They said that the spirits didn't sleep up in the old Manor House....they said that the dead prowled the hallways searching for what they'd lost....
The team gathered their equipment....they were all very excited about this one!!!
Of all the hauntings they'd investigated this one was one of the most notorious!!!
Multiple credible witnesses had given sworn testimony about what they'd seen and felt in the dark old house....
They packed the vans and headed out.....they soon left the city behind and were into the rural area of Vermont.
They arrived at the small town of Guilford just before dark where they met with their advance team who had already arranged their lodging for the night here in town. As eager as they were to get to the Manor House they knew it was best to wait for daylight to set up all the equipment and familiarize themselves with the rambling old house.
They stowed their bags in the rooms at the inn and settled down for a meal at the restaurant just a few doors down the street.
The place had a few locals enjoying a meal when they entered and were seated....they needed a couple of tables to be pushed together to accommodate them all and they ordered a round of drinks.....during the investigation drinking wasn't allowed....they wanted nothing to cloud their senses tomorrow night in the Manor House....
"So we've all read the reports....mostly they center on an apparition they've called the Woman in White....there have been several other random sightings but they all said the woman in white appears regularly....and seems to be searching for something in the house....have we had any luck at identifying her?"
"I've checked all the available records and I can't find any mention of a woman living in that house....no one but Mr. Lewis Sinclair....he was the last one to actually reside in the house and he lived their all alone for the last 30 or so years of his life.....he had servants but none of them lived there and they all left every day before dusk!!!"
"So could the woman in white have been a secret mistress or something like that?"
"Maybe a secret wife or relative?"
"Maybe an illegitimate daughter?"
"No...although I can't be 100% sure I can't find anything in the towns historical archives to suggest that.....the last woman I could find who had been a resident had died very young....I believe she was in her twenties or maybe a bit younger....causes vary with the account you read but she died 20 years before Mr. Sinclair moved onto the property...."
Their meals arrived and the conversation died down....each of them forming their own theories about what they would encounter....
They retired to their rooms after the meal and went to sleep early....they wanted to get an early start in the morning.
After a hearty country breakfast they drove to the old house....they'd all seen pictures of the place but they didn't do it justice.
Victorian and Gothic at the same time, the house just looked like what anyone would imagine a haunted house would look!!!
They were met by the caretaker who let them in and supplied them each with a basic floor plan...he seemed nervous to even be near the old house and they noted that....they would interview him after the investigation.
They all gathered the equipment and set about running the wiring for their sensors and scanners....all powered from the ancient generator that had been cranky about starting but was working nicely after a few minutes.
The youngest of them was a technician, Phil Cozzolino, everybody just called him Cozzy...
He was an electronics guy and he did this stuff strictly for the paycheck. He was not a believer in any of this,but even he felt a weird vibe from this house....
He was wiring the control console when he thought he saw something from the corner of his eye....turning quickly he relaxed when he saw nothing there....
By late afternoon they were all set....if whatever was in the house could be monitored, they would capture a record of it!
They settled in for a long night.....four teams of two and Cozzy monitoring from the console...
Other than the occasional noises that you'd have in any house of this age there was nothing....except some nervous chatter among the teams on the radio!
Hours went by with nothing supernatural apparent on any of the monitors....
It was after 1am when the generator stopped and all of their equipment died....except for the handheld monitors they were in the dark....
Multiple voices were on the radio all calling Cozzy to get the lights back on...."
"Yeah, yeah, I'm on it...."
He stepped away from the console and moved toward the front door....and there she was!!!
The woman in White was right there!!!! Right in front of him!!!
The first thing he noticed was that he could see through her....she was truly not some play actor....and the second thing he noticed was her face.....she was beautiful....he was frozen....he had left his radio on the console and he wanted to call the rest of the team but this sudden appearance had frozen him in place....
The apparition appeared to be looking at him just as curiously as he was looking at her....
He cleared his throat....
"Hello....can you hear me?"
The apparition beckoned to him to follow and a voice that seemed to come from all around him invited him....
"Come with me and all will be made clear to you....."
Almost, it felt like his legs had a will of their own, and he followed her up the staircase and through a hall....to a room that he wasn't sure was being monitored or not....
Inside was a large bedroom which he thought was the master bedroom if he remembered the floor plan correctly....
The apparition gestured to a chair...
"Sit...." the voice all around him, soft and sweet....
"Who are you?" he asked.
