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Those unnatural creatures with red eyes and sharp claws, that snuck around, always looking for a lone traveler to drag back to dark places.
But I stayed. I stood there, and watched them and listened.
Then I heard them again! Burnaby said.
“Come with us...” it said, “Come with us...” it said again, long and drawn out like before.
“I watched as the first shadow came closer to me.” Burnaby said.
“It came closer, silently but surely as I am sitting here, it came as close to me, as Timothy there, across the table.
Then the other two, who were to the left of the fireplace, moved across the back of the moldy couch, and stood near the first shadow.”
“What shall we ask him...” one of the two said, “Let’s take him with us...” said the other.
“By now, I was ready to face the dark dangers of the woods, as I didn’t want to imagine their intentions, or what they meant, or where they wanted to take me.
I must have aged ten years that night, as I stood before those otherworldly creatures, these strange shades, whose kind are used in bedtime stories to frighten small children and make for good conversation for folk, beside the hearth with a good pipe.
But here, I was standing before them. I was that which many claim to experience, in truth or as a tall tale.” Burnaby said.
“Come with us...” one of them said suddenly.
“Come with us...” another said lamenting.
“What was it saying?” Burnaby thought to himself. “What did this creature mean?”
“I was curious. Where did they want to take me?” Burnaby said.
“I wanted to know. I wanted to know what happened to the Milburns.” he said.
“What’s your name? are you a Milburn?”
The spirits stayed silent, then they stirred silently.
One of the two spirits moved back, over the moldy couch. It moved through it, and stood behind it. In moments, it appeared near the fireplace and disappeared.
“Are you Ukiah?” Burnaby asked. There was no response.
“Are you May Bell?” he asked, to no response.
“Who are you? Who are they? What do you want?”
The first spectre, the one closest to Burnaby, stirred.
“My name isss Jacob...” the shade said. “My name isss Jacob Milburn...”
Regaining my courage, I asked it another question.
“Who are the others?”
The shade of Jacob Milburn moved back to join the other shadow, they stood together.
“We are Milburns... Lulaaaa... and Mavisss...” it said.
“Now I knew.” Burnaby said. “It was true that the Milburns had stayed. At least the three that still haunt this house remained, while the others went back east.” he said.
“What happened to your family?” he asked.
“Went... awayyy...” Jacob Milburn’s ghost said. “But.. we... stayed behind...”
A cold wind blew through the room, as a flash of lightning lit the room for an instant.
“We took it all... from themmm...” Jacob Milburn’s ghost said.
“We were... the... greedy ones..., we... were the... cruel... ones...” jacob spirit said sadly.
“I listened as the sad ghost told me their story.” Burnaby said.
“I listened as Jacob Milburn’s spectre told me about how the Milburn family, a peaceful and good family, was torn apart because of greed. I listened as how after Ukiah and May Bell’s passing, the Milburn children fought over inheritance and position.
Jacob told me how he and his sisters; Lula and Mavis had decided between themselves, that they deserved ownership of the house and lands under the Milburn name.
Night after night, the arguments between the three siblings and Harmon, who was May Bell’s brother were loud and cruel.
I learned that the other Milburns, Jon, Patrick and Emma, supported Harmon’s position, and that the family inheritance should be shared between all of them.
Jacob told me that one night in the winter of 1783, the last confrontation between he and Harmon broke the family forever.
I was told that, one night, Jacob had found Harmon on the second floor, near his room. Jacob knew that Harmon, along with Jon, Patrick and Emma, were planning to leave the house and travel back east.
Jacob believed that Harmon also planned to take all of the family wealth with them, and disappear along with the youngest three of the siblings.
His paranoia, along with prodding from Lula and Mavis, drove him to attack Harmon.
After a violent confrontation, Jacob told me that Harmon knocked him unconscious.
Then Harmon, along with Jon, who was the fourth oldest, collected the wealth that Ukiah and May Bell had left for them, and for Patrick and Emma, who were the youngest.
Jacob told me that; against Lula and Mavis’ angry opposition, Harmon, along with Jon, Patrick and Emma, collected their possessions, loaded Harmon’s coach, and left for the east.
Never to return again.
Jacob’s ghost told me that for years afterwards, he and his sisters became cruel landowners led by greed for gold and property. They gained thousands of acres and properties by deceitful methods. The three siblings became vastly wealthy.
Time passed, and the three siblings grew old.” Burnaby said.
“During Jacobs last days, the sisters could not find a physician who would travel to the estate, on account of Jacob being the most despised man in the land, and had undoubtedly ruined the lives of the families of both of the physicians that lived in the village.
After Jacob’s passing, Lula and Mavis began fighting between themselves.
Greed and suspicion drove the two richest and most hated landowners apart.” he said.
“Then Jacob’s spectre revealed to me, how afterwards the sisters had both passed, both alone and one soon after the other. Jacob had also told me how both of them, like Jacob, had perished clutching piles of gold, while locked away in their rooms.” Burnaby said.
“I became sad myself as Jacob’s spirit lamented at how the three had lost their humanity because of their thirst for gold and wealth. I listened as the spirit grieved about how he, in life, had wasted day after day, year after year by hiding away in his room, running his hands through the piles of gold and silver coin.
The spirit revealed to me how for countless days and years, it wept about how, in life, he deceived and cheated his neighbors and tenants out of their property and possessions, and his employees out of their hard earned wages.” I lamented for them.
“Greed... for golddd... and property.... dooomed ussss..... doomed... usss...” Jacob’s spirit said.
Now... we are... condemned... to remain here... weighted down... by ill-gotten gold... Oh, woe are... we...” the spectre said.
“I felt pity for the poor spirit. I felt it’s sadness.” Burnaby said sadly.
“I watched as the second ghost stood there quietly. Whether it was the spirit of Lula or if it was Mavis, it did not matter. I knew that all three were suffering for the decisions that they had made during their lives.” he said.
“Then the other spirit spoke to me;”
“Take it... take it all...” one of the spirits said, lamenting.
“Give it back... to those who... we have wrongfully... taken it from...” the spirit said.
“At last, I knew what the spectres wanted, what they needed.
I knew why they had revealed themselves to me. Why they spoke to me from the darkness.” Burnaby said.
“They wanted to make amends for them, for the evil that they had committed to so many people, for so many years, nearly one-hundred years before.
I could do it. I could take the fortune that the siblings had inherited and fortune that they had amassed over the decades, and give it to the descendants of those who were wronged by the Jacob, Lula and Mavis Milburn.
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