the Smuggler
by Jane Mitchell (turber@golden.net)
The head of Maintenance at our college comes from the
area of England made famous in such stories as Treasure Island
and The Smuggler's Inn. As a young man, long before he
left to immigrate to Canada, he rented a room on the third
floor of an ancient rooming house. Nothing seemed out of the
ordinary, although he had woken several times with the
feeling someone watched him. Later one Saturday afternoon,
he stood in front of the mirror, tying his tie as he was
getting ready for a date. Suddenly a man began to materialize
behind him. He slowly appeared, from head to waist, as real
as anyone you might meet, except he wasn't all there. The
man was short and dressed in the loose shirts of several
centuries before. Bob says the ghost stared right at him.
Bob didn't want to see if the rest of the ghost appeared.
He ran out of the room and never returned, having his things
sent after him. Bob installed carpets in those days and he
says that when he asked a customer or two about the house, they
confirmed that the room was haunted and were surprised he was
able to stay nay length of time at all. Bob thinks the
apparition may have been the ghost of a murdered smuggler
who was the son of the local lord. By the way, both Bob
and my mother, who is English also, tell this tale and many
others in a matter of fact way. Ghosts are no strangers
to them. If you want to read a modern ghost story, I will
be putting one up in a few months on my site, Forgotten
Fantasy E-zine. I'll provide a link to your site at the
end when it's done. http://www.golden.net/~turber/hmpage.htm if
you want a look.
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