Phantom Mansion
I have just read the "Phantom Basement" from last month's selection, and the woman seems desperate for answers. I don't know if I can truly answer them, but I can recall a similar story of my own. Hopefully she will read this and won't feel as alone.
When I was in my early 20s, I took up a part-time job as a delivery girl working for Domino's Pizza. My parents were anxious about the job because I was a young female and they were afraid I was going to get jumped or robbed.
I had only a slight fear of this, and in the two years of my employment, nobody jumped or robbed me. But one creepy incident still stands out in my mind: It was a dark and stormy night (yes, it truly was!) and I got called out to deliver a pie in an unfamiliar area. I drove up and down the old country road through the blinding rain, but I simply could not find the entrance to the driveway. I tried calling the number on my cell to the house, but I kept reaching a busy signal. I decided to sweep down the road once more, and if I didn't find it, I would go back to the shop.
On this return though, I finally caught sight of a small gap in the tree line. I turned my tiny Geo Prism onto it and vaguely noticed a stretched-out muddy drive. I ambled my car back the lane into the deep countryside and twisted and turned with it, which seemed to go on for miles. Finally I spotted lights up ahead and strained my eyes through the pounding rain and darkness. A broad mansion-like brick house came into view and all the lights seemed to be on upstairs.
(Oddly enough, no downstairs lights.) I parked my car, and to my relief the rain ebbed and turned into a thick mist. Grabbing the pie, I jumped out of the car and dashed to the house. I knocked a few times to no avail. I ran around the backside to the door there. I knocked a few times, waited about 10 minutes and ran to the front again. I stood staring up at the house in confusion and took in the sight of it.
What at first looked like a beautiful sprawling mansion, now looked shabby and worn. Thick ivy covered half the front side of it and the bricks were crumbling and falling in piles all around. A cold chill shot through my body and my instincts told me something was very wrong here. I stared up at the lit windows and could very clearly make out dancing shadows on the ceiling inside, as if there were some sort of fire and the light was catching mobile objects moving to and fro in front of it. The chill grew and I quickly picked my way back to my car. I opened the door, shoved the pizza pie back inside and turned once more to stare up at the crumbling house. That's when something caught my eye to the left of me.
I turned and saw one of the most horrific things I have ever seen: What looked like an old mill or barn was set about 200 yards away from me and the mansion. It, too, was crumbling and falling apart, but what terrified me was the fact that it looked like an old slaughterhouse, and judging by the size of it, was probably up and hopping back in its hayday... and now was completely abandoned. Who could just leave these two intimidatingly enormous old structures to destroy themselves? And how had I never known about them, growing up in such a small town as mine? How did someone (or something?) call and order a pizza, and now all I could get is static when I called the exact number "they" called from?
I had seen enough. I jumped in my car and drove recklessly out of there, spurting mud all over my car. But I was determined to get to the bottom of this case. A few days later, after the warm sun had dried off the rain, my dad and I ventured out there. It took awhile, but we soon found the old dirt road and we followed it all the way back to where the house should've been. But to my astonishment, there was nothing there! Just an old vacant lot with some heavy, old, rusted machinery left to rot. What had happened? I didn't imagine it. My car still held the caked dirt from the muddy trail that led back to it. I have never gone back there again and never will.
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When I was in my early 20s, I took up a part-time job as a delivery girl working for Domino's Pizza. My parents were anxious about the job because I was a young female and they were afraid I was going to get jumped or robbed.
I had only a slight fear of this, and in the two years of my employment, nobody jumped or robbed me. But one creepy incident still stands out in my mind: It was a dark and stormy night (yes, it truly was!) and I got called out to deliver a pie in an unfamiliar area. I drove up and down the old country road through the blinding rain, but I simply could not find the entrance to the driveway. I tried calling the number on my cell to the house, but I kept reaching a busy signal. I decided to sweep down the road once more, and if I didn't find it, I would go back to the shop.
On this return though, I finally caught sight of a small gap in the tree line. I turned my tiny Geo Prism onto it and vaguely noticed a stretched-out muddy drive. I ambled my car back the lane into the deep countryside and twisted and turned with it, which seemed to go on for miles. Finally I spotted lights up ahead and strained my eyes through the pounding rain and darkness. A broad mansion-like brick house came into view and all the lights seemed to be on upstairs.
(Oddly enough, no downstairs lights.) I parked my car, and to my relief the rain ebbed and turned into a thick mist. Grabbing the pie, I jumped out of the car and dashed to the house. I knocked a few times to no avail. I ran around the backside to the door there. I knocked a few times, waited about 10 minutes and ran to the front again. I stood staring up at the house in confusion and took in the sight of it.
What at first looked like a beautiful sprawling mansion, now looked shabby and worn. Thick ivy covered half the front side of it and the bricks were crumbling and falling in piles all around. A cold chill shot through my body and my instincts told me something was very wrong here. I stared up at the lit windows and could very clearly make out dancing shadows on the ceiling inside, as if there were some sort of fire and the light was catching mobile objects moving to and fro in front of it. The chill grew and I quickly picked my way back to my car. I opened the door, shoved the pizza pie back inside and turned once more to stare up at the crumbling house. That's when something caught my eye to the left of me.
I turned and saw one of the most horrific things I have ever seen: What looked like an old mill or barn was set about 200 yards away from me and the mansion. It, too, was crumbling and falling apart, but what terrified me was the fact that it looked like an old slaughterhouse, and judging by the size of it, was probably up and hopping back in its hayday... and now was completely abandoned. Who could just leave these two intimidatingly enormous old structures to destroy themselves? And how had I never known about them, growing up in such a small town as mine? How did someone (or something?) call and order a pizza, and now all I could get is static when I called the exact number "they" called from?
I had seen enough. I jumped in my car and drove recklessly out of there, spurting mud all over my car. But I was determined to get to the bottom of this case. A few days later, after the warm sun had dried off the rain, my dad and I ventured out there. It took awhile, but we soon found the old dirt road and we followed it all the way back to where the house should've been. But to my astonishment, there was nothing there! Just an old vacant lot with some heavy, old, rusted machinery left to rot. What had happened? I didn't imagine it. My car still held the caked dirt from the muddy trail that led back to it. I have never gone back there again and never will.
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