After supper, William decides he has time to take the book back to Miss Waters’s house. He grabs the book and tells to his dad, “Pop’s I’ll be right back. My friends are coming by later so if they get here before I’m back just you just tell them to wait in the basement.” Mr. Rogers was watching the news, and just told William not to be too long then.
William headed off to Brenda’s house. As he was walking, he was going over the instructions from the book in his mind. He was frustrated by the last part of the instructions, “leave your body, just feel yourself float up.” He had tried it before supper as he was home from school early. He was able to do everything else the book instructed, but he couldn’t seem to float out of his body. He hoped that Brenda would be able to shed some light on this.
As he walks up to Brenda’s door, he feels a sense of calmness come over him. Just as he was about to knock on the door, Brenda opened it. A little startled, he jumped back a bit. Brenda, smiled, “Hi William, how’s it going?” William, still a bit freaked out, “It’s going good. I just thought I’d return your book.” Brenda invited William in. As he walked in, he was looking at the candles Benda had lit up in her study. “Sorry to arrive unannounced,” said William. Brenda took the book from him, “No need to apologize, you and your friends are always welcome here. I was just doing some meditating to prepare myself for tomorrow.” William decided to ask Brenda about the book, “Did you ever try the lessons in that book? I was wondering because I am having trouble with the last step.” Brenda looked at the cover of the book and then put it back on the shelf, “You mean the just do it type of attitude they take in the book?” “Exactly”, said William, “I was able to do everything else but that.” Brenda just sat in her arm chair, and then looked at William, “It may take some time for you to be able to leave your body. You were traumatised by the unexpected out of body experience you had.” William nodded, “I guess you’re right. I guess I just need more practice.” Just then Brenda leaned across the table and Williams eyes fell down to her low neck line of the loose shirt she was wearing. Her necklace swung out just as Brenda noticed where William’s eyes were looking and she pushed her left hand against her chest to hold the shirt against her body and sat back in her chair with a paper in her right hand. The gold pendent of the necklace landed against the back of her left hand. William’s eyes grew wide as he knew he had seen one similar somewhere. Brenda looked at William, who at this point was red faced and asked him, “Is something wrong? Your eyes look like you’ve seen a ghost or something.”
William took a moment to compose himself. He looked down at the gold pendent on her hand, “That’s a very unusual pendant.” Brenda looked down at her hand. She had not realized it had fallen out of her shirt. She turned her hand over and lifted it up, “I had it specially made. It’s one half of a set. Why do you ask?” William looked down at the floor and quietly spoke, “I think I’ve seen the other half of it.”
Brenda looked a little stunned. She knew who had the other half, but was not quite ready to go into detail about it. “I don’t think so. I believe the other half is half a world away.” “Are you sure”, Asked William? “Positive. The other half is with a person who I haven’t seen in years. I had the Pendant made so we’d always have a connection,” replied Brenda, as she tucked the gold pendant back in her shirt.
William was confused. He thought for a moment, “It’s weird because I was so sure I had seen it before. Guess I was mistaken.” Brenda just smiled, “I guess you were.” William realised at that moment that his friends were on their way to his house. “I almost forgot that the group was coming over to my house, I better get going. Thanks for the loan of the book.” And William turned and left Miss Waters house. As she was closing the door, William was looking back at her and almost trip down her stairs. Brenda yelled out to him, “Be careful. I’ll see you guys tomorrow at the old mill at nine.” William shouted back, “Okay, goodnight.”
William was walking briskly home as he didn’t want his friends to be waiting too long for him. The whole way home he couldn’t get the gold pendant Brenda was wearing of his mind. He thought to himself, “I’m positive I seen the other half of that pendant. It was so unique that it can’t be a coincidence, but then why would Brenda lie about the other half being halfway around the world?” He thought back to Jessica’s thirteenth birthday, when her mother gave her a necklace. It was very unique and different than anything he had ever seen. It was very similar to the one Brenda was wearing. Jessica, who always knew she was adopted, was bragging about it and showing it off, saying it was actually a gift from her real mother, and that she was going to be coming to see her one day. Jessica still wore it regularly. But if that was true, why hadn’t Brenda said anything? He was having trouble deciding whether to mention it to Jessica, or just leave it, as there may be a reason Brenda didn’t want him to know the truth. And if he was to tell her, how would he, after all, he couldn’t start the conversation with, “I was trying to look down Miss Waters shirt when suddenly this gold pendant fell out.”