"I lived here long ago....my name is Lewis....I am the Master of this house...."
"Are you related to Lewis Sinclair?"
"No young man....I am Lewis Sinclair...."
He looked again at the feminine apparition before him....
"But how can that be....Lewis Sinclair was a man...."
"That's correct....I was once a man just as you...."
"I don't understand...."
"There was a spirit in my house when I first came here....it was a shy spirit and didn't appear to me clearly....I would catch a glimpse here and there....I felt her presence although I never actually had an encounter with her....until one night in this very room....when she appeared to me as I now appear to you...."
"As you now appear?"
"She pleaded with me that night....she wanted to feel the world....to breathe the air....to smell the scent of the gardens....she wept as she told me of her pain being trapped here....unable to leave.....denied her place in the Beyond for some terrible sin she'd committed in her youth....I felt pity for her....I asked her what I could do to ease her suffering....and she said there was a way...."
"What did she mean.....how could you...."
"She asked me to let her soul take over my body.....only for a day.....that she might feel the world again....and my soul would spend that time in her ethereal form....."
"She wanted to switch places with you...."
"Yes....and I felt such pity for her that I almost agreed immediately....but I made sure it was a temporary arrangement....something that could be undone....and she readily agreed to any terms I would set...."
"SO you two switched....bodies?"
"Yes....she felt the world through my body and I felt the other world through hers....while she reveled in feeling life again I learned that the spirits were numerous and all around us all the time....most lacked the will or the strength to break through to our world but they were always trying...."
"You mean....right now...."
"We are surrounded by them even now....."
"So what happened, how come you're still here....how come you're still her?"
"She kept her word and after a day we returned our souls to their rightful places....she thanked me profusely for letting her have a taste of life again and I must admit that I had found the experience of being a spirit fascinating...."
"So then?"
"We agreed to exchange our souls many, many times over the next years....and I trusted her....I learned so much about the spirit world....did you know that the reason spirits walk at night is that sunlight makes them impossible to see....they're still all about you but in the light you have an even smaller chance of seeing them....if they are of sufficient strength to be seen at all...."
"So why are you still here....I read that you died years ago...."
"We had exchanged our souls that day when my life suddenly ended without warning....I don't pretend to know by what rules the Beyond judges but as I stood beside my body I saw her soul leave it and disappear into a beautiful glowing light.....moments later I realized I was trapped....trapped as her apparition....unable to return to the empty husk that had been my body!!!"
"So why are you telling me this....would you wait until I got the others and let them see you as well?"
"I'm telling you this young "Cozzi" so that I might ask you thew same favor that was asked of me....would you allow me to once again feel the world on my flesh and you could learn more about the spirit world than any other man alive on this earth....for just a few hours...I plead with you...."
"Why me?"
"Because I could see that you didn't believe....and I thought you'd have the most to gain from the experience....."
"Just for a couple of hours....you swear?"
"I swear on the souls of my ancestors?"
"All right....what do I have to do?"
"Just close your eyes and allow me to enter.....yes just like that....and like that we're done!!!"
He opened his eyes and was shocked to see himself sitting in the chair....even more shocking was the numerous other spirits in the room with them....
"Thank you my friend....I promise that before this night ends I will restore to you that which is yours....one last thing....your form may be as mist to the living but not to the spirits....you could indulge yourself in pleasures like you have never felt as a man....if you so please...."
"Really....."
"Honestly my young friend.....it is the one thing that has kept me from losing my sanity over all these long years....Now I must venture outside for the first time in all these years....to feel the wind on my face once more....oh what a joy it will be!!!!"
Cozzy watched with curiosity as his body rose and stepped out of the room....he followed as best he could....the new feminine sensations distracting him....distracting him so much that he failed to see the danger....
His body reached the top of the stairs and one of the teams wires had come loose....the way his body fell left him with little doubt of the outcome...
Lewis Sinclair's soul left his body and went to the light.....he could swear he could hear an apology and then it was gone....
The team rushed into the room and found a horrible scene before them....their friends body broken and twisted in an unnatural fashion....and the Woman in White standing over him....
They abandoned the equipment and ran....none of them heard his soft voice as the panic overruled all rational thought....
So now he walked through the house at night....no one from the world came near any longer...he realized that he was the strongest spirit here and he could use any of the others for his pleasure whenever he wished.....he hoped that he wasn't condemning himself in the Beyond by enjoying his debauched pleasures....but after all....what's a girl to do?
