A Summer of Fear: A True Haunting in New England by Rebecca Patrick-Howard Page A

was about to get in when I heard this whisper. Just real soft-like. It called my name. My boyfriend at the time, he heard it too. We looked at each other and looked around us, but nobody was there. Then, I looked up. Up in one of those attic rooms, there was a person. The window was dark, but you could still see him. He was tall, thin, and looking down at us. He raised his hand and pressed it to the glass and looked right at me. Then he disappeared.”
    I shivered, envisioning exactly what she was talking about. “You got out of there, right?”
    “Never went back again. Friends, though, they’ve heard crying, shouting, even singing. At the pond once a ball of light formed over the water and bounced around. Not light a lightening bug, but like fire. It’s just not a good place.”
    I had no idea what to say. I was dumbfounded. Before I could get anymore words out, a middle-aged woman at the next table over spoke up. “Sweetie, I don’t mean to eavesdrop, but I could hear what you were saying. And she’s right. I’ve lived here all my life and I know that place. You shouldn’t be staying there by yourself. And that house? Not good. If you’re like this after a little over a month or two, heavens knows what will happen in four.”
    I suddenly found myself wanting to break down in tears. People believed me. I wasn’t going crazy. The Czech girls had heard the sounds, these strangers were telling me to get out. It was like someone had opened the door for me and given me permission to be afraid and to walk away. I felt as though a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.
     

    W hen I got back to the farmhouse the first person I encountered was Kory. She wasn’t my first choice but she’s who I had. “Kory,” began without any niceties. “Did something happen in this house a long time ago? Something bad?”
    Kory looked down at her feet, her long blond hair covering her face in sheets. At first, I didn’t think she was going to respond. I continued to stand in front of her, though, my hands on my hips. “It’s haunted, Kory, and not in a fun, Casper kind of way,” I said. “I’ve been living here for more than a month and feel like I’m going out of my damn mind. Between the noises that won’t let me sleep, the shadows, the lights, the sighs…It never stops. Janet said nobody else has ever heard or felt anything here, but I know that’s not true. So be straight with me.”
    “Hey, you don’t have to take that attitude with her,” Tina admonished. She’d stolen into the room, as quiet as a mouse. Now she glared at me with steely eyes. I didn’t care.
    “I’m not trying to be rude,” I said. “But somebody’s going to talk. Do you want to do it?”
    “I think we’re all a little too old to be talking about ghosts,” she scoffed.
    “Okay, fine,” I agreed. “Then it’s not a ghost. But that makes it worse because it means someone has been playing pranks on me. Banging on the doors at night, climbing up and down my stairs, thumping around in the empty attic room after everyone’s left…I don’t see how that is any better.” I was aware that my voice had gone up an octave. I was even feeling a surge of adrenalin. I needed to get myself under control.
    “Okay, it is haunted,” Kory said, jumping in before either Tina or I could say anything else. “And something did happen here.”
    “What?” I demanded.
    “A long time ago. In the attic. A man, a teenager really, killed himself. He hung himself in that empty room,” she said in a rush. “We used to put staff in that room, too, but nobody could sleep in there. That’s why you’re getting a roommate and they’re not putting her in there by herself.”
    “Huh,” I said, feeling a little vindicated. At one point it had felt like a man’s presence. I was a little proud of myself for being right. “And I’m not the only one to hear things, feel things, see stuff?”
    “No,” Kory agreed. “You’re not. Janet told me not to tell