As I look back on the Tingly event, I
feel as though I'm watching a horror
movie or a listening to a wild story from
another person's life. It seems wholly
unreal, but it actually happened to me.
The experience occurred several years ago
in what seems now like a different world.
As I recall, it was about 3 days before the
Memorial Day Holiday. The weather was
hot as was typical of Florida at that time
of year, tipping the thermometer at about
90 degrees with the usual high humidity
that made you drip with sweat and feel
grubby in your clothes. My friend,
Albert, was about to lose his trailer that
he had rented with a bunch of his friends.
The management was going to kick him
out because Albert had an underage
girlfriend. Her name was Alice, and she
was just 17. She was a nice looking red
head with long hair and a perky
personality. You know the type, a pert girl
with cute little freckles on her nose that
she would wrinkle up when she got
excited... Albert was 21, slightly balding
and full of bad luck. That's right, if it
weren't for bad luck, he wouldn't have any
luck at all. For example, red-headed little
Alice was the mayor's daughter. How's
that for dumb? But that wasn't all. Albert
had lost his car, because it had broken
down in a bowling alley parking lot, and
he just left it there. Naturally, they soon
towed it away, compounding the problem.
Not only that, but he was wanted by the
law for driving with an expired license tag
and no driver's license in the very same
town where his girlie friend's father was
the Mayor. Talk about being screwed up!
The Mayor did not like my friend, Albert,
as he figured that the boy was bad for his
mayoral image-- not that the old man was
any better, but he had to look good, at
least on the surface. Naturally, the old
boy's political campaign was based on the
slogan, "Lets Do It For The Children." It
sounded more like lets do it to the
children, the way I heard it. Alice's Dad,
the house painter come Mayor, was not
really the greatest choice of a boss for the
town of Lynnhaven or any other town for
that matter. He was just a little too shady
for my taste. You see, he had connections
with the local drug lords, not to mention
that little deal about him stealing public
moneys from the bridge fund and then
running amuck with the legal system in
general. Hell, the guy was a thief. His
custom-built house was worth a small
fortune, and I could have brought a new
car with what he spent on security for it
alone, but it did not seem to matter very
much to me at the time. Hell who was I
to question the Mayor of Lynnhaven? I
was just 23 years old, stupid and trusting.
Anyway stuff happens. Moving on,
Albert's credit was bad. In fact, it was so
rotten you couldn't touch it with a 10 foot
pole without getting something on you. I,
myself, had some health problems, but
nothing like his. It didn't matter. Albert
and I go back a long way.
Anyway Albert and I had stayed together,
and I had helped him along with his
window washing business, but as usual,
he was down on his luck, and he begged
me to co-sign on a lease for this duplex
with him as one of his room mates. He
told me he would be quickly be homeless
if I didn't help him out. What could I
say? I could not very well leave my
friend homeless, now could I? . I suppose
that even though it was a mistake, I would
probably do it again under the
circumstances. I could never leave a
friend in distress, so I went to the Real
Estate office, Sharon Rielly Reality, it
was. I went in there looking respectable
as could be, suit and all. My other friend,
Alex, who lived near me took me down
there the day before the Memorial Day
Holiday. So, big as life, I plunked down
the deposit money and signed the lease.
A woman named Deborah turned over
some keys and paper work, saying, "Come
back tomorrow to sign the final
paperwork." "Fine," I said, "I'll see you
tomorrow." The deed was done. That
night I went to dinner with friends and
had a good time. We ate at Luigi's, our
favorite Italian restaurant. We munched
and talked about the coming move to the
duplex the next day. Everything looked
good for a change, and I thought that
maybe things would go a little better now.
The next day dawned hot and humid like
all the rest, and I dutifully went back to
the real-estate office to sign the last of the
papers. Wouldn't you know it? the damn
office was closed for the holiday! My
time and effort was wasted. I banged on
the door for 10 minutes and only got an
angry cleaning crew who didn't want to
mess with me. They said the Real Estate
crew went to the beach, and I ought to go
there too. Well, I had the keys to the
duplex and had put the damn deposit
down, so I thought, nuts to her! She
forfeited on the meeting-- it wasn't my
problem! I figured on going over to the
new place and at least get started cleaning
it up. I needed to work off a head of
steam anyway. Albert had to go to work
at his window washing business, so I was
elected as head custodian.
