by Rick Kueber
“Fair enough... those are good points, but I don't see any reason to take chances... ya know?” I insinuated about her pregnancy.
“I know, I know... hey, look.” She said as she tuned on her flashlight and held it perpendicular to her side, shining it across the 'bump' of her belly.
“Oh my gosh! How cool!” I truly was excited for her, but also concerned. She had wanted to be a mom for quite some time, and now that she was going to be, I wanted nothing to put her or her unborn child in any danger.
In the glare of her flashlight, I noticed the relaxed smile leave her face, and her eyes slowly wandered over my right shoulder towards the coldness we had just escaped. My head turned ever so cautiously and slowly, looking over my shoulder, and then slowly turning my entire body to face a growing darkness that not even the brilliance of Katie's l.e.d. flashlight could penetrate. The black and massive shadow moved independent of the movement of the light. It increased in size, filling the entire corner, and then transformed from a single black mass to three individual shadows that were so unexplainable dark, they were like spiritual black-holes, pulling in every bit of light and energy in close proximity to them. We could begin to feel the very energy of life being coaxed from us, despite our ritual of protection.
“Let’s go!” I said in full voice. “I'm one step ahead of you.” Katie called out to me from the stairs. She had already made it nearly half way down when I reached the first step. In an instant these formidable shadows seemed to give chase. I stumbled on the steps and tumbled half way down before catching myself. In an icy gust, the shadows passed over me and disappeared from my site out of the doorway at the bottom. Fear gripped me, and all I could think was, 'they weren't after me'. In disregard for my personal safety, I scrambled, and half tumbled to the bottom of the steps. I had to catch Katie, but how could I protect her from things I couldn't even begin to fathom.
I burst through the doorway and into the hallway to find Katie cowered down in a corner just a few feet ahead of me. I couldn't see the shadowy figure anymore, though she seemed to be staring off into a blank nothingness. Squatting down beside her, I placed my hand on her shoulder. My touch pulled her back to our reality, her head jerked towards me, and she looked straight into my eyes.
“I saw them.” was all her quivering voice could muster. “Who… the shadows? I saw them too. I thought they were after us.” I said trying to ease the tension, but I did not understand.
“NO. I saw THEM. It was the three shadows; they took form right in front of me. Their faces were withered and cruel, and I watched them thin out, and then in a burst of black flames, they were nothing but bones, and then...nothing. They were just gone.” Katie collected her thoughts. “I get this feeling that they were the same skeletal remains Jenn and I saw in the boiler room, maybe.”
I stood up, and helped her to her feet. We stood there quietly in the hallway, hidden in the night's cowl. I thought, in depth, about what Katie had just explained to me, and about what the potential dangers could be with the public event we were planning. Then something dawned on me, these shadows had not been seen by the patrons before, they had only appeared when the place was closed or nearly empty... when there were only a few people around. Perhaps there was safety in numbers.
*** Just above Theo and Jennifer and below where Katie and I were, Barb and Del Heerdink were on the main floor of the Owl's nest, taking a bit of a break in the dance hall and enjoying a cold Coke under the dim, green glow of the exit signs.
“I wonder if the team is having any luck.” Barb casually asked her husband. “I'd be surprised if they don't find anything... you know how often we experience things here that we can't explain... and they have already caught some great e.v.p.s and had activity here on their first visit.” He reassured her.
“Yeah, I'm sure you are right. I would just really feel bad if they came here, spent the whole night and didn't get anything.” The corners of her mouth turned down in a slight frown, worried that the haunting they knew existed would not show itself and leave them feeling let down.
“I would too, but I don't think...” Del stopped in midsentence, staring over Barb's shoulder and across the eerie green of the room.
“What??” Barb said as she turned to shoot a glance in the direction of his glare, just in time to see the fading figure of an older gentleman in a yellow button down shirt, dancing his way across the stage.
“Did you just see what I think I just saw?” She grinned back at Del. “Maybe... I saw our friend in the yellow shirt, dancing up on the stage.” He confirmed her experience with his simple statement.
