Chapter 7

Part 1

The group had gathered around the table in the back corner of Joe’s Bar. Thunder roared ominously outside, as rain pelted the nearly empty bar. Kevin and Jeannie were against the back wall. Next to them were Pete, then Pam. Jim was seated next to Pam, with Krystyna standing behind him so she could run to the bar if needed. They were trading notes, waiting on Tim to show up when Hope came into the bar.

“Oh shit!” Kevin said, ducking low. “It’s that security chick from the graveyard.”

“Where?” Pam asked, craning her neck to get a good view. “Oh, there she is!” Pam exclaimed, waving. At the same moment Hope noticed them and came running up.

“Hey! I know you people!” She shook her finger at Kevin and Pete. “You dirty rats, leaving me like that.”

“Uh, well, um...” Kevin stammered.

“Yeah, well, you see...” Pete added.

“Hey! You’re from the graveyard. I’ll bet you are here to meet Tim too!”

“You’re here to meet Tim? How do you know him?” Clarisse asked interestedly, and perhaps a bit jealously.

“I used to guard the paper at night. And I saw him last night.”

“Last night?” Clarisee asked in a chilly voice.

“Yeah, at the graveyard. I was guarding it. We ... um ... well we had a nice talk in the van.”

“Hmm, looks like he and I are going to have to have a nice talk.” Clarisse muttered.

Hope took a chair, and asked “So what’s this all about?”

The group began filling her in. Half an hour later, Tim finally showed up, breathless. “People.” he exclaimed, falling in a chair between Clarisee and Hope. “We are in deep shit.”

“At least one of us is.” Clarisse said, giving him a dirty look.

“Um. “ Tim said, glancing at her, and seeing her looking back and forth between him and Hope. “Yes, well, we can talk about that later. Much more important things right now. First question, how is Sue doing?”

“Not good.” Pam answered.

“Yeah.” added Jeannie. All she wants to do is stay in her room and masturbate. You wouldn’t believe what Clarisse had to do to get her to eat. She kept putting bananas up her ... um ... well she got creative”

Tim glanced at her. “Well.” she said defensively. “It was an emergency.”

“OK, enough mystery.” Kevin said, pounding his fist on the table. “What the hell is going on?”

Tim took a deep sip of beer. A hush settled over the bar as they all turned to him.

“This will take a bit of telling. Over the last few days I’ve been digging in newspaper and library records. I’ve uncovered some stuff that is truly unbelievable. If I hadn’t seen stuff like this before, I wouldn’t believe it myself.

It all began in 1850. By now many of you are familiar with the name Jason Wolfe. He was an immigrant farmer, working hard to make a name for himself. He had the misfortune of falling in love with the Pastors daughter.

The Pastor, Ezikiah Goodfellow, was strict, and something of a bigot. He did not approve of his daughter being with “lowlife” like Wolfe. Seems Wolfe was descended from a long line of gypsies who used to travel the hillsides of Transylvania.”

“Transylvania?” Interrupted Hope. “You mean like Dracula?”

“Yeah, I thought that was all made up.” added Jim.

Tim shook his head negatively. “I can assure you, Transylvania was a real place. And while the popular image of Dracula is a myth, it was quite based on a real person and real events.” He paused to take more beer, then continued. “Anyway, Goodfellow’s church was on the site of the abandon one now. Wolfe was passionate about the daughter, whose name was Susan Anne. Or Sue Anne for short.”

Jeannie let out a gasp. “Anne is Sue’s middle name.” she said in a low whisper.

Tim nodded. “Wolfe was determined though. He and Sue used to meet in the church late at night. One fateful night in 1850 they let their passions get the best of them. They wound up making love in the front pews.”

“And they got caught?” Pete prompted.

Tim nodded again. “Yes, Goodfellow saw the lights and came to investigate. Fearing thieves, he had brought along a gun. Naturally he went nuts when he found them. Called her all sorts of names.”

Jim interrupted. “Um, just how do you know all this?”

“Mostly from Goodfellows own diary. The rest from the other sources I mentioned. But I’ll get to that later.”