David was good at washing windows, so
Albert took him along to help him on the
job. David was a thin fellow with a
goatee and long hair who had moved in
with Albert after his own room mate died
a mysterious death at 3 A.M. in a flooded
ditch. He had drowned after having an
attack of some sort it was rumored.
Strange thing that, for a 27 year old
fellow to have an attack of some sort at
that time of the morning during a rain
storm in a ditch, but I never stopped to
ask any questions-- trusting, you know....
Anyway, David and Albert dropped me
off at the duplex along with Alice,
Albert's Girlfriend, to clean it while they
worked the window accounts. I
remember standing on the curb, looking at
the old duplex that needed paint and
thinking about fixing the broken rail on
the porch. The grass had not been cut in
some time, and the front windows were so
dirty you couldn't see inside. Bushes
grew wild in the front yard, and the place
had an eerie feeling about it that I couldn't
logically explain. I marveled at the large
cedar tree that grew right next to the
steps, so that the branches grew right over
the roof top. That wasn't a good idea in a
storm. I wondered why the place had two
chimneys right next to each other, that
seemed like a redundant waste of
material, but it wasn't my problem. I
walked around the house to get my
bearings, and at the opposite end of the
house I found a big roll-up window that
looked out over the flowing back yard
that as far as I could see, ended
somewhere over a low hill near the sea. I
didn't find anything strange, but the weird
feeling that something wasn't right
remained. It wasn't just that the place and
it's mates were old, but every house on
this street had fallen into disrepair. It was
like there was an underlying sickness that
I just couldn't figure out.
Next door was a giant of an old Victorian
mansion. It was an impressive structure,
but it was coming apart too. It was then
that I finally realized what we had gotten
ourselves into! We had leased a house in
old the St. Andrews district. "Crap!" I
said, "This is not the best part of town,
but it's better than the 11th. street area! In
any case, we could have done a lot
better." Oh well, I walked up the dirt
driveway and climbed the old, cracked,
concrete steps. Then reaching in my
pocket, I took out the keys and started to
unlock the front door. Hell, I didn't need
the key. The lock had been broken, and
judging from the rust, it had been that
way for some time. I must have stepped
on a soft board or something, as the old
wooden door creaked open, all by itself.
The noise resounded though out the
whole duplex and reminded me of
fingernails on a blackboard! . Crap, I
thought, I don't need this. What a dump!
Then looking about, I surveyed the bad
news. There was a small living room with
a boarded up fire place-- who knows what
was in there... The walls had cheap, dark
paneling tacked on them, and the floor
was covered with cheap and musty old
shag carpet. You could just see the
chincy little kitchen off the living room,
between two brown-painted book cases
that were about four feet tall and guarded
either side of the entry way to the kitchen.
To the left was a hall with a wooden-
arched doorway that led to the bedrooms
and bath. Slamming the door shut behind
her with a backstroke of her foot, Alice
looked around and said, "Wow, this house
has potential!"
I felt like argueing with her for that
statement, as the only potential that place
had was for going to Hell in a hand
basket. The place looked more or less
like dung and was about that nasty. Just
then, off in the darkness, I saw something
that looked like a black cat run to the
back of the kitchen and disappear there
out of sight. Curious, I followed the beast
on back, but I couldn't find it anywhere.
I thought that to be rather bizarre, as all of
the doors were shut, and there was really
nowhere for it to go. Oh well, I thought
that I must have been seeing things, but
the event seemed so real it bothered me.
Continuing the tour, in the back of the
kitchen was a pair of wooden French-style
doors that led out to the back patio where
there was a rusty barbecue grill, nestled in
the weeds. There was another door, and it
led to a sort of laundry room that was shut
tight. I bumped it open and found an old
electric dryer and a well used washer
against the back wall next to a stand tub.
Funny, when I opened the dryer, there
were clothes inside like someone had just
gone off and left them. Stuff like that
makes you wonder!
