Journal Entries
Stuck in Ottawa
Posted Oct 2, 2001
I do not have the words to discribe the anger I feel toward those who planned and carried out the attack on Sept. 11. We were flying back from Japan when the attack occurred.
We didn't know what happened until we were diverted to Ottawa, and got off the plane.
This so called "Holy War" is nothing more than a bunch of murderers, who have corrupted a peaceful faith.
My prayers and thoughts go out to all who have been touched by this tragedy.
I want to send my deepest gratitude and reguards to those servicemen who will be called to rid this world of those responsible for this attack! Send them all to hell.
Pardon the language.
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Latest reply: Oct 2, 2001
What was that noise?
Posted Jul 24, 2001
The first night was bad. A lightning storm had raged over the house the entire night, it seemed. For hours, a bright flash followed immediately by a deafening boom shook her. Sleep had eluded her until early morning when the storm passed. When Leigh was a child, she would see a young girl. She looked about nine or ten years old. She wore a long full white dress. Even back then, she knew the little girl was a spirit or a ghost, but she wasn’t afraid of it, and that puzzled her a little.
Though she had been in the house many times, she hadn’t had any odd feelings. That changed when the first week she slept there. Though she couldn’t see it, she had a feeling there was something outside her bedroom door at night. Her dog, a big German Shepard named Max, would sit at the foot of her bed and stare at the doorway at night. He threatened by whatever it was, but he just kept an eye on it. Max was very protective of her, and Leigh always slept better when he was around.
She saw the little girl the third night at the house, but she had a feeling it wasn’t the same girl from when she was little. And she couldn’t see her if she was looking directly at her, she could only see her out of the corner of her eye. The little girl stood outside of her bedroom door looking in.
Leigh worked as a consultant for computer companies. She had done very well for herself during the stock market boom of the 90’s and had a stroke of luck when she pulled most of her money out before the bottom fell out. While she wasn’t Bill Gates, she would be financially set for a long time. She bought the house mainly as a place to get away and relax. The original property was nearly 1200 acres, but it had been sold off so all that was left was a respectable 22 acres. Aside from the main house there is a summer kitchen, a large bunkhouse and a barn next to a pond. The lower part of the property was thick with poplar and oak trees with many small open fields scattered around. The first day after she had moved in and was mostly unpacked she took a walk down there. Max was having a good time, he ran large circles around her, sniffing the air, but never straying far from Leigh. She decided right there, if Max liked it, she liked it!
The same day she walked through the barn, then the bunkhouse. The barn was in bad shape, she guessed it hadn’t been used in a long time, but the bunkhouse looked pretty good. She climbed up into the crawl space attic and looked at the roof, it was in good shape. A thought stuck her, she had a 1967 Ford Mustang her grandfather had left her, and she could make a garage here for it. She had it stored at a friend’s house under an old parachute, she thought he would appreciate her taking it back. She also had an immaculately kept 1964 Triumph, and though she had several offers to sell it and the Mustang, she couldn’t bear to part with either. The other half of the bunkhouse she could fix up into a guesthouse or something.
Between the barn and the main house were the remains of a foundation. It looked to be about the same size as the barn. She walked around the perimeter of the foundations on the stones. When she reached where a door must have been, she felt a wave of nausea come over her, it only lasted for a second, but she staggered and nearly fell over. At that second she thought she smelled something too, it was a sickening sweet smell.
The following day she left for the home office in Delaware. She would only be gone over night and Max was more than used to being left alone. She had a neat food bowl that has a timer built into it, you set the time and at that time the cover folds back so the dog can eat. She also had a magnetic dog door in the kitchen. There is a small box on Max’s collar so when he gets near the dog door, it unlocks and lets him in.
The drive from Western Maryland to Delaware wasn’t that far, she could have driven back home easily, but this would give her a reason to stay over night. And the reason was Michelle. They had been having a long distance relationship for nearly three years. Michelle worked between the offices in Biloxi Mississippi and Des Moines Iowa. Leigh called her “Mississippi Queen” for all of the flying and driving she does near the river. Usually about once a month their chaotic schedules let them meet. But the talk lately has been that she maybe transferred up to Delaware. This is a good thing!
When Leigh returned home she found something curious. She kept a fragile glass container with pennies in it on her entertainment center, it was on the floor, unbroken with the pennies spilled out as if it had been set on the floor and pushed over. That wasn’t even the strangest part; all of the pennies were face down! At first she thought maybe someone had broken into the house, but all the doors and windows were still locked, nothing was missing and Max was ok. When she lived in her last apartment, someone tried to break in when she was away. She found a jimmied open window, blood on the floor and windowsill and a shreds of blue jeans. She had picture in her mind of the look on the burglars face at seeing a ninety-pound jet black German Shepard coming at him! . She sat in her chair and thought what could have done this; she wasn’t ready to even consider anything to do with spirits or ghosts.
The following night she was in the kitchen making some tea before going upstairs to bed to watch a movie when she heard something in the living room. It sounded like change being poured out on to the floor. She set her cup down and ran into the living room, and there in the same spot as before was the glass on its side on the floor, with the pennies neatly fanned out on the floor! She stood there in shock for a minute, staring at the pennies. Max had followed her into the living room; he stood at her side, his hackles up looking off to the right of the pennies at the wall by the fireplace. She put her hand down and said, “It’s ok, Max. You’re a good boy”. She looked at the wall and didn’t see anything. Needless to say it was a little bit harder for her to go to sleep that night, she kept listening for the penny glass again.
The following day she drove into town. She saw a sign for “Frost’s General Store” so she parked the car and went inside. As soon as she looked in the front window she knew this was a genuine old time general store. The sold everything from fresh fruit and vegetables to chain saws and grass seed. The woman at the counter greeted her with a warm smile and cheerful “Good morning”.
“Hello.” Leigh replied
“This is a nice change for the weather after last week.”
“Yes it is.”
The woman was putting price tags on cans. She looked up at Leigh.
“I don’t mean to pry, but you bought the old Tanner house.”
“Yes I did.”
“Wonderful place I hear.”
“I like it.” Leigh picked up a bag of carrots, and looked at the woman.
“What do you know about the house?” Leigh asked.
The woman is the owner of Frost’s, her name is Amanda Frost. She has spent her entire life here in Norton. Amanda told her the Tanners had lived in the house since the turn of the century at least. She didn’t see much of them; they rarely came to town and didn’t go out of their way to be friendly. She said one day they just packed up and left, that was about five years ago. The county took possession of the house, and they put it up for sale.
