These Haunts Are Made For Walking (Haunted Tour Guide Mystery Book 1) (14 page)

Well, so much for not scaring everyone. He had taken care of that for me.

“People say that, but it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s true.”

“But it could be?” one of the women asked.

This was getting away from me quickly. “Well, yes, I suppose it could be, but no one had ever mentioned anything like that from this building.”

Which made me think why now? Did this have anything to do with the other spirit? Everything was getting much more active around town. Maybe the spirits knew that Halloween was near or maybe I was just becoming more receptive to it. Either way, I wanted to know what was really happening.

“We should head for the next building.” I motioned for them to follow.

Surprisingly, they all followed me. When we reached the front of the bookstore, I paused. I decided to tell them about the experience last night. After what they’d just seen, I didn’t want them to be surprised if something else happened at this store too.

“This is the best haunted tour ever,” one of the women said.

That made me smile, although the ghostly activities had everything to do with the success of the tour. I was just relaying the stories.

“Just to warn everyone, something might fly off the shelves in this store. Just be careful.”

It was a good thing I’d had everyone sign waivers that I wasn’t responsible for injuries.

Their eyes widened, but no one backed out.

“Is everyone ready?” I asked.

They nodded, so I proceeded inside the store. The owner was upstairs as usual when I brought the tour through. I explained the events that had happened in the store over the past few years and then I went through the events that had taken place yesterday. So far, nothing had happened tonight. It looked as if everyone was a little disappointed that nothing had flown off the shelves. But after the dark shadow sighting, I figured that was enough excitement for the evening. After the stories were finished and nothing else had happened, I figured it was time for us to get to the graveyard. It was almost completely dark.

“Shall we go to the graveyard now?” I motioned toward the front door.

“Can you tell us what happened last night again?” one of the women asked.

The entire group nodded in unison. So they really did want to see more. I guessed they hadn’t been as scared of the shadow person as I’d thought.

I told the story again. “The book just flew across the air…”

The woman seemed as if she was a bit skeptical of that and I couldn’t say that I blamed her. But I had seen it happen with my own eyes. This wasn’t a story that I’d told after hearing it from someone else. Finally we filed out of the store and back onto the sidewalk.

As we walked toward the graveyard, everyone was chatting about what had happened. I was lost in thought about everything that taken place—the ghost in the library, the one that seemed to be following me around the tour, and now the one at the other store. All of them were different, but still the same. I had no idea if these events were connected or simply a coincidence. I wasn’t sure how much I believed in coincidences.

My cell phone sent an alert and my stomach jumped. I quickly pulled it from my pocket. The message was blank.

When we reached the entrance of the graveyard, I paused. That strange fog had settled over the land. Other spots didn’t have the same weather phenomenon.

“What is with the fog?” the man at the back of the group asked.

“I guess it’s just the trees causing it to be that way.”

He looked at me skeptically, but didn’t say anything else. Sure, I was just making up stuff as I went along, but I had to do something. My job depended on it. I didn’t want to be a failure at the two things I loved the most.

“We should get started.” I motioned for them to follow me.

We walked through the graveyard. In the fog and with the chilly weather, it was like the movies. I pointed out the mass grave and then we moved to some of the other graves that were claimed to be haunted. None of them matched the description of the male ghost that I had seen. I would have to see if there were any ghost stories that I had missed.

I felt eyes on me, so I immediately looked over toward Mrs. Clatterbuck’s house. Surprisingly, she wasn’t watching me. Well, not where I could see her at least.

We were all standing in front of the grave of Donna Grant when I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye. I looked to my right and saw the mist that I’d seen last night. Just then, the others looked too.

“That is creepy,” one of the women said.

We watched in silence as the mist moved and swirled until it finally disappeared into one of the tree tops.

“Has that ever happened before?” the man asked.

Well, it had happened last night… “That was the first time I’ve ever seen it,” I said.

“Interesting. Do you think it’s just the weather?” He sounded skeptical of my earlier comment.

“I just don’t know,” I said.

I moved to my right and pointed out another grave of a restless soul. “There are many stories of seeing this former resident of town. She lived here in the 1800s until her untimely death in 1889,” I said.

The group watched me with widened eyes. I glanced around for the mist, but so far it hadn’t reappeared. I never knew what was going to pop up as of late. As the group studied the gravestone, I flashed my light to the right. For a moment, I thought I saw someone sitting on the stone next to us. Nothing was there now.

While the group looked at the gravestone, I moved over to the one next to it. I’d thought for sure I’d seen someone sitting on the stone, but maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me. After all, I was on high alert now. The stone was marked George Wise. He had died in 1929. Relatively recently compared to the other graves in this cemetery. The group noticed me looking at the stone and stepped over.

“Is there a story about this person too?” one of the women asked.

I shook my head. “No, not that I know of.”

They looked at me strangely, but didn’t ask any more questions. Small drops of rain started to sprinkle from the sky.

“Okay, well, it is starting to rain and that is the end of the tour.” I motioned for everyone to follow me back to the entrance of the cemetery.

Once we were back at the entrance they thanked me for the tour.

“I have been on tours in other cities, but this was the best of them all.”

“Thank you,” I said. “I hope you all will return.”

I took the flashlights from them and waved as they walked away. Now it was just me alone in the graveyard. Not a place that most people would want to be.  My gaze wandered over to Mrs. Clatterbuck’s house. There was something odd about her. It wasn’t just that she hated my haunted tour. Actually, I wasn’t sure what it was, but the feeling persisted and I felt the need to find out more about her.

