Fear Files

Haunted Museum | Graveyard | Botanical Garden |

y grandmother and great-grandmother passed away within a year or two of each other. One is buried in a Graveyard in a town called Hermanus and the other has been cremated and the ashes scattered at her favorite childhood place that is now a public garden. Next to this botanical garden is an old French\ Dutch Museum that has antiques, scrolls and other artifacts from 200+ years ago. Behind the botanical gardens there is a fairly modern graveyard. The Botanical Garden is gorgeous with rows and rows of beautiful flowers of all colors with the only problem being the graveyard and museum that give off bad feelings. I refuse to set foot in that graveyard, because to me it feels like there is something of a very unsavory nature warning me not to go in there and watch my back if I know what is good for me. I constantly find myself looking over my shoulder whenever I'm at the botanical garden, expecting to find someone standing there or looking at me from around a tree or gravestone. My 13 year old cousin and her friends constantly want to go in there and before I can stop myself I find myself yelling at them and warning them to stay the heck out of there. They find this amusing of course and still go in. I can't help but keep an eye on them and feel the apprehension building as I see small dark shadows gliding over the stones after them. One day I fear something might follow them home. I also refuse to go to the bathrooms, that are situated behind some trees very close to the graveyard, alone even if it means dragging my dad along with me to the ladies room.

Moving on to the museum... I will say that the feeling I get in the museum is not of evil, but as if something is trying to warn me to be cautious around the ancient books, scrolls, evening gowns, school books, wooden toys, kitchen utensils and other furniture and things. Almost like an old mother walking after us making sure the "children" don't go about breaking things. I don't like being alone in one of the rooms (the museum is an old house) as I swear that the eyes of the portraits follow you around and hear footsteps directly behind me. I also hear the rustling of paper as if someone is busy looking through the books and scrolls, but the stuff are safely stored in glass display cases to try and preserve it. Also the windows are all closed at all times to prevent anything getting wind damaged. Just to mention, this museum, garden, and graveyard are located in a small town called Franschoek. So any of you that feel like checking it out go ahead, but please be careful. NEVER provoke a spirit no matter how kind you think it may be.

PS: For those of you that wonder about the graveyard at Hermanus - it is absolutely peaceful. I am drawn to it. I feel surrounded by many spirits when I walk through there, but none of them mean any harm. Some of the graves date back to 1801 and I feel a sense of curiosity from these spirits to find someone coming to their graves. Almost like they know and have accepted long ago that their loved ones no longer come to visit or have passed on themselves. I even 'feel' that some of these spirits smile as I look upon their graves and they know I respect them. Of course this part of the graveyard has been closed off by gates and fences since its fully "occupied", but it's all rusted and broken down and as I said I'm drawn to it. But this does not stop me from performing my own little ritual of saying over and over in my mind 'Please don't follow me home. You are not welcome there' whenever I walk through or drive past any graveyard.