The next few months were mostly quiet. There was the daily routine of picking up the pennies, but all winter it was quiet. She had thought of putting the penny glass somewhere else or getting rid of it, but Max had gotten used to it, and she found on the two days when she left them on the floor, that she actually looked forward to it when she came home. The following spring was when things began to get strange again. For as long as she could remember she has had strange dreams, mostly about places and people she has never been or seen, as best as she could recall. Though she had lingering fear of winding up in one of these places or meeting one of these people, it wasn’t even an everyday thought, just something for the subconscious to keep busy with. These dreams began to turn very dark and unpleasant, but in a way she couldn’t make sense of. The dreams looked the same, but she had the impression that someone or something was watching her in the dream. An uneasy feeling that there was someone was always watching stayed with her.
While she was awake things at home weren’t much better. She could have gotten used to the pennies, but when things began to move in plain sight, that was something she couldn’t handle. Max began to act strange also. Whether he was in or out of the house, he was almost constantly scared. She had never seen him scared of anything before. He spent nights on the bed next to her, rather than his usual place on the floor at the foot of the bed. It began with little things like a fork on the counter moving as if something was pushing down on the tines making the handle go up. Or the curtains billowing on closed windows, brand new double pane windows, when there was not even a breeze outside! After a few weeks she decided to send Max to her Mothers. He had not been eating as much and she was worried about him.
Leigh came home from work; she unlocked the front, while holding the mail in her teeth. With the door open she looked on the floor in the living room, and just as every other day there was the pile of spilled pennies. She closed the door after putting the mail down on the table next to the door. Nothing important in the mail just the usual pre-approved credit card and the ”you may have already won a fabulous holiday junk mail”. She looked down the hall toward the kitchen, looking for Max, and then she realized he wasn’t here. A sad look passed over her face; she walked down the hall to the kitchen. In the kitchen on her left just as she walked in were the telephone and her answering machine. She had three messages. She hit the play button, and walked back to the living room.
“”Hello Ms. Wells, Mrs. Frost from the General store, just wanted to call to let you know the information you wanted has arrived. Its quite a lot and very heavy, books and letters. Well its here when you want to pick it up dear, have a nice day.”
She picked up the mail and headed back to the kitchen to throw it away.
The second message was a hang up.
“Leigh, Hi, Ill be in town for three weeks, getting in tomorrow, and can’t wait to see you. I’ve can’t wait to see this house of yours. Talk to you soon, love ya!”
It was Michelle, she was coming in early! It had been about a month and a half since she had seen her. But the problem was she will want to stay here, and with all of the strange stuff going on, she wasn’t sure how Michelle would handle it?
The first thing Leigh noticed about Michelle is her eyes. It’s not the color or their shape it is the way she looked at her. Leigh had been called to the office she was working in to troubleshoot a wiring problem with the network they were installing. Leigh looked at her something clicked. Michelle was a very attractive woman with out doubt, but this company strongly discouraged relationships between coworkers, even contractors and employees.
The following week Leigh was finishing up paperwork, when Michelle walked over with several other people from the office.
“Leigh, we’re all going out for a few drinks, do you want to go?”
Leigh looked up from her work, with Michelle was Dave and Lynne from purchasing and John from shipping.
“Sure, where are you going?”
“A little bar across town, a friend of ours is singing tonight.”
“Ok, let me finish up, and I’ll meet you down stairs.”
“Good, see you down stairs.”
Leigh wasn’t almost done, but she needed a night out to unwind. She looked at the paperwork for a second, picked it up, put it neatly into her briefcase, and walked out of the office.
Michelle wasn’t fooling when she said the place was small, there was barely room for the forty or so people in there already. Dave led the way and sat down at the only table left, there were only four chairs left, Dave looked back at John and said, “Left standing again!” He laughed and leaned over to Leigh and Michelle who sat next to each other and asked loudly to Leigh “What do you want to drink?”
“A beer please.”
“Draft?”
“Yes, thanks.”
They were only ten feet from a raised stage where a man was playing a guitar, and he had a harmonica around his neck. She looked at him; he looked remarkably like Bob Dylan. He began to sing, and he even sounded a little like Bob Dylan, “Poor man “she thought, “I hope this is how he sings all the time!”
Luckily the singer didn’t always sound like Bob Dylan, but he did a great cover of “Tangled up in Blue”. The five of them listened to the music, which wasn’t bad, drank beer and did shots, much too much of both.
It became somewhat of a tradition for the five to go out drinking the first Thursday of the month after that. A couple of months later they were out. Leigh noticed Michelle wasn’t her usual life of the party. They hadn’t really talked about personal stuff till then, but Leigh could tell something was bothering Michelle. At closing time when everyone was saying bye, Leigh leaned over to Michelle and said, “If you needed to talk, call me.” Michelle’s eyes welled, she smiled and said thanks.
From then on they were best friends, but when Michelle was sent to Des Moines and Leigh to Delaware, they lost touch for a little while.
That night Leigh did something very strange; she sat down on the steps and talked to her house.
“Hello, please don’t let me know if you can hear me, but please listen. My friend Michelle is going to be here tomorrow, I haven’t seen her in a while and she will be staying here. Can you do me a favor and don’t scare her, please. I know you’re not evil or anything but I want her to feel comfortable here. I would very much appreciate it.”
A few minutes later Leigh was scared half to death by a little girl, in a long white dress, standing outside the second floor bathroom.
Leigh felt her jaw drop when she saw the little girl. She just stood there, after a second she looked down at the ground and shuffled the toe of her shoe over the carpet. Leigh was amazed, this is the same girl she saw when she was a child.
“Hello?” Leigh asked.
For a moment the little girl didn’t move, just kept looking at the floor.
“Hi, remember me?”
Leigh replied, “It was a long time ago.”
The little girl looked back at her shoes, and Leigh did also, there were faint stains on her shoes and the hemline of her dress. The little girl picked up the hem of her dress, looked at the stains, and a look of sorrow passed over her face.
“Can you get the blood out of my dress, please?”
Leigh was sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of tea cupped in her hands. She had tried to take a nap but she knew Michelle would be arriving soon. She heard the doorbell. She walked down the hall to the door and looked through the window, it was Michelle.