The view out of the kitchen window was
of that of the old hill with an even older
oak growing out of it that I had seen from
outside. The oak looked sort of like a
gnarled woman with a large breast-- at
least the trunk did. The rest was all
misshapen and ugly looking to boot.
Well, I thought, there is no cat back here,
but it smelled like one might have died
some time or another. Phew! We need to
take care of that! Presently, I went back
in the kitchen and hit the switch. That's
when I noticed that I was standing in a
puddle that moved. Not only was I
startled, but so were the bugs. It was as
though someone had set off a bomb!
Cockroaches scurried in every direction,
seeking the comfort of the darkness in
their various nooks and crannies. It was
enough to make your hair stand on end. It
fairly well made my skin crawl, I'll tell
you true!
Great, I thought, it's got bugs too. It didn't
miss much. But that was the good part!
There was this ugly 1970's green
refrigerator in the corner. True, it was the
best that the 1970's could offer, but it was
ugly none-the-less. It fairly well oozed
nastiness. I opened the door to find lots
of greenish, moldy food and a foul stench,
guaranteed to kill any appetite but a
maggot's. No body had cleaned it for a
good, long time, and the food had simply
spoiled and then rotted where it sat. It
was looking more and more like the last
occupants of the house just walked off
and left it without even looking back. It
was all I could to do to keep from
throwing my cookies! Quickly, I
slammed the door shut on that disaster,
hoping that it would go away. I thought, I
need a drink. Fat chance! Well, maybe
some water... Then turning on the tap to
rinse my face, I was only further repulsed
by the thick, rusty, red water that drizzled
out of the spigot in slow curls. I couldn't
help thinking, Hell, I can get my iron
right here. To Hell with the health food
store!
Of course, it was no surprise that the old
floor creaked as I walked across it, but
miracles do happen, and Just then, Alice
appeared in the doorway saying, "I will
start cleaning in the kitchen." I answered,
"Great! I will check out the rest of the
house." Whew! That was a close escape!
It was then that I heard it. It was sort of a
sexy, feminine voice that droned on, "Oh
baby, you know I like. Yeah, do it that
way, oh yes!" Not knowing what to
expect, I opened the bedroom door only
to find some hooker going at it with her
John. The surprised, big-eyed hooker
screamed, "Eeeeeee!" I screamed,
"AHHHH!" She screamed, "Euuuuuu!"
Alice, then ran in from the kitchen and
screamed, Ooooooooo!" The John, with
a disgusted look on his face, said
"ahhhhhhh crap, it's a bust!" I said, "No
we are only the new renters." "Oh!" said
the hooker, "I did not know that anyone
rented this old place." They put their
clothes on real quick like. The hooker
said, "I work next door, and if you want
some fun, come by and visit me- you're
cute!" She giggled and scurried off, heals
tapping on the wooden floor. The John
said he was sorry, but I could tell he was
pissed at being short-changed out of his
fun. I said, I think I saw this place on that
TV show, "Better Crack Houses and
Dumping sites." It was then that I finally
got a good look at the bedroom. A single
light bulb glared from the open ceiling
fixture, and there were holes in the walls--
big holes! It was awful. Used needles lay
on the old, floral carpeting, left by
someone who had long since passed
under the bridge of dreams.
Apprehensively, I opened the closet,
expecting to find a dead body or maybe
worse, but not so.. The darkened cubicle
was mostly empty except for a few clothes
hangers, a couple of used condoms, and a
Just Say No! flyer. Somebody had to be
kidding.
I had a laugh, and that made me feel a
little more at ease, as I had expected the
worse. There was an old air conditioner
unit in one window, and the other was
covered by some cheap curtains to offset
the dirty mattress on the floor-- quite a
decorating adventure to be sure! I left the
room in disgust only to notice one of
those illegal, old 1940's, un-vented, gas
heaters at the end of the hall. Bad news!
I then stepped across the hall to a smaller
bedroom. The door was stuck, but it
opened with a a solid push. This room
was bad news too! Not only was it small
and musty, smelling of rats and who
knows what, but it was damp too. It had
only one small window covered by a
heavy drape to keep out the light. Some
bedroom-- It didn't even have a closet.