“Well dang it!” She said, snapping her fingers in disappointment.
“What? That was pretty darn, cool! What are you so upset about?” He asked bluntly.
“Why couldn't at least one of the EVP guys been here to see that too?” Barb sounded disheartened. “We'll tell them about it, and I'm sure they will believe us... and, hey, at least we know there is some activity tonight. Maybe there's activity in other places too.” His words gave her the comfort she needed, and they went back to their conversations, just as they would have on any other night when they had a random supernatural experience. This was something that they had grown accustomed to in the ancient building. Much of the life of this place was filled with joy and happiness, but there was also an older, more sinister past, and this structure, past and present, was home to such a colorful and varied history.
“Are you ready to find some more spirits?” Barb asked enthusiastically. “I'm ready when you are! Maybe we should try to find the team, and investigate the rest of the night with them.” Del suggested.
“Good idea.” Barb agreed, and so they got up from their table and grabbed the meters they had borrowed from the team, and resumed their investigating. The happy couple didn't waste a lot of time in the large areas, except for where they had seen the apparition of the man in yellow. Once they had finished, they worked their way towards the stairwell that lead up.
Katie and I rounded the corner of the first floor hallway, and nearly ran right into the Heerdinks. “Holy crap!” Katie nearly screamed, still skittish from her run in with the terrifying entities. “Thank goodness it's only you.”
“I'm not quite sure how to take that.” Del remarked with a smile.
“You two didn't see and shadow activity, did you?” I asked cautiously, not wanting to cause a fright.
“No. But we did see the man in the yellow shirt. Both of us! And I think he was dancing.” Barb answered. “Oh, okay. That's really cool! I still haven't seen the man in yellow. I'm jealous!” I acted disappointed, but in all reality, I was relieved. “We were pretty sure we saw some shadow people going down the stairs. They are fairly common in the paranormal field, and we thought maybe you had seen them too.”
We grabbed our gear and headed down to find Theo and Jennifer. As we wandered down the darkened stairs and into the large room, where everyday folks had been playing bingo just a few hours before, some-thing caught my attention.
“You hear that?” I whispered. “It sounded like people talking.” Everyone strained in the silence to catch the sound of a ghostly conversation. The four of us stood quietly, and the longer we waited, the more deafening the silence became, until that annoying high pitch tone that we all hear when things are too quiet, began to hurt my ears so badly that I was ready to speak out just to end the silence. When I was at my breaking point, it happened. A voice came from across the room, muffled and indistinguishable, but it was unmistakably a voice. The words it mumbled echoed quietly in the large empty room, but ended quickly, only to start again, only this time the voice seemed to have mustered up its strength and was now louder, yet no more discernible, than before.
“Sorry.” Katie spoke out loud, and the silence and concentration were broken.
“Sorry about what?” I quickly asked. “Sorry to have shattered the silence, and sorry to have to tell you I know that ghost. I'd recognize Jennifer's voice anywhere. She and Theo
must be down here somewhere talking.” Katie was correct, the voice grew louder yet again, and this time, I could tell it was definitely Theo.
From the cobweb filled room, that was usually hidden behind a locked door, I could begin to see a dim glow, green in color, and knew it must be the back lighting from the Mel-Meter Jenn had taken with her. It almost danced in the darkness as Jennifer and Theo came walking conservatively through the old forgotten place, trying to see through the blackness, to not make any missteps that could land either one of them in the same predicament Jennifer had been in just thirty minutes earlier. We stayed our position, and let them come to us.
“Hey guys.” Jennifer moaned slowly. “What's the matter? You sound like you aren't having much luck… boring night?” I asked.
“Anything but!” Jenn quickly shot out, in an aggravated tone.
“You'll have to excuse Jenn.” Theo began. “She had a bit of an accident earlier, and she hit her head pretty good.” “I'd say! You should feel this damn goose egg I've got!” Jenn leaned over gingerly touching the spot where her head had abruptly met with the boiler room pit.