She opened the door and Michelle had a big smile on her face, she took one look at Leigh and frowned.
“Are you alright?”
“Hi to you.” Leigh replied, “Yes I’m fine, just tired.
“I wondered why you weren’t at work today.”
“Have I got a story to tell you.” Leigh said as she closed the door behind Michelle.
“So your telling me, the little girl you told me you saw when you were a kid, is the same one that died in this house?”
Leigh leaned back into the chair “Yep.”
“Strange things seem to follow you don’t they.”
“My whole life!”
The following day was Saturday; Leigh had called her Mom and asked if she could get Max. So Michelle and her got into Michelle’s car, and went to get Max. Leigh had missed him, and she was sure things would settle down, and he would do better now.
Max went crazy when he saw Leigh get out of the car, this was the longest they had ever been apart. Leigh’s Mom said he didn’t eat for the first two days, and would just sit on the front porch and stare down the lane. But after a few days he got better, but kept his vigil on the porch every night.
He jumped up and put his paws on her shoulders and licked her face, then run around her once or twice, and then jump up on her again. This went on until she got down on her knees and scratched him behind his ears and gave him a big hug. Michelle had met Leigh’s Mom several times before. Michelle walked up the walk and said hi to her and gave her a hug.
At just before dinner Craig, Leigh’s stepfather came home. He walked into the kitchen and gave Jen, Leigh’s Mom and kiss. Dinner was on the table and they all sat down.
After dinner, Leigh went outside with her stepfather and Michelle and Jen sat down on the sofa.
Jen looked at Michelle “Is Leigh alright?”
“I think so, why?”
“She has been acting strange lately and nervous.”
She continued “She sent Max here, that is strange, she hasn’t been acting this way since she moved into the new house.”
“I think the house may be more than she can handle, or at least more than she expected.”
“I know, that house is much to big for just her and Max, but I don’t think that’s it.”
Michelle replied “I don’t know, I got in yesterday, and we haven’t really had a chance to talk.”
On the ride home, Michelle told Leigh what she talked about with her mother.
“She is worried about you.”
“I know, but I think things are going to get better now.”
“Why do you say that?”
“I had a talk with the little girl, Anna.”
Leigh wished she had a picture of the look on Michelle’s face at that moment.
“A talk!”
“Yep.”
“Now I am worried about you too!”
“Really it’s ok, she’s just a sad and lonely little girl. And she’s not alone.”
“Ok.” The car began to slow, and she looked over her shoulder at traffic behind her. “ We’re going back to your Mom’s.”
Leigh put her hand on Michelle’s shoulder, “Everything is fine, trust me.”
“I’m not sure if I want to spend the night there.”
As soon as the door opened Max was out and running. Leigh stood up and smiled at him, it was good to have him home. Michelle got out and went back to the trunk to get her bags. The last hour of the drive had been quiet. Leigh knew she was serious when she said she wasn’t sure about staying there. But Leigh had assured her it was safe and everything would be fine.
Leigh opened the door, and the penny glass was on the entertainment center! She put her keys on the table, walked over to it. She picked it up and looked in, and was pleased to see all of the pennies were heads up. Michelle stood in the doorway.
“Come on in.” Leigh smiled and walked over to her. She reached out and took her bag from her. Michelle looked at her, and stepped in. Leigh stuck her head out the door and whistled for Max. A few seconds later he stood in the doorway, and Leigh swore, if he could have, he would have had the same look of trepidation as Michelle had as she stood there.
“Max, come here boy.” She said as she sat on the sofa.
He looked at her and walked in the doorway. Michelle sat down next to her, Leigh put her arm around her.
“I want you to be comfortable here.”
They talked al little while and decided sleep would be a good thing. They walked upstairs, and Leigh got towels out so Michelle could take a shower. While she did that, Leigh went down stairs and brought their drinks upstairs. In the bedroom she turned the TV on and sat on the edge of the bed.
When Michelle finished, Leigh went to get a shower. Michelle laid down on the bed. Max laid down at the bottom of the bed facing the door.
Leigh came out of the bathroom, she walked to the bedroom, drying her hair. Michelle was watching one of those silly late night talk shows. Some woman was screaming at another about stealing her man. They were both attractive, then they showed the guy, and Michelle and Leigh looked at each other and busted out laughing! He was this scrawny, greasy haired punk.
“He better be well endowed or a six inch tongue!” Michelle said.
Late that night, Leigh got up from bed to go to the bathroom. Michelle rolled on her back and asked “ You Ok?”
Leigh touched her on the shoulder “I’m fine, need a drink.”
Michelle closed her eyes and rolled back on her side. When Leigh got in the hall she was startled to see the little girl standing there, a few feet in front of her.
“Hi” Leigh said
The little girl looked up at Leigh “Is that your sister?”
Several things popped into her head at that moment.
-First how does she explain her relationship with Michelle to a ten tear old who died over one hundred years ago?
-If she did how would she take it?
-And if she didn’t like the idea would she do anything?
“She’s a good friend of mine.” Leigh said.
“Why doesn’t she sleep over in this room?”
“Its hard to explain this, we’re more than friends.”
The little girl looked at her, “I don’t understand.”
For a few minutes Leigh explained Michelle and her relationship. They sat on the floor in the hall.
Michelle left that night, she didn’t want to break up over this, but she just needed some time to think it all over, and she would see her soon. Anna didn’t see Anna or Belle for months afterwards and nothing strange happened either, except oddly the penny spilling didn’t stop. She had a suspicion it wasn’t Anna or Belle doing that, there might be something else she hasn’t seen yet.
Life was as normal as could be, Max was back to normal, she was working hard, and she was miserable anyway. She went back to the county library to see if she could find anything else on her house. The librarian, Jill Scott, was very helpful. She was about Leigh’s age, 37, and looked like what you would expect a librarian to look like. She wore round glasses, her dark hair pulled back in a tight bun, an ill-fitting, off-white sweater. She was tall, about 5’11”, thin and was giving Leigh every indication she might be interested in her. Leigh didn’t even want to think about that at the moment. If she wasn’t working, spending time with Max, or working on the house, she was here or sleeping.
The only new information she found about her house was a story written in 1902. It was about former slaves that stayed in the area after the Civil War. It made mention that hundreds of slaves were never accounted for. The article made mention of the Watson family which disappeared, along with thirty-three slaves.