Well I thought, me hardy, on to the
bathroom. Surprisingly, it was quite
large, but it had a tiny sink and a toilet
that looked nasty. It had plenty of light
though! Odd, there was a huge window
right over the bath tub. From it, I could
see clear to the hill in the back yard.
Great! Just what I need-- a window so
big, that I can put on a show if I ever take
a shower in here. Argghh! I thought. The
upside, was that due to the tile floor, the
bathroom did have great acoustic
qualities, but that's poor compensation
when the rest of house is falling apart.
Anyway, Alice and I cleaned up the house
as best we could. Afterwards, I went to
the hardware store and purchased a new
lock for the front door to make the place
a little more livable and to keep out the
regulars. It was then that I met the people
next door. They said that the last people
who lived here only stayed for a month
and used the place as a party house. They
had announced that they were "Fairy
Wiccans." "OK," I said, "I never heard
of anything like that before, but what the
Hell." The neighbors kindly offered to
bless the house for us, but when Albert
came home he said no-- there was no need
for anything like that.. He was pissed, as
the manager of the trailer park he was
moving out of, stole his computer and a
very old carpet to boot. The people next
door even saw him do it. My friend
Albert then called the police, but all they
did at the time was come and take a
report.. Later, they called him on his cell
phone and advised him that they had
recovered his computer. He went down
there to get it with David, but when he
walked in, he was arrested for his own
wants and warrants. Wouldn't you know
it. Well, we had to do something to get
him out. Never trust a cop or a preacher.
We never did get back the old rug, but we
did get the computer. The cops told us to
pick up the rug from the guy who stole it.
I showed up at the trailer parks managers
office very pissed. I said, "We know you
have the rug, and we have an injunction
stating that we can pick it up. "I don't
have to give you nothing," said the surly
manager. "You weren't on the lease."
"Look, I have a paper issued from the
police department, stating that we can
pick up the rug." The man asked us to
leave. We went back to the police, as he
knew we would. He followed us there.
The cops told him to give us the rug but
he did not. Odd, the cops didn't even
arrest him. "Crap, who is kidding who?" I
said. Alex said that it had something to
do with late charges that Albert owed.
Anyway, the cops wouldn't to do
anything.
Having nothing else to do, I went back to
the duplex on Tingly Ave and found a
man from the power company tinkering
with the electric service. He said that the
power was on illegally, and they were
going to shut it off. Just what I needed, a
cap for a perfect day. It didn't seem to
matter that the power was going to be
switched into our name the next day.
What the Hell, that's life in the big city. I
was sitting on the porch when up walked
the pimp who worked next door.
Wouldn't you know-- I knew him! He
was an old high school friend. He was a
shady type, even back then. He always
dealt a bit in drugs, but he made a better
pimp. He was in no hurry, so he sat down
for a while and told me stories about the
crumbly-looking old duplex that made my
hair stand on end. He said the last real
person to live there any length of time
was an old woman. "She fell and broke
her head on the fire place and her cats fed
on her for two weeks before she was
found." Since then, nobody ever stayed
long. Perhaps, that explained that awful
smell in the house. "Before all that
happened," he motioned, pointing across
the street at the old Catholic church, he
allowed as how that the old grave yard
used to be where the duplex now sits.
"You know that big hill in your back
yard? The old church was built right
there. Well, It was during one of the
greater hurricanes that the perish priest
ordered everyone into the old church
house for safety sake. Then wouldn't you
know, while they prayed for safety, they
all slid into the bay as the cliff gave way
under them-- slid right into the sea, and it
swallowed them up," said the pimp. "The
dead bodies all washed up on the beach
after the storm, and the town's folk buried
them right here-- under this house. Of
course, that was long since forgotten, and
when the developers decided to build
here, what was left of the grave markers
were all ripped up. Anyway, they built
the new church across the street, and over
time, everyone forgot the old grave yard
that is under your house. I don't know,
that old duplex you're in has had all sorts
of strange goings on disasters over the
years. Nobody ever comes out of there
sane-- and few come out alive". "Geez," I
said, "Just what I needed to know."