Tim went on. “Wolfe and Goodfellow grappled, fighting over the gun. You can all predict what happened next. Like the classic story, the gun went off killing Sue Anne. Goodfellow stood there, stunned. Around them a fire started. During the struggle candles had been knocked over, setting the church ablaze.

Jason ran to Sue Anne, picked up her limp form, and carried her away from the fire. Cut off, Goodfellow could only watch as Wolfe made his way up the belfry stairs. Pushed back by the heat, Goodfellow eventually stumbled outside.

Our Reverend could make out Wolfe’s form, holding his daughter’s body under the bells. Both still naked, of course. The rising heat caused the bells to begin to ring, but over the noise Goodfellow could hear Wolfe utter a final curse as the flames roared around them.

Goodfellow went a bit batty, accounts say they found him sitting under a tree, a glassy eyed stare on his face. He then lapsed into “fever” as the paper of the day put it. When he recovered about a month later, he related the public story you have all heard. That he found Wolfe trying to woo his daughter, her refusing, and he committing suicide. Wolfe said his daughter ran away in shame. I guess he couldn’t deal with having killed his daughter, and convinced himself she had just run off.”

“Wow, what a weird tale.” Pam said as Tim paused to take a drink of beer.

“Oh, it’s not over, not by far.” Tim continued. As you know, the church was rebuilt by 1852. Only it wasn’t the current building, like we all thought. Another wood structure was built.”

The group reacted in amazement. “What happened to it?” Clarisse asked over the murmurs.

“Fast forward to 1901. The bells, having been cleaned up, are placed in the belfry as part of the anniversary of the rebuilt church. Now it gets weird. By compiling newspaper reports and personal accounts, I determined that over the course of the next year, strange things happened. Odd things were seen floating in the graveyard. The bells would toll for no reason.

I found sketchy reports of local girl, Sue Ellen Driskoll, who began acting in weird ways. The newspaper account says she came down with a touch of fever, and went insane. Among other things she claimed to have taken lover, which no one had ever seen.”

“Let me guess,” Jim asked, “his name was Wolfe?”

“Don’t know, I never saw any reference to his name. All I know is that shortly before Halloween, 1902 they found her standing on top of the church. It was on fire, and she was standing there with a torch in her hand. She was screaming manically that she was saving them all. Her laughter was heard over the bells. Towns people watched in horror as the whole structure collapsed under her.”

“Geezus.” Kevin muttered, the only one to break the silence while Tim drained his beer.

“Then they rebuilt the church, right?” Krystyna asked, setting a fresh glass down in front of Tim. He nodded.

“Right, but not until 1904. I found a clipping with the grand opening, including a mention of the bells being a continuation to the past.”

“Wait a minute.” Kevin interrupted. “I didn’t take engineering in college for nothing. By your account those bells had been in two fires. Why weren’t they melted, or at least warped? The fire had to be pretty hot.”

Tim shrugged. “You got me. I would have thought so, but I’ve laid hands on them, just today on my way over here. They look brand new.”

“Can’t be.” Kevin insisted. “It doesn’t make sense.”

“Neither does the fact that Pastor Goodfellows body looks like he died yesterday. 150 year old corpses are normally dust, yet he looks ready to get up and waltz.”

“That’s right!” Hope interjected. “I saw him with my own eyes!” The group stared at him, mouths agape.

“You ... opened his coffin?” Clarisse finally asked, incredulous.

“Had to. That was where I found the diary, which finally put the pieces of the puzzle together.”

“So what happened next?” urged Kevin.

“Well, that’s where this cycle seems to have setup. 1850, Church burns down. 51 years later, weird stuff occurs. Then, a year after that, someone goes bonkers and again the church burns down. OK, fast forward to 1952. Odd things have been happening. Once again, things have been seen moving in the graveyard. Weird lights in the belfry. Bells begin ringing, all on their own.

So the towns folk decide to have a prayer vigil. Friday night, October 31, 1952. I’m not entirely clear on what happened, most of this I got from a guy at the mental hospital up in Springville. According to him, spirits flooded the church invading the bodies of the small congregation.”

“Let me guess, they started killing each other.” Asked Pete, a little sarcastically.