She had hired a contractor to renovate the bunkhouse. Half of the first floor would be a three-car garage, and the other half would be a gym or recreation room or something. The second floor would be and guest house. It would be two bedrooms, one and a half bathroom, living room, kitchen, dining room and den. It was bigger than every apartment she had ever lived in, in her entire life!
The barn, she had no idea what to do about. She liked it, but it was in bad shape and she didn’t want to put the money out at the moment to get it fixed up. She decided to put that off for a while.
The foundation where the horse stable used to be still gave her a queasy feeling. After the first time she set foot in it she only tried one other time. As she got close she felt nauseous, so she backed away. And since then she has not gone near it, but strangely, Max doesn’t seem to be bothered by it.
After two months Leigh broke down and called Michelle.
Michelle answered the phone ”Hello.”
“Michelle, how are you?”
“Better, now, I’ve been hoping you would call.”
“It’s been crazy around here, I’m sorry. I’d meant to call so many times, but something always came up.”
“I would like to see you.” Leigh asked.
“How about I come up next weekend?”
Leigh just about jumped in the air and shouted for joy! She got control, but still sounded ecstatic, “Sure, whenever you can. Are you sure though? It has been very quiet here, aside from the pennies everyday.”
“I’m not going to let this stand between us, I am sure.”
They talked for a few more minutes, then said goodbye. The second she hung the phone up, she danced around the house, Max even got into it; they both ran her singing, and Max barking.
The Thursday before Michelle came over, Anna appeared to her. Leigh was walking out of the bathroom from a shower, when she saw her standing in the hallway.
“Hello again, Anna.”
“Hello Ms. Leigh.”
Anna looked happy, she smiled, it was the first time she had seen her smile.
“Can I help you?”
Anna looked up at her “I’d like to show you something.”
Anna looked at her suspiciously “What do you want to show me?”
Leigh walked toward her and held out her hand, Leigh stepped back. Anna stopped and dropped her hand, “I promise I wont hurt you.”
“That’s not what I am worried about.” Leigh stepped back another step, “Tell me exactly what you are going to do, and what you’re going to show me.”
When Anna had finished, Leigh was still more than a little worried, but she agreed. Anna reached out her hand, and Leigh took hold of it.
Leigh was startled when Anna disappeared, and a second later everything seemed to shimmer. A feeling of dizziness came over her, but a second later everything snapped back into focus. She was still in the upstairs hallway, but everything looked different. The pictures on the walls, the table near the bathroom and the carpet was all gone. The walls were plain white and bare wood floors. Leigh started to turn her head, but a wave of dizziness hit her, and she very nearly fell over. She put her hand on the wall to steady herself. The wall seemed to give when she leaned against it. Not so much as if it was made of rubber, but that it retreated from her touch. She tried to turn again, and the floor seemed to act the same way. She had the disturbing feeling that if she wasn’t careful she could pass through the floor.
Behind her she heard voices, they sounded weird. As if she was listening to it on a stereo and someone was turning the volume up and down, and the pitch was fading in and out. She carefully walked back to what was her spare bedroom, and looked inside.
There was an older woman with four small children. The woman was combing one of the girls hair. The other two young girls were playing with a doll on the bed. They were making funny voices for the doll, and the little girl holding the doll was Anna. It was clear that she couldn’t see Leigh, she was standing in the doorway, but no one could see her. There was also a little boy, looked to the youngest of all the children, maybe only six or seven. He had a dozen or so thimbles on the floor, and he was trying to stack them one on top of the other into a tower.
Suddenly she began to feel sick again, and a second later she felt herself moving. She stood outside, in front of the house. When she steadied herself she saw a wagon coming down the dirt road to the house. It was drawn by two horses, and a man sat holding the reins. He looked to be in his late forties, maybe. He looked over his shoulder as he pulled the reins to stop the wagon in front of the house. It had barely stopped and he had jumped off and walked quickly into the house.
Leigh heard another wagon. She turned around, and it was a wagon with eight or nine men in it. In the house, she heard a man and woman argueing. The other wagon passed around to the back of the house. She walked around the house following the wagon. The men got out of the wagon and walked straight to the bunkhouse. Each was carrying either a rifle or an axe handle. When they entered the bunkhouse two stayed outside by the door. Leigh looked and there was a barn where the foundation was in her time. Behind her she heard the house door open, and Belle stumbled out of it, followed by the man. He walked her to the barn, and out of the bunkhouse came a dozen other blacks. They were all pushed into the barn, and the doors barred. Two other men were spreading hay around the outside of the barn. Another man walked out of the summer kitchen with a torch.
Leigh had a terrible feeling when the slaves were being led into the barn, and it just got worse. When she saw the man with the torch, she tried to get to him to stop him. As he reached down to light the hay she took a swing at his head. Her arm passed straight through him, but the momentum she had, she passed straight through him, out the other side, then through the wall of the barn. She landed half in and half out of the barn. The people inside were huddled in the center of the barn.
Leigh felt herself moving again. She stood at the side of the house this time. She looked around. Behind her at the rear of the house was the still smoldering ruins of the barn. She felt an anger like she never felt before well up in her. She wanted to do something, anything. She had never been a violent person, but thoughts of killing these men appealed to her very much, or at least seeing him suffer.
She heard horses at full gallop from the front of the house. She looked and saw soldiers with blue uniforms
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: Jul 24, 2001
What was that noise?
Posted Jul 24, 2001
The first night was bad. A lightning storm had raged over the house the entire night, it seemed. For hours, a bright flash followed immediately by a deafening boom shook her. Sleep had eluded her until early morning when the storm passed. When Leigh was a child, she would see a young girl. She looked about nine or ten years old. She wore a long full white dress. Even back then, she knew the little girl was a spirit or a ghost, but she wasn’t afraid of it, and that puzzled her a little.
Though she had been in the house many times, she hadn’t had any odd feelings. That changed when the first week she slept there. Though she couldn’t see it, she had a feeling there was something outside her bedroom door at night. Her dog, a big German Shepard named Max, would sit at the foot of her bed and stare at the doorway at night. He threatened by whatever it was, but he just kept an eye on it. Max was very protective of her, and Leigh always slept better when he was around.
She saw the little girl the third night at the house, but she had a feeling it wasn’t the same girl from when she was little. And she couldn’t see her if she was looking directly at her, she could only see her out of the corner of her eye. The little girl stood outside of her bedroom door looking in.
