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| Original art (c) Sandra Russell |
Have you ever felt a chill when there was no wind? Or see
'something' from the corner of your eye, only to have it not be there when you
turned to face it? Hmm? When you are alone, are you NOT alone? That has been
the experience of a number of patrons and workers at a particular place on the
near West side of Athens. When I began
to write about this place, I thought it would be easy to find eager
storytellers, as my own experiences there from decades ago were a bit
unexplainable. I was sure there was some particular history to weed out but try
as I might it eludes me still. I did get a few testimonials that I will remain
anonymous. It seems that people who have had uncanny experiences love to share
with intimates even trying to top one another with taller and taller 'fish
stories'; but freeze up when spotlighted as a "witness' to something that
logic tells us, is not true. The more I
tried to shine a light on the subject, the more I likened it to shining a
flashlight while walking through fog. The light bounces back at you, and the
form sort of tears away from your body as you pass through it, as if old,
rotted gauze. Still, I won't abandon you reader with nebulas poetry. I will
tell you what has come to light. And
will provide a list of testimony from both men and women as follows. Two men
agreed that they heard footsteps above them when closing up for the night, so
loudly that they ran upstairs to investigate, nothing. Another man swore
someone grabbed him from behind downstairs near the kitchen, he whirled around,
again, nothing.
Three men working in the kitchen preparing hamburger patties
on a table; finished when suddenly a #10 can of tomatoes flew off the shelf to
land in the center of the work table. A woman worker told that on Saturday
nights, two containers were placed side
by side, one with sugar, one creamers,
but at 12:30 am, the creamers would fall to the floor and the sugar remain as
placed? She promised there would be more to the story, but again haven't heard
back. She did mention the "blue
man", I said do tell? as I myself had a blue man story from 1973, It was
amazing to me that younger generations describe him recently appearing the same
way as he did so long ago. He is not what one would call a 'ghost', but it’s
still pretty funny that a 70 yr old man has been 70 yrs old for 50 yrs!!! And
is always wearing the same clothes! The last story was from a construction
worker, who alone had gone upstairs to do some repairs and was taken aback by
what he told of the vague form of a woman in a long dress looking away from him
but standing just at his shoulder. He turned to face her, and she was gone. Oh
sigh, reader, we are at the end for now. At least I can say from this
adventure, that trying to pin down a ghost is like trying to capture a cloud in
a butterfly net. No matter how manifest it seems when you lunge at it, the net
will be empty when you take it home to show the folks.
About the Author: Sandra Rustle was born in rural Athens County, at mid-century modern time in a pre-Civil War farmhouse near Hebardsville, Ohio. Sandra's interests include art history, studio arts, animals both wild and domestic, and baking. She can sometimes be found on the stage performing in local community theater productions, or behind the scenes creating props or designing sets. Sandy's recent DNA results have increased her interest in learning more about Scotland. 
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