Haunted Holidays

by Roberta Simpson Brown

  “By that time, the neighbors had seen the fire and called for help. The fire was put out and the house saved. The neighbors stood around, talking about how lucky the mother and children had been.

  “The mother and her children smiled at each other because, unlike their neighbors, they knew it was not luck. Daddy had come home at Christmas and brought them the greatest gift of all—the gift of life!”

  Gift of a Chime Child

  A chime child is a child born when the clock is chiming midnight between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. A chime child is said to be blessed with the gift of “second sight.”

  Roberta has a story about such a child. This is how she tells it.

  Laurie, a distant cousin of mine on the Simpson side of the family, was a chime child. Her ability came in handy one Christmas when she was visiting us.

  My Great-Great-Grandmother Alley had a special gift, too. Her specialty was working with herbs. Many people called on her when a doctor was not available. The country doctor had a large territory to cover, since there was no hospital where patients could be centrally located. When he was away, Grandma Alley (everybody called her that because of the “greats” in front of her name) did what she could to help the sick.

  She wrote down all her remedies in a large notebook. She included information about what each herb was good for. She also grew her own herbs and dried them for use in the winter. She kept her ample supply in a cabinet, and she kept her notebook on a little table near her bed. After she died, the family left the herbs in the cabinet and the notebook where she left it.

  One Christmas after Grandma Alley died, Laurie and her family came to visit. My dad, Tom Simpson, was a young boy then. He said that during the visit, Laurie’s younger brother Bobby came down with a fever. That was a scary thing back then. People feared scarlet fever, typhoid fever, and the flu. The family had no idea what was wrong with Bobby, and they worried when his fever did not respond to any of their home treatments.

  They sent for the doctor, but he had gone to visit his daughter’s family for Christmas. Bobby was getting worse, and nobody knew what to do to help him.

  “Why don’t you ask Grandma Alley what to do?” asked Laurie.

  “Honey,” said her mother, “Grandma Alley is dead. She isn’t here.”

  “Yes, she is!” exclaimed Laurie. “She’s standing by Bobby’s bed!”

  Remembering that chime children can see ghosts, her mother said, “Ask her what medicine we should give Bobby.”

  Laurie seemed to be listening to someone speaking directly to her.

  Then she said, “Okay! Thanks, Grandma Alley.”

  Laurie turned to the family.

  “She says to look at her notebook and then go to the cabinet. The jar with the herb you need will be pulled out a little bit in front of the other jars. Use the herb to make a tea for Bobby.”

  They turned to look at the notebook, and they were amazed to see that it lay open on the table. They checked the notes and found the herb in the cabinet. Then his mom made him some of the herb tea.

  Within the hour, Bobby’s fever broke and he slept peacefully. The whole family was relieved and amazed that Laurie, the chime child, had used her gift to heal him.

  My dad said that after that, every time someone in the family got sick, they would find Grandma Alley’s notebook open to the remedy they needed. When they moved away from the old home place, the notebook disappeared. There were more doctors then. Maybe Grandma Alley thought she was no longer needed.

  Christmas Shopper

  Years ago, we were at a book fair in Owensboro. One of the nicest things about book fairs is that people stop by to chat and tell us stories. One woman stopped by our table to look at our books and mentioned that books make good Christmas gifts.

  She and Roberta started talking about the wisdom of shopping early.

  “I have most of my shopping done by the end of summer,” said Roberta. “That way, I can take my time wrapping the gifts while I listen to Christmas carols. It also takes the pressure off if I just want to go to the mall and enjoy all the decorations and music. I even find a last-minute gift sometimes, but there is no pressure to shop for all the people on my list.”

  “I used to put off shopping until the last minute, but I don’t do that now,” said the woman. “I make a point of being inside my house, safe and warm on Christmas Eve. I had an experience once that changed my routine.”

  “What happened?” Lonnie asked.

  “You might not believe me,” she said. “It was strange.”

  Of course, that made us want to hear her story more than ever, so we encouraged her to tell us.

  “The stranger, the better!” Roberta said.

  “When my husband was alive,” the woman said, “I always put off my shopping until the last minute. He was good-natured about it and went along with me. He said it wasn’t safe for a woman to shop at night alone. I told him that was silly, but he warned me every year that it was dangerous.

  “I certainly had no safety concerns with him along. He was a tall man, and he always wore his black hat and overcoat on our shopping sprees. It gave him a look of somebody who shouldn’t be messed with. I never felt threatened by anyone when he was with me.

  “Then, a few years ago, my husband was killed in a car accident. I was devastated. How could I get in the holiday spirit with him gone? I had no intention of celebrating Christmas that year, so I gave no thought to shopping at all. I told my family that I wanted a quiet day at home alone.

  “Then my sister called me late on Christmas Eve afternoon. She and her husband had decided to drive to Owensboro very early Christmas morning to spend the day with me. She didn’t think I should be alone on such a special holiday. Christmas was for families! she said. But I knew I would feel alone without my husband regardless of who else was there.