Leigh worked as a consultant for computer companies. She had done very well for herself during the stock market boom of the 90’s and had a stroke of luck when she pulled most of her money out before the bottom fell out. While she wasn’t Bill Gates, she would be financially set for a long time. She bought the house mainly as a place to get away and relax. The original property was nearly 1200 acres, but it had been sold off so all that was left was a respectable 22 acres. Aside from the main house there is a summer kitchen, a large bunkhouse and a barn next to a pond. The lower part of the property was thick with poplar and oak trees with many small open fields scattered around. The first day after she had moved in and was mostly unpacked she took a walk down there. Max was having a good time, he ran large circles around her, sniffing the air, but never straying far from Leigh. She decided right there, if Max liked it, she liked it!
The same day she walked through the barn, then the bunkhouse. The barn was in bad shape, she guessed it hadn’t been used in a long time, but the bunkhouse looked pretty good. She climbed up into the crawl space attic and looked at the roof, it was in good shape. A thought stuck her, she had a 1967 Ford Mustang her grandfather had left her, and she could make a garage here for it. She had it stored at a friend’s house under an old parachute, she thought he would appreciate her taking it back. She also had an immaculately kept 1964 Triumph, and though she had several offers to sell it and the Mustang, she couldn’t bear to part with either. The other half of the bunkhouse she could fix up into a guesthouse or something.
Between the barn and the main house were the remains of a foundation. It looked to be about the same size as the barn. She walked around the perimeter of the foundations on the stones. When she reached where a door must have been, she felt a wave of nausea come over her, it only lasted for a second, but she staggered and nearly fell over. At that second she thought she smelled something too, it was a sickening sweet smell.
The following day she left for the home office in Delaware. She would only be gone over night and Max was more than used to being left alone. She had a neat food bowl that has a timer built into it, you set the time and at that time the cover folds back so the dog can eat. She also had a magnetic dog door in the kitchen. There is a small box on Max’s collar so when he gets near the dog door, it unlocks and lets him in.
The drive from Western Maryland to Delaware wasn’t that far, she could have driven back home easily, but this would give her a reason to stay over night. And the reason was Michelle. They had been having a long distance relationship for nearly three years. Michelle worked between the offices in Biloxi Mississippi and Des Moines Iowa. Leigh called her “Mississippi Queen” for all of the flying and driving she does near the river. Usually about once a month their chaotic schedules let them meet. But the talk lately has been that she maybe transferred up to Delaware. This is a good thing!
When Leigh returned home she found something curious. She kept a fragile glass container with pennies in it on her entertainment center, it was on the floor, unbroken with the pennies spilled out as if it had been set on the floor and pushed over. That wasn’t even the strangest part; all of the pennies were face down! At first she thought maybe someone had broken into the house, but all the doors and windows were still locked, nothing was missing and Max was ok. When she lived in her last apartment, someone tried to break in when she was away. She found a jimmied open window, blood on the floor and windowsill and a shreds of blue jeans. She had picture in her mind of the look on the burglars face at seeing a ninety-pound jet black German Shepard coming at him! . She sat in her chair and thought what could have done this; she wasn’t ready to even consider anything to do with spirits or ghosts.
The following night she was in the kitchen making some tea before going upstairs to bed to watch a movie when she heard something in the living room. It sounded like change being poured out on to the floor. She set her cup down and ran into the living room, and there in the same spot as before was the glass on its side on the floor, with the pennies neatly fanned out on the floor! She stood there in shock for a minute, staring at the pennies. Max had followed her into the living room; he stood at her side, his hackles up looking off to the right of the pennies at the wall by the fireplace. She put her hand down and said, “It’s ok, Max. You’re a good boy”. She looked at the wall and didn’t see anything. Needless to say it was a little bit harder for her to go to sleep that night, she kept listening for the penny glass again.
The following day she drove into town. She saw a sign for “Frost’s General Store” so she parked the car and went inside. As soon as she looked in the front window she knew this was a genuine old time general store. The sold everything from fresh fruit and vegetables to chain saws and grass seed. The woman at the counter greeted her with a warm smile and cheerful “Good morning”.
“Hello.” Leigh replied
“This is a nice change for the weather after last week.”
“Yes it is.”
The woman was putting price tags on cans. She looked up at Leigh.
“I don’t mean to pry, but you bought the old Tanner house.”
“Yes I did.”
“Wonderful place I hear.”
“I like it.” Leigh picked up a bag of carrots, and looked at the woman.
“What do you know about the house?” Leigh asked.
The woman is the owner of Frost’s, her name is Amanda Frost. She has spent her entire life here in Norton. Amanda told her the Tanners had lived in the house since the turn of the century at least. She didn’t see much of them; they rarely came to town and didn’t go out of their way to be friendly. She said one day they just packed up and left, that was about five years ago. The county took possession of the house, and they put it up for sale.
The next few months were mostly quiet. There was the daily routine of picking up the pennies, but all winter it was quiet. She had thought of putting the penny glass somewhere else or getting rid of it, but Max had gotten used to it, and she found on the two days when she left them on the floor, that she actually looked forward to it when she came home. The following spring was when things began to get strange again. For as long as she could remember she has had strange dreams, mostly about places and people she has never been or seen, as best as she could recall. Though she had lingering fear of winding up in one of these places or meeting one of these people, it wasn’t even an everyday thought, just something for the subconscious to keep busy with. These dreams began to turn very dark and unpleasant, but in a way she couldn’t make sense of. The dreams looked the same, but she had the impression that someone or something was watching her in the dream. An uneasy feeling that there was someone was always watching stayed with her.
While she was awake things at home weren’t much better. She could have gotten used to the pennies, but when things began to move in plain sight, that was something she couldn’t handle. Max began to act strange also. Whether he was in or out of the house, he was almost constantly scared. She had never seen him scared of anything before. He spent nights on the bed next to her, rather than his usual place on the floor at the foot of the bed. It began with little things like a fork on the counter moving as if something was pushing down on the tines making the handle go up. Or the curtains billowing on closed windows, brand new double pane windows, when there was not even a breeze outside! After a few weeks she decided to send Max to her Mothers. He had not been eating as much and she was worried about him.
