This didn't happen to me, but to my late husband, John, back when he was 16 years old. In 1962 his Mother, Mary, was recently widowed for a couple years when she remarried Tom. They moved into a house in Eastlake, Ohio. Your average, normal-sized house with 3 bedrooms. Of course, Mary had a lot of personal possessions from her late husband, Chuck. One of them being a beautiful solid oak mantel clock from the Black Forest in Germany.
He treasured that clock and took immaculate care of it. Making sure to always keep it wound up to chime on the hour. When he became very ill and knew he didn't have long, he told her that after he went that he wanted her to keep that clock wound. Never let it run down because if she did, he hoped he would come back to haunt them.
Well, they set up housekeeping in their new residence. John was 16, and his sister, Beth, was 12. For a while Mary, or John would wind the clock. However, they were still arranging everything in the house as well as getting new items. Such as some new furniture. On top of that John and Beth were going to new schools, making new friends, etc., etc...
Not quite one year into settling into the new house they neglected to wind the clock. This clock was very Bavarian in appearance with ornate scrolled wood-work all around the face with flowers & birds on either side. Under the clock face was the area where the pendulum swung back and forth. The pendulum had a maple leaf on the bottom of it.
During one day while they having dinner and conversation the clock began chiming. It 'wasn't' wound. This perplexed them, but they just brushed it off as a fluke. However, the clock kept chiming on the hour.
Determined to figure this mystery out John and Tom began inspecting it to see if there was something mechanical, they may have overlooked. They couldn't find any mechanical cause to account for it. However, they still did not wind it since the key got misplaced from moving in and they couldn't locate it. They still had some boxes that were packed because they had to figure out where to put certain items.
The clock remained silent the rest of the day. It began chiming around 2 in the morning much to their dismay and confusion. They stuck it in the linen closet in a box thinking that would resolve the issue. However, the clock began chiming every hour on the hour.
Mary was beginning to get quite upset with it. She started to think it was haunted by her late husband, Chuck. He said he would haunt them if they didn't keep it wound. John poo-pooed 'that' idea. He didn't think an 'item' could be haunted. To make sure it wouldn't chime anymore he removed the pendulum and put it back in the box at the back of the linen closet. Problem solved. Or so he thought. The clock began chiming a couple hours later. They couldn't believe it. John pulled the clock out of the box in the closet only to observe that even though the pendulum was removed that the little arm that the pendulum was mounted was ticking back and forth-tick, tick, tick, tick. He showed it to everyone.
By this time Mary was in tears. She just couldn't stand it anymore. The clock began to depress her as it reminded her of Chuck. Also, the fact that it appeared to 'really' be haunted unnerved everyone. The decision was made to sell it. Within a week, or so the clock was sold to someone and taken out of the house.
John and Mary told me that they always wondered if the clock continued its unusual behavior after it was removed from them and the house. Or did Chuck go along with it. He, Mary, Beth and Tom did believe that the clock 'was' haunted. They didn't hear anything about it after that and didn't really want to know. Some things are better left alone in the long run.
Loading comments....