Later, I went off with Alex to purchase
some oil lamps and candles while we still
had enough light by which to see. Later, I
grilled some hamburgers out on the porch
after cleaning up the old grill. What the
heck! This wasn't so bad--the house had
light, and everyone was taken care of
except that they were bored. After a few
hours, David came home from working at
the old folk's home, and he was bored too.
Then, out of the blue, Alice said, "Albert
tells me you can do magic and even
contact the dead. With the history of this
house, you couldn't go wrong" "Albert
does not like me doing those things
around him. What would he say if I did
that in his house?" "Who cares, said
Alice! "I know you got some power,
because your predictions always come
true." I sat there and thought, OK, I
guess. I will stop by my folk's house and
see if I can find something or at least
some spell that will contact the dead. I
went home, and after looking around a
bit, I found just what I needed in my
grandmother's old book of spells. The
spell I selected was called, "The Nexus
Breaker." I figured that while I was at it,
I'd make a spirit board too. Perfect!
I brought a black marker and went back to
the duplex. I took a stick from the yard,
performed the Nexus Breaker, said the
words, and ripped a hole in the gate.
When I snapped the stick, a blast of chill
air hit that must have been at least 20
degrees cooler than the ambient
temperature. A gust of wind seemed to
move though the living room and then
whip down the hall. Weird. Well, I took
a knife and pried the board free from the
old stone fire place, not knowing what to
expect. Inside the fire place was a old
pair of log holders, but that was it.
Anyway, I put the board on the coffee
table, sat on the sofa, pulled out the
marker and made a spirit board right there
on the spot. Next, I placed the runes of
power on it and blessed it with tobacco.
It was ready to go.
Night was falling fast and Alex wanted to
pick up a bottle of Apple Jack, so he and I
went down to the liquor store while we
still had some light.. By the time we got
back, you could hear the crickets chirping
outside the window. It was dark enough
by then, so I lit some candles which gave
the place a little more atmosphere. Alex
poured himself a drink of apple jack, and
while he was at it, one for me. Between
the oil lamps and the candles, the place
actually seemed kind of cozy. The flames
flickered about the room, dancing as
though they had a life of their own, and it
was time. I cast circle around the board
with salt and water in the usual manner.
Alice, Alex, David and I sat around the
coffee table, trying to gin up the right
mood for the project, but we were all a bit
apprehensive, knowing what we did about
the place. Finally, we got up our nerve
and put an upended juice glass on the
makeshift spirit board to act as a cursor,
and I asked, "Is there anyone here?"
There must have been, because the flames
begin to gutter as though oppressed by a
heavy weight. Then the air turned even
colder. You couldn't hear a sound.
Nothing. I put my index finger on the
glass, and across from me, Alex placed
his next to it. We both felt a shudder, and
the glass started to make a circle, slow at
first then it began to spin faster, gathering
energy almost going crazy, careening
around the board. Finally, the glass flew
off the board and landed on the carpet,
bouncing over against the far wall.
Everyone was shocked, but not as
shocked as they were going to be as after
about ten still-as-death seconds, the glass
exploded in violence, sending shards of
glass all over the room as if someone had
shot it with a gun.
Cautioning the group that we couldn't
leave the circle to get another glass, I told
them that doing so would break the spirit
covenant and protection that I had made
earlier. "To do so would be like
committing suicide." David said, "That's
nonsense!" Then glancing around the
table with impunity, he got up and went
to the kitchen to get another glass.
Returning to his chair, he sat the new
glass on the edge of the spirit board, but
something turned and the glass slid to the
middle of the board all by itself, waiting.
The apprehensive flames seemed to glow
blue and float above the wicks, and we
were bathed in a frightful blue light, that
like high voltage, made the air sing. My
friend, Alex, then expected that
something was going to happen, but did
not know what or what to do about it if it
did. He tried to burn some white sage in
his sea shell for a cleansing, but that did
little good, as it too burned in blue-white
flames and smelled like death itself.
