“We park at the front but start the hunt at the rearmost gate and work our way back to the main gates where we come in. We take the south side on our first visit, but with the size of this place, we need to plan two more trips at least.”
“Tell us about this cemetery. How old is it, how many grave sites?” Allison asked, getting into the conversation totally.
“It’s over 200 years old with the oldest grave in it dating back to 1817. There are some really strange and unique headstones in there. Here are a couple of pictures that I found on the internet from another ghost hunting group last year.”
“Holy shit, look at this one!” Briana said. She held up a picture with a statue enclosed in a glass case. It was a woman in a dress from around the early to mid-1800’s, which made it one of the oldest grave sites in the cemetery.
“Wow! Look how ornate her statue is. She’s really lovely if you look at her face.” Allison said, then took a drink of her soda.
“She is pretty. I wonder what the story is behind such a fancy piece.” Briana couldn’t stop staring at the picture. She had the strangest feeling she had seen the woman’s face somewhere before.
“What did you say the name and location of this site is?”
“I didn’t yet, but it’s called Lake View Cemetery, and it’s in Jamestown, New York. Lucille Ball is buried there too,” Lina said.
“How cool is that? I can’t wait for Friday. We still leaving here at 6 a.m.?” Allison asked.
“Yep. I’ll have the equipment ready to load as soon as you two get to my house.”
“Okay, so the details are ironed out, and we’re going on our first road trip to do some ghost hunting. Now, if you two don’t mind, I’m going over to offer Duck a drink before he takes the stage.” Allison walked off, adding a little extra wiggle to her hips as she headed toward the bar.
“She’s got it bad,” Lina said with a laugh.
“Yeah, she does. Hey, does the woman in this picture look familiar somehow?” Briana asked as she continued to stare at the photo.
“Not really, why?”
“I can’t put my finger on it, but I swear I know this face.” She was interrupted as the band took the stage and began to play. Their first song was an old favorite from the 70’s by Eric Clapton called Wonderful Tonight.
The girls looked over at Allison who was standing down at the front of the stage. She had a dreamy look on her face as she swayed to the song. Even though the girls liked much more modern music, they couldn’t help but love the sound of the band and the singer’s voice.
Briana and Lina joined Allison and started moving to the beat. Pretty soon none of the three girls thought of the upcoming ghost hunt; they were too busy dancing and having a good time.
Chapter 2
Friday came quickly, and the girls were happy to be on their way. After they loaded the truck with all their equipment and suitcases, they sped toward Jamestown. They turned up some favorite tunes on the stereo so they could sing even louder.
“It’s only ten hours to the hotel in Jamestown. Who wants the second shift to drive?” Allison asked as she set the cruise control.
“I’ll do it. I love to drive on the highway,” Lina chimed in.
Briana fell asleep in no time while Allison and Lina talked quietly. They went over the plans for the hunt and came up with some new ideas, which they’d share with their friend when she woke up.
The trip was uneventful, and before long, they were pulling into the parking lot of the Jamestown Inn. They went to their rooms and got settled before congregating in Briana’s room to eat the pizza they ordered and share their new ideas.
After a good night’s sleep, they met in the lobby and went to breakfast, which they wolfed down. As they drove to Lake View Cemetery, they were able to see just what a pretty place Jamestown was. It had small town charm, just like their own little part of the world.
Pulling up to the gates on Buffalo St., they parked the truck, got out, and went inside. The main pathways were paved with stones, and they quickly realized how easy it was going to be getting around. That is until they had to wander off of the main paths and go down the rows of older headstones.
The entire place was well kept and mowed, so in reality, even when they did wander off, they had little chance of getting lost. Deciding where they would place stationary cameras and where they could set up the laptops would be the next chore.
Since they were going in after dark, and it wasn’t technically allowed, they had to be discreet about where they placed everything so nothing would be seen by passersby. They decided to use the truck to place the laptops, which they would park on one of the side streets close to one of the smaller gates. They weren’t going to use the main entrance; that seemed too obvious.
“Okay, we have our quadrants for tonight’s investigation. Let’s keep looking around just for the heck of it,” said Briana.
“Sounds like a plan,” Lina said before turning to walk back toward the main pathway.
The girls walked all around the cemetery taking pictures for a daytime comparison. They
found the tombstone of Lucille Ball and took a picture for Briana’s favorite aunt who adored I Love Lucy.
“Hey look, it’s Benjamin Franklin Goodrich’s gravestone,” Allison said.
“Who is that?” Briana asked.
“It’s BF Goodrich. You know, like the tires?”
The two other girls just looked at each other, shook their heads, and laughed. Only Allison would know who he was.
“Okay, we’ve covered all of the grounds in this part. Good grief, who would have thought it would be this large?” Briana, as always, complained about all the walking they had to do before the actual investigation.
