HAUNTED HOUSE

HAUNTED HOUSE
2001 JoJo

Well, the day finally arrived when my family and I moved into George Chalmer’s house up on the hill (I always thought of it as being his house). We scurried around, unpacking our stuff and that evening, after supper, Dad lit a fire in the fireplace. Morro Velho was located high up in the mountains, so it got chilly at night.

“Well, I’m off,” he said.

“Why?” we all cried. “Where are you going?”
“I have to meet up with the Church committee, and check in so to speak. Don’t wait up for me – I’ll be late.”

He left. Mum, Doreen and I sat huddled around the fire, trying to get a feel for this new home we’d just moved into. Suddenly, the lights went out and the most ghastly noise rang throughout the house. It sounded like the death rattle of someone gasping out their last breath!

To say we were terrified is a big understatement. We ran out of that house like bats out of hell, and stood in the front garden, huddled together, and even dear Mum was trembling.

“What was that?” I squeaked.

“I don’t know sweetheart, but I’m sure there is a logical explanation for it.”

“What should we do?” Doreen said “I don’t want to go back in there.”

We were all in agreement on that point. “We’ll just have to go down the hill to our nearest neighbour’s house – I believe he’s called Mr. Froise and that he’s Swiss.”

So down the hill we went, in the pitch dark, with no flashlight to light our way, clinging to each other in case one of us tripped and fell, terrified of stepping on a snake in the dark and getting bitten (at least that’s the fear that was running through my mind during that long walk).

We arrived at Mr. Froise’s house and Mum explained to him what had happened. Mr. Froise was very nice, and promptly leashed up his two massive dogs, got a flashlight and back up the hill we went.

As we approached the house, the lights came back on inside, but even so, we stood outside watching while Mr. Froise entered with his two dogs and went through the entire house. When he came out, he assured us that there was no one lurking in there, then he added, “The dogs acted strangely when I took them through the kitchen. They stood there, cowed and shivering. Strange, I’ve never seen them do that before.” He and his dogs promptly walked back down the hill, leaving the three of us still scared stiff of going back into the house. Finally Mum decided the moment had come for her to be the big, strong mother, scared of nothing, ushering her chicks back into the nest.

“Come along girls, I’m sure there’s nothing to be scared of anymore. Besides, we can’t stand outside here all night now can we?”

Very reluctantly, Doreen and I followed her back into the house.

After this event, strange things continued to happen – doors opened, lights went off and on for no good reason, weird noises happened echoed throughout the house, and a cold draft would wrap itself around our legs from time to time. Dad stoically said he didn’t believe in ghosts, and it was stuff and nonsense for us to think there was one hanging around our new home. He had an explanation for everything that happened. Doors opening? One of us had failed to close it properly. Ice cold breeze drifting around our ankles? The house was old and drafty. Weird noises? Wind blowing through the trees, or some animal clomping around outside. Light going off and on for no good reason? Faulty light switches. Yeah right – we knew better!

Mum mentioned these unusual events to some Bridge friends. “Oh that house is haunted,” one of the ladies said loftily. “I wouldn’t live there for all the tea in China.”

“Well whose ghost is haunting it?” Mum asked nervously.

“They say it’s Dona Carolina’s – George Chalmer’s housekeeper – the one everyone in the village called THE WITCH.”

“Oh my,” Mum said anxiously. “Is she friendly?”

“Well, you tell us,” Mum’s new friends replied.

Mum told Dad what she’d heard, but Dad still kept telling us we were a bunch of hysterical ninnies.

We got used to Dona Carolina. I had a little chat with her and assured her we would look after her roses and keep the home she lived in for so many years, clean and tidy. Maybe it was my imagination, but I got the decided feeling that she grew to like us and didn’t resent our presence there anymore. However, she kept reminding us she was boss by opening doors, turning the lights off and on and making weird noises.
There was one benefit to our home being haunted – no burglars! Just about every home in Morro Velho had been broken into and robbed, but not ours! In fact, Doreen and I fostered the general fear of Dona Carolina, by playing a prank that terrified the miners going past our home after work every night, on their way home to their village about a half mile down the road! But that’s another story!