  “I immediately set about cleaning the house. When I finished with that chore, I was in the kitchen, planning my menu for Christmas dinner, when I suddenly realized I had bought no gifts for my guests. I knew they would come loaded down with presents, so I would have to get them something. It was about 9:45 at night, and I remembered that there was one department store that was going to be open until midnight on Christmas Eve.

  “I grabbed my coat and drove to the store. I had no idea of what to get, so I just walked up and down the aisles, looking for possible gifts. The decorations and music meant nothing to me. My husband was gone, and I was just going through the motions of living.

  “After walking up and down a couple of aisles, I noticed a man who seemed to be following me. When I looked at him, he picked up a packaged shirt without really looking at it and put it back down. I didn’t like the way he was looking at me, but then I realized he might be a security guard watching for shoplifters. I put him out of my mind and bought some presents.

  “When I looked around the store, the man I had seen earlier was nowhere in sight. I felt relieved that he had gone. I had just let my imagination run away with me. He probably hadn’t been following me at all.

  “It was nearing midnight as I left the store. A few people left at the same time, but they went in a different direction than where I had parked my car. I heard the voices of other people coming out of the store, but I didn’t look back. I only wanted to get to my car and drive home.

  “As I walked down the street, I passed other stores that were closed. I began to feel uneasy. And then I saw something move in the alley entrance. The man I’d noticed in the store was waiting in the shadows!

  “I stopped, frozen by fear, as he charged toward me. I clutched my purse and packages and waited for the worst. I knew I was in grave danger, but I couldn’t move. I saw the flash of a knife blade under the streetlight.

  “Then the man stopped! I could see his face in the streetlight, and he was clearly frightened. He wasn’t looking at me now. He was focused on something behind me. I thought maybe the store’s security officer had come outside.

  “Suddenly, my
fear released me and I started screaming.

  “‘Help! Somebody help me, please!’

  “People came running. Other customers had seen the whole thing as they were leaving the store. I thanked them for scaring him away.

  “One lady said, ‘We didn’t do anything, honey. It was the man walking behind you that scared him off.”

  “‘What man?’ I asked her.

  “She looked surprised that I asked the question. ‘Why, the man in the black hat and overcoat. He was right behind you. He started after that creep and chased him away. We never saw him again. I hope he caught the guy!’

  “She and some of the others helped me to my car and I drove away, stunned by what had happened. The lady had described my husband perfectly in the black hat and overcoat. I had always heard that the dead could walk on Christmas Eve. Had my dead husband come back to save me after I disregarded his warning about shopping alone? I felt like he had.

  “I never felt alone after that night. But I made a point to shop early from then on. I even bought extra gifts in case I needed some unexpectedly!”

  New Year’s Eve and

  New Year’s Day

  Since the 1900s, it has become customary to celebrate New Year’s Eve on December 31 and ring in the New Year.

  Many celebrate with parties, champagne, and a kiss at midnight. They make New Year’s resolutions and sing “Auld Lang Syne.” Fireworks and music accompany the stroke of midnight, ushering in the New Year.

  Some people, like us, prefer a quiet evening at home watching the ball come down in Times Square, New York.

  New Year’s Day is celebrated in different ways all over the world, but everywhere it represents a new beginning.

  In the United States, it is traditional to spend the day with loved ones, eating good food and watching parades and football.

  Since it is a time for change, it is a time that might lure spirits to this side to visit.

  New Year’s Ghost

  Roberta has a story about her Great-Uncle Charles. She tells it this way.

  When I was growing up, we did not have big New Year’s Eve parties, and we had no TV to watch the ball come down in Times Square. We did not toast the New Year with champagne or kiss each other at midnight. Mostly, we looked forward to our traditional southern New Year’s Day dinner of cornbread, black-eyed peas for luck, cabbage or greens (turnip, collard, or mustard) for money, baked sweet potatoes for love, and ham or pork roast for health.

  My great-uncle, Charles, was usually at our house on New Year’s Eve. After his wife died, Uncle Charles became a “floater.” That meant that he floated from one relative to another, staying two or three months at each place before moving on. He usually came to our house sometime around Thanksgiving and stayed until after the New Year.

  Great-Uncle Charles had some beliefs that he observed on New Year’s Eve. He put a coin outside the door on New Year’s Eve because he thought it would bring prosperity for the coming year, and he insisted that all the outside doors be left open at midnight to let the old year out and the new year in unimpeded. I never noticed any increased prosperity from the coin, but, since he always left it there, I had no way of knowing if we’d have a bad year without his practice of putting it out. There was no means of comparison.

  Leaving the coin outside caused no problem, but opening the doors in winter was a most uncomfortable thing to do! Our house was heated by a fireplace and a woodstove in the kitchen. We did not welcome cold air from the outside when we were gathered around the fireplace trying to keep warm. Great-Uncle Charles ignored our complaints and said he knew we came from sturdier stock.

  “You shouldn’t cringe and shiver at a little cold,” he said. “It’s good for you!”

  It didn’t seem good for some of us. As soon as the clock struck midnight, my sister and I waited for Great-Uncle Charles to signal that it was okay to race to the doors and close them.

