The ghost of Malta

The Haunted House - Gozo

In a quiet Gozitan village, there was an old, long-abandoned house that everybody stayed away from, especially after dark, as the building was reputedly haunted. The story was that it had once been lived in by two brothers; the younger one was quiet and gentle, but his older sibling had a very jealous nature, and always got what he wanted, one way or the other. The younger brother eventually fell in love and started spending a lot of time with his new girl, while his older brother looked on, his jealousy growing at the fact that she could never be his. With time, his jealousy turned to hate and he decided to get rid of his sibling. The story goes that he threw his brother into a well, having first chopped off his hands to make sure that he could not climb back out. His girlfriend, oblivious to the truth, waited for him for a long time, but eventually gave up, and in the meantime ended up becoming close with the older brother, whom she eventually married. One day soon after, however, she woke up to find her husband dead, strangled while he slept. That was when the house was abandoned.

M

any years later, some locals drinking at a nearby bar were overheard talking about the house by a foreigner, who claimed that their stories were mere superstition. In fact, he bet them that he would spend a whole night in the building on his own, and nothing would happen to him.

Well, the night got off to a good start, so much so that the man soon fell asleep, only to be woken up some hours later by a strange sound. Getting up off the floor where he was lying, he looked out onto the stairs where the sound seemed to be coming from, only to see a pair of severed hands coming up. They went into the room where he had been sleeping a few moments before, no longer looking empty. The room now appeared to be fully furnished, including a bed on which a sleeping man was lying. The hands wrapped around the man’s throat, and he could see him struggling until he was choked to death. The terrifying apparition then disappeared in front of his eyes, and he was again in an empty room. Needless to say, he made a hasty exit from the building.