Leigh came home from work; she unlocked the front, while holding the mail in her teeth. With the door open she looked on the floor in the living room, and just as every other day there was the pile of spilled pennies. She closed the door after putting the mail down on the table next to the door. Nothing important in the mail just the usual pre-approved credit card and the ”you may have already won a fabulous holiday junk mail”. She looked down the hall toward the kitchen, looking for Max, and then she realized he wasn’t here. A sad look passed over her face; she walked down the hall to the kitchen. In the kitchen on her left just as she walked in were the telephone and her answering machine. She had three messages. She hit the play button, and walked back to the living room.
“”Hello Ms. Wells, Mrs. Frost from the General store, just wanted to call to let you know the information you wanted has arrived. Its quite a lot and very heavy, books and letters. Well its here when you want to pick it up dear, have a nice day.”
She picked up the mail and headed back to the kitchen to throw it away.
The second message was a hang up.
“Leigh, Hi, Ill be in town for three weeks, getting in tomorrow, and can’t wait to see you. I’ve can’t wait to see this house of yours. Talk to you soon, love ya!”
It was Michelle, she was coming in early! It had been about a month and a half since she had seen her. But the problem was she will want to stay here, and with all of the strange stuff going on, she wasn’t sure how Michelle would handle it?
The first thing Leigh noticed about Michelle is her eyes. It’s not the color or their shape it is the way she looked at her. Leigh had been called to the office she was working in to troubleshoot a wiring problem with the network they were installing. Leigh looked at her something clicked. Michelle was a very attractive woman with out doubt, but this company strongly discouraged relationships between coworkers, even contractors and employees.
The following week Leigh was finishing up paperwork, when Michelle walked over with several other people from the office.
“Leigh, we’re all going out for a few drinks, do you want to go?”
Leigh looked up from her work, with Michelle was Dave and Lynne from purchasing and John from shipping.
“Sure, where are you going?”
“A little bar across town, a friend of ours is singing tonight.”
“Ok, let me finish up, and I’ll meet you down stairs.”
“Good, see you down stairs.”
Leigh wasn’t almost done, but she needed a night out to unwind. She looked at the paperwork for a second, picked it up, put it neatly into her briefcase, and walked out of the office.
Michelle wasn’t fooling when she said the place was small, there was barely room for the forty or so people in there already. Dave led the way and sat down at the only table left, there were only four chairs left, Dave looked back at John and said, “Left standing again!” He laughed and leaned over to Leigh and Michelle who sat next to each other and asked loudly to Leigh “What do you want to drink?”
“A beer please.”
“Draft?”
“Yes, thanks.”
They were only ten feet from a raised stage where a man was playing a guitar, and he had a harmonica around his neck. She looked at him; he looked remarkably like Bob Dylan. He began to sing, and he even sounded a little like Bob Dylan, “Poor man “she thought, “I hope this is how he sings all the time!”
Luckily the singer didn’t always sound like Bob Dylan, but he did a great cover of “Tangled up in Blue”. The five of them listened to the music, which wasn’t bad, drank beer and did shots, much too much of both.
It became somewhat of a tradition for the five to go out drinking the first Thursday of the month after that. A couple of months later they were out. Leigh noticed Michelle wasn’t her usual life of the party. They hadn’t really talked about personal stuff till then, but Leigh could tell something was bothering Michelle. At closing time when everyone was saying bye, Leigh leaned over to Michelle and said, “If you needed to talk, call me.” Michelle’s eyes welled, she smiled and said thanks.
From then on they were best friends, but when Michelle was sent to Des Moines and Leigh to Delaware, they lost touch for a little while.
That night Leigh did something very strange; she sat down on the steps and talked to her house.
“Hello, please don’t let me know if you can hear me, but please listen. My friend Michelle is going to be here tomorrow, I haven’t seen her in a while and she will be staying here. Can you do me a favor and don’t scare her, please. I know you’re not evil or anything but I want her to feel comfortable here. I would very much appreciate it.”
A few minutes later Leigh was scared half to death by a little girl, in a long white dress, standing outside the second floor bathroom.
Leigh felt her jaw drop when she saw the little girl. She just stood there, after a second she looked down at the ground and shuffled the toe of her shoe over the carpet. Leigh was amazed, this is the same girl she saw when she was a child.
“Hello?” Leigh asked.
For a moment the little girl didn’t move, just kept looking at the floor.
“Hi, remember me?”
Leigh replied, “It was a long time ago.”
The little girl looked back at her shoes, and Leigh did also, there were faint stains on her shoes and the hemline of her dress. The little girl picked up the hem of her dress, looked at the stains, and a look of sorrow passed over her face.
“Can you get the blood out of my dress, please?”
Leigh was sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of tea cupped in her hands. She had tried to take a nap but she knew Michelle would be arriving soon. She heard the doorbell. She walked down the hall to the door and looked through the window, it was Michelle.
She opened the door and Michelle had a big smile on her face, she took one look at Leigh and frowned.
“Are you alright?”
“Hi to you.” Leigh replied, “Yes I’m fine, just tired.
“I wondered why you weren’t at work today.”
“Have I got a story to tell you.” Leigh said as she closed the door behind Michelle.
“So your telling me, the little girl you told me you saw when you were a kid, is the same one that died in this house?”
Leigh leaned back into the chair “Yep.”
“Strange things seem to follow you don’t they.”
“My whole life!”
The following day was Saturday; Leigh had called her Mom and asked if she could get Max. So Michelle and her got into Michelle’s car, and went to get Max. Leigh had missed him, and she was sure things would settle down, and he would do better now.
Max went crazy when he saw Leigh get out of the car, this was the longest they had ever been apart. Leigh’s Mom said he didn’t eat for the first two days, and would just sit on the front porch and stare down the lane. But after a few days he got better, but kept his vigil on the porch every night.
He jumped up and put his paws on her shoulders and licked her face, then run around her once or twice, and then jump up on her again. This went on until she got down on her knees and scratched him behind his ears and gave him a big hug. Michelle had met Leigh’s Mom several times before. Michelle walked up the walk and said hi to her and gave her a hug.
At just before dinner Craig, Leigh’s stepfather came home. He walked into the kitchen and gave Jen, Leigh’s Mom and kiss. Dinner was on the table and they all sat down.
After dinner, Leigh went outside with her stepfather and Michelle and Jen sat down on the sofa.
Jen looked at Michelle “Is Leigh alright?”
“I think so, why?”
“She has been acting strange lately and nervous.”
