The Stories That Haunt Us by Bill Jessome

not believe his explanation of a ghostly presence.
    There is more to the story, however. This wasn’t the first time Tim had experienced supernatural occurrences while in the attic. A few months before, he had seen the blurry outline of a person. He had been dozing at the time, and had thought it was a dream. But when he awoke later, he felt an uneasiness and remembered the vision. His parents laughed and discounted his tale, chalking it up to an overactive imagination.
    The very next morning when Tim’s mother was cleaning her son’s room, she felt a cool breeze sweep past her. Just before she fainted, she saw an impression on the bed, as if someone was sitting on it—someone she couldn’t see. At that moment, the mother changed her mind about ghosts, and changed her address, too.
    The B&B Ghost
    I n 1784, George Gracie of Boston gathered up his belongings, including a two-storey log cabin, loaded everything aboard a vessel and sailed off to Nova Scotia’s southwestern shore. Like so many other Empire Loyalists before him, he began a new life on Dock Street in Shelburne.
    This new citizen of Nova Scotia soon became a member of the House of Assembly. As George Gracie prospered, he rebuilt his humble log cabin into a three-storey Georgian-style house. The Gracie home still stands and is known today as Coopers Inn and Restaurant. It’s also a B&B, owned and operated by Joan and Allan Redmond. From the stories I’ve been told, it’s haunted by George. George Gracie, that is.
    Before the Redmonds bought the Gracie home in 1994, the family living there asked their friend Pat Ferguson, owner of the Moon Shadow B&B, if she would check on the house and pets while they were away for a weekend. It was pitch black when Pat stepped into the hallway of her friends’ home. After fiddling around for the hall switch, she finally got the lights on. Everything seemed to be in order. Pat took care of the pets, then went up the dark stairs to check the bedrooms. The last thing on Pat Ferguson’s mind was the idea that someone might be lurking in the shadows. There was certainly no reason for her to believe the place was haunted.
    She finished her tour of the upstairs, and went back down to the main floor. She entered the parlour, and stiffened suddenly. She heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Someone else was in the house!
    Pat quickly walked from the parlour to the living room, which faced the stairs. When she looked up, she could make out the shadowy outline of a figure standing on the stairs. With her heart pounding, Pat went into the kitchen. The footsteps followed her. Pat didn’t wait to see who or what it was. She threw open the back door and ran full speed until she got back to the safety of her own home.
    Later, when she got control of herself, Pat realized she hadn’t secured the home. She called a friend and together they went back to check on it. When they got there, the lights were off and the front door was locked. But by whom?
    It wasn’t long after Joan and Allan Redmond moved in that they realized they weren’t the only ones living in George Gracie’s home. The family became aware of the haunting when one of the Redmond children was cleaning a bedroom and noticed the bed she had just finished making had the imprint of a body imprint on it. Assuming the ghost of George Gracie was near, the child said, “That’s it George. If you have to sit, then sit on the settee and not on the bed.” From that moment on there was never another visitation from the ghost.
    Joan Redmond says she has never seen a ghost in her home, but when she’s upstairs in the old part of the house, she has the sense she’s not alone.
    There were times when overnight guests at the B&B wanted to know the name of the woman who was sitting in an upstairs bedroom wearing nineteenth-century clothes. Another guest told the Redmonds that he was coming downstairs behind a woman in a