Excited, we turned back to the spirit
board, seeking an answer before things
got out of hand-- "You know how such
events can awaken that certain something
way down in your soul..." Then, taking a
deep breath, I apprehensively placed my
finger on the glass, this time with David
as my counterpoint. Well, it wasn't long
before we got a young girl named Sally
who insisted it was still 1956. She was
lonely and looking for her mother, but she
couldn't find her. You could hear her
sobbing as she searched, "Mommy,
Mommy?" she called, but her mother
failed to answer. After a bit, we sensed
that she had moved away as her sobbing
diminished and the room returned to
silence. Then, whappp! all Hell broke
loose, as the glass on the spirit board took
off and flew across the room, slamming
into the wall with a violent crash. "Crap,"
said David in amazement, I never saw
anything like that before!". Alex and I
both grabbed for the Apple Jack as we
both damn well needed a stiff drink after
that outburst. Then, disgusted, David got
up and went to get another glass. This
could get expensive! Alice said. "You're
destroying all my glasses with your ghost
friends." Do you know how hard it is to
get a referral at Catholic Services to get
glassware?" She caught herself. She had
imagined going down there explaining
that a bunch of ghosts made her glasses
explode and how she needed new ones.
They would believe that, all right! We
put that third glass on the board, and it
spelled "C. R. O. W." A second later, it
spelled out "I will show myself, and you
will die!" We then felt a strong gust of
wind that put us in the dark, as all the
candles and oil lamps blew out at once.
"Where the Hell did that come from,"
yelled Alex! Alice screamed, and then
sucked in her breath! I lit another candle
and said that I, for one, had had enough of
this. Then swallowing another shot of
Apple Jack to punctuate the thought, I
cleared the circle. Enough was enough,
and we demurred to leave well enough
alone.
That night, everyone camped out in the
living room where we could keep an eye
on each other. The people next door were
not home, and we were all alone. Then
somewhere in the wee small hours, we all
heard a ghastly howl that shook the
windows with it's power. Everyone set up
in their bedding, fighting sleep as
something evil ripped the screen door off
the hinges with a violent wrenching jerk.
The tearing sound was enough to make
your hair stand on end. Alice was
terrified and just made little whimpering
sounds between her sobs. Next door, we
could hear bangs and slams too--
something was raging. It sounded like a
bear was loose outside the window or at
least, some ferocious beast that wasn't too
friendly. Not long after, the hall filled
with a kind of a mist, and it seemed as
though a pair of red eyes were starring at
us from within its darkness. Then, as if
that weren't enough, the old floor started
creaking and then lifted like cartoon piano
keys-- first one end and then the other.
That did it! Everyone just about lost their
minds, as the boards began to roll to a
sound that was reminiscent of demented
laughter which grew louder and crazier,
as the smell of raw sewage filled the air to
the point of making you want to gag. The
very air felt soggy, and you could feel the
slimy stuff on your skin and gushing
between your toes. Dave's eyes grew
round as he pointed at the laundry room
window where a horrible, god-forsaken
face peered in at us. It was enough to
peel your eyes! It looked like a skull
crossed with a pumpkin, except it
appeared to be alive and was moving.
The glass bulged in where the punkin-
head pressed it's awful face against the
pains, leaving a trail of slime as it moved
from place to place. Oh, there were awful
sounds as if a herd of daemons were
beating on a thousand trash cans with the
souls of the damned. You could feel the
sweat break out on your palms. Our
hearts were either racing or had altogether
stopped, we weren't sure, as we heard the
wind howling down from the hill in the
back that was now covered in a whitish
gray mist and looking spooky as Hell.
Next thing we knew, a choir broke out in
song, singing that old hymn bringing in
the sheaves, and we all lost it. Altogether,
it was pretty chilling experience. We
didn't need any of that-- not at all!
