When my brother and I were younger, (he was 13, I was 14) we lived in Colorado. There was a huge park that was a few blocks away from our house. This park had everything, a stream, marsh areas, grassy areas, a ball park, and play ground. It was a great place to go and hang out.
As you know, all neighborhoods have to have their "haunted house". Ours was no different. On the edge of the park was a house that had not been lived in for many years. The doors and windows were mostly boarded up and most everything inside was gone or smashed. The house was a great place to play . . . during the daytime. The house had three floors. On the third floor was a small back room with an old beat-up wardrobe in the corner. I liked that room because in the afternoon the sun came through the little window and it was just nice. We kept an old broom in that room. It was one of those brooms that looked like a Harry Potter broom so we called it, The Witch's Broom.
Well you guessed it. One night my brother had his best friend Jeff, spend the night. His friend knew about the house and in a twisted minded mood, dared my brother to go into the house at midnight and get the Witch's Broom. Of course, being my brother, he agreed . . . idiot!
We waited until just before midnight and crept out the back window of our house. *Disclaimer, we don't promote sneaking out at night! But then our window was only a foot off the ground . . . what were we to do I ask you?
Now, you know how at night everything is quieter, clearer? You can hear every little noise, theold newspaper blowing down the road in the wind. The moon was, of course, mostly full with finger-like clouds passing in front. When we reached the house, it looked three times the size it looked in the light. Right out of a movie.
Jeff and I let my brother use a heavy-duty flashlight, but that was all he could take with him. And he had to go get the broom so we'd know he didn't just step in the door, wait there and come out . . . he had to go all the way in! He started up the back stairs to the hole in the door, turned once and looked at us, then disappeared.
Now I will have to tell you the rest from his side of the story. I don't know if you will believe it, but I do because of the wet spot on his jeans . . .
The kitchen was the first room that he entered from the hole in the door. He shone the beam around, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. So he continued on into the main hall to the stairway. Slowly he started to climb, listening to every noise, waiting for one of us to do something to scare him. We were backed away from the house, just as scared as he was. As he reached about midway up the stairs, he heard a THUMP behind him. Whirling around, he flashed the light all around . . . nothing. Again, he started up, and just before he reached the top, he heard a THUMP . . . THUMP again. Expecting one of us to jump out, he turned and stared into what he said was the scariest thing he had ever seen. There at the bottom of the stairs was a coffin floating about three feet off the ground.
Now like I said, you may not believe this, but that is probably one of the times he lost it. Wouldn't you have?
The shiny black coffin started to float up the stairs toward my brother. In one motion, he turned and ran up the rest of the way and down the hall. Pausing as the foot of the next flight of stairs, he turned, not quite believing what he thought he saw. One second later, the coffin reached the top and slowly turned the corner. My brother shrieked and ran up the next flight of stairs and to the back room. He slammed the door shut and threw what ever was in the room in front of the door, dropping his flashlight in the process. Then, he turned and jumped into the wardrobe and shut the door. Crouching in the corner, he watched through the cracks in the wardrobe door. Because the flashlight landed facing up, the beam lit up the room. As he watched, the door to the room started to vibrate slow at first, then faster and faster till the whole door and everything in front flew into all different parts of the room!
Slowly, the coffin glided in, passing right over the beam of the flashlight. My brother could see the black wood glisten and the silver trimmings shine as the light flashed off them. The coffin paused right in front of the wardrobe door. My brother's hand flew and he searched his pockets for something, anything to save him. He found his pocket knife and crouched waiting. The door of the wardrobe started to tremble like the other door, faster and faster, till it blew up in thousands of particles. The coffin slowly stood on its edge. My brother threw his knife! STUCK, right dead center. Nothing. The coffin's door started to open. He searched his other pockets, a stub of a pencil. He threw it, of course, nothing. Then the coffin's door was wide open, he could see the white satin and lace trimmings inside. There, in his coat pocket was a small box. He took it out and closing his eyes held it like a shield in front of him, flashing it to the coffin . . . . . . . . .
The coffin literally shrieked and fell to the floor in a pile of dust and lace. My brother said he just stared, shocked, thinking they always come back, in the movies they always come back! Then he looked at the box in his hand . . .
"Mentholated cough drop, stops the coughing every time."