“It’s 150 acres total.”
They all jumped. None of them heard anyone walking up behind them. Spooked and hearts racing, the three girls turned toward the voice, hoping it was a living person and not a ghost just yet.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you. My name is Savanah.”
Once the girls caught their breath, they laughingly introduced themselves.
“Are you from here?” asked Lina.
“Yes, I was born and raised here. I did go away for school and then to sing opera a while back.”
“Oh wow. How cool is that? I play classic violin in my hometown’s local symphony,” Briana stated with pride in her voice. “And Lina plays cello, while Allison here is an amazing artist.”
Allison blushed at her friends comment. “Oh my goodness, they’re awesome too! Not sure how amazing I am, but I do love to draw.”
“I would love to hear you play sometime and see some of your artwork,” Savanah said.
“I didn’t bring my violin with me. We’re sorta here to work.”
“Work? What do you ladies do?”
All three noticed around the same time just how formal her speech was compared to theirs. Not really thinking much of it though, they kept chatting. They told her they were there to look at old cemeteries as a hobby and that they’d heard so much about Lake View Cemetery they started with it.
“Oh my goodness, how incredible. I’ve only been in this one since I live close by.”
“Lake View is beautiful and maintained so well compared to some we’ve been to.” Lina, as always, was the pragmatic one.
“It is a beautiful place to spend eternity. Although sometimes it gets lonely.” Savanah stared off into space for a minute before shaking herself back to the present. “Are you girls ghost hunters by any chance?”
“Why would you think that?” Briana asked nervously.
“It is okay. I won’t tell anyone, I promise.” She laughed conspiratorially.
Lina looked around to make sure no one was close by since there were several people walking around just like they had been. It seemed to be
a popular place during the day for tourists. “Yes, we are. We’re going to be coming back tonight for our first investigation.”
“Oh how exciting! May I join you ladies tonight?”
Savanah looked so excited they couldn’t say no to her, so they told her their plans and the time they’d be back. They had equipment she could use during the investigation.
She agreed to meet the girls later after telling them she was going to look for her father. “He’s around here somewhere,” she said then wandered off.
The three walked back to the truck and then drove around the entire perimeter of the cemetery. They found the gate entrance to use, which was close to the chosen quadrant, then headed back to town to find something to eat.
The girls went back to their hotel room to get a long nap before heading out to do the investigation that night. They were keyed up so sleep was difficult, but then it always was just before an investigation.
Chapter 3
Later that night, after waking up and showering, they gathered in Briana’s room to go over their plans once again and to make sure they had all the equipment they needed. Everything was packed quickly, and they started off for Lake View.
As they drove toward the cemetery, they talked about the new equipment and hoped it worked as well as advertised. They went around the perimeter twice to make sure they could park and not be seen easily from the road.
Once they found a good place to leave the truck, they got out quietly and loaded up the devices they needed for that night’s investigation. They each carried a small backpack with water, granola bars, and batteries among other items.
They booted up the laptops to record everything from the cameras or voice recordings, and Briana grabbed the backpack she’d put together for Savanah and her own, before they closed up the truck doors.
The girls walked up to the side entrance ready to tackle the lock on the gate or start climbing, but the found Savanah already waiting for them on the other side. She smiled and opened the gate for them to enter.
“Oh wow, thank you, Savanah. We were trying to remember how it was locked and if we were going to hop the fence or what.” Allison laughed as she walked through the gate.
Briana handed Savanah the backpack. She took it and looked at it blankly. “It has water, extra batteries, and some power bars for energy as the night wears on.”
“Oh, alright. Thank you for thinking of me.”
They all turned on cameras and then started walking the quadrant. Finally, after one circuit together, they split up after agreeing to meet back at the gate before dawn. Briana and Savanah went one way while Lina and Allison went the other.
“What do you do for work here, Savanah?”
“I still sing Opera at times.”
She didn’t say anything else, so Briana let it drop. They continued to walk slowly, watching their cameras for any signs of ghostly activities. Not finding much, they switched directions and started walking toward some of the really old parts of the original cemetery.
Not long into their meanderings, they came across the larger memorial stones. Some of them were amazing in their detail, and they had to look twice to see all of it. One in particular caught Briana’s attention on their first walk that afternoon. She remembered it from the research Lina had done.
She was drawn to it and had no idea why other than it was beautiful. It held the name Galloway and was an empty glass case surrounded by columns in a Roman type of design. She photographed it from several angles and then decided to wait to look at the pictures once they were back in the hotel rooms.
“What do you think was in there?” Briana asked her new friend.
“I have no idea,” Savanah said a little distantly.
Briana looked over at her Though she could not make out Savanah’s features clearly, she seemed sad as she looked up at the case. Not wanting to make her new friend upset, she suggested they move on.