Even with all of the clamber, I felt loggy
and eventually fell back to sleep,
retreating from the cacophony into the
shell of my psyche. I felt myself
stumbling down those well worn steps
that lead to the lower levels of the
subconscious mind where there is only
silence and the wooly darkness of sleep. I
don't remember what sparked me to life,
but I awoke at the crack of dawn and went
outside to investigate. I stood there in the
weak half light, watching the sunrise and
taking in the condition of the yard. It
looked as though it had been though a
hurricane or that a heard of wild horses
had run through it. Something had
actually been there and tore the Hell out
of the place. No wonder this shack was
coming down!
The next day, my government check
arrived, so I cashed it and went downtown
and paid Albert out of jail with the help of
his grandparents in Alabama. Albert and
Alice wanted a quiet evening alone, and
they had it too, that is until Albert heard a
rapping at the window and saw a still
bleeding, severed hand tapping away at
the glass. Then figuring that she better
come clean, Alice broke down and told
him of the events of the preceding night.
Of course, when I went back the next day
he bitched me out, asking who the Hell
did I think I was pulling stunts like that?
I offered to do a cleansing, but he pretty
quickly let me know that he would rather
perform his own exorcism of the place. I
told him not to do it. "This thing is too
big for that. It has to be handled by
means of black magic-- this is not
something to play around with."
Naturally, Alex, being his usual self,
ignored me, turning a cool shoulder.
Alex showed up just then, and I advised
him that for his own protection, he should
stay away for a little while until it was
safe to come back. At least, he was now a
believer and did as I asked. He wouldn't
make the same mistake twice!
When I got back to the duplex, I found
that the power had once again been
restored, but that was not what had upset
me. What did the damage was that
Albert, Alice and David each had a glazed
look in their eyes. That and the fact that
the air smelled foul as if something had
died and rotted away. It was awful. This
situation made my short hairs stand up.
Then looking at everyone in turn, I asked
how did your exorcism go? "Fine," they
answered with their weird glazed eyes,
unblinking. Albert said in a far away,
breathy voice, "Did you know that in real
black magic, your own blood can be quite
helpful?" "That's interesting," I said, as I
noticed the wound on his hand. That's
when the maggots started falling, puking
to the floor from that nasty-looking
wound. Funny, I'd never seen anything
quite like that before. Then all of a
sudden, that cat I though I'd seen the first
day came in looking as if it were turned
inside out. It was boiling with puss and
letting out howls. Man, that did it for me!
Enough is enough! I got the Hell out of
there fast and didn't even look back. Alex
and I avoided those people from then on,
as they were no longer anyone we knew.
Later, we heard that they had went down
to Alabama and murdered Albert's whole
family-- killed them all in their sleep
without a thought, because Albert was not
invited to his great grandmother' wake or
so they said. They started messing up real
bad after that, going on a killing binge
that made Bonnie and Clide look like
Sunday School Teachers. Everyone
wondered what the Hell happened!
I guess that is why they finally got their
pictures taken by the FBI. They were all
shot to Hell, but still, in their final photos,
they appeared to be grinning, but their
eyes still had that glazed look about them-
- sort of mad looking, they were. The
Feds wanted to talk to me about what had
happened, and I told them too. However, I
don't think they believed me about all that
ghost stuff. Anyway, they said that I
didn't have anything to do with any of
Albert's goings on, so the let me go my
way. It was the same for Alex . Hell,
neither one of us were anywhere near
Albert and his motley crew when they
committed their heinous crimes. Later we
heard that some other people moved into
that old Tingly House after we vacated
it, but they came to a bad end too. When
the cops found them, they were all quite
insane-- glazed eyes and all. The
authorities had to put them away,
something about cannibalism, they said.
Well, things always cool off after time
passes, and you get curious as to what
actually happened, you know. So, about a
year ago, Alex and I took a drive by that
old house on a lark, and parked across the
street, watching and drinking a couple of
beers, as we talked over our experience.
The old house looked degraded like it had
slid back to the way it was before we
found it and fixed it up. You know, I
think that all of that disrepair was it's
natural character. It liked to be that way.
Well, It didn't take long until we started
seeing that damned blue light moving
back and forth in the windows again,
looking like it was staring out at us in the
night-- hungry looking.. Well, that did it.
That was enough for us! Lark, my ass!
We drove off into the night as fast as we
could and never looked back.