As he was nearing his house he saw the other group members walking up to his house. He called out to them. Matthew yelled back, “Nice, we come to visit you and you take off.” William ran up to the group, who were now in front of his house, and told them he went to return the book to Miss Waters. Jessica asked him how the lessons from the book went. William in a disappointed tone replied, “Not great. I get through the whole lesson and at the very end when I’m supposed to leave my body, I can’t. It’s really frustrating.” Sarah asked, “Did you tell Miss Waters the problem you’re having?” “Yeah, she just said I need more practice,” said William. Matthew jumped in, “Typical teacher response.”
Back at Brenda’s, she was phoning an old friend and explaining what happened, about how William had seen the pendant. In a worried voice she explained to her friend, “I think I convinced him he couldn’t have seen the other half, but I’m not certain.” Her friend told her to just let it go until Sunday, like they planned, and just hope William forgets about it.
Just then there was a knock on Brenda’s door. She let her friend go and went to see who it was. She opened the door and was surprised to see Dorothy, from the town archives standing there. She invited her in. “Would you like some coffee or tea,” she asked Dorothy? Dorothy declined the offer saying, “I just popped by to drop this off,” as she pulled a green note book from her purse. Brenda had a chill go through her, “What’s the notebook for?”
Dorothy explained how when she was putting the toys away in the box they keep for kids to stay occupied while their parents are going through the archives; she noticed this notebook near the bottom of the box. When she pulled it out, she realized it must be the notebook Jessica had said was stolen off the table when she took a break. It would appear that some child grabbed it off the table and just put it in the toy box.
Brenda was amazed. She thanked Dorothy for bringing it by, explaining she was planning on heading off to the old mill tomorrow for a ‘hunt’. She said good night to Dorothy and once she had closed the door behind her, sat down in her study to look at the note book.
She opened the book to the first page on the inside cover was a note, “Property of Sherry-Anne Johnson”. Brenda’s heart started racing. She couldn’t believe she was holding in her hands something that was once held by her long deceased ancestor.
As she started reading the first page, she was instantly intrigued. It started out “I cannot tell a soul what I know, but cannot keep the knowledge inside me any longer.” Brenda paused for a moment and was wondering if her feelings of excitement and intrigue were similar to what Jessica experienced. She continued to read the journal:
A few months back, a traveller had stopped by to water his horse near the mill. It was shortly after war had broken out and everyone was suspicious of strangers. The traveller left his horse drinking by the river and walked up to the front door of the mill. It was always open in the summer due to the heat, so he walked in. My dad was out in the storage shed getting some wheat to make flour and my mother was out by her stove in the yard baking bread. I can only assume what happened next, perhaps the traveller was looking out the window at my mother, who was quite striking, but we do not know. Somehow, the traveller ended up caught in the spoke of the gear that turns the grinding stone. We heard a scream and my father ran to the mill. Inside he found the traveller caught between the gears of the mill. He tried in vain to pull the traveller free, but his body was jammed between the gears. He released the locking pin that stops the wheel from turning on the outside of the mill. He then forced the gear backwards, causing the traveller to be pushed free of the gears.
My father carried the traveller to the main house and placed him on a blanket my mother laid out on the sofa. The traveller was barely conscious when he whispered something to my father. He pointed to a pocket and my father reached in and pulled out a sealed document.
I do not know why, but my father opened the envelope and read the document. There was a second paper with it. He had a very concerned look on his face as he folded the paper up and placed it into his pocket. He took the envelope and the document and threw them on the fire and stared at it until it burned completely. He then moved the ashes so you couldn’t tell an envelope was in the fire...
Back at William’s, the group were all sitting in the recreation room. They were organising all their notes and going over the evidence they had gathered so far. Jessica shook so strongly that it was obvious to William. He asked Jessica if she was all right. Jessica looked over at William, “I just got the weirdest chill I ever had run through my body.” She shook it off and went back to reviewing the case.
Since Jessica’s dream may have shed light on who the apparition was, they were now treating it as evidence, although questionable.
They were making a list of things to watch for when they go to the old mill the next day. They had included: footsteps on the stairs, doors opening or closing, footsteps in upstairs hallway and apparitions. They also made a list of places to try EVP’s in: the landing on the second floor, the sitting room and near the table in the corner (hoping to catch what the arguing man was saying).