She continued “She sent Max here, that is strange, she hasn’t been acting this way since she moved into the new house.”
“I think the house may be more than she can handle, or at least more than she expected.”
“I know, that house is much to big for just her and Max, but I don’t think that’s it.”
Michelle replied “I don’t know, I got in yesterday, and we haven’t really had a chance to talk.”
On the ride home, Michelle told Leigh what she talked about with her mother.
“She is worried about you.”
“I know, but I think things are going to get better now.”
“Why do you say that?”
“I had a talk with the little girl, Anna.”
Leigh wished she had a picture of the look on Michelle’s face at that moment.
“A talk!”
“Yep.”
“Now I am worried about you too!”
“Really it’s ok, she’s just a sad and lonely little girl. And she’s not alone.”
“Ok.” The car began to slow, and she looked over her shoulder at traffic behind her. “ We’re going back to your Mom’s.”
Leigh put her hand on Michelle’s shoulder, “Everything is fine, trust me.”
“I’m not sure if I want to spend the night there.”
As soon as the door opened Max was out and running. Leigh stood up and smiled at him, it was good to have him home. Michelle got out and went back to the trunk to get her bags. The last hour of the drive had been quiet. Leigh knew she was serious when she said she wasn’t sure about staying there. But Leigh had assured her it was safe and everything would be fine.
Leigh opened the door, and the penny glass was on the entertainment center! She put her keys on the table, walked over to it. She picked it up and looked in, and was pleased to see all of the pennies were heads up. Michelle stood in the doorway.
“Come on in.” Leigh smiled and walked over to her. She reached out and took her bag from her. Michelle looked at her, and stepped in. Leigh stuck her head out the door and whistled for Max. A few seconds later he stood in the doorway, and Leigh swore, if he could have, he would have had the same look of trepidation as Michelle had as she stood there.
“Max, come here boy.” She said as she sat on the sofa.
He looked at her and walked in the doorway. Michelle sat down next to her, Leigh put her arm around her.
“I want you to be comfortable here.”
They talked al little while and decided sleep would be a good thing. They walked upstairs, and Leigh got towels out so Michelle could take a shower. While she did that, Leigh went down stairs and brought their drinks upstairs. In the bedroom she turned the TV on and sat on the edge of the bed.
When Michelle finished, Leigh went to get a shower. Michelle laid down on the bed. Max laid down at the bottom of the bed facing the door.
Leigh came out of the bathroom, she walked to the bedroom, drying her hair. Michelle was watching one of those silly late night talk shows. Some woman was screaming at another about stealing her man. They were both attractive, then they showed the guy, and Michelle and Leigh looked at each other and busted out laughing! He was this scrawny, greasy haired punk.
“He better be well endowed or a six inch tongue!” Michelle said.
Late that night, Leigh got up from bed to go to the bathroom. Michelle rolled on her back and asked “ You Ok?”
Leigh touched her on the shoulder “I’m fine, need a drink.”
Michelle closed her eyes and rolled back on her side. When Leigh got in the hall she was startled to see the little girl standing there, a few feet in front of her.
“Hi” Leigh said
The little girl looked up at Leigh “Is that your sister?”
Several things popped into her head at that moment.
-First how does she explain her relationship with Michelle to a ten tear old who died over one hundred years ago?
-If she did how would she take it?
-And if she didn’t like the idea would she do anything?
“She’s a good friend of mine.” Leigh said.
“Why doesn’t she sleep over in this room?”
“Its hard to explain this, we’re more than friends.”
The little girl looked at her, “I don’t understand.”
For a few minutes Leigh explained Michelle and her relationship. They sat on the floor in the hall.
Michelle left that night, she didn’t want to break up over this, but she just needed some time to think it all over, and she would see her soon. Anna didn’t see Anna or Belle for months afterwards and nothing strange happened either, except oddly the penny spilling didn’t stop. She had a suspicion it wasn’t Anna or Belle doing that, there might be something else she hasn’t seen yet.
Life was as normal as could be, Max was back to normal, she was working hard, and she was miserable anyway. She went back to the county library to see if she could find anything else on her house. The librarian, Jill Scott, was very helpful. She was about Leigh’s age, 37, and looked like what you would expect a librarian to look like. She wore round glasses, her dark hair pulled back in a tight bun, an ill-fitting, off-white sweater. She was tall, about 5’11”, thin and was giving Leigh every indication she might be interested in her. Leigh didn’t even want to think about that at the moment. If she wasn’t working, spending time with Max, or working on the house, she was here or sleeping.
The only new information she found about her house was a story written in 1902. It was about former slaves that stayed in the area after the Civil War. It made mention that hundreds of slaves were never accounted for. The article made mention of the Watson family which disappeared, along with thirty-three slaves.
She had hired a contractor to renovate the bunkhouse. Half of the first floor would be a three-car garage, and the other half would be a gym or recreation room or something. The second floor would be and guest house. It would be two bedrooms, one and a half bathroom, living room, kitchen, dining room and den. It was bigger than every apartment she had ever lived in, in her entire life!
The barn, she had no idea what to do about. She liked it, but it was in bad shape and she didn’t want to put the money out at the moment to get it fixed up. She decided to put that off for a while.
The foundation where the horse stable used to be still gave her a queasy feeling. After the first time she set foot in it she only tried one other time. As she got close she felt nauseous, so she backed away. And since then she has not gone near it, but strangely, Max doesn’t seem to be bothered by it.
After two months Leigh broke down and called Michelle.
Michelle answered the phone ”Hello.”
“Michelle, how are you?”
“Better, now, I’ve been hoping you would call.”
“It’s been crazy around here, I’m sorry. I’d meant to call so many times, but something always came up.”
“I would like to see you.” Leigh asked.
“How about I come up next weekend?”
Leigh just about jumped in the air and shouted for joy! She got control, but still sounded ecstatic, “Sure, whenever you can. Are you sure though? It has been very quiet here, aside from the pennies everyday.”
“I’m not going to let this stand between us, I am sure.”
They talked for a few more minutes, then said goodbye. The second she hung the phone up, she danced around the house, Max even got into it; they both ran her singing, and Max barking.
The Thursday before Michelle came over, Anna appeared to her. Leigh was walking out of the bathroom from a shower, when she saw her standing in the hallway.
“Hello again, Anna.”
“Hello Ms. Leigh.”
Anna looked happy, she smiled, it was the first time she had seen her smile.
