by R. J. Bonett
“Adda, are you with us tonight?”
Her long blond hair fluffed up slightly as did Delores’s, and we understood they were both ready to receive questions. June had a paper in front of her with what we agreed to ask the prior evening, but before she asked, Sue, in Adda’s voice, began lamenting, “It’s been raining for days, won’t it ever end?” Repeating herself over and over.
Seemingly speaking aloud about her private thoughts she continued, “Joshua is so sick. Hurry back Levi. Please hurry back. All this lightning and thunder scares me.”
George became possessed almost immediately after hearing the voice of Adda, and June seized on the moment.
“Levi, did you stay at the meeting until it ended?” she asked.
“No: after I got there, I spoke to Daniel’s parents and asked where he was. They told me he was supposed to be there already, but didn’t know why he wasn’t. I had a strong feeling there was something his parents were worried about. About 15 minutes after I arrived, the meeting started. I looked around the room and realized Daniel still wasn’t there. Then a sudden fear came over me. I didn’t know why, but I had a feeling Adda was in danger and hurried out the door. My horse was still saddled in the meeting house barn, and I left at a gallop to get back home. It was still raining hard with bright lightning flashes, and the road was so muddy I had to slow down to almost a walk at times. I was afraid the horse might lose his footing and fall at the sharp turn just before crossing the bridge with all the mud.”
“Did you suspect Daniel was at your house?” June asked.
The first reaction of the night; the blue bottle shook then spun, pointing to the word YES.
He continued, “I had a feeling that something bad was going to happen to Adda.”
At that point all of us noticed a small mist over Don’s head once again. It moved in a troubling circle this time then shot down entering his body. He began to shake as though he was having convulsions, and his head fell forward onto the table. I was about to reach over to shake him to see if he was alright, when his head slowly rose, staring at the bottle.
Startled, I snatched my hand back, and his head began moving in a circular motion the same as the night before. His eyes rolled back exposing the white, then suddenly became a deep red, filled with anger. His neck began to pulsate again and grew to almost twice its normal thickness. With his neck still pulsating, he slowly looked at each one of us. His frightful expression was as though he was intending to extract some sort of revenge- a punishment for stirring up the unpleasant act of his past, and was trying to decide which one of us to direct his rage toward first.
Groaning with a voice from deep inside, he began to speak, “When I know they’re at the meeting, that’s when I’ll get my revenge. Levi holds her captive in this house and keeps her tied to this marriage with having Joshua. I know she loves me.”
We were hearing Daniel’s thoughts as to why he began to hate Levi and the house Levi built to give refuge to the woman Daniel loved.
“Did you do something to Levi?” I asked.
The bottle spun around several times before pointing to the word YES.
“What did you do that night?” I quickly asked.
Turning to look at me he said, “I saw Levi ride up to the barn, and knew he must have seen the house on fire. I grabbed a hatchet that was lying next to the fireplace and hid behind the front door.” After saying it he stopped, surveying each of us, as if he was daring us to challenge his resolve.
I asked, “What happened next?”
Turning to me again, he looked as though it was gratifying for him to make his next statement.
“Levi ran in yelling, ‘Adda are you in here? Get our son and get out of the house, it’s on fire.’ His voice took on a saddened tone, “I didn’t know it. I was shocked Adda was still in the house. I thought she would be at the meeting with Levi. I never heard her until after I set the fire. I could hear her calling for Joshua, and tried to help but it was too late.”
Don’s head seemed to fall forward, and he began crying and moaning as though he was lamenting starting the fire killing the person he loved.
Speaking, making his thoughts audible, he said. “I’m sorry Adda. I didn’t know you and Joshua were home.” His tortured soul turned almost immediately with a gratifying anger saying, “But I’m not sorry for what I’m going to do to you, Levi.”
George groaned then grabbed his knee saying, “You’ll be burning in hell for what you’ve done this day Daniel,” Then his head fell forward.
It was all happening so simultaneously, we were looking back and forth wondering who was going to speak next, trying not to miss the dramatic scene unfolding right in front of our eyes.
“What did you do to Levi? Did you murder him?” I asked.
“Yes!” he said in a self satisfying tone. “I was hiding behind the door when he came in. I swung the hatchet, but he moved and I only hit him on the knee. We fought, and he struggled to get the hatchet out of my hand, but already being wounded he couldn’t. He’s bigger and stronger, but he couldn’t get to his feet. That’s when I was able to hit him several more times. I stood over him with his eyes staring up at me, almost pleading for me to help Adda instead of sparing his life. I could still hear her screaming, ‘Joshua where are you?’ I looked down at him again and swung the hatchet striking him on the side of the head. He just lay there helpless and bleeding with his eyes wide open looking at me. I suddenly felt sorry for him, remembering all the times we had growing up together. With Adda still screaming, trying to find Joshua and calling Levi’s name, I became panicked.”
Susan spoke out loud again. “Joshua, where are you? I hear you crying, but I can’t find you.” She paused briefly then said, “Won’t someone help this poor boy?”
