My experiment continues, but is getting close to the end.
I passed 10,000 words for the entire story with this post which would make for a decent size chapter book for elementary students.I am working on a new book, while also writing this story. This is going to be a chapter book for elementary students, think Goosebumps.I am writing this story without an outline and putting up the story as I finish each part. I am enjoying getting to know these characters and setting. I am also doing this to prove to myself that a story can be written quickly and without an outline.Click here for part 1, part 2, part 3,part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9, part 10, part 11,part 12, part 13, part 14 , part 15 , part 16, part 17, part 18, part 19 , part 20, part 21
In our previous part, part 21 Irving's grandfather realizes that their evidence is useless, as it looks as if someone is messing with them. His grandfather then explains what he saw.
Part 22 Grandpa's Ghost Story
“Grandpa who?” Irving asked.
“But how do we know that what we heard was a person and not an actual ghost?” Alec responded. “I was really hoping to see a ghost, or hear one. I mean I thought you had seen one Mr. Williams.
“Oh, I’ve definitely experience one at the lighthouse. But these recordings are very different from what I experienced from before you guys got here. The ghost I experienced wouldn’t speak out loud and would turn the lights out. This ‘ghost’ wouldn’t do that.” Mr. Williams put air quotes around the word ghost. “This ghost was specifically messing with us and not just causing problems at the lighthouse.”
“But how do you know that this was a person?” asked Irving.
“The feet. The ghost in the lighthouse would cause problems with the lights and then would move up the stairs without making a noise. This ghost makes noise just moving a few feet down the floor.” Mr. Williams leaned over the keyboard and turned on the video. “Let’s see if we can see anything from the video.” He scrolled along the video, “Mr. Jackson, is that you?” came over the speakers, but this time the sound was farther away.
“Yeah, just as I thought we really can’t see what is going on,” said Mr. Williams.
“Let’s watch where the scraping occurred, maybe we can see someone do something or move,” said Irving.
Mr. Williams moved to where the scraping began. Mr. Williams pointed to the screen, “We can see our shadows.” They watched a few more seconds. “We really can’t see anything. The camera is just too far up. That’s the other part that tells me that this is a person. The ghost I experienced floated up the stairs. This one stayed at the bottom of the stairs.”
“Grandpa, you’ve never actually told us what you saw,” Irving said.
“Yeah! Tell us what you saw! I want to hear an actual ghost story!” shouted Alec.
Mr. Williams smiled and leaned forward in his chair. “I had heard about the stories of a ghost in the lighthouse for years. When I first began volunteering there a year ago, a few of the other old-timers mentioned something about ghost stories. The lights would go off and then come back on. You could also see a man standing in the window of the lighthouse, even when no one was in there watching it. And sometimes they would mention a gray figure walking down the stairs of the lighthouse.”
“But what did you see,” said Irving.
“Well, about a month ago, it was my watch. It was about 10 pm, when the lights went out. I got scared, turned on my flashlight and walked down the stairs to see if I could find the switch or the breaker box. I found the switch at the bottom of the stairs, but the switch didn’t work.
"Or at least the lights didn’t come back on after I flipped the switch several times. So I headed toward the front door, in order to check the circuit breaker. Suddenly, the lights came back on. And there he was walking about 40 stairs from the bottom and headed up. He walked about 30 stairs before he immediately disappeared in front of me.”
“Whoa, creepy,” cried Alec.
Mr. Williams continued, “About a week later, the same thing happened. The lights went out, I tried to get them back on, but this time when the lights came back on he was standing at the bottom of the stairs just a few feet in front of me.”
“I would have screamed,” replied Irving.
“I was too terrified to scream myself,” Mr. Williams replied. “But he turned around and glided up the stairs. I stood at the bottom and looked up, he made it three-quarters of the way up the stairs before he disappeared. And the whole time, there was no noise of any footsteps on the stairs.”
“And that’s why the footsteps gave it away,” replied Irving.
“Yes, that’s why the footsteps gave it away, because our ghost doesn’t make footsteps.”