They went through their gear and made sure everything was charged or had fresh batteries. They were pretty certain they had covered everything.
Since it was still early, William asked the group if they’d like to watch a movie. They all thought it’d be a nice break. William told them to pick one out of the stack against the wall and he’d go get some snacks. Jessica offered to assist him. The two went upstairs while the others were trying to determine what type of move to watch.
In the kitchen, William threw some popcorn in the microwave and asked Jessica to hand him a bowl for some chips. As Jessica bent down to get a bowl from the cupboard, her necklace swung out of her shirt. William noticed this and suddenly felt uneasy. He forgot about the pendant that was on Brenda’s neck, but was now certain it was the same as Jessica’s. He quickly decided to not mention it to Jessica, and as she passed him the bowl simply commented, “That’s a beautiful pendant. I don’t think I’ve seen you were it in a while.”
Jessica’s face lit up, “I haven’t. But it’s the strangest thing. I had put it away in a lock box so I wouldn’t lose it, and last Monday when I was looking for my school books, I found them under the bed beside the box. I decided to pull out the box and look at the necklace again. As soon as I picked it up I heard a voice inside my head say to put it on. I did, and I haven’t wanted to remove it since.”
William was not going to tell Jessica he thought Miss Waters could be her mother. For one, how would he explain he saw the other half of the pendant, and two it would just mess up a very enjoyable evening, and possibly ghost hunt the next day as well. Jessica grabbed the bowls of snack food and William grabbed some can drinks and they headed back downstairs.
The group was still trying to determine what to watch. Matthew wanted an Action movie; Sarah wanted a Drama movie; while Alexis chose a Comedy. Jacob and Samantha were just sitting back laughing at the three of them arguing about what to watch. William interrupted the argument, “Did anybody see this documentary called “Real Ghost Caught on Tape”? This title peaked the group’s curiosity.
Matthew: “Where did you get that?”
William: “I found it in a box of movies my dad brought home from a friends place. They were moving out of state and didn’t want to take a bunch of stuff with them.”
Jessica: “Sounds rather interesting.”
Samantha: “Maybe it has something like the Traveller in it?”
The group all seemed interested to see what was on this documentary, so William put it into the entertainment unit, pulled down the projector screen, dimmed the lights, and started the show.
Everyone was silent as the show started. First there was the usually creepy music. Then a man’s voice began speaking, and as he did, the words were appearing across the screen:
What is an apparition or ghost? The basic definition is – “The appearance of someone or something no longer in existence.” Many people believe that a ghost is the soul of a departed loved one. However, there have also been sightings of; ghosts ships, airfields, trains, cars motorcycles, and buildings. Basically any physical thing that once existed has been reported by someone, somewhere over the last few thousand years. Since non living objects can appear years after they are gone, we must re-examine the old belief. There is a new school of thought that believes it is the residual energy that all physical objects, including humans, are made up of. Main stream science tells us that all objects are made up of energy – so this idea is not farfetched. Ghosts do not only appear in the dark. Most true ghost sightings are in the day time. The reason a lot of paranormal investigations are done at night is because there is generally less activity and interference from outside sources.
Although it is not precise, most apparitions or ghost fall under three main categories:
A historical haunting is one where the same scene from the past is played out over and over again. It’s almost like someone recorded it and is playing it back. These are usually seen when atmosphere and lighting conditions are just right. Some even occur on the same date and time. In these cases, if a wall is moved or a floor level changed, the apparition will seem to walk into the new wall or the feet may not be visible because it is repeating what it would have done when it was alive.
A literal haunting, or intelligent haunting, is one where the ghost actually communicates in some way with the living. These are the type of ghost that may tap you on the shoulder, or whisper in your ear. They do not however, jump out and say “Boo”. There are multiple ways they can try to communicate, which I’ll explain shortly.
A fantasy haunting, which is the most common, is one where someone watches a scary movie, hears or reads a ghost story, or is in a distraught state due to life’s circumstances and then they think they see a ghost. When people want to see something really bad, the subconscious mind allows them to imagine it is there.
There are other categories, and unlimited subcategories, so we will only concentrate on these main three in our documentary. First we will look at the historical haunting.
The documentary continues on to show different photos and videos of known haunted locations around the world. It explains what historic event took place and how when there is a huge release of energy, like in a battle or massacre, some of the energy may remain. It also goes into nonviolent historical haunting that show normal people doing normal things.