She didn’t say Joshua, what boy was she talking about? Could it be the kid who died in the fire in 1910? Had she somehow been swept into the more recent tragedy trying to help her own son? Just as we were beginning to understand what was happening, a faint smell of smoke was present. It wasn’t from the candles. What was it? Suddenly it came to me- it was the same smell of burning wood from George’s stove. It seemed as though the odor was getting progressively stronger.
“Frank, do you smell wood burning?” I asked.
“Yes I do. Do you smell it June?”
“Yes, and it’s beginning to get warm too. Don’t you feel the temperature difference?”
“Now that you mention it, it does feel warmer.” Frank said.
“Adda, are the people in the carriage relatives? If they are, who are they?” June asked.
“They’re Daniel’s parents coming to warn me about Daniel. They’ve been suspicious about his violence the last few weeks, and felt he may try to do something to Levi and me. They came to warn us about his anger.”
“What does the barn have to do with that night?” I quickly asked.
The room became warmer, and the smell of smoke began to be overwhelming. The table began to shake, actually coming off the floor. When it became steady again, the bottle began to shake, spinning in an erratic motion- first one way, then another. It seemed as though it was asked to answer an intolerable question. Finally, after spinning around several complete revolutions, it flew off the table on its own, smashing against the kitchen wall.
Startled, we jumped up and unlocked hands, but the spirits that entered our world wouldn’t be silenced. I yelled, “Enough! Enough!” But unlike last night, the spirits had their own agenda- an agenda to unlock the truth- the truth they never knew about each other following their untimely deaths.
Adamant to get an answer, I persisted in a louder authoritative tone. “Did the barn have something to do with the fire in the house that night?”
The mist, that entered Don’s head exited, then moved rapidly around the room. Once again the cabinet doors and drawers began opening and closing in a furi
ous manner as they did the night before. Unlike last night when they began to open and close slowly, then progressively increase, it was rapid activity immediately. June, Frank and I watched in horror as a drawer with kitchen implements fell to the floor once again. In a few moments the instruments on the floor were moving as though someone was searching through them, much like anyone looking for the right instrument when preparing a meal. In horror we watched as a butcher knife rose from the pile and flew through the air just missing my head by fractions- this time causing me to duck. It was thrown with such force it stuck in the wall behind me by several inches.
Frank yelled out, “That’s enough! June, let’s get the hell out of here before one of us gets hurt.”
I was inclined to believe he was right, it was getting dangerous. I obviously angered Daniel, who was trying to kill me for asking the question. The mist circling the room again returned over Don’s head, but this time didn’t enter his body.
“I’m not going to shame my family. I’ll end it myself,” Daniel said.
The mist moved rapidly to the kitchen window briefly pausing; then disappeared. With the mist gone, Don came out of his trance, and his head fell forward onto the table. With Daniel’s spirit leaving, everyone was slowly coming out of their trance, trying to recoup from the possession.
“Are you alright Don? Is everyone else ok?” I asked.
George was having a difficult time getting back to normal, and I went to the sink to get him a drink of water. Standing at the sink, I looked out the window. Startled, I jumped back. A man sheltering his eyes was peering back through the window at me. Surprised, I snapped my head back thinking it might be Daniel who somehow manifested himself into human form. After a closer look, I realized it wasn’t Daniel. It was the same Quaker who came to my front door asking for directions the first night I arrived. Yes, I was certain he was the same person- the person driving the carriage. The father of Daniel that Adda told us was coming to warn her of Daniel’s rage.
“June quick, come to the window and see if this man is the one you saw at the barn?”
She hurried to the window with Susan and Frank peering out. “Yes, that’s the same man, and the woman in the carriage looks like the same woman.”
Concentrating on the man, I hadn’t noticed the carriage parked on the front lawn. It was indeed the same woman and carriage that was parked in the same spot when he came to the door the night I arrived. The man was holding his hat in his hand, shaking his head looking off the front porch. He seemed confused, as though he was still trying to figure out where he was. When he turned around, he looked in the window again shadowing his eyes with his hands trying to see if anyone was inside. We were all at the window, and it was obvious he couldn’t see us. Suddenly we heard a knock at the front door, and looked at each other wondering who was going to be brave enough to answer it.
I stepped forward with everyone behind me, but when I opened the door, there was no one there. The Quaker and the carriage were gone. They had completely disappeared.
Hurrying across the lawn to the barn, Susan said, “I think that may be the connection with the haunting. That may be where the mist went. Ray, were you parked in front of the older section the night you first saw the carriage?”
“Yes. Why?”
“Move your car to the same position as it was that night.”
I moved it without hesitation asking, “Why are we doing that now?”
Sue replied, “Open the barn door. Maybe we’ll have that answer.”
I opened the door as she asked, and all of us stepped inside. Although there were no new bales of hay and hadn’t been for many years, the odor of freshly cut hay filled the night air. There was no storm, but looking out from inside the barn, we could see lightning flashes and the sound of a heavy downpour hitting the roof- eerie to say the least.
