Colorado Ghost Stories. Antonio Boone's Garcez

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СКАЧАТЬ aunt and niece grew stronger as the years past. I would attempt to visit my aunt at least once a year, or once every other year. I always remembered special days in her life, like birthdays and holidays until the day Aunt Billie abruptly died. It was a fall day. Her death was due to the rupture of an abdominal aortic aneurysm. Up until the end of her life in 1984, we both remained very close.

      Aunt Billie wearing a red hair-bow.

      Within the week of her death, a few close friends from her church had cleaned her house and boxed up all her personal items, then placed them in her garage. After selling my house in just two weeks, I decided to make the move to my aunt’s house in Cañon City. I made the long move in the fall of 1984 from Washington State, and as I’d stated before, have made Canyon City my home ever since.

      Aunt Billie’s personality was that of a very quiet person. To those who did not know her well, at times she would appear to be a bit of a secretive individual. Overall, she was friendly and filled with compassion for those who knew her at church. She never gave me any reason to doubt that she would hide any secrets from me—ever. But as the months went by, I would soon find out a secret that she kept well hidden all her life.

      There was a period in her life, about two years, when she left Colorado to work for a water faucet manufacturing company, in Kansas City, Missouri. This was what she told my family. She never did say much about her move, except, “I’ll never want to visit that town again.” There was not more she would add to this except to say that the weather was too humid, the people were not friendly, and she could not wait to pick up her check at the end of her employment and return to Colorado. This was the extent of the story she had told my mother regarding her two years spent in Missouri. Because my aunt, on rare occasions, was known to display a bit of anger, my family never did press this issue with her. But my mother could sense there was something “not right” about her explanation, so instead of asking the question of what really transpired during those two years, we just never mentioned it again.

      After I moved into my aunt’s house, there was nothing unusual that immediately took place that I could claim as being haunted. Everything was going along well, and I spent the fall at the house in peace. I kept the majority of my aunt’s furnishings, but purchased a new mattress for the bed. The garage still contained the taped and sealed cardboard boxes of her personal items that her fellow church friends had stored for me. I didn’t even think of going through any of the boxes until the weather turned warmer in the late spring. During my first month at the house, my aunt’s friends would occasionally drop by to say hello and to reminisce about my aunt, and the times they had all spent together.

      As I said, I had not experienced any strange occurrences but, in late November, I began to notice that something very curious was repeatedly taking place with unusual regularity.

      This began one morning when I was seated at my chair in the kitchen. I remember the date and time. It was November 15 at 10:36 a.m. I was finishing up my breakfast and I had just poured myself coffee. No sooner had I sat down that I began to hear the sound of a small kitten, or baby, crying. I love cats, although I hadn’t owned one for more than three years after my last cat had died. I listened for a minute, when I noticed that it began to get louder. I grew concerned for the kitten, and got off my chair and walked a few steps to the door that led outside the kitchen. I opened it and looked around, but didn’t see a kitten, or cat.

      I understand that this in itself is not unusual, but while I was standing at the door, I heard the crying sound once more, this time it appeared to be coming from inside the house, from the direction of the living room. I walked over to the living room and now clearly heard the muffled sounds of a baby’s cries. Strangely, the sound was not a very loud sound, but was more muted and repressed. I must have stood in my living room for a good five minutes, listening and waiting for something—anything—else to happen.

      The cries were definitely not those of a kitten’s, this was the sound that a very young infant would make. Most importantly, the cries were coming from somewhere in the house. I looked out the front window several times, and never saw a baby in the yard or on the sidewalk. No, these cries were coming from within my house. As the minutes past, the crying also disappeared, and I was left with more questions than answers.

      Throughout the day the crying would start then stop. For the coming days, this is how things continued for me. I knew this was not something that I could, or would, tolerate for very long. Sometimes, I would be awakened at night by the sounds, and sometimes I would be lulled to sleep by them. I can’t explain why, but I knew that the child’s crying was of a spiritual nature. The crying was such a distant and soft sound, that I was not very bothered by it, however it did cause concern for me. This continued for just three or four days, not nearly a week before I decided to put an end to it.

      During the time I lived in Seattle, I once attended a book signing at a local bookstore for an author who wrote about the paranormal. I remember she responded to a question from the audience that pertained to the subject of spirits in her presentation. In her response, she offered a few spiritual, countermeasures for eliminating unwanted entities. One that remained in my memory was her instruction to speak to the spirits directly. In addition, she also mentioned that lighting a candle blessed the area and intensified the communication process. She described in detail a bit more of the process, but the only portion I could recall was those two simple rules. Talk to the spirits and light a candle. So, the next time I heard the crying, I lit a candle and began to speak to the spirit of the baby that resided in my aunt’s house.

      I was sitting in the living room watching television when suddenly, once more the crying started up. I turned off the television, and got up off my chair and lit the candle that I had placed on my coffee table. I was anticipating the opportunity to do this, so I was ready. I was eager to communicate with the spirit. Surprisingly, I was not the least bit scared. After all, it was only a baby. After lighting the candle, I said, “Please, whoever you are, I want you to leave this house and be at peace. I don’t want you to stay around and cry like you have been doing. So, please go and find the peace you need. I do not like hearing your crying, please leave my house, and find your mother.” I also said a few more things that I can’t remember, but those were the majority of my words. The crying seemed to end right after I spoke. I let the candle burn for the remainder of the evening and then I settled into bed for the night.

      From my bedroom, I could see the small shadows dance about the wall in my hallway that were created by the somber, flickering flame. I had not heard any further crying since I had stated my concerns to the spirit earlier in the day. I personally felt a peace come over myself and within the house. I slept soundly throughout that night except for the time very early that morning when I had a dream that was so vivid and realistic, I found it difficult to imagine it as being only just a dream.

      In this dream, I found myself walking into a large room that was painted white, and was so brightly bathed in a bright light that I had to squint. As I entered the room I spotted a woman who was seated in a chair with her back to me. As I approached her, I immediately saw that it was my Aunt Billie! Her head was bowed down, looking at the newborn baby in her arms. My aunt’s hair was long and draped around her shoulders. It was not at all as I remembered her customarily wearing it, in a tight bun. She seemed relaxed and had a loving smile on her face. She also looked to be so very, very young. I would guess her to be in her mid-20s. There were no words exchanged between us. I tried to speak, but I was unable to form a sentence, not even a single word. We simply looked into each other’s eyes, and that seemed to be enough.

      Within just a minute, my aunt stood up off her chair and turned to her side, displaying the newborn to me proudly. This act indicated to me how much love there was between her and the baby. I instinctively reached out to hold the baby in my arms, but immediately, somehow I knew that I could not, so I returned СКАЧАТЬ