~ The Winchester Mystery ~

by

Carol Parsons

I stopped suddenly and listened. I could hear it very clearly. It was the sound of hammering. The house really was coming alive.

Seventeen

“It’s the house. It’s feeding off me. I can feel it. It’s coming alive. There’s hammering in the room ahead. A carpenter is building on the house,” I said frantically.

“Suzanne, it’s your imagination. I don’t hear or feel a thing,” Brandon said.

“But Brandon, you know that I can feel things. You saw it with the other ghost. Maybe it just doesn’t want to reveal itself to you yet.” I headed for the room ahead. When I got there, I opened the door, and all of our mouths dropped open.

There were three carpenters putting in a new shiny, hardwood floor. The carpenters looked at us for a second, but then went right back to work. I closed the door and looked at Brandon. “You did see that, didn’t you?”

“Yes, I saw it,” Brandon said.

“Wow! You were right, the house is coming to life,” Alan said. “I wonder if we are in danger.”

“I don’t think so,” I said, not sure how I knew that. I could just feel that it wasn’t going to hurt us. Not yet, anyway.

Brandon and Alan took me around to some of the house. They showed me some of the very fancy details in the window, the stairs that went to the ceiling, some of the bedrooms, and even the player piano.

“Does it play by itself?” I asked, laughing.

“Not yet, but with you around, you never know,” Alan said.

“Funny, Alan,” Brandon said.

Suddenly, the piano began playing a very slow, beautiful song.

“He’s right,” I said. There really was something about me that made things happen, made ghosts appear.

“Look!” Brandon said, pointing at the doorway, with a look of horror on his face.

Eighteen

“What is that?” Alan yelled.

A white cloud of glowing smoke came floating slowly down the hallway. First, the form was round but began shaping itself into a human form, a female form.

Its arms reached out for me.

“Get Suzanne out of here!” Brandon yelled.

Each of them took a hand of mine and pulled me around the ghost and down the hall.

“Wait!” I said. “What if it was friendly? What if she wanted to show us where the treasure is?”

“Then let her show your father,” Brandon said and pulled me. We ran and ran to get back to Mrs. Simon. I didn’t think I could make it but somehow I did.

“Mom! Mom!” Brandon yelled.

“Oh my,” she said, taking hold of me right before I collapsed. “Help her to the bed.”

Brandon, Mrs. Simon and Alan helped me get into bed. I was out of breath and couldn’t say a word. I just listened.

“What happened? I told you not to do too much too soon.”

“We didn’t mean to. The house is coming to life,” Brandon said.

“First, we heard the pounding of hammers, so we looked in a room and there were three ghostly figures in overalls, carpenters working on the house,” Alan said.

“And then another figure came at us. First, it was a cloud but it turned into a woman. She wore a dress,” Brandon said.

“She was reaching out for me,” I said, still breathing heavy.

“It seems our Suzanne now has some sort of telepathic powers. The ghosts come to her. She brought the house to life, somehow,” said Brandon.

“It’s true, Mrs. Simon. They told me that happened here before I got up,” I said. I didn’t know whether to be scared to death or totally excited. A little of both, I figured.

Just then we heard music playing from down the hall.

“Is that the player piano?” Mrs. Simon asked.

“Yes, it came to life, too,” I said.

Mrs. Simon, Brandon and Alan ran out of the room to go see the piano play by itself, and I was left alone, too tired to move.

Nineteen

After closing my eyes, glad to be alone again, I realized I wasn’t alone.

I opened my eyes to see the ghostly figure in the room with me, the female one. Her arms were still outstretched. Part of me wanted to scream and yet, I didn’t, but can’t tell you why.

Slowly she walked over to me, becoming clearer with each step, until she was still a little see-through but it was very clear who it was. Sarah Winchester. I knew that from the research I’d done and the pictures I’d looked at before we came here.