Emma

It's Halloween Night, y'all, the spookiest night of the year. The gay man's Christmas (so they say). It's also Friday and here I sit at home, bored, with nothing else to do with my time except sit on the Internet. My life is in a rut, I'm telling you. Can't wait until I can jump back into the circuit again and have a semi-normal social life.

In the spirit of the occasion, decided to share a personal recollection of the macabre. Now the verdict is still out whether or not I actually believe in ghosts or not, but I do believe there are unexplained circumstances we cannot rationalize away with science. This world holds too many secrets in the here, the beyond, and the somewhere in-between. Since man began to question his existence in the universe, we've been fascinated with the supernatural and the metaphysical.

My thoughts tonight take me back a situation when I encountered something I can't explain. A few years ago Miss T, Roxanne, Kristopher, and I celebrated my and Roxanne's birthdays one late night in March. It's important to mention when the four us get together, we're known to close restaurants. Literally. Somehow we lose track of time. We'll dine, have dessert, coffee, then chat away like we haven't seen each other in years (quite the opposite, really. Roxanne, Miss T, and I socialize weekly). Conversations tend to get animated, boisterous, and long winded. This night was no different, naturally.

Our dinner reservations had been for 7:30, but we weren't seated until 8:00ish since it was a busy Friday night. Our eatery is a well known local Victorian establishment, prided on it's fine cuisine, genteel atmosphere, and also, is alleged to be haunted. As stated, Roxanne and I are talkers, but eventually we'll wear out, prepare to go home or go for aperitifs and more conversation somewhere else. On this occasion, things started to wrap up around 10:30. Full of coffee and great food, I excused myself to go to the restroom.

The Victorian restaurant we ate at is an old converted mansion with multiple level dining areas. We'd been seated in the main dining room. To get to the bathroom, I had to go upstairs. By time nature made it's call for m, most patrons had left and the staff was busy cleaning up, waiting for our party to leave. Full, the restaurant is impressive and very stately. Empty, it's quite eerie and spooky.

As I ascended the staircase, I felt an unusual burst of cold air, which I chalked up to draftiness of the way building were built in the period. Reaching the second floor, I had to walk through another dining area before getting to the main bathroom. The upstairs was lit OK, but some areas were darkened, since staff had cleaned, bussed, and prepped these rooms for the next night's patronage. Crossing the hallway, I felt that damn draft once more and was chilly. Again, I thought nothing of it. In the bathroom, I took care of my business, then preceded to wash my hands, and head back to my waiting party. What happened next still confounds me.

I was about to open the door when I caught something dark past the corner of my peripheral vision. Turning around, I didn't see anything. As I turned back around, before me, was a bluish mist. It was an opaque mist, kinda like cigarette smoke, and it moved. Moved not like cigarette smokes wafts through the air, but in more with a concentrated effort. Then I heard a childish laughter.

Stopping for a moment, I attempted to register what I was seeing. Just as quick, it was gone. Then that damn cool draft returned, chillier than before. This time the hair on my arms and neck rose up, and I wanted outta there! Before I could get to the steps, I heard the laughter again. I chanced a glimpse over my shoulder and saw a flash of blue smoke more shaped like a figure, but not really. Very ethereal shaped. The darkness seemed to intensify, then it was back to the normal lighting. I knew nobody else was upstairs except for me. No staff. No patrons. Just me! OK. Time to get outta this joint pronto fin!

Now I've never been a dignified runner, but my black ass hauled tail getting down those steps. Back at the table, I told the guys what happened. At the same time, our waitress came back with credit cards and receipts. Seeing my anxious appearance, she asked if I was all right. Miss T was laughing her ass off 'cause she thought I was imagining things. T told the waitress "Oh don't mind him, he's having delusions." or something to that manner.

Not missing a beat the waitress responded, "Don't worry. You probably just saw Emma. She's harmless. She likes to tease the patrons every now and again."

After that, we left. I rarely discuss that night. It was one of the single most scariest experiences of my life! T still thinks I'm being melodramatic. I'm not making this shit up though! Others have seen Emma too.

Check out for yourselves. I've included two links to substantiate my story.

http://www.spiritsocietyofpa.com/ or http://www.alfredsvictorian.com/history.html

Any of you have any scary stories to share? What say you?