Was it me, or . . .

From: Brian Hipper (brian_hipper@bigpond.com)
Story type: Ghost

Location: Auckland, New Zealand

Source: Form Submission

There were six of us and we decided to hold a seance. You know the sort of thing, - table, cards with letters of the alphabet on and a glass. I was inclined to be sceptical of the whole thing and treated it all as a bit of a joke and something different to occupy our time.

As I expected, after a few nights of inane messages, I became bored with the business and passed the comment, "If you want some real excitement, why don't you try it in a graveyard at midnight?" Me and my big mouth! Midnight found us in a graveyard. We chose a grave with a marble lid to it which was ideal for our purpose, and set out the cards. The night was rather cold and after about 20 minutes I started to get cramp. I thought to myself, "This has gone far enough. I'll start pushing the glass around and induce everyone to leave."

After the next meaningless message had finished I put my plan into action and was surprised at just how hard it was to control the glass. Whereas before, it had glided smoothly over the marble surface, as I pushed it, it seemed to hesitate and move very roughly. Anyway I persevered and produced a message that I calculated would cause any sane person to leave that graveyard instantly. I don't recall the exact wording, but it ran something along the lines that we were disturbing the rest of the inhabitants of the graveyard and warned that if we did not leave soon ". . . I, Joseph Mackintosh, will not be responsible for what my friends and I may do to rid ourselves of you!" I felt very pleased with myself as everybody packed up and made ready to go. On the way home of course, the topic of conversation was the final message warning us of dire consequences.

The following day when I got home from work, Bob, one of the participants of the previous night's escapade, was waiting for me and he was as white as a sheet. Bob was a plumber and he explained that his last job of the day had been in the area of the cemetary and he had decided to go back and check the area where we had held the seance. In a trembling voice he told me, "About two graves further down from where we had been gathered, was one marked Joseph Mackintosh." It took me a little while to grasp the signifigance of what Bob was telling me, but at last the penny dropped. I was controlling the glass during that last message, I know I was . . . I'm sure I was . . . I thought I was . . . I hope I was because, if I wasn't . . .