Ghosts and Ghouls

“This story didn’t involve me, but actually happened to my folks and my brother.

We had been transferred to Flagstaff from Prescott (Arizona) on election day 1948. It was a sudden transfer, one in which dad wasn’t even given a chance to consider before he was told he had the job. So, mom, my brother Everett, and I went to Flagstaff to find a house.

After several days of hard looking, all we found was a summer cottage south of town which had one bedroom, a wood stove, and a large sitting room. It also sported an outhouse, a woodshed, and two big wooden barrels for hauling water. We didn’t have any choice, and the rent was in our price range, so we took it.

I am not sure now just when it was that mom found what we called “THE HOUSE.” She would periodically look for a larger, more comfortable home for us, and on one of these searches she found the perfect one.

Located on a side street, the house apparently had been empty for a while, as there was a penciled “For Rent” sign in front. She went to my brother’s school, picked him up, and took him to see the house. He says even now that it was the most perfect home he has ever seen! It was built of brick, very nice white woodwork , showing signs of having been painted within the past several years. Walking across the porch and peeking into the window, Everett says that even now he can feel the window sill beneath his fingers. Beautiful wood floors, a fireplace, and evidently some very nice bedrooms to one side. hey could see the kitchen, which seemed to be well appointed, and mom even had dad go up to look at it. All three of them were thrilled beyond words , so mom copied the phone number, planning on calling very soon!
I was the most thrilled of them all! I was in high school, and living about five miles out of town didn’t do my social life any good!

We spent suppertime talking about the new house, speculating about how to arrange our furniture and other things. It was decided mom would check into the house first thing the next day. After the family left for job and school, mom went into town and decided to stop and check on the house once more.

There was just one problem: there was no house! She checked the street, it was right, as was the supposed location of the house. She contacted dad who joined her in staring at a very empty lot. Had they been dreaming? Not likely, with all three of them actually comparing notes and having touched the house. Turned out the telephone number had not been used for a long, long time either!

We were all baffled. After Bob and I were married, we had dinner one evening with my folks, and THE HOUSE came up. Bob asked where it had been located, and mom- bless her heart -STILL had the address in her little book! Bob was shocked as he had grown up in Flagstaff; his dad was a carpenter and had built a great many of the homes in the city, but try as he would, Bob could not recall a house being on that particular lot! Baffled, he called his dad who also was shocked and stated flatly that he had built most of the houses on that block and NO house of that description had ever existed!

So what did mom, dad, and Everett see? What did they touch? What window did they peer through?

We never knew.”

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