Alabama

MY BIRTHDAY GHOST

(Leona)

During one of our weekend visits to my Aunt and Uncle's house, Mom and I decided to help my Aunt add some pictures to her family album. While sorting through a box of pictures and mementos, I found an old news paper, dated April 3, 1956. I had just started to unfold the paper, when my Mom grabbed it from me, and folded it back together again. Then Mom added, that there was something in that news paper she didn't think I should read. So, I asked Dad, "Why can't I read it?" He replied, "You are still too young to understand right now, but someday we'll let you see it." Surely, someone could tell me something, after all I was fourteen years old now! Dad, who always took control of the more difficult situations, finally replied, "We've saved this paper for you, and someday you can read it, but now is not the time." Then my Aunt took the news paper from my Mom and left the room with it. I was sure she was going to hide it away somewhere. When everyone else decided to adjourn to the living room, I went outside to sit on the porch swing and pout. From where I sat, I could hear them talking. They seemed to be discussing whether or not I should be told about some deep dark secret. I heard Dad say, "I guess we should have just let her read it." Mother said, "I've always dreaded this day would come." Then my Uncle added, "Well, she's never really remembered much anyway." "Maybe it won't affect her at all." I jumped from the swing, ran inside and said, "Okay, tell me what I don't remember." Since they knew I had overheard them talking. Mom asked, "Are you sure you want to know?" Of course I did! My Aunt went to get the paper and handed it to me. It got so quiet in the room, you could have heard a pin drop. Everyone was nervous. I remember thinking, perhaps I didn't want to read it after all. My heart was racing. You know the feeling you get when you sense it's going to be something really bad and no one is saying a thing to prepare you? I'm not sure who suggested, that Dad tell me the story first, but it was my Uncle who finally said, "It's best if she reads it for herself first." Dad pointed to an article that read, "Child Finds Body of Missing Man." This was certainly an unexpected caption. As I began to read, Dad came and sat down next to me, giving me a slight hug of comfort. The article stated that a seven year old child had discovered the body of a local resident, who had been missing for several weeks. It went on to explain, that the child and her family were traveling, from New York to Alabama, on April 2, 1956. This was the day of my seventh birthday. The article said, that the family was, approximately thirteen miles from their destination, when their seven year old child had awakened from a nightmare. She described, from her dream, the most amazing details, of a murder. She knew about things that lay miles ahead of them. The wording on certain road signs, the scenery and so on. It went on to mention, that she was able to described the victim, his hair color, and facial features. Not only this but, a full description of his clothing, down to the boots he was wearing. She also knew, the man was strangled to death. According to her dream, there were three men who committed the murder. She knew the murder instruments used and how the body was positioned. The child's Father and Mother were given praises for having taken the dream seriously enough to stop and investigate. The Father claimed he had no choice but to investigate what she was saying and hoped it would also pacify her, since she was in a most hysterical state of mind. The child claimed that this man needed her to find him. And, that he was the one who told her where he was. As she described the location, her Father knew where it was. He had lived in this area before. His daughter, however, was one year old when they had moved away and never been back until now. The article stated that when the Father stopped the car at the place she had described, the child exited the car and ran into the wooded area immediately. When her Father reached her, she was in shock. He said she just had a blank stare on her face. She was breathless. And not too many seconds, after he picked her up, she simply fainted. The scene was exactly as she said it would be. Tied to the tree, with a water hose around his neck, was the body of a man. The body was in an upright sitting position, hands tied behind, with a clothes hanger wire. Local Law Enforcement were summoned as well as an ambulance. The child was examined, at the scene, and released to her parents care. The Doctor's statement said she was suffering from a severe form of shock and possibly temporary amnesia. The Police were unable to question her at the scene, due to her condition. Well, that is what happened on my seventh birthday. I have read that article, over and over. I still find it hard to believe, that the child who had that dream was me! Thank goodness for the body's defense mechanisms. Especially the one that brings on the state of shock, when one is faced with something so overwhelming. My parents have told me, over and over, about that day's events, hoping that something would jog my memory. They said, that for a week afterwards I wouldn't speak a word. I cried out a lot in my sleep but wouldn't say anything then either. One morning, I woke up and acted as if nothing had happened. Mom said, I was talking and laughing and just being my usual self again. The Police came to question me. But, I knew absolutely nothing about any men killing someone. I am grown now, with children of my own. In all the years that have passed, I cannot recall much about that day. But the one thing I have always remembered is the face of that man. I can still describe him. My parents told me that from time to time, before I read the article, I would ask them the same question: "Do you remember when we went to see a man in the forest?" "Who was he?" And when it was evident that I knew nothing more, they would simply answer, "We don't know who you're talking about." Once and a while, his face flashes through my dreams, or through my mind, when I least expect it to. I know that everything happens for a reason. Now I think that what I remember is all I was ever meant to remember. At least for now.......

WHERE NANA IS

(Ayanna)

In 1987 my grandmother passed away. We had her wake at her home and several relatives came from all over the country to be with us during this really sad time. During the wake, in my "Nana's" small home was atop a treacherous hill. My mother asked that I retrieve her purse from what was Nana's room. I went into through the front door and proceeded down the hall. As soon as I was halfway down the hall, I began to feel very strange. The rest of the house was quiet (as everyone was outside in the yard, milling around). Nana's bedroom was at the rear of the house and somehow seemed ominous all of a sudden. I went in quickly and grabbed the purse without looking around. As soon as I passed the bathroom on the way out, I heard a faint trickling of water, almost like a bubbling sound. No one was in there at the time, so I stuck my head at the edge of the door, to see if someone had left the water running. I glanced at both sinks and neither faucet was running. I stood there for a moment, now beginning to panic a little, because I couldn't locate the source of the "bubbling water" sound. That afternoon, the family gathered to go to the funeral home to view the body, since the casket would be closed during the service. This was my first trip to the funeral home since Nana died. As soon as I walked into the funeral parlor, I heard the same bubbling sound, I'd heard earlier in Nana's house!! I spun around and saw that there was a fish tank right outside of the coordinator's office door. The sound that I had been hearing in the hallway of Nana's house, was the same sound of the funeral parlor's fish tank. I don't understand what this means, only that it freaked me out something awful.

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