The Barn

It was going to be so easy. Buy the old farm on rt 33, fix it up, make it into a haunted attraction. The farm had been abandoned since the 1960s. That is when Will Greenwood killed his wife and her lover in their old barn. Dora and Will Greenwood had been married for ten years and had not been able to have any children. Their marriage went bad, Will started to beat the crap out of Dora. Joe and Sherry Jacobs lived 5 miles south of the Greenwoods. The Greenwoods were not violent but they did not have much love between them either. Their marriage had grown cold over the 12 years they were together. Joe had begun to look for love elsewhere as men often do when they don’t get any at home. Dora Greenwood worked at the dinner in town. Joe, who was a deputy sheriff, would often come there for lunch. Dora and Joe would chat when Dora had his table. As time went on, They would talk after Dora got off work. Then they would meet privately out of town. Joe and Dora went to great effort to keep their affair private. It was all well hidden until one of Will's work buddies found Dora’s car parked at the hotel in the next town over. He told Dora nothing about what he knew but he lured Joe to the Greenwoods farm. Will filed a complaint with the sheriff's department that someone was stealing chickens out of his barn. He asked if Joe would come out to talk to him about it. When Dora came home from her shift at the diner, Will was waiting for her with a shotgun. He forced her into the barn where poor Joe was already dead from a shotgun blast to the head. Will shot Dora and then hung himself from the loft in the barn. It was the great scandal of 1963 on the eastern shore of Maryland.

So the Greenwood place developed the reputation of being haunted. Teenagers would hangout there and drink. They started stories about seeing ghosts. I thought I could make a lot of money from buying the place and fixing it up. I would probably have to gut the house and redo the whole inside but there was so much land. A hundred aces for dirt cheap. I’d never have an opportunity like this again. The old barn would make a great haunted attraction. I'll make plenty of money to take care of everything. This afternoon I signed the papers at the bank to finance all of it.

My cousin Larry and I went to the farm to make a list of everything I needed to begin fixing up the place. He thought I was nuts but he didn't have the vision I did. We walked almost the whole property. The house and the barn. The barn was great, weather beaten and so old looking. Its wood had turned grey from years of neglect, perfect for a haunted barn. I had sold my old house to have the money to make my plan work. It was a minor inconvenience but as soon as I got a few basic rooms done in the house I'd be in better shape.

“Are you really sure you want to do this? " Larry asked

I was confused” The papers are already signed. I couldn't change my mind if I wanted to.”

“ I know that. I mean do you have to live here? This palace is seriously messed up”

I shrugged off his concerns” nah, It will be fine. What, you think this stuff is real? The ghosts and all that?”

“ I don't know, I just don't think it's a good idea.”

I laughed, we finished up the chores we had planned to get done that day. He knew my mind was made up and there was no going back. After Larry left I tried to figure out where I would sleep that night. The upstairs was out of the question. The floorboards looked unstable. I was afraid of going through the floor in the middle of the night and landing on the bottom floor. The downstairs bathroom was in working order so the living room would have to do. I took my sleeping bag out for the night and got ready for bed.

I woke up hours later. Weird noises were coming from upstairs. Footsteps were coming from the second floor. It sounded like boots, like someone was looking for something. There was no way this could be happening. I was there alone. “Someone has to be messing with me.” I said out loud. I went to the kitchen to find the flashlight I had brought with me. As I walked in the kitchen I saw from the window that a light was coming from the barn. I was getting to the bottom of this. I walked outside to the barn.

The light from the barn didn't seem natural, it glowed from inside. I threw the door open to find...nothing. It was quiet, dark and still. The old barn stood there in front of me making no sounds except for a few crickets that lived in it. The glowing light had disappeared, it was still, the air seemed thick and it was hard to breathe. I didn't understand what was going on.

Back outside, I walked around the barn and then the house. There was nothing, no sign of people anywhere. Convinced I had lost my mind I went back in the house. Everything was quiet now, it must have been a dream. I laid back down in my sleeping bag and went back to sleep.

Noise woke me again. The footsteps were back. Heavy boots were walking the same path upstairs over and over again. There was groaning coming from the Noise woke me again. The footsteps were back. Heavy boots were walking the same path upstairs over and over again. There was groaning coming from the barn, so I went outside. The noise continued inside the barn, only it seemed more like a woman crying. It was coming from the loft, the ladder that led up there seemed very old, I began to climb up. Reaching the top I looked around, and saw nothing. The crying got louder. I followed it a little more. Then everything was silent. I was convinced I must have lost my mind. I turned, there I was a man in a sheriff's uniform who was missing half his head. I froze, trapped and completely terrified at that moment. In an instant a scythe with a long blade came across my neck. It burned until I felt nothing. I went outside. The noise continued inside the barn, only it seemed more like a woman crying. It was coming from the loft, the ladder that led up there seemed very old, I began to climb up. Reaching the top I looked around, and saw nothing. The crying got louder. I followed it a little more. Then everything was silent. I was convinced I must have lost my mind. I turned, there I was a man in a sheriff's uniform who was missing half his head. I froze, trapped and completely terrified at that moment. In an instant a scythe with a long blade came across my neck. It burned until I felt nothing.