A Ghost Story? Hummm?
A True Story By Sunsetter
January 20, 2004
|
PART ONE From: "sunsetter" Date: Sun Sep 7, 2003 2:35 pm Subject: A ghost story? Hummm? This really happened! As we were waiting to get on the six tour busses, for the tour of "Collinwood", a lady came up selling her book, "A View Of Collinsport". I bought one of course, as well as Laurel and Hope and many others. A great read for the 4 hour trip to Newport, Rhode Island. I found out later, by Laurel, that it was the author herself, who was selling them. (Shelly Wiess Losty) Anyway, we read bits and pieces of the book on our long journey. And looked at the many great pics in it, besides giggling with anticipation, as to where our journey would lead. Collinsport and Collinwood!!!! Well, when we finally got to see the great mansion, we all were in complete awe. I, being ever so silly, got down on my hands and knees, ready to kiss the luscious green grass lawn...I almost did, as my nose was within inches of it! We were all taking pictures of the tower and backside facade. One guy climbed up the tiny wrought iron fire escape, to reach the second floor landing. We told him that he needed to get down, as we weren't allowed up there. He was gonna get in trouble, and get all of us in trouble, by doing that. He ignored our warnings. Then a deep, eerie voice from above, echoed, "GET DOWN!". I'm not sure if all of us heard it, but he got down as quick as a wink. I didn't think anything of it at the time. I thought maybe there was someone in the house, watching to make sure we kept off of the landing. Then someone said the house was vacant, it had been vacant for many years. Repairs were made, inspectors, and the like, would come and go. But it was basically an abandoned old mansion. That nobody, who was affiliated with the house, was inside or on the grounds, at this time. I thought nothing of it, just my ears playing tricks on me, and I was in a sort of "high", just being at this sacred place, our Collinwood. To be continued... Sunny |
|
PART TWO "sunsetter" (from DTDS) Date: Wed Sep 10, 2003 2:30 pm Subject: Ghost Story....Hummm??? Pt 2 This really happened! Part 2 After the incident with the guy that scrambled back down the fire escape, we again began taking pictures, looking up at the facade, tower, roof, old fasioned windows with intricate designs and rich lattices, hidden gargoyles and precision craftwork that graced the walls from the outside. As tourists, we were only allowed to see and touch from the outside, but no one said we couldn't peek into the many ground floor windows. The inside was without furnishings and was like how the Old House looked, minus furniture, before Barnabas was "rescued" by Willie in 1967. Vacant, negletted, dirty, dusty and gloomy. A few rooms had office equipment, filing cabinets, desks and the like in them. But the inside structure was grand, with murals painted on the ceilings and fine sculpterd moldings, beams, etc. A house owned by the very rich, for sure, in the past and the present! Well, while we continued looking up at the grandeur of this magnificent old mansion, our Collinwood, this happened.... SPLAT, CRASH!!! This thing had fallen from the top of the house, where we were standing. Laurel, Eriekittym and I were yards away, but a few people were standing on the terrace floor from where it landed. One guy was was only about 2 feet from where it hit, and barely missed hitting him on the head. If it had, he would of been injured badly, or worse! We all caught our breaths, looked down at it, and immediately looked up to where it may have fallen or been shoved from. Silence and stillness. No movement, no wind, no person, no nothing. What had made it fall? I joked and said out loud, "It must be Matthew Morgan up there, trying to scare us, like he did to Vicki at the Old House" Well, I still didn't think to much of it, until I saw what had fallen. An old folded up tarp, wet, mildewed and filthy. It had old withered leaves, dirt, sticks, cement and other debris covering it, as if it had sitting up there, outside in the elements for months. Why would it decide to come crashing down at this particular moment? I followed the path that it had fallen from, and it led me to a second story empty window sill. To the right of that window sill, was another filthy, bunched up tarp. (you can see it in one of my pics I took). So in my opinion, it fell from the left window sill. But still, there was no wind, no rain, no one in the house and no other logical explanation, as to why it decided to fall at that moment, and then almost hit someone? If someone were in the house, playing tricks on us, the strange voice to tell the guy to "GET DOWN" and then shoving this thing out of a window and almost hit someone, he/she was asking for a lawsuit. Like I said, the voice I thought I heard, I didn't think much about it. But when this thing crashed onto the terrace before our very eyes, and nothing, that we could see, feel or hear, to make it fall, well.........we all got the "Willies", I'm sure! The end......or is it?????? Sunny |
|
PART THREE "sunsetter" Date: Wed Sep 10, 2003 3:34 pm Subject: Ghost Story?....I Give You MORE!!!!! I have more to tell you..... When I began my journey to Collinsport, I mentioned that I, as well as others, had purchased the book, "A View Of Collinsport". Eriekittym, Laurel and I would read bits and pieces of it, to help pass the time. Well, as we got nearer and nearer to our final destination, our books were cast aside. After our awe inspiring and weird happenings beneath the grand mansion, we went to Widow's Hill. It was basically at the edge of Collinwood's backyard. Widow's Hill was not a cliff, but a tiny bluff, overlooking the beach, with the craigy rocks and surf below. The "cliff " was maybe 10 or 15 feet higher than the beach. But still, it was where we always see the opening credits, as the waves crash over the rocks. I climbed up on the main rock, sprawled out as if I had just jumped from Widow's Hill, and Eriekittym took my "corpse" picture. It was low tide, so there were no majestic waves to crash up over it. To the left was Look-Out Point beach, where I dug my feet into the sand as I walked along, knowing this was where they showed Vicki finding Burke's pen. And where Carolyn walked, when Liz told her she and Jason were engaged. I was in dreamland, as I had been since arriving in Collinsport. We had to head back, no more playing, the busses were waiting on us. DARN. As we headed toward the front of the mansion, and past the front gate, we saw a swarm of birds flying, or were they bats? They seemed to come out of Collinwood's roof and circle around, up in the air. They flew like bats, flapped like bats, dove like bats and sounded like bats, but no one was sure if they were bats or not...but it was beginning to get dusk. hummm? Now to conclude my tale. Back on the bus, I felt so bad about having to leave, but was just so thankful that I was able to set foot upon the grounds of our "make believe" Collinwood and Collinsport. Now back to NY, real homes, real lives. Before the darkening sky, I again picked up my book, and began to read larger portions of it, as my anticipation on my way to Collinsport had now faded. I was sleepy and tired, but as I can't sleep sitting up, I read. Then I read something that made me get goosebumbs, and this is the following passage about "Collinwood"..... *"It was reported in "Haunted Newport" that the mansion seemed to attract "in modern times" it's own cast of ghosts and things that go bump in the night...where smoke detectors go off for no reason, bottles fly off desks, and radios turn on by themselves." *pg.112 The end... Sunny |
| By Sunsetter |