There was a man called Uncle Corpsy, it was a nickname he got from the work he was doing. He was a mortician and lived in a flat, on top of the morgue he was managing, with his wife, Anne and his daughter, June.
June and Carine (my mother) became best friends in high school, and also later would become sisters in law (my mother's brother, Chris married June). June invited Carine over for a weekend to her home and my mother accepted. She did not know where June lived at that stage, and when her mom dropped her off she just thought June lived in a flat of some sort. Uncle Corpsy was a unfriendly person, but she liked Aunt Anne who was very friendly. When they went to sleep, Carine slept in the guest room.
That night she had the most terrible nightmares. The whole night through in her dreams she would see corpses that come alive and speak to her. She was terrified. The next morning she told June what terrible dreams she had, and June laughed and asked her if she knew where she was sleeping - on top of a morgue! That explained a lot...
Carine never went to visit there again, she was freaked out until this day.
Uncle Corpsy was an atheist who read the Bible, only to prove it wrong. He was unfriendly and miserable and he and my grandma, Hilda, could not stand each other. (At that time June and Chris was married and Corpsy and Anne became the in laws). Corpsy was always trying to look for a fight with everyone, and Hilda really did not like him a lot. Both his legs got amputated from cancer and he was in a wheelchair (not that this made him miserable, he was like that long before that). Hilda and Anne became good friends, but Hilda barely went to visit her because of her husband.
Then Corpsy died. Anne asked Hilda to come visit her, because she felt very lonely.
My father dropped Hilda at Anne's, she would stay there for a week. Anne gave Hilda the guest room to sleep in (I assume it was the same one my mother slept in). That night they chatted for a while, and then went to sleep.
Hilda barely laid her head down on the pillow after she put the light off, when she felt something trying to pull the blanket off her. She put on the light and there was no one there. She went to sleep but soon woke by someone pulling the blanket off her again. And when she looked, Uncle Corpsy stood in front of her. He had both his legs in the after life, and he had a frown on his forehead. He said: 'Hilda, why are you sleeping in my bed!' Hilda jumped out of the bed and ran to Anne's room. She woke Anne and asked her to tell her the truth, did Corpsy die in the bed she slept in? Anne told her yes, how did she know? Hilda told her what happened... And stayed in Anne's room until the morning. That morning Hilda phoned my dad to come fetch her, she did not want to stay there any longer than she had to.
Anne died a few years later. I often wonder if Uncle Corpsy is still in that room, wondering why somebody else is lying in 'his bed'...
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