As the documentary gets into the literal haunting, it starts by explaining the different ways to communicate with a ghost.
The most common way a literal ghost will communicate in this day and age is through “Electronic Voice Phenomenon, or EVP.” This can be done by running a voice recorder or video camera while asking questions. They can also be recorded un-expectantly while videotaping an area.
Based on the general belief that a ghost is made of energy, an “Electromagnetic Field detector, Or EMF detector” can be used to check for unusual changes in the energy in an area. This is often used in conjunction with other devices to try to record or photograph the unseen energy field.
Another belief is that the temperature is different in an area containing a ghost. This how some people explain the “chill” sensation people feel. To check for this, a simple digital thermometer is useful for detecting minor or major changes of temperature of an object. A thermal imagining camera is great for wide area scans, but is rather expensive.
The documentary shows different audio, photo and video evidence for the EVP, EMF, thermal imaging and digital thermometers.
The group was amazed with some of the evidence they showed. They were equally amazed with the faked evidence that was presented. They even went into detail of how to fake some of the photos and videos people claimed were real.
After the documentary was over, the group sat around discussing how cool it would be to have some of the hi-tech gadgets that were used in the documentary. They were wondering how the “traveller” would have shown up on the thermal imaging camera. Jacob asked the group what they thought Miss Waters used for ghost hunting, and if she would have any of the hi-tech devices they saw. Most of the group agreed that she probably had a good quality digital voice recorder, and most likely an expensive digital camera and digital video recorder. There was doubt that she would have any other hi-tech equipment, as she was a teacher who studied parapsychology, not a person who made a living on hunting ghosts.
The discussion soon turned to different ghost hunting shows the group had seen on television. The excitement in the voices of the group members as they were telling what they saw made it obvious they believed what was shown on the show.
Matthew, being the sceptic, interrupted there discussion with a simple question: “If these shows were true, and not just Hollywood hype, why do they have the cameras showing the ghost hunters face all the time and not where they are looking at? It’s easy to pretend you’ve seen something with words and expressions, but it’d be more believable if they showed the unexplained phenomena and had the reaction of the hunter just an audio portion of the clip?”
Everyone was looking around the room, especially at Jessica and William, waiting for one of them to respond. William finally answered Matthew: “We all know that actually capturing any paranormal evidence isn’t easy. Look at the ghost Samantha saw at the old mill that didn’t show up on her pictures. Or the ghost from the sitting room that showed up as a light on the video. Maybe it’s because of the flash, or the light on the video cameras, but catching images of ghost just isn’t easy. Can you imagine how short lived the ghost hunting series would be if they could only do a show that they actually caught the image on tape? Since they know you won’t get most paranormal happenings on tape, they just show the reaction of the hunters so that there is a bit of entertainment with the different reactions the ghost hunters have.
Matthew always hated when William would give him a logical explanation for something he didn’t believe in: “Okay, say what you are saying is true. They should at least have a camera pointing in the other direction as well, and let the viewer see what they were looking at once in a while. Maybe even let people see the area as the hunter reacts. Someone may notice a shadow or some other blur go across the screen.”
William agreed with this argument. After all, someone saying “did you see that” when you aren’t in the room, is rather stupid. As it was getting late, the group decided to call it a night. This time they would meet at the playground closer to the old mill around eight thirty. This would allow them to make it to the old mill by nine o’clock.
That night, Jessica again dreamt she was at the old mill. She saw the traveller arrive, the father read the letter, and everything was the same as the previous dream. This time, after the sheriff left and the Mr. Johnson asked his wife where she hid the coins, she told him that they were hidden behind the wood pile in the kitchen. Mr. Johnson went to the kitchen and moved the wood until he could see the small sacks of gold he had put the coins in. He grabbed them and told his wife he was going to melt them all down into bars so if anyone does show up again, they wouldn’t have to worry about them stumbling across the coins, and having them loose everything to the government and potentially go to jail, or worse, be executed for treason. As she watched him walk out of the house to the building where he had the mould, where he melted and formed the gold into bars, Mrs. Johnson went to continue making supper. She threw a couple logs into the oven, and noticed her husband forgot a sack of coins. She picked it up and was about to take it out to him, when a pot started boiling over on the stove. She put the coins down and turned to lift the pot off the stove top.
