Chapter Six

Cameron followed Ben to the first floor. They walked in silence, neither of them wanting to talk about the awkward situation that just occurred. The first floor was silent, save for their muted footsteps coming down the carpeted stairs. Ben strapped on his vest, which contained pockets for his voice recorder, thermometer, and EMF detector. He slipped the camera strap over his head and held the video camera in his hand. His laptop was in a backpack on his back.

“You want me to carry some of that for you?” Cameron finally spoke.

“No, I’m used to it. But thanks anyway,” Ben replied.

Cameron followed as Ben wandered through the abandoned office suites on the first floor. Ben called out to the spirits, asking to talk to them or for them to show themselves. He would periodically rewind and listen to the voice recorder, finding nothing but his own voice. After an hour and a half, Ben concluded that there was no paranormal activity on the first floor.

Ben climbed the stairs to the second floor, Cameron right behind him. He started at the west end, and worked his way to the east end. The second floor, much like the first, was just abandoned office suites. Despite another hour and a half of investigating, Ben found no evidence to suggest a haunting.

Ben took a seat at an old, dusty conference table in one of the office suites. He opened his backpack and pulled out a tripod for the video camera. He pointed the camera at himself and pressed record.

"Hey, guys, it's Ben Blankenship. I'm coming to you from Silverwood Manor. We're here on a two-night investigation to find out for sure whether this once-majestic hotel is haunted or not. We've been through the first two floors, and I hate to say it, but it looks like a bust." Ben stopped the recording and pulled out his laptop.

Cameron took a seat beside Ben and watched him work. Ben transferred the videos from the camera, then arranged them as he liked. He saved the video file, and Cameron took the chance to address the awkwardness between them.

“Look, I’m sorry about earlier. You seem like a really nice guy, but I’m not gay. I was really uncomfortable with the way you were snuggling up to me, so I got up and slept on the floor. I don’t want there to be any hard feelings between us.”

“There’s no need to apologize. In fact, I should be the one apologizing to you if I made you feel uncomfortable, and I certainly didn’t mean for you to have to sleep on the floor. But I don’t understand exactly what happened. When I fell asleep, you were in the bed, right beside me. When I woke up, you were still in the same place, my underwear was off, and I felt your, um, well, your penis was about to penetrate me. Then, my alarm went off and you were in the floor. So, how did that happen?”

Cameron’s face become slack with shock, his mouth hanging wide open. It would have been funny under different circumstances. “I don’t know what you are talking about. Once you fell asleep, I got up and went to the floor. That’s where I slept. I never touched your underwear, and I had mine on the whole time. Maybe you dreamed it.”

“Maybe.” Ben recalled the incident vividly, and he was certain that he was awake. Was Cameron lying? It was possible, but if he had hastily exited the bed, gone to the floor, and pretended to be asleep, then surely, Ben would have heard the noise. It was as if Cameron had dematerialized from the bed and reappeared on the floor. The theory that it was just a dream was the best explanation Ben had. They both agreed to put the incident behind them and to continue on with the investigation.

They climbed to the third floor, where, once again, Ben started on the west wing, working his way east. From the beginning, it looked like the third floor was going to be much like the first two.

Ben investigated the first ten rooms, then stopped for a break. He and Cameron ate cold sandwiches from Ben’s lunchbox. When they were finished, Ben stood up and said, “Well, we might as well keep going.”

The first thing he noticed when he walked into room 317 was that it was cold. Frigid cold. His thermometer read 42 degrees Fahrenheit. It wasn’t just one spot either. The entire room felt like walking into a refrigerator.

The space itself looked like all the other ones he had seen thus far. A single queen-sized bed, nightstand, dresser, lamp. Ben could have very well been standing in his own room on the fifth floor. The bed was neatly made, and an undisturbed layer of dust covered everything in the room.

Ben pulled out his voice recorder and turned it on. “Is there anyone here with us?” he asked. “What is your name?” He sat the video camera on the dresser and pressed record once more. The EMF detector did not pick up anything. Ben asked a few more questions, then replayed the voice recording. There was nothing there but his own voice.

Suddenly, on the bed, an apparition appeared. It was a young woman, wearing a bloodied wedding gown. She looked to be in her late teens or early twenties. She had slash marks across her face and chest, her torn gown allowing Ben to see multiple stab wounds. She looked sorrowfully out the window, then disappeared as suddenly as she appeared.

