A Ghost at Stallion's Gate by Elizabeth Eagan-Cox Page A

it was anyone but Alex. Right away I thought he was teasing me. Then when I raised my voice at him, all of the sudden the person let go of me.” I turned to Alex, “I’m sorry. I know better than to think you would do that.”
    “All things considered, all you owe me is another date.”
    Gracie howled with laughter. “Just like a man, use any advantage he can get a hold of.”
    Her remark lightened the atmosphere and I laughed too, though I could tell Alex was not enjoying our amusement.
    Alex cleared his throat and asked, “What do we do next?”
    “Well,” Gracie explained, “we need to listen to all of our voice recorders and pay special attention to the time frame leading up to, during and after the incident of Shannon being grabbed. And we should check our cameras as well. If you like, we can download all the pics into my computer and then I’ll have the photo tech guy in our paranormal investigation group study the pics?”
    “I didn’t take photos,” I confessed. “I forgot about doing so.”
    “Did you have your camera out?” Gracie asked.
    “No, it stayed in my purse.”
    “Uh, okay. And you, Alex, did you take photos?”
    “Yeah,” Alex answered. He pulled out his digital camera and extracted the flash memory drive. He handed it over to Gracie. “All you need is this. Only photos from tonight are on that drive.”
    “Thanks,” Gracie said and then added, “I have extra sets of earphones, if each of us wants to listen to the recorders right now?”
    We agreed and with Gracie advising us on technique we sat still for the next hour listening. Every time I heard an unidentified sound, I stopped my recorder and made a note of the count number from the recorder’s playback. I noticed Gracie and Alex had also taken this kind of action. We finished within in a few minutes of each other.
    Gracie looked up from her notepad and said, “I’ll get warm ups for our coffee.” She retreated to her kitchen.
    After she was out of earshot, I whispered to Alex, “This is weird, just plain weird. Alex I cannot believe the sounds and voices that are on my recorder.”
     
    Chapter 20
    I cupped the mug of hot coffee, sipped and then looked to Gracie for instructions.
    “Shannon, would you go first?” Gracie asked.
    “Sure.” I put aside the coffee mug and set my voice recorder on the coffee table between us. Next, I turned on the recorder to speaker and upped the volume. I quickly forwarded it to the first EVP.
    An unidentified male voice said, “Do not taunt the spirits.”
    I said, “At this point, I’m pretty sure we had just entered the auditorium and were standing where Alex and I saw the chandeliers light up and move.”
    “I agree,” Alex said. “In fact, I got a similar EVP, and I estimate it to have been recorded at the same time and place.”
    Alex set his recorder on the table, turned up the volume and let it play.
    An unidentified female voice said, “Do not tease us.”
    “I got nothing like that,” Gracie announced. “The first EVP I recorded did not happen until the fourth question I asked. Here, take a listen.”
    We heard Gracie ask if anyone knew of the actress Marla Devereux. And several unidentified voices, three, maybe four or more shouted out.
    “Gorgeous gams,” shouted a male voice
    “Ritzy vamp,” remarked a female voice
    “So hotsy totsy,” said a female voice.
    “She’s all Sheba, that one,” declared a male voice.
    “Sway’em to the left, sway’em to the right,” sang a male voice.
    Next, faint music played a tune. I thought it sounded like a piano and I suggested this as a possibility.
    Alex said, “I think you’re right about that Shannon. It sounds like a piano. I wonder if it was live music or if it was being played on a Victrola.” Alex paused for a moment and then said, “I’ve heard that tune before. I do believe Irma has played it. I bet if I take this recording back to the Magic Castle, I can get Irma to identify it.”
    “Who is Irma?” I