  Then one fall, Great-Uncle Charles didn’t come for his usual visit. His brother sent word to Grandma Simpson at the end of August that Charles wasn’t feeling well. His heart was bothering him, but there weren’t many treatments for heart conditions back then. He died in early September.

  Thanksgiving and Christmas were sad without him, but both holidays were uneventful. Then New Year’s Eve came, and we thought of Great-Uncle Charles. As much as we loved him, we had no intention of carrying on his New Year’s traditions.

  It was a still winter night. No wind was howling to spook us as we sat around the fireplace, telling stories and wondering what the New Year might bring. We listened to the tick-tock of the clock and waited.

  The clock’s hands reached one minute before midnight. Suddenly, all the outside doors blew open! For a minute, we sat there stunned, and then the clock began to strike. Dad told my sister and me to go close the doors. We looked out on a peaceful yard and garden. No wind was blowing, not even a breeze. There was no natural force operating here.

  We smiled and welcomed what we knew would be a happy year. After all, Great-Uncle Charles had come back to visit!

  Vengeance

  At one of our book signings, we were approached by a man who said his name was Moreland. He told us a tale of vengeance in western Kentucky. We thought it was typical of the kinds of tales we were told where we grew up: a tale of murder and revenge.

  It was the early 1900s. Jessica and Grady had been married several years, and the bloom had faded from their romance. They argued day and night about everything that came to their minds.

  “Nothing I do for you is ever good enough!” yelled Jessica.

  “You are so right!” Grady yelled back. “I think I am going to find someone to replace you!”

  “Nobody would have you,” said Jessica. “But if you did fool someone, I assure you I would never let them have any peace in my house!”

  On and on it went, day after day. Fortunately, Jessica and Grady had no close neighbors to hear their fighting, so people thought they were a happy couple. Both managed to put up a good front in public.

  New Year’s Eve drew near, and Jessica and Grady were invited to a party at a neighbor’s house. Grady began to make a New Year’s resolution right then to change his life. He decided that Jessica had to be eliminated. The party would be a good place to check out new prospects.

  Jessica saw it as a chance to buy a new dress and socialize, too. The couple called a temporary truce and left for the party.

  Grady and Jessica had no car, so they decided to walk to the party instead of hitching up the buggy. There was one stretch of road that was dangerous because there was a sheer drop-off. Neither admitted it to the other, but both were nervous when they passed that section of the road.

  The party was in full swing when they arrived. Everyone was dressed up, and many were dancing to music by local musicians. Food and wine were plentiful, and the guests were enjoying both.

  A cold rain set in, but only a few, including Jessica, noticed. She thought of the walk back home.

  Grady made note of several new faces and made sure he introduced himself to each young lady as the evening passed. Jessica watched, but since they were in a large gathering, she held her tongue.

  The hosts brought out champagne as midnight approached, and everyone toasted the New Year as the clock struck midnight. The rain stopped, but it had been heavy and left the ground muddy.

  After listening to the loud revelry for a few minutes, Jessica went to find Grady. By that time, he was feeling the effects of the champagne and was in need of some fresh air. He didn’t argue with Jessica when she suggested that they leave. He had accomplished what he had set out to do. He had met a fine-figured young lady who showed some interest in him. He could make no move tonight, but he left feeling certain they would meet again in more private circumstances. There was just one problem now: Jessica.

  Though the rain had gone, the wind had picked up. Both Jessica and Grady pulled their coats tighter around themselves and walked a little faster. Jessica wished she h
ad not worn new shoes. High heels were not suited for walking in mud.

  The road narrowed as they came to the section with the drop-off. Grady moved behind Jessica as they reached the spot.

  Do I dare? He wondered. It would be so easy! Everyone would believe it was an accident!

  It was his only chance to court the new lady. He lunged forward and grabbed Jessica, pushing her toward the drop-off.

  At first, Jessica fought and clung to Grady, but he was stronger. She wobbled on her high heels as she struggled.

  “I’ll have revenge!” she shouted, as he gave one final push that sent her over the edge, screaming.

  Her body hit the ground below and the screaming stopped. Grady couldn’t see Jessica’s body in the dark. He waited a few minutes to see if he could hear anything. All was silent.

  Grady turned and hurried back to the party. He burst through the door calling out, “Help! There’s been an accident. Jessica has fallen over the drop-off.”

  The news ended the party and the search began. Searchers had to take the long road down around the hill to get to the bottom of the drop-off. It was daylight before they found Jessica’s crumpled body. The pretty new shoes were all covered with mud.

  “Those high heels are probably to blame. It looks like she slipped and fell, just like you said,” one of the searchers said to Grady.

  Jessica’s death was ruled accidental, and Grady pretended to grieve. As soon as he thought he could get away with ending the grieving process, he began to call on the pretty lady, Stella, whom he had met at the New Year’s Eve party.

  The romance flourished, and soon Grady married Stella and brought her to the home he and Jessica had shared.

  Right from the first, Stella was not happy.