this was Charles. Bryn decided to release his footage online and received mixed feedback, as every amateur ghost hunter does. He was satisfied with his own new found evidence that was the reason for the investigation. One person brought something new to his attention. On the wooden frame of Charles’s fallen portrait were words in the wood grain. The words were on the left side of the frame in a vertical position. They read I am here. copyrighthayesp1999
Posted on: Thu, 04 Sep 2014 09:32:27 +0000
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