Attic Waltz

From: Juli Blanco (JerseyGirl@nwu.edu)
Story type: Ghost
Location: My home
Source: Form Submission

My house burned down on June 10, 1988. (That in itself is a strange story.) The house is known to be almost 100 years old and the only major renovations had been done when my parents moved into the house in 1976, the year I was born.

My parents loved the house, it was on the same street as other family members houses. We decided to rebuild the house after the fire, gutting it, ripping out everything except the foundation and the original beams.

It had to be early September. The outer walls and roof had been replaced. There were no stairs, only ladders leading to the basement, second floor, and attic. I used to take books and my radio up into the attic and be alone.

On this particlular afternoon, I was the only one in the house. It was a Sunday and all the workers had the day off. It was rainy and no one was in their backyards.

I was in the attic listening to George Michael on my tape player. The album, though I don't know what difference it makes, was Faith. I was listening to the track called "Monkey." The song had ended and I wanted to hear it again. So I hit stop and then rewind.

As my music stopped I heard a scratching noise, static. Then old waltz music starting playing really softly and got louder until it reached about the loudness of conversational speech. I looked down the hole to see if anyone else was in the house. I hit the button on my player, thinking it might have had something to do with the radio and the waltz got louder.

I grabbed my things and ran. No one was in the house. My neighbors to the left never play music of any kind, they're very dour portuguese immigrants. My neighbors to the right were on vacation.