I decided to go over to her house. Walking around the graveyard’s entrance, I crossed the small road and headed up to the front path of her home. The little yellow cottage sat among other similar homes, but this one was slightly different. It looked lonely, almost abandoned. There were no lights on in the house, so I figured she was already in bed. I just hoped that she didn’t look out the window and see me. I definitely wasn’t going to ring the bell or actually talk to her, so I wasn’t sure why I’d even come over.

I inched over to the front windows and peeked in. If someone saw me, I’d be in big trouble. It was dark in the room, but it almost looked as if it was empty. Didn’t she have furniture? I needed to ask around about her. Maybe Mrs. Clatterbuck just needed a friend. Then again, maybe she didn’t want a friend. The owl hooted from the nearby treetop and I figured that was my warning to get out of there. I crossed the street again, glancing back a couple times. 

As I neared the graveyard again I kept thinking about George Wise’s tombstone and if I had really seen someone sitting on it. I had only caught a glimpse, but it seemed as if there had been a man there watching me. Could it have been the ghost of the man I’d seen around town? I guessed anything was possible.

Curiosity got the better of me. I had to go back and look. The night sky was cloaked with clouds and the wind howled around me. The only light was the small glow coming from my flashlight. The old iron gate at the graveyard’s entrance banged against the fence and I spun around, shining my flashlight on it. The wind must have made it do that. The creepiness factor was definitely on high tonight at the graveyard. As I moved around the stones, I stumbled. I righted myself by placing a hand on one of the stones.  A sliver of moon peeked out from one of the clouds and shone against the headstone as if it was a spotlight. I had to be purely coincidence that the name on the stone was Clatterbuck. What was Mrs. Clatterbuck’s first name?

The rain was coming down steadily now and my clothing was getting soaked. I could get dry clothes when I got home. Although I was sure Tammy was waiting at the tavern for me.

I pulled my sweater up closer around me and headed back across the graveyard. Wet leaves crunched under my feet. My hair was soaked and my clothes clung to my body. I weaved around the stones as I tried not to slip on the wet grass. It felt as if I wasn’t alone in the graveyard, but that wasn’t unusual in this place. With all the souls buried around me I knew that I truly wasn’t alone here. I finally reached the tombstone and shone my flashlight on the markings. The glow highlighted the name that I’d seen moments earlier. George Wise. I studied the markings.

I had to remember the name so that I could ask anyone if they knew this man. As I turned around to leave, someone grabbed my shoulder and I slipped, falling to my knees. I looked up, but no one was there. Needless to say, this freaked me out. I pushed to my feet on the slippery grass. It was time for me to get out of there for the evening. Clearly, something didn’t want me there tonight. I would leave for now, but it couldn’t keep me away for good. I wouldn’t let that happen.

I hurried across the wet grass as quickly as I could without falling. When I turned to look back to see if anything was following me, I clearly didn't pay attention to what was in front of me. I smashed into something hard and fell backward onto the ground. I released a loud groan. Brannon reached down to help me up.

“Ripley, are you okay? I didn’t mean to knock you down. Why were you running?”

I was still slightly dazed by what had happened. Finally, once on my feet, I said, “I’m fine.”

He pushed the wet hair from my eyes. “You want to tell me what you were running from?”

Did I want to? No, but I didn’t think I could lie my way out of this one.

I looked over my shoulder again. “I thought someone grabbed me. It could have been a tree branch.”

Brannon looked around. Yeah, the nearest tree was twenty feet away. That was why I knew I wouldn’t be able to lie my way out of this.

“Don’t think it was a tree,” he said.

He had me there. I didn’t know what it was but I had my suspicions. “Okay, the truth is I think something grabbed me.”

He raised an eyebrow. “As in a ghost?”

I nodded. “Yes, I assume a ghost because there was no one or nothing nearby that could have touched me. I fell to the ground because it startled me.”

“I clearly need to do another investigation here.”

He hadn’t mentioned ever doing an investigation here. He should have shared this info with me, but then again I hadn’t asked. Rain began to fall even harder now.

“We should get out of the rain,” he said as he touched my arm.

I nodded. “Yeah, okay.”

In spite of the pounding rain, I couldn’t help but get one more look at the tombstone before I left. I glanced around. “I thought I saw a ghost sitting on that stone earlier tonight.”

He moved over next to me. “You’ve had quite an evening.”

“Do you know who this is?” I pointed at the stone.

He shook his head. “No, I wish I did. I’ve never heard the name before.”

I had hoped that he would have heard stories, but now it looked as if I would have to do a lot of research to find out who George Wise was.

“We need to get you out of the rain,” Brannon said again, touching my arm and leading me away from the gravestone.

“You never told me you investigated this graveyard,” I said as we trudged across the wet ground.

“You never asked,” he said with a smile.

Drops of rain flowed down his face and across his full lips.

“No, I suppose I didn’t. Did you get any good evidence?” I asked.

He grinned. “We got a few EVP.”

I’d always been fascinated by electronic voice phenomena, or EVP, as the professionals called it. “What did they say?”

“One was just ‘hello.’ The other one said ‘over here.’ And another one said ‘get out.’”

“I never like the ones that say ‘get out,’” I said.

“No, those are never good, are they?”

When we’d reached the entrance, I looked back over my shoulder one last time. I’d kind of expected to see the ghost of the man, or at the very least the mist that we’d witnessed earlier. Instead, I could have sworn I saw Mrs. Clatterbuck at the edge of the graveyard. She remained motionless as she watched us.