After this, Jessica woke up to the sounds of birds singing outside her window, which she had open to allow the cool summer breeze in. She lay in bed thinking sadly, “Guess the gold is gone. That’s too bad. I guess I’ll need to tell the rest of the group when I see them.”
Jessica moped out of bed and decided she better get going so she wasn’t late meeting the group. She washed up and had breakfast, then went through the process of testing her electronic equipment and making sure the batteries were all fully charged. She threw some spare batteries for her voice recorder into her purse. She told her parents she was meeting up with her friends and headed out the door.
As Jessica was arriving at the playground, she noticed Matthew and Alexis were already there. She saw Sarah and Samantha walking across the field heading towards the playground. A she was getting closer; she noticed Alexis seemed extremely happy as she was joking around with Matthew. She was a little surprised as Alexis had told her only a couple weeks ago that she wished Matthew wasn’t so cynical. As she got closer, she yelled to them, “Hey guys, how’s it going?” Alexis shouted back, “Guess who wished upon a star the other night!” Jessica couldn’t help but burst out laughing, “You mean the man who doesn’t believe in anything is now making wishes?” Matthew glared at Alexis, “So you can keep a secret?” Alexis put her arm around Matthew and told him, “Lighten up Matt, Jessica will keep your secret and the other two are too far away to have heard me.”
As Jessica was getting closer, Alexis said to her, “Promise not to repeat what I told you. I told Matt I wouldn’t say anything but I just had to tell you.”
Jessica, still smiling: “Don’t worry Matthew, your secrets safe with me. Honestly, I couldn’t help but laugh. You have to admit, it is funny considering how you don’t believe anything.”
Matthew, still a bit embarrassed: “Thanks Jessica. And you’re right; I’d be razzing myself like crazy. I just figured, I’ve got nothing to lose, and Miss Waters did say I needed to work at keeping an open mind if I ever want to experience something.”
Sarah and Samantha were still a bit of a distance away when Sarah yelled out, “What’s so funny Jessica? We heard you laughing from across the field.”
Jessica looked at Matthew: Nothing, I was just laughing at seeing Lexis and Matt playing around like a couple kids.”
Matthew mouthed the words “Thank You” to Jessica.
William and Jacob were walking rather briskly across the field. They noticed the other group members were already at the playground and were hurrying to catch up with them. As they got closer, Samantha shouted at Jacob, “Still smiling I see. Guess the old man never showed up last night?” Jacob in a very excited voice said back, “Nope. And if he does show up again, I’ll just make him leave again. And I am looking forward to,, and hoping to see something today.”
The kids were still hanging around the play structure when Jessica decided she might as well tell them about her latest dream. “Well guys, I had another dream of the 1800’s last night. Everything was exactly the same, except this time I wasn’t woken up.”
Jacob excitedly asked: “So you know where the gold is?”
Sarah added: “We’re going to be rich!”
Jessica then gave them the sad news: “Yes I know where the gold is, but no, we’re not going to be rich.”
Matthew was confused: “So, what do you mean?”
Jessica continued: “Well the gold was hidden in the wood pile in the kitchen. Problem is, I also saw Mrs. Johnson tell Mr. Johnson where it was and he dug it out and took it out to the building where he melted it down. It’s gone.”
William added: “I guess when the traveller said in the EVP; “Gold’s mine don’t take it”; he was still talking to the Johnson’s.”
Alexis then bumped Matthew and smiled: “At least we may still see a ghost, even if we aren’t going to get rich.”
Matthew looked back at Alexis: “There are a lot of riches in this world that can’t be held in your hand.”
Jacob jumped in: “Yeah, like getting to see a real ghost!”
Matthew smiled at him: “That’s right little buddy, that’s one example.”
The group continued on their way to the old mill, discussing their disappointment in the new dream, and also their hope that with Miss Waters help, they may be able to find some new paranormal evidence.
As they arrived at the mill, Brenda still had not arrived. They were hanging out in front when Jacobs’s excitement got the better of him and he wondered up the stairs to get a peek inside the door. As he tried to open it, his excitement turned quickly into disappointment. He shouted to the group, “It’s locked!” William shouted back to him as he was walking towards the door, “What do you mean it’s locked?” Jacob repeated, “It’s locked. I can’t open the door.” William walked up to the door and tried it, thinking Jacob just wasn’t strong enough to open it. He tried several times to open it, but couldn’t. “He’s right, the doors locked.”