Ben and Cameron stared at the bed, their mouths opening and closing several as they struggled to find words. “Did you see that?” Cameron exclaimed.

“Yes. I did.” Ben’s heart was racing. He pulled out the voice recorder again. “Wait. Tell me your name. What happened to you?” He stood there, holding the recorder for several minutes, then switched it off. He replayed the video, confirming that it had captured the apparition, and it did. He pulled out his laptop and immediately transferred the video to his hard drive.

“Do you know what this means?” he asked Cameron.

“It means that ghosts are real.”

“Not only that, but I have proof. Solid proof. This is the best, clearest, most definitive proof that someone in my field is ever going to get.”

Ben replayed the voice recorder again, but he still heard only his own voice. Shaky after seeing the apparition, Ben and Cameron made their way to the next room and continued down the hallway. Ben checked the other rooms carefully, but he couldn’t shake the excitement of the incredulous video footage he had already captured.

Ben again set up the video camera and trained it on himself. He started recording and said, “Okay, so we’ve just had an encounter with an apparition here at Silverwood Manor. I’ll show you the footage now.” He paused to account for the editing process and then continued, “It appears to be a woman in a bloody wedding dress, looking out the window. There is no mention of her in the house’s history, so we don’t know who this woman is. Our EVPs came up empty, so maybe we’ll discover some more clues as we continue through the house.” He stopped the recording, eager to explore the rest of the building’s mysteries.

Ben once again transferred the videos to his computer and arranged them to flow as one cohesive video. He saved his work, then stowed his computer into his backpack. He picked up his equipment, and he and Cameron climbed the staircase to the fourth floor.

Repeating his pattern from the previous floors, Ben started from the west side and worked his way to the east side of the building. There were no more apparitions to be seen, but he did notice colder temperatures when he entered the parlor on the fourth floor, and in the master bedroom, he heard a baby cry.

He quickly pulled out his voice recorder and captured the sound of the crying. He recorded the sound for a few seconds, then he asked, “Is there someone here with us? Is there anything you would like to tell us?” He waited a few moments for the spirits to answer, then switched off the recorder. The baby’s cry had stopped.

Ben replayed the audio recording and heard the sound of the baby crying, then his voice saying, “Is there someone here with us? Is there anything you would like to tell us?” His question was followed by a clear, angry-sounding woman’s voice saying, “You woke the baby.” The spirit’s voice was as loud and clear as Ben’s own.

Ben stood still, mouth open, in awe and surprise. Cameron had to sit down, because his legs were shaking too badly to support his weight any longer. There was no way what they had seen and heard was real. But yet, they had both seen and heard it. It was real. Ben could hardly contain his excitement.

Ben set up the video camera again and started recording. “We’re here on the fourth floor of Silverwood Manor, where we’ve just gotten our first EVP recording. When we entered the master bedroom of what used to be the home of James Birch, the businessman who owned Silverwood Manor, we heard a baby crying. And we captured the voice of a woman saying ‘You woke the baby.’ I’ll play it for you now.” Ben stopped the recording.

He finished the investigation of the fourth floor with a newfound energy. He was eager to see what other secrets the house was hiding. But, alas, there were no more signs of a haunting on the fourth floor.

As he finished up in the last room, Ben repacked his gear, and he and Cameron climbed the stairs to the fifth floor. By this time, it was early in the morning, and he would have to work quickly to investigate the fifth floor before the sun came up.

Ben changed tactics with the EVP recordings. He would say the room number, then ask questions for the spirits. Instead of checking the recordings immediately, he decided he would review them all at once, when he had gone through the entire floor.

Ben went through the first few rooms on the fifth floor, then as they approached room 515, Cameron asked, “Do you mind if I give it a try?”

“No, by all means, go ahead.” Ben handed Cameron the voice recorder. Cameron opened the door, and they were shocked to see an apparition waiting for them, lying on the floor of the room when they entered.

It was a woman, about thirty years old, dressed in a nurse’s uniform. She was covered in blood. Her head was bashed in, and she was bruised. She appeared to have been badly beaten. Her arms and legs were bent at unnatural angles. She rose as they entered, her arms and legs snapping back into alignment. Her feet did not touch the floor. Her face was an expression of anger, and she wailed, “Get Out!” Suddenly, she rushed forward, making contact with Cameron, shoving and knocking him down.