Subject: Child Ghosts in the Garden
From: devkaann@aol.com (DEVKAANN)
Date: 19 Oct 1996 18:06:17 -0400
Hello all. I m posting another ghost story, this one much milder than the last two. The events I m describing took place about 19 years ago. I was 14 years old at the time. One of my uncles, his wife, and three children rented a house in the same area as I lived . This was in the swamps of the South Carolina Lowcountry. The house was a small two bedroom frame structure. It was located on a dirt road. There was then a dirt driveway that ran for about an eighth of a mile to the house. The long driveway was surrounded on both sides by pine tree. At the end of the driveway was the large front yard with a small garden in the left corner by the pine trees. A church with an old cemetery was about a quarter mile away.
About two months after my relatives moved in, my cousins, who were about 8 and 11 years old at the time, told me that there were ghosts in the garden and the pine tree most evenings. My uncle and his children were known to fabricate tales, so I didnt put much credence in their claims.
Soon after I heard their story, I spent one Saturday night at my uncle s house. It was a hot mid-July night with a clear sky. My uncle, aunt, two of my cousins and I were sitting on the front porch of the house. The front porch faced the yard, garden, and the long driveway with the pine trees on either side. It was totally dark by 9 PM. My uncle said Look toward the garden. They usually come about now. We all looked toward the garden. A few minutes later two figures appeared in the pine trees by the garden. They were obviously children, a little boy and girl. They were glowing, kind of a fluorescent white. The little girl had long hair, apparently in a pony tail. They immediately started running around in the garden and between the trees. It appeared as though they were playing a game of chase or tag. This kept up for about ten minutes.
We all sat on the porch, mesmerized by the scene. There was an old wooden ladder propped against one of the pine trees on the edge of the garden. It went about 8 feet up the tree. All of a sudden, the little boy appeared at the top of the ladder. He slid down the ladder; he was a glowing purple color as he slide down. At the bottom of the ladder, he disappeared. Then, the little girl appeared at the top of the ladder. She then slid down, also with a glowing purple color. At the bottom, she also disappeared, and the little boy appeared at the top of the ladder again. This kept up for about 10 minutes. They alternated appearing at the top of the ladder and sliding down. Then, my 11 year old cousin, who has never been known for having very good sense, ran to the ladder and shook it as the little boy was sliding down. The little boy immediately disappeared. We didn t see them again that night.
One other thing happened. About 30 minutes after my cousin s stunt with the ladder, we all walked down the dirt driveway toward the road. Half way to the road, I saw something shaped like a head on one of the trees. It was a glowing fluorescent light also. I hadn t been scared before, but I was then. It was only 2 feet away from me. We all quickly walked back to the house at that point.
None of us knew who the spirits were at that time. Years later, I was doing genealogical research and spoke to one of my great-aunts about her family. She told me that she had an uncle who lived in a house on the spot where my uncle s house was later built. She said he had a 9 year old son and a 7 year old daughter who died around the turn of the century during one of the many malaria outbreaks in the low country. She also said they were close to each other, always chasing each other and playing games. A visit to the old cemetery down the road confirmed their existence and deaths.
A couple of other things happened on the property while my uncle and his family were living there. We had a particularly frightening scene with a Ouija board one night which I won t go into now. My aunt has particularly acute psychic abilities, and had some experiences that would have left me terrified, but I didn’t see any of them. Thus, I won t tell them. Although, unlike her spouse and children, she s one of these people who will go overboard to be honest, so I believed her.
DEVKAANN
devkaann@aol.com