There is something off about Savanah, but I can’t put my finger on it. How odd for her not to know what the case held since she’s lived around here her whole life.
They crisscrossed their part of the cemetery twice, took pictures, and sat down to do some EVP recordings, but nothing happened outright. Briana hoped she would find something later once they had time to go over everything.
“Well, I guess it’s time to head back to the gate and meet up with the other girls.”
“Yes, it is. We do not want to get caught by anyone,” Savanah said.
They hooked back up with the other two at the appointed time and removed all the devices, which they packed up and put into the truck before going back over to the gate where Savanah stood watching.
She declined a ride and said she was staying close by and could walk. They had agreed to meet Savanah the next night and she told them she’d be waiting to let them in again.
The girls hopped into the truck and headed back to their hotel for some sleep. Briana looked in the side mirror and noticed that Savanah had already gone deeper into the cemetery, heading to her own house or where ever she was staying.
“She’s a strange one, if you know what I mean,” Allison said.
“She’s actually very nice. We had a good time walking around until we got over by that statue in the glass case. Then, she sorta went quiet and seemed sad,” Briana said.
“I want to walk with her tonight. There’s something familiar about her, and I want to see if I can figure it out,” Lina said.
They chatted as they drove, then parted ways once they arrived to get some sleep. The girls agreed to meet later that morning in the lobby to go for brunch and compare notes before going over the evidence more fully in their rooms.
Chapter 4
Sleep didn’t come easily for Briana. She couldn’t figure out why her brain wouldn’t shut down, but something kept bothering her. Something Lina said about Savanah seeming familiar.
How can she be familiar? We’ve never seen her before, have we?
Finally, after what felt like forever, she managed to drift off but to some disturbing dreams. She found herself back in the cemetery talking to Savanah. They walked all over the place, and her new friend kept pointing out different graves as if she knew the people first hand.
“Over there is the man who built our first non-religious school in the county. And over in that corner is the man who helped build the Peacock Inn. Well, at first it was the home of William Peacock who worked for the Holland Land Co.”
“You seem to know everybody associated with the county,” Briana said.
“I know everybody in here anyway. No matter the year they passed,” Savanah said with a sad smile on her beautiful face.
“I don’t understand.”
“You don’t have to yet. Soon it will all be revealed. I have to go now. It’s time for you to wake up and meet your friends.”
Briana woke up to her phone alarm going off right beside the bed. She almost knocked it off in her haste to shut up the shrill ringing. Shaking her head, she got up to shower and go meet the girls in the lobby.
“Hey, sleepyhead. How’d you sleep?” asked Lina.
“Not worth a damn. Kept having this dream about our friend from Lake View.”
“I kept having odd dreams about her too. What the heck?” said Allison.
They decided to head down the street to a lovely little mom and pop diner to have brunch and go over things. All three ate like they hadn’t had food in days.
After an hour or so and tons of coffee, they went back to Briana’s room to start going through the evidence they gathered the night before. It was getting late, and they had to hurry in order to be done in time. They still had to get ready for that night’s hunt.
They found a few items worth noting but nothing really good. Lina and Allison called it after four hours and went to their own rooms to get ready.
Briana met the others at the truck, and they all stowed their gear in the back. They talked on their way to the cemetery, which didn’t take but a few minutes. Pulling up to the little side gate once again, they got out, grabbed backpacks, and walked over to wait on Savanah.
Once again, she was already waiting on the other side and let them in. She turned to smile at the girls. “Are we all ready?”
“Yes, we sure are. I’m going to be walking with you tonight if that’s ok?” asked Lina.
“That’s just fine. Do I get one of the backpacks with all the goodies again?”
“Yep, and here is yours. I’m giving you one of the thermal imagers to use tonight.”
“You’ll have to show me how to run it since I’ve never even seen one.” Savanah seemed to glow with excitement at the thought.
Allison took a few minutes to show her the basics, then the groups went their separate ways. They were in a different part of the cemetery that night.
“So Savanah, tell me some more about yourself and growing up here.” Lina started the conversation off as soon as they were out of earshot of the other two.
“Well, I’m 27, and I love opera. I sing as much as I can as a matter of fact. I’ve never married and at times regret that decision, not that it matters now.”
“Go on please.”
“I have performed locally for years and was asked once to perform at the New York City Metropolitan Opera.” She paused for a bit as she scanned the thermal imager, then continued. “My father was adamant about it not being ladylike enough for me, so I didn’t get to go.”
“Your father didn’t let you go?” Lina asked in shock.
“Yes, he thought it improper for his daughter to be seen as an entertainer.”
Lina laughed at the absurdity of the statement and was about to comment on it when she got a spike on the EMF meter. She held up her hand for Savanah to stop and stand still. It faded and then disappeared quickly.
Tricks or Treats: An Anthology for Charity Page 9