I reached up and ever so gently put my fingers where hers had been, and as my fingers ran through her hair, I felt it. “Oh my god!” I blurted out. “You need to have that looked at.”
“Do you feel dizzy or nauseous... or is your vision blurry?” Barb quizzed Jenn, knowing a bit about the medical field and having gone to nursing school.
“Hell, I don't know if anything's blurry, were standing here in the dark.” Jenn spouted off.
“True.” Katie tried to calm Jenn's irritated state. “What about the other symptoms? Do you feel dizzy or sick?” “No, I'm going to be fine, my head is pounding, though.” Jenn said, sounding less moody, and more like herself. “I'll be right back.” Del said and shot up the stairs, spanning two steps with each stride.
“Me too!” I said loudly and sprang up after him. I had no idea where Del was going, but after our experiences at the Owl's Nest, and especially Katie's experiences, I wasn't about to let anyone go anywhere alone. I caught up with Del just past the doorway at the top of the stairs. A few strides into the bar room and I was nearly beside him. We talked as I followed his lead into the large industrial style kitchen, full of stainless steel workstations, deep fryers and every utensil imaginable hanging from hooks over various tables and cook stations.
“Hey... Whatcha doing?” I asked casually. “I just thought I'd get her some ice for her head.” He answered as if we were just having an everyday-sort-of conversation.
“Good thinking... But just so you are aware... not to scare you, or freak you out... We have had some pretty aggressive activity tonight, and I really would rather no one went anywhere in here alone.” I hoped he would take my word on it and be understanding. I was half right.
“Sure, make sense. I just wasn't thinking...in a hurry you know?” He pulled a quart sized zip-lock baggie out of the cabinet and then headed towards the ice machine, which was isolated from the rest of the kitchen, probably to keep it away from the heat of the ovens and grill. Then, filling the bag half full with ice, closed the lid on the machine and zipped the baggie closed. Having been disturbed, the agitated machine started up with a whir, and once again, I followed Del back downstairs.
“Here you go.” He said kindly, handing the ice bag to Jenn. “OH!” she sighed. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Appreciative of his actions, Jenn gratefully took the ice and, using both hands, carefully eased it into place.
“I know it's a little earlier than normal, but I think we need to go ahead and wrap things up.” I said, knowing Katie and Jenn both were probably ready to get home, or at least away from here in Katie's case. “So, I was thinking, if you wanted to go ahead and go, Jenn, we can pack everything up.”
“Naw, just give me few minutes and I'll help round everything up.” She almost smiled. “Well,” Katie stretched out the word and then continued, “you just have a seat for a few and we'll get started, and then if we aren't finished by the time you feel up to it, you can help.” I smiled at Katie for always having such a big heart, even though I knew she couldn't see me.
“Deal.” Jenn groaned as she took a seat at one of the cafeteria style bingo tables. Before we began, Theo suggested we all huddle up around where Jenn was sitting, and then he began telling us how to repel any negativity that might want to attach itself to us, and said a prayer to St. Michael. And though I don't follow any particular religion, I had to admit, there was something comforting about hearing the words of the prayer. It was like a chanting of some mystical spell that called to the very depth of our souls and brought us an incontrovertible feeling of peace. When Theo had finished, we all stood quietly for a moment, and then as if someone had pulled the trigger on a starting gun, Theo, Katie and I took off to get everything put away while Barb and Del instinctively stayed with Jenn, knowing she could be particularly vulnerable if left alone.
Before long, we were saying our good-byes, and still holding the bag of now ice-water to her head, Jenn passed out her hugs, almost instinctively, or as if it were built into her DNA... brown hair, hazel eyes, hugs. We then parted ways, not knowing exactly how soon we would be seeing each other again.
Chapter 12 A Time to BElieve
Once again, we had found ourselves passing the time of our everyday lives, elbow deep in paint, dirt, books, or financial paperwork, respectively, and though the haunting of the Owl's never left our thoughts for long, we had to maintain ourselves and our non-profit group through our careers. A few days had passed when Jennifer received a somewhat unexpected phone call. Driving home from work on Tuesday evening, with the radio blaring out a solid drum and guitar based rock-n-roll song, Jenn happened to look over and notice her cell phone in the passenger seat lighting up with an incoming call. Though she did not recognize the number, she quickly muted the radio and answered the call.
