The Old Barn

Pat came out of the big old barn and walked over to the realtor. “I think this will do very nicely”, she told him. He said “Great, lets head back to the office and sign the papers.”

Once all the t’s were crossed and all the i’s were dotted, Pat walked out as the new owner of the 10-acre farm. Oh, she had grand plans for that beautiful land. However, before she could do much of anything, she had a house to clean out. It seems the previous owners just up and left and nobody has heard from them since. Pat couldn’t imagine why anyone would walk away from such a glorious piece of land like this. She could only think that maybe they were having money troubles or foul play.

As she entered the house, it looked just like they had walked out in the middle of the afternoon. There were clean dishes setting in the drain on the side of the sink, a book in the living room still open and resting on the arm of the chair where the reader left off. She ventured upstairs and saw all the beds were neatly made and the kid’s rooms still had toys on the floors and the main bathroom still have all the toiletries sitting on the side of the sink just waiting for the owners to come back.

Pat felt a bit disturbed. Was she suppose to throw this stuff out, or pack it in case someone came back, or donate it? She decided that maybe the personal items like the toys and picture albums she would pack and store, but things like clothes and sheets, towels, and other things she could donate to local charities. As she roamed through the house, she would get chills and goose bumps in certain areas. She decided that she needed to work on at least a bedroom for tonight.

As she cleaned the master bedroom with its attached bathroom, she had three piles going. One for things that could be donated, one for things that she felt she would want someone to save if she had run off and one to throw out. All the toiletries went there except for the toilet paper. After several hours, she had finally made a dent in that room and she went and got her own bedding for the night.

At 3am, she woke with a start. She couldn’t figure out what woke her. The house was quiet, she didn’t have any animals to wake her and she had been a country girl all her life so the peace and quiet didn’t do it either. She decided to step outside since it was a beautiful, cloudless night and out in these deserted areas the stars looked like they were reachable if you tried. Outside, she walked around a little and noticed that there seemed to be a light on in the old barn. She went out and stopped to listen to see if maybe someone had broken in not realizing the property was no longer abandoned. After about five minuets she hadn’t heard anything so she slowly opened the door. As she peered in through a crack, she saw there was just a little pull string bulb lit. She opened the door wider and saw that there was nothing amiss. She figured that she must have left it on when she was looking in this afternoon. Pat pulled the cord and the little bulb went out and she headed back up to bed.

For the next few weeks, pat cleaned and packed and then unpacked her stuff. I was a lot of work to finally get to move into her house. Once the house was all taken care of, she began to clean out the barn. While cleaning the barn, she found a pair of kid’s shoes. Further cleaning revealed a mans t-shirt and as she removed loads of hay to transport out to the fields, she began uncovering things like a ring here, an earring over there, and a lock of hair, neatly tied with a string hanging up over one of the stalls, which kind of really creeped her out. What had happened to this family, who were they, where did they come from, what was their story? She decided to take some time and head into town to see what she could find out.

After a couple of weeks following leads and information gathered from the locals, the newspapers and public records, she was no closer to solving the mystery. They had seemed like a nice normal family, mom, dad and two kids. No problems from the kids at school, dad worked in the city and left early and came home late. Mom worked at the local bakery and was one of the most pleasant people around according to the locals. Nothing out of the ordinary to suggest they would just take off like that, leaving everything.

She dropped of all the items she wanted to donate on Friday, hit the store to pick up some food, and headed home to spend the weekend working on the property. She wanted to begin fixing the big old barn and walking the property line to see what kind of fencing she might need for her plans.

After spending the evening putting groceries away and cooking a great meal, she headed up to bed. She wanted to get an early start tomorrow. She took a hot shower and was laying in bed when she felt like something was off. She peered out the window again and sure enough, that same light was on in the barn. She though to herself “I know I turned that off this morning before I left and I haven’t been in the barn since.” She decided to just let it be and she could check the wiring tomorrow to see if it looked like there was a short somewhere. Years of owning farms had taught her many skills to make life easier and to save her money instead of spending it unnecessarily.

The next morning, when she went into the barn, the light was off. She began to wonder if she had dreamt it. She decided she didn’t care because whether she did or not, the wiring needed to be checked just the same. After a couple of hours, everything had checked out fine. No shorts, no stripped wires, no breaks and all the circuit breakers were in fine working order. She decided to make sure she knew when it was on or off, she made a notebook. She jotted down the time she left and whether the light was on or off and if it changed over the night and she saw it, she would write it down too. Then, one night, her heart almost stopped.

It was 3:16am. She woke with a start. Something was not right. She knew right away it was that damned light. But this time when she looked out, in the faint glow of the light in the barn, someone was standing there, looking right at her window. She slipped on a pair of boots, grabbed her handgun and practically flew down the stairs. She didn’t turn any lights on to let the person know she was coming. As she scanned the yard under the light of a big full moon, she saw nothing move, no incriminating shadows, nothing out of the ordinary. Then the light went off. She headed to the back door of the barn. After all, who would go out the front door if they were expecting you.

She peered in and through the darkness she could see nothing. She stopped and listened. No noise, no breathing, no movement. She slowly opened the door more and stepped in and closed it. Again, she waited. Still there was nothing. She knew she had no choice but to turn on a light. As she did this, she swore she saw what looked like a see-through man just disappear into thin air. She searched the barn and found nothing. All the way back to the house she kept telling herself it was a trick of the lighting.

Things began to accelerate after that night. First, it would only be once or twice a week the same thing happened. After a couple of weeks, she was beginning to think she was going nuts. Eventually it progressed to three or four times a week, then to every night. Then strange noises began to come at the same time the light would go on or off and the man would sometimes appear. Noises that sound at first like things being dropped, then later like building. But every day, when she went to the barn, everything was just as she left it the evening before. So, she searched. She searched that barn everywhere for a trap door, or hidden room, anything to explain what might be happening. After a few days, nothing had been found and Pat decided that tonight, she was going to sit here in the dark and find out what the h*ll was going on. She said to herself “If I don’t sit out here and see this with my own eyes, I am going to have to go see a psychologist.”

That night, Pat sat in an inconspicuous little corner in the loft, where she could see the light, the doors and the entire lower floor. She had her handgun, a shotgun and two flashlights. As she sat, she watched, waiting for the doors to open. Then, at 3:26am, the light turned on. There was nothing there. Pat waited for someone or something, but nothing came. Around 4am, she climbed down the ladder and searched the floor for any explanation. All of a sudden, it started getting cold in the old barn. Pat hid.

It was three months later when Bob and Dorothy came walking out of out the barn and said to the realtor, “We think this is the perfect place to move our farm to. We can grow it just like we dreamed.” They gave each other a brief kiss and hug and Dorothy said “It’s perfect, I can’t wait to start working on that barn.”