Sanguine Tenacious Tidings

**OOOh Spooks!**

Day 5 - Haunted Halloween - Almost everyone loves a haunted tale. Write about a haunted place, could be fact or fiction.

A strange quickly written fiction story for the 30-Day Blogging challenge

(You asked; I Wrote )

It was a sad time when Grammy died. She was a real fixture Then, the family did not want to clean out the place. They all had homes of their own. It did not seem feasible to move any of her old stuff into their neat modern living spaces.

No one wanted to move into the old place. It was a nice enough house. The house had 3 bedrooms, a kitchen, a living area, as well as, a bathroom with a nice shower. So, it was an adequate roomy place to live.

Grammy lived there alone. The property was situated on a country blacktop. It rested on a little knoll set back from the road behind some pine trees. The green pine limbs grew close to the ground and the trees were older so they had grown up high. They shielded the house from the road quite well. The driveway ran along side the trees and ended in a parking area.

The whole family was called over to the house to discuss what they should do. We cooked burgers and hot-dogs on the old grill outside and gossiped about Grammy and her odd ways. In the end no one wanted to sell or clean up the place. So, they cleaned up the picnic and went home with out any decisions made. After all, everyone had jobs and school, and things to do.

Mom and I drove over to Grammy’s house one day a couple of weeks after the funeral. Mom wanted to pick up a bowl to use as a container for the church picnic. She was going to make her special salad that everyone raved about.

While Mom rummaged through the cupboard looking for the special bowl she wanted. I wandered around outside. There was bird feeder outside that was still filled with what looked like fresh bird seed and the birds were happily flying in and out taking away seed. I thought that was kind of odd, since no one had been to the place in at least a couple of weeks.

Another thing I noticed was the shed door was partly open with the padlock hanging open on the hasp. Someone had surely been here, because the back yard lawn was mowed.

As I prowled around there were other small items that were lining up in my mind. For instance, the garden looked like the weeds were being kept under control. And, the rose bushes were freshly watered.

When I went back into the house I checked with Mom. She went out the back door, to the shed and looked inside. After a few minutes of poking around in the shed, she walked out and re-locked the padlock. She rolled up the watering hose on it’s hanger and pulled a couple of onions out of the garden to take home with us.

“Maybe Uncle Jim was here today, I’ll call Mary and ask,” she said.

So, we went home.

At dinner Mom told Dad, “I called Mary to see if Jim was out to Grammy’s place watering plants and mowing? But, she said No. She was out there a few days ago to pick up a quilt and the kids went to play in the pines out front of the house. Joe, her youngest, came running in and said Grammy was out in the pines taking a walk. Grammy asked him to walk with her but, Joe said he had to ask his mom and when Mary went out, there was no one in sight.”

“Tomorrow is Saturday,” said Dad, “I’ll get Jim and we will go out to do some target shooting in the back field. We will look around while we are out there and I’ll take a new padlock for the shed and check the lawn mower.”

When Dad came home he told us no one had been around that he could see and the place had the look and feel of being deserted. And, he replaced the old padlock with a new one.

A few weeks went by, it was now September. Every time someone in the family visited Grammy’s place they saw the same happenings. A loose padlock on the shed. Sometimes, the lawn tractor was half in and half out. Sometimes, it was put away, wiped down, all shiny. The garden stayed weeded, only the back yard was mowed and the rose bushes thrived on regular watering.

One of the neighbors lived across the blacktopped road. Another lived 150 feet to the west. A third lived 500 feet to the East and still others lived further down and up the narrow country road. My parents interviewed all of them, some in person and some on the phone. No one acknowledged knowing anything about the events. Many, vowed to keep an eye out and call if they found any information about the happenings on Grammy’s property.

One day John Burkbum called in the late afternoon. He told my mom that his son,Seth was walking their dog down the road during the afternoon. Seth had stopped at Grammy’s mail box to talk to the old woman who was cutting weeds around the mailbox post.

Seth’s, dog had put up a terrible fuss. Growling, barking and bucking at the leash so excitedly Seth could hardly hold on to him. The old woman had asked Seth if he would like to go for a walk to see the roses out back of the house but Seth had quickly declined because the dog was all ready pulling him back toward his own home.

When John asked Seth what the woman looked like Seth thought really hard. But, he could not seem to remember anything about her; not the color of her hair, not the color of her clothing or even whether she had on a dress or jeans. John apologized to Mom on the phone because he told her Seth was not usually so dang unobservant.

Dad drove out to look around and the newest padlock, an expensive 7 pin lock was hanging open on the shed door. The pruning shears were laying on the lawn mower seat. No one was around and the house was still locked. So he came home.

Then the absolutely last straw! Dad went to a meeting at the Fire Hall one evening. It was October 31. The light was gone for the day leaving a cold, black evening with possible rain before the night was finished.

When the Phone rang it was John Burkbum. Mr. Burkbum was very upset he was talking so loud on the phone that I could hear what he said to Mom when I was standing 10 feet across the room.

He said, “There is a radio playing at your mothers house. It is blaring so loudly you can hear it all over the place. And, the lights are on up there. The outside pole light that your mother all ways had to turn on from inside the house and the kitchen lights too. I went up and knocked loud a lot, on the door but know one came to answer it.”

“OK, John, I’ll come out and see what is going on.”

“Sue, get your coat we are going to ride out to your Grammy’s house. You can put a leash on the dog and bring her with us.”

So, our doberman, Mom and I piled into the Jeep and rode out to Grammy’s house.

When we got there. Everything was noisy, like the neighbor said, only the kitchen door was standing open and the lawn mower was parked by the driveway. Mom had to drive carefully around it to park near the house. Before we even got out of the car our dog, Zelda was growling and all the hair on her body was standing on end. I could hear thunder from an encroaching storm moving toward us.

We left Zelda in the car and walked hurriedly to the kitchen door. Mom went in first and I slunk in behind her. Mom gasped and put her trembling hand to her mouth. I had made it clear into the kitchen behind her. Peering around her to see what she was staring at, I couldn’t help it, I let out a screech. Mom, quickly turned and clamped her hand over my mouth.

“Shut up,” she said in a squeaky voice.

There was a long blood covered knife laying on the floor and blood was spattered all over the walls and ceiling. But, the table was sitting in the center of the kitchen in a clean spot. Although the blood seemed to cover everything the table was totally clean. Not only was it clean. It was set with 3 clean place settings.

Mom pushed me out the door backwards. I almost lost my balance trying to get back to the car in a hurry.

Mom was talking on her cellphone to Dad, He told her to get in the car quick, lock the doors and drive down to John Burkbum's house. Dad called the police.

Dad and the police arrived together. They went straight to the house. Dad noticed the lawnmower was back in the shed. Dad locked the padlock on the shed. The lock was hanging open.

When they walked up to the kitchen door it was locked. Dad had to unlock the door for them and turn on the light switch. There was no blood anywhere. The dishes were put away; the table was bare; the radio was off. Dad and the police walked through the house. Everything was in its place; all neat and tidy.

The police and Dad were muttering, shaking their heads, and talking about the situation as they walked toward the Kitchen door. Dad noticed a piece of paper under the leg of a kitchen table. He picked it up and read it, then handed it to the police officers. It said:

Happy Halloween!!!!

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apondia#1781748



















apondia#1781748