“Can I help you?”
Anna looked up at her “I’d like to show you something.”
Anna looked at her suspiciously “What do you want to show me?”
Leigh walked toward her and held out her hand, Leigh stepped back. Anna stopped and dropped her hand, “I promise I wont hurt you.”
“That’s not what I am worried about.” Leigh stepped back another step, “Tell me exactly what you are going to do, and what you’re going to show me.”
When Anna had finished, Leigh was still more than a little worried, but she agreed. Anna reached out her hand, and Leigh took hold of it.
Leigh was startled when Anna disappeared, and a second later everything seemed to shimmer. A feeling of dizziness came over her, but a second later everything snapped back into focus. She was still in the upstairs hallway, but everything looked different. The pictures on the walls, the table near the bathroom and the carpet was all gone. The walls were plain white and bare wood floors. Leigh started to turn her head, but a wave of dizziness hit her, and she very nearly fell over. She put her hand on the wall to steady herself. The wall seemed to give when she leaned against it. Not so much as if it was made of rubber, but that it retreated from her touch. She tried to turn again, and the floor seemed to act the same way. She had the disturbing feeling that if she wasn’t careful she could pass through the floor.
Behind her she heard voices, they sounded weird. As if she was listening to it on a stereo and someone was turning the volume up and down, and the pitch was fading in and out. She carefully walked back to what was her spare bedroom, and looked inside.
There was an older woman with four small children. The woman was combing one of the girls hair. The other two young girls were playing with a doll on the bed. They were making funny voices for the doll, and the little girl holding the doll was Anna. It was clear that she couldn’t see Leigh, she was standing in the doorway, but no one could see her. There was also a little boy, looked to the youngest of all the children, maybe only six or seven. He had a dozen or so thimbles on the floor, and he was trying to stack them one on top of the other into a tower.
Suddenly she began to feel sick again, and a second later she felt herself moving. She stood outside, in front of the house. When she steadied herself she saw a wagon coming down the dirt road to the house. It was drawn by two horses, and a man sat holding the reins. He looked to be in his late forties, maybe. He looked over his shoulder as he pulled the reins to stop the wagon in front of the house. It had barely stopped and he had jumped off and walked quickly into the house.
Leigh heard another wagon. She turned around, and it was a wagon with eight or nine men in it. In the house, she heard a man and woman argueing. The other wagon passed around to the back of the house. She walked around the house following the wagon. The men got out of the wagon and walked straight to the bunkhouse. Each was carrying either a rifle or an axe handle. When they entered the bunkhouse two stayed outside by the door. Leigh looked and there was a barn where the foundation was in her time. Behind her she heard the house door open, and Belle stumbled out of it, followed by the man. He walked her to the barn, and out of the bunkhouse came a dozen other blacks. They were all pushed into the barn, and the doors barred. Two other men were spreading hay around the outside of the barn. Another man walked out of the summer kitchen with a torch.
Leigh had a terrible feeling when the slaves were being led into the barn, and it just got worse. When she saw the man with the torch, she tried to get to him to stop him. As he reached down to light the hay she took a swing at his head. Her arm passed straight through him, but the momentum she had, she passed straight through him, out the other side, then through the wall of the barn. She landed half in and half out of the barn. The people inside were huddled in the center of the barn.
Leigh felt herself moving again. She stood at the side of the house this time. She looked around. Behind her at the rear of the house was the still smoldering ruins of the barn. She felt an anger like she never felt before well up in her. She wanted to do something, anything. She had never been a violent person, but thoughts of killing these men appealed to her very much, or at least seeing him suffer.
She heard horses at full gallop from the front of the house. She looked and saw soldiers with blue uniforms
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: Jul 24, 2001
Bumps in my happy road of life.
Posted Jul 23, 2001
The last year has been the great. Aside from the occasion moments of utter insanity, everyting couldn't be better. I am in college and doing ok, living with Mistress Desir'ee, and have a small group of die hard friends who accept me for who I am. 
But the apple cart got flipped off the road and down a cliff when my younger sister got wind of how I live my life. 
I love my sister, don't get me wrong, but she is one of the most self-righteous, pompous and arrogant people I have ever met, and she is only 18!! I have no clue how she came across it, but there is a picture of me from almost a year ago in a bondage magazine.
She was probably having a book burning or something. Anyway, I get this hysterical phone call from her. This so-called Christian, called me a satinist, the devil, and some words I think will require more than a little bit of praying to be forgiven for.
I tried to tell her I can live how I choose, but I couldn't get a word in, so after over fifteen minutes of this I said goodbye and hung up, she called back immediatly, said goodbye, and hung up. I then unplugged the phone.
Well that touched off a civil war in the family. My Mom secretly sends me email and we stay in touch that way, but my other sisters fell in line with the inquisition.
All of this because there was a picture of me being led around by a woman on a leash. But it couldn't also have anything to do with a lack of clothing, no!
I am still with Mistress Desir'ee, we are doig great and very happy. She may be taking me to Las Vegas in Nov or Dec for something. She had a new, very revealing dress made for me, as well as new leather. 
Discuss this Journal entry [3]
Latest reply: Jul 23, 2001
Life as a willing slave
Posted Jul 18, 2001
I have been a willing slave for almost four years. I started when I was 15. (My parents had me emmancipated, because they couldn't deal with me any more) My first Master started off ok. But over time he became more cruel and vicious. I will not go into detail, but I have several broken bones to show for it.
I left him for Mistress Desir'ee two years ago. She is wonderful! She is very strict with me, but she is more than fair. My former Master would punish me(beat me) for no apparent reason.
The dicipline she has shown me has made me a better person, and I hope has made her life better. Mistress has 100% control of my life. If she tells me, because I have not pleased her, that I cannot relieve myself when at school, I cannot. If she doesn't like my personel hygene, she can change what ever she wants. I have a tattoo across my back of a red rose, and above it says "Property of" and below "Mistress Desir"ee"
I realize alot of people will be offended by My Choice of how to live my life. If they do, let me know. If I am happy, not hurting anyone else, whats the harm? I do not drink alcohol or do drugs anymore, I have respect for myself and the law. What is the harm?
Discuss this Journal entry [3]
Latest reply: Jul 18, 2001
Leigh Anne, the student of life, discipline and all that is strange and beautiful. Disciple of Mistress Desir'ee.
Researcher U180849
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