“Hello? This is Jennifer.” She had tried to sound professional, just in case it was one of her business clients who would often call her personal phone with questions or concerns about one of their prized plants, or trees.
“Why, hello there Jennifer. You don't know me...” Jennifer put up her window and strained to hear the quiet voice of a very elderly woman on the other end of the call. “...but I'm Allison Bettiger.” she struggled to clear her throat. “Linda asked if I minded to call and talk to you about my family's history in Indiana.”
“Yes! Thank you so much for calling.” Jenn pulled her car into the first parking lot she could find and shut the motor off. She grabbed a pen a note pad and began to ask the first in hopefully a series of questions. “My friends and I were doing some research on the Owl's Nest in Evansville and we found out that your parents used to live there. Is that correct?”
“Oh, why yes, and that is quite an interesting tale of how I became the last Bettiger born to that family. It is a very long story, and I would love to tell it, but I am not one to talk on the phone for any length of time. What I do like is having company to talk to, and I haven't told this story before. I used to tell myself that I never would, but now that my years are running out, and I have no children to pass this tale on to, I would be very happy to tell you if you promise to pass my story along and 'keep it alive' as they say.” Allison's voice had grown stronger as she spoke, and its gentle sound had drawn Jennifer in, heart and soul.
“Ms. Bettiger, I can't say when, but I'm positive we can make some kind of arrangements to come for a visit and to hear your story. I can also promise you that we will make sure your story is told, and that your family name lives on. My team mate Rick, may even want to write your story down in a book, with your permission.” Jennifer was almost choked up as she spoke. She could sense the urgency and the shortness of time that dear Allison had.
“Thank you deary. Let me give you my phone number and my address and you just call whenever you want to and you let me know when you can come for a visit.” The kindness in her voice told a story of its own,
a story of love, kindness and a loneliness for family that had been missed for far too many decades.
“I'm ready to write it down whenever you are.” Jenn said politely, knowing she didn't need to write down the number, as it had shown up on her caller ID, but also knowing that was probably not something a 90-something year old woman would think of. She graciously wrote down the information, exchanged good-byes, and after ending the call, sat in her car in the parking lot for a few minutes with a smile on her face and thought that the answer to this mysterious haunting may be easier to find than we had all thought. With her optimism renewed, she resumed her drive home and made a few phone calls along the way.
*** I sat on my couch, waiting for the pizza delivery guy to show up with a steaming hot pie covered in every meat on the menu, plus onions, olives and mushrooms. True, I didn't really like mushrooms, but I was feeling daring this evening. It was going to be pizza, Mt. Dew, and a marathon of as many of the Harry Potter movies as I could stay awake for. It was a night to be lazy. The doorbell rang and I hopped up to answer it.
“That'll be $12.97.” The pizza delivery gal said with a smile and an overly perky demeanor. Feeling generous this evening, I handed her a $20.
“Keep the change.” I said smiling back at her, and taking the large pizza from her. It was heavier than I had expected, which made my smile even more grand, and as I closed the door I said to myself, “looks like I have dinner for tomorrow too.”
Placing the pizza on the kitchen counter, I grabbed an ice cold Dew, a few napkins and a plate. With perfect timing, as my hands were overly full, my phone buzzed from the front pocket of my jeans.
“Grrr...” I growled as I emptied my hands to retrieve the buzzing piece of technology. Jenn was calling, so I quickly answered to find out what had urged her to call on a Tuesday evening.
“Hey Jenn! What's up?” I said cheerfully, having put my 'growl' away.
“You'll never guess who I just talked to on the phone!” Jenn's voice was filled with emotion. “Um... the president... that guy from the vampire movie, or that guy who gives away the door to door sweepstakes?” I jested with her, knowing I wouldn't be able to actually guess.
