Aunt Mary

From: Anonymous
Story type: Ghost
Location: Nottingham, England
Source: Form Submission

My Mum has a friend she describes as her "funny friend Jane". Jane's a bit odd, she knows things about strangers that she shouldn't be able to know, that sort of thing.

Anyway, when she comes to visit, there's one corner of our sitting room that she just won't go near. There's nothing strange about it. There's an armchair and a coffee table with a lamp on it but nothing out of the ordinary.

The reason she gives is that when she sits there, she is "bothered" by a lady who she describes as follows:- She's wearing a hat. She says she doesn't like it but she has to wear it because there's something wrong with her hair. Later, Jane adds "She's got a strange shoe on. You know who she is, you just can't think of her at the moment". Still later, "There's a really strong smell of hydrangeas in here, you know" (we don't have any hydrangeas in our garden, and neither do our neighbours). Anyway, Jane insisted that my Mum knew this lady, and that she was letting us know she was alright.

Mum couldn't think of anyone matching that description so she told my Grandma (her mother-in-law) about it. Immediately Gran said "Oh, that sounds like Mary, my sister". Mary had loved hydrangeas and her garden was full of them. She'd worn a special built- up shoe all her life because an accident as a child had stopped a bone in her foot from developing properly and her foot was deformed by that. She'd always regretted having to keep her hat on at her only son's wedding because she was very proud of her hair ( her vanity about it was a family joke) but she'd had an operation on her head which had required her head to be shaved just before the wedding.

Now, Dad's Aunt Mary died before I was born (and I'm about to graduate from university). What's even weirder is that Jane is only bothered by her in one particular corner of the sitting room. In the room above (a spare bedroom), in the corner immediately over that part of the sitting room, is a table. It's a big solid wood dining table that Aunt Mary left my parents when she died. Her husband had made it for her as a wedding present and she was always proud of it.

Looks like she's still keeping an eye on it, doesn't it?!