The Ghost

I was extremely pregnant, going into my 9th month, when are friends invited us to spend a long weekend in the Hamptons. They had rented a cottage and had spent about two weeks there. I checked with my doctor and he said, going to the Hamptons was fine. We took the train there and were going to return with our friends in their car. It was only a two hour trip.

We got there, and immediately settled into our room in the cottage. It was adorable. A livingroom, eat in kitchen, two bedroom place with a beautiful little patio in the rear. The only drawback was one bathroom. Once we had everything set for the evening, ( we were going to cook out on the BB!), we went to the beach, they would swim and I would just “relax”. The day was delightful, the weather was perfect and I was tired!. We came home, rested a bit and the guys got busy cooking while my friend and I made salad and set the table. After dinner, we played games, we talked about the baby coming and quite early, we were all pooped. We retired to the individual bedrooms. In our room there were twin beds. At that point in my pregnancy, that was fine with me. We settled in and everyone fell asleep quickly, except me! I was rather uncomfortable. About an hour later, I heard footsteps in the little hallway and then I heard activity in the livingroom. I got out of bed, put on my slippers, opened the door and went into the livingroom. No one was there! I looked in the kitchen and no one was there either. Oh well, whoever it was must have gone back to bed. I returned to the bed and again about an hour later, I heard the footsteps, I heard the refrigerator door open and close. I again got out of bed and looked for whoever was there. Again, no one. I didn’t understand what I was hearing. I didn’t go out again although I heard the blinds go up and down, the refrigerator opened and closed repeatedly, the swishing of fabric. By the morning, I was quite angry. Everyone got up and breakfast was offered. Everyone knew something was wrong, I wasn’t talking to anyone. Finally someone asked me what was going on!

I told them I knew it wasn’t my husband, as he was in that room with me, so it had to be one of them creating all the noises. I didn’t think it was funny and bordered on scary.

My friends looked at each other , but said nothing other than it wasn’t them. That day was perfect as the first, I thought maybe I had been imagining things and I just let it slide. We spent the day, and evening and once again retired to bed. The second night was worse than the first. After several interruptions I went out into the hall, looked around and then I closed the bedroom door and tiptoed back into the livingroom. What I saw petrified me. I was starting to drift into sleep when the noises began. I saw, actually saw, the blinds go up and down, the refrigerator open and close, small objects in the kitchen move around. There was no one there. I had it! I said out loud, “Its not funny to scare a pregnant woman!” I went back to the bedroom, shut the door and cowered in the bed. The noises stopped! I couldn’t really sleep that night, but I guess I drifted off here and there. Finally, the sunlight came out and I knew I was out of there. This time when my friends exited their bedroom I yelled at them. Again they exchanged glances and only said, “Let’s pack up and leave, we can get breakfast on the road.”

When we drove about a mile away, we pulled over into the road and my friends told me the following.

“When we rented the cottage, we were told that it was haunted. We were told that many people who have stayed there had reported the noises, and the sights I saw including workmen who had little incidents happen while they worked on the place. The people who own the house are Pastors and when the could no longer deny what everyone told them the set out to find out the history of the cottage. It seems as if many years ago, the man who lived there, and loved it there, drown in the ocean. His body was recovered and the cottage was sold. These owners sighting their religious beliefs absolutely refused to put stock into the “stories” but after numerous encounters had to believe. When they had been there for a short while, they too experienced the ghost!

The ghost never did harm.”

They went on to tell me about other stories. All in fun, all as if to say, I love this place. When I yelled about being pregnant and the GHOST stopped. They thought it was understood that I was being frightened.

They were sorry for not telling me, but they themselves hadn’t experienced it.

I learned what I could about the man who drowned. He loved life, he loved to make people laugh and he had a penchant for orange juice!

My daughter was born 5 weeks later. When she was two months old we rigged her up to a Jolly Jumper. That's a harness that hangs over a door. It allows the babies a chance to “jump” The doorway faced a full length mirror. She was enthralled! She started to jump and then started to laugh! Not a bably laugh, but a real hearty adult laugh! She also loved orange juice!