STRANGE BUT TRUE TALES

THE LOVE OF A LONG-DEAD GIRL, PENNSYLVANIA

THE LOVE OF A LONG-DEAD GIRL

Lover from Another Time

The following true tale is one of the strangest paranormal accounts on record. The boy in the story is now a successful businessman, so I can't give his full name, even though his surname was once recklessly published by a sensational tabloid magazine which mis-reported the incident in the 1990s. The weird episode related here occurred at Allentown, Pennsylvania in the autumn of 1995.

Ryan was classed as a loner. The 16-year-old Pennsylvanian had a few friends you could count on one hand at his high school, but outside the school gates, he was a lonely fellow. His parents and two older sisters were always urging him to unplug his PC, and to get out and play sports like any other teenager. But Ryan wasn't into sports much. He liked tossing a basketball into his slamdunk in the yard now and then, but the kid was more of a thinker. He read a lot, especially books by Ray Bradbury.

He had another avid interest, and that was a girl who lived down the street named Bethany; a shapely girl with long straight strawberry blonde hair, a peaches and cream complexion, and a pair of smouldering brown eyes that set many of the hearts of the male neighborhood alight. Bethany was loved by everyone it seemed, from garbage men to the local doctor. Ryan had never made it clear that he was interested in Bethany, and whenever she would walk to school, he was either a street behind or a street ahead. He couldn't even bring himself to talk to the girl. One Valentine's Day he decided to do something to rectify the sorry state of affairs and sent her an expensive heavily-embroidered Valentine card, and, against tradition, he signed his name on it. His full name.

On the morning of February 14, 1995, Ryan was dreamily drifting along the streets to school, when a beautiful-sounding voice behind him said: "Are you Ryan?"

He turned. It was Bethany, and she stood with a giant of a boy named Todd. In Bethany's hand she held Ryan's unmistakable old-fashioned-looking Valentine. And she was grinning.

"Yep." Ryan said. He didn't like the way Todd was sneering at him, glancing him up and down, no doubt laughing at his clothes, which weren't that hip.

"Well, here's your card back. Todd's my valentine." and Bethany handed the card to Ryan, whose heart felt as if it had just been injected with numbing cocaine.

" 'kay." Ryan took hold of the card, and he folded it and threw it into a litter bin nearby, as the smiling couple walked on. Now all had been revealed to Ryan. Bethany was just a cruel, cold girl who had delighted in mocking his affection for her in front of him. Ryan felt no animosity towards Bethany and Todd, or any feelings of revenge. He was just thankful in a way that he had found her out. He knew in his broken heart that there was some girl out there who was right for him. He just had to cross her path, that's all.

Well, nothing much romantic happened in Allentown for most of that year. Then, in October, Ryan and his family moved to another part of the town. The new residence was a very old house which dated back to 1900. From the moment Ryan stepped inside the hall of this house, he felt there was something which he could only describe as 'magical' about it. As the weeks went by, Ryan and his family learned from neighbors that the dwelling was allegedly haunted - by a ghostly girl. No-one knew the identity of the alleged ghost, or anything about the history of the house, except for an old woman named Eleanor, who was currently in hospital after falling at her home.

Ryan's father reassured his three children that all the talk about ghosts was ridiculous. He said he had once worked near a graveyard at a factory on nightshifts and had never once seen anything remotely supernatural.

But one evening, one of Ryan's sisters said she could smell a sweet scent in her room, and had felt something brush past her, which felt like a soft silky veil. Her father said it had been her imagination. Then, Ryan's mother was cooking supper late one evening, waiting for her husband to return from work, when she heard the sounds of a piano playing. It was a well-known piano piece she hadn't heard for years,  called Fur Elise by Beethoven. But Ryan's Mom was so scared to investigate, she woke up her children and asked them if they could hear the music. They could, and they were a bit spooked too. But Ryan loved a challenge, and he took his flashlight and decided to investigate the source of the phantom music. He realised it was coming from upstairs, and so he ascended the staircase, then hesitated outside the attic door. He took a deep breath and pushed the door open. He aimed the beam of the flashlight into the room and swept it about. There was just junk up there, and a large covered object. The music had suddenly stopped. The lightbulb was missing, but Ryan walked into the room anyway. He could hear the faint voices of his Mom and sisters calling him back. Ryan continued his investigation. He lifted the large canvas dust sheet off the object, and saw it was an old upright piano. A badly tuned one with several dead keys. That couldn't have been the source of the sweet music he had heard.