A chill went up my spine and I knew I couldn’t be alone with my feelings. We were looking at each other wondering what we were going to experience next, realizing we were re-living the night of the tragedy. The thunder and lightning were as real as the storm the first night I arrived. With periodic flashes of lightning every few seconds, we scanned the room imagining suspicious shadows lurking in almost every corner. Don let out with another groan as he did when Daniel’s spirit entered his body in the kitchen. We thought the spirit had left him, but it became obvious it either didn’t- or he was being repossessed after entering the barn.
With continuous flashes of lightning, we looked up and saw a figure of a man standing on a barn beam above us with a rope around his neck. I turned to look at Don, just to make sure it wasn’t him, and to my relief; it wasn’t. We expected him to speak, but there was only silence as he stood with his outstretched arms in front of him, as if he was contemplating some sort of action. With the next flash of lightning, shockingly, we saw the form of the man above us step off the beam.
In the darkness that followed the lightning flash, we could hear a snap, like a small tree branch, and the swinging weight of a body against the squeaking of a tightening rope. With the next flash of lightning, we looked up and saw what must have been the real body of Daniel hanging. To our surprise, his eyes opened and he looked down scanning us. His eyes blazing red with anger, a deep brilliant red, a red that could only describe the flames in hell he was about to feel. He seemed to be angry at us for trespassing on his private self-execution but was powerless to do us any harm.
Don fell to his knees when the apparition hung himself, and we were worried that some harm had come to him. After helping him to his feet, we brushed the loose hay from his clothes and stepped outside. We saw a carriage light coming toward us, and as it passed, we could see the same man who was on the front porch. Again, as he had the first night I arrived, he was staring angrily at us and within a few hundred feet the carriage disappeared.
Sue excitedly commented, “Ray, quick! Move your car to the front of the newer section.”
I did as she asked without question, and the carriage reappeared on the road once again, coming from the same direction. With the car moved, the carriage was able to pull up in front of the barn door, probably the way it did the night the tragedy took place, and the way it did when June was walking the dog. We watched with great intent as the couple we now know as Daniel’s parents get out of the carriage and open the barn door.
After stepping inside, the woman looked up and let out a blood-curdling scream. She stood like a statue, frozen, staring up at her son as he hung there.
To avoid the family being disgraced, Daniel took his own life. His, as well as his parent’s shadows began to fade. This must have been the frightening episode June saw during the week. There was no more to be said. Daniel’s parents were too late.
We were able to see a mirage where Adda and Levi’s house must have stood. It was almost completely consumed by the fire and was in the last stages of smoldering embers, slowly being extinguished by the heavy rain.
We finally had a complete picture of the reason for the haunting, and I was happy to have some answers. Was it solved completely? I didn’t know for sure. Susan excitedly remarked,
“Wait! Someone’s missing. Where’s George? I could have sworn he was right here with us.”
I hurried back inside the barn to look just to make sure he hadn’t fallen through a soft spot in the floor. With all the frightening activity, it wouldn’t have been impossible for us to miss him.
“He’s not in here,” I said in a panic, “Maybe he stayed in the house when we hurried out the door?”
Running back to the house fearing for his safety, we entered the kitchen. Somehow, the light was turned off again and the candles were relit, just as it had been for the séance. George was still seated at the table with his arms folded and his head resting on them as if he were asleep.
“I hope he’s not dead!” I nervously shouted.
We shockingly looked around, wond
ering how or who reset the room for another séance. Looking at each other, I went to wake him when Delores grabbed my arm.
“Look, look!” she exclaimed in an excited voice, “The blue bottle! The blue bottle! It’s on the table. It’s whole again.”
Shocked, we stood there staring at the bottle. There it was- not smashed into pieces on the floor the way it was when we left for the barn, but intact, lying on its side, pointing at George.
“George, are you alright?” I asked.
No response. I tried to shake him thinking he was in a deep sleep, but a horrible thought went through my mind. Did we put too much strain on the old man? Was he dead? I felt for a heartbeat and it seemed strong.
“Maybe he’s still in a trance?” Frank suggested. “Why don’t we sit back down and try again Sue?”
“Good thought,” she replied.
Surprised at Frank’s level of wanting to get involved, I brought a pillow from the couch. Delores and June unfolded his arms and gently placed the pillow under his head.
“There, now let’s take the same seats we had,” Susan suggested.
After a few minutes she began. “Levi… Are you still here?”
George’s head slowly rose from the pillow, opened his eyes, and seemed to become transfixed on the bottle.
“Yes, I’m here, Daniel has gone away.”
Being focused on George we hadn’t noticed, Susan became possessed once again by Adda, “I’m glad he’s gone, but I feel sorry for his parents,” she said.
“Why are you sorry for his parents?” Delores asked.
“They went home and committed suicide. They shouldn’t have felt responsible for Daniel’s evil deed,” Adda through Susan replied.
“You don’t seem panicked now. Are you at rest?” June asked.
“I’m hoping someone saves this poor boy. I think it’s too late. I couldn’t save him. He was hiding from the smoke behind the bolts of cloth in the sewing room. I couldn’t find him. Yes, he’s dead.”
