Free Hauntings by Lewis Stanek Page A

instructed. “I think we have had enough for tonight, dear Baron, thank you for your warm welcome into your home.” He intoned softly, patiently waiting for the table to end its dance.
                  Slowly the warmth from the fire returned and the table settled down to a soft tap now and then. Randal's eyes remained wide open scanning the dimly lit room for any movement or shadow. Bridget sucked in a deep breath, held it for a moment then slowly let it out.
                  “I wonder why the planchette didn't work.” She asked.
                  “It is only a tool, sometimes it is the wrong tool, sometimes the spirits wish to communicate in another manner.” Heinrich replied.
                  “Next time, I think I'd prefer a telegram.” Ozzie snarked regaining his composure.
                  “Are we done then?” Randal asked.
                  “For now, I think.” Heinrich replied, pushing his chair from the table. “Would you care to join me in the library for some brandy?”
                  “If you think the baron will let us out of the room, I'd be glad to leave.” Ozzie replied getting up from his seat.
                  “Oh, I'm sure the door won't be a problem for you now. Why don't you give it a try?” Heinrich suggested. Ozzie didn't move.
                  “Oh gee, Ozzie, don't be a pansy.” Bridget said getting up from her seat and opening the door allowing them out of Theadora's parlor.
                  “I would have opened it.” Ozzie said to Bridget. “If you gave me a little time to get my mind around it first.” The little group made their way through the dusty hall to the library in silence. Heinrich was as good as his word, just as he had promised snifters and a decanter of brandy along with a small covered platter of cold cuts cheese and crackers waited for them.
                  “I suspected we might work up an appetite during our experiment so I prepared a little snack ahead of time.”
                  “Heinrich, What was that we experienced in Theadora's parlor?” Randal asked, “You certainly can't call that intelligent communication, can you?”
                  “Maybe not clear communication, but certainly we can call it contact.”
                  “Contact, okay, but contact with what?”
                  “With the baron, of course. Can't you see that, Randal?”
                  “Frankly, no I don't. I don't know what I saw. Whatever it was didn't seem all that glad to see us here either, not welcoming at all.”
                  “Now now Randal it wasn't all that bad, was it? A little unusual, a little uncomfortable for the uninitiated maybe, but no one was hurt. Just a little noisy table tapping that's all it was.  I'm sure we may experience more than that before we are through here. That is if we are lucky.” Heinrich opined.
                  “Really, Randal, when I was little we had worse than this at our house. When my mother burned the Ouija board all hell broke lose.” Bridget shared.
                  “You've mentioned that before, but you never got very specific. What exactly happened to you when you were a kid?” Ozzie asked pouring himself some brandy.
                  “It was a poltergeist, it moved things, it threw things, broke things. It was mean to us, sometimes it hurt us. Tonight was nothing, but a little noise, a little table tapping, like Heinrich said.”
                  “It tried to lock us in! That seems a bit on the mean side if you ask me.” Ozzie replied, And what on earth was that thing that came out of the mirror? Was that the baron or was that one of the Nazis, or some kind of demon or something else?”
                  “Maybe it was baroness Theadora.” Heinrich